1GROFFER(1)                  General Commands Manual                 GROFFER(1)
2
3
4

NAME

6       groffer - display groff files and man pages on X and tty
7

SYNOPSIS

9       groffer [--] [filespec ....]
10
11       groffer [mode-option ....]  [groff-options ....]  [man-options ....]
12               [X-options ....]  [--] [filespec ....]
13
14       groffer -h | --help
15
16       groffer -v | --version
17

DESCRIPTION

19       The groffer program is the easiest way to use groff(1).  It can display
20       arbitrary  documents  written  in  the groff language, see groff(7), or
21       other roff languages, see roff(7), that are compatible to the  original
22       troff  language.   It finds and runs all necessary groff preprocessors,
23       such as chem.
24
25       The groffer program also includes many of the features for finding  and
26       displaying  the Unix manual pages (man pages), such that it can be used
27       as a replacement for a man(1) program.  Moreover, compressed files that
28       can be handled by gzip(1) or bzip2(1) are decompressed on-the-fly.
29
30       The  normal usage is quite simple by supplying a file name or name of a
31       man page without further options.  But the  option  handling  has  many
32       possibilities  for creating special behaviors.  This can be done either
33       in  configuration  files,   with   the   shell   environment   variable
34       $GROFFER_OPT, or on the command line.
35
36       The output can be generated and viewed in several different ways avail‐
37       able for groff.   This  includes  the  groff  native  X  Window  viewer
38       gxditview(1), each Postcript, pdf, or dvi display program, a web brows‐
39       er by generating html in www mode, or several text modes in text termi‐
40       nals.
41
42       Most  of the options that must be named when running groff directly are
43       determined automatically for groffer, due to the internal usage of  the
44       grog(1)  program.  But all parts can also be controlled manually by ar‐
45       guments.
46
47       Several file names can be specified  on  the  command  line  arguments.
48       They are transformed into a single document in the normal way of groff.
49
50       Option  handling  is  done in GNU style.  Options and file names can be
51       mixed freely.  The option `--' closes the option handling, all  follow‐
52       ing  arguments are treated as file names.  Long options can be abbrevi‐
53       ated in several ways.
54

OPTION OVERVIEW

56       breaking options
57
58               [-h | --help] [-v | --version]
59
60       groffer mode options
61
62               [--auto] [--default] [--default-modes mode1,mode2,....]
63               [--dvi] [--groff] [--html] [--latin1] [--mode display_mode]
64               [--pdf] [--pdf2] [--ps] [--source] [--text] [--to-stdout]
65               [--tty] [--utf8] [--viewer prog] [--www] [--x | --X]
66
67       options related to groff
68
69               [-T | --device device] [-Z | --intermediate-output | --ditroff]
70
71              All further groff short options are accepted.
72
73       options for man pages
74
75               [--apropos] [--apropos-data] [--apropos-devel]
76               [--apropos-progs] [--man] [--no-man] [--no-special] [--whatis]
77
78       long options taken over from GNU man
79
80               [--all] [--ascii] [--ditroff] [--extension suffix]
81               [--locale language] [--local-file] [--location | --where]
82               [--manpath dir1:dir2:....]  [--no-location] [--pager program]
83               [--sections sec1:sec2:....]  [--systems sys1,sys2,....]
84               [--troff-device device]
85
86              Further long options of GNU man are accepted as well.
87
88       X Window Toolkit options
89
90               [--bd | --bordercolor pixels] [--bg | --background color]
91               [--bw | --borderwidth pixels] [--display X-display]
92               [--fg | --foreground color] [--fn | --ft | --font font_name]
93               [--geometry size_pos] [--resolution value] [--rv]
94               [--title string] [--xrm X-resource]
95
96       options for development
97
98               [--debug] [--debug-filenames] [--debug-grog] [--debug-keep]
99               [--debug-params] [--debug-tmpdir] [--do-nothing] [--print text]
100               [-V]
101
102       filespec arguments
103
104              The filespec parameters are all arguments that  are  neither  an
105              option nor an option argument.  They usually mean a file name or
106              a man page searching scheme.
107
108              In the following, the term section_extension is used.  It  means
109              a  word  that  consists of a man section that is optionally fol‐
110              lowed by an extension.  The name of a man section  is  a  single
111              character  from [1–9on], the extension is some word.  The exten‐
112              sion is mostly lacking.
113
114              No filespec parameters means standard input.
115
116              -         stands for standard input (can occur several times).
117
118              filename  the path name of an existing file.
119
120              man:name(section_extension)
121              man:name.section_extension
122              name(section_extension)
123              name.section_extension
124              section_extension name
125                        search the man page name in the section with  optional
126                        extension section_extension.
127
128              man:name  man page in the lowest man section that has name.
129
130              name      if  name  is  not  an  existing  file  search  for the
131                        man page name in the lowest man section.
132

