man.7

   1 .\"     $Id: man.7,v 1.39 2009/10/19 07:44:30 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: October 19 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 .Ss Scaling Widths
 123 Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as
 124 stipulating a two-inch paragraph indentation with the following:
 125 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 126 \&.HP 2i
 127 .Ed
 128 .
 129 .Pp
 130 The syntax for scaled widths is
 131 .Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:]? ,
 132 where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit.
 133 Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero.  The following
 134 scaling units are accepted:
 135 .
 136 .Pp
 137 .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
 138 .It c
 139 centimetre
 140 .It i
 141 inch
 142 .It P
 143 pica (~1/6 inch)
 144 .It p
 145 point (~1/72 inch)
 146 .It f
 147 synonym for
 148 .Sq u
 149 .It v
 150 default vertical span
 151 .It m
 152 width of rendered
 153 .Sq m
 154 .Pq em
 155 character
 156 .It n
 157 width of rendered
 158 .Sq n
 159 .Pq en
 160 character
 161 .It u
 162 default horizontal span
 163 .It M
 164 mini-em (~1/100 em)
 165 .El
 166 .Pp
 167 Using anything other than
 168 .Sq m ,
 169 .Sq n ,
 170 .Sq u ,
 171 or
 172 .Sq v
 173 is necessarily non-portable across output media.  See
 174 .Sx COMPATIBILITY .
 175 .
 176 .Pp
 177 If a scaling unit is not provided, the numerical value is interpreted
 178 under the default rules of
 179 .Sq v
 180 for vertical spaces and
 181 .Sq u
 182 for horizontal ones.
 183 .Em Note :
 184 this differs from
 185 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 186 which, if a unit is not provided, will instead interpret the string as
 187 literal text.
 188 .
 189 .
 190 .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
 191 Each
 192 .Nm
 193 document must contain contains at least the
 194 .Sx \&TH
 195 macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur
 196 anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
 197 first macro.
 198 .
 199 .Pp
 200 Beyond
 201 .Sx \&TH ,
 202 at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.  Documents
 203 are generally structured as follows:
 204 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 205 \&.TH FOO 1 "13 Aug 2009"
 206 \&.
 207 \&.SH NAME
 208 \efBfoo\efR \e(en a description goes here
 209 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only.
 210 \&.\e\*q .SH LIBRARY
 211 \&.
 212 \&.SH SYNOPSIS
 213 \efBfoo\efR [\efB\e-options\efR] arguments...
 214 \&.
 215 \&.SH DESCRIPTION
 216 The \efBfoo\efR utility processes files...
 217 \&.
 218 \&.\e\*q .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
 219 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.
 220 \&.\e\*q .SH EXIT STATUS
 221 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
 222 \&.\e\*q .SH RETURN VALUES
 223 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
 224 \&.\e\*q .SH ENVIRONMENT
 225 \&.\e\*q .SH FILES
 226 \&.\e\*q .SH EXAMPLES
 227 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
 228 \&.\e\*q .SH DIAGNOSTICS
 229 \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
 230 \&.\e\*q .SH ERRORS
 231 \&.\e\*q .SH SEE ALSO
 232 \&.\e\*q \efBbar\efR(1)
 233 \&.\e\*q .SH STANDARDS
 234 \&.\e\*q .SH HISTORY
 235 \&.\e\*q .SH AUTHORS
 236 \&.\e\*q .SH CAVEATS
 237 \&.\e\*q .SH BUGS
 238 \&.\e\*q .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
 239 .Ed
 240 .
 241 .
 242 .Sh MACRO SYNTAX
 243 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
 244 control character ,
 245 .Sq \&. ,
 246 at the beginning of the line.  An arbitrary amount of whitespace may
 247 sit between the control character and the macro name.  Thus, the
 248 following are equivalent:
 249 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 250 \&.PP
 251 \&.\ \ \ PP
 252 .Ed
 253 .
 254 .Pp
 255 The
 256 .Nm
 257 macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line
 258 macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations,
 259 the subsequent line).  Block macros are scoped to the current line and
 260 subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.
 261 .
 262 .
 263 .Ss Line Macros
 264 Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
 265 consisting of zero or more arguments.  If a macro is scoped to the next
 266 line and the line arguments are empty, the next line is used instead,
 267 else the general syntax is used.  Thus:
 268 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 269 \&.I
 270 foo
 271 .Ed
 272 .
 273 .Pp
 274 is equivalent to
 275 .Sq \&.I foo .
 276 If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
 277 If a next-line macro is proceded by a block macro, it is ignored.
 278 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 279 \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
 280 \(lBbody...\(rB
 281 .Ed
 282 .
