Table of Contents
A complete reference for writing manual pages with the macro
package; a and formatting package for Its predecessor, the package,
addressed page layout leaving the manipulation of fonts and other typesetting
details to the individual author. In page layout macros make up the which
consists of macros for titles, section headers, displays and lists - essentially
items which affect the physical position of text on a formatted page. In
addition to the page structure domain, there are two more domains, the
domain and the text domain. The general text domain is defined as macros
which perform tasks such as quoting or emphasizing pieces of text. The manual
domain is defined as macros that are a subset of the day to day informal
language used to describe commands, routines and related files. Macros
in the manual domain handle command names, command line arguments and options,
function names, function parameters, pathnames, variables, cross references
to other manual pages, and so on. These domain items have value for both
the author and the future user of the manual page. Hopefully, the consistency
gained across the manual set will provide easier translation to future
documentation tools. Throughout the manual pages, a manual entry is simply
referred to as a man page, regardless of actual length and without sexist
intention.
The material presented in the remainder of
this document is outlined as follows:
The package attempts to simplify
the process of writing a man page. Theoretically, one should not have to
learn the tricky details of to use however, there are a few limitations
which are unavoidable and best gotten out of the way. And, too, be forewarned,
this package is fast. As in a macro is called by placing a (dot character)
at the beginning of a line followed by the two-character (or three-character)
name for the macro. There can be space or tab characters between the dot
and the macro name. Arguments may follow the macro separated by spaces (but
tabs). It is the dot character at the beginning of the line which causes
to interpret the next two (or more) characters as a macro name. A single
starting dot followed by nothing is ignored. To place a (dot character)
at the beginning of an input line in some context other than a macro invocation,
precede the (dot) with the escape sequence which translates literally
to a zero-width space, and is never displayed in the output. In general,
macros accept an unlimited number of arguments (contrary to other versions
of troff which can’t handle more than nine arguments). In limited cases,
arguments may be continued or extended on the next line (See below). Almost
all macros handle quoted arguments (see below). Most of the general text
domain and manual domain macros are special in that their argument lists
are for callable macro names. This means an argument on the argument list
which matches a general text or manual domain macro name (and which is
defined to be callable) will be executed or called when it is processed.
In this case the argument, although the name of a macro, is not preceded
by a (dot). This makes it possible to nest macros; for example the option
macro, may the flag and argument macros, and to specify an optional
flag with an argument: is produced by To prevent a string from being
interpreted as a macro name, precede the string with the escape sequence
is produced by Here the strings and are not interpreted as macros.
Macros whose argument lists are parsed for callable arguments are referred
to as and macros which may be called from an argument list are referred
to as throughout this document. This is a technical as almost all of the
macros in are parsed, but as it was cumbersome to constantly refer to
macros as being callable and being able to call other macros, the term
parsed has been used. In the following, we call an macro which starts
a line (with a leading dot) a if this distinction is necessary. Sometimes
it is desirable to give as an argument a string containing one or more
blank space characters, say, to specify arguments to commands which expect
particular arrangement of items in the argument list. Additionally, it makes
working faster. For example, the function command expects the first argument
to be the name of a function and any remaining arguments to be function
parameters. As stipulates the declaration of function parameters in the
parenthesized parameter list, each parameter is guaranteed to be at minimum
a two word string. For example, There are two possible ways to pass an
argument which contains an embedded space. One way of passing a string containing
blank spaces is to use the hard or unpaddable space character that is,
a blank space preceded by the escape character This method may be used
with any macro but has the side effect of interfering with the adjustment
of text over the length of a line. sees the hard space as if it were any
other printable character and cannot split the string into blank or newline
separated pieces as one would expect. This method is useful for strings
which are not expected to overlap a line boundary. An alternative is to
use a paddable (i.e. stretchable), unbreakable space (this is a extension).
The second method is to enclose the string with double quotes. For example:
is created by can also be created by If the before the space
in the first example or double quotes in the second example were omitted,
would see three arguments, and the result would be: can be
confused by blank space characters at the end of a line. It is a wise preventive
measure to globally remove all blank spaces from character sequences. Should
the need arise to use a blank character at the end of a line, it may be
forced with an unpaddable space and the escape character. For example,
Special characters like the newline character are handled by replacing
the with (e.g. to preserve the backslash. A warning is emitted when
an empty input line is found outside of displays (see below). Use instead.
(Well, it is even better to use macros to avoid the usage of low-level
commands.) Leading spaces will cause a break and are output directly. Avoid
this behaviour if possible. Similarly, do not use more than one space character
between words in an ordinary text line; contrary to other text formatters,
they are replaced with a single space. You can’t pass directly as an argument.