OPTION DETAILS

134       The groffer program can usually be run with very few options.  But  for
135       special purposes, it supports many options.  These can be classified in
136       5 option classes.
137
138       All short options of groffer are compatible with the short  options  of
139       groff(1).   All  long  options  of groffer are compatible with the long
140       options of man(1).
141
142       Arguments for long option names can be  abbreviated  in  several  ways.
143       First, the argument is checked whether it can be prolonged as is.  Fur‐
144       thermore, each minus sign - is considered as a starting point for a new
145       abbreviation.  This leads to a set of multiple abbreviations for a sin‐
146       gle argument.  For example, --de-n-f can be used as an abbreviation for
147       --debug-not-func, but --de-n works as well.  If the abbreviation of the
148       argument leads to several resulting options an error is raised.
149
150       These abbreviations  are  only  allowed  in  the  environment  variable
151       $GROFFER_OPT,  but  not  in the configuration files.  In configuration,
152       all long options must be exact.
153
154   groffer breaking Options
155       As soon as one of these options is found on the command line it is exe‐
156       cuted,  printed  to  standard output, and the running groffer is termi‐
157       nated thereafter.  All other arguments are ignored.
158
159       -h | --help
160              Print help information with a short explanation  of  options  to
161              standard output.
162
163       -v | --version
164              Print version information to standard output.
165
166   groffer Mode Options
167       The  display  mode  and  the  viewer  programs  are determined by these
168       options.  If none of these mode and viewer options is specified groffer
169       tries to find a suitable display mode automatically.  The default modes
170       are mode pdf, mode ps, mode html, mode x, and mode dvi in X Window with
171       different  viewers and mode tty with device utf8 under less on a termi‐
172       nal; other modes are tested if the programs for the main  default  mode
173       do not exist.
174
175       In  X  Window,  many  programs  create  their  own  window when called.
176       groffer can run these viewers as an independent program  in  the  back‐
177       ground.   As  this does not work in text mode on a terminal (tty) there
178       must be a way to know which viewers are X  Window  graphical  programs.
179       The groffer script has a small set of information on some viewer names.
180       If a viewer argument of the command-line chooses  an  element  that  is
181       kept  as  X  Window program in this list it is treated as a viewer that
182       can run in the background.  All other, unknown viewer calls are not run
183       in the background.
184
185       For  each  mode, you are free to choose whatever viewer you want.  That
186       need not be some graphical viewer suitable for this mode.  There  is  a
187       chance  to  view the output source; for example, the combination of the
188       options --mode=ps and --viewer=less shows the content of the Postscript
189       output, the source code, with the pager less.
190
191       --auto Equivalent to --mode=auto.
192
193       --default
194              Reset  all  configuration from previously processed command line
195              options to the default values.  This is useful to wipe  out  all
196              former  options  of  the  configuration,  in  $GROFFER_OPT,  and
197              restart option processing using only the  rest  of  the  command
198              line.
199
200       --default-modes mode1,mode2,....
201              Set  the  sequence of modes for auto mode to the comma separated
202              list given in the argument.  See --mode for  details  on  modes.
203              Display  in  the default manner; actually, this means to try the
204              modes x, ps, and tty in this sequence.
205
206       --dvi  Equivalent to --mode=dvi.
207       --viewer prog
208              Choose a viewer program for dvi mode.  This can be a  file  name
209              or  a program to be searched in $PATH.  Known X Window dvi view‐
210              ers include xdvi(1) and dvilx(1).  In each case,  arguments  can
211              be provided additionally.
212
213       --groff
214              Equivalent to --mode=groff.
215
216       --html Equivalent to --mode=html.
217       --viewer
218              Choose  a  web browser program for viewing in html mode.  It can
219              be the path name of an executable file or a  program  in  $PATH.
220              In each case, arguments can be provided additionally.
221
222       --mode value
223              Set the display mode.  The following mode values are recognized:
224
225              auto   Select  the  automatic determination of the display mode.
226                     The sequence of modes that are tried can be set with  the
227                     --default-modes   option.    Useful   for  restoring  the
228                     default mode when a different mode was specified before.
229
230              dvi    Display formatted input in  a  dvi  viewer  program.   By
231                     default,  the  formatted  input  is  displayed  with  the
232                     xdvi(1) program.
233
234              groff  After the file determination, switch groffer  to  process
235                     the  input  like  groff(1)  would  do.  This disables the
236                     groffer viewing features.
237
238              html   Translate the input into  html  format  and  display  the
239                     result  in  a web browser program.  By default, the exis‐
240                     tence of a sequence of standard web browsers  is  tested,
241                     starting with konqueror(1) and mozilla(1).  The text html
242                     viewer is lynx(1).
243
244              pdf    Transform roff input files into a PDF file by  using  the
245                     groff  (1) device -Tpdf.  This is the default PDF genera‐
246                     tor.  The generated PDF file is displayed  with  suitable
247                     viewer programs, such as okular(1).
248
249              pdf2   This  is  the  traditional pdf mode.  Sometimes this mode
250                     produces more correct output than the default  PDF  mode.
251                     By  default,  the  input  is formatted by groff using the
252                     Postscript device, then it is transformed  into  the  PDF
253                     file  format  using  gs(1),  or ps2pdf(1).  If that's not
254                     possible, the  Postscript  mode  (ps)  is  used  instead.
255                     Finally it is displayed using different viewer programs.
256
257              ps     Display  formatted  input in a Postscript viewer program.
258                     By default, the formatted input is displayed  in  one  of
259                     many viewer programs.
260
261              text   Format in a groff text mode and write the result to stan‐
262                     dard output without a pager or viewer program.  The  text
263                     device, latin1 by default, can be chosen with option -T.
264
265              tty    Format in a groff text mode and write the result to stan‐
266                     dard output using a text  pager  program,  even  when  in
267                     X Window.
268
269              www    Equivalent to --mode=html.
270
271              x      Display  the formatted input in a native roff viewer.  By
272                     default,  the  formatted  input  is  displayed  with  the
273                     gxditview(1)  program  being  distributed  together  with
274                     groff.  But the standard X Window  tool  xditview(1)  can
275                     also  be  chosen  with  the option --viewer.  The default
276                     resolution is 75dpi, but 100dpi are also  possible.   The
277                     default  groff  device  for  the  resolution  of 75dpi is
278                     X75-12, for 100dpi it is X100.  The  corresponding  groff
279                     intermediate  output  for  the actual device is generated
280                     and the result is displayed.  For a resolution of 100dpi,
281                     the  default width of the geometry of the display program
282                     is chosen to 850dpi.
283
284              X      Equivalent to --mode=x.
285
286              The following modes do not use  the  groffer  viewing  features.
287              They are only interesting for advanced applications.
288
289              groff  Generate device output with plain groff without using the
290                     special viewing features of groffer.  If  no  device  was
291                     specified by option -T the groff default ps is assumed.
292
293              source Output  the  roff  source code of the input files without
294                     further processing.
295
296       --pdf  Equivalent to --mode=pdf.
297       --pdf2 Equivalent to --mode=pdf2.
298       --viewer prog
299              Choose a viewer program for pdf mode.  This can be a  file  name
300              or  a program to be searched in $PATH; arguments can be provided
301              additionally.
302
303       --ps   Equivalent to --mode=ps.
304       --viewer prog
305              Choose a viewer program for ps mode.  This can be a file name or
306              a  program  to  be searched in $PATH.  Common Postscript viewers
307              include okular(1), evince(1), gv(1), ghostview(1), and gs(1), In
308              each case, arguments can be provided additionally.
309
310       --source
311              Equivalent to --mode=source.
312
