1GROFF_MS(7)            Miscellaneous Information Manual            GROFF_MS(7)
2
3
4

NAME

6       groff_ms - GNU roff manuscript macro package for formatting documents
7

SYNOPSIS

9       groff -ms [option ...] [input-file ...]
10       groff -m ms [option ...] [input-file ...]
11

DESCRIPTION

13       This manual page describes the GNU version of the ms macros, part of
14       the groff typesetting system.  The ms macros are mostly compatible with
15       the documented behavior of the 4.3 BSD Unix ms macros (see Differences
16       from troff ms below for details).  The ms macros are suitable for
17       reports, letters, books, and technical documentation.
18

USAGE

20       The ms macro package expects files to have a certain amount of
21       structure.  The simplest documents can begin with a paragraph macro and
22       consist of text separated by paragraph macros or even blank lines.
23       Longer documents have a structure as follows:
24
25       Document type
26              If you use the RP (report) macro at the beginning of the
27              document, groff prints the cover page information on its own
28              page; otherwise it prints the information on the first page with
29              your document text immediately following.  Other document
30              formats found in AT&T troff are specific to AT&T or Berkeley,
31              and are not supported in groff ms.
32
33       Format and layout
34              By setting number registers, you can change your document's
35              margins, spacing, headers and footers, footnotes, and the base
36              point size for the text.  See Document control registers below
37              for more details.
38
39       Cover page
40              A cover page consists of a title, and optionally the author's
41              name and institution, an abstract, and the date.  See Cover page
42              macros below for more details.
43
44       Body   Following the cover page is your document.  It consists of
45              paragraphs, headings, and lists.
46
47       Table of contents
48              Longer documents usually include a table of contents, which you
49              can add by placing the TC macro at the end of your document.
50
51   Document control registers
52       The following table lists the document control number registers.  For
53       the sake of consistency, set registers related to margins at the
54       beginning of your document, or just after the RP macro.
55
56       Margin settings
57
58              Reg.          Definition             Effective      Default
59              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
60              PO     Page offset (left margin)   next page        1i
61              LL     Line length                 next paragraph   6i
62              LT     Header/footer length        next paragraph   6i
63              HM     Top (header) margin         next page        1i
64              FM     Bottom (footer) margin      next page        1i
65              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
66
67       Text settings
68
69               Reg.             Definition              Effective      Default
70              ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
71              PS       Point size                     next paragraph   10p
72              VS       Line spacing (leading)         next paragraph   12p
73              PSINCR   Point size increment for       next heading     1p
74                       section headings of
75                       increasing importance
76              GROWPS   Heading level beyond which     next heading     0
77                       PSINCR is ignored
78              ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
79
80       Paragraph settings
81
82                Reg.             Definition             Effective      Default
83              ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
84              PI         Initial indent               next paragraph   5n
85              PD         Space between paragraphs     next paragraph   0.3v
86              QI         Quoted paragraph indent      next paragraph   5n
87              PORPHANS   Number of initial lines to   next paragraph   1
88                         be kept together
89              HORPHANS   Number of initial lines to   next heading     1
90                         be kept with heading
91              ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
92
93       Footnote settings
94
95              Reg.     Definition        Effective      Default
96              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
97              FL     Footnote length   next footnote   \n[LL]*5/6
98              FI     Footnote indent   next footnote   2n
99              FF     Footnote format   next footnote   0
100              FPS    Point size        next footnote   \n[PS]-2
101              FVS    Vert. spacing     next footnote   \n[FPS]+2
102              FPD    Para. spacing     next footnote   \n[PD]/2
103              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
104
105       Other settings
106
107              Reg.               Definition              Effective    Default