Use (or instead. By default, inserts two space characters after a punctuation
mark closing a sentence; characters like or are treated transparently,
not influencing the sentence-ending behaviour. To change this, insert before
or after the dot: The .Ql . character. .Pp The .Ql \&. character. .Pp .No test .
test .Pp .No test. test gives The character The character. test
test As can be seen in the first and third line, handles punctuation
characters specially in macro arguments. This will be explained in section
below. In the same way, you have to protect trailing full stops of abbreviations
with a trailing zero-width space: A comment in the source file of a man
page can be either started with on a single line, after some input, or
anywhere (the latter is a extension); the rest of such a line is ignored.
The body of a man page is easily constructed from
a basic template: .\" The following commands are required for all man pages.
.Dd Month day, year .Os [OPERATING_SYSTEM] [version/release] .Dt DOCUMENT_TITLE
[section number] [architecture/volume] .Sh NAME .Nm name .Nd one line description
of name .\" This next command is for sections 2 and 3 only. .\" .Sh LIBRARY .Sh
SYNOPSIS .Sh DESCRIPTION .\" The following commands should be uncommented
and .\" used where appropriate. .\" .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES .\" This next command
is for sections 2, 3 and 9 function .\" return values only. .\" .Sh RETURN VALUES
.\" This next command is for sections 1, 6, 7 and 8 only. .\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT
.\" .Sh FILES .\" .Sh EXAMPLES .\" This next command is for sections 1, 6, 7, 8
and 9 only .\" (command return values (to shell) and .\" fprintf/stderr
type diagnostics). .\" .Sh DIAGNOSTICS .\" .Sh COMPATIBILITY .\" This next command
is for sections 2, 3 and 9 error .\" and signal handling only. .\" .Sh ERRORS
.\" .Sh SEE ALSO .\" .Sh STANDARDS .\" .Sh HISTORY .\" .Sh AUTHORS .\" .Sh BUGS The
first items in the template are the commands and the document date,
the operating system the man page or subject source is developed or modified
for, and the man page title (in along with the section of the manual the
page belongs in. These commands identify the page and are discussed below
in The remaining items in the template are section headers of which
and are mandatory. The headers are discussed in after presentation of
Several content macros are used to demonstrate page layout macros; reading
about content macros before page layout macros is recommended.
In the description of all macros below, optional arguments are put into
brackets. An ellipsis represents zero or more additional arguments. Alternative
values for a parameter are separated with If there are alternative values
for a mandatory parameter, braces are used (together with to enclose the
value set. Meta-variables are specified within angles. Example:
Except stated explicitly, all macros are parsed and callable. Note that
a macro takes effect up to the next nested macro. For example, doesn’t produce
but Consequently, a warning message is emitted for most commands if the
first argument is a macro itself since it cancels the effect of the calling
command completely. Another consequence is that quoting macros never insert
literal quotes; has been produced by Most macros have a default width
value which can be used to specify a label width or offset for the and
macros. It is recommended not to use this rather obscure feature to avoid
dependencies on local modifications of the package.
The
title macros are part of the page structure domain but are presented first
and separately for someone who wishes to start writing a man page yesterday.
Three header macros designate the document title or manual page title,
the operating system, and the date of authorship. These macros are called
once at the very beginning of the document and are used to construct headers
and footers only. The document title is the subject of the man page
and must be in due to troff limitations. If omitted, is used. The section
number may be a number in the range or or If it is specified, and no
volume name is given, a default volume name is used. Under the following
sections are defined: A volume name may be arbitrary or one
of the following: For compatibility, can be used for
and for Values from the previous table will specify a new volume name.
If the third parameter is a keyword designating a computer architecture,
its value is prepended to the default volume name as specified by the second
parameter. By default, the following architecture keywords are defined:
# we use ‘No’ to avoid hyphenation If the section number is neither
a numeric expression in the range 1 to~9 nor one of the above described
keywords, the third parameter is used verbatim as the volume name. In the
following examples, the left (which is identical to the right) and the
middle part of the manual page header strings are shown. Note how prevents
the digit~7 from being a valid numeric expression.
