Made per-macro "now callable" COMPATIBILITY claims into a single "most macros callable".

[mandoc.git] / man.7

diff --git a/man.7 b/man.7
index 6ce607caff957dd58ea968ae0b23646cfd30d042..e9dd35d918a570562d164b129cc0ce4e511bd6de 100644 (file)
--- a/man.7
+++ b/man.7
@@ -1,23 +1,21 @@
-.\" $Id: man.7,v 1.4 2009/03/26 16:23:22 kristaps Exp $
+.\"    $Id: man.7,v 1.12 2009/06/11 07:26:35 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 11 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
@@ -53,10 +49,6 @@ prior macros:
 \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
 Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
 .Ed
-.\" PARAGRAPH
-.Pp
-Macros are character sequences whose structural rules are described
-later in this document.
 .\" SECTION
 .Sh INPUT ENCODING
 .Nm
@@ -64,10 +56,11 @@ documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters and the
 space character
 .Sq \  .
 All manuals must have
+.Ux
 .Sq \en
 line termination.  
 .Pp
-Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will also assert a
+Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
 vertical space.
 .Pp
 The
@@ -91,10 +84,6 @@ 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
@@ -135,25 +124,15 @@ 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 foo
-.Ed
-.Pp
-and
-.Bd -literal -offset indent 
-\&.RI 
-foo
-.Ed
-.Pp
-are equivalent.  If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,
-an error is raised.  Thus, the following is acceptable:
 .Bd -literal -offset indent 
 \&.RI 
-\&.I Hello, world.
 foo
 .Ed
 .Pp
-The following, however, is not:
+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 
@@ -162,13 +141,13 @@ Hello, world.
 .Pp
 The
 .Sq \&.TP
-macro has similar behaviour, but does not need an empty argument line in
-order to trigger scope.
+macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger
+the behaviour.
 .\" PARAGRAPH
 .Sh MACROS
 This section contains a complete list of all 
 .Nm
-macros, arranged alphabetically, with the number of arguments.
+macros and corresponding number of arguments.
 .Pp
 .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
 .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments
@@ -193,15 +172,30 @@ macros, arranged alphabetically, with the 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