313       --text Equivalent to --mode=text.
314
315       --to-stdout
316              The  file  for  the  chosen mode is generated and its content is
317              printed to standard output.  It will not be displayed in graphi‐
318              cal mode.
319
320       --tty  Equivalent to --mode=tty.
321       --viewer prog
322              Choose  a  text  pager  for  mode  tty.   The  standard pager is
323              less(1).  This option is equivalent to man option  --pager=prog.
324              The  option  argument  can  be  a  file  name or a program to be
325              searched in $PATH; arguments can be provided additionally.
326
327       --www  Equivalent to --mode=html.
328       --viewer
329              prog.
330
331       --X | --x
332              Equivalent to --mode=x.
333       --viewer prog
334              Choose a viewer program for x mode.   Suitable  viewer  programs
335              are  gxditview(1)  which  is  the  default and xditview(1).  The
336              argument can be any executable file or a program in $PATH; argu‐
337              ments can be provided additionally.
338
339       --     Signals  the  end  of option processing; all remaining arguments
340              are interpreted as filespec parameters.
341
342       Besides these, groffer accepts all short options that are valid for the
343       groff(1) program.  All non-groffer options are sent unmodified via grog
344       to groff.  So postprocessors, macro packages, compatibility with  clas‐
345       sical troff, and much more can be manually specified.
346
347   Options related to groff
348       All  short  options of groffer are compatible with the short options of
349       groff(1).  The following of groff options  have  either  an  additional
350       special meaning within groffer or make sense for normal usage.
351
352       Because  of  the  special  outputting  behavior  of the groff option -Z
353       groffer was designed to be switched into groff mode; the groffer  view‐
354       ing features are disabled there.  The other groff options do not switch
355       the mode, but allow to customize the formatting process.
356
357       --a    This  generates  an  ascii  approximation  of  output   in   the
358              text  modes.   That  could  be important when the text pager has
359              problems with control sequences in tty mode.
360
361       --m file
362              Add file as a groff macro file.  This is useful in case it  can‐
363              not be recognized automatically.
364
365       --P opt_or_arg
366              Send  the argument opt_or_arg as an option or option argument to
367              the actual groff postprocessor.
368
369       --T devname | --device devname
370              This option determines groff's output device.  The  most  impor‐
371              tant  devices  are  the text output devices for referring to the
372              different character sets, such as ascii, utf8, latin1, utf8, and
373              others.   Each  of  these  arguments  switches  groffer  into  a
374              text mode using this device, to mode tty if the actual  mode  is
375              not  a text mode.  The following devname arguments are mapped to
376              the corresponding groffer --mode=devname option: dvi, html,  and
377              ps.   All X* arguments are mapped to mode x.  Each other devname
378              argument switches to mode groff using this device.
379
380       --X    is equivalent to groff -X.  It displays the  groff  intermediate
381              output  with  gxditview.   As the quality is relatively bad this
382              option is deprecated; use --X instead because the x mode uses an
383              X* device for a better display.
384
385       -Z | --intermediate-output | --ditroff
386              Switch  into  groff  mode  and  format  the input with the groff
387              intermediate output without  postprocessing;  see  groff_out(5).
388              This is equivalent to option --ditroff of man, which can be used
389              as well.
390
391       All other groff options are supported by groffer,  but  they  are  just
392       transparently  transferred  to  groff  without  any  intervention.  The
393       options that are not explicitly handled by  groffer  are  transparently
394       passed  to  groff.   Therefore  these transparent options are not docu‐
395       mented here, but in groff(1).  Due to the automatism in  groffer,  none
396       of these groff options should be needed, except for advanced usage.
397
398   Options for man pages
399       --apropos
400              Start the apropos(1) command or facility of man(1) for searching
401              the filespec arguments within all man page  descriptions.   Each
402              filespec argument is taken for search as it is; section specific
403              parts are not handled, such that 7 groff searches  for  the  two
404              arguments  7  and  groff,  with a large result; for the filespec
405              groff.7 nothing will be found.  The language locale  is  handled
406              only  when  the called programs do support this; the GNU apropos
407              and man -k do not.  The display differs from the apropos program
408              by the following concepts:
409
410              * Construct a groff frame similar to a man page to the output of
411                apropos,
412
413              * each filespec argument is searched on its own.
414
415              * The restriction by --sections is handled as well,
416
417              * wildcard characters are allowed and handled without a  further
418                option.
419
420       --apropos-data
421              Show only the apropos descriptions for data documents, these are
422              the man(7) sections 4, 5, and 7.   Direct  section  declarations
423              are ignored, wildcards are accepted.
424
425       --apropos-devel
426              Show  only  the  apropos descriptions for development documents,
427              these are the man(7) sections 2, 3, and 9.  Direct section  dec‐
428              larations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.
429
430       --apropos-progs
431              Show  only  the  apropos descriptions for documents on programs,
432              these are the man(7) sections 1, 6, and 8.  Direct section  dec‐
433              larations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.
434
435       --whatis
436              For  each  filespec  argument  search  all man pages and display
437              their description — or say that it is not a man page.   This  is
438              written from anew, so it differs from man's whatis output by the
439              following concepts
440
441              * each retrieved file name is added,
442
443              * local files are handled as well,
444
445              * the language and system locale is supported,
446
447              * the display is framed by a groff output format  similar  to  a
448                man page,
449
450              * wildcard characters are allowed without a further option.
451
452       The  following  options  were added to groffer for choosing whether the
453       file name arguments are interpreted as names for local files  or  as  a
454       search  pattern  for  man  pages.   The default is looking up for local
455       files.
456
457       --man  Check the non-option command line arguments (filespecs) first on
458              being  man  pages, then whether they represent an existing file.
459              By default, a filespec is first tested whether it is an existing
460              file.
461
462       --no-man | --local-file
463              Do  not  check for man pages.  --local-file is the corresponding
464              man option.
465
466       --no-special
467              Disable former calls of --all, --apropos*, and --whatis.
468
469   Long options taken over from GNU man
470       The long options of groffer were synchronized with the long options  of
471       GNU  man.   All  long options of GNU man are recognized, but not all of
472       these options are important to groffer, so most of them  are  just  ig‐
473       nored.  These ignored man options are --catman, --troff, and --update.
474
475       In  the  following,  the  man  options  that have a special meaning for
476       groffer are documented.
477
478       If your system has GNU man installed the full set of long and short op‐
479       tions of the GNU man program can be passed via the environment variable
480       $MANOPT; see man(1).
481
482       --all  In searching man pages, retrieve all suitable documents  instead
483              of only one.
484
485       -7 | --ascii
486              In  text  modes, display ASCII translation of special characters
487              for  critical  environment.   This  is   equivalent   to   groff
488              -mtty_char; see groff_tmac(5).
489
490       --ditroff
491              Produce  groff  intermediate  output.   This  is  equivalent  to
492              groffer -Z.
493
494       --extension suffix
495              Restrict man page search to file names that have suffix appended
496              to  their  section  element.   For  example,  in  the  file name
497              /usr/share/man/man3/terminfo.3ncurses.gz the man page  extension
498              is ncurses.
499
500       --locale language
501              Set  the  language for man pages.  This has the same effect, but
502              overwrites $LANG.
503
504       --location
505              Print the location of the retrieved files to standard error.
506
507       --no-location
508              Do not display the location of retrieved files;  this  resets  a
509              former call to --location.  This was added by groffer.
510
511       --manpath 'dir1:dir2:....'
