-.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.155 2010/08/24 14:03:46 kristaps Exp $
+.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.202 2011/08/18 08:58:44 kristaps Exp $
.\"
-.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
+.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
.\"
.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
.\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: August 24 2010 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: August 18 2011 $
.Dt MDOC 7
.Os
.Sh NAME
manuals.
This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
usage.
-The reference implementation is
+The reference implementation for
+.Nm
+formatting is
.Xr mandoc 1 ;
the
.Sx COMPATIBILITY
-section describes compatibility with other troff \-mdoc implementations.
+section describes compatibility with other implementations.
.Pp
An
.Nm
document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control
character
-.Sq \.
+.Sq \&.
are parsed for macros.
-Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
-prior macros:
+Lines not beginning with the control character are
+interpreted within the scope of prior macros:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.
-Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
+Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
.Ed
.Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX
.Nm
documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space
character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character.
-All manuals must have
-.Ux
-line terminators.
+The back-space character
+.Sq \e
+indicates the start of an escape sequence for
+.Sx Comments ,
+.Sx Predefined Strings ,
+and
+.Sx Special Characters .
.Ss Comments
-Text following a
+Text following an escaped double-quote
.Sq \e\*q ,
-whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
+whether in a macro or text line, is ignored to the end of
line.
-A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
-.Sq \&.\e\*q ,
+A macro line beginning with a control character and comment escape
+.Sq \&.\e\*q
is also ignored.
-Macro lines with only a control character and optional whitespace are
+Furthermore,
+macro lines with only a control character and optional trailing
+whitespace are
stripped from input.
-.Ss Reserved Characters
-Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:
-.Pp
-.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
-.It \&.
-.Pq period
-.It \&,
-.Pq comma
-.It \&:
-.Pq colon
-.It \&;
-.Pq semicolon
-.It \&(
-.Pq left-parenthesis
-.It \&)
-.Pq right-parenthesis
-.It \&[
-.Pq left-bracket
-.It \&]
-.Pq right-bracket
-.It \&?
-.Pq question
-.It \&!
-.Pq exclamation
-.It \&|
-.Pq vertical bar
-.El
.Pp
-Use of reserved characters is described in
-.Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
-For general use in macro lines, these characters can either be escaped
-with a non-breaking space
-.Pq Sq \e&
-or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence can be used.
+Examples:
+.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
+\&.\e\*q This is a comment line.
+\&.\e\*q The next line is ignored:
+\&.
+\&.Em Emphasis \e\*q This is also a comment.
+.Ed
.Ss Special Characters
-Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
+Special characters are used to encode special glyphs and are rendered
+differently across output media.
+They may occur in both macro and text lines.
Sequences begin with the escape character
.Sq \e
followed by either an open-parenthesis
for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
.Sq \&] ) ;
or a single one character sequence.
+.Pp
+Examples:
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \e(em
+em dash
+.It \ee
+backslash
+.El
+.Pp
See
.Xr mandoc_char 7
for a complete list.
-Examples include
-.Sq \e(em
-.Pq em-dash
-and
-.Sq \ee
-.Pq back-slash .
.Ss Text Decoration
Terms may be text-decorated using the
.Sq \ef
-escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (Roman), or P
-(revert to previous mode):
-.Pp
-.D1 \efBbold\efR \efIitalic\efP
-.Pp
-A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and Roman,
+escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I (italic), R (regular), or P
+(revert to previous mode).
+A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and regular,
respectively) may be used instead.
-A text decoration is valid within
-the current font scope only: if a macro opens a font scope alongside
-its own scope, such as
-.Sx \&Bf
-.Cm \&Sy ,
-in-scope invocations of
-.Sq \ef
-are only valid within the font scope of the macro.
-If
+If a macro opens a font scope after calling
+.Sq \ef ,
+such as with
+.Sx \&Bf ,
+the
.Sq \ef
-is specified outside of any font scope, such as in unenclosed, free-form
-text, it will affect the remainder of the document.
+mode will be restored upon exiting the
+.Sx \&Bf
+scope.
.Pp
-Note this form is
+Examples:
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \efBbold\efR
+write in bold, then switch to regular
+.It \efIitalic\efP
+write in italic, then return to previous
+.El
+.Pp
+Text decoration is
.Em not
recommended for
.Nm ,
which encourages semantic annotation.
.Ss Predefined Strings
-Historically,
-troff
-also defined a set of package-specific
-.Dq predefined strings ,
-which, like
+Predefined strings, like
.Sx Special Characters ,
-mark special output characters and strings by way of input codes.
+mark special output glyphs.
Predefined strings are escaped with the slash-asterisk,
.Sq \e* :
single-character
.Sq \e*(XX ,
and N-character
.Sq \e*[N] .
-See
-.Xr mandoc_char 7
-for a complete list.
-Examples include
-.Sq \e*(Am
-.Pq ampersand
-and
-.Sq \e*(Ba
-.Pq vertical bar .
+.Pp
+Examples:
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \e*(Am
+ampersand
+.It \e*(Ba
+vertical bar
+.El
+.Pp
+These strings are set using
+.Xr roff 7 ,
+although
+.Nm
+consists of several pre-set escapes listed in
+.Xr mandoc_char 7 .
.Ss Whitespace
Whitespace consists of the space character.
-In free-form lines, whitespace is preserved within a line; unescaped
-trailing spaces are stripped from input (unless in a literal context).
-Blank free-form lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted
-within literal contexts.
-.Pp
+In text lines, whitespace is preserved within a line.
In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded.
-If arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained.
+.Pp
+Unescaped trailing spaces are stripped from text line input unless in a
+literal context.
+In general, trailing whitespace on any input line is discouraged for
+reasons of portability.
+In the rare case that a blank character is needed at the end of an
+input line, it may be forced by
+.Sq \e\ \e& .
+.Pp
+Blank text lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted
+within literal contexts.
+If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed
+with a leading newline.
.Ss Quotation
-Macro arguments may be quoted with double-quotes to group
-space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace.
+Macro arguments may be quoted with double-quotes; in this case,
+whitespace within the quotes is retained as part of the argument.
