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| -rw-r--r-- | man.7 | 573 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | mdoc.7 | 1088 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | roff.7 | 318 |
3 files changed, 912 insertions, 1067 deletions
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@ .\" $Id$ .\" -.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv> +.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv> +.\" Copyright (c) 2011 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org> .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above @@ -19,276 +20,63 @@ .Os .Sh NAME .Nm man -.Nd man language reference +.Nd legacy formatting language for manual pages .Sh DESCRIPTION -The +Traditionally, the .Nm man -language was historically used to format +language has been used to write .Ux -manuals. -This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and usage. +manuals for the +.Xr man 1 +utility. +It supports limited control of presentational details like fonts, +indentation and spacing. +This reference document describes the structure of manual pages +and the syntax and usage of the man language. .Pp .Bf -emphasis Do not use .Nm -to write your manuals. +to write your manuals: .Ef +It lacks support for semantic markup. Use the .Xr mdoc 7 language, instead. .Pp -A +In a .Nm -document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control -character +document, lines beginning with the control character .Sq \&. -are parsed for macros. -Lines not beginning with the control character are -interpreted within the scope of prior macros: +are called +.Dq macro lines . +The first word is the macro name. +It usually consists of two capital letters. +For a list of available macros, see +.Sx MACRO OVERVIEW . +The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro. +.Pp +Lines not beginning with the control character are called +.Dq text lines . +They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text +depends on the respective processing context: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.SH Macro lines change control state. Text lines are interpreted within the current state. .Ed -.Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX -.Nm -documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the -space character, and the tab character. -The back-space character -.Sq \e -indicates the start of an escape sequence for -.Sx Comments , -.Sx Predefined Strings , -and -.Sx Special Characters . -.Ss Comments -Text following an escaped double-quote -.Sq \e\(dq , -whether in a macro or text line, is ignored to the end of -line. -A macro line beginning with a control character and comment escape -.Sq \&.\e\(dq -is also ignored. -Furthermore, -macro lines with only a control character and optional trailing -whitespace are -stripped from input. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact -\&.\e\(dq This is a comment line. -\&.\e\(dq The next line is ignored: -\&. -\&.Em Emphasis \e\(dq This is also a comment. -.Ed -.Ss Special Characters -Special characters are used to encode special glyphs and are rendered -differently across output media. -They may occur in both macro and text 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. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \e(em -Two-letter em dash escape. -.It Li \ee -One-letter backslash escape. -.El -.Pp -See -.Xr mandoc_char 7 -for a complete list. -.Ss Text Decoration -Terms may be text-decorated using the -.Sq \ef -escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (regular), or P -(revert to previous mode). -A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and regular, -respectively) may be used instead. -A text decoration is only valid, if specified in free-form text, until -the next macro invocation; if specified within a macro, it's only valid -until the macro closes scope. -Note that macros like -.Sx \&BR -open and close a font scope with each argument. -.Pp -The -.Sq \ef -attribute is forgotten when entering or exiting a macro block. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \efBbold\efR -Write in bold, then switch to regular font mode. -.It Li \efIitalic\efP -Write in italic, then return to previous font mode. -.El -.Ss Predefined Strings -Predefined strings, like -.Sx Special Characters , -mark special output glyphs. -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] . -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \e*(Am -Two-letter ampersand predefined string. -.It Li \e*q -One-letter double-quote predefined string. -.El .Pp -These strings are set using -.Xr roff 7 , -although +Many aspects of the basic syntax of the .Nm -consists of several pre-set escapes listed in -.Xr mandoc_char 7 . -.Ss Whitespace -Whitespace consists of the space character. -In text lines, whitespace is preserved within a line. -In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. -.Pp -Unescaped trailing spaces are stripped from text line input unless in a -literal context. -In general, trailing whitespace on any input line is discouraged for -reasons of portability. -In the rare case that a blank character is needed at the end of an -input line, it may be forced by -.Sq \e\ \e& . -.Pp -In general, space characters can be rendered as literal -characters by using non-breaking space escapes or -.Sx Quotation . -If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed -with a leading newline. -.Ss Quotation -Macro arguments may be quoted with double-quotes to so that the -enclosed text is one literal term. -Quoted text, even if whitespace or if it would cause a macro invocation -when unquoted, is considered literal text. -.Pp -A quoted argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace. -The next double-quote not pairwise adjacent to another double-quote -terminates the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li .BR a \(dqb c\(dq d -Group arguments -.Qq b c -into one un-bolded argument. -If unspecified, -.Qq a -and -.Qq c -will be in bold, -.Qq b -and -.Qq d -in regular font mode. -Furthermore, will be preserved between -.Qq b +language are based on the +.Xr roff 7 +language; see the +.Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX and -.Qq c . -.El -.Ss Scaling Widths -Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments. -The syntax for a scaled width is -.Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] , -where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit. -Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero. -.Pp -The following scaling units are accepted: -.Pp -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It c -centimetre -.It i -inch -.It P -pica (~1/6 inch) -.It p -point (~1/72 inch) -.It f -synonym for -.Sq u -.It v -default vertical span -.It m -width of rendered -.Sq m -.Pq em -character -.It n -width of rendered -.Sq n -.Pq en -character -.It u -default horizontal span -.It M -mini-em (~1/100 em) -.El -.Pp -Using anything other than -.Sq m , -.Sq n , -.Sq u , -or -.Sq v -is necessarily non-portable across output media. -See -.Sx COMPATIBILITY . -.Pp -If a scaling unit is not provided, the numerical value is interpreted -under the default rules of -.Sq v -for vertical spaces and -.Sq u -for horizontal ones. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It \&.HP 2i -two-inch tagged list indentation -.Pq see Sx \&HP -.It \&.sp 2v -two vertical spaces -.Pq see Sx \&sp -.El -.Ss Sentence Spacing -Sentences should terminate at the end of an input line. -By doing this, a formatter will be able to apply the proper amount of -spacing after the end of sentence (unescaped) period, exclamation mark, -or question mark followed by zero or more non-sentence closing -delimiters -.Po -.Sq \&) , -.Sq \&] , -.Sq \&' , -.Sq \&" -.Pc . -.Pp -Examples: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact -Do not end sentences mid-line like this. Instead, -end a sentence like this. -A new sentence gets a new line. -.Ed +.Em MACRO SYNTAX +sections in the +.Xr roff 7 +manual for details, in particular regarding +comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting. .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE Each .Nm @@ -300,7 +88,7 @@ appears as the first macro. .Pp Beyond .Sx \&TH , -at least one macro or text node must appear in the document. +at least one macro or text line must appear in the document. .Pp The following is a well-formed skeleton .Nm @@ -445,150 +233,6 @@ in this section. .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS Documents any security precautions that operators should consider. .El -.Sh MACRO SYNTAX -Macros are one to three characters in length and begin with a -control character, -.Sq \&. , -at the beginning of the line. -The -.Sq \(aq -macro control character is also accepted. -An arbitrary amount of whitespace (spaces or tabs) may sit between the -control character and the macro name. -Thus, the following are equivalent: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.PP -\&.\ \ \ PP -.Ed -.Pp -To include space characters in macro arguments, arguments may be quoted; -see the -.Sq MACRO SYNTAX -section in the -.Xr roff 7 -manual for details. -.Pp -The -.Nm -macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope. -Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some -situations, the subsequent line). -Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until -closed by another block macro. -.Ss Line Macros -Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body -consisting of zero or more arguments. -If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty, -the next line, which must be text, is used instead. -Thus: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.I -foo -.Ed -.Pp -is equivalent to -.Sq \&.I foo . -If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used. -If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is -raised, except for -.Sx \&br , -.Sx \&sp , -and -.Sx \&na . -.Pp -The syntax is as follows: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB -\(lBbody...\(rB -.Ed -.Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope Ta Em Notes -.It Sx \&AT Ta <=1 Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&B Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& -.It Sx \&BI Ta n Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&BR Ta n Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&DT Ta 0 Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&I Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& -.It Sx \&IB Ta n Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&IR Ta n Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&R Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& -.It Sx \&RB Ta n Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&RI Ta n Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&SB Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& -.It Sx \&SM Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& -.It Sx \&TH Ta >1, <6 Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&UC Ta <=1 Ta current Ta \& -.It Sx \&br Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat -.It Sx \&fi Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat -.It Sx \&ft Ta 1 Ta current Ta compat -.It Sx \&in Ta 1 Ta current Ta compat -.It Sx \&na Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat -.It Sx \&nf Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat -.It Sx \&sp Ta 1 Ta current Ta compat -.El -.Pp -Macros marked as -.Qq compat -are included for compatibility with the significant corpus of existing -manuals that mix dialects of roff. -These macros should not be used for portable -.Nm -manuals. -.Ss Block Macros -Block macros comprise a head and body. -As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in -one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in -.Sx Line Macros -apply here as well). -.Pp -The syntax is as follows: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB -\(lBhead...\(rB -\(lBbody...\(rB -.Ed -.Pp -The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed -by -.Sx \&SH ; -sub-section, closed by a section or -.Sx \&SS ; -part, closed by a section, sub-section, or -.Sx \&RE ; -or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part, -.Sx \&HP , -.Sx \&IP , -.Sx \&LP , -.Sx \&P , -.Sx \&PP , -or -.Sx \&TP . -No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro. -.Pp -As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro -while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not -implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect. -.Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope Ta Em Notes -.It Sx \&HP Ta <2 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& -.It Sx \&IP Ta <3 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& -.It Sx \&LP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& -.It Sx \&P Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& -.It Sx \&PP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& -.It Sx \&RE Ta 0 Ta current Ta none Ta compat -.It Sx \&RS Ta 1 Ta current Ta part Ta compat -.It Sx \&SH Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta section Ta \& -.It Sx \&SS Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta sub-section Ta \& -.It Sx \&TP Ta n Ta next-line Ta paragraph Ta \& -.El -.Pp -Macros marked -.Qq compat -are as mentioned in -.Sx Line Macros . -.Pp -If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line -macros for decorating text. .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose. @@ -628,7 +272,7 @@ in the alphabetical reference below. .It Sx RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts .It Sx RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts .El -.Sh REFERENCE +.Sh MACRO REFERENCE This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged alphabetically. For the scoping of individual macros, see @@ -1003,6 +647,143 @@ Defaults to 1, if unspecified. .Pp See also .Sx \&br . +.Sh MACRO SYNTAX +The +.Nm +macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope. +Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some +situations, the subsequent line). +Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until +closed by another block macro. +.Ss Line Macros +Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body +consisting of zero or more arguments. +If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty, +the next line, which must be text, is used instead. +Thus: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +\&.I +foo +.Ed +.Pp +is equivalent to +.Sq \&.I foo . +If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used. +If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is +raised, except for +.Sx \&br , +.Sx \&sp , +and +.Sx \&na . +.Pp +The syntax is as follows: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB +.Ed +.Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope Ta Em Notes +.It Sx \&AT Ta <=1 Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&B Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& +.It Sx \&BI Ta n Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&BR Ta n Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&DT Ta 0 Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&I Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& +.It Sx \&IB Ta n Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&IR Ta n Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&R Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& +.It Sx \&RB Ta n Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&RI Ta n Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&SB Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& +.It Sx \&SM Ta n Ta next-line Ta \& +.It Sx \&TH Ta >1, <6 Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&UC Ta <=1 Ta current Ta \& +.It Sx \&br Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat +.It Sx \&fi Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat +.It Sx \&ft Ta 1 Ta current Ta compat +.It Sx \&in Ta 1 Ta current Ta compat +.It Sx \&na Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat +.It Sx \&nf Ta 0 Ta current Ta compat +.It Sx \&sp Ta 1 Ta current Ta compat +.El +.Pp +Macros marked as +.Qq compat +are included for compatibility with the significant corpus of existing +manuals that mix dialects of roff. +These macros should not be used for portable +.Nm +manuals. +.Ss Block Macros +Block macros comprise a head and body. +As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in +one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in +.Sx Line Macros +apply here as well). +.Pp +The syntax is as follows: +.Bd -literal -offset indent +\&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB +\(lBhead...\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB +.Ed +.Pp +The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed +by +.Sx \&SH ; +sub-section, closed by a section or +.Sx \&SS ; +part, closed by a section, sub-section, or +.Sx \&RE ; +or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part, +.Sx \&HP , +.Sx \&IP , +.Sx \&LP , +.Sx \&P , +.Sx \&PP , +or +.Sx \&TP . +No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro. +.Pp +As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro +while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not +implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect. +.Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope Ta Em Notes +.It Sx \&HP Ta <2 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& +.It Sx \&IP Ta <3 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& +.It Sx \&LP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& +.It Sx \&P Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& +.It Sx \&PP Ta 0 Ta current Ta paragraph Ta \& +.It Sx \&RE Ta 0 Ta current Ta none Ta compat +.It Sx \&RS Ta 1 Ta current Ta part Ta compat +.It Sx \&SH Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta section Ta \& +.It Sx \&SS Ta >0 Ta next-line Ta sub-section Ta \& +.It Sx \&TP Ta n Ta next-line Ta paragraph Ta \& +.El +.Pp +Macros marked +.Qq compat +are as mentioned in +.Sx Line Macros . +.Pp +If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line +macros for decorating text. +.Ss Font handling +In +.Nm +documents, both +.Sx Physical markup +macros and +.Xr roff 7 +.Ql \ef +font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts. +In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by escape sequences +only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts +until the end of the macro scope. +Note that macros like +.Sx \&BR +open and close a font scope for each argument. .Sh COMPATIBILITY This section documents areas of questionable portability between implementations of the @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ .\" $Id$ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv> -.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org> +.\" Copyright (c) 2010, 2011 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org> .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above @@ -20,280 +20,73 @@ .Os .Sh NAME .Nm mdoc -.Nd mdoc language reference +.Nd semantic markup language for formatting manual pages .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm mdoc -language is used to format -.Bx -.Ux -manuals. -This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and -usage. -The reference implementation for +language supports authoring of manual pages for the +.Xr man 1 +utility by allowing semantic annotations of words, phrases, +page sections and complete manual pages. +Such annotations are used by formatting tools to achieve a uniform +presentation across all manuals written in +.Nm , +and to support hyperlinking if supported by the output medium. +.Pp +This reference document describes the structure of manual pages +and the syntax and usage of the .Nm -formatting is +language. +The reference implementation of a parsing and formatting tool is .Xr mandoc 1 ; the .Sx COMPATIBILITY section describes compatibility with other implementations. .Pp -An +In an .Nm -document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control -character +document, lines beginning with the control character .Sq \&. -are parsed for macros. -Lines not beginning with the control character are -interpreted within the scope of prior macros: +are called +.Dq macro lines . +The first word is the macro name. +It consists of two or three letters. +Most macro names begin with a capital letter. +For a list of available macros, see +.Sx MACRO OVERVIEW . +The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro, optionally +including the names of other, callable macros; see +.Sx MACRO SYNTAX +for details. +.Pp +Lines not beginning with the control character are called +.Dq text lines . +They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text +depends on the respective processing context: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Sh Macro lines change control state. Text lines are interpreted within the current state. .Ed -.Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX -.Nm -documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space -character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character. -The back-space character -.Sq \e -indicates the start of an escape sequence for -.Sx Comments , -.Sx Predefined Strings , -and -.Sx Special Characters . -.Ss Comments -Text following an escaped double-quote -.Sq \e\(dq , -whether in a macro or text line, is ignored to the end of -line. -A macro line beginning with a control character and comment escape -.Sq \&.\e\(dq -is also ignored. -Furthermore, -macro lines with only a control character and optional trailing -whitespace are -stripped from input. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact -\&.\e\(dq This is a comment line. -\&.\e\(dq The next line is ignored: -\&. -\&.Em Emphasis \e\(dq This is also a comment. -.Ed -.Ss Special Characters -Special characters are used to encode special glyphs and are rendered -differently across output media. -They may occur in both macro and text 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. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \e(em -Two-letter em dash escape. -.It Li \ee -One-letter backslash escape. -.El .Pp -See -.Xr mandoc_char 7 -for a complete list. -.Ss Text Decoration -Terms may be text-decorated using the -.Sq \ef -escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (regular), or P -(revert to previous mode). -A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and regular, -respectively) may be used instead. -If a macro opens a font scope after calling -.Sq \ef , -such as with -.Sx \&Bf , -the -.Sq \ef -mode will be restored upon exiting the -.Sx \&Bf -scope. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \efBbold\efR -Write in bold, then switch to regular font mode. -.It Li \efIitalic\efP -Write in italic, then return to previous font mode. -.El -.Pp -Text decoration is -.Em not -recommended for -.Nm , -which encourages semantic annotation. -.Ss Predefined Strings -Predefined strings, like -.Sx Special Characters , -mark special output glyphs. -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] . -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \e*(Am -Two-letter ampersand predefined string. -.It Li \e*q -One-letter double-quote predefined string. -.El -.Pp -These strings are set using -.Xr roff 7 , -although +Many aspects of the basic syntax of the .Nm -consists of several pre-set escapes listed in -.Xr mandoc_char 7 . -.Ss Whitespace -Whitespace consists of the space character. -In text lines, whitespace is preserved within a line. -In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. -.Pp -Unescaped trailing spaces are stripped from text line input unless in a -literal context. -In general, trailing whitespace on any input line is discouraged for -reasons of portability. -In the rare case that a blank character is needed at the end of an -input line, it may be forced by -.Sq \e\ \e& . -.Pp -In general, space characters can be rendered as literal -characters by using non-breaking space escapes or -.Sx Quotation . -.Pp -Blank text lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted -within literal contexts. -If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed -with a leading newline. -.Ss Quotation -Macro arguments may be quoted with double-quotes to so that the -enclosed text is one literal term. -Quoted text, even if whitespace or if it would cause a macro invocation -when unquoted, is considered literal text. -.Pp -A quoted argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace. -The next double-quote not pairwise adjacent to another double-quote -terminates the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li .Fn strlen \(dqconst char *s\(dq -Group arguments -.Qq const char *s -into one function argument. -If unspecified, -.Qq const , -.Qq char , +language are based on the +.Xr roff 7 +language; see the +.Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX and -.Qq *s -would be considered separate arguments. -.Pq See Sx \&Fn . -.It Li .Op \(dqFl a\(dq -Consider -.Qq \&Fl a -as literal text instead of a flag macro. -.Pq Aee Sx \&Op , \&Fl . -.El -.Ss Scaling Widths -Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments. -The syntax for a scaled width is -.Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] , -where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit. -Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero. -.Pp -The following scaling units are accepted: -.Pp -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It c -centimetre -.It i -inch -.It P -pica (~1/6 inch) -.It p -point (~1/72 inch) -.It f -synonym for -.Sq u -.It v -default vertical span -.It m -width of rendered -.Sq m -.Pq em -character -.It n -width of rendered -.Sq n -.Pq en -character -.It u -default horizontal span -.It M -mini-em (~1/100 em) -.El -.Pp -Using anything other than -.Sq m , -.Sq n , -.Sq u , -or -.Sq v -is necessarily non-portable across output media. -See -.Sx COMPATIBILITY . -.Pp -Examples: -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It Li \&.Bl -tag -width 2i -two-inch tagged list indentation -.Pq see Sx \&Bl -.It Li \&.sp 2v -two vertical spaces -.Pq see Sx \&sp -.El -.Ss Sentence Spacing -Sentences should terminate at the end of an input line. -By doing this, a formatter will be able to apply the proper amount of -spacing after the end of sentence (unescaped) period, exclamation mark, -or question mark followed by zero or more non-sentence closing -delimiters -.Po -.Sq \&) , -.Sq \&] , -.Sq \&' , -.Sq \&" -.Pc . -.Pp -The proper spacing is also intelligently preserved if a sentence ends at -the boundary of a macro line. -.Pp -Examples: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact -Do not end sentences mid-line like this. Instead, -end a sentence like this. -A macro would end like this: -\&.Xr mandoc 1 \&. -.Ed +.Em MACRO SYNTAX +sections in the +.Xr roff 7 +manual for details, in particular regarding +comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting. +However, using +.Xr roff 7 +requests in +.Nm +documents is discouraged; +.Xr mandoc 1 +supports some of them merely for backward compatibility. .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE A well-formed .Nm @@ -620,397 +413,15 @@ in this section. .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS Documents any security precautions that operators should consider. .El -.Sh MACRO SYNTAX -Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a -control character, -.Sq \&. , -at the beginning of the line. -An arbitrary amount of whitespace may sit between the control character -and the macro name. -Thus, the following are equivalent: -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.Pp -\&.\ \ \ \&Pp -.Ed -.Pp -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; -.Sq \&Yo -opens the scope of a macro; and if specified, -.Sq \&Yc -closes it out. -.Pp -The -.Em Callable -column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name -as an argument to another macro. -For example, -.Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file -produces -.Sq Op Fl O Ar file . -To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally, -escape it by prepending a zero-width space, -.Sq \e& . -For example, -.Sq \&Op \e&Fl O -produces -.Sq Op \&Fl O . -If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument -to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text. -For example, -.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh -produces -.Sq Fl \&Sh . -.Pp -The -.Em Parsed -column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving -their names as arguments. -If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears -as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text. -.Pp -The -.Em Scope -column, if applicable, describes closure rules. -.Ss Block full-explicit -Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. -All macros contains bodies; only -.Sx \&Bf -and -.Pq optionally -.Sx \&Bl -contain a head. -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB -\(lBbody...\(rB -\&.Yc -.Ed -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope -.It Sx \&Bd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ed -.It Sx \&Bf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ef -.It Sx \&Bk Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ek -.It Sx \&Bl Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&El -.It Sx \&Ed Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bd -.It Sx \&Ef Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bf -.It Sx \&Ek Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bk -.It Sx \&El Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bl -.El -.Ss Block full-implicit -Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro. -All macros have bodies; some -.Po -.Sx \&It Fl bullet , -.Fl hyphen , -.Fl dash , -.Fl enum , -.Fl item -.Pc -don't have heads; only one -.Po -.Sx \&It -in -.Sx \&Bl Fl column -.Pc -has multiple heads. -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB -\(lBbody...\(rB -.Ed -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope -.It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El -.It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh -.It Sx \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Nm , Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss -.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh -.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss -.El -.Pp -Note that the -.Sx \&Nm -macro is a -.Sx Block full-implicit -macro only when invoked as the first macro -in a -.Em SYNOPSIS -section line, else it is -.Sx In-line . -.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 -.Po -.Sx \&Fo , -.Sx \&Eo -.Pc -and/or tail -.Pq Sx \&Ec . -.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 -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope -.It Sx \&Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Ao -.It Sx \&Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ac -.It Sx \&Bc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Bo -.It Sx \&Bo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Bc -.It Sx \&Brc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Bro -.It Sx \&Bro Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Brc -.It Sx \&Dc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Do -.It Sx \&Do Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Dc -.It Sx \&Ec Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Eo -.It Sx \&Eo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ec -.It Sx \&Fc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Fo -.It Sx \&Fo Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Fc -.It Sx \&Oc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Oo -.It Sx \&Oo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Oc -.It Sx \&Pc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Po -.It Sx \&Po Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Pc -.It Sx \&Qc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Oo -.It Sx \&Qo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Oc -.It Sx \&Re Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Rs -.It Sx \&Rs Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Re -.It Sx \&Sc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&So -.It Sx \&So Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sc -.It Sx \&Xc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Xo -.It Sx \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Xc -.El -.Ss Block partial-implicit -Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the -end of the line. -.Bd -literal -offset indent -\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB -.Ed -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed -.It Sx \&Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Bq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Brq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&D1 Ta \&No Ta \&Yes -.It Sx \&Dl Ta \&No Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Dq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Op Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Pq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Ql Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Qq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Sq Ta Yes Ta Yes -.It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes -.El -.Pp -Note that the -.Sx \&Vt -macro is a -.Sx Block partial-implicit -only when invoked as the first macro -in a -.Em SYNOPSIS -section line, else it is -.Sx In-line . -.Ss Special block macro -The -.Sx \&Ta -macro can only be used below -.Sx \&It -in -.Sx \&Bl Fl column -lists. -It delimits blocks representing table cells; -these blocks have bodies, but no heads. -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope -.It Sx \&Ta Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ta , Sx \&It -.El -.Ss In-line -Closed by the end of the 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 - -\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc... - -\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN -.Ed -.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "Arguments" -offset indent -.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Arguments -.It Sx \&%A Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%B Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%C Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%D Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%I Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%J Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%N Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%O Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%P Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%Q Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%R Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%T Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%U Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&%V Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&At Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1 -.It Sx \&Bsx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 -.It Sx \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 -.It Sx \&Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 -.It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Nm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&No Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Ns Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Os Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Ot Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Ox Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Pa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Pf Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1 -.It Sx \&Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Rv Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n -.It Sx \&Sm Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 -.It Sx \&St Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1 -.It Sx \&Sx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Sy Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Tn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Ud Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&Ux Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n -.It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 -.It Sx \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 -.It Sx \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 -.El -.Ss Delimiters -When a macro argument consists of one single input character -considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling. -This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing -more than one character. -Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it -like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending -a zero-width space -.Pq Sq \e& . -In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used -as normal punctuation. -.Pp -For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters, -these delimiters are put before the macro scope, -and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters, -these delimiters are put after the macro scope. -For example, -.Pp -.D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ." -.Pp -renders as: -.Pp -.D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) . -.Pp -Opening delimiters are: -.Pp -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It \&( -left parenthesis -.It \&[ -left bracket -.El -.Pp -Closing delimiters are: -.Pp -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It \&. -period -.It \&, -comma -.It \&: -colon -.It \&; -semicolon -.It \&) -right parenthesis -.It \&] -right bracket -.It \&? -question mark -.It \&! -exclamation mark -.El -.Pp -Note that even a period preceded by a backslash -.Pq Sq \e.