-.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.4 2009/03/14 05:21:58 kristaps Exp $
+.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.21 2009/04/12 19:30:45 kristaps Exp $
.\"
-.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
+.\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@openbsd.org>
.\"
.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the
.\" TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
.\" PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
.\"
-.Dd $Mdocdate: March 14 2009 $
-.Dt mdoc 7
+.Dd $Mdocdate: April 12 2009 $
+.Dt MDOC 7
.Os
.\" SECTION
.Sh NAME
.Nm mdoc
-.Nd mdoc macro reference
+.Nd mdoc language reference
.\" SECTION
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
language is used to format
.Bx
.Ux
-manuals. An
+manuals. In this reference document, we describe the syntax, ontology
+and structure of the
+.Nm
+language.
+.\" PARAGRAPH
+.Pp
+An
.Nm
document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control
-character
+character
.Sq \.
are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
-prior macros. This document describes the encoding, ontology and syntax
-of these macros.
+prior macros:
+.Bd -literal -offset XXX
+\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.
+Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
+.Ed
.\" SECTION
-.Sh CHARACTER ENCODING
+.Sh INPUT ENCODING
.Nm
-documents may contain only printable alphanumeric characters, the space
+documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space
character
.Sq \ ,
and, in certain circumstances, the tab character
.Sq \et .
All manuals must have
.Sq \en
-line termination.
+line termination.
+.Pp
+The only time a blank line is acceptable is within
+the context of
+.Sq \&.Bd \-literal
+or
+.Sq \&.Bd \-unfilled .
+.Pp
+Tab characters
+.Pq \et
+are only acceptable when delimiting
+.Sq \&.Bl \-column
+and in
+.Sq \&.Bd \-literal
+or
+.Sq \&.Bd \-unfilled
+contexts.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Reserved Characters
Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved:
.It \&?
.Pq question
.It \&!
-.Pq exclmamation
+.Pq exclamation
.El
+.\" PARAGRAPH
.Pp
-Use of these characters must either be escaped with a non-breaking space
-.Pq Sq \e&
-or, if applicable, an appropriate escape-sequence used. Use of reserved
-characters is described in
+Use of reserved characters is described in
.Sx Closure .
+For general non-reserved use, characters must either be escaped with a
+non-breaking space
+.Pq Sq \e&
+or, if applicable, an appropriate escape-sequence used.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Special Characters
Special character sequences begin with the escape character
-.Sq \\
+.Sq \e
followed by either an open-parenthesis
.Sq \&(
for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
or a single one-character sequence.
.Pp
Characters may alternatively be escaped by a slash-asterisk,
-.Sq \\* ,
+.Sq \e* ,
with the same combinations as described above. This form is deprecated.
-.Pp
-The following is a table of all available escapes.
-.Pp
-Grammatic:
-.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
-.It \\(em
-.Pq em-dash
-.It \\(en
-.Pq en-dash
-.It \e-
-.Pq hyphen
-.It \\\\
-.Pq back-slash
-.It \e'
-.Pq apostrophe
-.It \e`
-.Pq back-tick
-.It \\
-.Pq space
-.It \\.
-.Pq period
-.El
-.\" PARAGRAPH
-.Pp
-Enclosures:
-.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
-.It \\(rC
-.Pq right brace
-.It \\(lC
-.Pq left brace
-.It \\(ra
-.Pq right angle
-.It \\(la
-.Pq left angle
-.It \\(rB
-.Pq right bracket
-.It \\(lB
-.Pq left bracket
-.It \\q
-.Pq double-quote
-.It \\(lq
-.Pq left double-quote
-.It \\(Lq
-.Pq left double-quote, deprecated
-.It \\(rq
-.Pq right double-quote
-.It \\(Rq
-.Pq right double-quote, deprecated
-.It \\(oq
-.Pq left single-quote
-.It \\(aq
-.Pq right single-quote
-.El
-.\" PARAGRAPH
-.Pp
-Indicatives:
-.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
-.It \\(<-
-.Pq left arrow
-.It \\(->
-.Pq right arrow
-.It \\(ua
-.Pq up arrow
-.It \\(da
-.Pq down arrow
-.El
-.\" PARAGRAPH
-.Pp
-Mathematical:
-.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
-.It \\(Gt
-.Pq greater-than, deprecated
-.It \\(Lt
-.Pq less-than, deprecated
-.It \\(<=
-.Pq less-than-equal
-.It \\(Le
-.Pq less-than-equal, deprecated
-.It \\(>=
-.Pq greater-than-equal
-.It \\(Ge
-.Pq greater-than-equal
-.It \\(==
-.Pq equal
-.It \\(!=
-.Pq not equal
-.It \\(Ne
-.Pq not equal, deprecated
-.It \\(if
-.Pq infinity
-.It \\(If
-.Pq infinity, deprecated
-.It \\(na
-.Pq NaN , an extension
-.It \\(Na
-.Pq NaN, deprecated
-.It \\(+-
-.Pq plus-minus
-.It \\(Pm
-.Pq plus-minus, deprecated
-.It \\(**
-.Pq asterisk
-.El
-.\" PARAGRAPH
-.Pp
-Diacritics:
-.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
-.It \\(ga
-.Pq accent grave
-.It \\(aa
-.Pq accent accute
-.El
-.\" PARAGRAPH
-.Pp
-Special symbols:
-.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset "XXXX" -compact
-.It \\(bu
-.Pq bullet
-.It \\(ba
-.Pq bar
-.It \\(Ba
-.Pq bar, deprecated
-.It \\(co
-.Pq copyright
-.It \\&
-.Pq non-breaking space
-.It \\e
-.Pq escape
-.It \\(Am
-.Pq ampersand, deprecated
-.El
.\" SECTION
-.Sh ONTOLOGY
-Macros are classified in an ontology described by scope rules.