512              Use  the  specified search path for retrieving man pages instead
513              of the program defaults.  If the argument is set  to  the  empty
514              string "" the search for man page is disabled.
515
516       --pager
517              Set the pager program in tty mode; default is less.  This can be
518              set with --viewer.
519
520       --sections sec1:sec2:....
521              Restrict searching for man pages to the given sections, a colon-
522              separated list.
523
524       --systems sys1,sys2,....
525              Search  for man pages for the given operating systems; the argu‐
526              ment systems is a comma-separated list.
527
528       --where
529              Equivalent to --location.
530
531   X Window Toolkit Options
532       The  following  long  options  were  adapted  from  the   corresponding
533       X  Window Toolkit options.  groffer will pass them to the actual viewer
534       program if it is an X Window program.  Otherwise these options are  ig‐
535       nored.
536
537       Unfortunately  these  options  use  the old style of a single minus for
538       long options.  For groffer that was changed to the standard with  using
539       a  double  minus for long options, for example, groffer uses the option
540       --font for the X Window option -font.
541
542       See X(7) and the documentation on the X Window Toolkit options for more
543       details on these options and their arguments.
544
545       --background color
546              Set the background color of the viewer window.
547
548       --bd pixels
549              This is equivalent to --bordercolor.
550
551       --bg color
552              This is equivalent to --background.
553
554       --bw pixels
555              This is equivalent to --borderwidth.
556
557       --bordercolor pixels
558              Specifies the color of the border surrounding the viewer window.
559
560       --borderwidth pixels
561              Specifies  the  width  in  pixels  of the border surrounding the
562              viewer window.
563
564       --display X-display
565              Set the X Window display on which the viewer  program  shall  be
566              started,  see  the  X Window documentation for the syntax of the
567              argument.
568
569       --foreground color
570              Set the foreground color of the viewer window.
571
572       --fg color
573              This is equivalent to --foreground.
574
575       --fn font_name
576              This is equivalent to --font.
577
578       --font font_name
579              Set the font used by the viewer  window.   The  argument  is  an
580              X Window font name.
581
582       --ft font_name
583              This is equivalent to --font.
584
585       --geometry size_pos
586              Set  the geometry of the display window, that means its size and
587              its starting position.  See X(7) for the syntax of the argument.
588
589       --resolution value
590              Set X Window resolution in dpi (dots per inch)  in  some  viewer
591              programs.   The only supported dpi values are 75 and 100.  Actu‐
592              ally, the default resolution for groffer is set to  75dpi.   The
593              resolution also sets the default device in mode x.
594
595       --rv   Reverse foreground and background color of the viewer window.
596
597       --title 'some text'
598              Set the title for the viewer window.
599
600       --xrm 'resource'
601              Set X Window resource.
602
603   Options for Development
604       --debug
605              Enable  all debugging options --debug-type.  The temporary files
606              are kept and not deleted, the grog output is printed,  the  name
607              of  the temporary directory is printed, the displayed file names
608              are printed, and the parameters are printed.
609
610       --debug-filenames
611              Print the names of the files and man pages that are displayed by
612              groffer.
613
614       --debug-grog
615              Print the output of all grog commands.
616
617       --debug-keep
618              Enable two debugging informations.  Print the name of the tempo‐
619              rary directory and keep the temporary files, do not delete  them
620              during the run of groffer.
621
622       --debug-params
623              Print  the parameters, as obtained from the configuration files,
624              from GROFFER_OPT, and the command line arguments.
625
626       --debug-tmpdir
627              Print the name of the temporary directory.
628
629       --do-nothing
630              This is like --version, but without the  output;  no  viewer  is
631              started.  This makes only sense in development.
632
633       --print=text
634              Just print the argument to standard error.  This is good for pa‐
635              rameter check.
636
637       -V     This is an advanced option for debugging only.  Instead of  dis‐
638              playing  the formatted input, a lot of groffer specific informa‐
639              tion is printed to standard output:
640
641              * the output file name in the temporary directory,
642
643              * the display mode of the actual groffer run,
644
645              * the display program for viewing the output with its arguments,
646
647              * the active parameters from the config files, the arguments  in
648                $GROFFER_OPT, and the arguments of the command line,
649
650              * the pipeline that would be run by the groff program, but with‐
651                out executing it.
652
653       Other  useful  debugging  options  are  the   groff   option   -Z   and
654       --mode=groff.
655
656   Filespec Arguments
657       A filespec parameter is an argument that is not an option or option ar‐
658       gument.  In groffer, filespec parameters are a file name or a  template
659       for  searching  man  pages.  These input sources are collected and com‐
660       posed into a single output file such as groff does.
661
662       The strange POSIX behavior to regard all  arguments  behind  the  first
663       non-option argument as filespec arguments is ignored.  The GNU behavior
664       to recognize options even when mixed with filespec  arguments  is  used
665       throughout.   But,  as usual, the double minus argument -- ends the op‐
666       tion handling and interprets all following arguments as filespec  argu‐
667       ments; so the POSIX behavior can be easily adopted.
668
669       The  options  --apropos* have a special handling of filespec arguments.
670       Each argument is taken as a search scheme of its own.   Also  a  regexp
671       (regular expression) can be used in the filespec.  For example, groffer
672       --apropos '^gro.f$' searches groff in the man page name, while  groffer
673       --apropos  groff searches groff somewhere in the name or description of
674       the man pages.
675
676       All other parts of groffer, such as the normal display  or  the  output
677       with  --whatis  have  a different scheme for filespecs.  No regular ex‐
678       pressions are used for the arguments.  The filespec arguments are  han‐
679       dled by the following scheme.
680
681       It  is  necessary  to know that on each system the man pages are sorted
682       according to their content into several sections.   The  classical  man
683       sections  have  a  single-character name, either a digit from 1 to 9 or
684       one of the characters n or o.
685
686       This can optionally be followed by a string, the  so-called  extension.
687       The  extension  allows to store several man pages with the same name in
688       the same section.  But the extension is only rarely used, usually it is
689       omitted.  Then the extensions are searched automatically by alphabet.
690
691       In  the  following,  we  use the name section_extension for a word that
692       consists of a single character section name or a section character that
693       is  followed  by an extension.  Each filespec parameter can have one of
694       the following forms in decreasing sequence.
695
696       * No filespec parameters means that groffer waits for  standard  input.
697         The  minus  option  -  always stands for standard input; it can occur
698         several times.  If you want to look up a man page called  -  use  the
699         argument man:-.
700
701       * Next  a filespec is tested whether it is the path name of an existing
702         file.  Otherwise it is assumed  to  be  a  searching  pattern  for  a
703         man page.
704
705       * man:name(section_extension),              man:name.section_extension,
706         name(section_extension),   or   name.section_extension   search   the
707         man   page   name   in   man   section   and  possibly  extension  of
708         section_extension.
709
710       * Now man:name searches for a man page in the lowest man  section  that
711         has a document called name.
712
713       * section_extension  name  is  a pattern of 2 arguments that originates
714         from a strange argument parsing of  the  man  program.   Again,  this
715         searches the man page name with section_extension, a combination of a
716         section character optionally followed by an extension.
717
718       * We are left with the argument name which is not an existing file.  So
719         this  searches for the man page called name in the lowest man section
720         that has a document for this name.
721
722       Several file name arguments can be supplied.  They are mixed  by  groff
723       into a single document.  Note that the set of option arguments must fit
724       to all of these file arguments.  So they should have at least the  same
725       style of the groff language.
726