\& -gets this special handling; use -.Sq \e&. -to prevent that. -.Pp -Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter -delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that -are not delimiters. -For example, -.Pp -.D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e" -.Pp -renders as: -.Pp -.D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e -.Pp -This applies to both opening and closing delimiters, -and also to the middle delimiter: -.Pp -.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact -.It \&| -vertical bar -.El -.Pp -As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered -in the same way as a plain -.Sq \&| -character. -Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals. .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose. -Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found -in the alphabetical reference below. +Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found below +in the alphabetical +.Sx MACRO REFERENCE . .Ss Document preamble and NAME section macros .Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description -.It Sx \&Dd Ta document date: Cm $Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year +.It Sx \&Dd Ta document date: Cm $\&Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year .It Sx \&Dt Ta document title: Ar TITLE section Op Ar volume | arch .It Sx \&Os Ta operating system version: Op Ar system Op Ar version .It Sx \&Nm Ta document name (one argument) @@ -1127,7 +538,7 @@ in the alphabetical reference below. .It Sx \&Ox Ta Ox .It Sx \&Dx Ta Dx .El -.Sh REFERENCE +.Sh MACRO REFERENCE This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged alphabetically. For the scoping of individual macros, see @@ -3183,6 +2594,395 @@ argument must be formatted as described in If unspecified, .Sx \&sp asserts a single vertical space. +.Sh MACRO SYNTAX +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; +.Sq \&Yo +opens the scope of a macro; and if specified, +.Sq \&Yc +closes it out. +.Pp +The +.Em Callable +column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name +as an argument to another macro. +For example, +.Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file +produces +.Sq Op Fl O Ar file . +To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally, +escape it by prepending a zero-width space, +.Sq \e& . +For example, +.Sq \&Op \e&Fl O +produces +.Sq Op \&Fl O . +If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument +to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text. +For example, +.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh +produces +.Sq Fl \&Sh . +.Pp +The +.Em Parsed +column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving +their names as arguments. +If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears +as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text. +.Pp +The +.Em Scope +column, if applicable, describes closure rules. +.Ss Block full-explicit +Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. +All macros contains bodies; only +.Sx \&Bf +and +.Pq optionally +.Sx \&Bl +contain a head. +.Bd -literal -offset indent +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB +\&.Yc +.Ed +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope +.It Sx \&Bd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ed +.It Sx \&Bf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ef +.It Sx \&Bk Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ek +.It Sx \&Bl Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&El +.It Sx \&Ed Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bd +.It Sx \&Ef Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bf +.It Sx \&Ek Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bk +.It Sx \&El Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bl +.El +.Ss Block full-implicit +Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro. +All macros have bodies; some +.Po +.Sx \&It Fl bullet , +.Fl hyphen , +.Fl dash , +.Fl enum , +.Fl item +.Pc +don't have heads; only one +.Po +.Sx \&It +in +.Sx \&Bl Fl column +.Pc +has multiple heads. +.Bd -literal -offset indent +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB +\(lBbody...\(rB +.Ed +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope +.It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El +.It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh +.It Sx \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Nm , Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss +.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh +.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss +.El +.Pp +Note that the +.Sx \&Nm +macro is a +.Sx Block full-implicit +macro only when invoked as the first macro +in a +.Em SYNOPSIS +section line, else it is +.Sx In-line . +.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 +.Po +.Sx \&Fo , +.Sx \&Eo +.Pc +and/or tail +.Pq Sx \&Ec . +.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 +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope +.It Sx \&Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Ao +.It Sx \&Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ac +.It Sx \&Bc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Bo +.It Sx \&Bo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Bc +.It Sx \&Brc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Bro +.It Sx \&Bro Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Brc +.It Sx \&Dc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Do +.It Sx \&Do Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Dc +.It Sx \&Ec Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Eo +.It Sx \&Eo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ec +.It Sx \&Fc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Fo +.It Sx \&Fo Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Fc +.It Sx \&Oc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Oo +.It Sx \&Oo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Oc +.It Sx \&Pc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Po +.It Sx \&Po Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Pc +.It Sx \&Qc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Oo +.It Sx \&Qo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Oc +.It Sx \&Re Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Rs +.It Sx \&Rs Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Re +.It Sx \&Sc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&So +.It Sx \&So Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sc +.It Sx \&Xc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Xo +.It Sx \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Xc +.El +.Ss Block partial-implicit +Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the +end of the line. +.Bd -literal -offset indent +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB +.Ed +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed +.It Sx \&Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Bq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Brq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&D1 Ta \&No Ta \&Yes +.It Sx \&Dl Ta \&No Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Dq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Op Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Pq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Ql Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Qq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Sq Ta Yes Ta Yes +.It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes +.El +.Pp +Note that the +.Sx \&Vt +macro is a +.Sx Block partial-implicit +only when invoked as the first macro +in a +.Em SYNOPSIS +section line, else it is +.Sx In-line . +.Ss Special block macro +The +.Sx \&Ta +macro can only be used below +.Sx \&It +in +.Sx \&Bl Fl column +lists. +It delimits blocks representing table cells; +these blocks have bodies, but no heads. +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope +.It Sx \&Ta Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ta , Sx \&It +.El +.Ss In-line +Closed by the end of the 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 + +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc... + +\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN +.Ed +.