 283 .Pp
 284 .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "ScopeXXXXX"
 285 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Scope
 286 .It Sx \&B   Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 287 .It Sx \&BI  Ta    n         Ta    current
 288 .It Sx \&BR  Ta    n         Ta    current
 289 .It Sx \&DT  Ta    0         Ta    current
 290 .It Sx \&I   Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 291 .It Sx \&IB  Ta    n         Ta    current
 292 .It Sx \&IR  Ta    n         Ta    current
 293 .It Sx \&R   Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 294 .It Sx \&RB  Ta    n         Ta    current
 295 .It Sx \&RI  Ta    n         Ta    current
 296 .It Sx \&SB  Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 297 .It Sx \&SM  Ta    n         Ta    next-line
 298 .It Sx \&TH  Ta    >1, <6    Ta    current
 299 .It Sx \&UC  Ta    n         Ta    current
 300 .It Sx \&br  Ta    0         Ta    current
 301 .It Sx \&fi  Ta    0         Ta    current
 302 .It Sx \&i   Ta    n         Ta    current
 303 .It Sx \&na  Ta    0         Ta    current
 304 .It Sx \&nf  Ta    0         Ta    current
 305 .It Sx \&r   Ta    0         Ta    current
 306 .It Sx \&sp  Ta    1         Ta    current
 307 .El
 308 .
 309 .Pp
 310 The
 311 .Sx \&RS ,
 312 .Sx \&RE ,
 313 .Sx \&UC ,
 314 .Sx \&br ,
 315 .Sx \&fi ,
 316 .Sx \&i ,
 317 .Sx \&na ,
 318 .Sx \&nf ,
 319 .Sx \&r ,
 320 and
 321 .Sx \&sp
 322 macros should not be used.  They're included for compatibility.
 323 .
 324 .
 325 .Ss Block Macros
 326 Block macros are comprised of a head and body.  Like for in-line macros,
 327 the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the
 328 next line; the body is scoped to subsequent lines and is closed out by a
 329 subsequent block macro invocation.
 330 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 331 \&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
 332 \(lBhead...\(rB
 333 \(lBbody...\(rB
 334 .Ed
 335 .
 336 .Pp
 337 The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
 338 by
 339 .Sx \&SH ;
 340 sub-section, closed by a section or
 341 .Sx \&SS ;
 342 part, closed by a section, sub-section, or
 343 .Sx \&RE ;
 344 or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part,
 345 .Sx \&HP ,
 346 .Sx \&IP ,
 347 .Sx \&LP ,
 348 .Sx \&P ,
 349 .Sx \&PP ,
 350 or
 351 .Sx \&TP .
 352 No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
 353 .
 354 .Pp
 355 .Bl -column "MacroX" "ArgumentsX" "Head ScopeX" "sub-sectionX" -compact -offset indent
 356 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments Ta Em Head Scope Ta Em Body Scope
 357 .It Sx \&HP  Ta    <2        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 358 .It Sx \&IP  Ta    <3        Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 359 .It Sx \&LP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 360 .It Sx \&P   Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 361 .It Sx \&PP  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    paragraph
 362 .It Sx \&RE  Ta    0         Ta    current    Ta    none
 363 .It Sx \&RS  Ta    1         Ta    current    Ta    part
 364 .It Sx \&SH  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    section
 365 .It Sx \&SS  Ta    >0        Ta    next-line  Ta    sub-section
 366 .It Sx \&TP  Ta    n         Ta    next-line  Ta    paragraph
 367 .El
 368 .
 369 .Pp
 370 If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
 371 macros (excluding
 372 .Sx \&DT ,
 373 .Sx \&TH ,
 374 .Sx \&UC ,
 375 .Sx \&br ,
 376 .Sx \&na ,
 377 .Sx \&sp ,
 378 .Sx \&nf ,
 379 and
 380 .Sx \&fi ) .
 381 .
 382 .
 383 .Sh REFERENCE
 384 This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
 385 alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see
 386 .Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
 387 .
 388 .Ss \&B
 389 Text is rendered in bold face.
 390 .Ss \&BI
 391 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus,
 392 .Sq .BI this word and that
 393 causes
 394 .Sq this
 395 and
 396 .Sq and
 397 to render in bold face, while
 398 .Sq word
 399 and
 400 .Sq that
 401 render in italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 402 .Ss \&BR
 403 Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
 404 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 405 .Ss \&DT
 406 Has no effect.  Included for compatibility.
 407 .Ss \&HP
 408 Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
 409 subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
 410 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 411 \&.HP [width]
 412 .Ed
 413 .
 414 .Pp
 415 If scaling width
 416 .Va width
 417 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 418 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 419 .Ss \&I
 420 Text is rendered in italics.
 421 .Ss \&IB
 422 Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace
 423 between arguments is omitted in output.