OUTPUT MODES

728       By  default, the groffer program collects all input into a single file,
729       formats it with the groff program for a certain device, and then choos‐
730       es a suitable viewer program.  The device and viewer process in groffer
731       is called a mode.  The mode and viewer of a running groffer program  is
732       selected  automatically,  but the user can also choose it with options.
733       The modes are selected by option the arguments of --mode=anymode.   Ad‐
734       ditionally,  each of this argument can be specified as an option of its
735       own, such as anymode.  Most of these modes have a viewer program, which
736       can be chosen by the option --viewer.
737
738       Several  different  modes  are  offered,  graphical modes for X Window,
739       text modes, and some direct groff modes for debugging and development.
740
741       By default, groffer first  tries  whether  x  mode  is  possible,  then
742       ps  mode,  and  finally  tty  mode.   This  mode  testing  sequence for
743       auto mode can be changed by specifying a comma separated list of  modes
744       with the option --default-modes.
745
746       The  searching for man pages and the decompression of the input are ac‐
747       tive in every mode.
748
749   Graphical Display Modes
750       The graphical display modes work mostly in the X Window environment (or
751       similar  implementations within other windowing environments).  The en‐
752       vironment variable $DISPLAY and the option --display are used for spec‐
753       ifying  the  X Window display to be used.  If this environment variable
754       is empty groffer assumes that no X Window is running and changes  to  a
755       text  mode.  You can change this automatic behavior by the option --de‐
756       fault-modes.
757
758       Known viewers for  the  graphical  display  modes  and  their  standard
759       X Window viewer programs are
760
761       * in a PDF viewer (pdf mode)
762
763       * in a web browser (html or www mode)
764
765       * in a Postscript viewer (ps mode)
766
767       * X Window roff viewers such as gxditview(1) or xditview(1) (in x mode)
768
769       * in a dvi viewer program (dvi mode)
770
771       The  pdf  mode has a major advantage — it is the only graphical display
772       mode that allows to search for text within the viewer; this  can  be  a
773       really  important feature.  Unfortunately, it takes some time to trans‐
774       form the input into the PDF format, so it was not chosen as  the  major
775       mode.
776
777       These   graphical   viewers   can  be  customized  by  options  of  the
778       X Window Toolkit.  But the groffer options use a leading  double  minus
779       instead of the single minus used by the X Window Toolkit.
780
781   Text modes
782       There are two modes for text output, mode text for plain output without
783       a pager and mode tty for a text output on a text  terminal  using  some
784       pager program.
785
786       If  the  variable $DISPLAY is not set or empty, groffer assumes that it
787       should use tty mode.
788
789       In the actual implementation, the groff output device latin1 is  chosen
790       for  text  modes.   This  can  be  changed  by  specifying option -T or
791       --device.
792
793       The pager to be used can be specified by one of the options --pager and
794       --viewer, or by the environment variable $PAGER.  If all of this is not
795       used the less(1) program with the option -r  for  correctly  displaying
796       control sequences is used as the default pager.
797
798   Special Modes for Debugging and Development
799       These modes use the groffer file determination and decompression.  This
800       is combined into a single input file that is fed  directly  into  groff
801       with  different strategy without the groffer viewing facilities.  These
802       modes are regarded as advanced, they are useful for debugging  and  de‐
803       velopment purposes.
804
805       The source mode with option --source just displays the decompressed in‐
806       put.
807
808       Option --to-stdout does not display in a graphical mode.  It just  gen‐
809       erates  the  file  for  the  chosen mode and then prints its content to
810       standard output.
811
812       The groff mode passes the input to groff using only some  suitable  op‐
813       tions provided to groffer.  This enables the user to save the generated
814       output into a file or pipe it into another program.
815
816       In groff mode, the option -Z disables post-processing,  thus  producing
817       the  groff  intermediate output.  In this mode, the input is formatted,
818       but not postprocessed; see groff_out(5) for details.
819
820       All groff short options are supported by groffer.
821

