Modernised comment handling: text following \" is thrown away before

[mandoc.git] / man.7

diff --git a/man.7 b/man.7
index df1875233d093c2da8d213743520bcbbc8082561..fa473867a37806edd413098f260726710cf2d912 100644 (file)
--- a/man.7
+++ b/man.7
@@ -1,23 +1,21 @@
-.\" $Id: man.7,v 1.5 2009/03/26 23:01:26 kristaps Exp $
+.\"    $Id: man.7,v 1.13 2009/06/16 19:13:28 kristaps Exp $
 .\"
-.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@openbsd.org>
+.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
 .\"
 .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
-.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
-.\" above copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all
-.\" copies.
+.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
+.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
 .\"
-.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL
-.\" WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED
-.\" WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
-.\" AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
-.\" DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
-.\" PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
-.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
-.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
-.\" 
-.Dd $Mdocdate: March 26 2009 $
-.Dt man 7
+.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
+.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
+.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
+.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
+.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
+.\" 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 16 2009 $
+.Dt MAN 7
 .Os
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh NAME
@@ -29,12 +27,10 @@ The
 .Nm man
 language was historically used to format 
 .Ux
-manuals.  In this reference document, we describe the syntax and
-structure of the 
-.Nm
-language.
+manuals.  This reference document describes the syntax and structure of
+this language.
 .Pp
-.Em \&Do not ever
+.Em \&Do not
 use 
 .Nm
 to write your manuals.  Use the
@@ -74,6 +70,16 @@ escape is common in historical
 documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the
 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
+itself has been escaped) and is ignored to the end of line.
+Furthermore, a macro line with only a control character
+.Sq \. ,
+optionally followed by whitespace, is ignored.
+.\" SUB-SECTION
 .Ss Special Characters
 Special character sequences begin with the escape character
 .Sq \e
@@ -88,10 +94,6 @@ or a single one-character sequence.
 Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,
 .Sq \e* ,
 with the same combinations as described above.  This form is deprecated.  
-.Pp
-The 
-.Xr mdoc 7
-contains a table of all available escapes.
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh STRUCTURE
 Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
@@ -138,7 +140,7 @@ foo
 .Ed
 .Pp
 is equivalent to 
-.Sq \&.RI foo .  
+.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 
@@ -180,15 +182,30 @@ macros and corresponding number of arguments.
 .It \&.IR    Ta    n
 .It \&.RI    Ta    n
 .El
+.Pp
+Although not historically part of the
+.Nm
+system, the following macros are also supported:
+.Pp
+.Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
+.It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments
+.It \&.br    Ta    0
+.It \&.i     Ta    n
+.El
+.Pp
+These follow the same calling conventions as the above
+.Nm
+macros.
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh SEE ALSO
-.Xr mandoc 1
+.Xr mandoc 1 ,
+.Xr mandoc_char 7
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh AUTHORS
 The
 .Nm
 utility was written by 
-.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@openbsd.org .
+.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh CAVEATS
 Do not use this language.  Use