Local, OS-specific additions might be found in the file look for strings
named (for the former type) and (for the latter type); then denotes
the keyword to be used with the macro. This macro is neither callable
nor parsed. If the first parameter is empty, the default is used. This
may be overridden in the local configuration file, In general, the name
of the operating system should be the common acronym, e.g. or The release
should be the standard release nomenclature for the system specified. In
the following table, the possible second arguments for some predefined
operating systems are listed. Similar to local additions might be defined
in look for strings named where is the acronym for the operating system
and the release ID. 7th, 7, III, 3, V, V.2, V.3, V.4 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3,
4.3t, 4.3T, 4.3r, 4.3R, 4.4 0.8, 0.8a, 0.9, 0.9a, 1.0, 1.0a, 1.1, 1.2, 1.2a, 1.2b, 1.2c,
1.2d, 1.2e, 1.3, 1.3a, 1.4, 1.4.1, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 1.5, 1.5.1, 1.5.2, 1.5.3, 1.6, 1.6.1, 1.6.2,
1.6.3, 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.3, 2.1, 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.1, 4.0, 4.0.1 1.0, 1.1, 1.1.5, 1.1.5.1,
2.0, 2.0.5, 2.1, 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 2.2.7, 2.2.8, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2,
3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.0, 4.1, 4.1.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11,
5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.0, 7.1 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3,
1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 1.8.1, 1.10, 1.12, 1.12.2, 2.0 8.0.0, 8.1.0, 8.2.0, 8.3.0, 8.4.0, 8.5.0,
8.6.0, 8.7.0, 8.8.0, 8.9.0, 8.10.0, 8.11.0, 9.0.0, 9.1.0, 9.2.0, 9.3.0, 9.4.0, 9.5.0, 9.6.0 For
an unknown second parameter will be replaced with the string for the
other predefined acronyms it will be ignored and a warning message emitted.
Unrecognized arguments are displayed as given in the page footer. For instance,
a typical footer might be: giving or for a locally produced set
which will produce If the macro is not present, the bottom left corner
of the manual page will be ugly. This macro is neither callable nor parsed.
If has no arguments, is used for the date string. If it has exactly
three arguments, they are concatenated, separated with unbreakable space:
The month’s name shall not be abbreviated. With any other number of arguments,
the current date is used, ignoring the parameters. This macro is neither
callable nor parsed.
The manual domain macro names are derived from the day to day informal
language used to describe commands, subroutines and related files. Slightly
different variations of this language are used to describe the three different
aspects of writing a man page. First, there is the description of macro
command usage. Second is the description of a command macros, and third,
the description of a command to a user in the verbal sense; that is, discussion
of a command in the text of a man page. In the first case, macros are
themselves a type of command; the general syntax for a troff command is:
is a macro command, and anything following it are arguments to be
processed. In the second case, the description of a command using the content
macros is a bit more involved; a typical command line might be displayed
as: Here, is the command name and the bracketed string is a
argument designated as optional by the option brackets. In terms, and
are called in this example, the user has to replace the meta expressions
given in angle brackets with real file names. Note that in this document
meta arguments are used to describe commands; in most man pages, meta
variables are not specifically written with angle brackets. The macros which
formatted the above example: .Nm filter .Op Fl flag .Ao Ar infile Ac Ao
Ar outfile Ac In the third case, discussion of commands and command
syntax includes both examples above, but may add more detail. The arguments
and from the example above might be referred to as or Some command
line argument lists are quite long: Here one might talk
about the command and qualify the argument, as an argument to the flag,
or discuss the optional file operand In the verbal context, such detail
can prevent confusion, however the package does not have a macro for an
argument a flag. Instead the argument macro is used for an operand or
file argument like as well as an argument to a flag like The make command
line was produced from: .Nm make .Op Fl eiknqrstv .Op Fl D Ar variable .Op
Fl d Ar flags .Op Fl f Ar makefile .Op Fl I Ar directory .Op Fl j Ar max_jobs
.Op Ar variable Ns = Ns Ar value .Bk .Op Ar target ... .Ek The and macros
are explained in The manual domain and general text domain macros share
a similar syntax with a few minor deviations; most notably, and differ
only when called without arguments; and and impose an order on their
argument lists. All content macros are capable of recognizing and properly
handling punctuation, provided each punctuation character is separated
by a leading space. If a command is given: The result is: The punctuation
is not recognized and all is output in the font used by If the punctuation
is separated by a leading white space: The result is: The punctuation
is now recognized and output in the default font distinguishing it from
the argument strings. To remove the special meaning from a punctuation character
escape it with The following punctuation characters are recognized by
is limited as a macro language, and has difficulty when presented
with a string containing a member of the mathematical, logical or quotation
set: {+,-,/,*,%,<,>,<=,>=,=,==,&,‘,’,"} The problem is that may assume it
is supposed to actually perform the operation or evaluation suggested by
the characters. To prevent the accidental evaluation of these characters,
escape them with Typical syntax is shown in the first content macro displayed
below,
The address macro identifies an address construct.
The default width is 12n. The macro is used to specify
the name of the author of the item being documented, or the name of the
author of the actual manual page. The default width is 12n.