+For example,
+.Pp
+.D1 Pf \. \&Fn strlen "\(dqconst char *s\(dq"
+.Pp
+renders as
+.Sq Fn strlen "const char *s" ,
+while
+.Pp
+.D1 Pf \. \&Fn strlen "const char *s"
+.Pp
+would produce
+.Sq Fn strlen const char *s .
+.Pp
A quoted argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace.
The next double-quote not pairwise adjacent to another double-quote
terminates the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace.
.Pp
+In unquoted arguments, space characters can alternatively be included
+by preceding them with a backslash
+.Pq Sq \e\~ ,
+but quoting is usually better for clarity.
+.Pp
Note that any quoted text, even if it would cause a macro invocation
when unquoted, is considered literal text.
Thus, the following produces
\&.Op "Fl a"
.Ed
.Pp
-In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text.
-.Ss Dates
-There are several macros in
-.Nm
-that require a date argument.
-The canonical form for dates is the American format:
-.Pp
-.D1 Cm Month Day , Year
-.Pp
-The
-.Cm Day
-value is an optionally zero-padded numeral.
-The
-.Cm Month
-value is the full month name.
-The
-.Cm Year
-value is the full four-digit year.
-.Pp
-Reduced form dates are broken-down canonical form dates:
-.Pp
-.D1 Cm Month , Year
-.D1 Cm Year
-.Pp
-Some examples of valid dates follow:
-.Pp
-.D1 "May, 2009" Pq reduced form
-.D1 "2009" Pq reduced form
-.D1 "May 20, 2009" Pq canonical form
+In text lines, quotes are regarded as opaque text.
.Ss Scaling Widths
-Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as
-stipulating a two-inch list indentation with the following:
-.Bd -literal -offset indent
-\&.Bl -tag -width 2i
-.Ed
-.Pp
-The syntax for scaled widths is
+Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments.
+The syntax for a scaled width is
.Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] ,
where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit.
Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero.
+.Pp
The following scaling units are accepted:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
is necessarily non-portable across output media.
See
.Sx COMPATIBILITY .
+.Pp
+Examples:
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \&.Bl -tag -width 2i
+two-inch tagged list indentation
+.Pq see Sx \&Bl
+.It \&.sp 2v
+two vertical spaces
+.Pq see Sx \&sp
+.El
.Ss Sentence Spacing
-When composing a manual, make sure that sentences end at the end of
-a line.
-By doing so, front-ends will be able to apply the proper amount of
+Sentences should terminate at the end of an input line.
+By doing this, a formatter will be able to apply the proper amount of
spacing after the end of sentence (unescaped) period, exclamation mark,
or question mark followed by zero or more non-sentence closing
-delimiters (
-.Ns Sq \&) ,
+delimiters
+.Po
+.Sq \&) ,
.Sq \&] ,
.Sq \&' ,
-.Sq \&" ) .
+.Sq \&"
+.Pc .
.Pp
The proper spacing is also intelligently preserved if a sentence ends at
the boundary of a macro line.
-For example:
.Pp
-.D1 \&Xr mandoc 1 \.
-.D1 \&Fl T \&Ns \&Cm ascii \.
+Examples:
+.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
+Do not end sentences mid-line like this. Instead,
+end a sentence like this.
+A macro would end like this:
+\&.Xr mandoc 1 \&.
+.Ed
.Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
A well-formed
.Nm
.Pp
The following is a well-formed skeleton
.Nm
-file:
+file for a utility
+.Qq progname :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
-\&.Dt mdoc 7
+\&.Dt PROGNAME section
\&.Os
\&.Sh NAME
-\&.Nm foo
-\&.Nd a description goes here
-\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
+\&.Nm progname
+\&.Nd one line about what it does
\&.\e\*q .Sh LIBRARY
+\&.\e\*q For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
+\&.\e\*q Not used in OpenBSD.
\&.Sh SYNOPSIS
-\&.Nm foo
+\&.Nm progname
\&.Op Fl options
\&.Ar
\&.Sh DESCRIPTION
\&.Nm
utility processes files ...
\&.\e\*q .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
-\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
+\&.\e\*q Not used in OpenBSD.
\&.\e\*q .Sh RETURN VALUES
-\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
+\&.\e\*q For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh ENVIRONMENT
+\&.\e\*q For sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh FILES
-\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh EXIT STATUS
+\&.\e\*q For sections 1, 6, & 8 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh EXAMPLES
-\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
-\&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
+\&.\e\*q For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh ERRORS
+\&.\e\*q For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
\&.\e\*q .Sh SEE ALSO
\&.\e\*q .Xr foobar 1
\&.\e\*q .Sh STANDARDS
\&.\e\*q .Sh CAVEATS
\&.\e\*q .Sh BUGS
\&.\e\*q .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
+\&.\e\*q Not used in OpenBSD.
.Ed
.Pp
The sections in an
\&.Nd a one line description
.Ed
.Pp
+Multiple
+.Sq \&Nm
+names should be separated by commas.
+.Pp
The
.Sx \&Nm
macro(s) must precede the
For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
generally structured as follows:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
-\&.Nm foo
+\&.Nm bar
\&.Op Fl v
\&.Op Fl o Ar file
\&.Op Ar
-\&.Nm bar
+\&.Nm foo
\&.Op Fl v
\&.Op Fl o Ar file
\&.Op Ar
.Ed
.Pp
+Commands should be ordered alphabetically.
+.Pp
For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.In header.h
\&.Fn bar "const char *src"
.Ed
.Pp
+Ordering of
+.Sx \&In ,
+.Sx \&Vt ,
+.Sx \&Fn ,
+and
+.Sx \&Fo
+macros should follow C header-file conventions.
+.Pp
And for the third, configurations (section 4):
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Cd \*qit* at isa? port 0x2e\*q
.Sx \&Ss
macro or the end of an enclosing block, whichever comes first.
.It Em DESCRIPTION
-This expands upon the brief, one line description in
-.Em NAME .
