path: root/mdoc.7

.\" $Id$
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
.\"
.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
.\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all
.\" copies.
.\"
.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL
.\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED
.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
.\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
.\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
.\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
.\" 
.Dd $Mdocdate$
.Dt mdoc 7
.Os
.\" SECTION
.Sh NAME
.Nm mdoc
.Nd mdoc macro reference
.\" SECTION
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm mdoc
language is used to format 
.Bx 
.Ux
manuals.  An
.Nm
document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control
character
.Sq \.
are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
prior macros.  This document describes the encoding, ontology and syntax
of these macros.
.\" SECTION
.Sh CHARACTER ENCODING
.Nm
documents may contain only printable alphanumeric characters, the space
character
.Sq \  ,
and, in certain circumstances, the tab character
.Sq \et .
All manuals must have
.Sq \en
line termination.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Reserved Characters
Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset XXXX -compact
.It \&.
.Pq period
.It \&,
.Pq comma
.It \&:
.Pq colon
.It \&;
.Pq semicolon
.It \&(
.Pq left-parenthesis
.It \&)
.Pq right-parenthesis
.It \&[
.Pq left-bracket
.It \&]
.Pq right-bracket
.It \&?
.Pq question
.It \&!
.Pq exclmamation 
.El
.Pp
Use of these characters must either be escaped with a non-breaking space
.Pq Sq \e&
or, if applicable, an appropriate escape-sequence used.  Use of reserved
characters is described later in this document.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Special Characters
Special character sequences begin with the escape character
.Sq \\
and 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
Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,
.Sq \\* ,
with the same combinations as described above.  This form, however, is
deprecated.  The following is a table of all available escapes, arranged
by classification.  
.Pp
Grammatic:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
.It \\(em
.Pq em-dash
.It \\(en
.Pq en-dash
.It \e-
.Pq hyphen
.It \\\\
.Pq back-slash
.It \e'
.Pq apostrophe
.It \e`
.Pq back-tick
.It \\
.Pq space
.It \\.
.Pq period
.El
.\" PARAGRAPH
.Pp
Enclosures:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
.It \\(rC
.Pq right brace
.It \\(lC
.Pq left brace
.It \\(ra
.Pq right angle
.It \\(la
.Pq left angle
.It \\(rB
.Pq right bracket
.It \\(lB
.Pq left bracket
.It \\q
.Pq double-quote
.It \\(lq
.Pq left double-quote
.It \\(Lq
.Pq left double-quote, deprecated
.It \\(rq
.Pq right double-quote
.It \\(Rq
.Pq right double-quote, deprecated
.It \\(oq
.Pq left single-quote
.It \\(aq
.Pq right single-quote
.El
.\" PARAGRAPH
.Pp
Indicatives:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
.It \\(<-
.Pq left arrow
.It \\(->
.Pq right arrow
.It \\(ua
.Pq up arrow
.It \\(da
.Pq down arrow
.El
.\" PARAGRAPH
.Pp
Mathematical:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
.It \\(Gt
.Pq greater-than, deprecated
.It \\(Lt
.Pq less-than, deprecated
.It \\(<=
.Pq less-than-equal
.It \\(Le
.Pq less-than-equal, deprecated
.It \\(>=
.Pq greater-than-equal
.It \\(Ge
.Pq greater-than-equal
.It \\(==
.Pq equal
.It \\(!=
.Pq not equal
.It \\(Ne
.Pq not equal, deprecated
.It \\(if
.Pq infinity
.It \\(If
.Pq infinity, deprecated
.It \\(na
.Pq NaN , an extension
.It \\(Na
.Pq NaN, deprecated
.It \\(+-
.Pq plus-minus
.It \\(Pm
.Pq plus-minus, deprecated
.It \\(**
.Pq asterisk
.El
.\" PARAGRAPH
.Pp
Diacritics:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
.It \\(ga
.Pq accent grave
.It \\(aa
.Pq accent accute
.El
.\" PARAGRAPH
.Pp
Special symbols:
.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
.It \\(bu
.Pq bullet
.It \\(ba
.Pq bar
.It \\(Ba
.Pq bar, deprecated
.It \\(co
.Pq copyright
.It \\&
.Pq non-breaking space
.It \\e
.Pq escape
.It \\(Am
.Pq ampersand, deprecated
.El 
.\" SECTION
.Sh ONTOLOGY
Macros are classified in an ontology described by scope rules.  
.Bl -inset 
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It Em Block
macros enclose other block macros, in-line macros or text, and
may span multiple lines.  