108              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
109              DD      Display, table, eqn, pic spacing   next para.   0.5v
110              MINGW   Minimum width between columns      next page    2n
111              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
112
113   Cover page macros
114       Use the following macros to create a cover page for your document in
115       the order shown.
116
117       .RP [no]
118              Specifies the report format for your document.  The report
119              format creates a separate cover page.  With no RP macro, groff
120              prints a subset of the cover page on page 1 of your document.
121
122              If you use the optional no argument, groff prints a title page
123              but does not repeat any of the title page information (title,
124              author, abstract, etc.) on page 1 of the document.
125
126       .P1    (P-one) Prints the header on page 1.  The default is to suppress
127              the header.
128
129       .DA [xxx]
130              (optional) Print the current date, or the arguments to the macro
131              if any, on the title page (if specified) and in the footers.
132              This is the default for nroff.
133
134       .ND [xxx]
135              (optional) Print the current date, or the arguments to the macro
136              if any, on the title page (if specified) but not in the footers.
137              This is the default for troff.
138
139       .TL    Specifies the document title.  Groff collects text following the
140              TL macro into the title, until reaching the author name or
141              abstract.
142
143       .AU    Specifies the author's name.  You can specify multiple authors
144              by using an AU macro for each author.
145
146       .AI    Specifies the author's institution.  You can specify multiple
147              institutions.
148
149       .AB [no]
150              Begins the abstract.  The default is to print the word ABSTRACT,
151              centered and in italics, above the text of the abstract.  The
152              option no suppresses this heading.
153
154       .AE    End the abstract.
155
156   Paragraphs
157       Use the PP macro to create indented paragraphs, and the LP macro to
158       create paragraphs with no initial indent.
159
160       The QP macro indents all text at both left and right margins by the
161       amount of the register QI.  The effect is reminiscent of the HTML
162       <BLOCKQUOTE> tag.  The next paragraph or heading returns the margins to
163       normal.  QP inserts the vertical space specified in register PD as
164       inter-paragraph spacing.
165
166       A paragraph bracketed between the macros QS and QE has the same
167       appearance as a paragraph started with QP and a following paragraph
168       started with LP.  Both QS and QE insert the inter-paragraph spacing
169       specified in PD and the text is indented on both sides by the amount of
170       register QI.  The text between QS and QE can be split into further
171       paragraphs by using .LP or .PP.
172
173       The XP macro produces an “exdented” paragraph; that is, one with a
174       hanging indent.  The first line of the paragraph begins at the left
175       margin, and subsequent lines are indented (the opposite of PP).
176
177       For each of the above paragraph types, and also for any list entry
178       introduced by the IP macro (described later), the document control
179       register PORPHANS, sets the minimum number of lines which must be
180       printed, after the start of the paragraph, and before any page break
181       occurs.  If there is insufficient space remaining on the current page
182       to accommodate this number of lines, then a page break is forced before
183       the first line of the paragraph is printed.
184
185       Similarly, when a section heading (see subsection “Headings” below)
186       precedes any of these paragraph types, the HORPHANS document control
187       register specifies the minimum number of lines of the paragraph which
188       must be kept on the same page as the heading.  If insufficient space
189       remains on the current page to accommodate the heading and this number
190       of lines of paragraph text, then a page break is forced before the
191       heading is printed.
192
193   Headings
194       Use headings to create a hierarchical structure for your document.  By
195       default, the ms macros print headings in bold using the same font
196       family and point size as the body text.  For output devices which
197       support scalable fonts, this behaviour may be modified by defining the
198       document control registers GROWPS and PSINCR.
199
200       The following heading macros are available:
201
202       .NH xx Numbered heading.  The argument xx is either a numeric argument
203              to indicate the level of the heading, or S xx xx ... to set the
204              section number explicitly.  If you specify heading levels out of
205              sequence, such as invoking .NH 3 after .NH 1, groff prints a
206              warning on standard error.
207
208              If the GROWPS register is set to a value greater than the level