-It usually contains a breakdown of the options (if documenting a
+This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in
+.Em NAME :
+.Bd -literal -offset indent
+The
+\&.Nm
+utility does this, that, and the other.
+.Ed
+.Pp
+It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting a
command), such as:
.Bd -literal -offset indent
The arguments are as follows:
.Ed
.Pp
Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.
+.Pp
+Since the
+.Em DESCRIPTION
+section usually contains most of the text of a manual, longer manuals
+often use the
+.Sx \&Ss
+macro to form subsections.
+In very long manuals, the
+.Em DESCRIPTION
+may be split into multiple sections, each started by an
+.Sx \&Sh
+macro followed by a non-standard section name, and each having
+several subsections, like in the present
+.Nm
+manual.
.It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
Cross-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then
alphabetically.
.Pp
+References to other documentation concerning the topic of the manual page,
+for example authoritative books or journal articles, may also be
+provided in this section.
+.Pp
See
+.Sx \&Rs
+and
.Sx \&Xr .
.It Em STANDARDS
References any standards implemented or used.
See
.Sx \&St .
.It Em HISTORY
-A brief history of the subject, including where support first appeared.
+A brief history of the subject, including where it was first implemented,
+and when it was ported to or reimplemented for the operating system at hand.
.It Em AUTHORS
Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.
Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.
.Pp
The
.Em Callable
-column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial
-line-macro.
-If a macro is not callable, then its invocation after the initial line
-macro is interpreted as opaque text, such that
+column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name
+as an argument to another macro.
+For example,
+.Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file
+produces
+.Sq Op Fl O Ar file .
+To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally,
+escape it by prepending a zero-width space,
+.Sq \e& .
+For example,
+.Sq \&Op \e&Fl O
+produces
+.Sq Op \&Fl O .
+If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument
+to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text.
+For example,
.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh
produces
.Sq Fl \&Sh .
.Pp
The
.Em Parsed
-column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further
-(ostensibly callable) macros.
-If a macro is not parsed, subsequent macro invocations on the line
-will be interpreted as opaque text.
+column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving
+their names as arguments.
+If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears
+as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text.
.Pp
The
.Em Scope
Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro.
All macros contains bodies; only
.Sx \&Bf
-contains a head.
+and
+.Pq optionally
+.Sx \&Bl
+contain a head.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
.Pp
.Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX"
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
-.It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El
-.It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh
-.It Sx \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Nm , Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss
-.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh
-.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss
+.It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El
+.It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh
+.It Sx \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Nm , Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss
+.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh
+.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss
.El
.Pp
Note that the
.It Sx \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Xc
.El
.Ss Block partial-implicit
-Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by
-.Sx Reserved Characters
-or end of line.
+Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the
+end of the line.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
.Ed
.Em SYNOPSIS
section line, else it is
.Sx In-line .
+.Ss Special block macro
+The
+.Sx \&Ta
+macro can only be used below
+.Sx \&It
+in
+.Sx \&Bl Fl column
+lists.
+It delimits blocks representing table cells;
+these blocks have bodies, but no heads.
+.Pp
+.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent
+.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
+.It Sx \&Ta Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ta , Sx \&It
+.El
.Ss In-line
-Closed by
-.Sx Reserved Characters ,
-end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros.
+Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths,
+and/or subsequent macros.
In-line macros have only text children.
If a number (or inequality) of arguments is
.Pq n ,
.It Sx \&%T Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
.It Sx \&%U Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
.It Sx \&%V Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
-.It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
-.It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0
.It Sx \&Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It Sx \&At Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1
.It Sx \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It Sx \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It Sx \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
-.It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
.It Sx \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
.It Sx \&Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
-.It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It Sx \&Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It Sx \&Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
-.It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
-.It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
.It Sx \&Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It Sx \&Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
-.It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It Sx \&Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
.It Sx \&Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
-.It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
+.It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
.It Sx \&Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
-.It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
-.It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It Sx \&Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It Sx \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It Sx \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1
.El
+.Ss Delimiters
+When a macro argument consists of one single input character
+considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling.
+This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing
+more than one character.
+Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it
+like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending
+a zero-width space
+.Pq Sq \e& .
+In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used
+as normal punctuation.
+.Pp
+For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters,
+these delimiters are put before the macro scope,
+and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters,
+these delimiters are put after the macro scope.
+For example,
+.Pp
+.D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ."
+.Pp
+renders as:
+.Pp
+.D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) .
+.Pp
+Opening delimiters are:
+.Pp
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \&(
+left parenthesis
+.It \&[
+left bracket
+.El
+.Pp
+Closing delimiters are:
+.Pp
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \&.
+period
+.It \&,
+comma
+.It \&:
+colon
+.It \&;
+semicolon
+.It \&)
+right parenthesis
+.It \&]
+right bracket
+.It \&?
+question mark
+.It \&!
+exclamation mark
+.El
+.Pp
+Note that even a period preceded by a backslash
+.Pq Sq \e.\&
+gets this special handling; use
+.Sq \e&.
+to prevent that.
+.Pp
+Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter
+delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that
+are not delimiters.
+For example,
+.Pp
+.D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e"
+.Pp
+renders as:
+.Pp
+.D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e
+.Pp
+This applies to both opening and closing delimiters,
+and also to the middle delimiter:
+.Pp
+.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
+.It \&|
+vertical bar
+.El
+.Pp
+As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered
+in the same way as a plain
+.Sq \&|
+character.
+Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals.
.Sh REFERENCE
This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged
alphabetically.
Publication date of an
.Sx \&Rs
block.
-This should follow the reduced or canonical form syntax described in
-.Sx Dates .
+Recommended formats of arguments are
+.Ar month day , year
+or just
+.Ar year .
.Ss \&%I
Publisher or issuer name of an
.Sx \&Rs
Do not use this for postal addresses.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ad [0,$]
-.D1 \&.Ad 0x00000000
+.Dl \&.Ad [0,$]
+.Dl \&.Ad 0x00000000
.Ss \&An
Author name.
+Can be used both for the authors of the program, function, or driver
+documented in the manual, or for the authors of the manual itself.