MAN PAGE SEARCHING

823       The default behavior of groffer is to first test whether a file parame‐
824       ter  represents a local file; if it is not an existing file name, it is
825       assumed to represent the name of a man page.  The following options can
826       be  used  to  determine whether the arguments should be handled as file
827       name or man page arguments.
828
829       --man  forces to interpret all file parameters as filespecs for search‐
830              ing man pages.
831
832       --no-man
833       --local-file
834              disable the man searching; so only local files are displayed.
835
836       If  neither a local file nor a man page was retrieved for some file pa‐
837       rameter a warning is issued on standard error, but processing  is  con‐
838       tinued.
839
840   Search Algorithm
841       Let us now assume that a man page should be searched.  The groffer pro‐
842       gram provides a search facility for man pages.  All long  options,  all
843       environment  variables, and most of the functionality of the GNU man(1)
844       program were implemented.  The search algorithm shall  determine  which
845       file is displayed for a given man page.  The process can be modified by
846       options and environment variables.
847
848       The only man action that is omitted in  groffer  are  the  preformatted
849       man  pages,  also  called cat pages.  With the excellent performance of
850       the actual computers, the preformatted man pages aren't  necessary  any
851       longer.  Additionally, groffer is a roff program; it wants to read roff
852       source files and format them itself.
853
854       The algorithm for retrieving the file for a man page needs first a  set
855       of  directories.   This  set starts with the so-called man path that is
856       modified later on by adding names of  operating  system  and  language.
857       This  arising set is used for adding the section directories which con‐
858       tain the man page files.
859
860       The man path is a list of directories that are separated by colon.   It
861       is generated by the following methods.
862
863       * The environment variable $MANPATH can be set.
864
865       * It  can  be  read  from  the  arguments  of  the environment variable
866         $MANOPT.
867
868       * The man path can be manually specified by using the option --manpath.
869         An empty argument disables the man page searching.
870
871       * When no man path was set the manpath(1) program is tried to determine
872         one.
873
874       * If this does not work a reasonable default path from $PATH is  deter‐
875         mined.
876
877       We  now  have  a  starting set of directories.  The first way to change
878       this set is by adding names of operating systems.   This  assumes  that
879       man pages for several operating systems are installed.  This is not al‐
880       ways true.  The names of such operating systems can be  provided  by  3
881       methods.
882
883       * The environment variable $SYSTEM has the lowest precedence.
884
885       * This can be overridden by an option in $MANOPT.
886
887       * This again is overridden by the command line option --systems.
888
889       Several  names  of  operating  systems  can be given by appending their
890       names, separated by a comma.
891
892       The man path is changed by appending each system name  as  subdirectory
893       at  the end of each directory of the set.  No directory of the man path
894       set is kept.  But if no system name is specified the man path  is  left
895       unchanged.
896
897       After  this,  the  actual set of directories can be changed by language
898       information.  This assumes that there exist man pages in different lan‐
899       guages.  The wanted language can be chosen by several methods.
900
901       * Environment variable $LANG.
902
903       * This is overridden by $LC_MESSAGES.
904
905       * This is overridden by $LC_ALL.
906
907       * This can be overridden by providing an option in $MANOPT.
908
909       * All  these  environment  variables are overridden by the command line
910         option --locale.
911
912       The default language can be specified by specifying one of the  pseudo-
913       language parameters C or POSIX.  This is like deleting a formerly given
914       language information.  The man pages in the default language are usual‐
915       ly in English.
916
917       Of  course,  the language name is determined by man.  In GNU man, it is
918       specified in the POSIX 1003.1 based format:
919
920       <language>[_<territory>[.<character-set>[,<version>]]],
921
922       but the two-letter code in <language> is sufficient for most  purposes.
923       If  for  a  complicated  language  formulation  no  man pages are found
924       groffer searches the country part consisting of these first two charac‐
925       ters as well.
926
927       The  actual  directory  set is copied thrice.  The language name is ap‐
928       pended as subdirectory to each directory in the first copy of the actu‐
929       al directory set (this is only done when a language information is giv‐
930       en).  Then the 2-letter abbreviation of the language name  is  appended
931       as subdirectories to the second copy of the directory set (this is only
932       done when the given language name has more than 2 letters).  The  third
933       copy of the directory set is kept unchanged (if no language information
934       is given this is the kept directory set).  These maximally 3 copies are
935       appended to get the new directory set.
936
937       We  now  have  a  complete set of directories to work with.  In each of
938       these directories, the man files are separated in sections.   The  name
939       of  a  section  is represented by a single character, a digit between 1
940       and 9, or the character o or n, in this order.
941
942       For each available section, a subdirectory man<section> exists contain‐
943       ing all man files for this section, where <section> is a single charac‐
944       ter as described before.  Each man file in a section directory has  the
945       form  man<section>/<name>.<section>[<extension>][.<compression>], where
946       <extension> and <compression> are optional.  <name> is the name of  the
947       man  page  that  is  also specified as filespec argument on the command
948       line.
949
950       The extension is an addition to the section.  This postfix acts like  a
951       subsection.   An extension occurs only in the file name, not in name of
952       the section subdirectory.  It can be specified on the command line.
953
954       On the other hand, the compression is just an information  on  how  the
955       file  is  compressed.  This is not important for the user, such that it
956       cannot be specified on the command line.
957
958       There are 4 methods to specify a section on the command line:
959
960       * Environment variable $MANSECT
961
962       * Command line option --sections
963
964       * Appendix to the name argument in the form <name>.<section>
965
966       * Preargument before the name argument in the form <section> <name>
967
968       It is also possible to specify several sections by appending the single
969       characters separated by colons.  One can imagine that this means to re‐
970       strict the man page search to only some sections.   The  multiple  sec‐
971       tions are only possible for $MANSECT and --sections.
972
973       If no section is specified all sections are searched one after the oth‐
974       er in the given order, starting with section 1, until a  suitable  file
975       is found.
976
977       There  are  4 methods to specify an extension on the command line.  But
978       it is not necessary to provide the whole extension name, some abbrevia‐
979       tion is good enough in most cases.
980
981       * Environment variable $EXTENSION
982
983       * Command line option --extension
984
985       * Appendix  to  the  <name>.<section> argument in the form <name>.<sec‐
986         tion><extension>
987
988       * Preargument before the name argument in the form <section><extension>
989         <name>
990
991       For further details on man page searching, see man(1).
992
993   Examples of man files
994       /usr/share/man/man1/groff.1
995              This  is  an  uncompressed  file  for the man page groff in sec‐
996              tion 1.  It can be called by
997              sh# groffer groff
998              No  section  is  specified  here,  so  all  sections  should  be
999              searched,  but  as section 1 is searched first this file will be
1000              found first.  The file name is composed of the following  compo‐
1001              nents.  /usr/share/man/ must be part of the man path; the subdi‐
1002              rectory man1/ and the part .1 stand for the  section;  groff  is
1003              the name of the man page.
1004
1005       /usr/local/share/man/man7/groff.7.gz
1006              The   file   name  is  composed  of  the  following  components.
1007              /usr/local/share/man must be part of the man path; the subdirec‐
1008              tory  man7/  and the part .7 stand for the section; groff is the
1009              name of the man page; the final part .gz stands for  a  compres‐
1010              sion  with gzip(1).  As the section is not the first one it must
1011              be specified as well.  This can be done by one of the  following
1012              commands.
1013              sh# groffer groff.7
1014              sh# groffer 7 groff
1015              sh# groffer --sections=7 groff
1016
1017       /usr/local/man/man1/ctags.1emacs21.bz2
1018              Here  /usr/local/man must be in man path; the subdirectory man1/
1019              and the file name part .1 stand for section 1; the name  of  the
1020              man page is ctags; the section has an extension emacs21; and the
1021              file is compressed as .bz2  with  bzip2(1).   The  file  can  be
1022              viewed with one of the following commands
1023              sh# groffer ctags.1e
1024              sh# groffer 1e ctags
1025              sh# groffer --extension=e --sections=1 ctags
1026              where e works as an abbreviation for the extension emacs21.
1027
1028       /usr/man/linux/de/man7/man.7.Z
1029              The  directory  /usr/man is now part of the man path; then there
1030              is a subdirectory for an  operating  system  name  linux/;  next
1031              comes  a  subdirectory  de/ for the German language; the section
1032              names man7 and .7 are known so far;  man  is  the  name  of  the
1033              man  page;  and .Z signifies the compression that can be handled
1034              by gzip(1).  We want now show how to provide several values  for
1035              some  options.  That is possible for sections and operating sys‐
1036              tem names.  So we use as sections 5 and 7 and  as  system  names
1037              linux and aix.  The command is then
1038
1039              sh# groffer --locale=de --sections=5:7 --systems=linux,aix man
1040              sh# LANG=de MANSECT=5:7 SYSTEM=linux,aix groffer man
1041

DECOMPRESSION

1043       The  program has a decompression facility.  If standard input or a file
1044       that was retrieved from the command line parameters is compressed  with
1045       a  format  that is supported by either gzip(1) or bzip2(1) it is decom‐
1046       pressed on-the-fly.  This includes the GNU .gz, .bz2,  and  the  tradi‐
1047       tional  .Z  compression.  The program displays the concatenation of all
1048       decompressed input in the sequence that was specified  on  the  command
1049       line.
1050

