man.7

   1 .\"     $Id: man.7,v 1.138 2018/08/16 23:43:37 schwarze Exp $
   2 .\"
   3 .\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
   4 .\" Copyright (c) 2011-2015 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
   5 .\" Copyright (c) 2010 Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@netbsd.org>
   6 .\"
   7 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
   8 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
   9 .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
  10 .\"
  11 .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
  12 .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
  13 .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
  14 .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
  15 .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
  16 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
  17 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
  18 .\"
  19 .Dd $Mdocdate: August 16 2018 $
  20 .Dt MAN 7
  21 .Os
  22 .Sh NAME
  23 .Nm man
  24 .Nd legacy formatting language for manual pages
  25 .Sh DESCRIPTION
  26 Traditionally, the
  27 .Nm man
  28 language has been used to write
  29 .Ux
  30 manuals for the
  31 .Xr man 1
  32 utility.
  33 It supports limited control of presentational details like fonts,
  34 indentation and spacing.
  35 This reference document describes the structure of manual pages
  36 and the syntax and usage of the man language.
  37 .Pp
  38 .Bf -emphasis
  39 Do not use
  40 .Nm
  41 to write your manuals:
  42 .Ef
  43 It lacks support for semantic markup.
  44 Use the
  45 .Xr mdoc 7
  46 language, instead.
  47 .Pp
  48 In a
  49 .Nm
  50 document, lines beginning with the control character
  51 .Sq \&.
  52 are called
  53 .Dq macro lines .
  54 The first word is the macro name.
  55 It usually consists of two capital letters.
  56 For a list of available macros, see
  57 .Sx MACRO OVERVIEW .
  58 The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro.
  59 .Pp
  60 Lines not beginning with the control character are called
  61 .Dq text lines .
  62 They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
  63 depends on the respective processing context:
  64 .Bd -literal -offset indent
  65 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
  66 Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
  67 .Ed
  68 .Pp
  69 Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
  70 .Nm
  71 language are based on the
  72 .Xr roff 7
  73 language; see the
  74 .Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX
  75 and
  76 .Em MACRO SYNTAX
  77 sections in the
  78 .Xr roff 7
  79 manual for details, in particular regarding
  80 comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
  81 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
  82 Each
  83 .Nm
  84 document must contain the
  85 .Sx \&TH
  86 macro describing the document's section and title.
  87 It may occur anywhere in the document, although conventionally it
  88 appears as the first macro.
  89 .Pp
  90 Beyond
  91 .Sx \&TH ,
  92 at least one macro or text line must appear in the document.
  93 .Pp
  94 The following is a well-formed skeleton
  95 .Nm
  96 file for a utility
  97 .Qq progname :
  98 .Bd -literal -offset indent
  99 \&.TH PROGNAME 1 2009-10-10
 100 \&.SH NAME
 101 \efBprogname\efR \e(en one line about what it does
 102 \&.\e\(dq .SH LIBRARY
 103 \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 only.
 104 \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 105 \&.SH SYNOPSIS
 106 \efBprogname\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] \efIfile ...\efR
 107 \&.SH DESCRIPTION
 108 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files ...
 109 \&.\e\(dq .Sh CONTEXT
 110 \&.\e\(dq For section 9 functions only.
 111 \&.\e\(dq .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 112 \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 113 \&.\e\(dq .SH RETURN VALUES
 114 \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 function return values only.
 115 \&.\e\(dq .SH ENVIRONMENT
 116 \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only.
 117 \&.\e\(dq .SH FILES
 118 \&.\e\(dq .SH EXIT STATUS
 119 \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, and 8 only.
 120 \&.\e\(dq .SH EXAMPLES
 121 \&.\e\(dq .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 122 \&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 printf/stderr messages only.
 123 \&.\e\(dq .SH ERRORS
 124 \&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 errno settings only.
 125 \&.\e\(dq .SH SEE ALSO
 126 \&.\e\(dq .BR foobar ( 1 )
 127 \&.\e\(dq .SH STANDARDS
 128 \&.\e\(dq .SH HISTORY
 129 \&.\e\(dq .SH AUTHORS
 130 \&.\e\(dq .SH CAVEATS
 131 \&.\e\(dq .SH BUGS
 132 \&.\e\(dq .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
 133 \&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
 134 .Ed
 135 .Pp
 136 The sections in a
 137 .Nm
 138 document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.