Requires either the name of an author or one of the following arguments:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width "-nosplitX" -offset indent -compact
for all other author listings.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.An -nosplit
-.D1 \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq kristaps@bsd.lv
+.Dl \&.An -nosplit
+.Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq kristaps@bsd.lv
.Ss \&Ao
Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets.
Does not have any head arguments.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Ao \&Ar val \&Ac
+.Dl \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Ao \&Ar val \&Ac
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Aq .
form of a function.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fn execve \&Ap d
+.Dl \&.Fn execve \&Ap d
.Ss \&Aq
Encloses its arguments in angle brackets.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Aq \&Ar val
+.Dl \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Aq \&Ar val
.Pp
.Em Remarks :
this macro is often abused for rendering URIs, which should instead use
is used as a default.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fl o \&Ns \&Ar file1
-.D1 \&.Ar
-.D1 \&.Ar arg1 , arg2 .
+.Dl ".Fl o Ar file"
+.Dl ".Ar"
+.Dl ".Ar arg1 , arg2 ."
+.Pp
+The arguments to the
+.Sx \&Ar
+macro are names and placeholders for command arguments;
+for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use
+.Sx \&Fl
+or
+.Sx \&Cm .
.Ss \&At
Formats an AT&T version.
Accepts one optional argument:
.It Cm v[1-7] | 32v
A version of
.At .
+.It Cm III
+.At III .
.It Cm V[.[1-4]]?
A version of
.At V .
Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.At
-.D1 \&.At V.1
+.Dl \&.At
+.Dl \&.At III
+.Dl \&.At V.1
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bsx ,
.Pp
Display blocks are used to select a different indentation and
justification than the one used by the surrounding text.
-They may contain both macro lines and free-form text lines.
+They may contain both macro lines and text lines.
By default, a display block is preceded by a vertical space.
.Pp
The
must be one of the following:
.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
.It Fl centered
-Centre-justify each line.
+Produce one output line from each input line, and centre-justify each line.
Using this display type is not recommended; many
.Nm
implementations render it poorly.
.It Fl filled
-Left- and right-justify the block.
+Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left- and
+right-justify the resulting block.
.It Fl literal
-Do not justify the block at all.
+Produce one output line from each input line,
+and do not justify the block at all.
Preserve white space as it appears in the input.
+Always use a constant-width font.
+Use this for displaying source code.
.It Fl ragged
-Only left-justify the block.
+Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left-justify
+the resulting block.
.It Fl unfilled
-An alias for
-.Fl literal .
+The same as
+.Fl literal ,
+but using the same font as for normal text, which is a variable width font
+if supported by the output device.
.El
.Pp
The
.It
One of the pre-defined strings
.Cm indent ,
-the width of standard indentation;
+the width of a standard indentation (six constant width characters);
.Cm indent-two ,
twice
.Cm indent ;
and
.Sx \&Sy .
.Ss \&Bk
-Keep the output generated from each macro input line together
-on one single output line.
-Line breaks in free-form text lines are unaffected.
+For each macro, keep its output together on the same output line,
+until the end of the macro or the end of the input line is reached,
+whichever comes first.
+Line breaks in text lines are unaffected.
The syntax is as follows:
.Pp
.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Bk Fl words
Doing so will clobber the right margin.
.Ss \&Bl
Begin a list.
-Lists consist of items started by the
+Lists consist of items specified using the
.Sx \&It
macro, containing a head or a body or both.
The list syntax is as follows:
Like
.Fl inset ,
except that item heads are not parsed for macro invocations.
-.\" but with additional formatting to the head.
+Most often used in the
+.Em DIAGNOSTICS
+section with error constants in the item heads.
.It Fl enum
A numbered list.
+No item heads can be specified.
Formatted like
.Fl bullet ,
except that cardinal numbers are used in place of bullets,
Otherwise, the body starts on the output line following the head.
.El
.Pp
+Lists may be nested within lists and displays.
+Nesting of
+.Fl column
+and
+.Fl enum
+lists may not be portable.
+.Pp
See also
.Sx \&El
and
Encloses its arguments in square brackets.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ
+.Dl \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ
.Pp
.Em Remarks :
this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for
Encloses its arguments in curly braces.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n
+.Dl \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bro .
no argument is provided.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Bsx 1.0
-.D1 \&.Bsx
+.Dl \&.Bsx 1.0
+.Dl \&.Bsx
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
.Sx \&Ux .
.Ss \&Bt
Prints
-.Dq is currently in beta test .
+.Dq is currently in beta test.
.Ss \&Bx
Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no
argument is provided.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Bx 4.4
-.D1 \&.Bx
+.Dl \&.Bx 4.3 Tahoe
+.Dl \&.Bx 4.4
+.Dl \&.Bx
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
Kernel configuration declaration.
This denotes strings accepted by
.Xr config 8 .
+It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Cd device le0 at scode?
+.Dl \&.Cd device le0 at scode?
.Pp
.Em Remarks :
this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain
This practise is discouraged.
.Ss \&Cm
Command modifiers.
-Useful when specifying configuration options or keys.
+Typically used for fixed strings passed as arguments, unless
+.Sx \&Fl
+is more appropriate.
+Also useful when specifying configuration options or keys.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Cm ControlPath
-.D1 \&.Cm ControlMaster
-.Pp
-See also
-.Sx \&Fl .
+.Dl ".Nm mt Fl f Ar device Cm rewind"
+.Dl ".Nm ps Fl o Cm pid , Ns Cm command"
+.Dl ".Nm dd Cm if= Ns Ar file1 Cm of= Ns Ar file2"
+.Dl ".Cm IdentityFile Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa"
+.Dl ".Cm LogLevel Dv DEBUG"
.Ss \&D1
One-line indented display.
This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented
It is followed by a newline.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh
+.Dl \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bd
manual.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Dd Op Ar date
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Dd Ar month day , year
.Pp
The
-.Ar date
-may be either
-.Ar $\&Mdocdate$ ,
-which signifies the current manual revision date dictated by
+.Ar month
+is the full English month name, the
+.Ar day
+is an optionally zero-padded numeral, and the
+.Ar year
+is the full four-digit year.
+.Pp
+Other arguments are not portable; the
+.Xr mandoc 1
+utility handles them as follows:
+.Bl -dash -offset 3n -compact
+.It
+To have the date automatically filled in by the
+.Ox
+version of
.Xr cvs 1 ,
-or instead a valid canonical date as specified by
-.Sx Dates .
-If a date does not conform or is empty, the current date is used.
+the special string
+.Dq $\&Mdocdate$
+can be given as an argument.
+.It
+A few alternative date formats are accepted as well
+and converted to the standard form.
+.It
+If a date string cannot be parsed, it is used verbatim.
+.It
+If no date string is given, the current date is used.
+.El
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
-.D1 \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$
-.D1 \&.Dd July 21, 2007
+.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
+.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$
+.Dl \&.Dd July 21, 2007
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Dt
It is followed by a newline.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \e(ba less
+.Dl \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \e(ba less
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bd
.Ar luna88k ,
.Ar mac68k ,
.Ar macppc ,
+.Ar mips64 ,
.Ar mvme68k ,
.Ar mvme88k ,
.Ar mvmeppc ,
.El
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Dt FOO 1
-.D1 \&.Dt FOO 4 KM
-.D1 \&.Dt FOO 9 i386
+.Dl \&.Dt FOO 1
+.Dl \&.Dt FOO 4 KM
+.Dl \&.Dt FOO 9 i386
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Dd
and
.Sx \&Os .
.Ss \&Dv
-Defined variables such as preprocessor constants.
+Defined variables such as preprocessor constants, constant symbols,
+enumeration values, and so on.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Dv BUFSIZ
-.D1 \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO
+.Dl \&.Dv NULL
+.Dl \&.Dv BUFSIZ
+.Dl \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO
.Pp
See also
-.Sx \&Er .
+.Sx \&Er
+and
+.Sx \&Ev
+for special-purpose constants and
+.Sx \&Va
+for variable symbols.
.Ss \&Dx
Format the DragonFly BSD version provided as an argument, or a default
value if no argument is provided.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Dx 2.4.1
-.D1 \&.Dx
+.Dl \&.Dx 2.4.1
+.Dl \&.Dx
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
and
.Sx \&It .
.Ss \&Em
-Denotes text that should be emphasised.
+Denotes text that should be
+.Em emphasised .
Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for
stylistically decorating technical terms.
+Depending on the output device, this is usually represented
+using an italic font or underlined characters.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Em Warnings!
-.D1 \&.Em Remarks :
+.Dl \&.Em Warnings!
+.Dl \&.Em Remarks :
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bf ,
-.Sx \&Sy ,
+.Sx \&Li ,
+.Sx \&No ,
and
-.Sx \&Li .
+.Sx \&Sy .
.Ss \&En
This macro is obsolete and not implemented in
.Xr mandoc 1 .
will emulate
.Sx \&Do .
.Ss \&Er
-Display error constants.
+Error constants for definitions of the
+.Va errno
+libc global variable.
+This is most often used in section 2 and 3 manual pages.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Er EPERM
-.D1 \&.Er ENOENT
+.Dl \&.Er EPERM
+.Dl \&.Er ENOENT
.Pp
See also
-.Sx \&Dv .
+.Sx \&Dv
+for general constants.
.Ss \&Es
This macro is obsolete and not implemented.
.Ss \&Ev
.Xr environ 7 .
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ev DISPLAY
-.D1 \&.Ev PATH
+.Dl \&.Ev DISPLAY
+.Dl \&.Ev PATH
+.Pp
+See also
+.Sx \&Dv
+for general constants.
.Ss \&Ex
-Insert a standard sentence regarding exit values.
+Insert a standard sentence regarding command exit values of 0 on success
+and >0 on failure.
+This is most often used in section 1, 6, and 8 manual pages.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ex Fl std Op Ar utility
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ex Fl std Op Ar utility ...
.Pp
-When
+If
.Ar utility
is not specified, the document's name set by
.Sx \&Nm
is used.
+Multiple
+.Ar utility
+arguments are treated as separate utilities.
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Rv .
the last argument will also have a trailing comma.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq
-.D1 \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq
-.D1 \&.Fa foo
+.Dl \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq
+.Dl \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq
+.Dl \&.Fa foo
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Fo .
and
.Sx \&In .
.Ss \&Fl
-Command-line flag.
+Command-line flag or option.
Used when listing arguments to command-line utilities.
Prints a fixed-width hyphen
.Sq \-
output.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fl a b c
-.D1 \&.Fl \&Pf a b
-.D1 \&.Fl
-.D1 \&.Op \&Fl o \&Ns \&Ar file
+.Dl ".Fl R Op Fl H | L | P"
+.Dl ".Op Fl 1AaCcdFfgHhikLlmnopqRrSsTtux"
+.Dl ".Fl type Cm d Fl name Pa CVS"
+.Dl ".Fl Ar signal_number"
+.Dl ".Fl o Fl"
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Cm .
Its syntax is as follows:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
.Pf \. Ns Sx \&Fn
-.Op Cm functype
-.Cm funcname
-.Op Oo Cm argtype Oc Cm argname
+.Op Ar functype
+.Ar funcname
+.Op Oo Ar argtype Oc Ar argname
.Ed
.Pp
Function arguments are surrounded in parenthesis and
are delimited by commas.
If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output.
+In the
+.Em SYNOPSIS
+section, this macro starts a new output line,
+and a blank line is automatically inserted between function definitions.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fn "int funcname" "int arg0" "int arg1"
-.D1 \&.Fn funcname "int arg0"
-.D1 \&.Fn funcname arg0
+.Dl \&.Fn \*qint funcname\*q \*qint arg0\*q \*qint arg1\*q
+.Dl \&.Fn funcname \*qint arg0\*q
+.Dl \&.Fn funcname arg0
+.Pp
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Ft functype
\&.Fn funcname
.Ed
.Pp
+When referring to a function documented in another manual page, use
+.Sx \&Xr
+instead.
