=================================================================== RCS file: /cvs/mandoc/mdoc.7,v retrieving revision 1.44 retrieving revision 1.54 diff -u -p -r1.44 -r1.54 --- mandoc/mdoc.7 2009/07/17 12:08:08 1.44 +++ mandoc/mdoc.7 2009/07/27 12:35:54 1.54 @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.44 2009/07/17 12:08:08 kristaps Exp $ +.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.54 2009/07/27 12:35:54 kristaps Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons .\" @@ -13,8 +13,8 @@ .\" 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: July 17 2009 $ +.\" +.Dd $Mdocdate: July 27 2009 $ .Dt MDOC 7 .Os .\" SECTION--------------------------------------------- @@ -25,22 +25,22 @@ .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm mdoc -language is used to format -.Bx +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 +section describes compatibility with .Xr groff 1 . .\" PARAGRAPH------------ .Pp An .Nm document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control -character +character .Sq \. are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of prior macros: @@ -49,13 +49,13 @@ 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 @@ -87,9 +87,9 @@ Within a macro line, the following characters are rese .It \&? .Pq question .It \&! -.Pq exclamation +.Pq exclamation .It \&| -.Pq vertical bar +.Pq vertical bar .El .\" PARAGRAPH------------ .Pp @@ -98,67 +98,117 @@ 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. +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 +followed by either an open-parenthesis .Sq \&( for two-character sequences; an open-bracket .Sq \&[ for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket .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 +.Xr mandoc_char 7 +for a complete list. Examples include +.Sq \e(em +.Pq em-dash +and .Sq \ee .Pq back-slash . -.\" PARAGRAPH------------ -.Pp -An alternative escape sequence is -the slash-asterisk, -.Sq \e* , -but this method is discouraged for compatibility reasons. -.\" PARAGRAPH------------ -.Pp -Terms may -also be text-decorated using the +.\" SUB-SECTION---------------------- +.Ss Text Decoration +Terms may be text-decorated using the .Sq \ef escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R -(Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended. +(Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended for +.Nm , +which encourages semantic, not presentation, annotation. .\" SUB-SECTION---------------------- +.Ss Predefined Strings +Historically, +.Xr groff 1 +also defined a set of package-specific +.Dq predefined strings , +which, like +.Sx Special Characters , +demark special output characters and strings by way of input codes. +Predefined strings are escaped with the slash-asterisk, +.Sq \e* : +single-character +.Sq \e*X , +two-character +.Sq \e*(XX , +and N-character +.Sq \e*[N] . +See +.Xr mandoc_char 7 +for a complete list. Examples include +.Sq \e*(Am +.Pq ampersand +and +.Sq \e*(Ba +.Pq vertical bar . +.\" SUB-SECTION---------------------- .Ss Whitespace -In general, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned from input. -These are later re-added, when applicable, by -.Xr mandoc 1 . +In non-literal free-form lines, consecutive blocks of whitespace are +pruned from input and added later in the output filter, if applicable: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +These spaces are pruned from input. +\&.Bd \-literal +These are not. +\&.Ed +.Ed .\" PARAGRAPH------------ .Pp -Blank lines are permitted within -.Sq \&Bd \-literal -or -.Sq \&Bd \-unfilled -contexts. Tab characters are only acceptable when delimiting +In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. If +arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained. +.\" PARAGRAPH------------ +.Pp +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 -.Sq \&Bd \-literal -or -.Sq \&Bd \-unfilled -contexts. +or when in a literal context. +.\" SUB-SECTION---------------------- +.Ss Quotation +Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group +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, +document must begin with a document prologue, containing, in order, .Sq \&Dd , .Sq \&Dt , and -.Sq \&Os -(using this manual as an example): +.Sq \&Os , +then the NAME section containing at least one +.Sq \&Nm +followed by +.Sq \&Nd : .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$ \&.Dt mdoc 7 @@ -167,25 +217,19 @@ 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. +but non-compulsory. .\" SECTION--------------------------------------------- .Sh MACRO SYNTAX -Every line beginning with the control character +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, -.Sq \-arg +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; @@ -198,8 +242,8 @@ closes it out. The .Em Callable column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial -line-macro. The -.Qq Parsable +line-macro. The +.Em Parsable column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further (ostensibly callable) macros. The .Em Scope @@ -211,8 +255,8 @@ contains bodies; only .Pq Sq \&Bf contains a head. .Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB -\(lBbody...\(rB +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB \&.Yc .Ed .\" PARAGRAPH------------ @@ -231,20 +275,20 @@ 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 +All macros have bodies; some .Po -.Sq \&It \-bullet , -.Sq \-hyphen , +.Sq \&It \-bullet , +.Sq \-hyphen , .Sq \-dash , .Sq \-enum , -.Sq \-item +.Sq \-item .Pc -don't have heads, while +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 +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB .Ed .\" PARAGRAPH------------ .Pp @@ -258,17 +302,17 @@ 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 +has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head .Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc -and/or tail +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 \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \ -\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB .Ed .\" PARAGRAPH------------ .Pp @@ -301,8 +345,8 @@ and/or tail .El .\" SUB-SECTION---------------------- .Ss Block partial-implicit -Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by -.Sx Reserved Characters +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 @@ -325,12 +369,12 @@ or end of line. .El .\" SUB-SECTION---------------------- .Ss In-line -Closed by +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 , +.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 @@ -363,7 +407,7 @@ 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 @@ -414,32 +458,44 @@ 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 +this time limited to .Xr groff 1 . -The term +The term .Qq historic groff -refers to those versions before the +refers to those versions before the .Pa doc.tmac -file re-write +file re-write .Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 . .\" PARAGRAPH------------ .Pp .Bl -dash -compact .\" LIST-ITEM .It -Some character sequences in groff are not handled depending on escape -style, e.g., -.Sq \e(ba -and -.Sq \e*(Ba -may not be interchanged. This is no longer the case: all character -sequences resolve to the same symbol, regardless the escape style. +The +.Sq \-split +or +.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 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace in free-form text lines. @@ -450,44 +506,38 @@ some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming non-historic groff version. .\" LIST-ITEM .It -The vertical bar +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 +The +.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 .It -If an special-character control character is escaped -.Sq \e\e , -it will obviously not render the subsequent sequence. Even newer -versions of groff seem to dither on this. -.\" LIST-ITEM -.It -In groff, the -.Sq \&.Fo +In groff, the +.Sq \&Fo macro only produces the first parameter. This is no longer the case. .El .\" SECTION--------------------------------------------- @@ -498,7 +548,7 @@ 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 @@ -508,69 +558,69 @@ There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc. .Bl -dash -compact .\" LIST-ITEM .It -.Sq \&.Fa -should be -.Sq \&.Va +.Sq \&Fa +should be +.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 +synopsis section. +.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 +The +.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 A -.Sq \&.Lx -should be provided for Linux (\(`a la -.Sq \&.Ox , -.Sq \&.Nx +.Sq \&Lx +should be provided for Linux (\(`a la +.Sq \&Ox , +.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 -are inane. +The \-split and \-nosplit dictates via +.Sq \&An +are re-set when entering and leaving the AUTHORS section. .El