209              of the heading, then the point size of the heading will be
210              increased by PSINCR units over the text size specified by the PS
211              register, for each level by which the heading level is less than
212              the value of GROWPS.  For example, the sequence:
213
214                     .nr PS 10
215                     .nr GROWPS 3
216                     .nr PSINCR 1.5p
217                     .
218                     .NH 1
219                     Top Level Heading
220                     .
221                     .NH 2
222                     Second Level Heading
223                     .
224                     .NH 3
225                     Third Level Heading
226
227              will cause “1. Top Level Heading” to be printed in 13pt bold
228              text, followed by “1.1. Second Level Heading” in 11.5pt bold
229              text, while “1.1.1. Third Level Heading”, and all more deeply
230              nested heading levels, will remain in the 10pt bold text which
231              is specified by the PS register.
232
233              Note that the value stored in PSINCR is interpreted in groff
234              basic units; the p scaling factor should be employed when
235              assigning a value specified in points.
236
237              The style used to represent the section number, within a
238              numbered heading, is controlled by the SN-STYLE string; this may
239              be set to either the SN-DOT or the SN-NO-DOT style, (described
240              below), by aliasing SN-STYLE accordingly.  By default, SN-STYLE
241              is initialised by defining the alias
242
243                     .als SN-STYLE SN-DOT
244
245              it may be changed to the SN-NO-DOT style, if preferred, by
246              defining the alternative alias
247
248                     .als SN-STYLE SN-NO-DOT
249
250              Any such change becomes effective with the first use of .NH,
251              after the new alias is defined.
252
253              After invoking .NH, the assigned heading number is available in
254              the strings SN-DOT (as it appears in the default formatting
255              style for numbered headings, with a terminating period following
256              the number), and SN-NO-DOT (with this terminating period
257              omitted).  The string SN is also defined, as an alias for
258              SN-DOT; if preferred, the user may redefine it as an alias for
259              SN-NO-DOT, by including the initialisation:
260
261                     .als SN SN-NO-DOT
262
263              at any time; the change becomes effective with the next use of
264              .NH, after the new alias is defined.
265
266       .SH [xx]
267              Unnumbered subheading.  The use of the optional xx argument is a
268              GNU extension, which adjusts the point size of the unnumbered
269              subheading to match that of a numbered heading, introduced using
270              .NH xx with the same value of xx.  For example, given the same
271              settings for PS, GROWPS and PSINCR, as used in the preceding .NH
272              example, the sequence:
273
274                     .SH 2
275                     An Unnumbered Subheading
276
277              will print “An Unnumbered Subheading” in 11.5pt bold text.
278
279   Highlighting
280       The ms macros provide a variety of methods to highlight or emphasize
281       text:
282
283       .B [txt [post [pre]]]
284              Sets its first argument in bold type.  If you specify a second
285              argument, groff prints it in the previous font after the bold
286              text, with no intervening space (this allows you to set
287              punctuation after the highlighted text without highlighting the
288              punctuation).  Similarly, it prints the third argument (if any)
289              in the previous font before the first argument.  For example,
290
291                     .B foo ) (
292
293              prints “(foo)”.
294
295              If you give this macro no arguments, groff prints all text
296              following in bold until the next highlighting, paragraph, or
297              heading macro.
298
299       .R [txt [post [pre]]]
300              Sets its first argument in roman (or regular) type.  It operates
301              similarly to the B macro otherwise.
302
303       .I [txt [post [pre]]]
304              Sets its first argument in italic type.  It operates similarly
305              to the B macro otherwise.
306
307       .CW [txt [post [pre]]]
308              Sets its first argument in a constant-width face.  It operates
309              similarly to the B macro otherwise.
310
311       .BI [txt [post [pre]]]
312              Sets its first argument in bold italic type.  It operates
313              similarly to the B macro otherwise.
314
315       .BX [txt]
316              Prints its argument and draws a box around it.  If you want to
317              box a string that contains spaces, use a digit-width space (\0).
318
319       .UL [txt [post]]
320              Prints its first argument with an underline.  If you specify a
321              second argument, groff prints it in the previous font after the
