groff (1.23.0)
This is groff.info, produced by makeinfo version 7.0.3 from groff.texi.
This manual documents GNU 'troff' version 1.23.0.
Copyright © 1994-2023 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this
document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License,
Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software
Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and
no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the
section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
INFO-DIR-SECTION Typesetting
START-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
* Groff: (groff). The GNU roff document formatting system.
END-INFO-DIR-ENTRY
File: groff.info, Node: Selecting Fonts, Next: Font Families, Prev: Using Fonts, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.1 Selecting Fonts
----------------------
We use "font" to refer to any of several means of identifying a font: by
mounting position ('3'), by abstract style ('B'), or by its identifier
('TB').
-- Request: .ft [font]
-- Escape sequence: \ff
-- Escape sequence: \f(fn
-- Escape sequence: \f[font]
-- Register: \n[.fn]
The 'ft' request selects the typeface FONT. If the argument is
absent or 'P', it selects the previously chosen font. If FONT is a
non-negative integer, it is interpreted as mounting position; the
font mounted there is selected. If that position refers to an
abstract style, it is combined with the default family (see 'fam'
and '\F' below) to make a resolved font name. If the mounting
position is not a style and no font is mounted there, GNU 'troff'
emits a warning in category 'font' and ignores the request.
If FONT matches a style name, it is combined with the current
family to make a resolved font name. Otherwise, FONT is assumed to
already be a resolved font name.
The resolved font name is subject to translation (see request 'ftr'
below). Next, the (possibly translated) font name's mounting
position is looked up; if not mounted, FONT is sought on the file
system as a font description file and, if located, automatically
mounted at the next available position (see register '.fp' below).
If the font was mounted using an identifier different from its font
description file name (see request 'fp' below), that file name is
then looked up. If a font description file for the resolved font
name is not found, GNU 'troff' emits a warning in category 'font'
and ignores the request.
The '\f' escape sequence is similar, using one-character name (or
mounting position) F, two-character name FN, or a name FONT of
arbitrary length. '\f[]' selects the previous font. The syntax
form '\fP' is supported for backward compatibility, and '\f[P]' for
consistency.
eggs, bacon,
.ft I
spam,
.ft
and sausage.
.br
eggs, bacon, \fIspam,\fP and sausage.
=> eggs, bacon, spam, and sausage
=> eggs, bacon, spam, and sausage
The current and previously selected fonts are properties of the
environment (*note Environments::).
The read-only string-valued register '.fn' contains the resolved
font name of the selected font.
'\f' doesn't produce an input token in GNU 'troff'; it thus can be
used in requests that expect a single-character argument. We can
assign a font to a margin character as follows (*note
Miscellaneous::).
.mc \f[I]x\f[]
-- Request: .ftr f [g]
Translate font F to font G. Whenever a font named F is referred to
in a '\f' escape sequence, in the 'F' and 'S' conditional
operators, or in the 'ft', 'ul', 'bd', 'cs', 'tkf', 'special',
'fspecial', 'fp', or 'sty' requests, font G is used. If G is
missing or equal to F the translation is undone.
Font translations cannot be chained.
.ftr XXX TR
.ftr XXX YYY
.ft XXX
error-> warning: can't find font 'XXX'
-- Request: .fzoom f [zoom]
-- Register: \n[.zoom]
Set magnification of font F to factor ZOOM, which must be a
non-negative integer multiple of 1/1000th. This request is useful
to adjust the optical size of a font in relation to the others. In
the example below, font 'CR' is magnified by 10% (the zoom factor
is thus 1.1).
.fam P
.fzoom CR 1100
.ps 12
Palatino and \f[CR]Courier\f[]
A missing or zero value of ZOOM is the same as a value of 1000,
which means no magnification. F must be a resolved font name, not
an abstract style.
The magnification of a font is completely transparent to GNU
'troff'; a change of the zoom factor doesn't cause any effect
except that the dimensions of glyphs, (word) spaces, kerns, etc.,
of the affected font are adjusted accordingly.
The zoom factor of the current font is available in the read-only
register '.zoom', in multiples of 1/1000th. It returns zero if
there is no magnification.
File: groff.info, Node: Font Families, Next: Font Positions, Prev: Selecting Fonts, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.2 Font Families
--------------------
To accommodate the wide variety of fonts available, GNU 'troff'
distinguishes "font families" and "font styles". A resolved font name
is the catenation of a font family and a style. Selecting an abstract
style causes GNU 'troff' to combine it with the default font family.
You can thus compose a document using abstract styles exclusively for
its body or running text, selecting a specific family only for titles or
examples, for instance, and change the default family on the command
line (recall *note Groff Options::).
Fonts for the devices 'ps', 'pdf', 'dvi', 'lj4', 'lbp', and the X11
devices support this mechanism. By default, GNU 'troff' uses the Times
family with the four styles 'R', 'I', 'B', and 'BI'.
-- Request: .fam [family]
-- Register: \n[.fam]
-- Escape sequence: \Ff
-- Escape sequence: \F(fm
-- Escape sequence: \F[family]
Set the default font family, used in combination with abstract
styles to construct a resolved font name, to FAMILY (one-character
name F, two-character name FM). If no argument is given, GNU
'troff' selects the previous font family; if there none, is it
falls back to the device's default(1) (*note Font
Families-Footnote-1::) or its own ('T').
The '\F' escape sequence works similarly. In disanalogy to '\f',
'\FP' makes 'P' the default family. Use '\F[]' to select the
previous default family. The default font family is available in
the read-only string-valued register '.fam'; it is associated with
the environment (*note Environments::).
spam, \" startup defaults are T (Times) R (roman)
.fam H \" make Helvetica the default family
spam, \" family H + style R = HR
.ft B \" family H + style B = HB
spam,
.ft CR \" Courier roman (default family not changed)
spam,
.ft \" back to Helvetica bold
spam,
.fam T \" make Times the default family
spam, \" family T + style B = TB
.ft AR \" font AR (not a style)
baked beans,
.ft R \" family T + style R = TR
and spam.
'\F' doesn't produce an input token in GNU 'troff'. As a
consequence, it can be used in requests like 'mc' (which expects a
single character as an argument) to change the font family on the
fly.
.mc \F[P]x\F[]
-- Request: .sty n style
-- Register: \n[.sty]
Associate an abstract style STYLE with mounting position N, which
must be a non-negative integer. If the requests 'cs', 'bd', 'tkf',
'uf', or 'fspecial' are applied to an abstract style, they are
instead applied to the member of the current family corresponding
to that style.
The default family can be set with the '-f' option (*note Groff
Options::). The 'styles' command in the 'DESC' file controls which
font positions (if any) are initially associated with abstract
styles rather than fonts.
*Caution:* The STYLE argument is not validated. Errors may occur
later, when the formatter attempts to construct a resolved font
name, or format a character for output.
.nr BarPos \n[.fp]
.sty \n[.fp] Bar
.fam Foo
.ft \n[BarPos]
.tm .f=\n[.f]
A
error-> error: no font family named 'Foo' exists
error-> .f=41
error-> error: cannot format glyph: no current font
When an abstract style has been selected, the read-only
string-valued register '.sty' interpolates its name; this datum is
associated with the environment (*note Environments::). Otherwise,
'.sty' interpolates nothing.
File: groff.info, Node: Font Families-Footnotes, Up: Font Families
(1) *Note DESC File Format::.
File: groff.info, Node: Font Positions, Next: Using Symbols, Prev: Font Families, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.3 Font Positions
---------------------
To support typeface indirection through abstract styles, and for
compatibility with AT&T 'troff', the formatter maintains a list of font
"positions" at which fonts required by a document are "mounted". An
output device's description file 'DESC' typically configures a set of
pre-mounted fonts; see *note Device and Font Description Files::. A
font need not be explicitly mounted before it is selected; GNU 'troff'
will search 'GROFF_FONT_PATH' for it by name and mount it at the first
free mounting position on demand.
-- Request: .fp pos id [font-description-file-name]
-- Register: \n[.f]
-- Register: \n[.fp]
Mount a font under the name ID at mounting position POS, a
non-negative integer. When the formatter starts up, it reads the
output device's description to mount an initial set of faces, and
selects font position 1. Position 0 is unused by default. Unless
the FONT-DESCRIPTION-FILE-NAME argument is given, ID should be the
name of a font description file stored in a directory corresponding
to the selected output device. GNU 'troff' does not traverse
directories to locate the font description file.
The optional third argument enables font names to be aliased, which
can be necessary in compatibility mode since AT&T 'troff' syntax
affords no means of identifying fonts with names longer than two
characters, like 'TBI' or 'ZCMI', in a font selection escape
sequence. *Note Compatibility Mode::. You can also alias fonts on
mounting for convenience or abstraction. (See below regarding the
'.fp' register.)
.fp \n[.fp] SC ZCMI
Send a \f(SChand-written\fP thank-you note.
.fp \n[.fp] Emph TI
.fp \n[.fp] Strong TB
Are \f[Emph]these names\f[] \f[Strong]comfortable\f[]?
'DESC', 'P', and non-negative integers are not usable as font
identifiers.
The position of the currently selected font (or abstract style) is
available in the read-only register '.f'. It is associated with
the environment (*note Environments::).
You can copy the value of '.f' to another register to save it for
later use.
.nr saved-font \n[.f]
... text involving many font changes ...
.ft \n[saved-font]
The index of the next (non-zero) free font position is available in
the read-only register '.fp'. Fonts not listed in the 'DESC' file
are automatically mounted at position '\n[.fp]' when selected with
the 'ft' request or '\f' escape sequence. When mounting a font at
a position explicitly with the 'fp' request, this same practice
should be followed, although GNU 'troff' does not enforce this
strictly.
File: groff.info, Node: Using Symbols, Next: Character Classes, Prev: Font Positions, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.4 Using Symbols
--------------------
A "glyph" is a graphical representation of a "character". While a
character is an abstraction of semantic information, a glyph is
something that can be seen on screen or paper. A character has many
possible representation forms (for example, the character 'A' can be
written in an upright or slanted typeface, producing distinct glyphs).
Sometimes, a sequence of characters map to a single glyph: this is a
"ligature"--the most common is 'fi'.
Space characters never become glyphs in GNU 'troff'. If not
discarded (as when trailing on text lines), they are represented by
horizontal motions in the output.
A "symbol" is simply a named glyph. Within 'gtroff', all glyph names
of a particular font are defined in its font file. If the user requests
a glyph not available in this font, 'gtroff' looks up an ordered list of
"special fonts". By default, the PostScript output device supports the
two special fonts 'SS' (slanted symbols) and 'S' (symbols) (the former
is looked up before the latter). Other output devices use different
names for special fonts. Fonts mounted with the 'fonts' keyword in the
'DESC' file are globally available. To install additional special fonts
locally (i.e., for a particular font), use the 'fspecial' request.
Here are the exact rules how 'gtroff' searches a given symbol:
* If the symbol has been defined with the 'char' request, use it.
This hides a symbol with the same name in the current font.
* Check the current font.
* If the symbol has been defined with the 'fchar' request, use it.
* Check whether the current font has a font-specific list of special
fonts; test all fonts in the order of appearance in the last
'fspecial' call if appropriate.
* If the symbol has been defined with the 'fschar' request for the
current font, use it.
* Check all fonts in the order of appearance in the last 'special'
call.
* If the symbol has been defined with the 'schar' request, use it.
* As a last resort, consult all fonts loaded up to now for special
fonts and check them, starting with the lowest font number. This
can sometimes lead to surprising results since the 'fonts' line in
the 'DESC' file often contains empty positions, which are filled
later on. For example, consider the following:
fonts 3 0 0 FOO
This mounts font 'foo' at font position 3. We assume that 'FOO' is
a special font, containing glyph 'foo', and that no font has been
loaded yet. The line
.fspecial BAR BAZ
makes font 'BAZ' special only if font 'BAR' is active. We further
assume that 'BAZ' is really a special font, i.e., the font
description file contains the 'special' keyword, and that it also
contains glyph 'foo' with a special shape fitting to font 'BAR'.
After executing 'fspecial', font 'BAR' is loaded at font
position 1, and 'BAZ' at position 2.
We now switch to a new font 'XXX', trying to access glyph 'foo'
that is assumed to be missing. There are neither font-specific
special fonts for 'XXX' nor any other fonts made special with the
'special' request, so 'gtroff' starts the search for special fonts
in the list of already mounted fonts, with increasing font
positions. Consequently, it finds 'BAZ' before 'FOO' even for
'XXX', which is not the intended behaviour.
*Note Device and Font Description Files::, and *note Special Fonts::,
for more details.
The 'groff_char(7)' man page houses a complete list of predefined
special character names, but the availability of any as a glyph is
device- and font-dependent. For example, say
man -Tdvi groff_char > groff_char.dvi
to obtain those available with the DVI device and default font
configuration.(1) (*note Using Symbols-Footnote-1::) If you want to use
an additional macro package to change the fonts used, 'groff' (or
'gtroff') must be run directly.
groff -Tdvi -mec -man groff_char.7 > groff_char.dvi
Special character names not listed in 'groff_char(7)' are derived
algorithmically, using a simplified version of the Adobe Glyph List
(AGL) algorithm, which is described in
<https://github.com/adobe-type-tools/agl-aglfn>. The (frozen) set of
names that can't be derived algorithmically is called the "'groff' glyph
list (GGL)".
* A glyph for Unicode character U+XXXX[X[X]], which is not a
composite character is named 'uXXXX[X[X]]'. X must be an uppercase
hexadecimal digit. Examples: 'u1234', 'u008E', 'u12DB8'. The
largest Unicode value is 0x10FFFF. There must be at least four 'X'
digits; if necessary, add leading zeroes (after the 'u'). No zero
padding is allowed for character codes greater than 0xFFFF.
Surrogates (i.e., Unicode values greater than 0xFFFF represented
with character codes from the surrogate area U+D800-U+DFFF) are not
allowed either.
* A glyph representing more than a single input character is named
'u' COMPONENT1 '_' COMPONENT2 '_' COMPONENT3 ...
Example: 'u0045_0302_0301'.
For simplicity, all Unicode characters that are composites must be
maximally decomposed to NFD;(2) (*note Using Symbols-Footnote-2::)
for example, 'u00CA_0301' is not a valid glyph name since U+00CA
(LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH CIRCUMFLEX) can be further decomposed
into U+0045 (LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E) and U+0302 (COMBINING
CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT). 'u0045_0302_0301' is thus the glyph name for
U+1EBE, LATIN CAPITAL LETTER E WITH CIRCUMFLEX AND ACUTE.
* groff maintains a table to decompose all algorithmically derived
glyph names that are composites itself. For example, 'u0100'
(LATIN LETTER A WITH MACRON) is automatically decomposed into
'u0041_0304'. Additionally, a glyph name of the GGL is preferred
to an algorithmically derived glyph name; 'groff' also
automatically does the mapping. Example: The glyph 'u0045_0302' is
mapped to '^E'.
* glyph names of the GGL can't be used in composite glyph names; for
example, '^E_u0301' is invalid.
-- Escape sequence: \(nm
-- Escape sequence: \[name]
-- Escape sequence: \[base-glyph combining-component ...]
Typeset a special character NAME (two-character name NM) or a
composite glyph consisting of BASE-GLYPH overlaid with one or more
COMBINING-COMPONENTs. For example, '\[A ho]' is a capital letter
"A" with a "hook accent" (ogonek).
There is no special syntax for one-character names--the analogous
form '\N' would collide with other escape sequences. However, the
four escape sequences '\'', '\-', '\_', and '\`', are translated on
input to the special character escape sequences '\[aa]', '\[-]',
'\[ul]', and '\[ga]', respectively.
A special character name of length one is not the same thing as an
ordinary character: that is, the character 'a' is not the same as
'\[a]'.
If NAME is undefined, a warning in category 'char' is produced and
the escape is ignored. *Note Warnings::, for information about the
enablement and suppression of warnings.
GNU 'troff' resolves '\[...]' with more than a single component as
follows:
* Any component that is found in the GGL is converted to the
'uXXXX' form.
* Any component 'uXXXX' that is found in the list of
decomposable glyphs is decomposed.
* The resulting elements are then concatenated with '_' in
between, dropping the leading 'u' in all elements but the
first.
No check for the existence of any component (similar to 'tr'
request) is done.
Examples:
'\[A ho]'
'A' maps to 'u0041', 'ho' maps to 'u02DB', thus the final
glyph name would be 'u0041_02DB'. This is not the expected
result: the ogonek glyph 'ho' is a spacing ogonek, but for a
proper composite a non-spacing ogonek (U+0328) is necessary.
Looking into the file 'composite.tmac', one can find
'.composite ho u0328', which changes the mapping of 'ho' while
a composite glyph name is constructed, causing the final glyph
name to be 'u0041_0328'.
'\[^E u0301]'
'\[^E aa]'
'\[E a^ aa]'
'\[E ^ ']'
'^E' maps to 'u0045_0302', thus the final glyph name is
'u0045_0302_0301' in all forms (assuming proper calls of the
'composite' request).
It is not possible to define glyphs with names like 'A ho' within a
'groff' font file. This is not really a limitation; instead, you
have to define 'u0041_0328'.
-- Escape sequence: \C'xxx'
Typeset the glyph of the special character XXX. Normally, it is
more convenient to use '\[XXX]', but '\C' has some advantages: it
is compatible with AT&T device-independent 'troff' (and therefore
available in compatibility mode(3) (*note Using
Symbols-Footnote-3::)) and can interpolate special characters with
']' in their names. The delimiter need not be a neutral
apostrophe; see *note Delimiters::.
-- Request: .composite id1 id2
Map special character name ID1 to ID2 if ID1 is used in '\[...]'
with more than one component. See above for examples. This is a
strict rewriting of the special character name; no check is
performed for the existence of a glyph for either. A set of
default mappings for many accents can be found in the file
'composite.tmac', loaded by the default 'troffrc' at startup.
-- Escape sequence: \N'n'
Typeset the glyph with code N in the current font ('n' is _not_ the
input character code). The number N can be any non-negative
decimal integer. Most devices only have glyphs with codes between
0 and 255; the Unicode output device uses codes in the range
0-65535. If the current font does not contain a glyph with that
code, special fonts are _not_ searched. The '\N' escape sequence
can be conveniently used in conjunction with the 'char' request:
.char \[phone] \f[ZD]\N'37'
The code of each glyph is given in the fourth column in the font
description file after the 'charset' command. It is possible to
include unnamed glyphs in the font description file by using a name
of '---'; the '\N' escape sequence is the only way to use these.
No kerning is applied to glyphs accessed with '\N'. The delimiter
need not be a neutral apostrophe; see *note Delimiters::.
A few escape sequences are also special characters.
-- Escape sequence: \'
An escaped neutral apostrophe is a synonym for '\[aa]' (acute
accent).
-- Escape sequence: \`
An escaped grave accent is a synonym for '\[ga]' (grave accent).
-- Escape sequence: \-
An escaped hyphen-minus is a synonym for '\[-]' (minus sign).
-- Escape sequence: \_
An escaped underscore ("low line") is a synonym for '\[ul]'
(underrule). On typesetting devices, the underrule is
font-invariant and drawn lower than the underscore '_'.
-- Request: .cflags n c1 c2 ...
Assign properties encoded by the number N to characters C1, C2, and
so on.
Input characters, including special characters introduced by an
escape, have certain properties associated with them.(4) (*note
Using Symbols-Footnote-4::) These properties can be modified with
this request. The first argument is the sum of the desired flags
and the remaining arguments are the characters to be assigned those
properties. Spaces between the CN arguments are optional. Any
argument CN can be a character class defined with the 'class'
request rather than an individual character. *Note Character
Classes::.
The non-negative integer N is the sum of any of the following.
Some combinations are nonsensical, such as '33' (1 + 32).
'1'
Recognize the character as ending a sentence if followed by a
newline or two spaces. Initially, characters '.?!' have this
property.
'2'
Enable breaks before the character. A line is not broken at a
character with this property unless the characters on each
side both have non-zero hyphenation codes. This exception can
be overridden by adding 64. Initially, no characters have
this property.
'4'
Enable breaks after the character. A line is not broken at a
character with this property unless the characters on each
side both have non-zero hyphenation codes. This exception can
be overridden by adding 64. Initially, characters
'\-\[hy]\[em]' have this property.
'8'
Mark the glyph associated with this character as overlapping
other instances of itself horizontally. Initially, characters
'\[ul]\[rn]\[ru]\[radicalex]\[sqrtex]' have this property.
'16'
Mark the glyph associated with this character as overlapping
other instances of itself vertically. Initially, the
character '\[br]' has this property.
'32'
Mark the character as transparent for the purpose of
end-of-sentence recognition. In other words, an
end-of-sentence character followed by any number of characters
with this property is treated as the end of a sentence if
followed by a newline or two spaces. This is the same as
having a zero space factor in TeX. Initially, characters
'"')]*\[dg]\[dd]\[rq]\[cq]' have this property.
'64'
Ignore hyphenation codes of the surrounding characters. Use
this in combination with values 2 and 4 (initially, no
characters have this property).
For example, if you need an automatic break point after the
en-dash in numeric ranges like "3000-5000", insert
.cflags 68 \[en]
into your document. However, this practice can lead to bad
layout if done thoughtlessly; in most situations, a better
solution instead of changing the 'cflags' value is to insert
'\:' right after the hyphen at the places that really need a
break point.
The remaining values were implemented for East Asian language
support; those who use alphabetic scripts exclusively can disregard
them.
'128'
Prohibit a line break before the character, but allow a line
break after the character. This works only in combination
with flags 256 and 512 and has no effect otherwise.
Initially, no characters have this property.
'256'
Prohibit a line break after the character, but allow a line
break before the character. This works only in combination
with flags 128 and 512 and has no effect otherwise.
Initially, no characters have this property.
'512'
Allow line break before or after the character. This works
only in combination with flags 128 and 256 and has no effect
otherwise. Initially, no characters have this property.
In contrast to values 2 and 4, the values 128, 256, and 512 work
pairwise. If, for example, the left character has value 512, and
the right character 128, no break will be automatically inserted
between them. If we use value 6 instead for the left character, a
break after the character can't be suppressed since the neighboring
character on the right doesn't get examined.
-- Request: .char c [contents]
-- Request: .fchar c [contents]
-- Request: .fschar f c [contents]
-- Request: .schar c [contents]
Define a new character or glyph C to be CONTENTS, which can be
empty. More precisely, 'char' defines a 'groff' object (or
redefines an existing one) that is accessed with the name C on
input, and produces CONTENTS on output. Every time glyph C needs
to be printed, CONTENTS is processed in a temporary environment and
the result is wrapped up into a single object. Compatibility mode
is turned off and the escape character is set to '\' while CONTENTS
is processed. Any emboldening, constant spacing, or track kerning
is applied to this object rather than to individual glyphs in
CONTENTS.
An object defined by these requests can be used just like a normal
glyph provided by the output device. In particular, other
characters can be translated to it with the 'tr' or 'trin'
requests; it can be made the leader character with the 'lc'
request; repeated patterns can be drawn with it using the '\l' and
'\L' escape sequences; and words containing C can be hyphenated
correctly if the 'hcode' request is used to give the object a
hyphenation code.
There is a special anti-recursion feature: use of the object within
its own definition is handled like a normal character (not defined
with 'char').
The 'tr' and 'trin' requests take precedence if 'char' accesses the
same symbol.
.tr XY
X
=> Y
.char X Z
X
=> Y
.tr XX
X
=> Z
The 'fchar' request defines a fallback glyph: 'gtroff' only checks
for glyphs defined with 'fchar' if it cannot find the glyph in the
current font. 'gtroff' carries out this test before checking
special fonts.
'fschar' defines a fallback glyph for font F: 'gtroff' checks for
glyphs defined with 'fschar' after the list of fonts declared as
font-specific special fonts with the 'fspecial' request, but before
the list of fonts declared as global special fonts with the
'special' request.
Finally, the 'schar' request defines a global fallback glyph:
'gtroff' checks for glyphs defined with 'schar' after the list of
fonts declared as global special fonts with the 'special' request,
but before the already mounted special fonts.
*Note Character Classes::.
-- Request: .rchar c ...
-- Request: .rfschar f c ...
Remove definition of each ordinary or special character C, undoing
the effect of a 'char', 'fchar', or 'schar' request. Those
supplied by font description files cannot be removed. Spaces and
tabs may separate C arguments.
The request 'rfschar' removes glyph definitions defined with
'fschar' for font F.
File: groff.info, Node: Using Symbols-Footnotes, Up: Using Symbols
(1) Not all versions of the 'man' program support the '-T' option;
use the subsequent example for an alternative.
(2) This is "Normalization Form D" as documented in Unicode Standard
Annex #15 (<https://unicode.org/reports/tr15/>).
(3) *Note Compatibility Mode::.
(4) Output glyphs don't--to GNU 'troff', a glyph is simply a box with
an index into a font, a given height above and depth below the baseline,
and a width.
File: groff.info, Node: Character Classes, Next: Special Fonts, Prev: Using Symbols, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.5 Character Classes
------------------------
Classes are particularly useful for East Asian languages such as
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, where the number of needed characters is
much larger than in European languages, and where large sets of
characters share the same properties.
-- Request: .class name c1 c2 ...
Define a character class (or simply "class") NAME comprising the
characters C1, C2, and so on.
A class thus defined can then be referred to in lieu of listing all
the characters within it. Currently, only the 'cflags' request can
handle references to character classes.
In the request's simplest form, each CN is a character (or special
character).
.class [quotes] ' \[aq] \[dq] \[oq] \[cq] \[lq] \[rq]
Since class and glyph names share the same name space, it is
recommended to start and end the class name with '[' and ']',
respectively, to avoid collisions with existing character names
defined by GNU 'troff' or the user (with 'char' and related
requests). This practice applies the presence of ']' in the class
name to prevent the use of the special character escape form
'\[...]', thus you must use the '\C' escape to access a class with
such a name.
You can also use a character range notation consisting of a start
character followed by '-' and then an end character. Internally,
GNU 'troff' converts these two symbol names to Unicode code points
(according to the 'groff' glyph list [GGL]), which then give the
start and end value of the range. If that fails, the class
definition is skipped.
Furthermore, classes can be nested.
.class [prepunct] , : ; > }
.class [prepunctx] \C'[prepunct]' \[u2013]-\[u2016]
The class '[prepunctx]' thus contains the contents of the class
'[prepunct]' as defined above (the set ', : ; > }'), and characters
in the range between 'U+2013' and 'U+2016'.
If you want to include '-' in a class, it must be the first
character value in the argument list, otherwise it gets
misinterpreted as part of the range syntax.
It is not possible to use class names as end points of range
definitions.
A typical use of the 'class' request is to control line-breaking
and hyphenation rules as defined by the 'cflags' request. For
example, to inhibit line breaks before the characters belonging to
the 'prepunctx' class defined in the previous example, you can
write the following.
.cflags 2 \C'[prepunctx]'
See the 'cflags' request in *note Using Symbols::, for more
details.
File: groff.info, Node: Special Fonts, Next: Artificial Fonts, Prev: Character Classes, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.6 Special Fonts
--------------------
Special fonts are those that 'gtroff' searches when it cannot find the
requested glyph in the current font. The Symbol font is usually a
special font.
'gtroff' provides the following two requests to add more special
fonts. *Note Using Symbols::, for a detailed description of the glyph
searching mechanism in 'gtroff'.
Usually, only non-TTY devices have special fonts.
-- Request: .special [s1 s2 ...]
-- Request: .fspecial f [s1 s2 ...]
Use the 'special' request to define special fonts. Initially, this
list is empty.
Use the 'fspecial' request to designate special fonts only when
font F is active. Initially, this list is empty.
Previous calls to 'special' or 'fspecial' are overwritten; without
arguments, the particular list of special fonts is set to empty.
Special fonts are searched in the order they appear as arguments.
All fonts that appear in a call to 'special' or 'fspecial' are
loaded.
*Note Using Symbols::, for the exact search order of glyphs.
File: groff.info, Node: Artificial Fonts, Next: Ligatures and Kerning, Prev: Special Fonts, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.7 Artificial Fonts
-----------------------
There are a number of requests and escape sequences for artificially
creating fonts. These are largely vestiges of the days when output
devices did not have a wide variety of fonts, and when 'nroff' and
'troff' were separate programs. Most of them are no longer necessary in
GNU 'troff'. Nevertheless, they are supported.
-- Escape sequence: \H'height'
-- Escape sequence: \H'+height'
-- Escape sequence: \H'-height'
-- Register: \n[.height]
Change (increment, decrement) the height of the current font, but
not the width. If HEIGHT is zero, restore the original height.
Default scaling unit is 'z'.
The read-only register '.height' contains the font height as set by
'\H'.
Currently, only the '-Tps' and '-Tpdf' devices support this
feature.
'\H' doesn't produce an input token in GNU 'troff'. As a
consequence, it can be used in requests like 'mc' (which expects a
single character as an argument) to change the font on the fly:
.mc \H'+5z'x\H'0'
In compatibility mode, 'gtroff' behaves differently: If an
increment or decrement is used, it is always taken relative to the
current type size and not relative to the previously selected font
height. Thus,
.cp 1
\H'+5'test \H'+5'test
prints the word 'test' twice with the same font height (five points
larger than the current font size).
-- Escape sequence: \S'slant'
-- Register: \n[.slant]
Slant the current font by SLANT degrees. Positive values slant to
the right. Only integer values are possible.
The read-only register '.slant' contains the font slant as set by
'\S'.
Currently, only the '-Tps' and '-Tpdf' devices support this
feature.
'\S' doesn't produce an input token in GNU 'troff'. As a
consequence, it can be used in requests like 'mc' (which expects a
single character as an argument) to change the font on the fly:
.mc \S'20'x\S'0'
This escape is incorrectly documented in the AT&T 'troff' manual;
the slant is always set to an absolute value.