See also
-.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
+.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
+.Sx \&Fo ,
and
.Sx \&Ft .
.Ss \&Fo
.Sx \&Fn .
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Fo Cm funcname
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Fo Ar funcname
.Pp
Invocations usually occur in the following context:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
-.Pf \. Sx \&Ft Cm functype
+.Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype
.br
-.Pf \. Sx \&Fo Cm funcname
+.Pf \. Sx \&Fo Ar funcname
.br
-.Pf \. Sx \&Fa Oo Cm argtype Oc Cm argname
+.Pf \. Sx \&Fa Oo Ar argtype Oc Ar argname
.br
-\.\.\.
+\&.\.\.
.br
.Pf \. Sx \&Fc
.Ed
A
.Sx \&Fo
scope is closed by
+.Sx \&Fc .
.Pp
See also
.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
.Sx \&Fc ,
and
.Sx \&Ft .
+.Ss \&Fr
+This macro is obsolete and not implemented in
+.Xr mandoc 1 .
+.Pp
+It was used to show function return values.
+The syntax was:
+.Pp
+.Dl Pf . Sx \&Fr Ar value
.Ss \&Ft
A function type.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Cm functype
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype
+.Pp
+In the
+.Em SYNOPSIS
+section, a new output line is started after this macro.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ft int
+.Dl \&.Ft int
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Ft functype
\&.Fn funcname
if no argument is provided.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fx 7.1
-.D1 \&.Fx
+.Dl \&.Fx 7.1
+.Dl \&.Fx
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
and
.Sx \&Ux .
.Ss \&Hf
-This macro is obsolete and not implemented.
+This macro is not implemented in
+.Xr mandoc 1 .
+.Pp
+It was used to include the contents of a (header) file literally.
+The syntax was:
+.Pp
+.Dl Pf . Sx \&Hf Ar filename
.Ss \&Ic
Designate an internal or interactive command.
This is similar to
but used for instructions rather than values.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ic hash
-.D1 \&.Ic alias
+.Dl \&.Ic :wq
+.Dl \&.Ic hash
+.Dl \&.Ic alias
.Pp
Note that using
.Sx \&Bd Fl literal
An
.Dq include
file.
-In the
+When invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
.Em SYNOPSIS
-section (only if invoked as the line macro), the first argument is
-preceded by
+section, the argument is displayed in angle brackets
+and preceded by
.Dq #include ,
-the arguments is enclosed in angle brackets.
+and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
+function declaration.
+This is most often used in section 2, 3, and 9 manual pages.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.In sys/types
+.Dl \&.In sys/types.h
.Pp
See also
.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
.Fl diag
have the following syntax:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Cm args
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar args
.Pp
Lists of type
.Fl bullet ,
list is the most complicated.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Op Cm args
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar cell Op <TAB> Ar cell ...
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar cell Op Sx \&Ta Ar cell ...
.Pp
-The
-.Cm args
-are phrases, a mix of macros and text corresponding to a line column,
-delimited by tabs or the special
-.Sq \&Ta
-pseudo-macro.
-Lines subsequent the
+The arguments consist of one or more lines of text and macros
+representing a complete table line.
+Cells within the line are delimited by tabs or by the special
+.Sx \&Ta
+block macro.
+The tab cell delimiter may only be used within the
.Sx \&It
-are interpreted within the scope of the last phrase.
-Calling the pseudo-macro
-.Sq \&Ta
-will open a new phrase scope (this must occur on a macro line to be
-interpreted as a macro).
-Note that the tab phrase delimiter may only be used within the
+line itself; on following lines, only the
+.Sx \&Ta
+macro can be used to delimit cells, and
+.Sx \&Ta
+is only recognized as a macro when called by other macros,
+not as the first macro on a line.
+.Pp
+Note that quoted strings may span tab-delimited cells on an
.Sx \&It
-line itself.
-Subsequent this, only the
-.Sq \&Ta
-pseudo-macro may be used to delimit phrases.
-Furthermore, note that quoted sections propagate over tab-delimited
-phrases on an
-.Sx \&It ,
-for example,
+line.
+For example,
.Pp
-.D1 .It \(dqcol1 ; <TAB> col2 ;\(dq \&;
+.Dl .It \(dqcol1 ; <TAB> col2 ;\(dq \&;
.Pp
will preserve the semicolon whitespace except for the last.
.Pp
Specify a library.
The syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lb Cm library
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lb Ar library
.Pp
The
-.Cm library
+.Ar library
parameter may be a system library, such as
.Cm libz
or
.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Lb libz
-.D1 \&.Lb mdoc
+.Dl \&.Lb libz
+.Dl \&.Lb mdoc
.Ss \&Li
-Denotes text that should be in a literal font mode.
+Denotes text that should be in a
+.Li literal
+font mode.
Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for
stylistically decorating technical terms.
.Pp
+On terminal output devices, this is often indistinguishable from
+normal text.
+.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bf ,
-.Sx \&Sy ,
+.Sx \&Em ,
+.Sx \&No ,
and
-.Sx \&Em .
+.Sx \&Sy .
.Ss \&Lk
Format a hyperlink.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lk Cm uri Op Cm name
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lk Ar uri Op Ar name
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Lk http://bsd.lv \*qThe BSD.lv Project\*q
-.D1 \&.Lk http://bsd.lv
+.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv \*qThe BSD.lv Project\*q
+.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Mt .
Display a mathematical symbol.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ms Cm symbol
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ms Ar symbol
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ms sigma
-.D1 \&.Ms aleph
+.Dl \&.Ms sigma
+.Dl \&.Ms aleph
.Ss \&Mt
Format a
.Dq mailto:
hyperlink.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Cm address
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Ar address
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv
+.Dl \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv
.Ss \&Nd
A one line description of the manual's content.
This may only be invoked in the
macro.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Sx \&Nd mdoc language reference
-.D1 \&.Sx \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals
+.Dl Pf . Sx \&Nd mdoc language reference
+.Dl Pf . Sx \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals
.Pp
The
.Sx \&Nd
.Sx \&Nm
to mark up the name of the manual page.
.Ss \&No
-A
-.Dq noop
-macro used to terminate prior macro contexts.
+Normal text.
+Closes the scope of any preceding in-line macro.
+When used after physical formatting macros like
+.Sx \&Em
+or
+.Sx \&Sy ,
+switches back to the standard font face and weight.
+Can also be used to embed plain text strings in macro lines
+using semantic annotation macros.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Sx \&Fl ab \&No cd \&Fl ef
+.Dl ".Em italic , Sy bold , No and roman"
+.Pp
+.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
+\&.Sm off
+\&.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /
+\&.Sm on
+.Ed
+.Pp
+See also
+.Sx \&Em ,
+.Sx \&Li ,
+and
+.Sx \&Sy .
.Ss \&Ns
-Suppress a space.
-Following invocation, text is interpreted as free-form text until a
-macro is encountered.
+Suppress a space between the output of the preceding macro
+and the following text or macro.
+Following invocation, input is interpreted as normal text
+just like after an
+.Sx \&No
+macro.
+.Pp
+This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Fl o \&Ns \&Ar output
+.Dl ".Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value"
+.Dl ".Cm :M Ns Ar pattern"
+.Dl ".Fl o Ns Ar output"
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&No
no argument is provided.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Nx 5.01
-.D1 \&.Nx
+.Dl \&.Nx 5.01
+.Dl \&.Nx
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
\&.Oc
.Ed
.Ss \&Op
-Command-line option.
-Used when listing options to command-line utilities.
+Optional part of a command line.
Prints the argument(s) in brackets.
+This is most often used in the
+.Em SYNOPSIS
+section of section 1 and 8 manual pages.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b
-.D1 \&.Op \&Ar a | b
+.Dl \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b
+.Dl \&.Op \&Ar a | b
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Oo .
file.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Os Op Cm system Op Cm version
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Os Op Ar system Op Ar version
.Pp
The optional
-.Cm system
+.Ar system
parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment.
Left unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system version.
This is the suggested form.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Os
-.D1 \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS
-.D1 \&.Os BSD 4.3
+.Dl \&.Os
+.Dl \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS
+.Dl \&.Os BSD 4.3
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Dd
and
.Sx \&Dt .
.Ss \&Ot
-Unknown usage.
+This macro is obsolete and not implemented in
+.Xr mandoc 1 .
.Pp
-.Em Remarks :
-this macro has been deprecated.
+Historical
+.Xr mdoc 7
+packages described it as
+.Dq "old function type (FORTRAN)" .
.Ss \&Ox
Format the
.Ox
if no argument is provided.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ox 4.5
-.D1 \&.Ox
+.Dl \&.Ox 4.5
+.Dl \&.Ox
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
and
.Sx \&Ux .
.Ss \&Pa
-A file-system path.
+An absolute or relative file system path, or a file or directory name.
+If an argument is not provided, the character
+.Sq \(ti
+is used as a default.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc
-.D1 \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7
+.Dl \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc
+.Dl \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Lk .
Close parenthesised context opened by
.Sx \&Po .
.Ss \&Pf
-Removes the space
+Removes the space between its argument
.Pq Dq prefix
-between its arguments.
+and the following macro.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. \&Pf Cm prefix suffix
+.D1 .Pf Ar prefix macro arguments ...
.Pp
-The
-.Cm suffix
-argument may be a macro.
+This is equivalent to:
+.Pp
+.D1 .No Ar prefix No \&Ns Ar macro arguments ...
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Pf \e. \&Sx \&Pf \&Cm prefix suffix
+.Dl ".Pf $ Ar variable_name"
+.Dl ".Pf 0x Ar hex_digits"
+.Pp
+See also
+.Sx \&Ns
+and
+.Sx \&Sm .
.Ss \&Po
Multi-line version of
.Sx \&Pq .
Break a paragraph.
This will assert vertical space between prior and subsequent macros
and/or text.
+.Pp
+Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after
+.Sx \&Sh
+or
+.Sx \&Ss
+macros or before displays
+.Pq Sx \&Bd
+or lists
+.Pq Sx \&Bl
+unless the
+.Fl compact
+flag is given.
.Ss \&Pq
Parenthesised enclosure.
.Pp
.Sx \&Qq .
.Ss \&Qq
Encloses its arguments in
-.Dq typewriter
+.Qq typewriter
double-quotes.
Consider using
.Sx \&Dq .
before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current
line.
.Ss \&Rv
-Inserts text regarding a function call's return value.
-This macro must consist of the
-.Fl std
-argument followed by an optional
-.Ar function .
+Insert a standard sentence regarding a function call's return value of 0
+on success and \-1 on error, with the
+.Va errno
+libc global variable set on error.
+Its syntax is as follows:
+.Pp
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Rv Fl std Op Ar function ...
+.Pp
If
.Ar function
-is not provided, the document's name as stipulated by the first
+is not specified, the document's name set by
.Sx \&Nm
-is provided.
+is used.
+Multiple
+.Ar function
+arguments are treated as separate functions.
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Ex .
.Pp
Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
.Sx \&Sx .
+Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
+may not be linked with
+.Sx \&Sx .
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Pp ,
When switched
.Cm off ,
no white space is inserted between macro arguments and between the
-output generated from adjacent macros, but free-form text lines
+output generated from adjacent macros, but text lines
still get normal spacing between words and sentences.
.Ss \&So
Multi-line version of
.Sx \&Sq .
.Ss \&Sq
Encloses its arguments in
-.Dq typewriter
+.Sq typewriter
single-quotes.
.Pp
See also
and
.Sx \&So .
.Ss \&Ss
-Begin a new sub-section.
+Begin a new subsection.
Unlike with
.Sx \&Sh ,
-there's no convention for sub-sections.
-Conventional sections, as described in
-.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
-rarely have sub-sections.
+there is no convention for the naming of subsections.
+Except
+.Em DESCRIPTION ,
+the conventional sections described in
+.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
+rarely have subsections.
.Pp
Sub-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
.Sx \&Sx .
+Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
+may not be linked with
+.Sx \&Sx .