In the section, the command causes a line break allowing each new name
to appear on its own line. If this is not desirable, .An -nosplit call
will turn this off. To turn splitting back on, write .An -split The
argument macro may be used whenever an argument is referenced. If called
without arguments, the string is output. The default
width is 12n. The macro is used to demonstrate a declaration for a
device interface in a section four manual. In the section a command
causes a line break before and after its arguments are printed. The default
width is 12n. The command modifier is identical to the (flag) command
with the exception that the macro does not assert a dash in front of every
argument. Traditionally flags are marked by the preceding dash, however,
some commands or subsets of commands do not use them. Command modifiers
may also be specified in conjunction with interactive commands such as
editor commands. See The default width is 10n. A variable (or constant)
which is defined in an include file is specified by the macro
The default width is 12n. The errno macro specifies the error return
value for section 2, 3, and~9 library routines. The second example below
shows used with the general text domain macro, as it would be used in
a section two manual page. The default width is 17n. The
macro specifies an environment variable. The default width
is 15n. The macro handles command line flags. It prepends a dash, to
the flag. For interactive command flags, which are not prepended with a
dash, the (command modifier) macro is identical, but without the dash.
The macro without any arguments results in a dash
representing stdin/stdout. Note that giving a single dash will result in
two dashes. The default width is 12n. The macro is used in the section
with section two or three functions. It is neither callable nor parsed.
In the section a command causes a line break if a function has
already been presented and a break has not occurred. This leaves a nice
vertical space in between the previous function call and the declaration
for the next function. The macro, while in the section, represents the
statement, and is the short form of the above example. It specifies the
C~header file as being included in a C~program. It also causes a line break.
While not in the section, it represents the header file enclosed in angle
brackets. This macro is intended for the section. It may be
used anywhere else in the man page without problems, but its main purpose
is to present the function type in kernel normal form for the of sections
two and three (it causes a line break, allowing the function name to appear
on the next line). The macro is modeled on conventions.
Note that any call to another macro signals the end of the call
(it will insert a closing parenthesis at that point). For functions with
many parameters (which is rare), the macros (function open) and (function
close) may be used with (function argument). Example: .Ft int .Fo res_mkquery
.Fa "int op" .Fa "char *dname" .Fa "int class" .Fa "int type" .Fa "char *data"
.Fa "int datalen" .Fa "struct rrec *newrr" .Fa "char *buf" .Fa "int buflen"
.Fc Produces: In the section, the function will always
begin at the beginning of line. If there is more than one function presented
in the section and a function type has not been given, a line break will
occur, leaving a nice vertical space between the current function name
and the one prior. The default width values of and are 12n and 16n, respectively.
The macro is used to refer to function arguments (parameters) outside
of the section of the manual or inside the section if the enclosure macros
and instead of are used. may also be used to refer to structure members.
The default width is 12n. The macro generates text for use
in the section. For example, produces: # a small hack to suppress
a warning message The option is valid only for manual page sections~2
and~3. Currently, this macro does nothing if used without the flag. The
macro generates text for use in the section. For example, produces:
# a small hack to suppress a warning message The option is valid
only for manual page sections 1, 6 and~8. Currently, this macro does nothing
if used without the flag. The macro designates an interactive or internal
command. The default width is 12n. The macro is used to
specify the library where a particular function is compiled in. Available
arguments to and their results are:
Local, OS-specific additions might be
found in the file look for strings named then denotes the keyword to
be used with the macro. In the section an command causes a line break
before and after its arguments are printed. The literal macro may be
used for special characters, variable constants, etc. - anything which should
be displayed as it would be typed. The default width is 16n.
The macro is used for the document title or subject name. It has the
peculiarity of remembering the first argument it was called with, which
should always be the subject name of the page. When called without arguments,
regurgitates this initial name for the sole purpose of making less work
for the author. Note: A section two or three document function name is addressed
with the in the section, and with in the and remaining sections. For
interactive commands, such as the command keyword in the macro should
be used. While is nearly identical to it can not recall the first argument
it was invoked with. The default width is 10n. The macro
places option brackets around any remaining arguments on the command line,
and places any trailing punctuation outside the brackets. The macros and
(which produce an opening and a closing option bracket respectively) may
be used across one or more lines or to specify the exact position of the
closing parenthesis. Here a typical example of the
and macros: .Oo .Op Fl k Ar kilobytes .Op Fl i Ar interval .Op Fl c Ar
count .Oc Produces: The default width values of and are 14n
and 10n, respectively. The macro formats path or file names. If called
without arguments, the string is output, which represents the current
user’s home directory. The default width is 32n. The macro
replaces standard abbreviations with their formal names. Available pairs
for are: Part 1: System API
Part 2: Shell and Utilities X/Open
Miscellaneous The macro may be used whenever a
type is referenced. In the section, it causes a line break (useful for
old style variable declarations). Generic variable reference.
The default width is 12n. The macro expects the first
argument to be a manual page name. The optional second argument, if a string
(defining the manual section), is put into parentheses. The
default width is 10n.