ENVIRONMENT

1052       The  groffer  program  supports  many system variables, most of them by
1053       courtesy of other programs.  All environment variables of groff(1)  and
1054       GNU man(1) and some standard system variables are honored.
1055
1056   Native groffer Variables
1057       $GROFFER_OPT
1058              Store  options  for  a run of groffer.  The options specified in
1059              this variable are overridden by the options given on the command
1060              line.   The  content  of  this variable is run through the shell
1061              builtin `eval'; so arguments containing white-space  or  special
1062              shell characters should be quoted.  Do not forget to export this
1063              variable, otherwise it does not exist during the run of groffer.
1064
1065   System Variables
1066       The following variables have a special meaning for groffer.
1067
1068       $DISPLAY
1069              If this variable is set this indicates that the X Window  system
1070              is  running.  Testing this variable decides on whether graphical
1071              or text output  is  generated.   This  variable  should  not  be
1072              changed  by the user carelessly, but it can be used to start the
1073              graphical groffer on a remote X Window terminal.   For  example,
1074              depending  on  your system, groffer can be started on the second
1075              monitor by the command
1076
1077              sh# DISPLAY=:0.1 groffer what.ever &
1078
1079       $LC_ALL
1080       $LC_MESSAGES
1081       $LANG  If one of these variables is set (in the  above  sequence),  its
1082              content  is  interpreted as the locale, the language to be used,
1083              especially when retrieving man pages.  A locale  name  is  typi‐
1084              cally  of  the  form  language[_territory[.codeset[@modifier]]],
1085              where language is an ISO 639 language code, territory is an  ISO
1086              3166  country  code,  and codeset is a character set or encoding
1087              identifier like ISO-8859-1 or UTF-8; see setlocale(3).  The  lo‐
1088              cale values C and POSIX stand for the default, i.e. the man page
1089              directories without a language prefix.  This is the same  behav‐
1090              ior as when all 3 variables are unset.
1091
1092       $PAGER This  variable  can be used to set the pager for the tty output.
1093              For example, to disable the use of a pager completely  set  this
1094              variable to the cat(1) program
1095
1096              sh# PAGER=cat groffer anything
1097
1098
1099       $PATH  All  programs  within  the  groffer  script are called without a
1100              fixed path.  Thus this environment variable determines  the  set
1101              of programs used within the run of groffer.
1102
1103   Groff Variables
1104       The  groffer  program  internally calls groff, so all environment vari‐
1105       ables documented in groff(1) are  internally  used  within  groffer  as
1106       well.  The following variable has a direct meaning for the groffer pro‐
1107       gram.
1108
1109       $GROFF_TMPDIR
1110              If the value of this variable is an  existing,  writable  direc‐
1111              tory,  groffer  uses it for storing its temporary files, just as
1112              groff does.  See the groff(1) man page for more details  on  the
1113              location of temporary files.
1114
1115   Man Variables
1116       Parts  of  the  functionality  of  the  man program were implemented in
1117       groffer; support for all environment variables documented in man(1) was
1118       added to groffer, but the meaning was slightly modified due to the dif‐
1119       ferent approach in groffer; but the user interface is  the  same.   The
1120       man  environment  variables can be overwritten by options provided with
1121       $MANOPT, which in turn is overwritten by the command line.
1122
1123       $EXTENSION
1124              Restrict the search for man pages to files  having  this  exten‐
1125              sion.   This  is overridden by option --extension; see there for
1126              details.
1127
1128       $MANOPT
1129              This variable contains options as a preset for man(1).   As  not
1130              all  of  these are relevant for groffer only the essential parts
1131              of its value are extracted.  The options specified in this vari‐
1132              able  overwrite  the  values  of the other environment variables
1133              that are specific to man.  All options specified in  this  vari‐
1134              able are overridden by the options given on the command line.
1135
1136       $MANPATH
1137              If  set,  this  variable  contains  the directories in which the
1138              man page  trees  are  stored.   This  is  overridden  by  option
1139              --manpath.
1140
1141       $MANSECT
1142              If  this  is a colon separated list of section names, the search
1143              for man pages is restricted to those  manual  sections  in  that
1144              order.  This is overridden by option --sections.
1145
1146       $SYSTEM
1147              If  this  is  set  to  a comma separated list of names these are
1148              interpreted as man page trees for different  operating  systems.
1149              This  variable can be overwritten by option --systems; see there
1150              for details.
1151
1152       The environment variable $MANROFFSEQ is ignored by groffer because  the
1153       necessary preprocessors are determined automatically.
1154

CONFIGURATION FILES

1156       The groffer program can be preconfigured by two configuration files.
1157
1158       /etc/groff/groffer.conf
1159              System-wide configuration file for groffer.
1160
1161       $HOME/.groff/groffer.conf
1162              User-specific   configuration  file  for  groffer,  where  $HOME
1163              denotes the user's home directory.  This file  is  called  after
1164              the  system-wide  configuration file to enable overriding by the
1165              user.
1166
1167       Both files are handled for the  configuration,  but  the  configuration
1168       file  in  /etc comes first; it is overwritten by the configuration file
1169       in the home directory; both configuration files are overwritten by  the
1170       environment  variable  $GROFFER_OPT;  everything  is overwritten by the
1171       command line arguments.
1172
1173       The configuration files  contain  options  that  should  be  called  as
1174       default for every groffer run.  These options are written in lines such
1175       that each contains either a long option, a short  option,  or  a  short
1176       option  cluster;  each  with or without an argument.  So each line with
1177       configuration information starts with a minus  character  `-';  a  line
1178       with a long option starts with two minus characters `--', a line with a
1179       short option or short option cluster starts with a single minus `-'.
1180
1181       The option names in the configuration files  may  not  be  abbreviated,
1182       they must be exact.
1183
1184       The  argument  for  a long option can be separated from the option name
1185       either by an equal sign `=' or by whitespace, i.e. one or several space
1186       or  tab  characters.   An  argument  for a short option or short option
1187       cluster can be directly appended to the option  name  or  separated  by
1188       whitespace.   The end of an argument is the end of the line.  It is not
1189       allowed to use a shell environment variable in an option name or  argu‐
1190       ment.
1191
1192       It  is not necessary to use quotes in an option or argument, except for
1193       empty arguments.  An empty argument can be provided by appending a pair
1194       of  quotes  to  the  separating  equal sign or whitespace; with a short
1195       option, the separator can be omitted as well.  For a long option with a
1196       separating equal sign `=', the pair of quotes can be omitted, thus end‐
1197       ing the line with the separating equal sign.  All other  quote  charac‐
1198       ters are cancelled internally.
1199
1200       In  the  configuration  files,  arbitrary  whitespace is allowed at the
1201       beginning of each line, it is just ignored.  Each whitespace  within  a
1202       line is replaced by a single space character ` ' internally.
1203
1204       All  lines  of  the  configuration lines that do not start with a minus
1205       character are ignored, such that comments starting with `#' are  possi‐
1206       ble.  So there are no shell commands in the configuration files.
1207
1208       As  an  example,  consider the following configuration file that can be
1209       used either in /etc/groff/groffer.conf or ~/.groff/groffer.conf .
1210
1211       # groffer configuration file
1212       #
1213       # groffer options that are used in each call of groffer
1214       --foreground=DarkBlue
1215       --resolution=100
1216       --viewer=gxditview -geometry 900x1200
1217       --viewer xpdf -Z 150
1218
1219       The lines starting with # are just ignored,  so  they  act  as  command
1220       lines.   This configuration sets four groffer options (the lines start‐
1221       ing with `-').  This has the following effects:
1222
1223       * Use a text color of DarkBlue in all viewers that support  this,  such
1224         as gxditview.
1225
1226       * Use  a resolution of 100dpi in all viewers that support this, such as
1227         gxditview.  By this, the default device in x mode is set to X100.
1228
1229       * Force gxditview(1) as the x-mode viewer using the geometry option for
1230         setting  the  width to 900px and the height to 1200px.  This geometry
1231         is suitable for a resolution of 100dpi.
1232
1233       * Use xpdf(1) as the pdf-mode viewer with the argument -Z 150.
1234

