1 .\" $Id: man.7,v 1.6 2009/03/27 14:56:15 kristaps Exp $
3 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@openbsd.org>
5 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
6 .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
7 .\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all
10 .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL
11 .\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED
12 .\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
13 .\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
14 .\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
15 .\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
16 .\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
17 .\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
19 .Dd $Mdocdate: March 27 2009 $
25 .Nd man language reference
30 language was historically used to format
32 manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax and
40 to write your manuals. Use the
47 document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control
50 are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
52 .Bd -literal -offset indent
53 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
54 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
59 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters and the
67 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
72 escape is common in historical
74 documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the
75 subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.
77 .Ss Special Characters
78 Special character sequences begin with the escape character
80 followed by either an open-parenthesis
82 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
84 for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
86 or a single one-character sequence.
88 Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,
90 with the same combinations as described above. This form is deprecated.
93 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
96 at the beginning of the line. An arbitrary amount of whitespace may
97 sit between the control character and the macro name. Thus,
105 macros follow the same structural rules:
106 .Bd -literal -offset indent
107 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
112 consists of zero or more arguments to the macro.
115 has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:
129 When these macros are invoked without arguments, the subsequent line is
130 considered a continuation of the macro. Thus:
131 .Bd -literal -offset indent
138 If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,
139 an error is raised. Thus, the following is not acceptable:
140 .Bd -literal -offset indent
148 macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger
152 This section contains a complete list of all
154 macros and corresponding number of arguments.
156 .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
157 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments
187 utility was written by
188 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@openbsd.org .
191 Do not use this language. Use