 139 Sections should be composed as follows:
 140 .Bl -ohang -offset indent
 141 .It Em NAME
 142 The name(s) and a short description of the documented material.
 143 The syntax for this is generally as follows:
 144 .Pp
 145 .D1 \efBname\efR \e(en description
 146 .It Em LIBRARY
 147 The name of the library containing the documented material, which is
 148 assumed to be a function in a section 2 or 3 manual.
 149 For functions in the C library, this may be as follows:
 150 .Pp
 151 .D1 Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
 152 .It Em SYNOPSIS
 153 Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device
 154 configuration.
 155 .Pp
 156 For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
 157 generally structured as follows:
 158 .Pp
 159 .D1 \efBname\efR [-\efBab\efR] [-\efBc\efR\efIarg\efR] \efBpath\efR...
 160 .Pp
 161 For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
 162 .Pp
 163 .D1 \&.B char *name(char *\efIarg\efR);
 164 .Pp
 165 And for the third, configurations (section 4):
 166 .Pp
 167 .D1 \&.B name* at cardbus ? function ?
 168 .Pp
 169 Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a
 170 .Em SYNOPSIS .
 171 .It Em DESCRIPTION
 172 This expands upon the brief, one-line description in
 173 .Em NAME .
 174 It usually contains a break-down of the options (if documenting a
 175 command).
 176 .It Em CONTEXT
 177 This section lists the contexts in which functions can be called in section 9.
 178 The contexts are autoconf, process, or interrupt.
 179 .It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 180 Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
 181 This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
 182 effects or notable algorithmic implications.
 183 .It Em RETURN VALUES
 184 This section documents the return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.
 185 .It Em ENVIRONMENT
 186 Documents any usages of environment variables, e.g.,
 187 .Xr environ 7 .
 188 .It Em FILES
 189 Documents files used.
 190 It's helpful to document both the file name and a short description of how
 191 the file is used (created, modified, etc.).
 192 .It Em EXIT STATUS
 193 This section documents the command exit status for
 194 section 1, 6, and 8 utilities.
 195 Historically, this information was described in
 196 .Em DIAGNOSTICS ,
 197 a practise that is now discouraged.
 198 .It Em EXAMPLES
 199 Example usages.
 200 This often contains snippets of well-formed,
 201 well-tested invocations.
 202 Make sure that examples work properly!
 203 .It Em DIAGNOSTICS
 204 Documents error conditions.
 205 In section 4 and 9 manuals, these are usually messages
 206 printed by the kernel to the console and to the kernel log.
 207 In section 1, 6, 7, and 8, these are usually messages
 208 printed by userland programs to the standard error output.
 209 .Pp
 210 Historically, this section was used in place of
 211 .Em EXIT STATUS
 212 for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
 213 discouraged.
 214 .It Em ERRORS
 215 Documents
 216 .Xr errno 2
 217 settings in sections 2, 3, 4, and 9.
 218 .It Em SEE ALSO
 219 References other manuals with related topics.
 220 This section should exist for most manuals.
 221 .Pp
 222 .D1 \&.BR bar \&( 1 \&),
 223 .Pp
 224 Cross-references should conventionally be ordered
 225 first by section, then alphabetically.
 226 .It Em STANDARDS
 227 References any standards implemented or used, such as
 228 .Pp
 229 .D1 IEEE Std 1003.2 (\e(lqPOSIX.2\e(rq)
 230 .Pp
 231 If not adhering to any standards, the
 232 .Em HISTORY
 233 section should be used.
 234 .It Em HISTORY
 235 A brief history of the subject, including where support first appeared.
 236 .It Em AUTHORS
 237 Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.
 238 Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.
 239 .It Em CAVEATS
 240 Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained
 241 in this section.
 242 .It Em BUGS
 243 Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described
 244 in this section.
 245 .It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
 246 Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
 247 .El
 248 .Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
 249 This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
 250 together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose.
 251 Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found
 252 in the alphabetical reference below.