.Qq Implicit 
block scope is closed by a subsequent invocation of the same macro,
one of a set of corresponding closure macros or end-of-file.
.Qq Explicit 
block scope is closed by a corresponding closure macro.
.Bl -inset -offset XXXX
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It Em Full-block
macros always span multiple lines.  They consist optionally of one or
more
.Qq heads ,
subsequent macros or text on the same line following invocation; a
.Qq body ,
which spans subsequent lines of text or macros; and an optional
.Qq tail ,
macros or text on the same line following closure.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It Em Partial-block
macros may span multiple lines.  They consists optionally of a 
.Qq head ,
text immediately following invocation; always a 
.Qq body ,
text or macros following the head on the same and subsequent lines; and
optionally a
.Qq tail ,
text immediately following closure.
.El
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It Em In-line
macros may only enclose text and span at most a single line.  If
a macro is parsable, its scope may be closed by subsequent macros or
delimiting punctuation.  In-line macros follow different conventions for
closure; see 
.Sx MACROS 
for per-macro details.
.El
.\" .\" SUB-SECTION
.\" .Ss Examples
.\" The following examples illustrate each macro classification.
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Implicit full-block.  Has head, body and no tail.  Scope closed by
.\" second
.\" .Sq \&Sh
.\" invocation.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
.\" \&.Sh SECTION 1
.\" body...
.\" \&.Sh SECTION 2
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Nested implicit full-block, where the subsection
.\" .Sq \&Ss
.\" is within the scope of the parent section
.\" .Sq \&Sh
.\" and closed along with its parent by the subsequent
.\" .Sq \&Sh .
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
.\" \&.Sh SECTION 1
.\" \&.Ss Subsection 1
.\" body...
.\" \&.Sh SECTION 2
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Explicit full-block.  Has a head, a body and no tail.  Scope closed by 
.\" .Sq \&Ef
.\" invocation.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
.\" \&.Bf symbolic
.\" body...
.\" \&.Ef
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Nested explicit/implicit scope.  
.\" .Sq \&It
.\" macro is an implicit block whose scope is closed by the explicit
.\" .Sq \&El
.\" closure.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
.\" \&.Bl \-bullet
.\" \&.It head
.\" body...
.\" \&.El
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Explicit partial-block.  Has head, body and tail.  Scope closed by
.\" .Sq \&Ec 
.\" invocation.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX
.\" \&.Eo head body... \&Ec tail
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Implicit partial-block.  Has only body.  Scope is closed by end-of-line.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX
.\" \&.Sq body...
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Explicit partial-block with only body and scope closed by 
.\" .Sq \&Ac
.\" invocation.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
.\" \&.Ao body... \&Ac
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Implicit partial-block enclosing explicit partial-block.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX
.\" \&.Sq body... \&Ao body... \&Ac
.\" .Ed
.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
.\" .Pp
.\" Inline macros, several in sequence.  Scope is closed for
.\" .Sq \&Fl
.\" by the punctuation delimiter and 
.\" .Sq \&Ar
.\" by the end-of-line.
.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
.\" \&.Fl text0 text1 ; Ar text0 text1
.\" .Ed
.\" SECTION
.Sh SYNTAX
Macros are generally two and at times three characters in length.  The
syntax of macro invocation depends on its classification.  
.Qq \-arg
refers to the macro arguments (which may contain zero or more values).
In these illustrations, 
.Sq \&.Yo
opens the scope of a macro, and if specified,
.Sq \&.Yc
closes it out (closure may be implicit at end-of-line or end-of-file).
.Pp
Block full-explicit (may contain head, body, tail):
.Bd -literal -offset XXXX
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
\&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
.Ed
.Pp
Block full-implicit (may contain zero or more heads, body, no tail):
.Bd -literal -offset XXXX
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
\&.Yc
.Ed
.Pp
Block partial-explicit (may contain head, multi-line body, tail):
.Bd -literal -offset XXXX
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB 
\(lBbody...\(rB
\&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \
\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
.Ed
.Pp
Block partial-implicit (no head, body, no tail):
.Bd -literal -offset XXXX
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB
.Ed
.Pp
In-line (may be closed by end-of-line, reserved character, subsequent
macro invocation or finite number of arguments):
.Bd -literal -offset XXX
\&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB args...