The following values
for are possible: will be prepended to the string
The following values for are possible: For possible values
of see the description of the command above in section
For possible values of see the description of the command above in section
For possible values of see the description of the command
above in section Text may be stressed
or emphasized with the macro. The usual font for emphasis is italic.
The default width is 10n. The font mode must be ended with
the macro (the latter takes no arguments). Font modes may be nested within
other font modes. has the following syntax: must be one of the following
three types: Same as if the macro was used for the entire block of
text. Same as if the macro was used for the entire block of text. Same
as if the macro was used for the entire block of text. Both macros are
neither callable nor parsed. The concept of enclosure is similar to quoting.
The object being to enclose one or more strings between a pair of characters
like quotes or parentheses. The terms quoting and enclosure are used interchangeably
throughout this document. Most of the one-line enclosure macros end in small
letter to give a hint of quoting, but there are a few irregularities. For
each enclosure macro there is also a pair of open and close macros which
end in small letters and respectively. # XXX All macros
ending with and have a default width value of 12n. These macros expect
the first argument to be the opening and closing strings respectively.
Due to the nine-argument limit in the original troff program two other macros
have been implemented which are now rather obsolete: takes the first and
second parameter as the left and right enclosure string, which are then
used to enclose the arguments of The default width value is 12n for both
macros. The first and second arguments of this macro are the opening and
closing strings respectively, followed by the arguments to be enclosed.
The quoted literal macro behaves differently in troff and nroff mode. If
formatted with a quoted literal is always quoted. If formatted with troff,
an item is only quoted if the width of the item is less than three constant
width characters. This is to make short strings more visible where the font
change to literal (constant width) is less noticeable. The default width
is 16n. The prefix macro suppresses the whitespace between its first and
second argument: The default width is 12n. The macro (see below)
performs the analogous suffix function. The macro inserts an apostrophe
and exits any special text modes, continuing in mode. Examples of quoting:
For a good example of nested enclosure
macros, see the option macro. It was created from the same underlying enclosure
macros as those presented in the list above. The and extended argument
list macros are discussed below. The macro can be used in a macro command
line for parameters which should be formatted. Be careful to add to the
word if you really want that English word (and not the macro) as a parameter.
The default width is 12n. The macro suppresses insertion of
a space between the current position and its first parameter. For example,
it is useful for old style argument lists where there is no space between
the flag and argument: Note: The macro always invokes the macro
after eliminating the space unless another macro name follows it. If used
as a command (i.e., the second form above in the line), is identical to
The macro designates a reference to a section header within the same
document. The default width is 16n. The symbolic emphasis macro
is generally a boldface macro in either the symbolic sense or the traditional
English usage. The default width is 6n. Use this macro for mathematical
symbols and similar things. The default width is 6n. The following
macros make a modest attempt to handle references. At best, the macros make
it convenient to manually drop in a subset of style references. Reference
start (does not take arguments). Causes a line break in the section and
begins collection of reference information until the reference end macro
is read. Reference end (does not take arguments). The reference is printed.
Reference author name; one name per invocation. Book title. City/place
(not implemented yet). Date. Issuer/publisher name. Journal name. Issue
number. Optional information. Page number. Corporate or foreign author.
Report name. Title of article. Volume. Macros beginning with are not
callable but accept multiple arguments in the usual way. Only the macro
is handled properly as a parameter; other macros will cause strange output.
and can be used outside of the environment. Example: .Rs .%A "Matthew
Bar" .%A "John Foo" .%T "Implementation Notes on foobar(1)
" .%R "Technical
Report ABC-DE-12-345" .%Q "Drofnats College, Nowhere" .%D "April 1991" .Re
produces The trade name macro prints its arguments in a smaller
font. Its intended use is to imitate a small caps fonts for uppercase acronyms.
The default width is 10n. The and macros allow one to extend
an argument list on a macro boundary for the macro (see below). Note that
and are implemented similarly to all other macros opening and closing
an enclosure (without inserting characters, of course). This means that
the following is true for those macros also. Here is an example of using
the space mode macro to turn spacing off: .Sm off .It Xo Sy I Ar operation
.No \en Ar count No \en .Xc .Sm on produces Another one: .Sm
off .It Cm S No / Ar old_pattern Xo .No / Ar new_pattern .No / Op Cm g .Xc
.Sm on produces Another example of and enclosure macros:
Test the value of a variable. .It Xo .Ic .ifndef .Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar variable Oo
.Ar operator variable ... .Oc Xc produces
The following section header macros are required in every man page. The
remaining section headers are recommended at the discretion of the author
writing the manual page. The macro is parsed but not generally callable.