-- Request: .ul [lines]
The 'ul' request normally underlines subsequent lines if a TTY
output device is used. Otherwise, the lines are printed in italics
(only the term 'underlined' is used in the following). The single
argument is the quantity of input lines to be underlined; with no
argument, the next line is underlined. If LINES is zero or
negative, stop the effects of 'ul' (if it was active). Requests
and empty lines do not count for computing the number of underlined
input lines, even if they produce some output like 'tl'. Lines
inserted by macros (e.g., invoked by a trap) do count.
At the beginning of 'ul', the current font is stored and the
underline font is activated. Within the span of a 'ul' request, it
is possible to change fonts, but after the last line affected by
'ul' the saved font is restored.
This number of lines still to be underlined is associated with the
environment (*note Environments::). The underline font can be
changed with the 'uf' request.
The 'ul' request does not underline spaces.
-- Request: .cu [lines]
The 'cu' request is similar to 'ul' but underlines spaces as well
(if a TTY output device is used).
-- Request: .uf font
Set the underline font (globally) used by 'ul' and 'cu'. By
default, this is the font at position 2. FONT can be either a
non-negative font position or the name of a font.
-- Request: .bd font [offset]
-- Request: .bd font1 font2 [offset]
-- Register: \n[.b]
Embolden FONT by overstriking its glyphs offset by OFFSET units
minus one.
Two syntax forms are available.
* Imitate a bold font unconditionally. The first argument
specifies the font to embolden, and the second is the number
of basic units, minus one, by which the two glyphs are offset.
If the second argument is missing, emboldening is turned off.
FONT can be either a non-negative font position or the name of
a font.
OFFSET is available in the '.b' read-only register if a
special font is active; in the 'bd' request, its default unit
is 'u'.
* Imitate a bold form conditionally. Embolden FONT1 by OFFSET
only if font FONT2 is the current font. This request can be
issued repeatedly to set up different emboldening values for
different current fonts. If the second argument is missing,
emboldening is turned off for this particular current font.
This affects special fonts only (either set up with the
'special' command in font files or with the 'fspecial'
request).
-- Request: .cs font [width [em-size]]
Switch to and from "constant glyph space mode". If activated, the
width of every glyph is WIDTH/36 ems. The em size is given
absolutely by EM-SIZE; if this argument is missing, the em value is
taken from the current font size (as set with the 'ps' request)
when the font is effectively in use. Without second and third
argument, constant glyph space mode is deactivated.
Default scaling unit for EM-SIZE is 'z'; WIDTH is an integer.
File: groff.info, Node: Ligatures and Kerning, Next: Dummy Characters, Prev: Artificial Fonts, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.8 Ligatures and Kerning
----------------------------
Ligatures are groups of characters that are run together, i.e, producing
a single glyph. For example, the letters 'f' and 'i' can form a
ligature 'fi' as in the word 'file'. This produces a cleaner look
(albeit subtle) to the printed output. Usually, ligatures are not
available in fonts for TTY output devices.
Most PostScript fonts support the fi and fl ligatures. The C/A/T
typesetter that was the target of AT&T 'troff' also supported 'ff',
'ffi', and 'ffl' ligatures. Advanced typesetters or 'expert' fonts may
include ligatures for 'ft' and 'ct', although GNU 'troff' does not
support these (yet).
Only the current font is checked for ligatures and kerns; neither
special fonts nor special charcters defined with the 'char' request (and
its siblings) are taken into account.
-- Request: .lg [flag]
-- Register: \n[.lg]
Switch the ligature mechanism on or off; if the parameter is
non-zero or missing, ligatures are enabled, otherwise disabled.
Default is on. The current ligature mode can be found in the
read-only register '.lg' (set to 1 or 2 if ligatures are enabled,
0 otherwise).
Setting the ligature mode to 2 enables the two-character ligatures
(fi, fl, and ff) and disables the three-character ligatures (ffi
and ffl).
"Pairwise kerning" is another subtle typesetting mechanism that
modifies the distance between a glyph pair to improve readability. In
most cases (but not always) the distance is decreased. Typewriter-like
fonts and fonts for terminals where all glyphs have the same width don't
use kerning.
-- Request: .kern [flag]
-- Register: \n[.kern]
Switch kerning on or off. If the parameter is non-zero or missing,
enable pairwise kerning, otherwise disable it. The read-only
register '.kern' is set to 1 if pairwise kerning is enabled,
0 otherwise.
If the font description file contains pairwise kerning information,
glyphs from that font are kerned. Kerning between two glyphs can
be inhibited by placing '\&' between them: 'V\&A'.
*Note Font Description File Format::.
"Track kerning" expands or reduces the space between glyphs. This
can be handy, for example, if you need to squeeze a long word onto a
single line or spread some text to fill a narrow column. It must be
used with great care since it is usually considered bad typography if
the reader notices the effect.
-- Request: .tkf f s1 n1 s2 n2
Enable track kerning for font F. If the current font is F the
width of every glyph is increased by an amount between N1 and N2
(N1, N2 can be negative); if the current type size is less than or
equal to S1 the width is increased by N1; if it is greater than or
equal to S2 the width is increased by N2; if the type size is
greater than or equal to S1 and less than or equal to S2 the
increase in width is a linear function of the type size.
The default scaling unit is 'z' for S1 and S2, 'p' for N1 and N2.
The track kerning amount is added even to the rightmost glyph in a
line; for large values it is thus recommended to increase the line
length by the same amount to compensate.
File: groff.info, Node: Italic Corrections, Next: Dummy Characters, Prev: Ligatures and Kerning, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.9 Italic Corrections
-------------------------
When typesetting adjacent glyphs from typefaces of different slants, the
space between them may require adjustment.
-- Escape sequence: \/
Apply an "italic correction": modify the spacing of the preceding
glyph so that the distance between it and the following glyph is
correct if the latter is of upright shape. For example, if an
italic 'f' is followed immediately by a roman right parenthesis,
then in many fonts the top right portion of the 'f' overlaps the
top left of the right parenthesis, which is ugly. Use this escape
sequence whenever an oblique glyph is immediately followed by an
upright glyph without any intervening space.
-- Escape sequence: \,
Apply a "left italic correction": modify the spacing of the
following glyph so that the distance between it and the preceding
glyph is correct if the latter is of upright shape. For example,
if a roman left parenthesis is immediately followed by an
italic 'f', then in many fonts the bottom left portion of the 'f'
overlaps the bottom of the left parenthesis, which is ugly. Use
this escape sequence whenever an upright glyph is followed
immediately by an oblique glyph without any intervening space.
File: groff.info, Node: Dummy Characters, Prev: Italic Corrections, Up: Using Fonts
5.19.10 Dummy Characters
------------------------
As discussed in *note Requests and Macros::, the first character on an
input line is treated specially. Further, formatting a glyph has many
consequences on formatter state (*note Environments::). Occasionally,
we want to escape this context or embrace some of those consequences
without actually rendering a glyph to the output.
-- Escape sequence: \&
Interpolate a dummy character, which is constitutive of output but
invisible.(1) (*note Dummy Characters-Footnote-1::) Its presence
alters the interpretation context of a subsequent input character,
and enjoys several applications.
* Prevent insertion of extra space after an end-of-sentence
character.
Test.
Test.
=> Test. Test.
Test.\&
Test.
=> Test. Test.
* Prevent recognition of a control character.
.Test
error-> warning: macro 'Test' not defined
\&.Test
=> .Test
* Prevent kerning between two glyphs.
* Translate a character to "nothing".
.tr JIjiK\&k\&UVuv
Post universitum, alea jacta est, OK?
=> Post vniversitvm, alea iacta est, O?
The dummy character escape sequence sees use in macro definitions
as a means of ensuring that arguments are treated as text even if
they begin with spaces or control characters.
.de HD \" typeset a simple bold heading
. sp
. ft B
\&\\$1 \" exercise: remove the \&
. ft
. sp
..
.HD .\|.\|.\|surprised?
One way to think about the dummy character is to imagine placing the
symbol '&' in the input at a certain location; if doing so has all the
side effects on formatting that you desire except for sticking an ugly
ampersand in the midst of your text, the dummy character is what you
want in its place.
-- Escape sequence: \)
Interpolate a transparent dummy character--one that is transparent
to end-of-sentence detection. It behaves as '\&', except that '\&'
is treated as letters and numerals normally are after '.', '?' and
'!'; '\&' cancels end-of-sentence detection, and '\)' does not.
.de Suffix-&
. nop \&\\$1
..
.
.de Suffix-)
. nop \)\\$1
..
.
Here's a sentence.\c
.Suffix-& '
Another one.\c
.Suffix-) '
And a third.
=> Here's a sentence.' Another one.' And a third.
File: groff.info, Node: Dummy Characters-Footnotes, Up: Dummy Characters
(1) Opinions of this escape sequence's name abound. "Zero-width
space" is a popular misnomer: 'roff' formatters do not treat it like a
space. Ossanna called it a "non-printing, zero-width character", but
the character causes _output_ even though it does not "print". If no
output line is pending, the dummy character starts one. Contrast an
empty input document with one containing only '\&'. The former produces
no output; the latter, a blank page.
File: groff.info, Node: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing, Next: Colors, Prev: Using Fonts, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.20 Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing
================================================
These concepts were introduced in *note Page Geometry::. The height of
a font's tallest glyph is one em, which is equal to the type size in
points.(1) (*note Manipulating Type Size and Vertical
Spacing-Footnote-1::) A vertical spacing of less than 120% of the type
size can make a document hard to read. Larger proportions can be useful
to spread the text for annotations or proofreader's marks. By default,
GNU 'troff' uses 10 point type on 12 point spacing. Typographers call
the difference between type size and vertical spacing "leading".(2)
(*note Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing-Footnote-2::)
* Menu:
* Changing the Type Size::
* Changing the Vertical Spacing::
* Using Fractional Type Sizes::
File: groff.info, Node: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing-Footnotes, Up: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing
(1) In text fonts, the tallest glyphs are typically parentheses.
Unfortunately, in many cases the actual dimensions of the glyphs in a
font do not closely match its declared type size! For example, in the
standard PostScript font families, 10-point Times sets better with
9-point Helvetica and 11-point Courier than if all three were used at
10 points.
(2) Rhyme with "sledding"; mechanical typography used lead metal
(Latin _plumbum_).
File: groff.info, Node: Changing the Type Size, Next: Changing the Vertical Spacing, Prev: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing, Up: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing
5.20.1 Changing the Type Size
-----------------------------
-- Request: .ps [size]
-- Request: .ps +size
-- Request: .ps -size
-- Escape sequence: \ssize
-- Register: \n[.s]
Use the 'ps' request or the '\s' escape sequence to change
(increase, decrease) the type size (in scaled points). Specify
SIZE as either an absolute type size, or as a relative change from
the current size. 'ps' with no argument restores the previous
size. The 'ps' request's default scaling unit is 'z'. The
requested size is rounded to the nearest valid size (with ties
rounding down) within the limits supported by the device. If the
requested size is non-positive, it is treated as 1u.
Type size alteration is incorrectly documented in the AT&T 'troff'
manual, which claims "if [the requested size] is invalid, the next
larger valid size will result, with a maximum of 36".(1) (*note
Changing the Type Size-Footnote-1::)
The read-only string-valued register '.s' interpolates the type
size in points as a decimal fraction; it is associated with the
environment (*note Environments::). To obtain the type size in
scaled points, interpolate the '.ps' register instead (*note Using
Fractional Type Sizes::).
The '\s' escape sequence supports a variety of syntax forms.
'\sN'
Set the type size to N points. N must be a single digit. If
N is 0, restore the previous size.
'\s+N'
'\s-N'
Increase or decrease the type size by N points. N must be
exactly one digit.
'\s(NN'
Set the type size to NN points. NN must be exactly two
digits.
'\s+(NN'
'\s-(NN'
'\s(+NN'
'\s(-NN'
Alter the type size in points by the two-digit value NN.
*Note Using Fractional Type Sizes::, for further syntactical forms
of the '\s' escape sequence that additionally accept decimal
fractions.
snap, snap,
.ps +2
grin, grin,
.ps +2
wink, wink, \s+2nudge, nudge,\s+8 say no more!
.ps 10
The '\s' escape sequence affects the environment immediately and
doesn't produce an input token. Consequently, it can be used in
requests like 'mc', which expects a single character as an argument, to
change the type size on the fly.
.mc \s[20]x\s[0]
-- Request: .sizes s1 s2 ... sn [0]
The 'DESC' file specifies which type sizes are allowed by the
output device; see *note DESC File Format::. Use the 'sizes'
request to change this set of permissible sizes. Arguments are in
scaled points; see *note Using Fractional Type Sizes::. Each can
be a single type size (such as '12000'), or a range of sizes (such
as '4000-72000'). You can optionally end the list with a '0'.
File: groff.info, Node: Changing the Type Size-Footnotes, Up: Changing the Type Size
(1) The claim appears to have been true of Ossanna 'troff' for the
C/A/T device; Kernighan made device-independent 'troff' more flexible.
File: groff.info, Node: Changing the Vertical Spacing, Next: Using Fractional Type Sizes, Prev: Changing the Type Size, Up: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing
5.20.2 Changing the Vertical Spacing
------------------------------------
-- Request: .vs [space]
-- Request: .vs +space
-- Request: .vs -space
-- Register: \n[.v]
Set the vertical spacing to, or alter it by, SPACE. The default
scaling unit is 'p'. If 'vs' is called without an argument, the
vertical spacing is reset to the previous value before the last
call to 'vs'. GNU 'troff' emits a warning in category 'range' if
SPACE is negative; the vertical spacing is then set to the smallest
possible positive value, the vertical motion quantum (as found in
the '.V' register).
'.vs 0' isn't saved in a diversion since it doesn't result in a
vertical motion. You must explicitly issue this request before
interpolating the diversion.
The read-only register '.v' contains the vertical spacing; it is
associated with the environment (*note Environments::).
When a break occurs, GNU 'troff' performs the following procedure.
* Move the drawing position vertically by the "extra pre-vertical
line space", the minimum of all negative '\x' escape sequence
arguments in the pending output line.
* Move the drawing position vertically by the vertical line spacing.
* Write out the pending output line.
* Move the drawing position vertically by the "extra post-vertical
line space", the maximum of all positive '\x' escape sequence
arguments in the line that has just been output.
* Move the drawing position vertically by the "post-vertical line
spacing" (see below).
Prefer 'vs' or 'pvs' over 'ls' to produce double-spaced documents.
'vs' and 'pvs' have finer granularity than 'ls'; moreover, some
preprocessors assume single spacing. *Note Manipulating Spacing::,
regarding the '\x' escape sequence and the 'ls' request.
-- Request: .pvs [space]
-- Request: .pvs +space
-- Request: .pvs -space
-- Register: \n[.pvs]
Set the post-vertical spacing to, or alter it by, SPACE. The
default scaling unit is 'p'. If 'pvs' is called without an
argument, the post-vertical spacing is reset to the previous value
before the last call to 'pvs'. GNU 'troff' emits a warning in
category 'range' if SPACE is negative; the post-vertical spacing is
then set to zero.
The read-only register '.pvs' contains the post-vertical spacing;
it is associated with the environment (*note Environments::).
File: groff.info, Node: Using Fractional Type Sizes, Prev: Changing the Type Size, Up: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing
5.20.3 Using Fractional Type Sizes
----------------------------------
AT&T 'troff' interpreted all type size measurements in points. Combined
with integer arithmetic, this design choice made it impossible to
support, for instance, ten and a half-point type. In GNU 'troff', an
output device can select a scaling factor that subdivides a point into
"scaled points". A type size expressed in scaled points can thus
represent a non-integral type size.
A "scaled point" is equal to 1/SIZESCALE points, where SIZESCALE is
specified in the device description file 'DESC', and defaults to 1.(1)
(*note Using Fractional Type Sizes-Footnote-1::) Requests and escape
sequences in GNU 'troff' interpret arguments that represent a type size
in scaled points, which the formatter multiplies by SIZESCALE and
converts to an integer. Arguments treated in this way comprise those to
the escape sequences '\H' and '\s', to the request 'ps', the third
argument to the 'cs' request, and the second and fourth arguments to the
'tkf' request. Scaled points may be specified explicitly with the 'z'
scaling unit.
For example, if SIZESCALE is 1000, then a scaled point is one
thousandth of a point. The request '.ps 10.5' is synonymous with '.ps
10.5z' and sets the type size to 10,500 scaled points, or 10.5 points.
Consequently, in GNU 'troff', the register '.s' can interpolate a
non-integral type size.
-- Register: \n[.ps]
This read-only register interpolates the type size in scaled
points; it is associated with the environment (*note
Environments::).
It makes no sense to use the 'z' scaling unit in a numeric expression
whose default scaling unit is neither 'u' nor 'z', so GNU 'troff'
disallows this. Similarly, it is nonsensical to use a scaling unit
other than 'z' or 'u' in a numeric expression whose default scaling unit
is 'z', and so GNU 'troff' disallows this as well.
Another GNU 'troff' scaling unit, 's', multiplies by the number of
basic units in a scaled point. Thus, '\n[.ps]s' is equal to '1m' by
definition. Do not confuse the 's' and 'z' scaling units.
-- Register: \n[.psr]
-- Register: \n[.sr]
Output devices may be limited in the type sizes they can employ.
The '.s' and '.ps' registers represent the type size selected by
the output driver as it understands a device's capability. The
last _requested_ type size is interpolated in scaled points by the
read-only register '.psr' and in points as a decimal fraction by
the read-only string-valued register '.sr'. Both are associated
with the environment (*note Environments::).
For example, if a type size of 10.95 points is requested, and the
nearest size permitted by a 'sizes' request (or by the 'sizes' or
'sizescale' directives in the device's 'DESC' file) is 11 points,
the output driver uses the latter value.
The '\s' escape sequence offers the following syntax forms that work
with fractional type sizes and accept scaling units. You may of course
give them integral arguments. The delimited forms need not use the
neutral apostrophe; see *note Delimiters::.
'\s[N]'
'\s'N''
Set the type size to N scaled points; N is a numeric expression
with a default scaling unit of 'z'.
'\s[+N]'
'\s[-N]'
'\s+[N]'
'\s-[N]'
'\s'+N''
'\s'-N''
'\s+'N''
'\s-'N''
Increase or decrease the type size by N scaled points; N is a
numeric expression (which may start with a minus sign) with a
default scaling unit of 'z'.
File: groff.info, Node: Using Fractional Type Sizes-Footnotes, Up: Using Fractional Type Sizes
(1) *Note Device and Font Description Files::.
File: groff.info, Node: Colors, Next: Strings, Prev: Manipulating Type Size and Vertical Spacing, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.21 Colors
===========
GNU 'troff' supports color output with a variety of color spaces and up
to 16 bits per channel. Some devices, particularly terminals, may be
more limited. When color support is enabled, two colors are current at
any given time: the "stroke color", with which glyphs, rules (lines),
and geometric objects like circles and polygons are drawn, and the "fill
color", which can be used to paint the interior of a closed geometric
figure.
-- Request: .color [n]
-- Register: \n[.color]
If N is missing or non-zero, enable the output of color-related
device-independent output commands (this is the default);
otherwise, disable them. This request sets a global flag; it does
not produce an input token (*note Gtroff Internals::).
The read-only register '.color' is 1 if colors are enabled,
0 otherwise.
Color can also be disabled with the '-c' command-line option.
-- Request: .defcolor ident scheme color-component ...
Define a color named IDENT. SCHEME selects a color space and
determines the quantity of required COLOR-COMPONENTs; it must be
one of 'rgb' (three components), 'cmy' (three), 'cmyk' (four), or
'gray' (one). 'grey' is accepted as a synonym of 'gray'. The
color components can be encoded as a single hexadecimal value
starting with '#' or '##'. The former indicates that each
component is in the range 0-255 (0-FF), the latter the range
0-65,535 (0-FFFF).
.defcolor half gray #7f
.defcolor pink rgb #FFC0CB
.defcolor magenta rgb ##ffff0000ffff
Alternatively, each color component can be specified as a decimal
fraction in the range 0-1, interpreted using a default scaling unit
of 'f', which multiplies its value by 65,536 (but clamps it at
65,535).
.defcolor gray50 rgb 0.5 0.5 0.5
.defcolor darkgreen rgb 0.1f 0.5f 0.2f
Each output device has a color named 'default', which cannot be
redefined. A device's default stroke and fill colors are not
necessarily the same. For the 'dvi', 'html', 'pdf', 'ps', and 'xhtml'
output devices, GNU 'troff' automatically loads a macro file defining
many color names at startup. By the same mechanism, the devices
supported by 'grotty' recognize the eight standard ISO 6429/EMCA-48
color names.(1) (*note Colors-Footnote-1::)
-- Request: .gcolor [color]
-- Escape sequence: \mc
-- Escape sequence: \m(co
-- Escape sequence: \m[color]
-- Register: \n[.m]
Set the stroke color to COLOR.
.gcolor red
The next words
.gcolor
\m[red]are in red\m[]
and these words are in the previous color.
The escape sequence '\m[]' restores the previous stroke color, as
does a 'gcolor' request without an argument.
The name of the current stroke color is available in the read-only
string-valued register '.m'; it is associated with the environment
(*note Environments::). It interpolates nothing when the stroke
color is the default.
'\m' doesn't produce an input token in GNU 'troff' (*note Gtroff
Internals::). It therefore can be used in requests like 'mc'
(which expects a single character as an argument) to change the
color on the fly:
.mc \m[red]x\m[]
-- Request: .fcolor [color]
-- Escape sequence: \Mc
-- Escape sequence: \M(co
-- Escape sequence: \M[color]
-- Register: \n[.M]
Set the fill color for objects drawn with '\D'...'' escape
sequences. The escape sequence '\M[]' restores the previous fill
color, as does an 'fcolor' request without an argument.
The name of the current fill color is available in the read-only
string-valued register '.M'; it is associated with the environment
(*note Environments::). It interpolates nothing when the fill
color is the default. '\M' doesn't produce an input token in GNU
'troff'.
Create an ellipse with a red interior as follows.
\M[red]\h'0.5i'\D'E 2i 1i'\M[]
File: groff.info, Node: Colors-Footnotes, Up: Colors
(1) also known vulgarly as "ANSI colors"
File: groff.info, Node: Strings, Next: Conditionals and Loops, Prev: Colors, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.22 Strings
============
GNU 'troff' supports strings primarily for user convenience.
Conventionally, if one would define a macro only to interpolate a small
amount of text, without invoking requests or calling any other macros,
one defines a string instead. Only one string is predefined by the
language.
-- String: \*[.T]
Contains the name of the output device (for example, 'utf8' or
'pdf').
The 'ds' request creates a string with a specified name and contents
and the '\*' escape sequence dereferences its name, interpolating its
contents. If the string named by the '\*' escape sequence does not
exist, it is defined as empty, nothing is interpolated, and a warning in
category 'mac' is emitted. *Note Warnings::, for information about the
enablement and suppression of warnings.
-- Request: .ds name [contents]
-- Request: .ds1 name [contents]
-- Escape sequence: \*n
-- Escape sequence: \*(nm
-- Escape sequence: \*[name [arg1 arg2 ...]]
Define a string called NAME with contents CONTENTS. If NAME
already exists as an alias, the target of the alias is redefined;
see 'als' and 'rm' below. If 'ds' is called with only one
argument, NAME is defined as an empty string. Otherwise, GNU
'troff' stores CONTENTS in copy mode.(1) (*note
Strings-Footnote-1::)
The '\*' escape sequence interpolates a previously defined string
variable NAME (one-character name N, two-character name NM). The
bracketed interpolation form accepts arguments that are handled as
macro arguments are; recall *note Calling Macros::. In contrast to
macro calls, however, if a closing bracket ']' occurs in a string
argument, that argument must be enclosed in double quotes. '\*' is
interpreted even in copy mode. When defining strings, argument
interpolations must be escaped if they are to reference parameters
from the calling context; *Note Parameters::.
.ds cite (\\$1, \\$2)
Gray codes are explored in \*[cite Morgan 1998].
=> Gray codes are explored in (Morgan, 1998).
*Caution:* Unlike other requests, the second argument to the 'ds'
request consumes the remainder of the input line, including
trailing spaces. This means that comments on a line with such a
request can introduce unwanted space into a string when they are
set off from the material they annotate, as is conventional.
.ds H2O H\v'+.3m'\s'-2'2\v'-.3m'\s0O \" water
Instead, place the comment on another line or put the comment
escape sequence immediately adjacent to the last character of the
string.
.ds H2O H\v'+.3m'\s'-2'2\v'-.3m'\s0O\" water
Ending string definitions (and appendments) with a comment, even an
empty one, prevents unwanted space from creeping into them during
source document maintenance.
.ds author Alice Pleasance Liddell\"
.ds empty \" might be appended to later with .as
An initial neutral double quote '"' in CONTENTS is stripped to
allow embedding of leading spaces. Any other '"' is interpreted
literally, but it is wise to use the special character escape
sequence '\[dq]' instead if the string might be interpolated as
part of a macro argument; see *note Calling Macros::.
.ds salutation " Yours in a white wine sauce,\"
.ds c-var-defn " char mydate[]=\[dq]2020-07-29\[dq];\"
Strings are not limited to a single input line of text. '\<RET>'
works just as it does elsewhere. The resulting string is stored
_without_ the newlines. Care is therefore required when
interpolating strings while filling is disabled.
.ds foo This string contains \
text on multiple lines \
of input.
It is not possible to embed a newline in a string that will be
interpreted as such when the string is interpolated. To achieve
that effect, use '\*' to interpolate a macro instead; see *note
Punning Names::.
Because strings are similar to macros, they too can be defined so
as to suppress AT&T 'troff' compatibility mode when used; see *note
Writing Macros:: and *note Compatibility Mode::. The 'ds1' request
defines a string such that compatibility mode is off when the
string is later interpolated. To be more precise, a "compatibility
save" input token is inserted at the beginning of the string, and a
"compatibility restore" input token at the end.
.nr xxx 12345
.ds aa The value of xxx is \\n[xxx].
.ds1 bb The value of xxx is \\n[xxx].
.
.cp 1
.
\*(aa
error-> warning: register '[' not defined
=> The value of xxx is 0xxx].
\*(bb
=> The value of xxx is 12345.
-- Request: .as name [contents]
-- Request: .as1 name [contents]
The 'as' request is similar to 'ds' but appends CONTENTS to the
string stored as NAME instead of redefining it. If NAME doesn't
exist yet, it is created. If 'as' is called with only one
argument, no operation is performed (beyond dereferencing the
string).
.as salutation " with shallots, onions and garlic,\"
The 'as1' request is similar to 'as', but compatibility mode is
switched off when the appended portion of the string is later
interpolated. To be more precise, a "compatibility save" input
token is inserted at the beginning of the appended string, and a
"compatibility restore" input token at the end.
Several requests exist to perform rudimentary string operations.
Strings can be queried ('length') and modified ('chop', 'substring',
'stringup', 'stringdown'), and their names can be manipulated through
renaming, removal, and aliasing ('rn', 'rm', 'als').
-- Request: .length reg anything
Compute the number of characters of ANYTHING and store the count in
the register REG. If REG doesn't exist, it is created. ANYTHING
is read in copy mode.
.ds xxx abcd\h'3i'efgh
.length yyy \*[xxx]
\n[yyy]
=> 14
-- Request: .chop object
Remove the last character from the macro, string, or diversion
named OBJECT. This is useful for removing the newline from the end
of a diversion that is to be interpolated as a string. This
request can be used repeatedly on the same OBJECT; see *note Gtroff
Internals::, for details on nodes inserted additionally by GNU
'troff'.
-- Request: .substring str start [end]
Replace the string named STR with its substring bounded by the
indices START and END, inclusively. The first character in the
string has index 0. If END is omitted, it is implicitly set to the
largest valid value (the string length minus one). Negative
indices count backward from the end of the string: the last
character has index -1, the character before the last has index -2,
and so on.
.ds xxx abcdefgh
.substring xxx 1 -4
\*[xxx]
=> bcde
.substring xxx 2
\*[xxx]
=> de
-- Request: .stringdown str
-- Request: .stringup str
Alter the string named STR by replacing each of its bytes with its
lowercase ('stringdown') or uppercase ('stringup') version (if one
exists). Special characters in the string will often transform in
the expected way due to the regular naming convention for accented
characters. When they do not, use substrings and/or catenation.
.ds resume R\['e]sum\['e]
\*[resume]
.stringdown resume
\*[resume]
.stringup resume
\*[resume]
=> Résumé résumé RÉSUMÉ
(In practice, we would end the 'ds' request with a comment escape
'\"' to prevent space from creeping into the definition during source
document maintenance.)
-- Request: .rn old new
Rename the request, macro, diversion, or string OLD to NEW.
-- Request: .rm name
Remove the request, macro, diversion, or string NAME. GNU 'troff'
treats subsequent invocations as if the name had never been
defined.
-- Request: .als new old
Create an alias NEW for the existing request, string, macro, or
diversion object named OLD, causing the names to refer to the same
stored object. If OLD is undefined, a warning in category 'mac' is
produced, and the request is ignored. *Note Warnings::, for
information about the enablement and suppression of warnings.
To understand how the 'als' request works, consider two different
storage pools: one for objects (macros, strings, etc.), and another
for names. As soon as an object is defined, GNU 'troff' adds it to
the object pool, adds its name to the name pool, and creates a link
between them. When 'als' creates an alias, it adds a new name to
the name pool that gets linked to the same object as the old name.
Now consider this example.
.de foo
..
.
.als bar foo
.
.de bar
. foo
..
.
.bar
error-> input stack limit exceeded (probable infinite
error-> loop)
In the above, 'bar' remains an _alias_--another name for--the
object referred to by 'foo', which the second 'de' request
replaces. Alternatively, imagine that the 'de' request
_dereferences_ its argument before replacing it. Either way, the
result of calling 'bar' is a recursive loop that finally leads to
an error. *Note Writing Macros::.
To remove an alias, call 'rm' on its name. The object itself is
not destroyed until it has no more names.
When a request, macro, string, or diversion is aliased,
redefinitions and appendments "write through" alias names. To
replace an alias with a separately defined object, you must use the
'rm' request on its name first.
File: groff.info, Node: Strings-Footnotes, Up: Strings
(1) *Note Copy Mode::.
File: groff.info, Node: Conditionals and Loops, Next: Writing Macros, Prev: Strings, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.23 Conditionals and Loops
===========================
'groff' has 'if' and 'while' control structures like other languages.
However, the syntax for grouping multiple input lines in the branches or
bodies of these structures is unusual.
* Menu:
* Operators in Conditionals::
* if-then::
* if-else::
* Conditional Blocks::
* while::
File: groff.info, Node: Operators in Conditionals, Next: if-then, Prev: Conditionals and Loops, Up: Conditionals and Loops
5.23.1 Operators in Conditionals
--------------------------------
In 'if', 'ie', and 'while' requests, in addition to the numeric
expressions described in *note Numeric Expressions::, several Boolean
operators are available; the members of this expanded class are termed
"conditional expressions".
'c GLYPH'
True if GLYPH is available, where GLYPH is an ordinary character, a
special character '\(XX' or '\[XXX]', '\N'XXX'', or has been
defined by any of the 'char', 'fchar', 'fschar', or 'schar'
requests.
'd NAME'
True if a string, macro, diversion, or request called NAME exists.
'e'
True if the current page is even-numbered.
'F FONT'
True if FONT exists. FONT is handled as if it were opened with the
'ft' request (that is, font translation and styles are applied),
without actually mounting it.
'm COLOR'
True if COLOR is defined.
'n'
True if the document is being processed in 'nroff' mode. *Note
troff and nroff Modes::.
'o'
True if the current page is odd-numbered.
'r REGISTER'
True if REGISTER exists.
'S STYLE'
True if STYLE is available for the current font family. Font
translation is applied.
't'
True if the document is being processed in 'troff' mode. *Note
troff and nroff Modes::.
'v'
Always false. This condition is recognized only for compatibility
with certain other 'troff' implementations.(1) (*note Operators in
Conditionals-Footnote-1::)
If the first argument to an 'if', 'ie', or 'while' request begins
with a non-alphanumeric character apart from '!' (see below); it
performs an output comparison test. (2) (*note Operators in
Conditionals-Footnote-2::)
''XXX'YYY''
True if formatting the comparands XXX and YYY produces the same
output commands. The delimiter need not be a neutral apostrophe:
the output comparison operator accepts the same delimiters as most
escape sequences; see *note Delimiters::. This "output comparison
operator" formats XXX and YYY in separate environments; after the
comparison, the resulting data are discarded.
.ie "|"\fR|\fP" true
.el false
=> true
The resulting glyph properties, including font family, style, size,
and slant, must match, but not necessarily the requests and/or
escape sequences used to obtain them. In the previous example, '|'
and '\fR|\fP' result in '|' glyphs in the same typefaces at the
same positions, so the comparands are equal. If '.ft I' had been
added before the '.ie', they would differ: the first '|' would
produce an italic '|', not a roman one. Motions must match in
orientation and magnitude to within the applicable horizontal and
vertical motion quanta of the device, after rounding. '.if
"\u\d"\v'0'"' is false even though both comparands result in zero
net motion, because motions are not interpreted or optimized but
sent as-is to the output.(3) (*note Operators in
Conditionals-Footnote-3::) On the other hand, '.if "\d"\v'0.5m'"'
is true, because '\d' is defined as a downward motion of one-half
em.(4) (*note Operators in Conditionals-Footnote-4::)
Surround the comparands with '\?' to avoid formatting them; this
causes them to be compared character by character, as with string
comparisons in other programming languages.
.ie "\?|\?"\?\fR|\fP\?" true
.el false
=> false
Since comparands protected with '\?' are read in copy mode (*note
Copy Mode::), they need not even be valid 'groff' syntax. The
escape character is still lexically recognized, however, and
consumes the next character.
.ds a \[
.ds b \[
.if '\?\*a\?'\?\*b\?' a and b equivalent
.if '\?\\?'\?\\?' backslashes equivalent
=> a and b equivalent
The above operators can't be combined with most others, but a leading
'!', not followed immediately by spaces or tabs, complements an
expression.
.nr x 1
.ie !r x register x is not defined
.el register x is defined
=> register x is defined
Spaces and tabs are optional immediately after the 'c', 'd', 'F',
'm', 'r', and 'S' operators, but right after '!', they end the predicate
and the conditional evaluates true.(5) (*note Operators in
Conditionals-Footnote-5::)
.nr x 1
.ie ! r x register x is not defined
.el register x is defined
=> r x register x is not defined
The unexpected 'r x' in the output is a clue that our conditional was
not interpreted as we planned, but matters may not always be so obvious.
File: groff.info, Node: Operators in Conditionals-Footnotes, Up: Operators in Conditionals
(1) This refers to 'vtroff', a translator that would convert the
C/A/T output from early-vintage AT&T 'troff' to a form suitable for
Versatec and Benson-Varian plotters.
(2) Strictly, letters not otherwise recognized _are_ treated as
output comparison delimiters. For portability, it is wise to avoid
using letters not in the list above; for example, Plan 9 'troff' uses
'h' to test a mode it calls 'htmlroff', and GNU 'troff' may provide
additional operators in the future.
(3) Because formatting of the comparands takes place in a dummy
environment, vertical motions within them cannot spring traps.
(4) All of this is to say that the lists of output nodes created by
formatting XXX and YYY must be identical. *Note Gtroff Internals::.
(5) This bizarre behavior maintains compatibility with AT&T 'troff'.
File: groff.info, Node: if-then, Next: if-else, Prev: Operators in Conditionals, Up: Conditionals and Loops
5.23.2 if-then
--------------
-- Request: .if cond-expr anything
Evaluate the conditional expression COND-EXPR, and if it evaluates
true (or to a positive value), interpret the remainder of the line
ANYTHING as if it were an input line. Recall from *note Invoking
Requests:: that any quantity of spaces between arguments to
requests serves only to separate them; leading spaces in ANYTHING
are thus not seen. ANYTHING effectively _cannot_ be omitted; if
COND-EXPR is true and ANYTHING is empty, the newline at the end of
the control line is interpreted as a blank input line (and
therefore a blank text line).
super\c
tanker
.nr force-word-break 1
super\c
.if ((\n[force-word-break] = 1) & \n[.int])
tanker
=> supertanker super tanker
-- Request: .nop anything
Interpret ANYTHING as if it were an input line. This is similar to
'.if 1'. 'nop' is not really "no operation"; its argument _is_
processed--unconditionally. It can be used to cause text lines to
share indentation with surrounding control lines.
.als real-MAC MAC
.de wrapped-MAC
. tm MAC: called with arguments \\$@
. nop \\*[real-MAC]\\
..
.als MAC wrapped-MAC
\# Later...
.als MAC real-MAC
In the above, we've used aliasing, 'nop', and the interpolation of
a macro as a string to interpose a wrapper around the macro 'MAC'
(perhaps to debug it).
File: groff.info, Node: if-else, Next: while, Prev: Operators in Conditionals, Up: Conditionals and Loops
5.23.3 if-else
--------------
-- Request: .ie cond-expr anything
-- Request: .el anything
Use the 'ie' and 'el' requests to write an if-then-else. The first
request is the "if" part and the latter is the "else" part.
Unusually among programming languages, any number of
non-conditional requests may be interposed between the 'ie' branch
and the 'el' branch.
.nr a 0
.ie \na a is non-zero.
.nr a +1
.el a was not positive but is now \na.
=> a was not positive but is now 1.
Another way in which 'el' is an ordinary request is that it does
not lexically "bind" more tightly to its 'ie' counterpart than it
does to any other request. This fact can surprise C programmers.
.nr a 1
.nr z 0
.ie \nz \
. ie \na a is true
. el a is false
.el z is false
error-> warning: unbalanced 'el' request
=> a is false
To conveniently nest conditionals, keep reading.
File: groff.info, Node: Conditional Blocks, Next: while, Prev: Operators in Conditionals, Up: Conditionals and Loops
5.23.4 Conditional Blocks
-------------------------
It is frequently desirable for a control structure to govern more than
one request, macro call, text line, or a combination of the foregoing.
The opening and closing brace escape sequences '\{' and '\}' define such
groups. These "conditional blocks" can furthermore be nested.
-- Escape sequence: \{
-- Escape sequence: \}
'\{' begins a conditional block; it must appear (after optional
spaces and tabs) immediately subsequent to the conditional
expression of an 'if', 'ie', or 'while' request,(1) (*note
Conditional Blocks-Footnote-1::) or as the argument to an 'el'
request.
'\}' ends a condition block and should appear on a line with other
occurrences of itself as necessary to match '\{' sequences. It can
be preceded by a control character, spaces, and tabs. Input after
any quantity of '\}' sequences on the same line is processed only
if all of the preceding conditions to which they correspond are
true. Furthermore, a '\}' closing the body of a 'while' request
must be the last such escape sequence on an input line.
Brace escape sequences outside of control structures have no
meaning and produce no output.
*Caution:* Input lines using '\{' often end with '\RET', especially
in macros that consist primarily of control lines. Forgetting to
use '\RET' on an input line after '\{' is a common source of error.
We might write the following in a page header macro. If we delete
'\RET', the header will carry an unwanted extra empty line (except on
page 1).
.if (\\n[%] != 1) \{\
. ie ((\\n[%] % 2) = 0) .tl \\*[even-numbered-page-title]
. el .tl \\*[odd-numbered-page-title]
.\}
Let us take a closer look at how conditional blocks nest.
A
.if 0 \{ B
C
D
\}E
F
=> A F
N
.if 1 \{ O
. if 0 \{ P
Q
R\} S\} T
U
=> N O U
The above behavior may challenge the intuition; it was implemented to
retain compatibility with AT&T 'troff'. For clarity, it is idiomatic to
end input lines with '\{' (followed by '\<RET>' if appropriate), and to
precede '\}' on an input line with nothing more than a control
character, spaces, tabs, and other instances of itself.
We can use 'ie', 'el', and conditional blocks to simulate the
multi-way "switch" or "case" control structures of other languages. The
following example is adapted from the 'groff' 'man' package.
Indentation is used to clarify the logic.
.\" Simulate switch/case in roff.
. ie '\\$2'1' .ds title General Commands\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'2' .ds title System Calls\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'3' .ds title Library Functions\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'4' .ds title Kernel Interfaces\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'5' .ds title File Formats\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'6' .ds title Games\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'7' .ds title Miscellaneous Information\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'8' .ds title System Management\"
.el \{.ie '\\$2'9' .ds title Kernel Development\"
.el .ds title \" empty
.\}\}\}\}\}\}\}\}
File: groff.info, Node: Conditional Blocks-Footnotes, Up: Conditional Blocks
(1) *Note while::.
File: groff.info, Node: while, Prev: if-else, Up: Conditionals and Loops
5.23.5 while
------------
'groff' provides a looping construct: the 'while' request. Its syntax
matches the 'if' request.
-- Request: .while cond-expr anything
Evaluate the conditional expression COND-EXPR, and repeatedly
execute ANYTHING unless and until COND-EXPR evaluates false.
ANYTHING, which is often a conditional block, is referred to as the
'while' request's "body".
.nr a 0 1
.while (\na < 9) \{\
\n+a,
.\}
\n+a
=> 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
GNU 'troff' treats the body of a 'while' request similarly to that
of a 'de' request (albeit one not read in copy mode(1) (*note
while-Footnote-1::)), but stores it under an internal name and
deletes it when the loop finishes. The operation of a macro
containing a 'while' request can slow significantly if the 'while'
body is large. Each time the macro is executed, the 'while' body
is parsed and stored again.
.de xxx
. nr num 10
. while (\\n[num] > 0) \{\
. \" many lines of code
. nr num -1
. \}
..
An often better solution--and one that is more portable, since AT&T
'troff' lacked the 'while' request--is to instead write a recursive
macro. It will be parsed only once.(2) (*note while-Footnote-2::)
.de yyy
. if (\\n[num] > 0) \{\
. \" many lines of code
. nr num -1
. yyy
. \}
..
.
.de xxx
. nr num 10
. yyy
..
To prevent infinite loops, the default number of available
recursion levels is 1,000 or somewhat less.(3) (*note
while-Footnote-3::) You can disable this protective measure, or
raise the limit, by setting the 'slimit' register. *Note
Debugging::.
As noted above, if a 'while' body begins with a conditional block,
its closing brace must end an input line.
.if 1 \{\
. nr a 0 1
. while (\n[a] < 10) \{\
. nop \n+[a]
.\}\}
error-> unbalanced brace escape sequences
-- Request: .break
Exit a 'while' loop. Do not confuse this request with a
typographical break or the 'br' request.
-- Request: .continue
Skip the remainder of a 'while' loop's body, immediately starting
the next iteration.
File: groff.info, Node: while-Footnotes, Up: while
(1) *Note Copy Mode::.
(2) unless you redefine it
(3) "somewhat less" because things other than macro calls can be on
the input stack
File: groff.info, Node: Writing Macros, Next: Page Motions, Prev: Conditionals and Loops, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.24 Writing Macros
===================
A "macro" is a stored collection of text and control lines that can be
interpolated multiple times. Use macros to define common operations.
Macros are called in the same way that requests are invoked. While
requests exist for the purpose of creating macros, simply calling an
undefined macro, or interpolating it as a string, will cause it to be
defined as empty. *Note Identifiers::.
-- Request: .de name [end]
Define a macro NAME, replacing the definition of any existing
request, macro, string, or diversion called NAME. If NAME already
exists as an alias, the target of the alias is redefined; recall
*note Strings::. GNU 'troff' enters copy mode,(1) (*note Writing
Macros-Footnote-1::) storing subsequent input lines as the macro
definition. If the optional second argument is not specified, the
definition ends with the control line '..' (two dots).
Alternatively, END identifies a macro whose call syntax at the
start of a control line ends the definition of NAME; END is then
called normally. A macro definition must end in the same
conditional block (if any) in which it began (*note Conditional
Blocks::). Spaces or tabs are permitted after the control
character in the line containing this ending token (either '.' or
'END'), but a tab immediately after the token prevents its
recognition as the end of a macro definition. The macro END can be
called with arguments.(2) (*note Writing Macros-Footnote-2::)
Here is a small example macro called 'P' that causes a break and
inserts some vertical space. It could be used to separate
paragraphs.
.de P
. br
. sp .8v
..
We can define one macro within another. Attempting to nest '..'
naïvely will end the outer definition because the inner definition
isn't interpreted as such until the outer macro is later
interpolated. We can use an end macro instead. Each level of
nesting should use a unique end macro.
An end macro need not be defined until it is called. This fact
enables a nested macro definition to begin inside one macro and end
inside another. Consider the following example.(3) (*note Writing
Macros-Footnote-3::)
.de m1
. de m2 m3
you
..
.de m3
Hello,
Joe.
..
.de m4
do
..
.m1
know?
. m3
What
.m4
.m2
=> Hello, Joe. What do you know?
A nested macro definition _can_ be terminated with '..' and nested
macros _can_ reuse end macros, but these control lines must be
escaped multiple times for each level of nesting. The necessity of
this escaping and the utility of nested macro definitions will
become clearer when we employ macro parameters and consider the
behavior of copy mode in detail.
'de' defines a macro that inherits the compatibility mode enablement
status of its context (*note Implementation Differences::). Often it is
desirable to make a macro that uses 'groff' features callable from
contexts where compatibility mode is on; for instance, when writing
extensions to a historical macro package. To achieve this,
compatibility mode needs to be switched off while such a macro is
interpreted--without disturbing that state when it is finished.
-- Request: .de1 name [end]
The 'de1' request defines a macro to be interpreted with
compatibility mode disabled. When NAME is called, compatibility
mode enablement status is saved; it is restored when the call
completes. Observe the extra backlash before the interpolation of
register 'xxx'; we'll explore this subject in *note Copy Mode::.
.nr xxx 12345
.de aa
The value of xxx is \\n[xxx].
. br
..
.de1 bb
The value of xxx is \\n[xxx].
..
.cp 1
.aa
error-> warning: register '[' not defined
=> The value of xxx is 0xxx].
.bb
=> The value of xxx is 12345.
-- Request: .dei name [end]
-- Request: .dei1 name [end]
The 'dei' request defines a macro with its name and end macro
indirected through strings. That is, it interpolates strings named
NAME and END before performing the definition.
The following examples are equivalent.
.ds xx aa
.ds yy bb
.dei xx yy
.de aa bb
The 'dei1' request bears the same relationship to 'dei' as 'de1'
does to 'de'; it temporarily turns compatibility mode off when NAME
is called.
-- Request: .am name [end]
-- Request: .am1 name [end]
-- Request: .ami name [end]
-- Request: .ami1 name [end]
'am' appends subsequent input lines to macro NAME, extending its
definition, and otherwise working as 'de' does.
To make the previously defined 'P' macro set indented instead of
block paragraphs, add the necessary code to the existing macro.
.am P
.ti +5n
..
The other requests are analogous to their 'de' counterparts. The
'am1' request turns off compatibility mode during interpretation of
the appendment. The 'ami' request appends indirectly, meaning that
strings NAME and END are interpolated with the resulting names used
before appending. The 'ami1' request is similar to 'ami',
disabling compatibility mode during interpretation of the appended
lines.
Using 'trace.tmac', you can trace calls to 'de', 'de1', 'am', and
'am1'. You can also use the 'backtrace' request at any point desired to
troubleshoot tricky spots (*note Debugging::).
*Note Strings::, for the 'als', 'rm', and 'rn' requests to create an
alias of, remove, and rename a macro, respectively.
Macro identifiers share their name space with requests, strings, and
diversions; see *note Identifiers::. The 'am', 'as', 'da', 'de', 'di',
and 'ds' requests (together with their variants) create a new object
only if the name of the macro, diversion, or string is currently
undefined or if it is defined as a request; normally, they modify the
value of an existing object. *Note the description of the 'als'
request: als, for pitfalls when redefining a macro that is aliased.
-- Request: .return [anything]
Exit a macro, immediately returning to the caller. If called with
an argument ANYTHING, exit twice--the current macro and the macro
one level higher. This is used to define a wrapper macro for
'return' in 'trace.tmac'.
* Menu:
* Parameters::
* Copy Mode::
File: groff.info, Node: Writing Macros-Footnotes, Up: Writing Macros
(1) *Note Copy Mode::.
(2) While it is possible to define and call a macro '.', you can't
use it as an end macro: during a macro definition, '..' is never handled
as calling '.', even if '.de NAME .' explicitly precedes it.
(3) Its structure is adapted from, and isomorphic to, part of a
solution by Tadziu Hoffman to the problem of reflowing text multiple
times to find an optimal configuration for it.
<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2008-12/msg00006.html>
File: groff.info, Node: Parameters, Next: Copy Mode, Prev: Writing Macros, Up: Writing Macros
5.24.1 Parameters
-----------------
Macro calls and string interpolations optionally accept a list of
arguments; recall *note Calling Macros::. At the time such an
interpolation takes place, these "parameters" can be examined using a
register and a variety of escape sequences starting with '\$'. All such
escape sequences are interpreted even in copy mode, a fact we shall
motivate and explain below (*note Copy Mode::).
-- Register: \n[.$]
The count of parameters available to a macro or string is kept in
this read-only register. The 'shift' request can change its value.
Any individual parameter can be accessed by its position in the list
of arguments to the macro call, numbered from left to right starting at
1, with one of the following escape sequences.
-- Escape sequence: \$n
-- Escape sequence: \$(nn
-- Escape sequence: \$[nnn]
Interpolate the Nth, NNth, or NNNth parameter. The first form
expects only a single digit (1<=N<=9)), the second two digits
(01<=NN<=99)), and the third any positive integer NNN. Macros and
strings accept an unlimited number of parameters.
-- Request: .shift [n]
Shift the parameters N places (1 by default). This is a "left
shift": what was parameter I becomes parameter I-N. The parameters
formerly in positions 1 to N are no longer available. Shifting by
a non-positive amount performs no operation. The register '.$' is
adjusted accordingly.
In practice, parameter interpolations are usually seen prefixed with
an extra escape character. This is because the '\$' family of escape
sequences is interpreted even in copy mode.(1) (*note
Parameters-Footnote-1::)
-- Escape sequence: \$*
-- Escape sequence: \$@
-- Escape sequence: \$^
In some cases it is convenient to interpolate all of the parameters
at once (to pass them to a request, for instance). The '\$*'
escape concatenates the parameters, separating them with spaces.
'\$@' is similar, concatenating the parameters, surrounding each
with double quotes and separating them with spaces. If not in
compatibility mode, the interpolation depth of double quotes is
preserved (*note Calling Macros::). '\$^' interpolates all
parameters as if they were arguments to the 'ds' request.
.de foo
. tm $1='\\$1'
. tm $2='\\$2'
. tm $*='\\$*'
. tm $@='\\$@'
. tm $^='\\$^'
..
.foo " This is a "test"
error-> $1=' This is a '
error-> $2='test"'
error-> $*=' This is a test"'
error-> $@='" This is a " "test""'
error-> $^='" This is a "test"'
'\$*' is useful when writing a macro that doesn't need to
distinguish its arguments, or even to not interpret them; examples
include macros that produce diagnostic messages by wrapping the
'tm' or 'ab' requests. Use '\$@' when writing a macro that may
need to shift its parameters and/or wrap a macro or request that
finds the count significant. If in doubt, prefer '\$@' to '\$*'.
An application of '\$^' is seen in 'trace.tmac', which redefines
some requests and macros for debugging purposes.
-- Escape sequence: \$0
Interpolate the name by which the macro being interpreted was
called. The 'als' request can cause a macro to have more than one
name. Applying string interpolation to a macro does not change
this name.
.de foo
. tm \\$0
..
.als bar foo
.
.de aaa
. foo
..
.de bbb
. bar
..
.de ccc
\\*[foo]\\
..
.de ddd
\\*[bar]\\
..
.
.aaa
error-> foo
.bbb
error-> bar
.ccc
error-> ccc
.ddd
error-> ddd
File: groff.info, Node: Parameters-Footnotes, Up: Parameters
(1) If they were not, parameter interpolations would be similar to
command-line parameters--fixed for the entire duration of a 'roff'
program's run. The advantage of interpolating '\$' escape sequences
even in copy mode is that they can interpolate different contents from
one call to the next, like function parameters in a procedural language.
The additional escape character is the price of this power.
File: groff.info, Node: Copy Mode, Prev: Parameters, Up: Writing Macros
5.24.2 Copy Mode
----------------
When GNU 'troff' processes certain requests, most importantly those
which define or append to a macro or string, it does so in "copy mode":
it copies the characters of the definition into a dedicated storage
region, interpolating the escape sequences '\n', '\g', '\$', '\*', '\V',
and '\?' normally; interpreting '\<RET>' immediately; discarding
comments '\"' and '\#'; interpolating the current leader, escape, or tab
character with '\a', '\e', and '\t', respectively; and storing all other
escape sequences in an encoded form.
The complement of copy mode--a 'roff' formatter's behavior when not
defining or appending to a macro, string, or diversion--where all macros
are interpolated, requests invoked, and valid escape sequences processed
immediately upon recognition, can be termed "interpretation mode".
-- Escape sequence: \\
The escape character, '\' by default, can escape itself. This
enables you to control whether a given '\n', '\g', '\$', '\*',
'\V', or '\?' escape sequence is interpreted at the time the macro
containing it is defined, or later when the macro is called.(1)
(*note Copy Mode-Footnote-1::)
.nr x 20
.de y
.nr x 10
\&\nx
\&\\nx
..
.y
=> 20 10
You can think of '\\' as a "delayed" backslash; it is the escape
character followed by a backslash from which the escape character
has removed its special meaning. Consequently, '\\' is not an
escape sequence in the usual sense. In any escape sequence '\X'
that GNU 'troff' does not recognize, the escape character is
ignored and X is output. An unrecognized escape sequence causes a
warning in category 'escape', with two exceptions--'\\' is the
first.
-- Escape sequence: \.
'\.' escapes the control character. It is similar to '\\' in that
it isn't a true escape sequence. It is used to permit nested macro
definitions to end without a named macro call to conclude them.
Without a syntax for escaping the control character, this would not
be possible.
.de m1
foo
.
. de m2
bar
\\..
.
..
.m1
.m2
=> foo bar
The first backslash is consumed while the macro is read, and the
second is interpreted when macro 'm1' is called.
'roff' documents should not use the '\\' or '\.' character sequences
outside of copy mode; they serve only to obfuscate the input. Use '\e'
to represent the escape character, '\[rs]' to obtain a backslash glyph,
and '\&' before '.' and ''' where GNU 'troff' expects them as control
characters if you mean to use them literally (recall *note Requests and
Macros::).
Macro definitions can be nested to arbitrary depth. The mechanics of
parsing the escape character have significant consequences for this
practice.
.de M1
\\$1
. de M2
\\\\$1
. de M3
\\\\\\\\$1
\\\\..
. M3 hand.
\\..
. M2 of
..
This understeer is getting
.M1 out
=> This understeer is getting out of hand.
Each escape character is interpreted twice--once in copy mode, when
the macro is defined, and once in interpretation mode, when the macro is
called. As seen above, this fact leads to exponential growth in the
quantity of escape characters required to delay interpolation of '\n',
'\g', '\$', '\*', '\V', and '\?' at each nesting level, which can be
daunting. GNU 'troff' offers a solution.
-- Escape sequence: \E
'\E' represents an escape character that is not interpreted in copy
mode. You can use it to ease the writing of nested macro
definitions.
.de M1
. nop \E$1
. de M2
. nop \E$1
. de M3
. nop \E$1
\\\\..
. M3 better.
\\..
. M2 bit
..
This vehicle handles
.M1 a
=> This vehicle handles a bit better.
Observe that because '\.' is not a true escape sequence, we can't
use '\E' to keep '..' from ending a macro definition prematurely.
If the multiplicity of backslashes complicates maintenance, use end
macros.
'\E' is also convenient to define strings containing escape
sequences that need to work when used in copy mode (for example, as
macro arguments), or which will be interpolated at varying macro
nesting depths. We might define strings to begin and end
superscripting as follows.(2) (*note Copy Mode-Footnote-2::)
.ds { \v'-.9m\s'\En[.s]*7u/10u'+.7m'
.ds } \v'-.7m\s0+.9m'
When the 'ec' request is used to redefine the escape character,
'\E' also makes it easier to distinguish the semantics of an escape
character from the other meaning(s) its character might have.
Consider the use of an unusual escape character, '-'.
.nr a 1
.ec -
.de xx
--na
..
.xx
=> -na
This result may surprise you; some people expect '1' to be output
since register 'a' has clearly been defined with that value. What
has happened? The robotic replacement of '\' with '-' has led us
astray. You might recognize the sequence '--' more readily with
the default escape character as '\-', the special character escape
sequence for the minus sign glyph.
.nr a 1
.ec -
.de xx
-Ena
..
.xx
=> 1
File: groff.info, Node: Copy Mode-Footnotes, Up: Copy Mode
(1) Compare this to the '\def' and '\edef' commands in TeX.
(2) These are lightly adapted from the 'groff' implementation of the
'ms' macros.
File: groff.info, Node: Page Motions, Next: Drawing Geometric Objects, Prev: Writing Macros, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.25 Page Motions
=================
*Note Manipulating Spacing::, for a discussion of the most commonly used
request for vertical motion, 'sp', which spaces downward by one vee.
-- Request: .mk [reg]
-- Request: .rt [dist]
You can "mark" a location on a page for subsequent "return". 'mk'
takes an argument, a register name in which to store the current
page location. If given no argument, it stores the location in an
internal register. This location can be used later by the 'rt' or
the 'sp' requests (or the '\v' escape).
The 'rt' request returns _upward_ to the location marked with the
last 'mk' request. If used with an argument, it returns to a
vertical position DIST from the top of the page (no previous call
to 'mk' is necessary in this case). The default scaling unit is
'v'.
If a page break occurs between a 'mk' request and its matching 'rt'
request, the 'rt' request is silently ignored.
A simple implementation of a macro to set text in two columns
follows.
.nr column-length 1.5i
.nr column-gap 4m
.nr bottom-margin 1m
.
.de 2c
. br
. mk
. ll \\n[column-length]u
. wh -\\n[bottom-margin]u 2c-trap
. nr right-side 0
..
.
.de 2c-trap
. ie \\n[right-side] \{\
. nr right-side 0
. po -(\\n[column-length]u + \\n[column-gap]u)
. \" remove trap
. wh -\\n[bottom-margin]u
. \}
. el \{\
. \" switch to right side
. nr right-side 1
. po +(\\n[column-length]u + \\n[column-gap]u)
. rt
. \}
..
Now let us apply our two-column macro.
.pl 1.5i
.ll 4i
This is a small test that shows how the
rt request works in combination with mk.
.2c
Starting here, text is typeset in two columns.
Note that this implementation isn't robust
and thus not suited for a real two-column
macro.
=> This is a small test that shows how the
=> rt request works in combination with mk.
=>
=> Starting here, isn't robust
=> text is typeset and thus not
=> in two columns. suited for a
=> Note that this real two-column
=> implementation macro.
Several escape sequences enable fine control of movement about the
page.
-- Escape sequence: \v'expr'
Vertically move the drawing position. EXPR indicates the magnitude
of motion: positive is downward and and negative upward. The
default scaling unit is 'v'. The motion is relative to the current
drawing position unless EXPR begins with the boundary-relative
motion operator '|'. *Note Numeric Expressions::.
Text processing continues at the new drawing position; usually,
vertical motions should be in balanced pairs to avoid a confusing
page layout.
'\v' will not spring a vertical position trap. This can be useful;
for example, consider a page bottom trap macro that prints a marker
in the margin to indicate continuation of a footnote. *Note
Traps::.
A few escape sequences that produce vertical motion are unusual.
They are thought to originate early in AT&T 'nroff' history to achieve
super- and subscripting by half-line motions on line printers and
teletypewriters before the phototypesetter made more precise positioning
available. They are reckoned in ems--not vees--to maintain continuity
with their original purpose of moving relative to the size of the type
rather than the distance between text baselines (vees).(1) (*note Page
Motions-Footnote-1::)
-- Escape sequence: \r
-- Escape sequence: \u
-- Escape sequence: \d
Move upward 1m, upward .5m, and downward .5m, respectively.
Let us see these escape sequences in use.
Obtain 100 cm\u3\d of \ka\d\092\h'|\nau'\r233\dU.
In the foregoing we have paired '\u' and '\d' to typeset a
superscript, and later a full em negative ("reverse") motion to place a
superscript above a subscript. A numeral-width horizontal motion escape
sequence aligns the proton and nucleon numbers, while '\k' marks a
horizontal position to which '\h' returns so that we could stack them.
(We shall discuss these horizontal motion escape sequences presently.)
In serious applications, we often want to alter the type size of the
-scripts and to fine-tune the vertical motions, as the 'groff' 'ms'
package does with its super- and subscripting string definitions.
-- Escape sequence: \h'expr'
Horizontally move the drawing position. EXPR indicates the
magnitude of motion: positive is rightward and negative leftward.
The default scaling unit is 'm'. The motion is relative to the
current drawing position unless EXPR begins with the
boundary-relative motion operator '|'. *Note Numeric
Expressions::.
The following string definition sets the TeX logo.(2) (*note Page
Motions-Footnote-2::)
.ds TeX T\h'-.1667m'\v'.224m'E\v'-.224m'\h'-.125m'X\"
There are a number of special-case escape sequences for horizontal
motion.
-- Escape sequence: \<SP>
Move right one word space. (The input is a backslash followed by a
space.) This escape sequence can be thought of as a
non-adjustable, unbreakable space. Usually you want '\~' instead;
see *note Manipulating Filling and Adjustment::.
-- Escape sequence: \|
Move one-sixth em to the right on typesetting output devices. If a
glyph named '\|' is defined in the current font, its width is used
instead, even on terminal output devices.
-- Escape sequence: \^
Move one-twelfth em to the right on typesetting output devices. If
a glyph named '\^' is defined in the current font, its width is
used instead, even on terminal output devices.
-- Escape sequence: \0
Move right by the width of a numeral in the current font.
Horizontal motions are not discarded at the end of an output line as
word spaces are. *Note Breaking::.
-- Escape sequence: \w'anything'
-- Register: \n[st]
-- Register: \n[sb]
-- Register: \n[rst]
-- Register: \n[rsb]
-- Register: \n[ct]
-- Register: \n[ssc]
-- Register: \n[skw]
Interpolate the width of ANYTHING in basic units. This escape
sequence allows several properties of formatted output to be
measured without writing it out.
The length of the string 'abc' is \w'abc'u.
=> The length of the string 'abc' is 72u.
ANYTHING is processed in a dummy environment: this means that font
and type size changes, for example, may occur within it without
affecting subsequent output.
After each use, '\w' sets several registers.
'st'
'sb'
The maximum vertical displacements of the text baseline above
and below, respectively. The sign convention is opposite that
of relative vertical motions; that is, depth below the
(original) baseline is negative. These registers are
incorrectly documented in the AT&T 'troff' manual as "the
highest and lowest extent of [the argument to '\w'] relative
to the baseline".
'rst'
'rsb'
Like 'st' and 'sb', but taking account of the heights and
depths of glyphs. In other words, these registers store the
highest and lowest vertical positions attained by ANYTHING,
doing what AT&T 'troff' documented 'st' and 'sb' as doing.
'ct'
Characterizes the geometry of glyphs occurring in ANYTHING.
0
only short glyphs, no descenders or tall glyphs
1
at least one descender
2
at least one tall glyph
3
at least one each of a descender and a tall glyph
'ssc'
The amount of horizontal space (possibly negative) that should
be added to the last glyph before a subscript.
'skw'
How far to right of the center of the last glyph in the '\w'
argument, the center of an accent from a roman font should be
placed over that glyph.
-- Escape sequence: \kp
-- Escape sequence: \k(ps
-- Escape sequence: \k[position]
Store the current horizontal position in the _input_ line in a
register with the name POSITION (one-character name P,
two-character name PS). Use this, for example, to return to the
beginning of a string for highlighting or other decoration.
-- Register: \n[hp]
The current horizontal position at the input line.
-- Register: \n[.k]
A read-only register containing the current horizontal output
position (relative to the current indentation).
-- Escape sequence: \o'abc...'
Overstrike the glyphs of characters A, B, C, ...; the glyphs are
centered, written, and the drawing position advanced by the widest
of the glyphs.
-- Escape sequence: \zc
Format the character C with zero width; that is, without advancing
the drawing position. Use '\z' to overstrike glyphs aligned to
their left edges, in contrast to '\o''s centering.
-- Escape sequence: \Z'anything'
Save the drawing position, format ANYTHING, then restore it. Tabs
and leaders in the argument are ignored with an error diagnostic.
We might implement a strike-through macro thus.
.de ST
.nr width \w'\\$1'
\Z@\v'-.25m'\l'\\n[width]u'@\\$1
..
.
This is
.ST "a test"
an actual emergency!
File: groff.info, Node: Page Motions-Footnotes, Up: Page Motions
(1) At the 'grops' defaults of 10-point type on 12-point vertical
spacing, the difference between half a vee and half an em can be subtle:
large spacings like '.vs .5i' make it obvious.
(2) *Note Strings::, for an explanation of the trailing '\"'.
File: groff.info, Node: Drawing Geometric Objects, Next: Traps, Prev: Page Motions, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.26 Drawing Geometric Objects
==============================
A few of the formatter's escape sequences draw lines and other geometric
objects. Combined with each other and with page motion commands (*note
Page Motions::), a wide variety of figures is possible. For complex
drawings, these operations can be cumbersome; the preprocessors 'gpic'
or 'ggrn' are typically used instead.
The '\l' and '\L' escape sequences draw horizontal and vertical
sequences of glyphs, respectively. Even the simplest of output devices
supports them.
-- Escape sequence: \l'l'
-- Escape sequence: \l'lc'
Draw a horizontal line of length L from the drawing position.
Rightward motion is positive. Afterward, the drawing position is
at the right end of the line. The default scaling unit is 'm'.
The optional second parameter C is a character with which to draw
the line. The default is the baseline rule special character,
'\[ru]'.
If C is a valid scaling unit, put '\&' after L to disambiguate the
input.
.de textbox
\[br]\\$*\[br]\l'|0\[rn]'\l'|0\[ul]'
..
The foregoing outputs a box rule (a vertical line), the text
argument(s), and another box rule. We employ the boundary-relative
motion operator '|'. Finally, the line-drawing escape sequences
draw a radical extender (a form of overline) and an underline from
the drawing position to the position coresponding to beginning of
the _input_ line. The drawing position returns to just after the
right-hand box rule because the lengths of the drawn lines are
negative, as noted above.
-- Escape sequence: \L'l'
-- Escape sequence: \L'lc'
Draw a vertical line of length L from the drawing position.
Downward motion is positive. The default scaling unit is 'v'. The
default character is the box rule, '\[br]'. As with vertical
motion escape sequences, text processing continues where the line
ends. '\L' is otherwise similar to '\l'.
$ nroff <<EOF
This is a \L'3v'test.
EOF
=> This is a
=> |
=> |
=> |test.
When writing text, the drawing position is at the text baseline;
recall *note Page Geometry::.
The '\D' escape sequence provides "drawing commands" that direct the
output device to render geometrical objects rather than glyphs.
Specific devices may support only a subset, or may feature additional
ones; consult the man page for the output driver in use. Terminal
devices in particular implement almost none. *Note Graphics Commands::.
Rendering starts at the drawing position; when finished, the drawing
position is left at the rightmost point of the object, even for closed
figures, except where noted. GNU 'troff' draws stroked (outlined)
objects with the stroke color, and shades filled ones with the fill
color. *Note Colors::. Coordinates H and V are horizontal and vertical
motions relative to the drawing position or previous point in the
command. The default scaling unit for horizontal measurements (and
diameters of circles) is 'm'; for vertical ones, 'v'.
Circles, ellipses, and polygons can be drawn filled or stroked.
These are independent properties; if you want a filled, stroked figure,
you must draw the same figure twice using each drawing command. A
filled figure is always smaller than an outlined one because the former
is drawn only within its defined area, whereas strokes have a line
thickness (set with '\D't'').
\h'1i'\v'1i'\
\# increase line thickness
\Z'\D't 5p''\
\# draw stroked (unfilled) polygon
\Z'\D'p 3 3 -6 0''\
\# draw filled (solid) polygon
\Z'\D'P 3 3 -6 0''
-- Escape sequence: \D'command argument ...'
Drawing command escape sequence parameters begin with an ordinary
character, COMMAND, selecting the type of object to be drawn,
followed by ARGUMENTs whose meaning is determined by COMMAND.
'\D'~ H1 V1 ... HN VN''
Draw a B-spline to each point in sequence, leaving the drawing
position at (HN, VN).
'\D'a HC VC H V''
Draw a circular arc centered at (HC, VC) counterclockwise from
the drawing position to a point (H, V) relative to the center.
(1) (*note Drawing Geometric Objects-Footnote-1::)
'\D'c D''
Draw a circle of diameter D with its leftmost point at the
drawing position.
'\D'C D''
As '\D'C ...'', but the circle is filled.
'\D'e H V''
Draw an ellipse of width H and height V with its leftmost
point at the drawing position.
'\D'E X Y''
As '\D'e ...'', but the ellipse is filled.
'\D'l DX DY''
Draw line from the drawing position to (H, V).
The following is a macro for drawing a box around a text
argument; for simplicity, the box margin is a fixed at 0.2m.
.de TEXTBOX
. nr @wd \w'\\$1'
\h'.2m'\
\h'-.2m'\v'(.2m - \\n[rsb]u)'\
\D'l 0 -(\\n[rst]u - \\n[rsb]u + .4m)'\
\D'l (\\n[@wd]u + .4m) 0'\
\D'l 0 (\\n[rst]u - \\n[rsb]u + .4m)'\
\D'l -(\\n[@wd]u + .4m) 0'\
\h'.2m'\v'-(.2m - \\n[rsb]u)'\
\\$1\
\h'.2m'
..
The argument is measured with the '\w' escape sequence. Its
width is stored in register '@wd'. '\w' also sets the
registers 'rst' and 'rsb'; these contain its maximum vertical
extents of the argument. Then, four lines are drawn to form a
box, offset by the box margin.
'\D'p H1 V1 ... HN VN''
Draw polygon with vertices at drawing position and each point
in sequence. GNU 'troff' closes the polygon by drawing a line
from (HN, VN) back to the initial drawing position.
Afterward, the drawing position is left at (HN, VN).
'\D'P DX1 DY1 DX2 DY2 ...''
As '\D'P ...'', but the polygon is filled.
The following macro is like the '\D'l'' example, but shades
the box. We draw the box before writing the text because
colors in GNU 'troff' have no transparency; in othe opposite
order, the filled polygon would occlude the text.
.de TEXTBOX
. nr @wd \w'\\$1'
\h'.2m'\
\h'-.2m'\v'(.2m - \\n[rsb]u)'\
\M[lightcyan]\
\D'P 0 -(\\n[rst]u - \\n[rsb]u + .4m) \
(\\n[@wd]u + .4m) 0 \
0 (\\n[rst]u - \\n[rsb]u + .4m) \
-(\\n[@wd]u + .4m) 0'\
\h'.2m'\v'-(.2m - \\n[rsb]u)'\
\M[]\
\\$1\
\h'.2m'
..
'\D't N''
Set the stroke thickness of geometric objects to N basic
units. A zero N selects the minimal supported thickness. A
negative N selects a thickness proportional to the type size;
this is the default.
In a hazy penumbra between text rendering and drawing commands we
locate the bracket-building escape sequence, '\b'. It can assemble
apparently large glyphs by vertically stacking ordinary ones.
-- Escape sequence: \b'contents'
Pile and center a sequence of glyphs vertically on the output line.
"Piling" stacks glyphs corresponding to each character in CONTENTS,
read from left to right, and placed from top to bottom. GNU
'troff' separates the glyphs vertically by 1m, and the pile itself
is centered 0.5m above the text baseline. The horizontal drawing
position is then advanced by the width of the widest glyph in the
pile.
This rather inflexible positioning algorithm doesn't work with the
'dvi' output device since its bracket pieces vary in height.
Instead, use the 'geqn' preprocessor.
*note Manipulating Spacing:: describes how to adjust the vertical
spacing of the output line with the '\x' escape sequence.
The application of '\b' that lends its name is construction of
brackets, braces, and parentheses when typesetting mathematics. We
might construct a large opening (left) brace as follows.
\b'\[lt]\[bv]\[lk]\[bv]\[lb]'
See 'groff_char(7)' for a list of special character identifiers.
File: groff.info, Node: Drawing Geometric Objects-Footnotes, Up: Drawing Geometric Objects
(1) (HC, VC) is adjusted to the point nearest the perpendicular
bisector of the arc's chord.
File: groff.info, Node: Deferring Output, Next: Traps, Prev: Drawing Geometric Objects, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.27 Deferring Output
=====================
A few 'roff' language elements are generally not used in simple
documents, but arise as page layouts become more sophisticated and
demanding. "Environments" collect formatting parameters like line
length and typeface. A "diversion" stores formatted output for later
use. A "trap" is a condition on the input or output, tested
automatically by the formatter, that is associated with a macro, causing
it to be called when that condition is fulfilled.
Footnote support often exercises all three of the foregoing features.
A simple implementation might work as follows. A pair of macros is
defined: one starts a footnote and the other ends it. The author calls
the first macro where a footnote marker is desired. The macro
establishes a diversion so that the footnote text is collected at the
place in the body text where its corresponding marker appears. An
environment is created for the footnote so that it is set at a smaller
typeface. The footnote text is formatted in the diversion using that
environment, but it does not yet appear in the output. The document
author calls the footnote end macro, which returns to the previous
environment and ends the diversion. Later, after much more body text in
the document, a trap, set a small distance above the page bottom, is
sprung. The macro called by the trap draws a line across the page and
emits the stored diversion. Thus, the footnote is rendered.
Diversions and traps make the text formatting process non-linear.
Let us imagine a set of text lines or paragraphs labelled 'A', 'B', and
so on. If we set up a trap that produces text 'T' (as a page footer,
say), and we also use a diversion to store the formatted text 'D', then
a document with input text in the order 'A B C D E F' might render as 'A
B C E T F'. The diversion 'D' will never be output if we do not call
for it.
Environments of themselves are not a source of non-linearity in
document formatting: environment switches have immediate effect. One
could always write a macro to change as many formatting parameters as
desired with a single convenient call. But because diversions can be
nested and macros called by traps that are sprung by other trap-called
macros, they may be called upon in varying contexts. For example,
consider a page header that is always to be set in Helvetica. A
document that uses Times for most of its body text, but Courier for
displayed code examples, poses a challenge if a page break occurs in the
middle of a code display; if the header trap assumes that the "previous
font" is always Times, the rest of the example will be formatted in the
wrong typeface. One could carefully save all formatting parameters upon
entering the trap and restore them upon leaving it, but this is verbose,
error-prone, and not future-proof as the 'groff' language develops.
Environments save us considerable effort.
File: groff.info, Node: Traps, Next: Diversions, Prev: Deferring Output, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.28 Traps
==========
"Traps" are locations in the output or conditions on the input that,
when reached or fulfilled, call a specified macro. These traps can
occur at a given location on the page, at a given location in the
current diversion (together, these are known as vertical position
traps), at a blank line, at a line with leading space characters, after
a quantity of input lines, or at the end of input. Macros called by
traps are passed no arguments. Setting a trap is also called "planting"
one. It is said that a trap is "sprung" if its condition is fulfilled.
* Menu:
* Vertical Position Traps::
* Diversion Traps::
* Input Line Traps::
* Blank Line Traps::
* Leading Space Traps::
* End-of-input Traps::
File: groff.info, Node: Vertical Position Traps, Next: Page Location Traps, Prev: Traps, Up: Traps
5.28.1 Vertical Position Traps
------------------------------
A "vertical position trap" calls a macro when the formatter's vertical
drawing position reaches or passes, in the downward direction, a certain
location on the output page or in a diversion. Its applications include
setting page headers and footers, body text in multiple columns, and
footnotes.
-- Request: .vpt [flag]
-- Register: \n[.vpt]
Enable vertical position traps if FLAG is non-zero or absent;
disable them otherwise. Vertical position traps are those set by
the 'wh' request or by 'dt' within a diversion. The parameter that
controls whether vertical position traps are enabled is global.
Initially, vertical position traps are enabled. The current value
is stored in the '.vpt' read-only register.
A page can't be ejected if 'vpt' is set to zero; see *note The
Implicit Page Trap::.
* Menu:
* Page Location Traps::
* The Implicit Page Trap::
* Diversion Traps::
File: groff.info, Node: Page Location Traps, Next: The Implicit Page Trap, Prev: Vertical Position Traps, Up: Vertical Position Traps
5.28.1.1 Page Location Traps
............................
A "page location trap" is a vertical position trap that applies to the
page; that is, to undiverted output. Many can be present; manage them
with the 'wh' and 'ch' requests.
-- Request: .wh dist [name]
Plant macro NAME as page location trap at DIST. The default
scaling unit is 'v'. Non-negative values for DIST set the trap
relative to the top of the page; negative values set the trap
relative to the bottom of the page. It is not possible to plant a
trap less than one basic unit from the page bottom: a DIST of '-0'
is interpreted as '0', the top of the page.(1) (*note Page
Location Traps-Footnote-1::) An existing _visible_ trap (see below)
at DIST is removed; this is 'wh''s sole function if NAME is
missing.
A trap is sprung only if it is "visible", meaning that its location
is reachable on the page(2) (*note Page Location
Traps-Footnote-2::) and it is not hidden by another trap at the
same location already planted there.
A macro package might set headers and footers as follows; this
example configures vertical margins of one inch to the body text,
and one half-inch to the titles. Observe the use of the no-break
control character with 'sp' request to position our text baselines,
and the page number character '%' used with the 'tl' request.
.\" hdfo.roff
.de hd \" page header
' sp .5i
' tl '\\*(Ti''\\*(Da' \" title and date strings
' sp .5i
..
.de fo \" page footer
' sp .5i
. tl ''%''
. bp
..
.wh 0 hd \" trap at top of the page
.wh -1i fo \" trap 1 inch from bottom
To use these traps, copy the above (or load it from a file with the
'so' or 'mso' requests), then set up the strings it uses.
.so hdfo.roff
.ds Ti Final Report\"
.ds Da 21 May 2023\"
.ti
On 5 August of last year,
this committee tasked me with the investigation of the
CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) incident of
.\" ...and so on...
A trap above the top or at or below the bottom of the page can be
made visible by either moving it into the page area or increasing
the page length so that the trap is on the page. Negative trap
values always use the _current_ page length; they are not converted
to an absolute vertical position. We can use the 'ptr' request to
dump our page location traps to the standard error stream (*note
Debugging::). Their positions are reported in basic units; an
'nroff' device example follows.
.pl 5i
.wh -1i xx
.ptr
error-> xx -240
.pl 100i
.ptr
error-> xx -240
It is possible to have more than one trap at the same location
(although only one at a time can be visible); to achieve this, the
traps must be defined at different locations, then moved to the
same place with the 'ch' request. In the following example, the
many empty lines caused by the 'bp' request are not shown in the
output.
.de a
. nop a
..
.de b
. nop b
..
.de c
. nop c
..
.
.wh 1i a
.wh 2i b
.wh 3i c
.bp
=> a b c
.ch b 1i
.ch c 1i
.bp
=> a
.ch a 0.5i
.bp
=> a b
-- Register: \n[.t]
The read-only register '.t' holds the distance to the next vertical
position trap. If there are no traps between the current position
and the bottom of the page, it contains the distance to the page
bottom. Within a diversion, in the absence of a diversion trap,
this distance is the largest representable integer in basic
units--effectively infinite.
-- Request: .ch name [dist]
Change the location of a trap by moving macro NAME to new location
DIST, or by unplanting it altogether if DIST is absent. The
default scaling unit is 'v'. Parameters to 'ch' are specified in
the opposite order from 'wh'. If NAME is the earliest planted
macro of multiple traps at the same location, (re)moving it from
that location exposes the macro next least recently planted at the
same place.(3) (*note Page Location Traps-Footnote-3::)
Changing a trap's location is useful for building up footnotes in a
diversion to allow more space at the bottom of the page for them.
The same macro can be installed simultaneously at multiple locations;
however, only the earliest-planted instance--that has not yet been
deleted with 'wh'--will be moved by 'ch'. The following example (using
an 'nroff' device) illustrates this behavior. Blank lines have been
elided from the output.
.de T
Trap sprung at \\n(nlu.
.br
..
.wh 1i T
.wh 2i T
foo
.sp 11i
.bp
.ch T 4i
bar
.sp 11i
.bp
.ch T 5i
baz
.sp 11i
.bp
.wh 5i
.ch T 6i
qux
.sp 11i
=> foo
=> Trap sprung at 240u.
=> Trap sprung at 480u.
=> bar
=> Trap sprung at 480u.
=> Trap sprung at 960u.
=> baz
=> Trap sprung at 480u.
=> Trap sprung at 1200u.
=> qux
=> Trap sprung at 1440u.
-- Register: \n[.ne]
The read-only register '.ne' contains the amount of space that was
needed in the last 'ne' request that caused a trap to be sprung; it
is useful in conjunction with the '.trunc' register. *Note Page
Control::. Since the '.ne' register is set only by traps, it
doesn't make sense to interpolate it outside of macros called by
traps.
-- Register: \n[.trunc]
A read-only register containing the amount of vertical space
truncated from an 'sp' request by the most recently sprung vertical
position trap, or, if the trap was sprung by an 'ne' request, minus
the amount of vertical motion produced by the 'ne' request. In
other words, at the point a trap is sprung, it represents the
difference of what the vertical position would have been but for
the trap, and what the vertical position actually is. Since the
'.trunc' register is set only by traps, it doesn't make sense to
interpolate it outside of macros called by traps.
-- Register: \n[.pe]
This Boolean-valued, read-only register interpolates 1 while a page
is being ejected, and 0 otherwise.
In the following example, we plant the same trap at the top and the
bottom of the page. We also make the trap report its name and the
vertical drawing position.
.de T
.tm \\$0: page \\n%, nl=\\n[nl] .pe=\\n[.pe]
..
.ll 46n
.wh 0 T
.wh -1v T
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you
commit atrocities. \[em] Voltaire
error-> T: page 1, nl=0 .pe=0
error-> T: page 1, nl=2600 .pe=1
=> Those who can make you believe absurdities can
=> make you commit atrocities. -- Voltaire
When designing macros, keep in mind that diversions and traps do
normally interact. For example, if a trap calls a header macro (while
outputting a diversion) that tries to change the font on the current
page, the effect is not visible before the diversion has completely been
printed (except for input protected with '\!' or '\?') since the data in
the diversion is already formatted. In most cases, this is not the
expected behaviour.
File: groff.info, Node: Page Location Traps-Footnotes, Up: Page Location Traps
(1) *Note The Implicit Page Trap::.
(2) A trap planted at '20i' or '-30i' will not be sprung on a page of
length '11i'.
(3) It may help to think of each trap location as maintaining a
queue; 'wh' operates on the head of the queue, and 'ch' operates on its
tail. Only the trap at the head of the queue is visible.
File: groff.info, Node: The Implicit Page Trap, Next: Diversion Traps, Prev: Page Location Traps, Up: Vertical Position Traps
5.28.1.2 The Implicit Page Trap
...............................
If, after starting GNU 'troff' without loading a macro package, you use
the 'ptr' request to dump a list of the active traps to the standard
error stream,(1) (*note The Implicit Page Trap-Footnote-1::) nothing is
reported. Yet the '.t' register will report a steadily decreasing value
with every output line your document produces, and once the value of
'.t' gets to within '.V' of zero, you will notice that something
trap-like happens--the page is ejected, a new one begins, and the value
of '.t' becomes large once more.
This "implicit page trap" always exists in the top-level
diversion;(2) (*note The Implicit Page Trap-Footnote-2::) it works like
a trap in some ways but not others. Its purpose is to eject the current
page and start the next one. It has no name, so it cannot be moved or
deleted with 'wh' or 'ch' requests. You cannot hide it by placing
another trap at its location, and can move it only by redefining the
page length with 'pl'. Its operation is suppressed when vertical page
traps are disabled with GNU 'troff''s 'vpt' request.
File: groff.info, Node: The Implicit Page Trap-Footnotes, Up: The Implicit Page Trap
(1) *Note Debugging::.
(2) *Note Diversions::.
File: groff.info, Node: Diversion Traps, Next: Input Line Traps, Prev: The Implicit Page Trap, Up: Vertical Position Traps
5.28.1.3 Diversion Traps
........................
A diversion is not formatted in the context of a page, so it lacks page
location traps; instead it can have a "diversion trap". There can exist
at most one such vertical position trap per diversion.
-- Request: .dt [dist name]
Set a trap _within_ a diversion at location DIST, which is
interpreted relative to diversion rather than page boundaries. If
invoked with fewer than two arguments, any diversion trap in the
current diversion is removed. The register '.t' works within
diversions. It is an error to invoke 'dt' in the top-level
diversion. *Note Diversions::.
File: groff.info, Node: Input Line Traps, Next: Blank Line Traps, Prev: Diversion Traps, Up: Traps
5.28.2 Input Line Traps
-----------------------
-- Request: .it [n name]
-- Request: .itc [n name]
Set an input line trap, calling macro NAME after processing the
next N productive input lines (recall *note Manipulating Filling
and Adjustment::). Any existing input line trap in the environment
is replaced. Without arguments, 'it' and 'itc' clear any input
line trap that has not yet sprung.
Consider a macro '.ST S N' which sets the next N input lines in the
font style S.
.de ST \" Use style $1 for next $2 text lines.
. it \\$2 ES
. ft \\$1
..
.de ES \" end ST
. ft R
..
.ST I 1
oblique
face
.ST I 1
oblique\c
face
=> oblique face obliqueface (second "face" upright)
Unlike the 'ce' and 'rj' requests, 'it' counts lines interrupted
with the '\c' escape sequence separately (*note Line
Continuation::); 'itc' does not. To see the difference, let's
change the previous example to use 'itc' instead.
...
. itc \\$2 ES
...
=> oblique face obliqueface (second "face" oblique)
You can think of the 'ce' and 'rj' requests as implicitly creating
an input line trap with 'itc' that schedules a break when the trap
is sprung.
.de BR
. br
. internal: disable centering-without-filling
..
.
.de ce
. if \\n[.br] .br
. itc \\$1 BR
. internal: enable centering-without-filling
..
Let us consider in more detail the sorts of input lines that are or
are not "productive".
.de Trap
TRAP SPRUNG
..
.de Mac
.if r a \l'5n'
..
.it 2 Trap
.
foo
.Mac
bar
baz
.it 1 Trap
.sp \" moves, but does not write or draw
qux
.itc 1 Trap
\h'5n'\c \" moves, but does not write or draw
jat
When 'Trap' gets called depends on whether the 'a' register is
defined; the control line with the 'if' request may or may not
produce written output. We also see that the spacing request 'sp',
while certainly affecting the output, does not spring the input
line trap. Similarly, the horizontal motion escape sequence '\h'
also affected the output, but was not "written". Observe that we
had to follow it with '\c' and use 'itc' to prevent the newline at
the end of the text line from causing a word break, which, like an
ordinary space character, counts as written output.
$ groff -Tascii input-trap-example.groff
=> foo bar TRAP SPRUNG baz
=>
=> qux TRAP SPRUNG jat TRAP SPRUNG
$ groff -Tascii -ra1 input-trap-example.groff
=> foo _____ TRAP SPRUNG bar baz
=>
=> qux TRAP SPRUNG jat TRAP SPRUNG
Input line traps are associated with the environment (*note
Environments::); switching to another environment suspends the current
input line trap, and going back resumes it, restoring the count of
qualifying lines enumerated in that environment.
File: groff.info, Node: Blank Line Traps, Next: Leading Space Traps, Prev: Input Line Traps, Up: Traps
5.28.3 Blank Line Traps
-----------------------
-- Request: .blm [name]
Set a blank line trap, calling the macro NAME when GNU 'troff'
encounters a blank line in an input file, instead of the usual
behavior (*note Breaking::). A line consisting only of spaces is
also treated as blank and subject to this trap. If no argument is
supplied, the default blank line behavior is (re-)established.
File: groff.info, Node: Leading Space Traps, Next: End-of-input Traps, Prev: Blank Line Traps, Up: Traps
5.28.4 Leading Space Traps
--------------------------
-- Request: .lsm [name]
-- Register: \n[lsn]
-- Register: \n[lss]
Set a leading space trap, calling the macro NAME when GNU 'troff'
encounters leading spaces in an input line; the implicit line break
that normally happens in this case is suppressed. If no argument
is supplied, the default leading space behavior is (re-)established
(*note Breaking::).
The count of leading spaces on an input line is stored in register
'lsn', and the amount of corresponding horizontal motion in
register 'lss', irrespective of whether a leading space trap is
set. When it is, the leading spaces are removed from the input
line, and no motion is produced before calling NAME.
File: groff.info, Node: End-of-input Traps, Prev: Leading Space Traps, Up: Traps
5.28.5 End-of-input Traps
-------------------------
-- Request: .em [name]
Set a trap at the end of input, calling macro NAME after the last
line of the last input file has been processed. If no argument is
given, any existing end-of-input trap is removed.
For example, if the document had to have a section at the bottom of
the last page for someone to approve it, the 'em' request could be
used.
.de approval
\c
. ne 3v
. sp (\\n[.t]u - 3v)
. in +4i
. lc _
. br
Approved:\t\a
. sp
Date:\t\t\a
..
.
.em approval
The '\c' in the above example needs explanation. For historical
reasons (compatibility with AT&T 'troff'), the end-of-input macro
exits as soon as it causes a page break if no partially collected
line remains.(1) (*note End-of-input Traps-Footnote-1::)
Let us assume that there is no '\c' in the above 'approval' macro,
that the page is full, and last output line has been broken with,
say, a 'br' request. Because there is no more room, a 'ne' request
at this point causes a page ejection, which in turn makes 'troff'
exit immediately as just described. In most situations, this is
not desired; people generally want to format the input after 'ne'.
To force processing of the whole end-of-input macro independently
of this behavior, it is thus advisable to (invisibly) ensure the
existence of a partially collected line ('\c') whenever there is a
chance that a page break can happen. In the above example,
invoking the 'ne' request ensures that there is room for the
subsequent formatted output on the same page, so we need insert
'\c' only once.
The next example shows how to append three lines, then start a new
page unconditionally. Since '.ne 1' doesn't give the desired
effect--there is always one line available or we are already at the
beginning of the next page--we temporarily increase the page length
by one line so that we can use '.ne 2'.
.de EM
.pl +1v
\c
.ne 2
line one
.br
\c
.ne 2
line two
.br
\c
.ne 2
line three
.br
.pl -1v
\c
'bp
..
.em EM
This specific feature affects only the first potential page break
caused by the end-of-input macro; further page breaks emitted by
the macro are handled normally.
Another possible use of the 'em' request is to make GNU 'troff'
emit a single large page instead of multiple pages. For example,
one may want to produce a long plain text file for reading in a
terminal or emulator without page footers and headers interrupting
the body of the document. One approach is to set the page length
at the beginning of the document to a very large value to hold all
the text,(2) (*note End-of-input Traps-Footnote-2::) and
automatically adjust it to the exact height of the document after
the text has been output.
.de adjust-page-length
. br
. pl \\n[nl]u \" \n[nl]: current vertical position
..
.
.de single-page-mode
. pl 99999
. em adjust-page-length
..
.
.\" Activate the above code if configured.
.if \n[do-continuous-rendering] \
. single-page-mode
Since only one end-of-input trap exists and another macro package
may already use it, care must be taken not to break the mechanism.
A simple solution would be to append the above macro to the macro
package's end-of-input macro using the 'am' request.
File: groff.info, Node: End-of-input Traps-Footnotes, Up: End-of-input Traps
(1) While processing an end-of-input macro, the formatter assumes
that the next page break must be the last; it goes into "sudden death
overtime".
(2) Another, taken by the 'groff' 'man' macros, is to intercept 'ne'
requests and wrap 'bp' ones.
File: groff.info, Node: Diversions, Next: Punning Names, Prev: Traps, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.29 Diversions
===============
In 'roff' systems it is possible to format text as if for output, but
instead of writing it immediately, one can "divert" the formatted text
into a named storage area. It is retrieved later by specifying its name
after a control character. The same name space is used for such
diversions as for strings and macros; see *note Identifiers::. Such
text is sometimes said to be "stored in a macro", but this coinage
obscures the important distinction between macros and strings on one
hand and diversions on the other; the former store _unformatted_ input
text, and the latter capture _formatted_ output. Diversions also do not
interpret arguments. Applications of diversions include "keeps"
(preventing a page break from occurring at an inconvenient place by
forcing a set of output lines to be set as a group), footnotes, tables
of contents, and indices. For orthogonality it is said that GNU 'troff'
is in the "top-level diversion" if no diversion is active (that is,
formatted output is being "diverted" immediately to the output device).
Dereferencing an undefined diversion will create an empty one of that
name and cause a warning in category 'mac' to be emitted. *Note
Warnings::, for information about the enablement and suppression of
warnings. A diversion does not exist for the purpose of testing with
the 'd' conditional operator until its initial definition ends (*note
Operators in Conditionals::). The following requests are used to create
and alter diversions.
-- Request: .di [name]
-- Request: .da [name]
Start collecting formatted output in a diversion called NAME. The
'da' request appends to a diversion called NAME, creating it if
necessary. If NAME already exists as an alias, the target of the
alias is replaced or appended to; recall *note Strings::. The
pending output line is diverted as well. Switching to another
environment (with the 'ev' request) before invoking 'di' or 'da'
avoids including any pending output line in the diversion; see
*note Environments::.
Invoking 'di' or 'da' without an argument stops diverting output to
the diversion named by the most recent corresponding request. If
'di' or 'da' is called without an argument when there is no current
diversion, a warning in category 'di' is produced. *Note
Warnings::, for information about the enablement and suppression of
warnings.
Before the diversion.
.di yyy
In the diversion.
.br
.di
After the diversion.
.br
=> After the diversion.
.yyy
=> Before the diversion. In the diversion.
GNU 'troff' supports "box" requests to exclude a partially collected
line from a diversion, as this is often desirable.
-- Request: .box [name]
-- Request: .boxa [name]
Divert (or append) output to NAME, similarly to the 'di' and 'da'
requests, respectively. Any pending output line is _not_ included
in the diversion. Without an argument, stop diverting output; any
pending output line inside the diversion is discarded.
Before the box.
.box xxx
In the box.
.br
Hidden treasure.
.box
After the box.
.br
=> Before the box. After the box.
.xxx
=> In the box.
Apart from pending output line inclusion and the request names that
populate them, boxes are handled exactly as diversions are. All of the
following 'groff' language elements can be used with them
interchangeably.
-- Register: \n[.z]
-- Register: \n[.d]
Diversions may be nested. The read-only string-valued register
'.z' contains the name of the current diversion. The read-only
register '.d' contains the current vertical place in the diversion.
If the input text is not being diverted, '.d' reports the same
location as the register 'nl'.
-- Register: \n[.h]
The read-only register '.h' stores the "high-water mark" on the
current page or in the current diversion. It corresponds to the
text baseline of the lowest line on the page.(1) (*note
Diversions-Footnote-1::)
.tm .h==\n[.h], nl==\n[nl]
=> .h==0, nl==-1
This is a test.
.br
.sp 2
.tm .h==\n[.h], nl==\n[nl]
=> .h==40, nl==120
As implied by the example, vertical motion does not produce text
baselines and thus does not increase the value interpolated by
'\n[.h]'.
-- Register: \n[dn]
-- Register: \n[dl]
After completing a diversion, the writable registers 'dn' and 'dl'
contain its vertical and horizontal sizes. Only the lines just
processed are counted: for the computation of 'dn' and 'dl', the
requests 'da' and 'boxa' are handled as if 'di' and 'box' had been
used, respectively--lines that have been already stored in the
diversion (box) are not taken into account.
.\" Center text both horizontally and vertically.
.\" Macro .(c starts centering mode; .)c terminates it.
.
.\" Disable the escape character with .eo so that we
.\" don't have to double backslashes on the "\n"s.
.eo
.de (c
. br
. ev (c
. evc 0
. in 0
. nf
. di @c
..
.de )c
. br
. ev
. di
. nr @s (((\n[.t]u - \n[dn]u) / 2u) - 1v)
. sp \n[@s]u
. ce 1000
. @c
. ce 0
. sp \n[@s]u
. br
. fi
. rr @s
. rm @c
..
.ec
-- Escape sequence: \!anything
-- Escape sequence: \?anything\?
"Transparently" embed ANYTHING into the current diversion,
preventing requests, macro calls, and escape sequences from being
interpreted when read into a diversion. This is useful for
preventing them from taking effect until the diverted text is
actually output. The '\!' escape sequence transparently embeds
input up to and including the end of the line. The '\?' escape
sequence transparently embeds input until its own next occurrence.
ANYTHING may not contain newlines; use '\!' by itself to embed
newlines in a diversion. The escape sequence '\?' is also
recognized in copy mode and turned into a single internal code; it
is this code that terminates ANYTHING. Thus the following example
prints 4.
.nr x 1
.nf
.di d
\?\\?\\\\?\\\\\\\\nx\\\\?\\?\?
.di
.nr x 2
.di e
.d
.di
.nr x 3
.di f
.e
.di
.nr x 4
.f
Both escape sequences read the data in copy mode.
If '\!' is used in the top-level diversion, its argument is
directly embedded into GNU 'troff''s intermediate output. This can
be used, for example, to control a postprocessor that processes the
data before it is sent to an output driver.
The '\?' escape used in the top-level diversion produces no output
at all; its argument is simply ignored.
-- Request: .output contents
Emit CONTENTS directly to GNU 'troff''s intermediate output
(subject to copy mode interpretation); this is similar to '\!' used
at the top level. An initial neutral double quote in CONTENTS is
stripped to allow embedding of leading spaces.
This request can't be used before the first page has started--if
you get an error, simply insert '.br' before the 'output' request.
Use with caution! It is normally only needed for mark-up used by a
postprocessor that does something with the output before sending it
to the output device, filtering out CONTENTS again.
-- Request: .asciify div
"Unformat" the diversion DIV in a way such that Unicode basic Latin
(ASCII) characters, characters translated with the 'trin' request,
space characters, and some escape sequences, that were formatted
and diverted into DIV are treated like ordinary input characters
when DIV is reread. Doing so can be useful in conjunction with the
'writem' request. 'asciify' can be also used for gross hacks; for
example, the following sets register 'n' to 1.
.tr @.
.di x
@nr n 1
.br
.di
.tr @@
.asciify x
.x
'asciify' cannot return all items in a diversion to their source
equivalent: nodes such as those produced by the '\N' escape
sequence will remain nodes, so the result cannot be guaranteed to
be a pure string. *Note Copy Mode::. Glyph parameters such as the
type face and size are not preserved; use 'unformat' to achieve
that.
-- Request: .unformat div
Like 'asciify', unformat the diversion DIV. However, 'unformat'
handles only tabs and spaces between words, the latter usually
arising from spaces or newlines in the input. Tabs are treated as
input tokens, and spaces become adjustable again. The vertical
sizes of lines are not preserved, but glyph information (font, type
size, space width, and so on) is retained.
File: groff.info, Node: Diversions-Footnotes, Up: Diversions
(1) Thus, the "water" gets "higher" proceeding _down_ the page.
File: groff.info, Node: Punning Names, Next: Environments, Prev: Diversions, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.30 Punning Names
==================
Macros, strings, and diversions share a name space; recall *note
Identifiers::. Internally, the same mechanism is used to store them.
You can thus call a macro with string interpolation syntax and vice
versa.
.de subject
Typesetting
..
.de predicate
rewards attention to detail
..
\*[subject] \*[predicate].
Truly.
=> Typesetting
=> rewards attention to detail Truly.
What went wrong? Strings don't contain newlines, but macros do. String
interpolation placed a newline at the end of '\*[subject]', and the next
thing on the input was a space. Then when '\*[predicate]' was
interpolated, it was followed by the empty request '.' on a line by
itself. If we want to use macros as strings, we must take interpolation
behavior into account.
.de subject
Typesetting\\
..
.de predicate
rewards attention to detail\\
..
\*[subject] \*[predicate].
Truly.
=> Typesetting rewards attention to detail. Truly.
By ending each text line of the macros with an escaped '\<RET>', we get
the desired effect (*note Line Continuation::).(1) (*note Punning
Names-Footnote-1::) What would have happened if we had used only one
backslash at a time instead?
Interpolating a string does not hide existing macro arguments. We
can also place the escaped newline outside the string interpolation
instead of within the string definition. Thus, in a macro, a more
efficient way of doing
.xx \\$@
is
\\*[xx]\\
The latter calling syntax doesn't change the value of '\$0', which is
then inherited from the calling macro (*note Parameters::).
Diversions can be also called with string syntax. It is sometimes
convenient to copy one-line diversions to a string.
.di xx
the
.ft I
interpolation system
.ft
.br
.di
.ds yy This is a test of \*(xx\c
\*(yy.
=> This is a test of the interpolation system.
As the previous example shows, it is possible to store formatted output
in strings. The '\c' escape sequence prevents the subsequent newline
from being interpreted as a break (again, *note Line Continuation::).
Copying multi-output line diversions produces unexpected results.
.di xxx
a funny
.br
test
.br
.di
.ds yyy This is \*[xxx]\c
\*[yyy].
=> test This is a funny.
Usually, it is not predictable whether a diversion contains one or
more output lines, so this mechanism should be avoided. With AT&T
'troff', this was the only solution to strip off a final newline from a
diversion. Another disadvantage is that the spaces in the copied string
are already formatted, preventing their adjustment. This can cause ugly
results.
A clean solution to this problem is available in GNU 'troff', using
the requests 'chop' to remove the final newline of a diversion, and
'unformat' to make the horizontal spaces adjustable again.
.box xxx
a funny
.br
test
.br
.box
.chop xxx
.unformat xxx
This is \*[xxx].
=> This is a funny test.
*Note Gtroff Internals::.
File: groff.info, Node: Punning Names-Footnotes, Up: Punning Names
(1) The backslash is doubled. *Note Copy Mode::.
File: groff.info, Node: Environments, Next: Suppressing Output, Prev: Diversions, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.31 Environments
=================
As discussed in *note Deferring Output::, environments store most of the
parameters that determine the appearance of text. A default environment
named '0' exists when GNU 'troff' starts up; it is modified by
formatting-related requests and escape sequences.
You can create new environments and switch among them. Only one is
current at any given time. Active environments are managed using a
"stack", a data structure supporting "push" and "pop" operations. The
current environment is at the top of the stack. The same environment
name can be pushed onto the stack multiple times, possibly interleaved
with others. Popping the environment stack does not destroy the current
environment; it remains accessible by name and can be made current again
by pushing it at any time. Environments cannot be renamed or deleted,
and can only be modified when current. To inspect the environment
stack, use the 'pev' request; see *note Debugging::.
Environments store the following information.
* a partially collected line, if any
* data about the most recently output glyph and line (registers
'.cdp', '.cht', '.csk', '.n', '.w')
* typeface parameters (size, family, style, height and slant,
inter-word and inter-sentence space sizes)
* page parameters (line length, title length, vertical spacing, line
spacing, indentation, line numbering, centering, right-alignment,
underlining, hyphenation parameters)
* filling enablement; adjustment enablement and mode
* tab stops; tab, leader, escape, control, no-break control,
hyphenation, and margin characters
* input line traps
* stroke and fill colors
-- Request: .ev [ident]
-- Register: \n[.ev]
Enter the environment IDENT, which is created if it does not
already exist, using the same parameters as for the default
environment used at startup. With no argument, GNU 'troff'
switches to the previous environment.
Invoking 'ev' with an argument puts environment IDENT onto the top
of the environment stack. (If it isn't already present in the
stack, this is a proper push.) Without an argument, 'ev' pops the
environment stack, making the previous environment current. It is
an error to pop the environment stack with no previous environment
available. The read-only string-valued register '.ev' contains the
name of the current environment--the one at the top of the stack.
.ev footnote-env
.fam N
.ps 6
.vs 8
.ll -.5i
.ev
...
.ev footnote-env
\[dg] Observe the smaller text and vertical spacing.
.ev
We can familiarize ourselves with stack behavior by wrapping the
'ev' request with a macro that reports the contents of the '.ev'
register to the standard error stream.
.de EV
. ev \\$1
. tm environment is now \\n[.ev]
..
.
.EV foo
.EV bar
.EV
.EV baz
.EV
.EV
.EV
error-> environment is now foo
error-> environment is now bar
error-> environment is now foo
error-> environment is now baz
error-> environment is now foo
error-> environment is now 0
error-> error: environment stack underflow
error-> environment is now 0
-- Request: .evc environment
Copy the contents of ENVIRONMENT to the current environment.
The following environment data are not copied.
* a partially collected line, if present;
* the interruption status of the previous input line (due to use
of the '\c' escape sequence);
* the count of remaining lines to center, to right-justify, or
to underline (with or without underlined spaces)--these are
set to zero;
* the activation status of temporary indentation;
* input line traps and their associated data;
* the activation status of line numbering (which can be
reactivated with '.nm +0'); and
* the count of consecutive hyphenated lines (set to zero).
-- Register: \n[.w]
-- Register: \n[.cht]
-- Register: \n[.cdp]
-- Register: \n[.csk]
The '\n[.w]' register contains the width of the last glyph
formatted in the environment.
The '\n[.cht]' register contains the height of the last glyph
formatted in the environment.
The '\n[.cdp]' register contains the depth of the last glyph
formatted in the environment. It is positive for glyphs extending
below the baseline.
The '\n[.csk]' register contains the "skew" (how far to the right
of the glyph's center that GNU 'troff' should place an accent) of
the last glyph formatted in the environment.
-- Register: \n[.n]
The '\n[.n]' register contains the length of the previous output
line emitted in the environment.
File: groff.info, Node: Suppressing Output, Next: Colors, Prev: Environments, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.32 Suppressing Output
=======================
-- Escape sequence: \O[num]
Suppress GNU 'troff' output of glyphs and geometric objects. The
sequences '\O2', '\O3', '\O4', and '\O5' are intended for internal
use by 'grohtml'.
'\O0'
Disable the emission of glyphs and geometric objects to the
output driver, provided that this sequence occurs at the
outermost suppression level (see '\O3' and '\04' below).
Horizontal motions corresponding to non-overstruck glyph
widths still occur.
'\O1'
Enable the emission of glyphs and geometric objects to the
output driver, provided that this sequence occurs at the
outermost suppression level.
'\O0' and '\O1' also reset the four registers 'opminx', 'opminy',
'opmaxx', and 'opmaxy' to -1. These four registers mark the top
left and bottom right hand corners of a box encompassing all
written or drawn output.
'\O2'
At the outermost suppression level, enable emission of glyphs
and geometric objects, and write to the standard error stream
the page number and values of the four aforementioned
registers encompassing glyphs written since the last
interpolation of a '\O' sequence, as well as the page offset,
line length, image file name (if any), horizontal and vertical
device motion quanta, and input file name. Numeric values are
in basic units.
'\O3'
Begin a nested suppression level. 'grohtml' uses this
mechanism to create images of output preprocessed with 'gpic',
'geqn', and 'gtbl'. At startup, GNU 'troff' is at the
outermost suppression level. 'pre-grohtml' generates these
sequences when processing the document, using GNU 'troff' with
the 'ps' output device, Ghostscript, and the PNM tools to
produce images in PNG format. They start a new page if the
device is not 'html' or 'xhtml', to reduce the number of
images crossing a page boundary.
'\O4'
End a nested suppression level.
'\O[5PFILE]'
At the outermost suppression level, write the name 'file' to
the standard error stream at position P, which must be one of
'l', 'r', 'c', or 'i', corresponding to left, right, centered,
and inline alignments within the document, respectively. FILE
is a name associated with the production of the next image.
-- Register: \n[.O]
Output suppression nesting level applied by '\O3' and '\O4' escape
sequences.
File: groff.info, Node: I/O, Next: Postprocessor Access, Prev: Suppressing Output, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.33 I/O
========
'gtroff' has several requests for including files:
-- Request: .so file
-- Request: .soquiet file
Replace the 'so' request's control line with the contents of the
file named by the argument, "sourcing" it. FILE is sought in the
directories specified by '-I' command-line option. If FILE does
not exist, a warning in category 'file' is produced and the request
has no further effect. *Note Warnings::, for information about the
enablement and suppression of warnings.
'so' can be useful for large documents; e.g., allowing each chapter
of a book to be kept in a separate file. However, files
interpolated with 'so' are not preprocessed; to overcome this
limitation, see the 'gsoelim(1)' man page.
Since GNU 'troff' replaces the entire control line with the
contents of a file, it matters whether 'file' is terminated with a
newline or not. Assume that file 'xxx' contains only the word
'foo' without a trailing newline.
$ printf 'foo' > xxx
The situation is
.so xxx
bar.
=> The situation is foobar.
'soquiet' works the same way, except that no warning diagnostic is
issued if FILE does not exist.
-- Request: .pso command
Read the standard output from the specified COMMAND and include it
in place of the 'pso' request.
It is an error to use this request in safer mode, which is the
default. Invoke GNU 'troff' or a front end with the '-U' option to
enable unsafe mode.
The comment regarding a final newline for the 'so' request is valid
for 'pso' also.
-- Request: .mso file
-- Request: .msoquiet file
Identical to the 'so' and 'soquiet' requests, respectively, except
that 'gtroff' searches for the specified FILE in the same
directories as macro files for the '-m' command-line option. If
the file name to be included has the form 'NAME.tmac' and it isn't
found, these requests try to include 'tmac.NAME' and vice versa.
-- Request: .trf file
-- Request: .cf file
Transparently output the contents of FILE. Each line is output as
if it were preceded by '\!'; however, the lines are _not_ subject
to copy mode interpretation. If the file does not end with a
newline, 'trf' adds one. Both requests cause a break.
When used in a diversion, these requests embed a node (*note Gtroff
Internals::) in it that, when reread, causes the contents of FILE
to be transparently copied to the output. In AT&T 'troff', the
contents of FILE are immediately copied to the output regardless of
whether there is a current diversion; this behaviour is so
anomalous that it must be considered a bug.
While 'cf' copies the contents of FILE completely unprocessed,
'trf' disallows characters such as NUL that are not valid 'gtroff'
input characters (*note Identifiers::).
For 'cf', within a diversion, "completely unprocessed" means that
each line of a file to be inserted is handled as if it were
preceded by '\!\\!'.
To define a macro 'x' containing the contents of file 'f', use
.ev 1
.di x
.trf f
.di
.ev
The calls to 'ev' prevent the partially collected output line from
becoming part of the diversion (*note Diversions::).
-- Request: .nx [file]
Force 'gtroff' to continue processing of the file specified as an
argument. If no argument is given, immediately jump to the end of
file.
-- Request: .rd [prompt [arg1 arg2 ...]]
Read from standard input, and include what is read as though it
were part of the input file. Text is read until a blank line is
encountered.
If standard input is a TTY input device (keyboard), write PROMPT to
standard error, followed by a colon (or send BEL for a beep if no
argument is given).
Arguments after PROMPT are available for the input. For example,
the line
.rd data foo bar
with the input 'This is \$2.' prints
This is bar.
Using the 'nx' and 'rd' requests, it is easy to set up form letters.
The form letter template is constructed like this, putting the following
lines into a file called 'repeat.let':
.ce
\*(td
.sp 2
.nf
.rd
.sp
.rd
.fi
Body of letter.
.bp
.nx repeat.let
When this is run, a file containing the following lines should be
redirected in. Requests included in this file are executed as though
they were part of the form letter. The last block of input is the 'ex'
request, which tells GNU 'troff' to stop processing. If this were not
there, 'troff' would not know when to stop.
Trent A. Fisher
708 NW 19th Av., #202
Portland, OR 97209
Dear Trent,
Len Adollar
4315 Sierra Vista
San Diego, CA 92103
Dear Mr. Adollar,
.ex
-- Request: .pi pipe
Pipe the output of 'gtroff' to the shell command(s) specified by
PIPE. This request must occur before 'gtroff' has a chance to
print anything.
It is an error to use this request in safer mode, which is the
default. Invoke GNU 'troff' or a front end with the '-U' option to
enable unsafe mode.
Multiple calls to 'pi' are allowed, acting as a chain. For
example,
.pi foo
.pi bar
...
is the same as '.pi foo | bar'.
The intermediate output format of GNU 'troff' is piped to the
specified commands. Consequently, calling 'groff' without the '-Z'
option normally causes a fatal error.
-- Request: .sy cmds
-- Register: \n[systat]
Execute the shell command(s) specified by CMDS. The output is not
saved anywhere, so it is up to the user to do so.
It is an error to use this request in safer mode; this is the
default. Give GNU 'troff' or a front end program the '-U' option
to enable unsafe mode.
The following code fragment introduces the current time into a
document.
.sy perl -e 'printf ".nr H %d\\n.nr M %d\\n.nr S %d\\n",\
(localtime(time))[2,1,0]' > /tmp/x\n[$$]
.so /tmp/x\n[$$]
.sy rm /tmp/x\n[$$]
\nH:\nM:\nS
This works by having the Perl script (run by 'sy') write 'nr'
requests that set the registers 'H', 'M', and 'S' to a temporary
file. The 'roff' document then reads the temporary file using the
'so' request.
The registers 'seconds', 'minutes', and 'hours', initialized at
startup of GNU 'troff', should satisfy most requirements. Use the
'af' request to format their values for output.
.af hours 00
.af minutes 00
.af seconds 00
\n[hours]:\n[minutes]:\n[seconds]
=> 02:17:54
The writable register 'systat' contains the return value of the
'system()' function executed by the last 'sy' request.
-- Request: .open stream file
-- Request: .opena stream file
Open the specified FILE for writing and associates the specified
STREAM with it.
The 'opena' request is like 'open', but if the file exists, append
to it instead of truncating it.
It is an error to use these requests in safer mode; this is the
default. Give GNU 'troff' or a front end program the '-U' option
to enable unsafe mode.
-- Request: .write stream data
-- Request: .writec stream data
Write to the file associated with the specified STREAM. The stream
must previously have been the subject of an open request. The
remainder of the line is interpreted as the 'ds' request reads its
second argument: an initial neutral double quote in CONTENTS is
stripped to allow embedding of leading spaces, and it is read in
copy mode.
The 'writec' request is like 'write', but only 'write' appends a
newline to the data.
-- Request: .writem stream xx
Write the contents of the macro or string XX to the file associated
with the specified STREAM.
XX is read in copy mode, i.e., already formatted elements are
ignored. Consequently, diversions must be unformatted with the
'asciify' request before calling 'writem'. Usually, this means a
loss of information.
-- Request: .close stream
Close the specified STREAM; the stream is no longer an acceptable
argument to the 'write' request.
Here a simple macro to write an index entry.
.open idx test.idx
.
.de IX
. write idx \\n[%] \\$*
..
.
.IX test entry
.
.close idx
-- Escape sequence: \Ve
-- Escape sequence: \V(ev
-- Escape sequence: \V[env]
Interpolate the contents of the specified environment variable ENV
(one-character name E, two-character name EV) as returned by the
function 'getenv(3)'. '\V' is interpreted even in copy mode (*note
Copy Mode::).
File: groff.info, Node: Postprocessor Access, Next: Miscellaneous, Prev: I/O, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.34 Postprocessor Access
=========================
Two escape sequences and two requests enable documents to pass
information directly to a postprocessor. These are useful for
exercising device-specific capabilities that the 'groff' language does
not abstract or generalize; examples include the embedding of hyperlinks
and image files. Device-specific functions are documented in each
output driver's man page, such as 'gropdf(1)', 'grops(1)', or
'grotty(1)'.
-- Request: .device xxx ...
-- Escape sequence: \X'xxx ...'
Embed all XXX arguments into GNU 'troff' output as parameters to a
device control command 'x X'. The meaning and interpretation of
such parameters is determined by the output driver or other
postprocessor.
The 'device' request processes its arguments in copy mode (*note
Copy Mode::). An initial neutral double quote in CONTENTS is
stripped to allow embedding of leading spaces. By contrast, within
'\X' arguments, the escape sequences '\&', '\)', '\%', and '\:' are
ignored; '\<SP>' and '\~' are converted to single space characters;
and '\\' has its escape character stripped. So that the basic
Latin subset of the Unicode character set(1) (*note Postprocessor
Access-Footnote-1::) can be reliably encoded in device control
commands, seven special character escape sequences ('\-', '\[aq]',
'\[dq]', '\[ga]', '\[ha]', '\[rs]', and '\[ti]',) are mapped to
basic Latin characters; see the 'groff_char(7)' man page. For this
transformation, character translations and special character
definitions are ignored.(2) (*note Postprocessor
Access-Footnote-2::) The use of any other escape sequence in '\X'
parameters is normally an error.
If the 'use_charnames_in_special' directive appears in the output
device's 'DESC' file, the use of special character escape sequences
is _not_ an error; they are simply output verbatim (with the
exception of the seven mapped to Unicode basic Latin characters,
discussed above). 'use_charnames_in_special' is currently employed
only by 'grohtml'.
-- Request: .devicem name
-- Escape sequence: \Yn
-- Escape sequence: \Y(nm
-- Escape sequence: \Y[name]
This is approximately equivalent to '\X'\*[NAME]'' (one-character
name N, two-character name NM). However, the contents of the
string or macro NAME are not interpreted; also it is permitted for
NAME to have been defined as a macro and thus contain newlines (it
is not permitted for the argument to '\X' to contain newlines).
The inclusion of newlines requires an extension to the AT&T 'troff'
output format, and confuses drivers that do not know about this
extension (*note Device Control Commands::).
-- Request: .tag name
-- Request: .taga name
Reserved for internal use.
File: groff.info, Node: Postprocessor Access-Footnotes, Up: Postprocessor Access
(1) that is, ISO 646:1991-IRV or, popularly, "US-ASCII"
(2) They are bypassed because these parameters are not rendered as
glyphs in the output; instead, they remain abstract characters--in a PDF
bookmark or a URL, for example.
File: groff.info, Node: Miscellaneous, Next: Gtroff Internals, Prev: Postprocessor Access, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.35 Miscellaneous
==================
We document here GNU 'troff' features that fit poorly elsewhere.
-- Request: .nm [start [increment [space [indentation]]]]
-- Register: \n[ln]
-- Register: \n[.nm]
Begin (or, with no arguments, cease) numbering output lines. START
assigns the number of the _next_ output line. Only line numbers
divisible by INCREMENT are marked (default: '1'). SPACE configures
the horizontal spacing between the number and the text (default:
'1'). Any given INDENTATION is applied to the numbers (default:
'0'). The third and fourth arguments are reckoned in numeral
widths ('\0'). START must be non-negative and INCREMENT positive.
The formatter aligns the number to the right in a width of three
numeral spaces plus INDENTATION, then catenates SPACE and the
output line. The line length is _not_ reduced. Depending on the
value of the page offset,(1) (*note Miscellaneous-Footnote-1::)
numbers wider than the allocated space protrude into the left
margin, or shift the output line to the right.
Line numbering parameters corresponding to missing arguments are
not altered. After numbering is disabled, '.nm +0' resumes it
using the previously active parameters.
The parameters of 'nm' are associated with the environment (*note
Environments::).
While numbering is enabled, the output line number register 'ln' is
updated as each line is output, even if no line number is formatted
with it because it is being skipped (it is not a multiple of
INCREMENT) or because numbering is suppressed (see the 'nn' request
below).
The '.nm' register tracks the enablement status of numbering.
Temporary suspension of numbering with the 'nn' request does _not_
alter its value.
.po 5n
.ll 44n
Programming,
when stripped of all its circumstantial irrelevancies,
.nm 999 1 1 -4
boils down to no more and no less than
.nm +0 3
very effective thinking so as to avoid unmastered
.nn 2
complexity,
to very vigorous separation of your many
different concerns.
.br
\(em Edsger Dijkstra
.sp
.nm 1 1 1
This guy's arrogance takes your breath away.
.br
\(em John Backus
=> Programming, when stripped of all its cir-
=> 999 cumstantial irrelevancies, boils down to no
=> more and no less than very effective think-
=> ing so as to avoid unmastered complexity, to
=> very vigorous separation of your many dif-
=> ferent concerns.
=> 1002 -- Edsger Dijkstra
=>
=> 1 This guy's arrogance takes your breath away.
=> 2 -- John Backus
-- Request: .nn [skip]
-- Register: \n[.nn]
Suppress numbering of the next SKIP output lines that would
otherwise be numbered. The default is 1. 'nn' can be invoked when
line numbering is not active; suppression of numbering will take
effect for SKIP lines once 'nm' enables it.
The '.nn' register stores the count of output lines still to have
their numbering suppressed.
This count is associated with the environment (*note
Environments::).
To test whether the current output line will be numbered, you must
check both the '.nm' and '.nn' registers.
.de is-numbered
. nop This line
. ie (\\n[.nm] & (1-\\n[.nn])) IS
. el ISN'T
. nop numbered.
. br
..
Test line numbering.
.is-numbered
.nm 1
.nn 1
.is-numbered
.is-numbered
.nm
.is-numbered
=> Test line numbering. This line ISN'T numbered.
=> This line ISN'T numbered.
=> 1 This line IS numbered.
=> This line ISN'T numbered.
-- Request: .mc [margin-character [distance]
Begin (or, with no arguments, cease) writing a "margin-character"
to the right of each output line. The DISTANCE argument separates
MARGIN-CHARACTER from the right margin. If absent, the most recent
value is used; the default is 10 points. If an output line exceeds
the line length, the margin character is appended to it. No margin
character is written on lines produced by the 'tl' request.
The margin character is a property of the output line; the margin
character last configured when the line is output controls. If the
margin character is disabled before an output line breaks, none is
output (but see below).
The margin character is associated with the environment (*note
Environments::).
.ll 5i
.nf
.mc \[br]
This paragraph is marked with a margin character.
.sp
As seen above, vertical space isn't thus marked.
\&
An output line that is present, but empty, is.
=> This paragraph is marked with a margin character. |
=>
=> As seen above, vertical space isn't thus marked. |
=> |
=> An output line that is present, but empty, is. |
For compatibility with AT&T 'troff', a call to 'mc' to set the margin
character can't be undone immediately; at least one line gets a margin
character.
.ll 10n
.nf
.mc |
.mc *
.mc
foo
bar
=> foo *
=> bar
The margin character mechanism is commonly used to annotate changes
in documents. The 'groff' distribution ships a program, 'gdiffmk', to
assist with this task.(2) (*note Miscellaneous-Footnote-2::)
-- Request: .psbb file
-- Register: \n[llx]
-- Register: \n[lly]
-- Register: \n[urx]
-- Register: \n[ury]
Retrieve the bounding box of the PostScript image found in FILE,
which must conform to Adobe's "Document Structuring Conventions"
(DSC), locate a '%%BoundingBox' comment, and store the (upper-,
lower-, -left, -right) values into the registers 'llx', 'lly',
'urx', and 'ury'. If an error occurs (for example, if no
'%%BoundingBox' comment is present), the formatter sets these
registers to 0.
The search path for FILE can be controlled with the '-I'
command-line option.
File: groff.info, Node: Miscellaneous-Footnotes, Up: Miscellaneous
(1) Recall *note Line Layout::.
(2) Historically, tools named 'nrchbar' and 'changebar' were
developed for marking changes with margin characters and could be found
in archives of the 'comp.sources.unix' USENET group. Some proprietary
Unices also offer(ed) a 'diffmk' program.
File: groff.info, Node: Gtroff Internals, Next: Debugging, Prev: Miscellaneous, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.36 'gtroff' Internals
=======================
'gtroff' processes input in three steps. One or more input characters
are converted to an "input token".(1) (*note Gtroff
Internals-Footnote-1::) Then, one or more input tokens are converted to
an "output node". Finally, output nodes are converted to the
intermediate output language understood by all output devices.
Actually, before step one happens, 'gtroff' converts certain escape
sequences into reserved input characters (not accessible by the user);
such reserved characters are used for other internal processing also -
this is the very reason why not all characters are valid input. *Note
Identifiers::, for more on this topic.
For example, the input string 'fi\[:u]' is converted into a character
token 'f', a character token 'i', and a special token ':u' (representing
u umlaut). Later on, the character tokens 'f' and 'i' are merged to a
single output node representing the ligature glyph 'fi' (provided the
current font has a glyph for this ligature); the same happens with ':u'.
All output glyph nodes are 'processed', which means that they are
invariably associated with a given font, font size, advance width, etc.
During the formatting process, 'gtroff' itself adds various nodes to
control the data flow.
Macros, diversions, and strings collect elements in two chained
lists: a list of input tokens that have been passed unprocessed, and a
list of output nodes. Consider the following diversion.
.di xxx
a
\!b
c
.br
.di
It contains these elements.
node list token list element number
line start node -- 1
glyph node 'a' -- 2
word space node -- 3
-- 'b' 4
-- '\n' 5
glyph node 'c' -- 6
vertical size node -- 7
vertical size node -- 8
-- '\n' 9
Elements 1, 7, and 8 are inserted by 'gtroff'; the latter two (which are
always present) specify the vertical extent of the last line, possibly
modified by '\x'. The 'br' request finishes the pending output line,
inserting a newline input token, which is subsequently converted to a
space when the diversion is reread. Note that the word space node has a
fixed width that isn't adjustable anymore. To convert horizontal space
nodes back to input tokens, use the 'unformat' request.
Macros only contain elements in the token list (and the node list is
empty); diversions and strings can contain elements in both lists.
The 'chop' request simply reduces the number of elements in a macro,
string, or diversion by one. Exceptions are "compatibility save" and
"compatibility ignore" input tokens, which are ignored. The 'substring'
request also ignores those input tokens.
Some requests like 'tr' or 'cflags' work on glyph identifiers only;
this means that the associated glyph can be changed without destroying
this association. This can be very helpful for substituting glyphs. In
the following example, we assume that glyph 'foo' isn't available by
default, so we provide a substitution using the 'fchar' request and map
it to input character 'x'.
.fchar \[foo] foo
.tr x \[foo]
Now let us assume that we install an additional special font 'bar' that
has glyph 'foo'.
.special bar
.rchar \[foo]
Since glyphs defined with 'fchar' are searched before glyphs in special
fonts, we must call 'rchar' to remove the definition of the fallback
glyph. Anyway, the translation is still active; 'x' now maps to the
real glyph 'foo'.
Macro and request arguments preserve compatibility mode enablement.
.cp 1 \" switch to compatibility mode
.de xx
\\$1
..
.cp 0 \" switch compatibility mode off
.xx caf\['e]
=> café
Since compatibility mode is enabled while 'de' is invoked, the macro
'xx' enables compatibility mode when it is called. Argument '$1' can
still be handled properly because it inherits the compatibility mode
enablement status that was active at the point where 'xx' was called.
After interpolation of the parameters, the compatibility save and
restore tokens are removed.
File: groff.info, Node: Gtroff Internals-Footnotes, Up: Gtroff Internals
(1) Except the escape sequences '\f', '\F', '\H', '\m', '\M', '\R',
'\s', and '\S', which are processed immediately if not in copy mode.
File: groff.info, Node: Debugging, Next: Implementation Differences, Prev: Gtroff Internals, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.37 Debugging
==============
Standard troff voodoo, just put a power of two backslashes in
front of it until it works and if you still have problems add a \c.
-- Ron Natalie
GNU 'troff' is not the easiest language to debug, in part thanks to
its design features of recursive interpolation and the use of
multi-stage pipeline processing in the surrounding system. Nevertheless
there exist several features useful for troubleshooting.
Preprocessors use the 'lf' request to preserve the identity of the
line numbers and names of input files. GNU 'troff' emits a variety of
error diagnostics and supports several categories of warning; the output
of these can be selectively suppressed. A trace of the formatter's
input processing stack can be emitted when errors or warnings occur by
means of GNU 'troff''s '-b' option, or produced on demand with the
'backtrace' request. The 'tm' and related requests can be used to emit
customized diagnostic messages or for instrumentation while
troubleshooting. The 'ex' and 'ab' requests cause early termination
with successful and error exit codes respectively, to halt further
processing when continuing would be fruitless. Examine the state of the
formatter with requests that write lists of defined names (macros,
strings, and diversions), environments, registers, and page location
traps to the standard error stream.
-- Request: .lf line [file]
Set the input line number (and, optionally, the file name) GNU
'troff' shall use for error and warning messages. LINE is the
input line number of the _next_ line. Without an argument, the
request is ignored.
'lf''s primary purpose is to aid the debugging of documents that
undergo preprocessing. Programs like 'tbl' that transform input in
their own languages into 'roff' requests use it so that any
diagnostic messages emitted by 'troff' correspond to the source
document.
-- Request: .tm message
-- Request: .tm1 message
-- Request: .tmc message
Send MESSAGE, which consumes the remainder of the input line and
cannot contain special characters, to the standard error stream,
followed by a newline. Leading spaces in MESSAGE are ignored.
'tm1' is similar, but recognizes and strips a leading neutral
double quote from MESSAGE to allow the embedding of leading spaces.
'tmc' works as 'tm1', but does not append a newline.
-- Request: .ab [message]
Write any MESSAGE to the standard error stream (like 'tm') and then
abort GNU 'troff'; that is, stop processing and terminate with a
failure status.
-- Request: .ex
Exit GNU 'troff'; that is, stop processing and terminate with a
successful status. To stop processing only the current file, use
the 'nx' request; see *note I/O::.
When doing something involved, it is useful to leave the debugging
statements in the code and have them turned on by a command-line flag.
.if \n[DB] .tm debugging output
To activate such statements, use the '-r' option to set the register.
groff -rDB=1 file
If it is known in advance that there are many errors and no useful
output, GNU 'troff' can be forced to suppress formatted output with the
'-z' option.
-- Request: .pev
Report the state of the current environment followed by that of all
other environments to the standard error stream.
-- Request: .pm
Report, to the standard error stream, the names of all defined
macros, strings, and diversions with their sizes in bytes.
-- Request: .pnr
Report the names and contents of all currently defined registers to
the standard error stream.
-- Request: .ptr
Report the names and positions of all page location traps to the
standard error stream. Empty slots in the list, where a trap has
been planted but subsequently (re)moved, are printed as well.
-- Request: .fl
Instruct 'gtroff' to flush its output immediately. The intent is
for interactive use, but this behaviour is currently not
implemented in 'gtroff'. Contrary to Unix 'troff', TTY output is
sent to a device driver also ('grotty'), making it non-trivial to
communicate interactively.
This request causes a line break.
-- Request: .backtrace
Write the state of the input stack to the standard error stream.
Consider the following in a file 'test'.
.de xxx
. backtrace
..
.de yyy
. xxx
..
.
.yyy
error-> troff: backtrace: 'test':2: macro 'xxx'
error-> troff: backtrace: 'test':5: macro 'yyy'
error-> troff: backtrace: file 'test':8
The '-b' option of GNU 'troff' causes a backtrace to be generated
on each error or warning. Some warnings have to be enabled; *Note
Warnings::.
-- Register: \n[slimit]
If greater than 0, sets the maximum quantity of objects on GNU
'troff''s internal input stack. If less than or equal to 0, there
is no limit: recursion can continue until program memory is
exhausted. The default is 1,000.
-- Request: .warnscale su
Set the scaling unit used in certain warnings to SU, which can take
the values 'u', 'i', 'c', 'p', and 'P'. The default is 'i'.
-- Request: .spreadwarn [limit]
Emit a 'break' warning if the additional space inserted for each
space between words in an output line adjusted to both margins with
'.ad b' is larger than or equal to LIMIT. A negative value is
treated as zero; an absent argument toggles the warning on and off
without changing LIMIT. The default scaling unit is 'm'. At
startup, 'spreadwarn' is inactive and LIMIT is 3m.
For example,
.spreadwarn 0.2m
causes a warning if 'break' warnings are not suppressed and
'gtroff' must add 0.2m or more for each inter-word space in a line.
*Note Warnings::.
GNU 'troff' has command-line options for reporting warnings ('-w')
and backtraces ('-b') when a warning or an error occurs.
-- Request: .warn [n]
-- Register: \n[.warn]
Select the categories, or "types", of reported warnings. N is the
sum of the numeric codes associated with each warning category that
is to be enabled; all other categories are disabled. The
categories and their associated codes are listed in *note
Warnings::. For example, '.warn 0' disables all warnings, and
'.warn 1' disables all warnings except those about missing glyphs.
If no argument is given, all warning categories are enabled.
The read-only register '.warn' contains the sum of the numeric
codes of enabled warning categories.
* Menu:
* Warnings::
File: groff.info, Node: Warnings, Prev: Debugging, Up: Debugging
5.37.1 Warnings
---------------
Warning diagnostics emitted by GNU 'troff' are divided into named,
numbered categories. The name associated with each warning category is
used by the '-w' and '-W' options. Each category is also assigned a
power of two; the sum of enabled category values is used by the 'warn'
request and the '.warn' register.
Warnings of each category are produced under the following
circumstances.
'char'
'1'
No mounted font defines a glyph for the requested character. This
category is enabled by default.
'number'
'2'
An invalid numeric expression was encountered. This category is
enabled by default. *Note Numeric Expressions::.
'break'
'4'
A filled output line could not be broken such that its length was
less than the output line length '\n[.l]'. This category is
enabled by default.
'delim'
'8'
The closing delimiter in an escape sequence was missing or
mismatched.
'el'
'16'
The 'el' request was encountered with no prior corresponding 'ie'
request. *Note if-else::.
'scale'
'32'
A scaling unit inappropriate to its context was used in a numeric
expression.
'range'
'64'
A numeric expression was out of range for its context.
'syntax'
'128'
A self-contradictory hyphenation mode was requested; an empty or
incomplete numeric expression was encountered; an operand to a
numeric operator was missing; an attempt was made to define a
recursive, empty, or nonsensical character class; or a 'groff'
extension conditional expression operator was used while in
compatibility mode.
'di'
'256'
A 'di', 'da', 'box', or 'boxa' request was invoked without an
argument when there was no current diversion.
'mac'
'512'
An undefined string, macro, or diversion was used. When such an
object is dereferenced, an empty one of that name is automatically
created. So, unless it is later deleted, at most one warning is
given for each.
This warning is also emitted upon an attempt to move an unplanted
trap macro (*note Page Location Traps::). In such cases, the
unplanted macro is _not_ dereferenced, so it is not created if it
does not exist.
'reg'
'1024'
An undefined register was used. When an undefined register is
dereferenced, it is automatically defined with a value of 0. So,
unless it is later deleted, at most one warning is given for each.
'tab'
'2048'
A tab character was encountered where a number was expected, or
appeared in an unquoted macro argument.
'right-brace'
'4096'
A right brace escape sequence '\}' was encountered where a number
was expected.
'missing'
'8192'
A request was invoked with a mandatory argument absent.
'input'
'16384'
An invalid character occurred on the input stream.
'escape'
'32768'
An unsupported escape sequence was encountered.
'space'
'65536'
A space was missing between a request or macro and its argument.
This warning is produced when an undefined name longer than two
characters is encountered and the first two characters of the name
constitute a defined name. No request is invoked, no macro called,
and an empty macro is not defined. This category is enabled by
default. It never occurs in compatibility mode.
'font'
'131072'
A non-existent font was selected, or the selection was ignored
because a font selection escape sequence was used after the output
line continuation escape sequence on an input line. This category
is enabled by default.
'ig'
'262144'
An invalid escape sequence occurred in input ignored using the 'ig'
request. This warning category diagnoses a condition that is an
error when it occurs in non-ignored input.
'color'
'524288'
An undefined color was selected, an attempt was made to define a
color using an unrecognized color space, an invalid component in a
color definition was encountered, or an attempt was made to
redefine a default color.
'file'
'1048576'
An attempt was made to load a file that does not exist. This
category is enabled by default.
Two warning names group other warning categories for convenience.
'all'
All warning categories except 'di', 'mac' and 'reg'. This
shorthand is intended to produce all warnings that are useful with
macro packages written for AT&T 'troff' and its descendants, which
have less fastidious diagnostics than GNU 'troff'.
'w'
All warning categories. Authors of documents and macro packages
targeting 'groff' are encouraged to use this setting.
File: groff.info, Node: Implementation Differences, Next: Safer Mode, Prev: Debugging, Up: GNU troff Reference
5.38 Implementation Differences
===============================
GNU 'troff' has a number of features that cause incompatibilities with
documents written for other versions of 'troff'. Some GNU extensions to
'troff' have become supported by other implementations.
* Menu:
* Safer Mode::
* Compatibility Mode::
* Other Differences::
File: groff.info, Node: Safer Mode, Next: Compatibility Mode, Prev: Implementation Differences, Up: Implementation Differences
5.38.1 Safer Mode
-----------------
The formatter operates in "safer" mode by default; to mitigate risks
from untrusted input documents, the 'pi' and 'sy' requests are disabled.
GNU 'troff''s '-U' option enables "unsafe mode", restoring their
function and enabling additional 'groff' extension requests, 'open',
'opena', and 'pso'. *Note I/O::.
File: groff.info, Node: Compatibility Mode, Next: Safer Mode, Prev: Other Differences, Up: Implementation Differences
5.38.2 Compatibility Mode
-------------------------
Long identifier names may be GNU 'troff''s most obvious innovation.
AT&T 'troff' interprets '.dsabcd' as defining a string 'ab' with
contents 'cd'. Normally, GNU 'troff' interprets this as a call of a
macro named 'dsabcd'. AT&T 'troff' also interprets '\*[' and '\n[' as
an interpolation of a string or register, respectively, named '['. In
GNU 'troff', however, the '[' is normally interpreted as delimiting a
long name. In compatibility mode, GNU 'troff' interprets names in the
traditional way; they thus can be two characters long at most.
-- Request: .cp [n]
-- Register: \n[.C]
If N is missing or non-zero, turn on compatibility mode; otherwise,
turn it off.
The read-only register '.C' is 1 if compatibility mode is on,
0 otherwise.
Compatibility mode can be also turned on with the '-C' command-line
option.
-- Request: .do name
-- Register: \n[.cp]
The 'do' request interprets the string, request, diversion, or
macro NAME (along with any further arguments) with compatibility
mode disabled. Compatibility mode is restored (only if it was
active) when the _expansion_ of NAME is interpreted; that is, the
restored compatibility state applies to the contents of the macro,
string, or diversion NAME as well as data read from files or pipes
if NAME is any of the 'so', 'soquiet', 'mso', 'msoquiet', or 'pso'
requests.
The following example illustrates several aspects of 'do' behavior.
.de mac1
FOO
..
.de1 mac2
groff
.mac1
..
.de mac3
compatibility
.mac1
..
.de ma
\\$1
..
.cp 1
.do mac1
.do mac2 \" mac2, defined with .de1, calls "mac1"
.do mac3 \" mac3 calls "ma" with argument "c1"
.do mac3 \[ti] \" groff syntax accepted in .do arguments
=> FOO groff FOO compatibility c1 ~
The read-only register '.cp', meaningful only when dereferenced
from a 'do' request, is 1 if compatibility mode was on when the
'do' request was encountered, and 0 if it was not. This register
is specialized and may require a statement of rationale.
When writing macro packages or documents that use GNU 'troff'
features and which may be mixed with other packages or documents
that do not--common scenarios include serial processing of man
pages or use of the 'so' or 'mso' requests--you may desire correct
operation regardless of compatibility mode enablement in the
surrounding context. It may occur to you to save the existing
value of '\n(.C' into a register, say, '_C', at the beginning of
your file, turn compatibility mode off with '.cp 0', then restore
it from that register at the end with '.cp \n(_C'. At the same
time, a modular design of a document or macro package may lead you
to multiple layers of inclusion. You cannot use the same register
name everywhere lest you "clobber" the value from a preceding or
enclosing context. The two-character register name space of AT&T
'troff' is confining and mnemonically challenging; you may wish to
use the more capacious name space of GNU 'troff'. However,
attempting '.nr _my_saved_C \n(.C' will not work in compatibility
mode; the register name is too long. "This is exactly what 'do' is
for," you think, '.do nr _my_saved_C \n(.C'. The foregoing will
always save zero to your register, because 'do' turns compatibility
mode _off_ while it interprets its argument list.
To robustly save compatibility mode before switching it off, use
.do nr _my_saved_C \n[.cp]
.cp 0
at the beginning of your file, followed by
.cp \n[_my_saved_C]
.do rr _my_saved_C
at the end. As in the C language, we all have to share one big
name space, so choose a register name that is unlikely to collide
with other uses.
Normally, GNU 'troff' preserves the interpolation depth in delimited
arguments, but not in compatibility mode.
.ds xx '
\w'abc\*(xxdef'
=> 168 (normal mode on a terminal device)
=> 72def' (compatibility mode on a terminal device)
Furthermore, the escape sequences '\f', '\H', '\m', '\M', '\R', '\s',
and '\S' are transparent for the purpose of recognizing a control
character at the beginning of a line only in compatibility mode. For
example, this code produces bold output in both cases, but the text
differs.
.de xx
Hello!
..
\fB.xx\fP
=> .xx (normal mode)
=> Hello! (compatibility mode)
Normally, the syntax form '\s'N accepts only a single character (a
digit) for N, consistently with other forms that originated in AT&T
'troff', like '\*', '\$', '\f', '\g', '\k', '\n', and '\z'. In
compatibility mode only, a non-zero N must be in the range 4-39. Legacy
documents relying upon this quirk of parsing(1) (*note Compatibility
Mode-Footnote-1::) should be migrated to another '\s' form.
File: groff.info, Node: Compatibility Mode-Footnotes, Up: Compatibility Mode
(1) The Graphic Systems C/A/T phototypesetter (the original device
target for AT&T 'troff') supported only a few discrete type sizes in the
range 6-36 points, so Ossanna contrived a special case in the parser to
do what the user must have meant. Kernighan warned of this in the 1992
revision of CSTR #54 (§2.3), and more recently, McIlroy referred to it
as a "living fossil".
File: groff.info, Node: Other Differences, Prev: Compatibility Mode, Up: Implementation Differences
5.38.3 Other Differences
------------------------
'groff' request names unrecognized by other 'troff' implementations will
likely be ignored by them; escape sequences that are 'groff' extensions
are liable to be interpreted as if the escape character were not
present. For example, the adjustable, non-breaking escape sequence '\~'
is also supported by Heirloom Doctools 'troff' 050915 (September 2005),
'mandoc' 1.9.5 (2009-09-21), 'neatroff' (commit 1c6ab0f6e, 2016-09-13),
and Plan 9 from User Space 'troff' (commit 93f8143600, 2022-08-12), but
not by Solaris or Documenter's Workbench 'troff's. *Note Manipulating
Filling and Adjustment::.
GNU 'troff' does not allow the use of the escape sequences '\|',
'\^', '\&', '\{', '\}', '\<SP>', '\'', '\`', '\-', '\_', '\!', '\%', and
'\c' in identifiers; AT&T 'troff' does. The '\A' escape sequence (*note
Identifiers::) may be helpful in avoiding use of these escape sequences
in names.
When adjusting to both margins, AT&T 'troff' at first adjusts spaces
starting from the right; GNU 'troff' begins from the left. Both
implementations adjust spaces from opposite ends on alternating output
lines in this adjustment mode to prevent "rivers" in the text.
GNU 'troff' does not always hyphenate words as AT&T 'troff' does.
The AT&T implementation uses a set of hard-coded rules specific to
English, while GNU 'troff' uses language-specific hyphenation pattern
files derived from TeX. Furthermore, in old versions of 'troff' there
was a limited amount of space to store hyphenation exceptions (arguments
to the 'hw' request); GNU 'troff' has no such restriction.
GNU 'troff' predefines a string '.T' containing the argument given to
the '-T' command-line option, namely the current output device (for
example, 'pdf' or 'utf8'). The existence of this string is a common
feature of post-CSTR #54 'troff's(1) (*note Other
Differences-Footnote-1::) but valid values are specific to each
implementation.
AT&T 'troff' ignored attempts to remove read-only registers; GNU
'troff' honors such requests. *Note Built-in Registers::.
The (read-only) register '.T' interpolates 1 if GNU 'troff' is called
with the '-T' command-line option, and 0 otherwise. This behavior
differs from AT&T 'troff', which interpolated 1 only if 'nroff' was the
formatter and was called with '-T'.
AT&T 'troff' and other implementations handle the 'lf' request
differently. For them, its LINE argument changes the line number of the
_current_ line.
AT&T 'troff' had only environments named '0', '1', and '2'. In GNU
'troff', any number of environments may exist, using any valid
identifiers for their names (*note Identifiers::.)
Fractional type sizes cause one noteworthy incompatibility. In AT&T
'troff' the 'ps' request ignores scaling units and thus '.ps 10u' sets
the type size to 10 points, whereas in GNU 'troff' it sets the type size
to 10 _scaled_ points. *Note Using Fractional Type Sizes::.
The 'ab' request differs from AT&T 'troff': GNU 'troff' writes no
message to the standard error stream if no arguments are given, and it
exits with a failure status instead of a successful one.
The 'bp' request differs from AT&T 'troff': GNU 'troff' does not
accept a scaling unit on the argument, a page number; the former
(somewhat uselessly) does.
The 'pm' request differs from AT&T 'troff': GNU 'troff' reports the
sizes of macros, strings, and diversions in bytes and ignores an
argument to report only the sum of the sizes.
Unlike AT&T 'troff', GNU 'troff' does not ignore the 'ss' request if
the output is a terminal device; instead, the values of minimal
inter-word and additional inter-sentence space are each rounded down to
the nearest multiple of 12.
In GNU 'troff' there is a fundamental difference between
(unformatted) characters and (formatted) glyphs. Everything that
affects how a glyph is output is stored with the glyph node; once a
glyph node has been constructed, it is unaffected by any subsequent
requests that are executed, including 'bd', 'cs', 'tkf', 'tr', or 'fp'
requests. Normally, glyphs are constructed from characters immediately
before the glyph is added to an output line. Macros, diversions, and
strings are all, in fact, the same type of object; they contain a
sequence of intermixed character and glyph nodes. Special characters
transform from one to the other: before being added to the output, they
behave as characters; afterward, they are glyphs. A glyph node does not
behave like a character node when it is processed by a macro: it does
not inherit any of the special properties that the character from which
it was constructed might have had. For example, the input
.di x
\\\\
.br
.di
.x
produces '\\' in GNU 'troff'. Each pair of backslashes becomes one
backslash _glyph_; the resulting backslashes are thus not interpreted as
escape _characters_ when they are reread as the diversion is output.
AT&T 'troff' _would_ interpret them as escape characters when rereading
them and end up printing one '\'.
One correct way to obtain a printable backslash in most documents is
to use the '\e' escape sequence; this always prints a single instance of
the current escape character,(2) (*note Other Differences-Footnote-2::)
regardless of whether or not it is used in a diversion; it also works in
both GNU 'troff' and AT&T 'troff'.
The other correct way, appropriate in contexts independent of the
backslash's common use as a 'troff' escape character--perhaps in
discussion of character sets or other programming languages--is the
character escape '\(rs' or '\[rs]', for "reverse solidus", from its name
in the ECMA-6 (ISO/IEC 646) standard.(3) (*note Other
Differences-Footnote-3::)
To store an escape sequence in a diversion that is interpreted when
the diversion is reread, either use the traditional '\!' transparent
output facility, or, if this is unsuitable, the new '\?' escape
sequence. *Note Diversions:: and *note Gtroff Internals::.
In the somewhat pathological case where a diversion exists containing
a partially collected line and a partially collected line at the
top-level diversion has never existed, AT&T 'troff' will output the
partially collected line at the end of input; GNU 'troff' will not.
File: groff.info, Node: Other Differences-Footnotes, Up: Other Differences
(1) DWB 3.3, Solaris, Heirloom Doctools, and Plan 9 'troff' all
support it.
(2) Naturally, if you've changed the escape character, you need to
prefix the 'e' with whatever it is--and you'll likely get something
other than a backslash in the output.
(3) The 'rs' special character identifier was not defined in AT&T
'troff''s font description files, but is in those of its lineal
descendant, Heirloom Doctools 'troff', as of the latter's 060716 release
(July 2006).
File: groff.info, Node: File Formats, Next: Copying This Manual, Prev: GNU troff Reference, Up: Top
6 File Formats
**************
All files read and written by 'gtroff' are text files. The following
two sections describe their format.
* Menu:
* gtroff Output::
* Device and Font Description Files::
File: groff.info, Node: gtroff Output, Next: Device and Font Description Files, Prev: File Formats, Up: File Formats
6.1 'gtroff' Output
===================
This section describes the 'groff' intermediate output format produced
by GNU 'troff'.
As 'groff' is a wrapper program around GNU 'troff' and automatically
calls an output driver (or "postprocessor"), this output does not show
up normally. This is why it is called _intermediate_. 'groff' provides
the option '-Z' to inhibit postprocessing such that the produced
intermediate output is sent to standard output just as it is when
calling GNU 'troff' directly.
Here, the term "troff output" describes what is output by GNU
'troff', while "intermediate output" refers to the language that is
accepted by the parser that prepares this output for the output drivers.
This parser handles whitespace more flexibly than AT&T's implementation
and implements obsolete elements for compatibility; otherwise, both
formats are the same.(1) (*note gtroff Output-Footnote-1::)
The main purpose of the intermediate output concept is to facilitate
the development of postprocessors by providing a common programming
interface for all devices. It has a language of its own that is
completely different from the 'gtroff' language. While the 'gtroff'
language is a high-level programming language for text processing, the
intermediate output language is a kind of low-level assembler language
by specifying all positions on the page for writing and drawing.
The intermediate output produced by 'gtroff' is fairly readable,
while output from AT&T 'troff' is rather hard to understand because of
strange habits that are still supported, but not used any longer by
'gtroff'.
* Menu:
* Language Concepts::
* Command Reference::
* Intermediate Output Examples::
* Output Language Compatibility::
File: groff.info, Node: gtroff Output-Footnotes, Up: gtroff Output
(1) The parser and postprocessor for intermediate output can be found
in the file
'GROFF-SOURCE-DIR/src/libs/libdriver/input.cpp'.
File: groff.info, Node: Language Concepts, Next: Command Reference, Prev: gtroff Output, Up: gtroff Output
6.1.1 Language Concepts
-----------------------
The fundamental operation of the GNU 'troff' formatter is the
translation of the 'groff' input language into a device-independent form
primarily concerned with what has to be written or drawn at specific
positions on the output device. This language is simple and imperative.
In the following discussion, the term "command" always refers to this
intermediate output language, and never to the 'groff' language intended
for direct use by document authors. Intermediate output commands
comprise several categories: glyph output; font, color, and text size
selection; motion of the printing position; page advancement; drawing of
geometric objects; and device control commands, a catch-all for
operations not easily classified as any of the foregoing, such as
directives to start and stop output, identify the intended output
device, or place URL hyperlinks in supported output formats.
* Menu:
* Separation::
* Argument Units::
* Document Parts::
File: groff.info, Node: Separation, Next: Argument Units, Prev: Language Concepts, Up: Language Concepts
6.1.1.1 Separation
..................
AT&T 'troff' output has strange requirements regarding whitespace. The
'gtroff' output parser, however, is more tolerant, making whitespace
maximally optional. Such characters, i.e., the tab, space, and newline,
always have a syntactical meaning. They are never printable because
spacing within the output is always done by positioning commands.
Any sequence of space or tab characters is treated as a single
"syntactical space". It separates commands and arguments, but is only
required when there would occur a clashing between the command code and
the arguments without the space. Most often, this happens when
variable-length command names, arguments, argument lists, or command
clusters meet. Commands and arguments with a known, fixed length need
not be separated by syntactical space.
A line break is a syntactical element, too. Every command argument
can be followed by whitespace, a comment, or a newline character. Thus
a "syntactical line break" is defined to consist of optional syntactical
space that is optionally followed by a comment, and a newline character.
The normal commands, those for positioning and text, consist of a
single letter taking a fixed number of arguments. For historical
reasons, the parser allows stacking of such commands on the same line,
but fortunately, in 'gtroff''s intermediate output, every command with
at least one argument is followed by a line break, thus providing
excellent readability.
The other commands--those for drawing and device controlling--have a
more complicated structure; some recognize long command names, and some
take a variable number of arguments. So all 'D' and 'x' commands were
designed to request a syntactical line break after their last argument.
Only one command, 'x X', has an argument that can span several input
lines; all other commands must have all of their arguments on the same
line as the command, i.e., the arguments may not be split by a line
break.
Empty lines (these are lines containing only space and/or a comment),
can occur everywhere. They are just ignored.
File: groff.info, Node: Argument Units, Next: Document Parts, Prev: Separation, Up: Language Concepts
6.1.1.2 Argument Units
......................
Some commands take integer arguments that are assumed to represent
values in a measurement unit, but the letter for the corresponding
scaling unit is not written with the output command arguments. Most
commands assume the scaling unit 'u', the basic unit of the device, some
use 'z', the scaled point unit of the device, while others, such as the
color commands, expect plain integers.
Single characters can have the eighth bit set, as can the names of
fonts and special characters. The names of characters and fonts can be
of arbitrary length. A character that is to be printed is always in the
current font.
A string argument is always terminated by the next whitespace
character (space, tab, or newline); an embedded '#' character is
regarded as part of the argument, not as the beginning of a comment
command. An integer argument is already terminated by the next
non-digit character, which then is regarded as the first character of
the next argument or command.
File: groff.info, Node: Document Parts, Prev: Argument Units, Up: Language Concepts
6.1.1.3 Document Parts
......................
A correct intermediate output document consists of two parts, the
"prologue" and the "body".
The task of the prologue is to set the general device parameters
using three exactly specified commands. 'gtroff''s prologue is
guaranteed to consist of the following three lines (in that order):
x T DEVICE
x res N H V
x init
with the arguments set as outlined in *note Device Control Commands::.
The parser for the intermediate output format is able to interpret
additional whitespace and comments as well even in the prologue.
The body is the main section for processing the document data.
Syntactically, it is a sequence of any commands different from the ones
used in the prologue. Processing is terminated as soon as the first
'x stop' command is encountered; the last line of any 'gtroff'
intermediate output always contains such a command.
Semantically, the body is page oriented. A new page is started by a
'p' command. Positioning, writing, and drawing commands are always done
within the current page, so they cannot occur before the first 'p'
command. Absolute positioning (by the 'H' and 'V' commands) is done
relative to the current page; all other positioning is done relative to
the current location within this page.
File: groff.info, Node: Command Reference, Next: Intermediate Output Examples, Prev: Language Concepts, Up: gtroff Output
6.1.2 Command Reference
-----------------------
This section describes all intermediate output commands, both from AT&T
'troff' as well as the 'gtroff' extensions.
* Menu:
* Comment Command::
* Simple Commands::
* Graphics Commands::
* Device Control Commands::
* Obsolete Command::
File: groff.info, Node: Comment Command, Next: Simple Commands, Prev: Command Reference, Up: Command Reference
6.1.2.1 Comment Command
.......................
'#ANYTHING<end of line>'
A comment. Ignore any characters from the '#' character up to the
next newline character.
This command is the only possibility for commenting in the
intermediate output. Each comment can be preceded by arbitrary
syntactical space; every command can be terminated by a comment.
File: groff.info, Node: Simple Commands, Next: Graphics Commands, Prev: Comment Command, Up: Command Reference
6.1.2.2 Simple Commands
.......................
The commands in this subsection have a command code consisting of a
single character, taking a fixed number of arguments. Most of them are
commands for positioning and text writing. These commands are tolerant
of whitespace. Optionally, syntactical space can be inserted before,
after, and between the command letter and its arguments. All of these
commands are stackable; i.e., they can be preceded by other simple
commands or followed by arbitrary other commands on the same line. A
separating syntactical space is necessary only when two integer
arguments would clash or if the preceding argument ends with a string
argument.
'C ID<whitespace>'
Typeset the glyph of the special character ID. Trailing
syntactical space is necessary to allow special character names of
arbitrary length. The drawing position is not advanced.
'c G'
Typeset the glyph of the ordinary character C. The drawing
position is not advanced.
'f N'
Select the font mounted at position N. N cannot be negative.
'H N'
Horizontally move the drawing position to N basic units from the
left edge of the page. N cannot be negative.
'h N'
Move the drawing position right N basic units. AT&T 'troff'
allowed negative N; GNU 'troff' does not produce such values, but
'groff''s output driver library handles them.
'm COLOR-SCHEME [COMPONENT ...]'
Select the stroke color using the COMPONENTs in the color space
SCHEME. Each COMPONENT is an integer between 0 and 65535. The
quantity of components and their meanings vary with each SCHEME.
This command is a 'groff' extension.
'mc CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW'
Use the CMY color scheme with components cyan, magenta, and
yellow.
'md'
Use the default color (no components; black in most cases).
'mg GRAY'
Use a grayscale color scheme with a component ranging between
0 (black) and 65535 (white).
'mk CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK'
Use the CMYK color scheme with components cyan, magenta,
yellow, and black.
'mr RED GREEN BLUE'
Use the RGB color scheme with components red, green, and blue.
'N N'
Typeset the glyph with index N in the current font. N is normally
a non-negative integer. The drawing position is not advanced. The
'html' and 'xhtml' devices use this command with negative N to
produce unbreakable space; the absolute value of N is taken and
interpreted in basic units.
'n B A'
Indicate a break. No action is performed; the command is present
to make the output more easily parsed. The integers B and A
describe the vertical space amounts before and after the break,
respectively. GNU 'troff' issues this command but 'groff''s output
driver library ignores it. See 'v' and 'V' below.
'p N'
Begin a new page, setting its number to N. Each page is
independent, even from those using the same number. The vertical
drawing position is set to 0. All positioning, writing, and
drawing commands are interpreted in the context of a page, so a
'p' command must precede them.
's N'
Set type size to N scaled points (unit 'z' in GNU 'troff'. AT&T
'troff' used unscaled points 'p' instead; see *note Output Language
Compatibility::.
't XYZ<whitespace>'
't XYZ DUMMY-ARG<whitespace>'
Typeset a word XYZ; that is, set a sequence of ordinary glyphs
named X, Y, Z, ..., terminated by a space character or a line
break; an optional second integer argument is ignored (this allows
the formatter to generate an even number of arguments). Each glyph
is set at the current drawing position, and the position is then
advanced horizontally by the glyph's width. A glyph's width is
read from its metrics in the font description file, scaled to the
current type size, and rounded to a multiple of the horizontal
motion quantum. Use the 'C' command to emplace glyphs of special
characters. The 't' command is a 'groff' extension and is output
only for devices whose 'DESC' file contains the 'tcommand'
directive; see *note DESC File Format::.
'u N XYZ<whitespace>'
Typeset word XYZ with track kerning. As 't', but after placing
each glyph, the drawing position is further advanced horizontally
by N basic units ('u'). The 'u' command is a 'groff' extension and
is output only for devices whose 'DESC' file contains the
'tcommand' directive; see *note DESC File Format::.
'V N'
Vertically move the drawing position to N basic units from the top
edge of the page. N cannot be negative.
'v N'
Move the drawing position down N basic units. AT&T 'troff' allowed
negative N; GNU 'troff' does not produce such values, but 'groff''s
output driver library handles them.
'w'
Indicate an inter-word space. No action is performed; the command
is present to make the output more easily parsed. Only adjustable,
breakable inter-word spaces are thus described; those resulting
from '\~' or horizontal motion escape sequences are not. GNU
'troff' issues this command but 'groff''s output driver library
ignores it. See 'h' and 'H' above.
File: groff.info, Node: Graphics Commands, Next: Device Control Commands, Prev: Simple Commands, Up: Command Reference
6.1.2.3 Graphics Commands
.........................
Each graphics or drawing command in the intermediate output starts with
the letter 'D', followed by one or two characters that specify a
subcommand; this is followed by a fixed or variable number of integer
arguments that are separated by a single space character. A 'D' command
may not be followed by another command on the same line (apart from a
comment), so each 'D' command is terminated by a syntactical line break.
'gtroff' output follows the classical spacing rules (no space between
command and subcommand, all arguments are preceded by a single space
character), but the parser allows optional space between the command
letters and makes the space before the first argument optional. As
usual, each space can be any sequence of tab and space characters.
Some graphics commands can take a variable number of arguments. In
this case, they are integers representing a size measured in basic units
'u'. The arguments called H1, H2, ..., HN stand for horizontal
distances where positive means right, negative left. The arguments
called V1, V2, ..., VN stand for vertical distances where positive means
down, negative up. All these distances are offsets relative to the
current location.
Each graphics command directly corresponds to a similar 'gtroff' '\D'
escape sequence. *Note Drawing Geometric Objects::.
Unknown 'D' commands are assumed to be device-specific. Its
arguments are parsed as strings; the whole information is then sent to
the postprocessor.
In the following command reference, the syntax element <line break>
means a syntactical line break as defined above.
'D~ H1 V1 H2 V2 ... HN VN<line break>'
Draw B-spline from current position to offset (H1,V1), then to
offset (H2,V2), if given, etc., up to (HN,VN). This command takes
a variable number of argument pairs; the current position is moved
to the terminal point of the drawn curve.
'Da H1 V1 H2 V2<line break>'
Draw arc from current position to (H1,V1)+(H2,V2) with center at
(H1,V1); then move the current position to the final point of the
arc.
'DC D<line break>'
'DC D DUMMY-ARG<line break>'
Draw a solid circle using the current fill color with diameter D
(integer in basic units 'u') with leftmost point at the current
position; then move the current position to the rightmost point of
the circle. An optional second integer argument is ignored (this
allows the formatter to generate an even number of arguments).
This command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'Dc D<line break>'
Draw circle line with diameter D (integer in basic units 'u') with
leftmost point at the current position; then move the current
position to the rightmost point of the circle.
'DE H V<line break>'
Draw a solid ellipse in the current fill color with a horizontal
diameter of H and a vertical diameter of V (both integers in basic
units 'u') with the leftmost point at the current position; then
move to the rightmost point of the ellipse. This command is a
'gtroff' extension.
'De H V<line break>'
Draw an outlined ellipse with a horizontal diameter of H and a
vertical diameter of V (both integers in basic units 'u') with the
leftmost point at current position; then move to the rightmost
point of the ellipse.
'DF COLOR-SCHEME [COMPONENT ...]<line break>'
Set fill color for solid drawing objects using different color
schemes; the analogous command for setting the color of text, line
graphics, and the outline of graphic objects is 'm'. The color
components are specified as integer arguments between 0 and 65535.
The number of color components and their meaning vary for the
different color schemes. These commands are generated by
'gtroff''s escape sequences '\D'F ...'' and '\M' (with no other
corresponding graphics commands). No position changing. This
command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'DFc CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW<line break>'
Set fill color for solid drawing objects using the CMY color
scheme, having the 3 color components CYAN, MAGENTA, and
YELLOW.
'DFd<line break>'
Set fill color for solid drawing objects to the default fill
color value (black in most cases). No component arguments.
'DFg GRAY<line break>'
Set fill color for solid drawing objects to the shade of gray
given by the argument, an integer between 0 (black) and 65535
(white).
'DFk CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK<line break>'
Set fill color for solid drawing objects using the CMYK color
scheme, having the 4 color components CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW,
and BLACK.
'DFr RED GREEN BLUE<line break>'
Set fill color for solid drawing objects using the RGB color
scheme, having the 3 color components RED, GREEN, and BLUE.
'Df N<line break>'
The argument N must be an integer in the range -32767 to 32767.
0 <= N <= 1000
Set the color for filling solid drawing objects to a shade of
gray, where 0 corresponds to solid white, 1000 (the default)
to solid black, and values in between to intermediate shades
of gray; this is obsoleted by command 'DFg'.
N < 0 or N > 1000
Set the filling color to the color that is currently being
used for the text and the outline, see command 'm'. For
example, the command sequence
mg 0 0 65535
Df -1
sets all colors to blue.
No position changing. This command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'Dl H V<line break>'
Draw line from current position to offset (H,V) (integers in basic
units 'u'); then set current position to the end of the drawn line.
'Dp H1 V1 H2 V2 ... HN VN<line break>'
Draw a polygon line from current position to offset (H1,V1), from
there to offset (H2,V2), etc., up to offset (HN,VN), and from there
back to the starting position. For historical reasons, the
position is changed by adding the sum of all arguments with odd
index to the actual horizontal position and the even ones to the
vertical position. Although this doesn't make sense it is kept for
compatibility. This command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'DP H1 V1 H2 V2 ... HN VN<line break>'
Draw a solid polygon in the current fill color rather than an
outlined polygon, using the same arguments and positioning as the
corresponding 'Dp' command. This command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'Dt N<line break>'
Set the current line thickness to N (an integer in basic units 'u')
if N>0; if N=0 select the smallest available line thickness; if N<0
set the line thickness proportional to the type size (this is the
default before the first 'Dt' command was specified). For
historical reasons, the horizontal position is changed by adding
the argument to the actual horizontal position, while the vertical
position is not changed. Although this doesn't make sense it is
kept for compatibility. This command is a 'gtroff' extension.
File: groff.info, Node: Device Control Commands, Next: Obsolete Command, Prev: Graphics Commands, Up: Command Reference
6.1.2.4 Device Control Commands
...............................
Each device control command starts with the letter 'x', followed by a
space character (optional or arbitrary space or tab in 'gtroff') and a
subcommand letter or word; each argument (if any) must be preceded by a
syntactical space. All 'x' commands are terminated by a syntactical
line break; no device control command can be followed by another command
on the same line (except a comment).
The subcommand is basically a single letter, but to increase
readability, it can be written as a word, i.e., an arbitrary sequence of
characters terminated by the next tab, space, or newline character. All
characters of the subcommand word but the first are simply ignored. For
example, 'gtroff' outputs the initialization command 'x i' as 'x init'
and the resolution command 'x r' as 'x res'.
In the following, the syntax element <line break> means a syntactical
line break (*note Separation::).
'xF NAME<line break>'
The 'F' stands for FILENAME.
Use NAME as the intended name for the current file in error
reports. This is useful for remembering the original file name
when 'gtroff' uses an internal piping mechanism. The input file is
not changed by this command. This command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'xf N S<line break>'
The 'f' stands for FONT.
Mount font position N (a non-negative integer) with font named S (a
text word). *Note Font Positions::.
'xH N<line break>'
The 'H' stands for HEIGHT.
Set glyph height to N (a positive integer in scaled points 'z').
AT&T 'troff' uses the unit points ('p') instead. *Note Output
Language Compatibility::.
'xi<line break>'
The 'i' stands for INIT.
Initialize device. This is the third command of the prologue.
'xp<line break>'
The 'p' stands for PAUSE.
Parsed but ignored. The AT&T 'troff' manual documents this command
as
pause device, can be restarted
but GNU 'troff' output drivers do nothing with this command.
'xr N H V<line break>'
The 'r' stands for RESOLUTION.
Resolution is N, while H is the minimal horizontal motion, and V
the minimal vertical motion possible with this device; all
arguments are positive integers in basic units 'u' per inch. This
is the second command of the prologue.
'xS N<line break>'
The 'S' stands for SLANT.
Set slant to N (an integer in basic units 'u').
'xs<line break>'
The 's' stands for STOP.
Terminates the processing of the current file; issued as the last
command of any intermediate 'troff' output.
'xt<line break>'
The 't' stands for TRAILER.
Generate trailer information, if any. In GNU 'troff', this is
ignored.
'xT XXX<line break>'
The 'T' stands for TYPESETTER.
Set the name of the output driver to XXX, a sequence of
non-whitespace characters terminated by whitespace. The possible
names correspond to those of 'groff''s '-T' option. This is the
first command of the prologue.
'xu N<line break>'
The 'u' stands for UNDERLINE.
Configure underlining of spaces. If N is 1, start underlining of
spaces; if N is 0, stop underlining of spaces. This is needed for
the 'cu' request in 'nroff' mode and is ignored otherwise. This
command is a 'gtroff' extension.
'xX ANYTHING<line break>'
The 'x' stands for X-ESCAPE.
Send string ANYTHING uninterpreted to the device. If the line
following this command starts with a '+' character this line is
interpreted as a continuation line in the following sense. The '+'
is ignored, but a newline character is sent instead to the device,
the rest of the line is sent uninterpreted. The same applies to
all following lines until the first character of a line is not a
'+' character. This command is generated by the 'gtroff' escape
sequence '\X'. The line-continuing feature is a 'gtroff'
extension.
File: groff.info, Node: Obsolete Command, Prev: Device Control Commands, Up: Command Reference
6.1.2.5 Obsolete Command
........................
In AT&T 'troff' output, the writing of a single glyph is mostly done by
a very strange command that combines a horizontal move and a single
character giving the glyph name. It doesn't have a command code, but is
represented by a 3-character argument consisting of exactly 2 digits and
a character.
DDG
Move right DD (exactly two decimal digits) basic units 'u', then
print glyph G (represented as a single character).
In GNU 'troff', arbitrary syntactical space around and within this
command is allowed. Only when a preceding command on the same line
ends with an argument of variable length is a separating space
obligatory. In AT&T 'troff', large clusters of these and other
commands are used, mostly without spaces; this made such output
almost unreadable.
For modern high-resolution devices, this command does not make sense
because the width of the glyphs can become much larger than two decimal
digits. In 'gtroff', this is only used for the devices 'X75', 'X75-12',
'X100', and 'X100-12'. For other devices, the commands 't' and 'u'
provide a better functionality.
File: groff.info, Node: Intermediate Output Examples, Next: Output Language Compatibility, Prev: Command Reference, Up: gtroff Output
6.1.3 Intermediate Output Examples
----------------------------------
This section presents the intermediate output generated from the same
input for three different devices. The input is the sentence 'hell
world' fed into 'gtroff' on the command line.
High-resolution device 'ps'
This is the standard output of 'gtroff' if no '-T' option is given.
shell> echo "hell world" | groff -Z -T ps
x T ps
x res 72000 1 1
x init
p1
x font 5 TR
f5
s10000
V12000
H72000
thell
wh2500
tw
H96620
torld
n12000 0
x trailer
V792000
x stop
This output can be fed into 'grops' to get its representation as a
PostScript file.
Low-resolution device 'latin1'
This is similar to the high-resolution device except that the
positioning is done at a minor scale. Some comments (lines
starting with '#') were added for clarification; they were not
generated by the formatter.
shell> echo "hell world" | groff -Z -T latin1
# prologue
x T latin1
x res 240 24 40
x init
# begin a new page
p1
# font setup
x font 1 R
f1
s10
# initial positioning on the page
V40
H0
# write text 'hell'
thell
# inform about space, and issue a horizontal jump
wh24
# write text 'world'
tworld
# announce line break, but do nothing because...
n40 0
# ...the end of the document has been reached
x trailer
V2640
x stop
This output can be fed into 'grotty' to get a formatted text
document.
AT&T 'troff' output
Since a computer monitor has a much lower resolution than modern
printers, the intermediate output for X11 devices can use the
jump-and-write command with its 2-digit displacements.
shell> echo "hell world" | groff -Z -T X100
x T X100
x res 100 1 1
x init
p1
x font 5 TR
f5
s10
V16
H100
# write text with jump-and-write commands
ch07e07l03lw06w11o07r05l03dh7
n16 0
x trailer
V1100
x stop
This output can be fed into 'xditview' or 'gxditview' for
displaying in X.
Due to the obsolete jump-and-write command, the text clusters in
the AT&T 'troff' output are almost unreadable.
File: groff.info, Node: Output Language Compatibility, Prev: Intermediate Output Examples, Up: gtroff Output
6.1.4 Output Language Compatibility
-----------------------------------
The intermediate output language of AT&T 'troff' was first documented in
'A Typesetter-independent TROFF', by Brian Kernighan, and by 1992 the
AT&T 'troff' manual was updated to incorprate a description of it.
The GNU 'troff' intermediate output format is compatible with this
specification except for the following features.
* The classical quasi-device independence is not yet implemented.
* The old hardware was very different from what we use today. So the
'groff' devices are also fundamentally different from the ones in
AT&T 'troff'. For example, the AT&T PostScript device is called
'post' and has a resolution of only 720 units per inch, suitable
for printers 20 years ago, while 'groff''s 'ps' device has a
resolution of 72000 units per inch. Maybe, by implementing some
rescaling mechanism similar to the classical quasi-device
independence, 'groff' could emulate AT&T's 'post' device.
* The B-spline command 'D~' is correctly handled by the intermediate
output parser, but the drawing routines aren't implemented in some
of the postprocessor programs.
* The argument of the commands 's' and 'x H' has the implicit unit
scaled point 'z' in 'gtroff', while AT&T 'troff' has point ('p').
This isn't an incompatibility but a compatible extension, for both
units coincide for all devices without a 'sizescale' parameter in
the 'DESC' file, including all postprocessors from AT&T and
'groff''s text devices. The few 'groff' devices with a 'sizescale'
parameter either do not exist for AT&T 'troff', have a different
name, or seem to have a different resolution. So conflicts are
very unlikely.
* The position changing after the commands 'Dp', 'DP', and 'Dt' is
illogical, but as old versions of 'gtroff' used this feature it is
kept for compatibility reasons.
File: groff.info, Node: Device and Font Description Files, Prev: gtroff Output, Up: File Formats
6.2 Device and Font Description Files
=====================================
The 'groff' font and output device description formats are slight
extensions of those used by AT&T device-independent 'troff'. In
distinction to the AT&T implementation, 'groff' lacks a binary format;
all files are text files.(1) (*note Device and Font Description
Files-Footnote-1::) The device and font description files for a device
NAME are stored in a 'devNAME' directory. The device description file
is called 'DESC', and, for each font supported by the device, a font
description file is called 'F', where F is usually an abbreviation of a
font's name and/or style. For example, the 'ps' (PostScript) device has
'groff' font description files for Times roman ('TR') and Zapf Chancery
Medium italic ('ZCMI'), among many others, while the 'utf8' device (for
terminal emulators) has only font descriptions for the roman, italic,
bold, and bold-italic styles ('R', 'I', 'B', and 'BI', respectively).
Device and font description files are read both by the formatter, GNU
'troff', and by output drivers. The programs delegate these files'
processing to an internal library, 'libgroff', ensuring their consistent
interpretation.
* Menu:
* DESC File Format::
* Font Description File Format::
File: groff.info, Node: Device and Font Description Files-Footnotes, Up: Device and Font Description Files
(1) Plan 9 'troff' has also abandoned the binary format.
File: groff.info, Node: DESC File Format, Next: Font Description File Format, Prev: Device and Font Description Files, Up: Device and Font Description Files
6.2.1 'DESC' File Format
------------------------
The 'DESC' file contains a series of directives; each begins a line.
Their order is not important, with two exceptions: (1) the 'res'
directive must precede any 'papersize' directive; and (2) the 'charset'
directive must come last (if at all). If a directive name is repeated,
later entries in the file override previous ones (except that the paper
dimensions are computed based on the 'res' directive last seen when
'papersize' is encountered). Spaces and/or tabs separate words and are
ignored at line boundaries. Comments start with the '#' character and
extend to the end of a line. Empty lines are ignored.
'family FAM'
The default font family is FAM.
'fonts N F1 ... FN'
Fonts F1, ..., FN are mounted at font positions M+1, ..., M+N where
M is the number of 'styles' (see below). This directive may extend
over more than one line. A font name of '0' causes no font to be
mounted at the corresponding position.
'hor N'
The horizontal motion quantum is N basic units. All horizontal
quantities are rounded to multiples of N.
'image_generator PROGRAM'
Use PROGRAM to generate PNG images from PostScript input. Under
GNU/Linux, this is usually 'gs', but under other systems (notably
Cygwin) it might be set to another name. The 'grohtml' driver uses
this directive.
'paperlength N'
The vertical dimension of the output medium is N basic units
(deprecated: use 'papersize' instead).
'papersize FORMAT-OR-DIMENSION-PAIR-OR-FILE-NAME ...'
The dimensions of the output medium are as according to the
argument, which is either a standard paper format, a pair of
dimensions, or the name of a plain text file containing either of
the foregoing.
Recognized paper formats are the ISO and DIN formats 'A0'-'A7',
'B0'-'B7', 'C0'-'C7', 'D0'-'D7'; the U.S. paper types 'letter',
'legal', 'tabloid', 'ledger', 'statement', and 'executive'; and the
envelope formats 'com10', 'monarch', and 'DL'. Matching is
performed without regard for lettercase.
Alternatively, the argument can be a custom paper format in the
format 'LENGTH,WIDTH' (with no spaces before or after the comma).
Both LENGTH and WIDTH must have a unit appended; valid units are
'i' for inches, 'c' for centimeters, 'p' for points, and 'P' for
picas. Example: '12c,235p'. An argument that starts with a digit
is always treated as a custom paper format.
Finally, the argument can be a file name (e.g., '/etc/papersize');
if the file can be opened, the first line is read and a match
attempted against each of the other forms. No comment syntax is
supported.
More than one argument can be specified; each is scanned in turn
and the first valid paper specification used.