\&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB args... ;

\&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB args... Xx

\&.Yy \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN
.Ed
.\"
.Sh MACROS
This section contains a complete list of all 
.Nm
macros, arranged ontologically.  A 
.Qq callable
macro is may be invoked subsequent to the initial macro-line macro.  A
.Qq parsable
macro may be followed by further (ostensibly callable) macros.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Block full-implicit
The head of these macros follows invocation; the body is the content of
subsequent lines prior to closure.  None of these macros have tails;
some 
.Po
.Sq \&It \-bullet , 
.Sq \-hyphen , 
.Sq \-dash ,
.Sq \-enum ,
.Sq \-item 
.Pc
don't have heads.
.Pp
.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Closing" -compact -offset XXXX
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Closing
.It \&.Sh    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&.Sh
.It \&.Ss    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&.Sh, \&.Ss
.It \&.It    Ta    \&No    Ta    Yes     Ta    \&.It, \&.El
.El
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Block full-explicit
None of these macros are callable or parsed.  The last column indicates
the explicit scope rules.  All contains bodies, some may contain heads 
.Pq So \&Bf Sc .
.Pp
.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX" -compact -offset XXXX
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
.It \&.Bd    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.Ed
.It \&.Ed    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bd
.It \&.Bl    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.El
.It \&.El    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bl
.It \&.Bf    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.Ef
.It \&.Ef    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bf
.It \&.Bk    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    closed by \&.Ek
.It \&.Ek    Ta    \&No    Ta    \&No    Ta    opened by \&.Bk
.El
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Block partial-implicit
All of these are callable and parsed for further macros.  Their scopes
close at the invocation's end-of-line.
.Pp
.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset XXXX
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable
.It \&.Aq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Op    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Bq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Dq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Pq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Qq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Sq    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.Brq   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.It \&.D1    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&Yes
.It \&.Dl    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes
.It \&.Ql    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes
.El
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Block partial-explicit
Each of these contains at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a
head 
.Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc
and/or tail 
.Pq So \&Ec Sc .
.Pp
.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset XXXX
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
.It \&.Ao    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Ac
.It \&.Ac    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Ao
.It \&.Bc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Bo
.It \&.Bo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Bc
.It \&.Pc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Po
.It \&.Po    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Pc
.It \&.Do    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Dc
.It \&.Dc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Do
.It \&.Xo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Xc
.It \&.Xc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Xo
.It \&.Bro   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Brc
.It \&.Brc   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Bro
.It \&.Oc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Oo
.It \&.Oo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Oc
.It \&.So    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Sc
.It \&.Sc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.So
.It \&.Fc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Fo
.It \&.Fo    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No   Ta    closed by \&.Fc
.It \&.Ec    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Eo
.It \&.Eo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Ec
.It \&.Qc    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    opened by \&.Oo
.It \&.Qo    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes    Ta    closed by \&.Oc
.It \&.Re    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No   Ta    opened by \&.Rs
.It \&.Rs    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No   Ta    closed by \&.Re
.El
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss In-line 
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.
.Pp
.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset XXXX
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments
.It \&.Dd    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.Dt    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Os    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Pp    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    0
.It \&.Ad    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.An    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Ar    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Cd    Ta    Yes   Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.Cm    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Dv    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Er    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Ev    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Ex    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    0
.It \&.Fa    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Fd    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.Fl    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Fn    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Ft    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Ic    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.In    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Li    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Nd    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Nm    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Ot    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Pa    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Rv    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    0
.It \&.St    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    1
.It \&.Va    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Vt    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Xr    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0, <3
.It \&.%A    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%B    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%C    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%D    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%I    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%J    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%N    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%O    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%P    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%R    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%T    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.%V    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    >0
.It \&.At    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    1
.It \&.Bsx   Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Bx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Db    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    1
.It \&.Em    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Fx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Ms    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.No    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    0
.It \&.Ns    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    0
.It \&.Nx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Ox    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Pf    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    1
.It \&.Sm    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    1
.It \&.Sx    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Sy    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Tn    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Ux    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    n
.It \&.Bt    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    0
.It \&.Hf    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Fr    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    n
.It \&.Ud    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    0
.It \&.Lb    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    1
.It \&.Ap    Ta    Yes   Ta    Yes     Ta    0
.It \&.Lp    Ta    \&No  Ta    \&No    Ta    0
.It \&.Lk    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.It \&.Mt    Ta    \&No  Ta    Yes     Ta    >0
.El
.\" SECTION
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr mdoctree 1 ,
.Xr mdoclint 1 ,
.Xr mdocterm 1 ,
.Xr mdoc 3
.\" SECTION
.Sh HISTORY
This manual describes the language accepted by
.Xr mdoc 3 ,
which implements the roff-mdoc macro package.
.\" SECTION
.Sh AUTHORS
The
.Nm
utility was written by 
.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .