Ugly fix for `Bl' or `Bd' causing badness when nested in `Bl -hang' lists.

[mandoc.git] / man.7

diff --git a/man.7 b/man.7
index 5cca8277b9aeb2f44cd18da55897e38750ec9161..91f469c76983c499b289d62fd0a2f25b1997ed7f 100644 (file)
--- a/man.7
+++ b/man.7
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-.\"    $Id: man.7,v 1.15 2009/06/22 13:09:17 kristaps Exp $
+.\"    $Id: man.7,v 1.20 2009/07/20 13:45:11 kristaps Exp $
 .\"
 .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
 .\"
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
 .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
 .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
 .\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: June 22 2009 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: July 20 2009 $
 .Dt MAN 7
 .Os
 .\" SECTION
@@ -25,15 +25,17 @@
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The
 .Nm man
-language was historically used to format 
+language was historically used to format
 .Ux
-manuals.  This reference document describes the syntax and structure of
-this language.
+manuals.  This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
+usage.
 .Pp
-.Em \&Do not
-use 
+.Bf -emphasis
+Do not use
 .Nm
-to write your manuals.  Use the
+to write your manuals.
+.Ef
+Use the
 .Xr mdoc 7
 language, instead.
 .\" PARAGRAPH
@@ -41,7 +43,7 @@ language, instead.
 An
 .Nm
 document follows simple rules:  lines beginning with the control
-character 
+character
 .Sq \&.
 are parsed for macros.  Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
 prior macros:
@@ -53,14 +55,9 @@ Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
 .Sh INPUT ENCODING
 .Nm
 documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
-space character
-.Sq \  ,
-and tabs
-.Sq \et . 
-All manuals must have
+space character, and the tabs character.  All manuals must have
 .Ux
-.Sq \en
-line termination.  
+line termination.
 .Pp
 Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
 vertical space.
@@ -74,8 +71,8 @@ subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.
 .\" SUB-SECTION
 .Ss Comments
 Anything following a
-.Sq \e" 
-delimiter is considered a comment (unless the 
+.Sq \e"
+delimiter is considered a comment (unless the
 .Sq \e
 itself has been escaped) and is ignored to the end of line.
 Furthermore, a macro line with only a control character
@@ -85,7 +82,7 @@ optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.
 .Ss Special Characters
 Special character sequences begin with the escape character
 .Sq \e
-followed by either an open-parenthesis 
+followed by either an open-parenthesis
 .Sq \&(
 for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
 .Sq \&[
@@ -95,7 +92,31 @@ or a single one-character sequence.
 .Pp
 Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,
 .Sq \e* ,
-with the same combinations as described above.  This form is deprecated.  
+with the same combinations as described above.
+.Pp
+Terms may also be text-decorated using the
+.Sq \ef
+escape followed by a text-decoration letter: B (bold), I, (italic), or P
+and R (Roman, or reset).
+.\" SUB-SECTION
+.Ss Whitespace
+Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned
+from input.  These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end
+utility such as
+.Xr mandoc 1 .
+.\" SECTION
+.Sh STRUCTURE
+Each
+.Nm
+document must contain contains at least the
+.Sq \&.TH
+macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur
+anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
+first macro.
+.Pp
+Beyond the
+.Sq \&.TH ,
+at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh SYNTAX
 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
@@ -108,11 +129,11 @@ and
 .Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP
 are equivalent.
 .Pp
-All 
+All
 .Nm
 macros follow the same structural rules:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent
-\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB 
+\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
 .Ed
 .Pp
 The
@@ -120,7 +141,7 @@ The
 consists of zero or more arguments to the macro.
 .Pp
 .Nm
-has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros: 
+has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:
 .Sq \&.TM ,
 .Sq \&.SM ,
 .Sq \&.SB ,
@@ -131,23 +152,23 @@ has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:
 .Sq \&.R ,
 .Sq \&.B ,
 .Sq \&.I ,
-.Sq \&.IR 
+.Sq \&.IR
 and
 .Sq \&.RI .
 When these macros are invoked without arguments, the subsequent line is
 considered a continuation of the macro.  Thus:
-.Bd -literal -offset indent 
-\&.RI 
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+\&.RI
 foo
 .Ed
 .Pp
-is equivalent to 
+is equivalent to
 .Sq \&.RI foo .
 If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,
 an error is raised.  Thus, the following is not acceptable:
-.Bd -literal -offset indent 
-\&.RI 
-\&.I 
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+\&.RI
+\&.I
 Hello, world.
 .Ed
 .Pp
@@ -156,21 +177,8 @@ The
 macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger
 the behaviour.
 .\" SECTION
-.Sh STRUCTURE
-Each
-.Nm
-document must contain contains at least the
-.Sq \&.TH
-macro describing the document's section and title.  It may occur
-anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
-first macro.
-.Pp
-Beyond the 
-.Sq \&.TH ,
-at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.
-.\" SECTION
 .Sh MACROS
-This section contains a complete list of all 
+This section contains a complete list of all
 .Nm
 macros and corresponding number of arguments.
 .Pp
@@ -212,6 +220,11 @@ These follow the same calling conventions as the above
 .Nm
 macros.
 .\" SECTION
+.Sh COMPATIBILITY
+See
+.Xr mdoc 7
+for groff compatibility notes.
+.\" SECTION
 .Sh SEE ALSO
 .Xr mandoc 1 ,
 .Xr mandoc_char 7
@@ -219,7 +232,7 @@ macros.
 .Sh AUTHORS
 The
 .Nm
-utility was written by 
+utility was written by
 .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh CAVEATS