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "Arguments" -offset indent +.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Arguments +.It Sx \&%A Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%B Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%C Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%D Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%I Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%J Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%N Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%O Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%P Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%Q Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%R Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%T Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%U Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&%V Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&At Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1 +.It Sx \&Bsx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 +.It Sx \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 +.It Sx \&Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 +.It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Nm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&No Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Ns Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Os Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Ot Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Ox Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Pa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Pf Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1 +.It Sx \&Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Rv Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n +.It Sx \&Sm Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 +.It Sx \&St Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1 +.It Sx \&Sx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Sy Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Tn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Ud Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&Ux Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n +.It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 +.It Sx \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 +.It Sx \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 +.El +.Ss Delimiters +When a macro argument consists of one single input character +considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling. +This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing +more than one character. +Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it +like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending +a zero-width space +.Pq Sq \e& . +In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used +as normal punctuation. +.Pp +For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters, +these delimiters are put before the macro scope, +and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters, +these delimiters are put after the macro scope. +For example, +.Pp +.D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ." +.Pp +renders as: +.Pp +.D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) . +.Pp +Opening delimiters are: +.Pp +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It \&( +left parenthesis +.It \&[ +left bracket +.El +.Pp +Closing delimiters are: +.Pp +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It \&. +period +.It \&, +comma +.It \&: +colon +.It \&; +semicolon +.It \&) +right parenthesis +.It \&] +right bracket +.It \&? +question mark +.It \&! +exclamation mark +.El +.Pp +Note that even a period preceded by a backslash +.Pq Sq \e.\& +gets this special handling; use +.Sq \e&. +to prevent that. +.Pp +Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter +delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that +are not delimiters. +For example, +.Pp +.D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e" +.Pp +renders as: +.Pp +.D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e +.Pp +This applies to both opening and closing delimiters, +and also to the middle delimiter: +.Pp +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It \&| +vertical bar +.El +.Pp +As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered +in the same way as a plain +.Sq \&| +character. +Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals. +.Ss Font handling +In +.Nm +documents, usage of semantic markup is recommended in order to have +proper fonts automatically selected; only when no fitting semantic markup +is available, consider falling back to +.Sx Physical markup +macros. +Whenever any +.Nm +macro switches the +.Xr roff 7 +font mode, it will automatically restore the previous font when exiting +its scope. +Manually switching the font using the +.Xr roff 7 +.Ql \ef +font escape sequences is never required. .Sh COMPATIBILITY This section documents compatibility between mandoc and other other troff implementations, at this time limited to GNU troff @@ -1,7 +1,7 @@ .\" $Id$ .\" -.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv> -.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org> +.\" Copyright (c) 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv> +.\" Copyright (c) 2010, 2011 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org> .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above @@ -25,38 +25,279 @@ The .Nm roff language is a general purpose text formatting language. -In particular, it serves as the basis for the +Since traditional implementations of the .Xr mdoc 7 and .Xr man 7 -manual formatting macro languages. -This manual describes the subset of the +manual formatting languages are based on it, +many real-world manuals use small numbers of .Nm -language accepted by the +requests intermixed with their +.Xr mdoc 7 +or +.Xr man 7 +code. +To properly format such manuals, the .Xr mandoc 1 -utility. +utility supports a tiny subset of +.Nm +requests. +Only these requests supported by +.Xr mandoc 1 +are documented in the present manual, +together with the basic language syntax shared by +.Nm , +.Xr mdoc 7 , +and +.Xr man 7 . +For complete +.Nm +manuals, consult the +.Sx SEE ALSO +section. .Pp -Input lines beginning with the control characters +Input lines beginning with the control character .Sq \&. -or -.Sq \(aq are parsed for requests and macros. -These define the document structure, change the processing state -and manipulate the formatting. -Some requests and macros also produce formatted output, -while others do not. -.Pp -All other input lines provide free-form text to be printed; -the formatting of free-form text depends on the respective -processing context. +Such lines are called +.Dq request lines +or +.Dq macro lines , +respectively. +Requests change the processing state and manipulate the formatting; +some macros also define the document structure and produce formatted +output. +The single quote +.Pq Qq \(aq +is accepted as an alternative control character, +treated by +.Xr mandoc 1 +just like +.Ql \&. +.Pp +Lines not beginning with control characters are called +.Dq text lines . +They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text +depends on the respective processing context. .Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX .Nm documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character. -To produce other characters in the output, use the escape sequences -documented in the +The back-space character +.Sq \e +indicates the start of an escape sequence for +.Sx Comments , +.Sx Special Characters , +.Sx Predefined Strings , +and +user-defined strings defined using the +.Sx ds +request. +.Ss Comments +Text following an escaped double-quote +.Sq \e\(dq , +whether in a request, macro, or text line, is ignored to the end of the line. +A request line beginning with a control character and comment escape +.Sq \&.\e\(dq +is also ignored. +Furthermore, request lines with only a control character and optional +trailing whitespace are stripped from input. +.Pp +Examples: +.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact +\&.\e\(dq This is a comment line. +\&.\e\(dq The next line is ignored: +\&. +\&.Sh EXAMPLES \e\(dq This is a comment, too. +\&example text \e\(dq And so is this. +.Ed +.Ss Special Characters +Special characters are used to encode special glyphs and are rendered +differently across output media. +They may occur in request, macro, and text 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. +.Pp +Examples: +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It Li \e(em +Two-letter em dash escape. +.It Li \ee +One-letter backslash escape. +.El +.Pp +See .Xr mandoc_char 7 -manual. +for a complete list. +.Ss Text Decoration +Terms may be text-decorated using the +.Sq \ef +escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (regular), or P +(revert to previous mode). +A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and regular, +respectively) may be used instead. +.Pp +Examples: +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It Li \efBbold\efR +Write in bold, then switch to regular font mode. +.It Li \efIitalic\efP +Write in italic, then return to previous font mode. +.El +.Pp +Text decoration is +.Em not +recommended for +.Xr mdoc 7 , +which encourages semantic annotation. +.Ss Predefined Strings +Predefined strings, like +.Sx Special Characters , +mark special output glyphs. +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] . +.Pp +Examples: +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It Li \e*(Am +Two-letter ampersand predefined string. +.It Li \e*q +One-letter double-quote predefined string. +.El +.Pp +Predefined strings are not recommended for use, +as they differ across implementations. +Those supported by +.Xr mandoc 1 +are listed in +.Xr mandoc_char 7 . +Manuals using these predefined strings are almost certainly not portable. +.Ss Whitespace +Whitespace consists of the space character. +In text lines, whitespace is preserved within a line. +In request and macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. +.Pp +Unescaped trailing spaces are stripped from text line input unless in a +literal context. +In general, trailing whitespace on any input line is discouraged for +reasons of portability. +In the rare case that a blank character is needed at the end of an +input line, it may be forced by +.Sq \e\ \e& . +.Pp +Literal space characters can be produced in the output +using escape sequences. +In macro lines, they can also be included in arguments using quotation; see +.Sx MACRO SYNTAX +for details. +.Pp +Blank text lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted +within literal contexts. +If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed +with a leading newline. +.Ss Scaling Widths +Many requests and macros support scaled widths for their arguments. +The syntax for a scaled width is +.Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] , +where a decimal must be preceded or followed by at least one digit. +Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero. +.Pp +The following scaling units are accepted: +.Pp +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It c +centimetre +.It i +inch +.It P +pica (~1/6 inch) +.It p +point (~1/72 inch) +.It f +synonym for +.Sq u +.It v +default vertical span +.It m +width of rendered +.Sq m +.Pq em +character +.It n +width of rendered +.Sq n +.Pq en +character +.It u +default horizontal span +.It M +mini-em (~1/100 em) +.El +.Pp +Using anything other than +.Sq m , +.Sq n , +.Sq u , +or +.Sq v +is necessarily non-portable across output media. +See +.Sx COMPATIBILITY . +.Pp +If a scaling unit is not provided, the numerical value is interpreted +under the default rules of +.Sq v +for vertical spaces and +.Sq u +for horizontal ones. +.Pp +Examples: +.Bl -tag -width ".Bl -tag -width 2i" -offset indent -compact +.It Li \&.Bl -tag -width 2i +two-inch tagged list indentation in +.Xr mdoc 7 +.It Li \&.HP 2i +two-inch tagged list indentation in +.Xr man 7 +.It Li \&.sp 2v +two vertical spaces +.El +.Ss Sentence Spacing +Each sentence should terminate at the end of an input line. +By doing this, a formatter will be able to apply the proper amount of +spacing after the end of sentence (unescaped) period, exclamation mark, +or question mark followed by zero or more non-sentence closing +delimiters +.Po +.Sq \&) , +.Sq \&] , +.Sq \&' , +.Sq \&" +.Pc . +.Pp +The proper spacing is also intelligently preserved if a sentence ends at +the boundary of a macro line. +.Pp +Examples: +.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact +Do not end sentences mid-line like this. Instead, +end a sentence like this. +A macro would end like this: +\&.Xr mandoc 1 \&. +.Ed .Sh REQUEST SYNTAX A request or macro line consists of: .Pp @@ -83,20 +324,25 @@ Thus, the following request lines are all equivalent: \&. ig end .Ed .Sh MACRO SYNTAX -Macros can be defined by the +Macros are provided by the +.Xr mdoc 7 +and +.Xr man 7 +languages and can be defined by the .Sx \&de request. When called, they follow the same syntax as requests, except that macro arguments may optionally be quoted by enclosing them in double quote characters .Pq Sq \(dq . -To be recognised as the beginning of a quoted argument, the opening -quote character must be preceded by a space character. -.Pp -A quoted argument may contain whitespace, and pairs of double quote -characters +Quoted text, even if it contains whitespace or would cause +a macro invocation when unquoted, is always considered literal text. +Inside quoted text, pairs of double quote characters .Pq Sq Qq resolve to single double quote characters. +.Pp +To be recognised as the beginning of a quoted argument, the opening +quote character must be preceded by a space character. A quoted argument extends to the next double quote character that is not part of a pair, or to the end of the input line, whichever comes earlier. Leaving out the terminating double quote character at the end of the line @@ -114,6 +360,24 @@ In unquoted arguments, space characters can alternatively be included by preceding them with a backslash .Pq Sq \e\~ , but quoting is usually better for clarity. +.Pp +Examples: +.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact +.It Li .Fn strlen \(dqconst char *s\(dq +Group arguments +.Qq const char *s +into one function argument. +If unspecified, +.Qq const , +.Qq char , +and +.Qq *s +would be considered separate arguments. +.It Li .Op \(dqFl a\(dq +Consider +.Qq \&Fl a +as literal text instead of a flag macro. +.El .Sh REQUEST REFERENCE The .Xr mandoc 1 |