man.7

   1 .\"     $Id: man.7,v 1.35 2009/08/21 12:12:12 kristaps Exp $
   2 .\"
   3 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
   4 .\"
   5 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
   6 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
   7 .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
   8 .\"
   9 .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
  10 .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
  11 .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
  12 .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
  13 .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
  14 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
  15 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
  16 .\"
  17 .Dd $Mdocdate: August 21 2009 $
  18 .Dt MAN 7
  19 .Os
  20 .
  21 .
  22 .Sh NAME
  23 .Nm man
  24 .Nd man language reference
  25 .
  26 .
  27 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  28 The
  29 .Nm man
  30 language was historically used to format
  31 .Ux
  32 manuals.  This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
  33 usage.
  34 .
  35 .Pp
  36 .Bf -emphasis
  37 Do not use
  38 .Nm
  39 to write your manuals.
  40 .Ef
  41 Use the
  42 .Xr mdoc 7
  43 language, instead.
  44 .
  45 .Pp
  46 An
  47 .Nm
  48 document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control
  49 character
  50 .Sq \&.
  51 are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
  52 prior macros:
  53 .Bd -literal -offset indent
  54 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
  55 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
  56 .Ed
  57 .
  58 .
  59 .Sh INPUT ENCODING
  60 .Nm
  61 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
  62 space character, and the tabs character.  All manuals must have
  63 .Ux
  64 line termination.
  65 .
  66 .Pp
  67 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
  68 vertical space.
  69 .
  70 .Pp
  71 The
  72 .Sq \ec
  73 escape is common in historical
  74 .Nm
  75 documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the
  76 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.
  77 .
  78 .
  79 .Ss Comments
  80 Text following a
  81 .Sq \e\*" ,
  82 whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
  83 line.  A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
  84 .Sq \&.\e" ,
  85 is also ignored.  Macro lines with only a control charater and
  86 optionally whitespace are stripped from input.
  87 .
  88 .
  89 .Ss Special Characters
  90 Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
  91 Sequences begin with the escape character
  92 .Sq \e
  93 followed by either an open-parenthesis
  94 .Sq \&(
  95 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
  96 .Sq \&[
  97 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
  98 .Sq \&] ) ;
  99 or a single one-character sequence.  See
 100 .Xr mandoc_char 7
 101 for a complete list.  Examples include
 102 .Sq \e(em
 103 .Pq em-dash
 104 and
 105 .Sq \ee
 106 .Pq back-slash .
 107 .
 108 .
 109 .Ss Text Decoration
 110 Terms may be text-decorated using the
 111 .Sq \ef
 112 escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R
 113 (Roman, or reset).
 114 .
 115 .
 116 .Ss Whitespace
 117 Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned
 118 from input.  These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end
 119 utility such as
 120 .Xr mandoc 1 .
 121 .
 122 .
 123 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
 124 Each
 125 .Nm
 126 document must contain contains at least the
 127 .Sq TH
 128 macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur
 129 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
 130 first macro.
 131 .
 132 .Pp
 133 Beyond
 134 .Sq TH ,
 135 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  Documents
 136 are generally structured as follows:
 137 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 138 \&.TH FOO 1 "13 Aug 2009"
 139 \&.
 140 \&.SH NAME
 141 \efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here
 142 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.
 143 \&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY
 144 \&.
 145 \&.SH SYNOPSIS
 146 \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...
 147 \&.
 148 \&.SH DESCRIPTION
 149 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...
 150 \&.
 151 \&.\e\*q .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 152 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.
 153 \&.\e\*q .SH EXIT STATUS
 154 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
 155 \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES
 156 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
 157 \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT
 158 \&.\e\*q .SH FILES
 159 \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES
 160 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
 161 \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 162 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
 163 \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS
 164 \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO
 165 \&.\e\*q \efBbar\efR(1)
 166 \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS
 167 \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY
 168 \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS
 169 \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS
 170 \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS
 171 \&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
 172 .Ed
 173 .
 174 .
 175 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
 176 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
 177 control character ,
 178 .Sq \&. ,
 179 at the beginning of the line.  An arbitrary amount of whitespace may
 180 sit between the control character and the macro name.  Thus,
 181 .Sq .PP
 182 and
 183 .Sq \&.\ \ \ PP
 184 are equivalent.
 185 .
 186 .Pp
 187 The
 188 .Nm
 189 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line
 190 macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations,
 191 the subsequent line).  Block macros are scoped to the current line and
 192 subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.
 193 .
 194 .
 195 .Ss Line Macros
 196 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
 197 consisting of zero or more arguments.  If a macro is scoped to the next
 198 line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,
 199 else the general syntax is used.  Thus:
 200 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 201 \&.I
 202 foo
 203 .Ed
 204 .
 205 .Pp
 206 is equivalent to
 207 .Sq \&.I foo .
 208 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
 209 If a next-line macro is proceded by a block macro, it is ignored.
 210 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 211 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
 212 \(lBbody...\(rB
 213 .Ed
 214 .
 215 .Pp
 216 .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"
 217 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope
 218 .It    B     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 219 .It    BI    Ta    n         Ta    current
 220 .It    BR    Ta    n         Ta    current
 221 .It    DT    Ta    0         Ta    current
 222 .It    I     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 223 .It    IB    Ta    n         Ta    current
 224 .It    IR    Ta    n         Ta    current
 225 .It    R     Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 226 .It    RB    Ta    n         Ta    current
 227 .It    RI    Ta    n         Ta    current
 228 .It    SB    Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 229 .It    SM    Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 230 .It    TH    Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current
 231 .It    br    Ta    0         Ta    current
 232 .It    fi    Ta    0         Ta    current
 233 .It    i     Ta    n         Ta    current
 234 .It    na    Ta    0         Ta    current
 235 .It    nf    Ta    0         Ta    current
 236 .It    r     Ta    0         Ta    current
 237 .It    sp    Ta    1         Ta    current
 238 .El
 239 .
 240 .Pp
 241 The
 242 .Sq RS ,
 243 .Sq RE ,
 244 .Sq br ,
 245 .Sq fi ,
 246 .Sq i ,
 247 .Sq na ,
 248 .Sq nf ,
 249 .Sq r ,
 250 and
 251 .Sq sp
 252 macros aren't historically part of
 253 .Nm
 254 and should not be used.  They're included for compatibility.
 255 .
 256 .
 257 .Ss Block Macros
 258 Block macros are comprised of a head and body.  Like for in-line macros,
 259 the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the
 260 next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a
 261 subsequent block macro invocation.
 262 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 263 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
 264 \(lBhead...\(rB
 265 \(lBbody...\(rB
 266 .Ed
 267 .
 268 .Pp
 269 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
 270 by
 271 .Sq SH ;
 272 sub-section, closed by a section or
 273 .Sq SS ;
 274 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or
 275 .Sq RE ;
 276 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,
 277 .Sq HP ,
 278 .Sq IP ,
 279 .Sq LP ,
 280 .Sq P ,
 281 .Sq PP ,
 282 or
 283 .Sq TP .
 284 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
 285 .
 286 .Pp
 287 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent
 288 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope
 289 .It   HP     Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 290 .It   IP     Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 291 .It   LP     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 292 .It   P      Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 293 .It   PP     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 294 .It   RE     Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none
 295 .It   RS     Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part
 296 .It   SH     Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section
 297 .It   SS     Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section
 298 .It   TP     Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph
 299 .El
 300 .
 301 .Pp
 302 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
 303 macros (excluding
 304 .Sq DT ,
 305 .Sq TH ,
 306 .Sq br ,
 307 .Sq na ,
 308 .Sq sp ,
 309 .Sq nf ,
 310 and
 311 .Sq fi ) .
 312 .
 313 .
 314 .Sh REFERENCE
 315 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 316 alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see
 317 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
 318 .
 319 .
 320 .Ss Definitions
 321 In this reference, a numerical width may be either a standalone natural
 322 number (such as 3, 4, 10, etc.) or a natural number followed by a width
 323 multiplier
 324 .Qq n ,
 325 corresponding to the width of the formatted letter n, or
 326 .Qq m ,
 327 corresponding to the width of the formatted letter m.  The latter is the
 328 default, if unspecified.  Thus,
 329 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 330 \&.HP 12n
 331 .Ed
 332 .
 333 .Pp
 334 indicates an offset of 12
 335 .Qq n
 336 .Ns -sized
 337 letters.
 338 .
 339 .
 340 .Ss Macro Reference
 341 .Bl -tag -width Ds
 342 .It B
 343 Text is rendered in bold face.
 344 .It BI
 345 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus,
 346 .Sq .BI this word and that
 347 causes
 348 .Sq this
 349 and
 350 .Sq and
 351 to render in bold face, while
 352 .Sq word
 353 and
 354 .Sq that
 355 render in italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 356 .It BR
 357 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
 358 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 359 .It DT
 360 Re-set the tab spacing to 0.5 inches.
 361 .It HP
 362 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
 363 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 364 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 365 \&.HP [width]
 366 .Ed
 367 .
 368 .Pp
 369 If
 370 .Va width
 371 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 372 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 373 .It I
 374 Text is rendered in italics.
 375 .It IB
 376 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace
 377 between arguments is omitted in output.
 378 .It IP
 379 Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:
 380 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 381 \&.IP [head [width]]
 382 .Ed
 383 .
 384 .Pp
 385 This follows the behaviour of the
 386 .Sq TP
 387 except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of
 388 having next-line scope).  If
 389 .Va width
 390 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 391 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 392 .It IR
 393 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 394 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 395 .It LP, P, PP
 396 Begin an undecorated paragraph.  The scope of a paragraph is closed by a
 397 subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file.  The saved
 398 paragraph left-margin width is re-set to the default.
 399 .It R
 400 Text is rendered in roman (the default font).
 401 .It RB
 402 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
 403 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 404 .It RE
 405 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
 406 .Sq RS .
 407 .It RI
 408 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
 409 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 410 .It RS
 411 Begin a part setting the left margin.  The left margin controls the
 412 offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as
 413 that of
 414 .Sq PP .
 415 The width may be specified as following:
 416 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 417 \&.RS [width]
 418 .Ed
 419 .
 420 .Pp
 421 If
 422 .Va width
 423 is not specified, the saved or default width is used.
 424 .It SB
 425 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
 426 bold face.
 427 .It SH
 428 Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another
 429 section or the end of file.  The paragraph left-margin width is re-set
 430 to the default.
 431 .It SM
 432 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
 433 font).
 434 .It SS
 435 Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a
 436 subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.  The paragraph
 437 left-margin width is re-set to the default.
 438 .It TH
 439 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:
 440 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 441 \&.TH title section [date [source [volume]]]
 442 .Ed
 443 .
 444 .Pp
 445 At least the
 446 .Va title
 447 and
 448 .Va section
 449 arguments must be provided.  The
 450 .Va date
 451 argument should be formatted as
 452 .Qq %b [%d] %Y
 453 format, described in
 454 .Xr strptime 3 .
 455 The
 456 .Va source
 457 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  The
 458 .Va volume
 459 replaces the default rendered volume as dictated by the manual section.
 460 .It TP
 461 Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
 462 followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a
 463 buffer to the indentation width.  Subsequent output lines are indented.
 464 .
 465 .Pp
 466 The indentation width may be set as follows:
 467 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 468 \&.TP [width]
 469 .Ed
 470 .
 471 .Pp
 472 Where
 473 .Va width
 474 must be a properly-formed numeric width.  If
 475 .Va width
 476 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 477 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 478 .It br
 479 Breaks the current line.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
 480 .It fi
 481 End literal mode begun by
 482 .Sq nf .
 483 .It i
 484 Italicise arguments.  If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text
 485 is italicised.
 486 .It na
 487 Don't alignment the right margin.
 488 .It nf
 489 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of
 490 line boundaries preserved.  May be ended by
 491 .Sq fi .
 492 .It r
 493 Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).
 494 .It sp
 495 Insert n spaces, where n is the macro's positive numeric argument.  If
 496 0, this is equivalent to the
 497 .Sq br
 498 macro.
 499 .El
 500 .
 501 .
 502 .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 503 This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at
 504 this time limited to
 505 .Xr groff 1 .
 506 .Bl -hyphen
 507 .It
 508 In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a
 509 standalone double-quote in formatted output.  This idiosyncratic
 510 behaviour is no longer applicable.
 511 .It
 512 The
 513 .Sq sp
 514 macro does not accept negative numbers.
 515 .It
 516 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text
 517 lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace
 518 in free-form text lines.
 519 .El
 520 .
 521 .
 522 .Sh SEE ALSO
 523 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 524 .Xr mandoc_char 7
 525 .
 526 .
 527 .Sh AUTHORS
 528 The
 529 .Nm
 530 reference was written by
 531 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
 532 .
 533 .
 534 .Sh CAVEATS
 535 Do not use this language.  Use
 536 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 537 instead.
 538 .