Annotation of mandoc/mdoc.7, Revision 1.61
1.61 ! kristaps 1: .\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.60 2009/09/28 22:09:08 kristaps Exp $
1.1 kristaps 2: .\"
1.23 kristaps 3: .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
1.1 kristaps 4: .\"
5: .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
1.22 kristaps 6: .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
7: .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
1.1 kristaps 8: .\"
1.22 kristaps 9: .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
10: .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
11: .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
12: .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
13: .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
14: .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
15: .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
1.50 kristaps 16: .\"
1.1 kristaps 17: .Dd $Mdocdate$
1.20 kristaps 18: .Dt MDOC 7
1.1 kristaps 19: .Os
1.56 kristaps 20: .
21: .
1.1 kristaps 22: .Sh NAME
1.57 kristaps 23: .Nm mdoc
24: .Nd mdoc language reference
1.56 kristaps 25: .
26: .
1.1 kristaps 27: .Sh DESCRIPTION
28: The
1.57 kristaps 29: .Nm mdoc
1.50 kristaps 30: language is used to format
1.57 kristaps 31: .Bx
32: .Ux
1.43 kristaps 33: manuals. In this reference document, we describe its syntax, structure,
34: and usage. Our reference implementation is
1.57 kristaps 35: .Xr mandoc 1 .
1.28 kristaps 36: The
1.57 kristaps 37: .Sx COMPATIBILITY
1.50 kristaps 38: section describes compatibility with
1.57 kristaps 39: .Xr groff 1 .
40: .
41: .Pp
1.13 kristaps 42: An
1.57 kristaps 43: .Nm
1.1 kristaps 44: document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control
1.50 kristaps 45: character
1.57 kristaps 46: .Sq \.
1.1 kristaps 47: are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
1.13 kristaps 48: prior macros:
1.57 kristaps 49: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.13 kristaps 50: \&.Sh Macro lines change control state.
51: Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
1.57 kristaps 52: .Ed
1.56 kristaps 53: .
54: .
1.46 kristaps 55: .Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX
1.57 kristaps 56: .Nm
1.13 kristaps 57: documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space
1.43 kristaps 58: character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character. All
59: manuals must have
1.57 kristaps 60: .Ux
1.50 kristaps 61: line terminators.
1.56 kristaps 62: .
63: .
1.57 kristaps 64: .Ss Comments
1.43 kristaps 65: Text following a
1.57 kristaps 66: .Sq \e" ,
1.43 kristaps 67: whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
68: line. A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
1.57 kristaps 69: .Sq \&.\e" ,
1.58 kristaps 70: is also ignored. Macro lines with only a control charater and optionally
71: whitespace are stripped from input.
1.56 kristaps 72: .
73: .
1.57 kristaps 74: .Ss Reserved Characters
1.2 kristaps 75: Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:
1.61 ! kristaps 76: .Pp
1.57 kristaps 77: .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
78: .It \&.
79: .Pq period
80: .It \&,
81: .Pq comma
82: .It \&:
83: .Pq colon
84: .It \&;
85: .Pq semicolon
86: .It \&(
87: .Pq left-parenthesis
88: .It \&)
89: .Pq right-parenthesis
90: .It \&[
91: .Pq left-bracket
92: .It \&]
93: .Pq right-bracket
94: .It \&?
95: .Pq question
96: .It \&!
97: .Pq exclamation
98: .It \&|
99: .Pq vertical bar
100: .El
101: .
102: .Pp
1.5 kristaps 103: Use of reserved characters is described in
1.57 kristaps 104: .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
1.43 kristaps 105: For general use in macro lines, these characters must either be escaped
106: with a non-breaking space
1.57 kristaps 107: .Pq Sq \e&
1.50 kristaps 108: or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence used.
1.56 kristaps 109: .
110: .