+.Sh STRUCTURE
+Macros are classified in an ontology described by their scope rules.
+Some macros are allowed to deviate from their classifications to
+preserve backward-compatibility with old macro combinations still found
+in the manual corpus. These are specifically noted on a per-macro
+basis.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Scope
.Bl -inset
.Bl -inset -offset XXXX
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It Em Full-block
-macros always span multiple lines. They consist optionally of one or
+macros always span multiple lines. They consist of zero or
more
.Qq heads ,
-subsequent macros or text on the same line following invocation; a
+subsequent macros or text on the same line following invocation; an
+optional
.Qq body ,
which spans subsequent lines of text or macros; and an optional
.Qq tail ,
macros or text on the same line following closure.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It Em Partial-block
-macros may span multiple lines. They consists optionally of a
+macros may span multiple lines. They consists of a optional
.Qq head ,
text immediately following invocation; always a
.Qq body ,
macro. In general, scope of the macro is closed and re-opened:
subsequent tokens are interpreted as if the scope had just been opened.
In other circumstances, scope is simply closed out.
-.\" .\" SUB-SECTION
-.\" .Ss Examples
-.\" The following examples illustrate each macro classification.
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Implicit full-block. Has head, body and no tail. Scope closed by
-.\" second
-.\" .Sq \&Sh
-.\" invocation.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-.\" \&.Sh SECTION 1
-.\" body...
-.\" \&.Sh SECTION 2
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Nested implicit full-block, where the subsection
-.\" .Sq \&Ss
-.\" is within the scope of the parent section
-.\" .Sq \&Sh
-.\" and closed along with its parent by the subsequent
-.\" .Sq \&Sh .
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-.\" \&.Sh SECTION 1
-.\" \&.Ss Subsection 1
-.\" body...
-.\" \&.Sh SECTION 2
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Explicit full-block. Has a head, a body and no tail. Scope closed by
-.\" .Sq \&Ef
-.\" invocation.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-.\" \&.Bf symbolic
-.\" body...
-.\" \&.Ef
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Nested explicit/implicit scope.
-.\" .Sq \&It
-.\" macro is an implicit block whose scope is closed by the explicit
-.\" .Sq \&El
-.\" closure.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-.\" \&.Bl \-bullet
-.\" \&.It head
-.\" body...
-.\" \&.El
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Explicit partial-block. Has head, body and tail. Scope closed by
-.\" .Sq \&Ec
-.\" invocation.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX
-.\" \&.Eo head body... \&Ec tail
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Implicit partial-block. Has only body. Scope is closed by end-of-line.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX
-.\" \&.Sq body...
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Explicit partial-block with only body and scope closed by
-.\" .Sq \&Ac
-.\" invocation.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-.\" \&.Ao body... \&Ac
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Implicit partial-block enclosing explicit partial-block.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXX
-.\" \&.Sq body... \&Ao body... \&Ac
-.\" .Ed
-.\" .\" PARAGRAPH
-.\" .Pp
-.\" Inline macros, several in sequence. Scope is closed for
-.\" .Sq \&Fl
-.\" by the punctuation delimiter and
-.\" .Sq \&Ar
-.\" by the end-of-line.
-.\" .Bd -literal -offset XXXX
-.\" \&.Fl text0 text1 ; Ar text0 text1
-.\" .Ed
.\" SECTION
.Sh SYNTAX
-Macros are generally two and at times three characters in length. The
-syntax of macro invocation depends on its classification.
+Macros are two or three characters in length. The syntax of macro
+invocation depends on its classification.
.Qq \-arg
refers to the macro arguments (which may contain zero or more values).
In these illustrations,
.Nm
macros, arranged ontologically. A
.Qq callable
-macro is may be invoked subsequent to the initial macro-line macro. A
+macro is invoked subsequent to the initial macro-line macro. A
.Qq parsable
macro may be followed by further (ostensibly callable) macros.
