mandoc/mdoc.7 - diff

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Diff for /mandoc/mdoc.7 between version 1.45 and 1.54

version 1.45, 2009/07/17 12:40:48

version 1.54, 2009/07/27 12:35:54

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 \&[

for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket

.Sq \&] ) ;

or a single one-character sequence. See

.Xr mandoc_char 1

.Xr mandoc_char 7

for a complete list. Examples include

.Sq \e(em

.Pq em-dash

and

.Sq \ee

.Pq back-slash .

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

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

.Pp

.Ss Text Decoration

An alternative escape sequence is

Terms may be text-decorated using the

the slash-asterisk,

.Sq \e* ,

but this method is discouraged for compatibility reasons.

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

.Pp

Terms may

also 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.

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 217 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 242 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 255 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 275 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 302 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 345 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 369 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 407 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 419 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

Line 463 then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of argument

.\" 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 \&sp

.Sq \-split

macro does not accept negative numbers.

.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

Some character sequences in groff are not handled depending on escape

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

style, e.g.,

standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idiosyncratic

.Sq \e(ba

behaviour is no longer applicable.

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.

.\" 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.

Line 456 some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming

Line 506 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

Line 475 syntax where column widths may be preceded by other ar

Line 525 syntax where column widths may be preceded by other ar

of proceeded) is not supported.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \&At

macro only accepts a single parameter.

.\" LIST-ITEM

Line 486 incorrectly by following it with a reserved character

Line 536 incorrectly by following it with a reserved character

delimiter to render. This is not supported.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

If an special-character control character is escaped

In groff, the

.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

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

.El

Line 504 macro only produces the first parameter. This is no l

Line 548 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 515 There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.

Line 559 There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

.Sq \&Fa

should be

.Sq \&Va

as function arguments are variables.

.\" LIST-ITEM

Line 538 variable name and optional, preceding type.

Line 582 variable name and optional, preceding type.

.It

.Sq \&Fd

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

synopsis section.

.Sq \&In

should be used, instead.

.\" LIST-ITEM

Line 550 argument to

Line 594 argument to

makes sense. The remaining ones should be removed.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The

.Sq \&Xo

and

.Sq \&Xc

Line 565 render when formatting the manual page.

Line 609 render when formatting the manual page.

.It

.Sq \&Lx

should be provided for Linux (\(`a la

.Sq \&Ox ,

.Sq \&Nx

etc.).

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

Line 576 There's no way to refer to references in

Line 620 There's no way to refer to references in

blocks.

.\" LIST-ITEM

.It

The \-split and \-nosplit arguments to

The \-split and \-nosplit dictates via

.Sq \&An

are inane.

are re-set when entering and leaving the AUTHORS section.

.El

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