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Pp ,
.St -xpg4
.It \-xpg4.2
.St -xpg4.2
+.It \-xpg4.3
.St -xpg4.3
.It \-xbd5
.St -xbd5
.St -svid4
.El
.Ss \&Sx
-Reference a section or sub-section.
-The referenced section or sub-section name must be identical to the
+Reference a section or subsection in the same manual page.
+The referenced section or subsection name must be identical to the
enclosed argument, including whitespace.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
+.Dl \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
+.Pp
+See also
+.Sx \&Sh
+and
+.Sx \&Ss .
.Ss \&Sy
Format enclosed arguments in symbolic
.Pq Dq boldface .
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&Bf ,
+.Sx \&Em ,
.Sx \&Li ,
and
-.Sx \&Em .
+.Sx \&No .
+.Ss \&Ta
+Table cell separator in
+.Sx \&Bl Fl column
+lists; can only be used below
+.Sx \&It .
.Ss \&Tn
Format a tradename.
.Pp
+Since this macro is often implemented to use a small caps font,
+it has historically been used for acronyms (like ASCII) as well.
+Such usage is not recommended because it would use the same macro
+sometimes for semantical annotation, sometimes for physical formatting.
+.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Tn IBM
+.Dl \&.Tn IBM
.Ss \&Ud
Prints out
-.Dq currently under development .
+.Dq currently under development.
.Ss \&Ux
Format the UNIX name.
Accepts no argument.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Ux
+.Dl \&.Ux
.Pp
See also
.Sx \&At ,
A variable name.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Va foo
-.D1 \&.Va const char *bar ;
+.Dl \&.Va foo
+.Dl \&.Va const char *bar ;
.Ss \&Vt
A variable type.
This is also used for indicating global variables in the
section, in which case a variable name is also specified.
Note that it accepts
.Sx Block partial-implicit
-syntax when invoked as the first macro in the
+syntax when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
.Em SYNOPSIS
section, else it accepts ordinary
.Sx In-line
syntax.
+In the former case, this macro starts a new output line,
+and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
+function definition or include directive.
.Pp
Note that this should not be confused with
.Sx \&Ft ,
which is used for function return types.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Vt unsigned char
-.D1 \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;
+.Dl \&.Vt unsigned char
+.Dl \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;
.Pp
See also
.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
Close a scope opened by
.Sx \&Xo .
.Ss \&Xo
-Open an extension scope.
-This macro originally existed to extend the 9-argument limit of troff;
-since this limit has been lifted, the macro has been deprecated.
+Extend the header of an
+.Sx \&It
+macro or the body of a partial-implicit block macro
+beyond the end of the input line.
+This macro originally existed to work around the 9-argument limit
+of historic
+.Xr roff 7 .
.Ss \&Xr
Link to another manual
.Pq Qq cross-reference .
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Xr Cm name section
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Xr Ar name section
.Pp
The
-.Cm name
+.Ar name
and
-.Cm section
+.Ar section
are the name and section of the linked manual.
If
-.Cm section
+.Ar section
is followed by non-punctuation, an
.Sx \&Ns
is inserted into the token stream.
GNU troff.
.Pp
Examples:
-.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1
-.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;
-.D1 \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour
+.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1
+.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;
+.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour
.Ss \&br
Emits a line-break.
This macro should not be used; it is implemented for compatibility with
historical manuals.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&sp Op Cm height
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&sp Op Ar height
.Pp
The
-.Cm height
+.Ar height
argument must be formatted as described in
.Sx Scaling Widths .
If unspecified,
.Pq Qq groff .
The term
.Qq historic groff
-refers to groff versions before the
+refers to groff versions before 1.17,
+which featured a significant update of the
.Pa doc.tmac
-file re-write
-.Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 .
+file.
.Pp
Heirloom troff, the other significant troff implementation accepting
\-mdoc, is similar to historic groff.
.Pp
.Bl -dash -compact
.It
+Display macros
+.Po
+.Sx \&Bd ,
+.Sx \&Dl ,
+and
+.Sx \&D1
+.Pc
+may not be nested.
+\*[hist]
+.It
.Sx \&At
with unknown arguments produces no output at all.
\*[hist]
.Qq AT&T UNIX
and the arguments.
.It
-.Sx \&Bd Fl column
+.Sx \&Bl Fl column
does not recognize trailing punctuation characters when they immediately
precede tabulator characters, but treats them as normal text and
outputs a space before them.
\*[hist]
.It
.Sx \&Dd
-without an argument prints
-.Dq Epoch .
-In mandoc, it resolves to the current date.
+with non-standard arguments behaves very strangely.
+When there are three arguments, they are printed verbatim.
+Any other number of arguments is replaced by the current date,
+but without any arguments the string
+.Dq Epoch
+is printed.
.It
.Sx \&Fl
does not print a dash for an empty argument.
lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.
.It
.Sx \&Li
-followed by a reserved character is incorrectly used in some manuals
+followed by a delimiter is incorrectly used in some manuals
instead of properly quoting that character, which sometimes works with
historic groff.
.It
.Sx \&%C
is not implemented.
.It
+Historic groff only allows up to eight or nine arguments per macro input
+line, depending on the exact situation.
+Providing more arguments causes garbled output.
+The number of arguments on one input line is not limited with mandoc.
+.It
Historic groff has many un-callable macros.
Most of these (excluding some block-level macros) are callable
in new groff and mandoc.
.Pq string length ,
.Sq \ek
.Pq horizontal position marker ,
+.Sq \eo
+.Pq text overstrike ,
and
.Sq \es
.Pq text size
This is not supported by mandoc.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
+.Xr man 1 ,
.Xr mandoc 1 ,
-.Xr mandoc_char 7
+.Xr eqn 7 ,
+.Xr man 7 ,
+.Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
+.Xr roff 7 ,
+.Xr tbl 7
.Sh HISTORY
The
.Nm
The
.Nm
reference was written by
-.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@bsd.lv .
+.An Kristaps Dzonsons ,
+.Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
git.ckatri.com / mandoc.git / blobdiff