 424 .Ss \&IP
 425 Begin a paragraph with the following syntax:
 426 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 427 \&.IP [head [width]]
 428 .Ed
 429 .
 430 .Pp
 431 This follows the behaviour of the
 432 .Sx \&TP
 433 except for the macro syntax (all arguments on the line, instead of
 434 having next-line scope).  If
 435 .Va width
 436 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 437 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 438 .Ss \&IR
 439 Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
 440 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 441 .Ss \&LP
 442 Begin an undecorated paragraph.  The scope of a paragraph is closed by a
 443 subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file.  The saved
 444 paragraph left-margin width is re-set to the default.
 445 .Ss \&P
 446 Synonym for
 447 .Sx \&LP .
 448 .Ss \&PP
 449 Synonym for
 450 .Sx \&LP .
 451 .Ss \&R
 452 Text is rendered in roman (the default font).
 453 .Ss \&RB
 454 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
 455 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 456 .Ss \&RE
 457 Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
 458 .Sx \&RS .
 459 .Ss \&RI
 460 Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
 461 Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
 462 .Ss \&RS
 463 Begin a part setting the left margin.  The left margin controls the
 464 offset, following an initial indentation, to un-indented text such as
 465 that of
 466 .Sx \&PP .
 467 A scaling width may be specified as following:
 468 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 469 \&.RS [width]
 470 .Ed
 471 .
 472 .Pp
 473 If
 474 .Va width
 475 is not specified, the saved or default width is used.
 476 .Ss \&SB
 477 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
 478 bold face.
 479 .Ss \&SH
 480 Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another
 481 section or the end of file.  The paragraph left-margin width is re-set
 482 to the default.
 483 .Ss \&SM
 484 Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
 485 font).
 486 .Ss \&SS
 487 Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a
 488 subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.  The paragraph
 489 left-margin width is re-set to the default.
 490 .Ss \&TH
 491 Sets the title of the manual page with the following syntax:
 492 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 493 \&.TH title section [date [source [volume]]]
 494 .Ed
 495 .
 496 .Pp
 497 At least the
 498 .Va title
 499 and
 500 .Va section
 501 arguments must be provided.  The
 502 .Va date
 503 argument should be formatted as
 504 .Qq %b [%d] %Y
 505 format, described in
 506 .Xr strptime 3 .
 507 The
 508 .Va source
 509 string specifies the organisation providing the utility.  The
 510 .Va volume
 511 replaces the default rendered volume as dictated by the manual section.
 512 .Ss \&TP
 513 Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
 514 followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a
 515 buffer to the indentation width.  Subsequent output lines are indented.
 516 .
 517 .Pp
 518 The indentation scaling width may be set as follows:
 519 .Bd -literal -offset indent
 520 \&.TP [width]
 521 .Ed
 522 .
 523 .Pp
 524 If
 525 .Va width
 526 is specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
 527 unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
 528 .Ss \&UC
 529 Has no effect.  Included for compatibility.
 530 .Ss \&br
 531 Breaks the current line.  Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
 532 .Ss \&fi
 533 End literal mode begun by
 534 .Sx \&nf .
 535 .Ss \&i
 536 Italicise arguments.  If no arguments are specified, all subsequent text
 537 is italicised.
 538 .Ss \&na
 539 Don't align to the right margin.
 540 .Ss \&nf
 541 Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of
 542 line boundaries preserved.  May be ended by
 543 .Sx \&fi .
 544 .Ss \&r
 545 Fonts and styles (bold face, italics) reset to roman (default font).
 546 .Ss \&sp
 547 Insert n spaces, where n is the macro's positive numeric argument.  If
 548 0, this is equivalent to the
 549 .Sx \&br
 550 macro.
 551 .
 552 .
 553 .Sh COMPATIBILITY
 554 This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at
 555 this time limited to
 556 .Xr groff 1 .
 557 .Bl -hyphen
 558 .It
 559 In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a
 560 standalone double-quote in formatted output.  This idiosyncratic
 561 behaviour is no longer applicable.
 562 .It
 563 The
 564 .Sq sp
 565 macro does not accept negative numbers.
 566 .It
 567 Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text
 568 lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace
 569 in free-form text lines.
 570 .El
 571 .
 572 .
 573 .Sh SEE ALSO
 574 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 575 .Xr mandoc_char 7
 576 .
 577 .
 578 .Sh AUTHORS
 579 The
 580 .Nm
 581 reference was written by
 582 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
 583 .
 584 .
 585 .Sh CAVEATS
 586 Do not use this language.  Use
 587 .Xr mdoc 7 ,
 588 instead.
 589 .