 253 .Ss Page header and footer meta-data
 254 .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
 255 .It Sx TH Ta set the title: Ar title section date Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 256 .It Sx AT Ta display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
 257 .It Sx UC Ta display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
 258 .El
 259 .Ss Sections and paragraphs
 260 .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
 261 .It Sx SH Ta section header (one line)
 262 .It Sx SS Ta subsection header (one line)
 263 .It Sx PP , LP , P Ta start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
 264 .It Sx RS , RE Ta reset the left margin: Op Ar width
 265 .It Sx IP Ta indented paragraph: Op Ar head Op Ar width
 266 .It Sx TP Ta tagged paragraph: Op Ar width
 267 .It Sx HP Ta hanged paragraph: Op Ar width
 268 .It Sx PD Ta set vertical paragraph distance: Op Ar height
 269 .It Sx fi , nf Ta fill mode and no-fill mode (no arguments)
 270 .It Sx in Ta additional indent: Op Ar width
 271 .El
 272 .Ss Physical markup
 273 .Bl -column "PP, LP, P" description
 274 .It Sx B Ta boldface font
 275 .It Sx I Ta italic font
 276 .It Sx SB Ta small boldface font
 277 .It Sx SM Ta small roman font
 278 .It Sx BI Ta alternate between boldface and italic fonts
 279 .It Sx BR Ta alternate between boldface and roman fonts
 280 .It Sx IB Ta alternate between italic and boldface fonts
 281 .It Sx IR Ta alternate between italic and roman fonts
 282 .It Sx RB Ta alternate between roman and boldface fonts
 283 .It Sx RI Ta alternate between roman and italic fonts
 284 .El
 285 .Sh MACRO REFERENCE
 286 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 287 alphabetically.
 288 For the scoping of individual macros, see
 289 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
 290 .Ss \&AT
 291 Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 292 .At
 293 releases.
 294 The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
 295 .Ss \&B
 296 Text is rendered in bold face.
 297 .Pp
 298 See also
 299 .Sx \&I .
 300 .Ss \&BI
 301 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.
 302 Thus,
 303 .Sq .BI this word and that
 304 causes
 305 .Sq this
 306 and
 307 .Sq and
 308 to render in bold face, while
 309 .Sq word
 310 and
 311 .Sq that
 312 render in italics.
 313 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 314 .Pp
 315 Examples:
 316 .Pp
 317 .Dl \&.BI bold italic bold italic
 318 .Pp
 319 The output of this example will be emboldened
 320 .Dq bold
 321 and italicised
 322 .Dq italic ,
 323 with spaces stripped between arguments.
 324 .Pp
 325 See also
 326 .Sx \&IB ,
 327 .Sx \&BR ,
 328 .Sx \&RB ,
 329 .Sx \&RI ,
 330 and
 331 .Sx \&IR .
 332 .Ss \&BR
 333 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
 334 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 335 .Pp
 336 See
 337 .Sx \&BI
 338 for an equivalent example.
 339 .Pp
 340 See also
 341 .Sx \&BI ,
 342 .Sx \&IB ,
 343 .Sx \&RB ,
 344 .Sx \&RI ,
 345 and
 346 .Sx \&IR .
 347 .Ss \&DT
 348 Restore the default tabulator positions.
 349 They are at intervals of 0.5 inches.
 350 This has no effect unless the tabulator positions were changed with the
 351 .Xr roff 7
 352 .Ic \&ta
 353 request.
 354 .Ss \&EE
 355 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 356 In
 357 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 358 it does the same as
 359 .Sx \&fi .
 360 .Ss \&EX
 361 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 362 In
 363 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 364 it does the same as
 365 .Sx \&nf .
 366 .Ss \&HP
 367 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
 368 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 369 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 370 .Pf \. Sx \&HP
 371 .Op Ar width
 372 .Ed
 373 .Pp
 374 The
 375 .Ar width
 376 argument is a
 377 .Xr roff 7
 378 scaling width.
 379 If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the
 380 saved or default width is used.
 381 .Pp
 382 See also
 383 .Sx \&IP ,
 384 .Sx \&LP ,
 385 .Sx \&P ,
 386 .Sx \&PP ,
 387 and
 388 .Sx \&TP .
 389 .Ss \&I
 390 Text is rendered in italics.
 391 .Pp
 392 See also
 393 .Sx \&B .
 394 .Ss \&IB
 395 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.
 396 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 397 .Pp
 398 See
 399 .Sx \&BI
 400 for an equivalent example.
 401 .Pp
 402 See also
 403 .Sx \&BI ,
 404 .Sx \&BR ,
 405 .Sx \&RB ,
 406 .Sx \&RI ,
 407 and
 408 .Sx \&IR .
 409 .Ss \&IP
 410 Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
 411 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 412 .Pf \. Sx \&IP
 413 .Op Ar head Op Ar width
 414 .Ed
 415 .Pp
 416 The
 417 .Ar width
 418 argument is a
 419 .Xr roff 7
 420 scaling width defining the left margin.
 421 It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
 422 default width is used.
 423 .Pp
 424 The
 425 .Ar head
 426 argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.