It can be used as an argument in a call to only; it then reactivates the
default font for The default width is 8n. The macro is mandatory. If
not specified, headers, footers and page layout defaults will not be set
and things will be rather unpleasant. The section consists of at least
three items. The first is the name macro naming the subject of the man
page. The second is the name description macro, which separates the subject
name from the third item, which is the description. The description should
be the most terse and lucid possible, as the space available is small.
first prints then all its arguments. This section is for section two
and three function calls. It should consist of a single macro call; see
The section describes the typical usage of the subject of a man page.
The macros required are either or (and possibly and The function
name macro is required for manual page sections~2 and~3; the command and
general name macro is required for sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and~8. Section~4
manuals require a or a configuration device usage macro. Several other
macros may be necessary to produce the synopsis line as shown below:
The following macros were used: In most cases the first text
in the section is a brief paragraph on the command, function or file,
followed by a lexical list of options and respective explanations. To create
such a list, the (begin list), (list item) and (end list) macros are
used (see below). Implementation specific information should be placed
here. Sections 2, 3 and~9 function return values should go here. The macro
may be used to generate text for use in the section for most section 2
and 3 library functions; see The following section headers are part
of the preferred manual page layout and must be used appropriately to maintain
consistency. They are listed in the order in which they would be used.
The section should reveal any related environment variables and clues
to their behavior and/or usage. Files which are used or created by the
man page subject should be listed via the macro in the section. There
are several ways to create examples. See the section below for details.
Diagnostic messages from a command should be placed in this section. The
macro may be used to generate text for use in the section for most section
1, 6 and~8 commands; see Known compatibility issues (e.g. deprecated options
or parameters) should be listed here. Specific error handling, especially
from library functions (man page sections 2, 3, and~9) should go here. The
macro is used to specify an error (errno). References to other material
on the man page topic and cross references to other relevant man pages
should be placed in the section. Cross references are specified using the
macro. Currently style references are not accommodated. It is recommended
that the cross references are sorted on the section number, then alphabetically
on the names within a section, and placed in that order and comma separated.
Example: If the command, library function or file adheres to a specific
implementation such as or this should be noted here. If the command does
not adhere to any standard, its history should be noted in the section.
Any command which does not adhere to any specific standards should be
outlined historically in this section. Credits should be placed here. Use
the macro for names and the macro for e-mail addresses within optional
contact information. Explicitly indicate whether the person authored the
initial manual page or the software or whatever the person is being credited
for. Blatant problems with the topic go here. User-specified sections
may be added; for example, this section was set with: .Sh "PAGE STRUCTURE
DOMAIN" Subsection headers have exactly the same syntax as section
headers: is parsed but not generally callable. It can be used as an argument
in a call to only; it then reactivates the default font for The default
width is 8n. The paragraph command may be used to specify a line
space where necessary. The macro is not necessary after a or macro or
before a or macro (which both assert a vertical distance unless the
flag is given). The macro is neither callable nor parsed and takes no arguments;
an alternative name is
The only keep that is implemented at this time is for words. The
macros are (begin keep) and (end keep). The only option that accepts
currently is (this is also the default if no option is given) which is
useful for preventing line breaks in the middle of options. In the example
for the make command line arguments (see the keep prevented from placing
up the flag and the argument on separate lines. Both macros are neither
callable nor parsed. More work needs to be done with the keep macros; specifically,
a option should be added. There are seven types of displays. (This
is D-one.) Display one line of indented text. This macro is parsed but not
callable. The above was produced by: (This is D-ell.) Display one line
of indented text. The example macro has been used throughout this file.
It allows the indentation (display) of one line of text. Its default font
is set to constant width (literal). is parsed but not callable. The above
was produced by: Begin display. The display must be ended with the
macro. It has the following syntax: Fill, but do not adjust
the right margin (only left-justify). Center lines between the current left
and right margin. Note that each single line is centered. Do not fill; display
a block of text as typed, using line breaks as specified by the user. This
can produce overlong lines without warning messages. Display a filled block.
The block of text is formatted (i.e., the text is justified on both the left
and right side). Display block with literal font (usually fixed-width). Useful
for source code or simple tabbed or spaced text. The file whose name follows
the flag is read and displayed before any data enclosed with and using
the selected display type. Any commands in the file will be processed.
If is specified with one of the following strings, the string is interpreted
to indicate the level of indentation for the forthcoming block of text:
Align block on the current left margin; this is the default mode of
Supposedly center the block. At this time unfortunately, the block merely
gets left aligned about an imaginary center margin. Indent by one default
indent value or tab. The default indent value is also used for the and
macros, so one is guaranteed the two types of displays will line up. The
indentation value is normally set to~6n or about two thirds of an inch
(six constant width characters). Indent two times the default indent value.
This aligns the block about two inches from the right side of the page.
This macro needs work and perhaps may never do the right thing within
If is a valid numeric expression instead use that value for indentation.