1.57 kristaps 111: .Ss Special Characters
1.43 kristaps 112: Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
113: Sequences begin with the escape character
1.57 kristaps 114: .Sq \e
1.50 kristaps 115: followed by either an open-parenthesis
1.57 kristaps 116: .Sq \&(
1.1 kristaps 117: for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
1.57 kristaps 118: .Sq \&[
1.1 kristaps 119: for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
1.57 kristaps 120: .Sq \&] ) ;
1.43 kristaps 121: or a single one-character sequence. See
1.57 kristaps 122: .Xr mandoc_char 7
1.50 kristaps 123: for a complete list. Examples include
1.57 kristaps 124: .Sq \e(em
125: .Pq em-dash
1.50 kristaps 126: and
1.57 kristaps 127: .Sq \ee
128: .Pq back-slash .
1.56 kristaps 129: .
130: .
1.57 kristaps 131: .Ss Text Decoration
1.54 kristaps 132: Terms may be text-decorated using the
1.57 kristaps 133: .Sq \ef
1.43 kristaps 134: escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R
1.54 kristaps 135: (Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended for
1.57 kristaps 136: .Nm ,
1.54 kristaps 137: which encourages semantic, not presentation, annotation.
1.56 kristaps 138: .
139: .
1.57 kristaps 140: .Ss Predefined Strings
1.54 kristaps 141: Historically,
1.57 kristaps 142: .Xr groff 1
1.54 kristaps 143: also defined a set of package-specific
1.57 kristaps 144: .Dq predefined strings ,
1.54 kristaps 145: which, like
1.57 kristaps 146: .Sx Special Characters ,
1.54 kristaps 147: demark special output characters and strings by way of input codes.
148: Predefined strings are escaped with the slash-asterisk,
1.57 kristaps 149: .Sq \e* :
1.54 kristaps 150: single-character
1.57 kristaps 151: .Sq \e*X ,
1.54 kristaps 152: two-character
1.57 kristaps 153: .Sq \e*(XX ,
1.54 kristaps 154: and N-character
1.57 kristaps 155: .Sq \e*[N] .
1.54 kristaps 156: See
1.57 kristaps 157: .Xr mandoc_char 7
1.54 kristaps 158: for a complete list. Examples include
1.57 kristaps 159: .Sq \e*(Am
160: .Pq ampersand
1.54 kristaps 161: and
1.57 kristaps 162: .Sq \e*(Ba
163: .Pq vertical bar .
1.56 kristaps 164: .
165: .
1.57 kristaps 166: .Ss Whitespace
1.46 kristaps 167: In non-literal free-form lines, consecutive blocks of whitespace are
168: pruned from input and added later in the output filter, if applicable:
1.57 kristaps 169: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.46 kristaps 170: These spaces are pruned from input.
1.50 kristaps 171: \&.Bd \-literal
1.46 kristaps 172: These are not.
173: \&.Ed
1.57 kristaps 174: .Ed
175: .
176: .Pp
1.46 kristaps 177: In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. If
1.47 kristaps 178: arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained.
1.57 kristaps 179: .
180: .Pp
1.46 kristaps 181: Blank lines are only permitted within literal contexts, as are lines
182: containing only whitespace. Tab characters are only acceptable when
1.50 kristaps 183: delimiting
1.57 kristaps 184: .Sq \&Bl \-column
1.46 kristaps 185: or when in a literal context.
1.56 kristaps 186: .
187: .
1.57 kristaps 188: .Ss Quotation
1.46 kristaps 189: Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group
190: space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace. A quoted
191: argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace. The next
1.48 kristaps 192: double-quote not pair-wise adjacent to another double-quote terminates
1.50 kristaps 193: the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.
1.57 kristaps 194: .
195: .Pp
1.50 kristaps 196: This produces tokens
1.57 kristaps 197: .Sq a" ,
198: .Sq b c ,
199: .Sq de ,
1.47 kristaps 200: and
1.57 kristaps 201: .Sq fg" .
