mandoc/mdoc.7 - diff

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Diff for /mandoc/mdoc.7 between version 1.44 and 1.53

version 1.44, 2009/07/17 12:08:08

version 1.53, 2009/07/26 19:30:50

Line 13

.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN

.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF

.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

.\"

.Dd $Mdocdate$

.Dt MDOC 7

.Os

Line 25

.Sh DESCRIPTION

The

.Nm mdoc

language is used to format

.Bx

.Ux

manuals. In this reference document, we describe its syntax, structure,

and usage. Our reference implementation is

.Xr mandoc 1 .

The

.Sx COMPATIBILITY

section describes compatibility with

.Xr groff 1 .

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

.Nm

document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control

character

.Sq \.

are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of

prior macros:

Line 49 prior macros:

Other lines are interpreted within the current state.

.Ed

.\" SECTION---------------------------------------------

.Sh INPUT ENCODING

.Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX

.Nm

documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space

character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character. All

manuals must have

.Ux

line termination.

line terminators.

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Comments

Text following a

Line 87 Within a macro line, the following characters are rese

.It \&?

.Pq question

.It \&!

.Pq exclamation

.It \&|

.Pq vertical bar

.El

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

Line 98 Use of reserved characters is described in

For general use in macro lines, these characters must either be escaped

with a non-breaking space

.Pq Sq \e&

or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence used.

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Special Characters

Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.

Sequences begin with the escape character

.Sq \e

followed by either an open-parenthesis

.Sq \&(

for two-character sequences; an open-bracket

.Sq \&[

Line 112 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-brack

.Sq \&] ) ;

or a single one-character sequence. See

.Xr mandoc_char 1

for a complete list. Examples include

.Sq \e(em

.Pq em-dash

and

.Sq \ee

.Pq back-slash .

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

Line 133 escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic)

(Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended.

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Whitespace

In general, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned from input.

In non-literal free-form lines, consecutive blocks of whitespace are

These are later re-added, when applicable, by

pruned from input and added later in the output filter, if applicable:

.Xr mandoc 1 .

.Bd -literal -offset indent

These spaces are pruned from input.

\&.Bd \-literal

These are not.

\&.Ed

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

Blank lines are permitted within

In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. If

.Sq \&Bd \-literal

arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained.

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Sq \&Bd \-unfilled

.Pp

contexts. Tab characters are only acceptable when delimiting

Blank lines are only permitted within literal contexts, as are lines

containing only whitespace. Tab characters are only acceptable when

delimiting

.Sq \&Bl \-column

and in

or when in a literal context.

.Sq \&Bd \-literal

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Quotation

.Sq \&Bd \-unfilled

Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group

contexts.

space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace. A quoted

argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace. The next

double-quote not pair-wise adjacent to another double-quote terminates

the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

This produces tokens

.Sq a" ,

.Sq b c ,

.Sq de ,

and

.Sq fg" .

Note that any quoted term, be it argument or macro, is indiscriminately

considered literal text. Thus, the following produces

.Sq \&Em a :

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Em "Em a"

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text.

.\" SECTION---------------------------------------------

.Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE

Each

.Nm

document must begin with a document prologue, containing, in order,

.Sq \&Dd ,

.Sq \&Dt ,

and

.Sq \&Os

.Sq \&Os ,

(using this manual as an example):

then the NAME section containing at least one

.Sq \&Nm

followed by

.Sq \&Nd :

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$

\&.Dt mdoc 7

Line 167 and

Line 197 and

\&.Nm mdoc

\&.Nd mdoc language reference

.Ed

.Pp

Following these, the document body must begin with the NAME section

containing at least one

.Sq \&Nm

followed by

.Sq \&Nd .

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

Subsequent SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION sections are strongly encouraged,

but non-compulsory.

.\" SECTION---------------------------------------------

.Sh MACRO SYNTAX

Every line beginning with the control character

.Sq \.

is processed for macros, two- or three-character semantic annotations.

is processed for macros, two- or three-character sequences.

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

The syntax of macro depends on its classification. In this section,

The syntax of a macro depends on its classification. In this section,

.Sq \-arg

refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more

.Sq parm

parameters;

Line 198 closes it out.

Line 222 closes it out.

The

.Em Callable

column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial

line-macro. The

.Qq Parsable

.Em Parsable

column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further

(ostensibly callable) macros. The

.Em Scope

Line 211 contains bodies; only

Line 235 contains bodies; only

.Pq Sq \&Bf

contains a head.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

\&.Yc

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

Line 231 contains a head.

Line 255 contains a head.

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Block full-implicit

Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.

