-.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.174 2011/01/04 23:32:21 kristaps Exp $
+.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.185 2011/04/06 11:39:25 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: January 4 2011 $
+.Dd $Mdocdate: April 6 2011 $
.Dt MDOC 7
.Os
.Sh NAME
.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:
+Text lines, those 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.
+.Pp
+If the first character of a text line is a space, that line is printed
+with a leading newline.
.Ss Comments
Text following a
.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 ,
is also ignored.
Macro lines with only a control character and optional whitespace are
stripped from input.
-.Ss Reserved Characters
-Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:
+.Ss Reserved Terms
+Within a macro line, the following terms are reserved:
.Pp
.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
.It \&.
.Pq period
+.It \e.
+.Pq escaped period
.It \&,
.Pq comma
.It \&:
.Pq exclamation
.It \&|
.Pq vertical bar
+.It \e*(Ba
+.Pq reserved-word vertical bar
.El
.Pp
-Use of reserved characters is described in
+Use of reserved terms 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.
+For general use in macro lines, these can be escaped with a non-breaking
+space
+.Pq Sq \e& .
+In text lines, these may be used as normal punctuation.
.Ss Special Characters
-Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
+Special characters may occur in both macro and text lines.
Sequences begin with the escape character
.Sq \e
followed by either an open-parenthesis
.Pp
A numerical representation 3, 2, or 1 (bold, italic, and Roman,
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
.Em not
.Pq vertical bar .
.Ss Whitespace
Whitespace consists of the space character.
-In free-form lines, whitespace is preserved within a line; unescaped
+In text 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
+Blank text lines, which may include whitespace, are only permitted
within literal contexts.
.Pp
In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded.
\&.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:
By doing so, front-ends 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
-.Dl \&Xr mandoc 1 \.
-.Dl \&Fl T \&Ns \&Cm ascii \.
+.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&.
+.Dl \&.Fl T \&Ns \&Cm ascii \&.
.Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
A well-formed
.Nm
\&.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:
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
.El
.Ss Block partial-implicit
Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by
-.Sx Reserved Characters
+.Sx Reserved Terms
or end of line.
.Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
.Sx In-line .
.Ss In-line
Closed by
-.Sx Reserved Characters ,
+.Sx Reserved Terms ,
end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros.
In-line macros have only text children.
If a number (or inequality) of arguments is
.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
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
.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
.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.
+Line breaks in text lines are unaffected.
The syntax is as follows:
.Pp
.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Bk Fl words
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:
.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
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
If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output.
.Pp
Examples:
-.Dl \&.Fn "int funcname" "int arg0" "int arg1"
-.Dl \&.Fn funcname "int arg0"
+.Dl \&.Fn \*qint funcname\*q \*qint arg0\*q \*qint arg1\*q
+.Dl \&.Fn funcname \*qint arg0\*q
.Dl \&.Fn funcname arg0
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Ft functype
.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 function type.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Cm functype
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype
.Pp
Examples:
.Dl \&.Ft int
.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 ,
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
+.Ar libz
or
-.Cm libpam ,
+.Ar libpam ,
in which case a small library description is printed next to the linker
invocation; or a custom library, in which case the library name is
printed in quotes.
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:
.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv \*qThe BSD.lv Project\*q
Display a mathematical symbol.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ms Cm symbol
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ms Ar symbol
.Pp
Examples:
.Dl \&.Ms sigma
hyperlink.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Cm address
+.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Ar address
.Pp
Examples:
.Dl \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv
Following invocation, text is interpreted as free-form text until a
macro is encountered.
.Pp
+This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.
+.Pp
Examples:
.Dl \&.Fl o \&Ns \&Ar output
.Pp
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.
between its arguments.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Pp
-.D1 Pf \. \&Pf Cm prefix suffix
+.D1 Pf \. \&Pf Ar prefix suffix
.Pp
The
-.Cm suffix
+.Ar suffix
argument may be a macro.
.Pp
Examples:
-.Dl \&.Pf \e. \&Sx \&Pf \&Cm prefix suffix
+.Dl \&.Pf \e. \&Sx \&Pf \&Ar prefix suffix
.Ss \&Po
Multi-line version of
.Sx \&Pq .
.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Sm Cm on | off
.Pp
By default, spacing is
-.Cm on .
+.Ar on .
When switched
-.Cm off ,
+.Ar 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
.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.
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,
\*[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.
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr man 1 ,
.Xr mandoc 1 ,
+.Xr eqn 7 ,
.Xr man 7 ,
.Xr mandoc_char 7
.Xr roff 7 ,
git.ckatri.com / mandoc.git / blobdiff