1.47 kristaps 202: Note that any quoted term, be it argument or macro, is indiscriminately
1.50 kristaps 203: considered literal text. Thus, the following produces
1.57 kristaps 204: .Sq \&Em a :
205: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.47 kristaps 206: \&.Em "Em a"
1.57 kristaps 207: .Ed
208: .
209: .Pp
1.46 kristaps 210: In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text.
1.56 kristaps 211: .
1.61 ! kristaps 212: .Ss Scaling Widths
! 213: Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as
! 214: stipulating a two-inch list indentation with the following:
! 215: .Bd -literal -offset indent
! 216: \&.Bl -tag -width 2i
! 217: .Ed
! 218: .
! 219: .Pp
! 220: The syntax for scaled widths is
! 221: .Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[unit] ,
! 222: where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit.
! 223: Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero. The following
! 224: scaling units are accepted:
! 225: .Pp
! 226: .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
! 227: .It c
! 228: centimetre
! 229: .It i
! 230: inch
! 231: .It P
! 232: pica (~1/6 inch)
! 233: .It p
! 234: point (~1/72 inch)
! 235: .It f
! 236: synonym for
! 237: .Sq u
! 238: .It v
! 239: default vertical span
! 240: .It m
! 241: width of rendered
! 242: .Sq m
! 243: .Pq em
! 244: character
! 245: .It n
! 246: width of rendered
! 247: .Sq n
! 248: .Pq en
! 249: character
! 250: .It u
! 251: default horizontal span
! 252: .It M
! 253: mini-em (~1/100 em)
! 254: .El
! 255: .Pp
! 256: Using anything other than
! 257: .Sq m ,
! 258: .Sq n ,
! 259: .Sq u ,
! 260: or
! 261: .Sq v
! 262: is necessarily non-portable across output media. See
! 263: .Sx COMPATIBILITY .
! 264: .
1.56 kristaps 265: .
1.43 kristaps 266: .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
1.33 kristaps 267: Each
1.57 kristaps 268: .Nm
1.50 kristaps 269: document must begin with a document prologue, containing, in order,
1.57 kristaps 270: .Sq \&Dd ,
271: .Sq \&Dt ,
1.33 kristaps 272: and
1.57 kristaps 273: .Sq \&Os ,
1.46 kristaps 274: then the NAME section containing at least one
1.57 kristaps 275: .Sq \&Nm
1.50 kristaps 276: followed by
1.57 kristaps 277: .Sq \&Nd :
278: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.43 kristaps 279: \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
280: \&.Dt mdoc 7
281: \&.Os
1.58 kristaps 282: \&.
1.43 kristaps 283: \&.Sh NAME
1.58 kristaps 284: \&.Nm foo
285: \&.Nd a description goes here
286: \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.
287: \&.\e\*q .Sh LIBRARY
288: \&.
289: \&.Sh SYNOPSIS
290: \&.Nm foo
291: \&.Op Fl options
292: \&.Ar
293: \&.
294: \&.Sh DESCRIPTION
295: The
296: \&.Nm
297: utility processes files ...
1.59 kristaps 298: \&.\e\*q .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
1.58 kristaps 299: \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.
300: \&.\e\*q .Sh EXIT STATUS
301: \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
302: \&.\e\*q .Sh RETURN VALUES
303: \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
304: \&.\e\*q .Sh ENVIRONMENT
305: \&.\e\*q .Sh FILES
306: \&.\e\*q .Sh EXAMPLES
307: \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
308: \&.\e\*q .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
309: \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
310: \&.\e\*q .Sh ERRORS
311: \&.\e\*q .Sh SEE ALSO
312: \&.\e\*q .Xr foobar 1
313: \&.\e\*q .Sh STANDARDS
314: \&.\e\*q .Sh HISTORY
315: \&.\e\*q .Sh AUTHORS
316: \&.\e\*q .Sh CAVEATS
317: \&.\e\*q .Sh BUGS
318: \&.\e\*q .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
1.57 kristaps 319: .Ed
320: .