'paperwidth N'
The horizontal dimension of the output medium is N basic units
(deprecated: use 'papersize' instead).
'pass_filenames'
Direct GNU 'troff' to emit the name of the source file being
processed. This is achieved with the intermediate output command
'x F', which 'grohtml' interprets.
'postpro PROGRAM'
Use PROGRAM as the postprocessor.
'prepro PROGRAM'
Use PROGRAM as a preprocessor. The 'html' and 'xhtml' output
devices use this directive.
'print PROGRAM'
Use PROGRAM as a spooler program for printing. If omitted, the
'-l' and '-L' options of 'groff' are ignored.
'res N'
The device resolution is N basic units per inch.
'sizes S1 ... SN 0'
The device has fonts at S1, ..., SN scaled points (see below). The
list of sizes must be terminated by '0'. Each SI can also be a
range of sizes M-N. The list can extend over more than one line.
'sizescale N'
A typographical point is subdivided into N scaled points. The
default is '1'. *Note Using Fractional Type Sizes::.
'styles S1 ... SM'
The first M mounting positions are associated with styles S1, ...,
SM.
'tcommand'
The postprocessor can handle the 't' and 'u' intermediate output
commands.
'unicode'
The output device supports the complete Unicode repertoire. This
directive is useful only for devices that produce character
entities instead of glyphs.
If 'unicode' is present, no 'charset' section is required in the
font description files since the Unicode handling built into
'groff' is used. However, if there are entries in a font
description file's 'charset' section, they either override the
default mappings for those particular characters or add new
mappings (normally for composite characters).
The 'utf8', 'html', and 'xhtml' output devices use this directive.
'unitwidth N'
Quantities in the font description files are in basic units for
fonts whose type size is N scaled points.
'unscaled_charwidths'
Make the font handling module always return unscaled character
widths. The 'grohtml' driver uses this directive.
'use_charnames_in_special'
GNU 'troff' should encode special characters inside device control
commands; see *note Postprocessor Access::. The 'grohtml' driver
uses this directive.
'vert N'
The vertical motion quantum is N basic units. All vertical
quantities are rounded to multiples of N.
'charset'
This line and everything following it in the file are ignored. It
is recognized for compatibility with other 'troff' implementations.
In GNU 'troff', character set repertoire is described on a per-font
basis.
GNU 'troff' recognizes but ignores the directives 'spare1', 'spare2',
and 'biggestfont'.
The 'res', 'unitwidth', 'fonts', and 'sizes' lines are mandatory.
Directives not listed above are ignored by GNU 'troff' but may be used
by postprocessors to obtain further information about the device.
File: groff.info, Node: Font Description File Format, Prev: DESC File Format, Up: Device and Font Description Files
6.2.2 Font Description File Format
----------------------------------
On typesetting output devices, each font is typically available at
multiple sizes. While paper measurements in the device description file
are in absolute units, measurements applicable to fonts must be
proportional to the type size. 'groff' achieves this using the
precedent set by AT&T device-independent 'troff': one font size is
chosen as a norm, and all others are scaled linearly relative to that
basis. The "unit width" is the number of basic units per point when the
font is rendered at this nominal size.
For instance, 'groff''s 'lbp' device uses a 'unitwidth' of 800. Its
Times roman font 'TR' has a 'spacewidth' of 833; this is also the width
of its comma, period, centered period, and mathematical asterisk, while
its 'M' is 2,963 basic units. Thus, an 'M' on the 'lbp' device is 2,963
basic units wide at a notional type size of 800 points.(1) (*note Font
Description File Format-Footnote-1::)
A font description file has two sections. The first is a sequence of
directives, and is parsed similarly to the 'DESC' file described above.
Except for the directive names that begin the second section, their
ordering is immaterial. Later directives of the same name override
earlier ones, spaces and tabs are handled in the same way, and the same
comment syntax is supported. Empty lines are ignored throughout.
'name F'
The name of the font is F. 'DESC' is an invalid font name. Simple
integers are valid, but their use is discouraged.(2) (*note Font
Description File Format-Footnote-2::)
'spacewidth N'
The width of an unadjusted inter-word space is N basic units.
The directives above must appear in the first section; those below
are optional.
'slant N'
The font's glyphs have a slant of N degrees; a positive N slants in
the direction of text flow.
'ligatures LIG1 ... LIGN [0]'
Glyphs LIG1, ..., LIGN are ligatures; possible ligatures are 'ff',
'fi', 'fl', 'ffi' and 'ffl'. For compatibility with other 'troff'
implementations, the list of ligatures may be terminated with
a '0'. The list of ligatures must not extend over more than one
line.
'special'
The font is "special": when a glyph is requested that is not
present in the current font, it is sought in any mounted fonts that
bear this property.
Other directives in this section are ignored by GNU 'troff', but may
be used by postprocessors to obtain further information about the font.
The second section contains one or two subsections. These can appear
in either order; the first one encountered commences the second section.
Each starts with a directive on a line by itself. A 'charset'
subsection is mandatory unless the associated 'DESC' file contains the
'unicode' directive. Another subsection, 'kernpairs', is optional.
The directive 'charset' starts the character set subsection.(3)
(*note Font Description File Format-Footnote-3::) It precedes a series
of glyph descriptions, one per line. Each such glyph description
comprises a set of fields separated by spaces or tabs and organized as
follows.
NAME METRICS TYPE CODE [ENTITY-NAME] ['--' COMMENT]
NAME identifies the glyph: if NAME is a printable character C, it
corresponds to the 'troff' ordinary character C. If NAME is a
multi-character sequence not beginning with '\', it corresponds to the
GNU 'troff' special character escape sequence '\[NAME]'. A name
consisting of three minus signs, '---', is special and indicates that
the glyph is unnamed: such glyphs can be accessed only by the '\N'
escape sequence in 'troff'. A special character named '---' can still
be defined using 'char' and similar requests. The NAME '\-' defines the
minus sign glyph. Finally, NAME can be the unbreakable one-sixth and
one-twelfth space escape sequences, '\|' and '\^' ("thin" and "hair"
spaces, respectively), in which case only the width metric described
below is interpreted; a font can thus customize the widths of these
spaces.
The form of the METRICS field is as follows.
WIDTH[','[HEIGHT[','[DEPTH[','[ITALIC-CORRECTION
[','[LEFT-ITALIC-CORRECTION[','[SUBSCRIPT-CORRECTION]]]]]]]]]]
There must not be any spaces, tabs, or newlines between these
"subfields" (which have been split here into two lines only for better
legibility). The subfields are in basic units expressed as decimal
integers. Unspecified subfields default to '0'. Since there is no
associated binary format, these values are not required to fit into the
C language data type 'char' as they are in AT&T device-independent
'troff'.
The WIDTH subfield gives the width of the glyph. The HEIGHT subfield
gives the height of the glyph (upward is positive); if a glyph does not
extend above the baseline, it should be given a zero height, rather than
a negative height. The DEPTH subfield gives the depth of the glyph,
that is, the distance below the baseline to which the glyph extends
(downward is positive); if a glyph does not extend below the baseline,
it should be given a zero depth, rather than a negative depth. Italic
corrections are relevant to glyphs in italic or oblique styles. The
ITALIC-CORRECTION is the amount of space that should be added after an
oblique glyph to be followed immediately by an upright glyph. The
LEFT-ITALIC-CORRECTION is the amount of space that should be added
before an oblique glyph to be preceded immediately by an upright glyph.
The SUBSCRIPT-CORRECTION is the amount of space that should be added
after an oblique glyph to be followed by a subscript; it should be less
than the italic correction.
For fonts used with typesetting devices, the TYPE field gives a
featural description of the glyph: it is a bit mask recording whether
the glyph is an ascender, descender, both, or neither. When a '\w'
escape sequence is interpolated, these values are bitwise or-ed together
for each glyph and stored in the 'nr' register. In font descriptions
for terminal devices, all glyphs might have a type of zero, regardless
of their appearance.
'0'
means the glyph lies entirely between the baseline and a horizontal
line at the "x-height" of the font; typical examples are 'a', 'c',
and 'x';
'1'
means the glyph descends below the baseline, like 'p';
'2'
means the glyph ascends above the font's x-height, like 'A' or 'b';
and
'3'
means the glyph is both an ascender and a descender--this is true
of parentheses in some fonts.
The CODE field gives a numeric identifier that the postprocessor uses
to render the glyph. The glyph can be specified to 'troff' using this
code by means of the '\N' escape sequence. CODE can be any integer.(4)
(*note Font Description File Format-Footnote-4::)
The ENTITY-NAME field defines an identifier for the glyph that the
postprocessor uses to print the GNU 'troff' glyph NAME. This field is
optional; it was introduced so that the 'grohtml' output driver could
encode its character set. For example, the glyph '\[Po]' is represented
by '£' in HTML 4.0. For efficiency, these data are now compiled
directly into 'grohtml'. 'grops' uses the field to build sub-encoding
arrays for PostScript fonts containing more than 256 glyphs. Anything
on the line after the ENTITY-NAME field or '--' is ignored.
A line in the 'charset' section can also have the form
NAME "
identifying NAME as another name for the glyph mentioned in the
preceding line. Such aliases can be chained.
The directive 'kernpairs' starts a list of kerning adjustments to be
made to adjacent glyph pairs from this font. It contains a sequence of
lines formatted as follows.
G1 G2 N
The foregoing means that when glyph G1 is typeset immediately before G2,
the space between them should be increased by N. Most kerning pairs
should have a negative value for N.
File: groff.info, Node: Font Description File Format-Footnotes, Up: Font Description File Format
(1) 800-point type is not practical for most purposes, but using it
enables the quantities in the font description files to be expressed as
integers.
(2) 'groff' requests and escape sequences interpret non-negative font
names as mounting positions instead. Further, a font named '0' cannot
be automatically mounted by the 'fonts' directive of a 'DESC' file.
(3) For typesetter devices, this directive is misnamed since it
starts a list of glyphs, not characters.
(4) that is, any integer parsable by the C standard library's
'strtol(3)' function
File: groff.info, Node: Copying This Manual, Next: Request Index, Prev: Font Description File Format, Up: Top
Appendix A Copying This Manual
******************************
Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
Copyright © 2000-2018 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
<http://fsf.org/>
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
0. PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other
functional and useful document "free" in the sense of freedom: to
assure everyone the effective freedom to copy and redistribute it,
with or without modifying it, either commercially or
noncommercially. Secondarily, this License preserves for the
author and publisher a way to get credit for their work, while not
being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
This License is a kind of "copyleft", which means that derivative
works of the document must themselves be free in the same sense.
It complements the GNU General Public License, which is a copyleft
license designed for free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for
free software, because free software needs free documentation: a
free program should come with manuals providing the same freedoms
that the software does. But this License is not limited to
software manuals; it can be used for any textual work, regardless
of subject matter or whether it is published as a printed book. We
recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is
instruction or reference.
1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS
This License applies to any manual or other work, in any medium,
that contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it can
be distributed under the terms of this License. Such a notice
grants a world-wide, royalty-free license, unlimited in duration,
to use that work under the conditions stated herein. The
"Document", below, refers to any such manual or work. Any member
of the public is a licensee, and is addressed as "you". You accept
the license if you copy, modify or distribute the work in a way
requiring permission under copyright law.
A "Modified Version" of the Document means any work containing the
Document or a portion of it, either copied verbatim, or with
modifications and/or translated into another language.
A "Secondary Section" is a named appendix or a front-matter section
of the Document that deals exclusively with the relationship of the
publishers or authors of the Document to the Document's overall
subject (or to related matters) and contains nothing that could
fall directly within that overall subject. (Thus, if the Document
is in part a textbook of mathematics, a Secondary Section may not
explain any mathematics.) The relationship could be a matter of
historical connection with the subject or with related matters, or
of legal, commercial, philosophical, ethical or political position
regarding them.
The "Invariant Sections" are certain Secondary Sections whose
titles are designated, as being those of Invariant Sections, in the
notice that says that the Document is released under this License.
If a section does not fit the above definition of Secondary then it
is not allowed to be designated as Invariant. The Document may
contain zero Invariant Sections. If the Document does not identify
any Invariant Sections then there are none.
The "Cover Texts" are certain short passages of text that are
listed, as Front-Cover Texts or Back-Cover Texts, in the notice
that says that the Document is released under this License. A
Front-Cover Text may be at most 5 words, and a Back-Cover Text may
be at most 25 words.
A "Transparent" copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy,
represented in a format whose specification is available to the
general public, that is suitable for revising the document
straightforwardly with generic text editors or (for images composed
of pixels) generic paint programs or (for drawings) some widely
available drawing editor, and that is suitable for input to text
formatters or for automatic translation to a variety of formats
suitable for input to text formatters. A copy made in an otherwise
Transparent file format whose markup, or absence of markup, has
been arranged to thwart or discourage subsequent modification by
readers is not Transparent. An image format is not Transparent if
used for any substantial amount of text. A copy that is not
"Transparent" is called "Opaque".
Examples of suitable formats for Transparent copies include plain
ASCII without markup, Texinfo input format, LaTeX input format,
SGML or XML using a publicly available DTD, and standard-conforming
simple HTML, PostScript or PDF designed for human modification.
Examples of transparent image formats include PNG, XCF and JPG.
Opaque formats include proprietary formats that can be read and
edited only by proprietary word processors, SGML or XML for which
the DTD and/or processing tools are not generally available, and
the machine-generated HTML, PostScript or PDF produced by some word
processors for output purposes only.
The "Title Page" means, for a printed book, the title page itself,
plus such following pages as are needed to hold, legibly, the
material this License requires to appear in the title page. For
works in formats which do not have any title page as such, "Title
Page" means the text near the most prominent appearance of the
work's title, preceding the beginning of the body of the text.
The "publisher" means any person or entity that distributes copies
of the Document to the public.
A section "Entitled XYZ" means a named subunit of the Document
whose title either is precisely XYZ or contains XYZ in parentheses
following text that translates XYZ in another language. (Here XYZ
stands for a specific section name mentioned below, such as
"Acknowledgements", "Dedications", "Endorsements", or "History".)
To "Preserve the Title" of such a section when you modify the
Document means that it remains a section "Entitled XYZ" according
to this definition.
The Document may include Warranty Disclaimers next to the notice
which states that this License applies to the Document. These
Warranty Disclaimers are considered to be included by reference in
this License, but only as regards disclaiming warranties: any other
implication that these Warranty Disclaimers may have is void and
has no effect on the meaning of this License.
2. VERBATIM COPYING
You may copy and distribute the Document in any medium, either
commercially or noncommercially, provided that this License, the
copyright notices, and the license notice saying this License
applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you
add no other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You
may not use technical measures to obstruct or control the reading
or further copying of the copies you make or distribute. However,
you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you
distribute a large enough number of copies you must also follow the
conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above,
and you may publicly display copies.
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly
have printed covers) of the Document, numbering more than 100, and
the Document's license notice requires Cover Texts, you must
enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all
these Cover Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and
Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both covers must also clearly
and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The
front cover must present the full title with all words of the title
equally prominent and visible. You may add other material on the
covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to the covers, as
long as they preserve the title of the Document and satisfy these
conditions, can be treated as verbatim copying in other respects.
If the required texts for either cover are too voluminous to fit
legibly, you should put the first ones listed (as many as fit
reasonably) on the actual cover, and continue the rest onto
adjacent pages.
If you publish or distribute Opaque copies of the Document
numbering more than 100, you must either include a machine-readable
Transparent copy along with each Opaque copy, or state in or with
each Opaque copy a computer-network location from which the general
network-using public has access to download using public-standard
network protocols a complete Transparent copy of the Document, free
of added material. If you use the latter option, you must take
reasonably prudent steps, when you begin distribution of Opaque
copies in quantity, to ensure that this Transparent copy will
remain thus accessible at the stated location until at least one
year after the last time you distribute an Opaque copy (directly or
through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of
the Document well before redistributing any large number of copies,
to give them a chance to provide you with an updated version of the
Document.
4. MODIFICATIONS
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document
under the conditions of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you
release the Modified Version under precisely this License, with the
Modified Version filling the role of the Document, thus licensing
distribution and modification of the Modified Version to whoever
possesses a copy of it. In addition, you must do these things in
the Modified Version:
A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title
distinct from that of the Document, and from those of previous
versions (which should, if there were any, be listed in the
History section of the Document). You may use the same title
as a previous version if the original publisher of that
version gives permission.
B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or
entities responsible for authorship of the modifications in
the Modified Version, together with at least five of the
principal authors of the Document (all of its principal
authors, if it has fewer than five), unless they release you
from this requirement.
C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the
Modified Version, as the publisher.
D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications
adjacent to the other copyright notices.
F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license
notice giving the public permission to use the Modified
Version under the terms of this License, in the form shown in
the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant
Sections and required Cover Texts given in the Document's
license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
I. Preserve the section Entitled "History", Preserve its Title,
and add to it an item stating at least the title, year, new
authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given on the
Title Page. If there is no section Entitled "History" in the
Document, create one stating the title, year, authors, and
publisher of the Document as given on its Title Page, then add
an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the
previous sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document
for public access to a Transparent copy of the Document, and
likewise the network locations given in the Document for
previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the
"History" section. You may omit a network location for a work
that was published at least four years before the Document
itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers
to gives permission.
K. For any section Entitled "Acknowledgements" or "Dedications",
Preserve the Title of the section, and preserve in the section
all the substance and tone of each of the contributor
acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
L. Preserve all the Invariant Sections of the Document, unaltered
in their text and in their titles. Section numbers or the
equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled "Endorsements". Such a section
may not be included in the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled
"Endorsements" or to conflict in title with any Invariant
Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or
appendices that qualify as Secondary Sections and contain no
material copied from the Document, you may at your option designate
some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their
titles to the list of Invariant Sections in the Modified Version's
license notice. These titles must be distinct from any other
section titles.
You may add a section Entitled "Endorsements", provided it contains
nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various
parties--for example, statements of peer review or that the text
has been approved by an organization as the authoritative
definition of a standard.
You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text,
and a passage of up to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of
the list of Cover Texts in the Modified Version. Only one passage
of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added by (or
through arrangements made by) any one entity. If the Document
already includes a cover text for the same cover, previously added
by you or by arrangement made by the same entity you are acting on
behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the old
one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added
the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this
License give permission to use their names for publicity for or to
assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under
this License, under the terms defined in section 4 above for
modified versions, provided that you include in the combination all
of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents,
unmodified, and list them all as Invariant Sections of your
combined work in its license notice, and that you preserve all
their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and
multiple identical Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single
copy. If there are multiple Invariant Sections with the same name
but different contents, make the title of each such section unique
by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the
original author or publisher of that section if known, or else a
unique number. Make the same adjustment to the section titles in
the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the
combined work.
In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled
"History" in the various original documents, forming one section
Entitled "History"; likewise combine any sections Entitled
"Acknowledgements", and any sections Entitled "Dedications". You
must delete all sections Entitled "Endorsements."
6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other
documents released under this License, and replace the individual
copies of this License in the various documents with a single copy
that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the
rules of this License for verbatim copying of each of the documents
in all other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and
distribute it individually under this License, provided you insert
a copy of this License into the extracted document, and follow this
License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that
document.
7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other
separate and independent documents or works, in or on a volume of a
storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the
copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the
legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual
works permit. When the Document is included in an aggregate, this
License does not apply to the other works in the aggregate which
are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these
copies of the Document, then if the Document is less than one half
of the entire aggregate, the Document's Cover Texts may be placed
on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic
form. Otherwise they must appear on printed covers that bracket
the whole aggregate.
8. TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may
distribute translations of the Document under the terms of section
4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations requires special
permission from their copyright holders, but you may include
translations of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the
original versions of these Invariant Sections. You may include a
translation of this License, and all the license notices in the
Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also
include the original English version of this License and the
original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In case of a
disagreement between the translation and the original version of
this License or a notice or disclaimer, the original version will
prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled "Acknowledgements",
"Dedications", or "History", the requirement (section 4) to
Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing the
actual title.
9. TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document
except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt
otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute it is void,
and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your
license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a)
provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and
finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the
copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some
reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is
reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the
violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have
received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from
that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days
after your receipt of the notice.
Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate
the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you
under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not
permanently reinstated, receipt of a copy of some or all of the
same material does not give you any rights to use it.
10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of
the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new
versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See
<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/>.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version
number. If the Document specifies that a particular numbered
version of this License "or any later version" applies to it, you
have the option of following the terms and conditions either of
that specified version or of any later version that has been
published (not as a draft) by the Free Software Foundation. If the
Document does not specify a version number of this License, you may
choose any version ever published (not as a draft) by the Free
Software Foundation. If the Document specifies that a proxy can
decide which future versions of this License can be used, that
proxy's public statement of acceptance of a version permanently
authorizes you to choose that version for the Document.
11. RELICENSING
"Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site" (or "MMC Site") means any
World Wide Web server that publishes copyrightable works and also
provides prominent facilities for anybody to edit those works. A
public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server.
A "Massive Multiauthor Collaboration" (or "MMC") contained in the
site means any set of copyrightable works thus published on the MMC
site.
"CC-BY-SA" means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
license published by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit
corporation with a principal place of business in San Francisco,
California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license
published by that same organization.
"Incorporate" means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or
in part, as part of another Document.
An MMC is "eligible for relicensing" if it is licensed under this
License, and if all works that were first published under this
License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently
incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover
texts or invariant sections, and (2) were thus incorporated prior
to November 1, 2008.
The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the
site under CC-BY-SA on the same site at any time before August 1,
2009, provided the MMC is eligible for relicensing.
ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
====================================================
To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of
the License in the document and put the following copyright and license
notices just after the title page:
Copyright (C) YEAR YOUR NAME.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ``GNU
Free Documentation License''.
If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover
Texts, replace the "with...Texts." line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being LIST THEIR TITLES, with
the Front-Cover Texts being LIST, and with the Back-Cover Texts
being LIST.
If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other
combination of the three, merge those two alternatives to suit the
situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we
recommend releasing these examples in parallel under your choice of free
software license, such as the GNU General Public License, to permit
their use in free software.
File: groff.info, Node: Request Index, Next: Escape Sequence Index, Prev: Copying This Manual, Up: Top
Appendix B Request Index
************************
Request names appear without a leading control character; the defaults
are '.' for the regular control character and ''' for the no-break
control character.
[index ]
* Menu:
* ab: Debugging. (line 55)
* ad: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 83)
* af: Assigning Register Formats.
(line 12)
* aln: Setting Registers. (line 110)
* als: Strings. (line 198)
* am: Writing Macros. (line 126)
* am1: Writing Macros. (line 127)
* ami: Writing Macros. (line 128)
* ami1: Writing Macros. (line 129)
* as: Strings. (line 114)
* as1: Strings. (line 115)
* asciify: Diversions. (line 208)
* backtrace: Debugging. (line 104)
* bd: Artificial Fonts. (line 95)
* blm: Blank Line Traps. (line 7)
* box: Diversions. (line 63)
* boxa: Diversions. (line 64)
* bp: Page Control. (line 11)
* br: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 39)
* break: while. (line 72)
* brp: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 156)
* c2: Control Characters. (line 29)
* cc: Control Characters. (line 23)
* ce: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 208)
* cf: I/O. (line 58)
* cflags: Using Symbols. (line 252)
* ch: Page Location Traps. (line 114)
* char: Using Symbols. (line 351)
* chop: Strings. (line 145)
* class: Character Classes. (line 12)
* close: I/O. (line 240)
* color: Colors. (line 15)
* composite: Using Symbols. (line 208)
* continue: while. (line 76)
* cp: Compatibility Mode. (line 16)
* cs: Artificial Fonts. (line 125)
* cu: Artificial Fonts. (line 86)
* da: Diversions. (line 32)
* de: Writing Macros. (line 14)
* de1: Writing Macros. (line 86)
* defcolor: Colors. (line 27)
* dei: Writing Macros. (line 108)
* dei1: Writing Macros. (line 109)
* device: Postprocessor Access.
(line 15)
* devicem: Postprocessor Access.
(line 45)
* di: Diversions. (line 31)
* do: Compatibility Mode. (line 27)
* ds: ms Document Control Settings.
(line 15)
* ds <1>: Strings. (line 24)
* ds1: Strings. (line 25)
* dt: Diversion Traps. (line 11)
* ec: Using Escape Sequences.
(line 76)
* ecr: Using Escape Sequences.
(line 102)
* ecs: Using Escape Sequences.
(line 101)
* el: if-else. (line 8)
* em: End-of-input Traps. (line 7)
* eo: Using Escape Sequences.
(line 71)
* ev: Environments. (line 46)
* evc: Environments. (line 100)
* ex: Debugging. (line 60)
* fam: Font Families. (line 21)
* fc: Fields. (line 18)
* fchar: Using Symbols. (line 352)
* fcolor: Colors. (line 85)
* fi: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 66)
* fl: Debugging. (line 95)
* fp: Font Positions. (line 16)
* fschar: Using Symbols. (line 353)
* fspecial: Special Fonts. (line 18)
* ft: Selecting Fonts. (line 11)
* ftr: Selecting Fonts. (line 69)
* fzoom: Selecting Fonts. (line 83)
* gcolor: Colors. (line 57)
* hc: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 88)
* hcode: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 293)
* hla: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 327)
* hlm: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 340)
* hpf: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 233)
* hpfa: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 234)
* hpfcode: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 235)
* hw: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 22)
* hy: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 120)
* hym: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 354)
* hys: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 369)
* ie: if-else. (line 7)
* if: if-then. (line 7)
* ig: Comments. (line 54)
* in: Line Layout. (line 86)
* it: Input Line Traps. (line 7)
* itc: Input Line Traps. (line 8)
* kern: Ligatures and Kerning.
(line 41)
* lc: Leaders. (line 22)
* length: Strings. (line 135)
* lf: Debugging. (line 31)
* lg: Ligatures and Kerning.
(line 23)
* linetabs: Tabs and Fields. (line 139)
* ll: Line Layout. (line 138)
* ls: Manipulating Spacing.
(line 57)
* lsm: Leading Space Traps. (line 7)
* lt: Page Layout. (line 53)
* mc: Miscellaneous. (line 110)
* mk: Page Motions. (line 10)
* mso: I/O. (line 49)
* msoquiet: I/O. (line 50)
* na: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 150)
* ne: Page Control. (line 31)
* nf: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 74)
* nh: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 228)
* nm: Miscellaneous. (line 9)
* nn: Miscellaneous. (line 74)
* nop: if-then. (line 26)
* nr: ms Document Control Settings.
(line 11)
* nr <1>: Setting Registers. (line 10)
* nr <2>: Setting Registers. (line 64)
* nr <3>: Auto-increment. (line 14)
* nroff: troff and nroff Modes.
(line 33)
* ns: Manipulating Spacing.
(line 116)
* nx: I/O. (line 90)
* open: I/O. (line 207)
* opena: I/O. (line 208)
* os: Page Control. (line 66)
* output: Diversions. (line 195)
* pc: Page Layout. (line 68)
* pev: Debugging. (line 78)
* pi: I/O. (line 149)
* pl: Page Layout. (line 9)
* pm: Debugging. (line 82)
* pn: Page Layout. (line 23)
* pnr: Debugging. (line 86)
* po: Line Layout. (line 60)
* ps: Changing the Type Size.
(line 7)
* psbb: Miscellaneous. (line 158)
* pso: I/O. (line 38)
* ptr: Debugging. (line 90)
* pvs: Changing the Vertical Spacing.
(line 48)
* rchar: Using Symbols. (line 410)
* rd: I/O. (line 95)
* return: Writing Macros. (line 163)
* rfschar: Using Symbols. (line 411)
* rj: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 247)
* rm: Strings. (line 193)
* rn: Strings. (line 190)
* rnn: Setting Registers. (line 105)
* rr: Setting Registers. (line 99)
* rs: Manipulating Spacing.
(line 117)
* rt: Page Motions. (line 11)
* schar: Using Symbols. (line 354)
* shc: Manipulating Hyphenation.
(line 97)
* shift: Parameters. (line 30)
* sizes: Changing the Type Size.
(line 71)
* so: I/O. (line 9)
* soquiet: I/O. (line 10)
* sp: Manipulating Spacing.
(line 10)
* special: Special Fonts. (line 17)
* spreadwarn: Debugging. (line 135)
* ss: Manipulating Filling and Adjustment.
(line 267)
* stringdown: Strings. (line 170)
* stringup: Strings. (line 171)
* sty: Font Families. (line 62)
* substring: Strings. (line 153)
* sv: Page Control. (line 65)
* sy: I/O. (line 171)
* ta: Tabs and Fields. (line 13)
* tag: Postprocessor Access.
(line 58)
* taga: Postprocessor Access.
(line 59)
* tc: Tabs and Fields. (line 127)
* ti: Line Layout. (line 110)
* tkf: Ligatures and Kerning.
(line 60)
* tl: Page Layout. (line 39)
* tm: Debugging. (line 43)
* tm1: Debugging. (line 44)
* tmc: Debugging. (line 45)
* tr: Character Translations.
(line 13)
* trf: I/O. (line 57)
* trin: Character Translations.
(line 14)
* trnt: Character Translations.
(line 79)
* troff: troff and nroff Modes.
(line 25)
* uf: Artificial Fonts. (line 90)
* ul: Artificial Fonts. (line 64)
* unformat: Diversions. (line 233)
* vpt: Vertical Position Traps.
(line 13)
* vs: Changing the Vertical Spacing.
(line 7)
* warn: Debugging. (line 154)
* warnscale: Debugging. (line 131)
* wh: Page Location Traps. (line 11)
* while: while. (line 10)
* write: I/O. (line 219)
* writec: I/O. (line 220)
* writem: I/O. (line 231)
Browse
Usage
Versions