 427 This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
 428 .Pp
 429 See also
 430 .Sx \&HP ,
 431 .Sx \&LP ,
 432 .Sx \&P ,
 433 .Sx \&PP ,
 434 and
 435 .Sx \&TP .
 436 .Ss \&IR
 437 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 438 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 439 .Pp
 440 See
 441 .Sx \&BI
 442 for an equivalent example.
 443 .Pp
 444 See also
 445 .Sx \&BI ,
 446 .Sx \&IB ,
 447 .Sx \&BR ,
 448 .Sx \&RB ,
 449 and
 450 .Sx \&RI .
 451 .Ss \&LP
 452 Begin an undecorated paragraph.
 453 The scope of a paragraph is closed by a subsequent paragraph,
 454 sub-section, section, or end of file.
 455 The saved paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
 456 .Pp
 457 See also
 458 .Sx \&HP ,
 459 .Sx \&IP ,
 460 .Sx \&P ,
 461 .Sx \&PP ,
 462 and
 463 .Sx \&TP .
 464 .Ss \&ME
 465 End a mailto block.
 466 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 467 See
 468 .Sx \&MT .
 469 .Ss \&MT
 470 Begin a mailto block.
 471 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 472 It has the following syntax:
 473 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 474 .Pf \. Sx \&MT Ar address
 475 link description to be shown
 476 .Pf \. Sx ME
 477 .Ed
 478 .Ss \&OP
 479 Optional command-line argument.
 480 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 481 It has the following syntax:
 482 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 483 .Pf \. Sx \&OP
 484 .Ar key Op Ar value
 485 .Ed
 486 .Pp
 487 The
 488 .Ar key
 489 is usually a command-line flag and
 490 .Ar value
 491 its argument.
 492 .Ss \&P
 493 Synonym for
 494 .Sx \&LP .
 495 .Pp
 496 See also
 497 .Sx \&HP ,
 498 .Sx \&IP ,
 499 .Sx \&LP ,
 500 .Sx \&PP ,
 501 and
 502 .Sx \&TP .
 503 .Ss \&PD
 504 Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new paragraph.
 505 .br
 506 The syntax is as follows:
 507 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 508 .Pf \. Sx \&PD
 509 .Op Ar height
 510 .Ed
 511 .Pp
 512 The
 513 .Ar height
 514 argument is a
 515 .Xr roff 7
 516 scaling width.
 517 It defaults to
 518 .Cm 1v .
 519 If the unit is omitted,
 520 .Cm v
 521 is assumed.
 522 .Pp
 523 This macro affects the spacing before any subsequent instances of
 524 .Sx \&HP ,
 525 .Sx \&IP ,
 526 .Sx \&LP ,
 527 .Sx \&P ,
 528 .Sx \&PP ,
 529 .Sx \&SH ,
 530 .Sx \&SS ,
 531 and
 532 .Sx \&TP .
 533 .Ss \&PP
 534 Synonym for
 535 .Sx \&LP .
 536 .Pp
 537 See also
 538 .Sx \&HP ,
 539 .Sx \&IP ,
 540 .Sx \&LP ,
 541 .Sx \&P ,
 542 and
 543 .Sx \&TP .
 544 .Ss \&RB
 545 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
 546 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 547 .Pp
 548 See
 549 .Sx \&BI
 550 for an equivalent example.
 551 .Pp
 552 See also
 553 .Sx \&BI ,
 554 .Sx \&IB ,
 555 .Sx \&BR ,
 556 .Sx \&RI ,
 557 and
 558 .Sx \&IR .
 559 .Ss \&RE
 560 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
 561 .Sx \&RS .
 562 The default left margin is restored to the state before that
 563 .Sx \&RS
 564 invocation.
 565 .Pp
 566 The syntax is as follows:
 567 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 568 .Pf \. Sx \&RE
 569 .Op Ar level
 570 .Ed
 571 .Pp
 572 Without an argument, the most recent
 573 .Sx \&RS
 574 block is closed out.
 575 If
 576 .Ar level
 577 is 1, all open
 578 .Sx \&RS
 579 blocks are closed out.
 580 Otherwise,
 581 .Ar level No \(mi 1
 582 nested
 583 .Sx \&RS
 584 blocks remain open.
 585 .Ss \&RI
 586 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
 587 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 588 .Pp
 589 See
 590 .Sx \&BI
 591 for an equivalent example.