.\" SUB-SECTION
subsequent lines prior to closure. None of these macros have tails;
some
.Po
-.Sq \&It \-bullet ,
+.Sq \&.It \-bullet ,
.Sq \-hyphen ,
.Sq \-dash ,
.Sq \-enum ,
.It \&.Dl Ta \&No Ta Yes
.It \&.Ql Ta Yes Ta Yes
.El
+.\" PARAGRAPH
+.Pp
+The
+.Sq \&.Op
+may be broken by
+.Sq \&.Oc
+as in the following example:
+.Bd -literal -offset XXXX
+\&.Oo
+\&.Op Fl a Oc
+.Ed
+.Pp
+In the above example, the scope of
+.Sq \&.Op
+is technically broken by
+.Sq \&.Oc ,
+however, due to the overwhelming existence of this sequence, it's
+allowed.
.\" SUB-SECTION
.Ss Block partial-explicit
Each of these contains at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a
head
-.Pq So \&Fo Sc , So \&Eo Sc
+.Pq So \&.Fo Sc , So \&.Eo Sc
and/or tail
-.Pq So \&Ec Sc .
+.Pq So \&.Ec Sc .
.Pp
.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset XXXX
.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope
.It \&.Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Cd Ta Yes Ta \&No Ta >0
.It \&.Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
-.It \&.Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It \&.Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
-.It \&.Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It \&.Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
-.It \&.Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It \&.Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
.It \&.Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It \&.Ft Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It \&.In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
-.It \&.Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It \&.Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
.It \&.Nm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Ot Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
.It \&.Pa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Rv Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It \&.St Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1
-.It \&.Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It \&.Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It \&.Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0, <3
.It \&.%A Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0
.It \&.Sy Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It \&.Tn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
.It \&.Ux Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
+.It \&.Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
.It \&.Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It \&.Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
.It \&.Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n
.It \&.Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.It \&.Lk Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0
.It \&.Mt Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta >0
+.It \&.Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
+.It \&.En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0
.El
+.Pp
+The
+.Sq \&.Ot ,
+.Sq \&.Fr ,
+.Sq \&.Es
+and
+.Sq \&.En ,
+macros are obsolete.
.\" SECTION
.Sh COMPATIBILITY
The mdoc language was traditionally a
.Bl -dash -compact
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It
-.Sq \&It \-nested
+.Sq \&.Fo
+and
+.Sq \&.St
+historically weren't always callable. Both are now correctly callable.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+.Sq \&.It \-nested
is assumed for all lists: any list may be nested and
.Sq \-enum
lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It
-.Sq \&It \-column
-syntax where column widths may be preceeded by other arguments (instead
+.Sq \&.It \-column
+syntax where column widths may be preceded by other arguments (instead
of proceeded) is not supported.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It
The
-.Sq \&At
+.Sq \&.At
macro only accepts a single parameter.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It
The system-name macros (
-.Ns Sq \&At ,
-.Sq \&Bsx ,
-.Sq \&Bx ,
-.Sq \&Fx ,
-.Sq \&Nx ,
-.Sq \&Ox ,
+.Ns Sq \&.At ,
+.Sq \&.Bsx ,
+.Sq \&.Bx ,
+.Sq \&.Fx ,
+.Sq \&.Nx ,
+.Sq \&.Ox ,
and
-.Sq \&Ux )
+.Sq \&.Ux )
are callable.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It
Some manuals use
-.Sq \&Li
+.Sq \&.Li
incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the
delimiter to render. This is not supported.
.\" LIST-ITEM
.It
-.Sq \&Cd
+.Sq \&.Cd
is callable.
.El
.\" SECTION
.Sh SEE ALSO
-.Xr mdoctree 1 ,
-.Xr mdoclint 1 ,
-.Xr mdocterm 1 ,
-.Xr mdoc 3
+.Xr mandoc 1 ,
+.Xr mandoc_char 7
.\" SECTION
.Sh AUTHORS
The
.Nm
utility was written by
-.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
+.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@openbsd.org .
+.\" SECTION
+.Sh CAVEATS
+There are several ambiguous parts of mdoc.
+.Pp
+.Bl -dash -compact
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+.Sq \&.Fa
+should be
+.Sq \&.Va
+as function arguments are variables.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+.Sq \&.Ft
+should be
+.Sq \&.Vt
+as function return types are still types. Furthermore, the
+.Sq \&.Ft
+should be removed and
+.Sq \&.Fo ,
+which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same convention as
+.Sq \&.Va .
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+.Sq \&.Va
+should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a
+variable name and optional, preceding type.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+.Sq \&.Fd
+is ambiguous. It's commonly used to indicate an include file in the
+synopsis section.
+.Sq \&.In
+should be used, instead.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+Only the
+.Sq \-literal
+argument to
+.Sq \&.Bd
+makes sense. The remaining ones should be removed.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+The
+.Sq \&.Xo
+and
+.Sq \&.Xc
+macros should be deprecated.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+The
+.Sq \&.Dt
+macro lacks clarity. It should be absolutely clear which title will
+render when formatting the manual page.
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+A
+.Sq \&.Lx
+should be provided for Linux (\(`a la
+.Sq \&.Ox ,
+.Sq \&.Nx
+etc.).
+.\" LIST-ITEM
+.It
+There's no way to refer to references in
+.Sq \&.Rs/.Re
+blocks.
+.El
git.ckatri.com / mandoc.git / blobdiff