The most useful scale indicators are and specifying the so-called and
This is approximately the width of the letters and respectively of the
current font (for nroff output, both scale indicators give the same values).
If isn’t a numeric expression, it is tested whether it is an macro name,
and the default offset value associated with this macro is used. Finally,
if all tests fail, the width of (typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken
as the offset. Suppress insertion of vertical space before begin of display.
End display (takes no arguments). There are several types of lists
which may be initiated with the begin-list macro. Items within the list
are specified with the item macro, and each list must end with the macro.
Lists may be nested within themselves and within displays. The use of columns
inside of lists or lists inside of columns is unproven. In addition, several
list attributes may be specified such as the width of a tag, the list offset,
and compactness (blank lines between items allowed or disallowed). Most
of this document has been formatted with a tag style list It has the
following syntax forms: And now a detailed description
of the list types. A bullet list. .Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact .It
Bullet one goes here. .It Bullet two here. .El Produces: Bullet one
goes here. Bullet two here. A dash list. .Bl -dash -offset indent -compact
.It Dash one goes here. .It Dash two here. .El Produces: Dash one goes
here. Dash two here. An enumerated list. .Bl -enum -offset indent -compact
.It Item one goes here. .It And item two here. .El The result: Item one
goes here. And item two here. If you want to nest enumerated lists, use
the flag (starting with the second-level list): .Bl -enum -offset indent
-compact .It Item one goes here .Bl -enum -nested -compact .It Item two goes here.
.It And item three here. .El .It And item four here. .El Result: Item
one goes here. Item two goes here. And item three here. And item four
here. A list of type without list markers. .Bl -item -offset indent .It
Item one goes here. Item one goes here. Item one goes here. .It Item two here.
Item two here. Item two here. .El Produces: Item one goes here. Item
one goes here. Item one goes here. Item two here. Item two here. Item two
here. A list with tags. Use to specify the tag width. sleep time
of the process (seconds blocked) number of disk resulting from references
by the process to pages not loaded in core. numerical user-id of process
owner numerical id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in
non-interruptible wait) The raw text: .Bl -tag -width "PPID" -compact -offset
indent .It SL sleep time of the process (seconds blocked) .It PAGEIN number
of disk .Tn I/O Ns ’s resulting from references by the process to pages not
loaded in core. .It UID numerical user-id of process owner .It PPID numerical
id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in non-interruptible
wait) .El Diag lists create section four diagnostic lists and are similar
to inset lists except callable macros are ignored. The flag is not meaningful
in this context. Example: .Bl -diag .It You can’t use Sy here. The message
says all. .El produces The message says all. A list with hanging
tags. labels appear similar to tagged lists when the label is smaller
than the label width. blend into the paragraph unlike tagged paragraph
labels. And the unformatted text which created it: .Bl -hang -offset indent
.It Em Hanged labels appear similar to tagged lists when the label is smaller
than the label width. .It Em Longer hanged list labels blend into the paragraph
unlike tagged paragraph labels. .El Lists with overhanging tags do not
use indentation for the items; tags are written to a separate line. sleep
time of the process (seconds blocked) number of disk resulting from references
by the process to pages not loaded in core. numerical user-id of process
owner numerical id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in
non-interruptible wait) The raw text: .Bl -ohang -offset indent .It Sy
SL sleep time of the process (seconds blocked) .It Sy PAGEIN number of disk
.Tn I/O Ns ’s resulting from references by the process to pages not loaded
in core. .It Sy UID numerical user-id of process owner .It Sy PPID numerical
id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in non-interruptible
wait) .El Here is an example of inset labels: The tagged list (also
called a tagged paragraph) is the most common type of list used in the
Berkeley manuals. Use a attribute as described below. Diag lists create
section four diagnostic lists and are similar to inset lists except callable
macros are ignored. Hanged labels are a matter of taste. Overhanging labels
are nice when space is constrained. Inset labels are useful for controlling
blocks of paragraphs and are valuable for converting manuals to other
formats. Here is the source text which produced the above example: .Bl
-inset -offset indent .It Em Tag The tagged list (also called a tagged paragraph)
is the most common type of list used in the Berkeley manuals. .It Em Diag
Diag lists create section four diagnostic lists and are similar to inset
lists except callable macros are ignored. .It Em Hang Hanged labels are a
matter of taste. .It Em Ohang Overhanging labels are nice when space is constrained.
.It Em Inset Inset labels are useful for controlling blocks of paragraphs
and are valuable for converting .Nm -mdoc manuals to other formats. .El
This list type generates multiple columns. The number of columns and the
width of each column is determined by the arguments to the list, etc.
