path: root/man.3

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.Dd $Mdocdate$
.Dt MAN 3
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm man ,
.Nm man_alloc ,
.Nm man_endparse ,
.Nm man_free ,
.Nm man_meta ,
.Nm man_node ,
.Nm man_parseln ,
.Nm man_reset
.Nd man macro compiler library
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.In mandoc.h
.In regs.h
.In man.h
.Vt extern const char * const * man_macronames;
.Ft "struct man *"
.Fn man_alloc "void *data" "int pflags" "mandocmsg msgs"
.Ft int
.Fn man_endparse "struct man *man"
.Ft void
.Fn man_free "struct man *man"
.Ft "const struct man_meta *"
.Fn man_meta "const struct man *man"
.Ft "const struct man_node *"
.Fn man_node "const struct man *man"
.Ft int
.Fo man_parseln
.Fa "struct man *man"
.Fa "const struct regset *regs"
.Fa "int line"
.Fa "char *buf"
.Fc
.Ft void
.Fn man_reset "struct man *man"
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
library parses lines of
.Xr man 7
input into an abstract syntax tree (AST).
.Pp
In general, applications initiate a parsing sequence with
.Fn man_alloc ,
parse each line in a document with
.Fn man_parseln ,
close the parsing session with
.Fn man_endparse ,
operate over the syntax tree returned by
.Fn man_node
and
.Fn man_meta ,
then free all allocated memory with
.Fn man_free .
The
.Fn man_reset
function may be used in order to reset the parser for another input
sequence.
See the
.Sx EXAMPLES
section for a full example.
.Pp
Beyond the full set of macros defined in
.Xr man 7 ,
the
.Nm
library also accepts the following macros:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -compact
.It PD
Has no effect.  Handled as a current-scope line macro.
.It Sp
A synonym for
.Sq sp 0.5v
.Pq part of the standard preamble for Perl documentation .
Handled as a line macro.
.It Vb
A synonym for
.Sq nf
.Pq part of the standard preamble for Perl documentation .
Handled as a current-scope line macro.
.It Ve
A synonym for
.Sq fi ,
closing
.Sq Vb
.Pq part of the standard preamble for Perl documentation .
Handled as a current-scope line macro.
.El
.Pp
Furthermore, the following escapes are accepted to allow
.Xr pod2man 1
documents to be correctly formatted:
\e*(-- (dash),
\e*(PI (pi),
\e*(L" (left double-quote),
\e*(R" (right double-quote),
\e*(C+ (C++),
\e*(C` (left single-quote),
\e*(C' (right single-quote),
\e*(Aq (apostrophe),
\e*^ (hat),
\e*, (comma),
\e*~ (tilde),
\e*/ (forward slash),
\e*: (umlaut),
\e*8 (beta),
\e*o (degree),
\e*(D- (Eth),
\e*(d- (eth),
\e*(Th (Thorn),
and
\e*(th (thorn).
.Sh REFERENCE
This section further defines the
.Sx Types ,
.Sx Functions
and
.Sx Variables
available to programmers.
Following that, the
.Sx Abstract Syntax Tree
section documents the output tree.
.Ss Types
Both functions (see
.Sx Functions )
and variables (see
.Sx Variables )
may use the following types:
.Bl -ohang
.It Vt struct man
An opaque type defined in
.Pa man.c .
Its values are only used privately within the library.
.It Vt mandocmsg
A function callback type defined in
.Pa mandoc.h .
.It Vt struct man_node
A parsed node.
Defined in
.Pa man.h .
See
.Sx Abstract Syntax Tree
for details.
.El
.Ss Functions
Function descriptions follow:
.Bl -ohang
.It Fn man_alloc
Allocates a parsing structure.
The
.Fa data
pointer is passed to
.Fa msgs .
The
.Fa pflags
arguments are defined in
.Pa man.h .
Returns NULL on failure.
If non-NULL, the pointer must be freed with
.Fn man_free .
.It Fn man_reset
Reset the parser for another parse routine.
After its use,
.Fn man_parseln
behaves as if invoked for the first time.
.It Fn man_free
Free all resources of a parser.
The pointer is no longer valid after invocation.
.It Fn man_parseln
Parse a nil-terminated line of input.
This line should not contain the trailing newline.
Returns 0 on failure, 1 on success.
The input buffer
.Fa buf
is modified by this function.
.It Fn man_endparse
Signals that the parse is complete.
Note that if
.Fn man_endparse
is called subsequent to
.Fn man_node ,
the resulting tree is incomplete.
Returns 0 on failure, 1 on success.
.It Fn man_node
Returns the first node of the parse.
Note that if
.Fn man_parseln
or
.Fn man_endparse
return 0, the tree will be incomplete.
.It Fn man_meta
Returns the document's parsed meta-data.
If this information has not yet been supplied or
.Fn man_parseln
or
.Fn man_endparse
return 0, the data will be incomplete.
.El
.Ss Variables
The following variables are also defined:
.Bl -ohang
.It Va man_macronames
An array of string-ified token names.
.El
.Ss Abstract Syntax Tree
The
.Nm
functions produce an abstract syntax tree (AST) describing input in a
regular form.
It may be reviewed at any time with
.Fn man_nodes ;
however, if called before
.Fn man_endparse ,
or after
.Fn man_endparse
or
.Fn man_parseln
fail, it may be incomplete.
.Pp
This AST is governed by the ontological rules dictated in
.Xr man 7
and derives its terminology accordingly.
.Pp
The AST is composed of
.Vt struct man_node
nodes with element, root and text types as declared by the
.Va type
field.
Each node also provides its parse point (the
.Va line ,
.Va sec ,
and
.Va pos
fields), its position in the tree (the
.Va parent ,
.Va child ,
.Va next
and
.Va prev
fields) and some type-specific data.
.Pp
The tree itself is arranged according to the following normal form,
where capitalised non-terminals represent nodes.
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "ELEMENTXX" -compact
.It ROOT
\(<- mnode+
.It mnode
\(<- ELEMENT | TEXT | BLOCK
.It BLOCK
\(<- HEAD BODY
.It HEAD
\(<- mnode*
.It BODY
\(<- mnode*
.It ELEMENT
\(<- ELEMENT | TEXT*
.It TEXT
\(<- [[:alpha:]]*
.El
.Pp
The only elements capable of nesting other elements are those with
next-lint scope as documented in
.Xr man 7 .
.Sh EXAMPLES
The following example reads lines from stdin and parses them, operating
on the finished parse tree with
.Fn parsed .
This example does not error-check nor free memory upon failure.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
struct man *man;
struct man_node *node;
char *buf;
size_t len;
int line;

line = 1;
man = man_alloc(NULL, 0, NULL);
buf = NULL;
alloc_len = 0;

while ((len = getline(&buf, &alloc_len, stdin)) >= 0) {
    if (len && buflen[len - 1] = '\en')
        buf[len - 1] = '\e0';
    if ( ! man_parseln(man, line, buf))
        errx(1, "man_parseln");
    line++;
}

free(buf);

if ( ! man_endparse(man))
    errx(1, "man_endparse");
if (NULL == (node = man_node(man)))
    errx(1, "man_node");

parsed(man, node);
man_free(man);
.Ed
.Pp
Please see
.Pa main.c
in the source archive for a rigorous reference.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr mandoc 1 ,
.Xr man 7
.Sh AUTHORS
The
.Nm
library was written by
.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@bsd.lv .