321: .Pp
1.43 kristaps 322: Subsequent SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION sections are strongly encouraged,
1.50 kristaps 323: but non-compulsory.
1.56 kristaps 324: .
325: .
1.43 kristaps 326: .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
1.56 kristaps 327: Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
328: control character ,
1.57 kristaps 329: .Sq \&. ,
1.56 kristaps 330: at the beginning of the line. An arbitrary amount of whitespace may
331: sit between the control character and the macro name. Thus,
1.57 kristaps 332: .Sq \&.Pp
1.56 kristaps 333: and
1.57 kristaps 334: .Sq \&.\ \ \ \&Pp
1.56 kristaps 335: are equivalent. Macro names are two or three characters in length.
1.57 kristaps 336: .
337: .Pp
1.46 kristaps 338: The syntax of a macro depends on its classification. In this section,
1.57 kristaps 339: .Sq \-arg
1.43 kristaps 340: refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more
1.57 kristaps 341: .Sq parm
1.43 kristaps 342: parameters;
1.57 kristaps 343: .Sq \&Yo
1.43 kristaps 344: opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,
1.57 kristaps 345: .Sq \&Yc
1.43 kristaps 346: closes it out.
1.57 kristaps 347: .
348: .Pp
1.43 kristaps 349: The
1.57 kristaps 350: .Em Callable
1.43 kristaps 351: column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial
1.55 kristaps 352: line-macro. If a macro is not callable, then its invocation after the
353: initial line macro is interpreted as opaque text, such that
1.60 kristaps 354: .Sq \&.Fl \&Sh
1.55 kristaps 355: produces
1.60 kristaps 356: .Sq Fl \&Sh .
1.57 kristaps 357: .
358: .Pp
1.55 kristaps 359: The
1.57 kristaps 360: .Em Parsable
1.43 kristaps 361: column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further
1.55 kristaps 362: (ostensibly callable) macros. If a macro is not parsable, subsequent
363: macro invocations on the line will be interpreted as opaque text.
1.57 kristaps 364: .
365: .Pp
1.55 kristaps 366: The
1.57 kristaps 367: .Em Scope
1.43 kristaps 368: column, if applicable, describes closure rules.
1.56 kristaps 369: .
370: .
1.57 kristaps 371: .Ss Block full-explicit
1.43 kristaps 372: Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. All macros
373: contains bodies; only
1.57 kristaps 374: .Pq Sq \&Bf
1.43 kristaps 375: contains a head.
1.57 kristaps 376: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.50 kristaps 377: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
378: \(lBbody...\(rB
1.43 kristaps 379: \&.Yc
1.57 kristaps 380: .Ed
381: .
382: .Pp
383: .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX"
384: .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
385: .It \&Bd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Ed
386: .It \&Bf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Ef
387: .It \&Bk Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Ek
388: .It \&Bl Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&El
389: .It \&Ed Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&Bd
390: .It \&Ef Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&Bf
391: .It \&Ek Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&Bk
392: .It \&El Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&Bl
393: .El
1.56 kristaps 394: .
395: .
1.57 kristaps 396: .Ss Block full-implicit
1.43 kristaps 397: Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.
1.50 kristaps 398: All macros have bodies; some
1.57 kristaps 399: .Po
400: .Sq \&It \-bullet ,
401: .Sq \-hyphen ,
402: .Sq \-dash ,
403: .Sq \-enum ,
404: .Sq \-item
405: .Pc
1.50 kristaps 406: don't have heads, while
1.57 kristaps 407: .Sq \&It \-column
1.43 kristaps 408: may have multiple heads.
1.57 kristaps 409: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.50 kristaps 410: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB
411: \(lBbody...\(rB
1.57 kristaps 412: .Ed
1.56 kristaps 413: .