EXAMPLES

1236       The usage of groffer is very easy.  Usually, it is just called  with  a
1237       file  name  or  man  page.   The following examples, however, show that
1238       groffer has much more fancy capabilities.
1239
1240       sh# groffer /usr/local/share/doc/groff/meintro.ms.gz
1241
1242       Decompress, format and display the compressed file meintro.ms.gz in the
1243       directory   /usr/local/share/doc/groff,   using   the  standard  viewer
1244       gxditview as graphical viewer when in X Window, or  the  less(1)  pager
1245       program when not in X Window.
1246
1247       sh# groffer groff
1248
1249       If  the  file  ./groff exists use it as input.  Otherwise interpret the
1250       argument as a search for the man page named groff in the smallest  pos‐
1251       sible man section, being section 1 in this case.
1252
1253       sh# groffer man:groff
1254
1255       search for the man page of groff even when the file ./groff exists.
1256
1257       sh# groffer groff.7
1258       sh# groffer 7 groff
1259
1260       search  the  man  page  of groff in man section 7.  This section search
1261       works only for a digit or a single character from a small set.
1262
1263       sh# groffer fb.modes
1264
1265       If the file ./fb.modes does not exist interpret this as  a  search  for
1266       the man page of fb.modes.  As the extension modes is not a single char‐
1267       acter in classical section style the argument is not split to a  search
1268       for fb.
1269
1270       sh# groffer groff ’troff(1)’ man:roff
1271
1272       The  arguments that are not existing files are looked-up as the follow‐
1273       ing man pages: groff (automatic search, should be  found  in  man  sec‐
1274       tion 1), troff (in section 1), and roff (in the section with the lowest
1275       number, being 7 in this case).  The quotes around troff(1) are neces‐
1276       sary  because  the  parentheses  are special shell characters; escaping
1277       them with a backslash character \( and \) would be possible, too.   The
1278       formatted files are concatenated and displayed in one piece.
1279
1280       sh# LANG=de groffer --man --viewer=galeon ls
1281
1282       Retrieve  the  German man page (language de) for the ls program, decom‐
1283       press it, format it to html format (www mode) and view  the  result  in
1284       the  web browser galeon.  The option --man guarantees that the man page
1285       is retrieved, even when a local file ls exists in the actual directory.
1286
1287       sh# groffer --source 'man:roff(7)'
1288
1289       Get the man page called roff in man section 7, decompress it, and print
1290       its unformatted content, its source code.
1291
1292       sh# groffer --de-p --in --ap
1293
1294       This is a set of abbreviated arguments, it is determined as
1295
1296       sh# groffer --debug-params --intermediate-output --apropos
1297
1298
1299       sh# cat file.gz | groffer -Z -mfoo
1300
1301       The  file  file.gz is sent to standard input, this is decompressed, and
1302       then this is transported to the groff intermediate output mode  without
1303       post-processing  (groff  option  -Z),  using  macro  package foo (groff
1304       option -m).
1305
1306       sh# echo '\f[CB]WOW!' |
1307       > groffer --x --bg red --fg yellow --geometry 200x100 -
1308
1309       Display the word WOW! in a small window in  constant-width  bold  font,
1310       using color yellow on red background.
1311

COMPATIBILITY

1313       The groffer program is written in Perl, the Perl version during writing
1314       was v5.8.8.
1315
1316       groffer provides its own parser for command line arguments that is com‐
1317       patible  to  both  POSIX  getopts(1)  and GNU getopt(1).  It can handle
1318       option arguments and file names containing white space and a large  set
1319       of  special  characters.   The  following standard types of options are
1320       supported.
1321
1322       * The option consisting of a single minus - refers to standard input.
1323
1324       * A single minus followed by characters refers to  a  single  character
1325         option  or  a  combination  thereof;  for  example, the groffer short
1326         option combination -Qmfoo is equivalent to -Q -m foo.
1327
1328       * Long options are options with names longer than one  character;  they
1329         are always preceded by a double minus.  An option argument can either
1330         go to the next command line argument or be  appended  with  an  equal
1331         sign  to  the  argument;  for  example,  --long=arg  is equivalent to
1332         --long arg.
1333
1334       * An argument of -- ends option parsing; all further command line argu‐
1335         ments are interpreted as filespec parameters, i.e. file names or con‐
1336         structs for searching man pages).
1337
1338       * All command line arguments that are neither options nor option  argu‐
1339         ments  are interpreted as filespec parameters and stored until option
1340         parsing has finished.  For example, the command line
1341
1342         sh# groffer file1 -a -o arg file2
1343
1344         is equivalent to
1345
1346         sh# groffer -a -o arg -- file1 file2
1347
1348
1349       The free mixing of options and  filespec  parameters  follows  the  GNU
1350       principle.   That does not fulfill the strange option behavior of POSIX
1351       that ends option processing as soon as the  first  non-option  argument
1352       has  been  reached.   The end of option processing can be forced by the
1353       option `--' anyway.
1354

BUGS

1356       Report bugs to the bug-groff mailing list ⟨bug-groff@gnu.org⟩.  Include
1357       a complete, self-contained example that will allow the bug to be repro‐
1358       duced, and say which version of groffer you are using.
1359
1360       You can also use the groff mailing list ⟨groff@gnu.org⟩, but  you  must
1361       first  subscribe  to  this list.  You can do that by visiting the groff
1362       mailing list web page ⟨http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/groff⟩.
1363
1364       See groff(1) for information on availability.
1365

SEE ALSO

1367       groff(1), troff(1)
1368              Details on the options and environment  variables  available  in
1369              groff; all of them can be used with groffer.
1370
1371       grog(1)
1372              This  program  tries  to  guess the necessary groff command line
1373              options from the input and the groffer options.
1374
1375       groff(7)
1376              Documentation of the groff language.
1377
1378       groff_char(7)
1379              Documentation on the groff characters, special  characters,  and
1380              glyphs..
1381
1382       groff_tmac(5)
1383              Documentation on the groff macro files.
1384
1385       groff_out(5)
1386              Documentation on the groff intermediate output before the run of
1387              a postprocessor.  (ditroff output).  This  can  be  run  by  the
1388              groff or groffer option -Z.
1389
1390       man(1) The  standard  program  to  display  man pages.  The information
1391              there is only useful if it is the man page for GNU man.  Then it
1392              documents  the  options  and environment variables that are sup‐
1393              ported by groffer.
1394
1395       gxditview(1)
1396       xditview(1x)
1397              Viewers for groffer's x mode.
1398
1399       kpdf(1)
1400       kghostview(1)
1401       evince(1)
1402       ggv(1)
1403       gv(1)
1404       ghostview(1)
1405       gs(1)  Viewers for groffer's ps mode.
1406
1407       kpdf(1)
1408       acroread(1)
1409       evince(1)
1410       xpdf(1)
1411       gpdf(1)
1412       kghostview(1)
1413       ggv(1) Viewers for groffer's pdf mode.
1414
1415       kdvi(1), xdvi(1), dvilx(1)
1416              Viewers for groffer's dvi mode.
1417
1418       konqueror(1)
1419       epiphany(1)
1420       firefox(1)
1421       mozilla(1)
1422       netscape(1)
1423       lynx(1)
1424              Web-browsers for groffer's html or www mode.
1425
1426       less(1)
1427       more(1)
1428              Standard pager program for the tty mode.
1429
1430       gzip(1)
1431       bzip2(1)
1432       xz(1)  The decompression programs supported by groffer.
1433

COPYING

1435       Copyright © 2001-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1436
1437       This file is part of groffer, which is part of groff, a  free  software
1438       project.
1439
1440       You  can  redistribute  it  and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
1441       General Public License version 2 as  published  by  the  Free  Software
1442       Foundation.
1443
1444       The    license    text    is    available    in    the    internet   at
1445http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html⟩.
1446

AUTHORS

1448       This file was written by Bernd Warken ⟨groff-bernd.warken-72@web.de⟩.
1449
1450
1451
1452Groff Version 1.22.3            4 November 2014                     GROFFER(1)
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