All macros have bodies; some

.Po

.Sq \&It \-bullet ,

.Sq \-hyphen ,

.Sq \-dash ,

.Sq \-enum ,

.Sq \-item

.Pc

don't have heads, while

.Sq \&It \-column

may have multiple heads.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

Line 258 may have multiple heads.

Line 282 may have multiple heads.

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Block partial-explicit

Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope. Each

has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head

.Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc

and/or tail

.Pq So \&Ec Sc .

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB

\(lBbody...\(rB

\&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \

\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB

.Ed

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

Line 301 and/or tail

Line 325 and/or tail

.El

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss Block partial-implicit

Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by

.Sx Reserved Characters

or end of line.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB

Line 325 or end of line.

Line 349 or end of line.

.El

.\" SUB-SECTION----------------------

.Ss In-line

Closed by

.Sx Reserved Characters ,

end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros. In-line

macros have only text children. If a number (or inequality) of

arguments is

.Pq n ,

then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.

.Bd -literal -offset indent

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lbres...\(rb

Line 363 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 387 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It \&Bsx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It \&Cd Ta Yes Ta \&No Ta >0

.It \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n

.It \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.It \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0

Line 414 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 438 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.It \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0

.It \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0, <3

.It \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0

.It \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1

.El

.\" SECTION---------------------------------------------

.Sh COMPATIBILITY

This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at

this time limited to

.Xr groff 1 .

The term

.Qq historic groff

refers to those versions before the

.Pa doc.tmac

file re-write

.Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .

.\" PARAGRAPH------------

.Pp

.Bl -dash -compact

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \-split

.Sq \-nosplit

argument to

.Sq \&An

applies to the whole document, not just to the current section as it

does in groff.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a

standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idiosyncratic

behaviour is no longer applicable.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \&sp

macro does not accept negative numbers.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Some character sequences in groff are not handled depending on escape

style, e.g.,

.Sq \e(ba

and

.Sq \e*(Ba

Line 450 some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming

Line 495 some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming

non-historic groff version.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The vertical bar

.Sq \(ba

made historic groff

.Qq go orbital

but is a proper delimiter in this implementation.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.It \-nested

.Sq \&It \-nested

is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be

nested and

.Sq \-enum

lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.It \-column

.Sq \&It \-column

syntax where column widths may be preceded by other arguments (instead

of proceeded) is not supported.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \&.At

.Sq \&At

macro only accepts a single parameter.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Some manuals use

.Sq \&.Li

.Sq \&Li

incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the

delimiter to render. This is not supported.

.\" LIST-ITEM

Line 486 it will obviously not render the subsequent sequence.

Line 531 it will obviously not render the subsequent sequence.

versions of groff seem to dither on this.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

In groff, the

.Sq \&.Fo

.Sq \&Fo

macro only produces the first parameter. This is no longer the case.

.El

.\" SECTION---------------------------------------------

Line 498 macro only produces the first parameter. This is no l

Line 543 macro only produces the first parameter. This is no l

.Sh AUTHORS

The

.Nm

utility was written by

reference was written by

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .

.\" SECTION---------------------------------------------

.Sh CAVEATS

Line 508 There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.

Line 553 There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.

.Bl -dash -compact

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Fa

.Sq \&Fa

should be

.Sq \&.Va

.Sq \&Va

as function arguments are variables.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Ft

.Sq \&Ft

should be

.Sq \&.Vt

.Sq \&Vt

as function return types are still types. Furthermore, the

.Sq \&.Ft

.Sq \&Ft

should be removed and

.Sq \&.Fo ,

.Sq \&Fo ,

which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same convention as

.Sq \&.Va .

.Sq \&Va .

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Va

.Sq \&Va

should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a

variable name and optional, preceding type.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Fd

.Sq \&Fd

is ambiguous. It's commonly used to indicate an include file in the

synopsis section.

.Sq \&.In

.Sq \&In

should be used, instead.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Only the

.Sq \-literal

argument to

.Sq \&.Bd

.Sq \&Bd

makes sense. The remaining ones should be removed.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \&.Xo

.Sq \&Xo

and

.Sq \&.Xc

.Sq \&Xc

macros should be deprecated.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \&.Dt

.Sq \&Dt

macro lacks clarity. It should be absolutely clear which title will

render when formatting the manual page.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&.Lx

.Sq \&Lx

should be provided for Linux (\(`a la

.Sq \&.Ox ,

.Sq \&Ox ,

.Sq \&.Nx

.Sq \&Nx

etc.).

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

There's no way to refer to references in

.Sq \&.Rs/.Re

.Sq \&Rs/Re

blocks.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The \-split and \-nosplit arguments to

.Sq \&.An

.Sq \&An

are inane.

.El

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