1.57 kristaps 414: .Pp
415: .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX"
416: .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
417: .It \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by \&It, \&El
418: .It \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Sh
419: .It \&Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Sh
420: .It \&Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Sh, \&Ss
421: .El
1.56 kristaps 422: .
1.57 kristaps 423: .
424: .Ss Block partial-explicit
1.43 kristaps 425: Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope. Each
1.50 kristaps 426: has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head
1.57 kristaps 427: .Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc
1.50 kristaps 428: and/or tail
1.57 kristaps 429: .Pq So \&Ec Sc .
430: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.50 kristaps 431: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
432: \(lBbody...\(rB
433: \&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
1.2 kristaps 434:
1.43 kristaps 435: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \
1.50 kristaps 436: \(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
1.57 kristaps 437: .Ed
438: .
439: .Pp
440: .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent
441: .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
442: .It \&Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Ao
443: .It \&Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Ac
444: .It \&Bc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Bo
445: .It \&Bo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Bc
446: .It \&Brc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Bro
447: .It \&Bro Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Brc
448: .It \&Dc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Do
449: .It \&Do Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Dc
450: .It \&Ec Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Eo
451: .It \&Eo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Ec
452: .It \&Fc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Fo
453: .It \&Fo Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Fc
454: .It \&Oc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Oo
455: .It \&Oo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Oc
456: .It \&Pc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Po
457: .It \&Po Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Pc
458: .It \&Qc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Oo
459: .It \&Qo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Oc
460: .It \&Re Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by \&Rs
461: .It \&Rs Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by \&Re
462: .It \&Sc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&So
463: .It \&So Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Sc
464: .It \&Xc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by \&Xo
465: .It \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by \&Xc
466: .El
1.56 kristaps 467: .
468: .
1.57 kristaps 469: .Ss Block partial-implicit
1.50 kristaps 470: Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by
1.57 kristaps 471: .Sx Reserved Characters
1.43 kristaps 472: or end of line.
1.57 kristaps 473: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.43 kristaps 474: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
1.57 kristaps 475: .Ed
1.56 kristaps 476: .
1.57 kristaps 477: .Pp
478: .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset indent
479: .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable
480: .It \&Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes
481: .It \&Bq Ta Yes Ta Yes
482: .It \&Brq Ta Yes Ta Yes
483: .It \&D1 Ta \&No Ta \&Yes
484: .It \&Dl Ta \&No Ta Yes
485: .It \&Dq Ta Yes Ta Yes
486: .It \&Op Ta Yes Ta Yes
487: .It \&Pq Ta Yes Ta Yes
488: .It \&Ql Ta Yes Ta Yes
489: .It \&Qq Ta Yes Ta Yes
490: .It \&Sq Ta Yes Ta Yes
491: .El
1.56 kristaps 492: .
1.57 kristaps 493: .
494: .Ss In-line
1.50 kristaps 495: Closed by
1.57 kristaps 496: .Sx Reserved Characters ,
1.43 kristaps 497: end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros. In-line
498: macros have only text children. If a number (or inequality) of
1.3 kristaps 499: arguments is
1.57 kristaps 500: .Pq n ,
1.3 kristaps 501: then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.
1.57 kristaps 502: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.43 kristaps 503: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lbres...\(rb
504:
505: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc...
506:
507: \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN
1.57 kristaps 508: .Ed
509: .
510: .Pp
511: .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
512: .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments
513: .It \&%A Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
514: .It \&%B Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
515: .It \&%C Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
516: .It \&%D Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
517: .It \&%I Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
518: .It \&%J Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
519: .It \&%N Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
520: .It \&%O Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
521: .It \&%P Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
522: .It \&%R Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
523: .It \&%T Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
524: .It \&%V Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
525: .It \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
526: .It \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
527: .It \&Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0
528: .It \&Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
529: .It \&At Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1
530: .It \&Bsx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
531: .It \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
532: .It \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
533: .It \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
534: .It \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
535: .It \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
536: .It \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
537: .It \&Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
538: .It \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
539: .It \&Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
540: .It \&Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
541: .It \&En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
542: .It \&Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
543: .It \&Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
544: .It \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
1.58 kristaps 545: .It \&Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
1.57 kristaps 546: .It \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
547: .It \&Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
548: .It \&Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
549: .It \&Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
550: .It \&Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
551: .It \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
552: .It \&Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
553: .It \&Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
554: .It \&Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
555: .It \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
556: .It \&Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
557: .It \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
558: .It \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
559: .It \&Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
560: .It \&Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
561: .It \&Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
562: .It \&Nm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
563: .It \&No Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0
564: .It \&Ns Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0
565: .It \&Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
566: .It \&Os Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
567: .It \&Ot Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
568: .It \&Ox Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
569: .It \&Pa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
570: .It \&Pf Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1
571: .It \&Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
1.58 kristaps 572: .It \&Rv Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
1.57 kristaps 573: .It \&Sm Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
574: .It \&St Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1
575: .It \&Sx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
576: .It \&Sy Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
577: .It \&Tn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
578: .It \&Ud Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
579: .It \&Ux Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
580: .It \&Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
581: .It \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
582: .It \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0, <3
583: .It \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
584: .It \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
585: .El
1.56 kristaps 586: .
587: .
1.4 kristaps 588: .Sh COMPATIBILITY
1.28 kristaps 589: This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at
1.50 kristaps 590: this time limited to
1.57 kristaps 591: .Xr groff 1 .
1.50 kristaps 592: The term
1.57 kristaps 593: .Qq historic groff
1.50 kristaps 594: refers to those versions before the
1.57 kristaps 595: .Pa doc.tmac
1.50 kristaps 596: file re-write
1.57 kristaps 597: .Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .
598: .
599: .Pp
600: .Bl -dash -compact
601: .It
1.61 ! kristaps 602: Negative scaling units are now truncated to zero instead of creating
! 603: interesting conditions, such as with
! 604: .Sq \&sp -1i .
! 605: Furthermore, the
! 606: .Sq f
! 607: scaling unit, while accepted, is rendered as the default unit.
! 608: .It
1.51 kristaps 609: The
1.57 kristaps 610: .Sq \-split
1.51 kristaps 611: or
1.57 kristaps 612: .Sq \-nosplit
1.51 kristaps 613: argument to
1.57 kristaps 614: .Sq \&An
1.51 kristaps 615: applies to the whole document, not just to the current section as it
616: does in groff.
1.57 kristaps 617: .It
1.48 kristaps 618: In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a
619: standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idiosyncratic
620: behaviour is no longer applicable.
1.57 kristaps 621: .It
1.50 kristaps 622: The
1.57 kristaps 623: .Sq \&sp
1.45 kristaps 624: macro does not accept negative numbers.
1.57 kristaps 625: .It
1.35 kristaps 626: Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text
627: lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace
628: in free-form text lines.
1.57 kristaps 629: .It
1.28 kristaps 630: Historic groff has many un-callable macros. Most of these (excluding
631: some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming to the
632: non-historic groff version.
1.57 kristaps 633: .It
1.50 kristaps 634: The vertical bar
1.57 kristaps 635: .Sq \(ba
1.28 kristaps 636: made historic groff
1.57 kristaps 637: .Qq go orbital
1.28 kristaps 638: but is a proper delimiter in this implementation.
1.57 kristaps 639: .It
640: .Sq \&It \-nested
1.28 kristaps 641: is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be
642: nested and
1.57 kristaps 643: .Sq \-enum
1.4 kristaps 644: lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.
1.57 kristaps 645: .It
646: .Sq \&It \-column
1.21 kristaps 647: syntax where column widths may be preceded by other arguments (instead
1.4 kristaps 648: of proceeded) is not supported.