 592 .Pp
 593 See also
 594 .Sx \&BI ,
 595 .Sx \&IB ,
 596 .Sx \&BR ,
 597 .Sx \&RB ,
 598 and
 599 .Sx \&IR .
 600 .Ss \&RS
 601 Temporarily reset the default left margin.
 602 This has the following syntax:
 603 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 604 .Pf \. Sx \&RS
 605 .Op Ar width
 606 .Ed
 607 .Pp
 608 The
 609 .Ar width
 610 argument is a
 611 .Xr roff 7
 612 scaling width.
 613 If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
 614 .Pp
 615 See also
 616 .Sx \&RE .
 617 .Ss \&SB
 618 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
 619 bold face.
 620 .Ss \&SH
 621 Begin a section.
 622 The scope of a section is only closed by another section or the end of
 623 file.
 624 The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
 625 .Ss \&SM
 626 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
 627 font).
 628 .Ss \&SS
 629 Begin a sub-section.
 630 The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent sub-section,
 631 section, or end of file.
 632 The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
 633 .Ss \&TH
 634 Sets the title of the manual page for use in the page header
 635 and footer with the following syntax:
 636 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 637 .Pf \. Sx \&TH
 638 .Ar title section date
 639 .Op Ar source Op Ar volume
 640 .Ed
 641 .Pp
 642 Conventionally, the document
 643 .Ar title
 644 is given in all caps.
 645 The recommended
 646 .Ar date
 647 format is
 648 .Sy YYYY-MM-DD
 649 as specified in the ISO-8601 standard;
 650 if the argument does not conform, it is printed verbatim.
 651 If the
 652 .Ar date
 653 is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
 654 The optional
 655 .Ar source
 656 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
 657 When unspecified,
 658 .Xr mandoc 1
 659 uses its
 660 .Fl Ios
 661 argument.
 662 The
 663 .Ar volume
 664 string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the
 665 manual section.
 666 .Pp
 667 Examples:
 668 .Pp
 669 .Dl \&.TH CVS 5 "1992-02-12" GNU
 670 .Ss \&TP
 671 Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
 672 followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a
 673 buffer to the indentation width.
 674 Subsequent output lines are indented.
 675 The syntax is as follows:
 676 .Bd -filled -offset indent
 677 .Pf \. Sx \&TP
 678 .Op Ar width
 679 .Ed
 680 .Pp
 681 The
 682 .Ar width
 683 argument is a
 684 .Xr roff 7
 685 scaling width.
 686 If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 687 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 688 .Pp
 689 See also
 690 .Sx \&HP ,
 691 .Sx \&IP ,
 692 .Sx \&LP ,
 693 .Sx \&P ,
 694 and
 695 .Sx \&PP .
 696 .Ss \&TQ
 697 Like
 698 .Sx \&TP ,
 699 except that no vertical spacing is inserted before the paragraph.
 700 This is a non-standard GNU extension and rarely used even by GNU
 701 manual pages.
 702 .Ss \&UC
 703 Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
 704 .Bx
 705 releases.
 706 The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
 707 .Ss \&UE
 708 End a uniform resource identifier block.
 709 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 710 See
 711 .Sx \&UE .
 712 .Ss \&UR
 713 Begin a uniform resource identifier block.
 714 This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility.
 715 It has the following syntax:
 716 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 717 .Pf \. Sx \&UR Ar uri
 718 link description to be shown
 719 .Pf \. Sx UE
 720 .Ed
 721 .Ss \&fi
 722 End literal mode begun by
 723 .Sx \&nf .
 724 .Ss \&in
 725 Indent relative to the current indentation:
 726 .Pp
 727 .D1 Pf \. Sx \&in Op Ar width
 728 .Pp
 729 If
 730 .Ar width
 731 is signed, the new offset is relative.
 732 Otherwise, it is absolute.
 733 This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.
 734 .Ss \&nf
 735 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of
 736 line boundaries preserved.
 737 May be ended by
 738 .Sx \&fi .
 739 Literal mode is implicitly ended by
 740 .Sx \&SH
 741 or
 742 .Sx \&SS .
 743 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
 744 The
 745 .Nm
 746 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.
 747 Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some
 748 situations, the subsequent line).
 749 Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until
 750 closed by another block macro.
 751 .Ss Line Macros
 752 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
 753 consisting of zero or more arguments.
 754 If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,
 755 the next line, which must be text, is used instead.
 756 Thus:
 757 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 758 \&.I
 759 foo
 760 .Ed
 761 .Pp
 762 is equivalent to
 763 .Sq \&.I foo .
 764 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
 765 If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is
 766 raised.
 767 .Pp
 768 The syntax is as follows:
 769 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 770 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
 771 \(lBbody...\(rB
 772 .Ed
 773 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX" "CompatX" -offset indent
 774 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope     Ta Em Notes
 775 .It Sx \&AT  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
 776 .It Sx \&B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 777 .It Sx \&BI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 778 .It Sx \&BR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 779 .It Sx \&DT  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 780 .It Sx \&EE  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
 781 .It Sx \&EX  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
 782 .It Sx \&I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 783 .It Sx \&IB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 784 .It Sx \&IR  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 785 .It Sx \&OP  Ta    0, 1      Ta    current   Ta    compat
 786 .It Sx \&PD  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 787 .It Sx \&RB  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 788 .It Sx \&RI  Ta    n         Ta    current   Ta    \&
 789 .It Sx \&SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 790 .It Sx \&SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line Ta    \&
 791 .It Sx \&TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current   Ta    \&
 792 .It Sx \&UC  Ta    <=1       Ta    current   Ta    \&
 793 .It Sx \&fi  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
 794 .It Sx \&in  Ta    1         Ta    current   Ta    compat
 795 .It Sx \&nf  Ta    0         Ta    current   Ta    compat
 796 .El
 797 .Pp
 798 Macros marked as
 799 .Qq compat
 800 are included for compatibility with the significant corpus of existing
 801 manuals that mix dialects of roff.
 802 These macros should not be used for portable
 803 .Nm
 804 manuals.
 805 .Ss Block Macros
 806 Block macros comprise a head and body.
 807 As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in
 808 one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in
 809 .Sx Line Macros
 810 apply here as well).
 811 .Pp
 812 The syntax is as follows:
 813 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 814 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
 815 \(lBhead...\(rB
 816 \(lBbody...\(rB
 817 .Ed
 818 .Pp
 819 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
 820 by
 821 .Sx \&SH ;
 822 sub-section, closed by a section or
 823 .Sx \&SS ;
 824 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or
 825 .Sx \&RE ;
 826 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,
 827 .Sx \&HP ,
 828 .Sx \&IP ,
 829 .Sx \&LP ,
 830 .Sx \&P ,
 831 .Sx \&PP ,
 832 or
 833 .Sx \&TP .
 834 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
 835 .Pp
 836 As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
 837 while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
 838 implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
 839 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" "compatX" -offset indent
 840 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope  Ta Em Notes
 841 .It Sx \&HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 842 .It Sx \&IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 843 .It Sx \&LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 844 .It Sx \&P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 845 .It Sx \&PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 846 .It Sx \&RE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    compat
 847 .It Sx \&RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    compat
 848 .It Sx \&SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section     Ta    \&
 849 .It Sx \&SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section Ta    \&
 850 .It Sx \&TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph   Ta    \&
 851 .It Sx \&UE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none        Ta    compat
 852 .It Sx \&UR  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part        Ta    compat
 853 .El
 854 .Pp
 855 Macros marked
 856 .Qq compat
 857 are as mentioned in
 858 .Sx Line Macros .
 859 .Pp
 860 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
 861 macros for decorating text.
 862 .Ss Font handling
 863 In
 864 .Nm
 865 documents, both
 866 .Sx Physical markup
 867 macros and
 868 .Xr roff 7
 869 .Ql \ef
 870 font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.
 871 In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by escape sequences
 872 only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts
 873 until the end of the macro scope.
 874 Note that macros like
 875 .Sx \&BR
 876 open and close a font scope for each argument.
 877 .Sh SEE ALSO
 878 .Xr man 1 ,
 879 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 880 .Xr eqn 7 ,
 881 .Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
 882 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 883 .Xr roff 7 ,
 884 .Xr tbl 7
 885 .Sh HISTORY
 886 The
 887 .Nm
 888 language first appeared as a macro package for the roff typesetting
 889 system in
 890 .At v7 .
 891 It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro package for groff.
 892 Eric S. Raymond wrote the extended
 893 .Nm
 894 macros for groff in 2007.
 895 The stand-alone implementation that is part of the
 896 .Xr mandoc 1
 897 utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
 898 .Ox 4.6 .
 899 .Sh AUTHORS
 900 This
 901 .Nm
 902 reference was written by
 903 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
 904 .Sh CAVEATS
 905 Do not use this language.
 906 Use
 907 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 908 instead.