-.\" $Id: man.7,v 1.4 2009/03/26 16:23:22 kristaps Exp $
+.\" $Id: man.7,v 1.19 2009/07/14 15:56:44 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: July 14 2009 $
+.Dt MAN 7
.Os
.\" SECTION
.Sh NAME
.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 its syntax, structure, and
+usage.
.Pp
-.Em \&Do not ever
-use
+.Bf Em
+Do not use
.Nm
-to write your manuals. Use the
+to write your manuals.
+.Ef
+Use the
.Xr mdoc 7
language, instead.
.\" PARAGRAPH
\&.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
-documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters and the
-space character
-.Sq \ .
-All manuals must have
-.Sq \en
+documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
+space character, and the tabs character. All manuals must have
+.Ux
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
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
.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
-The
-.Xr mdoc 7
-contains a table of all available escapes.
+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
control character ,
.Sq \&. ,
.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
.Pp
The
.Sq \&.TP
-macro has similar behaviour, but does not need an empty argument line in
-order to trigger scope.
-.\" PARAGRAPH
+macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger
+the behaviour.
+.\" SECTION
.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
.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 COMPATIBILITY
+See
+.Xr mdoc 7
+for groff compatibility notes.
.\" 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
git.ckatri.com / mandoc.git / blobdiff