1.57 kristaps 649: .It
1.50 kristaps 650: The
1.57 kristaps 651: .Sq \&At
1.4 kristaps 652: macro only accepts a single parameter.
1.57 kristaps 653: .It
1.4 kristaps 654: Some manuals use
1.57 kristaps 655: .Sq \&Li
1.4 kristaps 656: incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the
657: delimiter to render. This is not supported.
1.57 kristaps 658: .It
1.50 kristaps 659: In groff, the
1.57 kristaps 660: .Sq \&Fo
1.41 kristaps 661: macro only produces the first parameter. This is no longer the case.
1.57 kristaps 662: .El
1.56 kristaps 663: .
664: .
1.2 kristaps 665: .Sh SEE ALSO
1.57 kristaps 666: .Xr mandoc 1 ,
667: .Xr mandoc_char 7
1.56 kristaps 668: .
669: .
1.2 kristaps 670: .Sh AUTHORS
671: The
1.57 kristaps 672: .Nm
1.50 kristaps 673: reference was written by
1.57 kristaps 674: .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
1.56 kristaps 675: .
676: .
1.5 kristaps 677: .Sh CAVEATS
1.28 kristaps 678: There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc.
1.57 kristaps 679: .
680: .Pp
681: .Bl -dash -compact
682: .It
683: .Sq \&Fa
1.50 kristaps 684: should be
1.57 kristaps 685: .Sq \&Va
1.5 kristaps 686: as function arguments are variables.
1.57 kristaps 687: .It
688: .Sq \&Ft
1.5 kristaps 689: should be
1.57 kristaps 690: .Sq \&Vt
1.5 kristaps 691: as function return types are still types. Furthermore, the
1.57 kristaps 692: .Sq \&Ft
1.5 kristaps 693: should be removed and
1.57 kristaps 694: .Sq \&Fo ,
1.5 kristaps 695: which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same convention as
1.57 kristaps 696: .Sq \&Va .
697: .It
698: .Sq \&Va
1.5 kristaps 699: should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a
1.21 kristaps 700: variable name and optional, preceding type.
1.57 kristaps 701: .It
702: .Sq \&Fd
1.5 kristaps 703: is ambiguous. It's commonly used to indicate an include file in the
1.50 kristaps 704: synopsis section.
1.57 kristaps 705: .Sq \&In
1.5 kristaps 706: should be used, instead.
1.57 kristaps 707: .It
1.5 kristaps 708: Only the
1.57 kristaps 709: .Sq \-literal
1.5 kristaps 710: argument to
1.57 kristaps 711: .Sq \&Bd
1.5 kristaps 712: makes sense. The remaining ones should be removed.
1.57 kristaps 713: .It
1.50 kristaps 714: The
1.57 kristaps 715: .Sq \&Xo
1.5 kristaps 716: and
1.57 kristaps 717: .Sq \&Xc
1.5 kristaps 718: macros should be deprecated.
1.57 kristaps 719: .It
1.5 kristaps 720: The
1.57 kristaps 721: .Sq \&Dt
1.5 kristaps 722: macro lacks clarity. It should be absolutely clear which title will
723: render when formatting the manual page.
1.57 kristaps 724: .It
1.6 kristaps 725: A
1.57 kristaps 726: .Sq \&Lx
1.50 kristaps 727: should be provided for Linux (\(`a la
1.57 kristaps 728: .Sq \&Ox ,
729: .Sq \&Nx
1.6 kristaps 730: etc.).
1.57 kristaps 731: .It
1.14 kristaps 732: There's no way to refer to references in
1.57 kristaps 733: .Sq \&Rs/Re
1.14 kristaps 734: blocks.
1.57 kristaps 735: .It
1.54 kristaps 736: The \-split and \-nosplit dictates via
1.57 kristaps 737: .Sq \&An
1.54 kristaps 738: are re-set when entering and leaving the AUTHORS section.
1.57 kristaps 739: .El
1.56 kristaps 740: .
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