If starts with a (dot) immediately followed by a valid macro name, interpret
and use the width of the result. Otherwise, the width of (typeset with
a fixed-width font) is taken as the column width. Each argument is parsed
to make a row, each column within the row is a separate argument separated
by a tab or the macro. The table: was produced by: .Bl -column
-offset indent ".Sy String" ".Sy Nroff" ".Sy Troff" .It Sy String Ta Sy Nroff
Ta Sy Troff .It Li <= Ta <= Ta \*(<= .It Li >= Ta >= Ta \*(>= .El Don’t abuse this
list type! For more complicated cases it might be far better and easier
to use the table preprocessor. Other keywords: If starts with a
(dot) immediately followed by a valid macro name, interpret and use
the width of the result. Almost all lists in this document use this option.
Example: .Bl -tag -width ".Fl test Ao Ar string Ac" .It Fl test Ao Ar string
Ac This is a longer sentence to show how the .Fl width flag works in combination
with a tag list. .El gives: This is a longer sentence to show how the
flag works in combination with a tag list. (Note that the current state
of is saved before is interpreted; afterwards, all variables are restored
again. However, boxes (used for enclosures) can’t be saved in as a consequence,
arguments must always be to avoid nasty errors. For example, do not write
but instead if you really need only an opening angle bracket.) Otherwise,
if is a valid numeric expression use that value for indentation. The
most useful scale indicators are and specifying the so-called and This
is approximately the width of the letters and respectively of the current
font (for nroff output, both scale indicators give the same values). If
isn’t a numeric expression, it is tested whether it is an macro name,
and the default width value associated with this macro is used. Finally,
if all tests fail, the width of (typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken
as the width. If a width is not specified for the tag list type, every
time is invoked, an attempt is made to determine an appropriate width.
If the first argument to is a callable macro, the default width for that
macro will be used; otherwise, the default width of is used. If is a
default indent value (normally set to~6n, similar to the value used in
or is used. If is a valid numeric expression instead use that value
for indentation. The most useful scale indicators are and specifying the
so-called and This is approximately the width of the letters and respectively
of the current font (for nroff output, both scale indicators give the same
values). If isn’t a numeric expression, it is tested whether it is an macro
name, and the default offset value associated with this macro is used. Finally,
if all tests fail, the width of (typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken
as the offset. Suppress insertion of vertical space before the list and
between list items.
Here a list of the remaining
macros which do not fit well into one of the above sections. We couldn’t
find real examples for the following macros: and They are documented
here for completeness - if you know how to use them properly please send
a mail to (including an example). prints It is neither callable
nor parsed and takes no arguments. Don’t use this macro. It allows a
break right before the return value (usually a single digit) which is bad
typographical behaviour. Use to tie the return value to the previous word.
Use this macro to include a (header) file literally. It first prints
followed by the file name, then the contents of It is neither callable
nor parsed. To be written. Exact usage unknown. The documentation in the
source file describes it as a macro for Its default width is 6n. To
be written. Exact usage unknown. The documentation in the source file
describes it as Activate (toggle) space mode. If space mode is off,
no spaces between macro arguments are inserted. If called without a parameter
(or if the next parameter is neither nor toggles space mode. prints
It is neither callable nor parsed and takes no arguments.
The following strings are predefined: The
names of the columns and are a bit misleading; shows the representation,
while gives the best glyph form available. For example, a Unicode enabled
device will have proper glyph representations for all strings, whereas
the enhancement for a Latin1 device is only the plus-minus sign. String
names which consist of two characters can be written as string names which
consist of one character can be written as A generic syntax for a string
name of any length is (this is a extension). # #=====================================================================
#
The debugging macro available in previous versions of has
been removed since provides better facilities to check parameters; additionally,
many error and warning messages have been added to this macro package,
making it both more robust and verbose. The only remaining debugging macro
is which yields a register dump of all global registers and strings. A
normal user will never need it.
By default, the package inhibits page breaks, headers, and footers if displayed
with a device like or to make the manual more efficient for viewing
on-line. This behaviour can be changed (e.g. to create a hardcopy of the output)
by setting the register to zero while calling resulting in multiple pages
instead of a single, very long page: For double-sided printing, set register
to~1: To change the document font size to 11pt or 12pt, set register
accordingly: Register is ignored for devices. The line and title
length can be changed by setting the registers and respectively: If
not set, both registers default to 78n for TTY devices and 6.5i otherwise.
The main manual macro package. A wrapper file to call Common
strings, definitions, stuff related typographic output. Definitions used
for a output device. Definitions used for all other devices. Local additions
and customizations. Use this file if you don’t know whether the or the
package should be used. Multiple man pages (in either format) can be handled.
Section 3f has not been added to the header routines.
font should be changed in section. needs to have a check to prevent
splitting up if the line length is too short. Occasionally it separates
the last parenthesis, and sometimes looks ridiculous if a line is in fill
mode. The list and display macros do not do any keeps and certainly should
be able to.
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