322              underlined text, with no intervening space.
323
324       .LG    Prints all text following in larger type (2 points larger than
325              the current point size) until the next font size, highlighting,
326              paragraph, or heading macro.  You can specify this macro
327              multiple times to enlarge the point size as needed.
328
329       .SM    Prints all text following in smaller type (2 points smaller than
330              the current point size) until the next type size, highlighting,
331              paragraph, or heading macro.  You can specify this macro
332              multiple times to reduce the point size as needed.
333
334       .NL    Prints all text following in the normal point size (that is, the
335              value of the PS register).
336
337       \*{text\*}
338              Print the enclosed text as a superscript.
339
340   Indents
341       You may need to indent sections of text.  A typical use for indents is
342       to create nested lists and sublists.
343
344       Use the RS and RE macros to start and end a section of indented text,
345       respectively.  The PI register controls the amount of indent.
346
347       You can nest indented sections as deeply as needed by using multiple,
348       nested pairs of RS and RE.
349
350   Lists
351       The IP macro handles duties for all lists.  Its syntax is as follows:
352
353       .IP [marker [width]]
354              The marker is usually a bullet character \(bu for unordered
355              lists, a number (or auto-incrementing number register) for
356              numbered lists, or a word or phrase for indented (glossary-
357              style) lists.
358
359              The width specifies the indent for the body of each list item.
360              Once specified, the indent remains the same for all list items
361              in the document until specified again.
362
363   Tab stops
364       Use the ta request to set tab stops as needed.  Use the TA macro to
365       reset tabs to the default (every 5n).  You can redefine the TA macro to
366       create a different set of default tab stops.
367
368   Displays and keeps
369       Use displays to show text-based examples or figures (such as code
370       listings).  Displays turn off filling, so lines of code can be
371       displayed as-is without inserting br requests in between each line.
372       Displays can be kept on a single page, or allowed to break across
373       pages.  The following table shows the display types available.
374
375                   Display macro                    Type of display
376                With keep      No keep
377              ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
378              .DS L            .LD       Left-justified.
379              .DS I [indent]   .ID       Indented (default indent in the DI
380                                         register).
381              .DS B            .BD       Block-centered (left-justified,
382                                         longest line centered).
383              .DS C            .CD       Centered.
384              .DS R            .RD       Right-justified.
385              ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
386
387       Use  the  DE  macro to end any display type.  The macros Ds and De were
388       formerly provided as aliases for DS and DE, respectively, but they have
389       been  removed,  and  should  no  longer  be  used.  X11 documents which
390       actually use Ds and De always load a specific macro file from  the  X11
391       distribution  (macros.t)  which provides proper definitions for the two
392       macros.
393
394       To keep text together on a page, such as a paragraph that refers  to  a
395       table (or list, or other item) immediately following, use the KS and KE
396       macros.  The KS macro begins a block of text to be  kept  on  a  single
397       page, and the KE macro ends the block.
398
399       You  can  specify  a  floating keep using the KF and KE macros.  If the
400       keep cannot fit on the current page, groff holds the  contents  of  the
401       keep and allows text following the keep (in the source file) to fill in
402       the remainder of the current page.  When the page breaks, whether by an
403       explicit  bp  request  or by reaching the end of the page, groff prints
404       the floating keep at the top of the  new  page.   This  is  useful  for
405       printing  large  graphics  or tables that do not need to appear exactly
406       where specified.
407
408       The macros B1 and B2 can be used to enclose a text within  a  box;  .B1
409       begins  the  box,  and  .B2  ends it.  Text in the box is automatically
410       placed in a diversion (keep).
411
412   Tables, figures, equations, and references
413       The ms macros support the standard groff preprocessors: tbl, pic,  eqn,
414       and  refer.  Mark text meant for preprocessors by enclosing it in pairs
415       of tags as follows:
416
417       .TS [H] and .TE
418              Denote a table to be processed by  the  tbl  preprocessor.   The
419              optional  H  argument instructs groff to create a running header
420              with the information up to  the  TH  macro.   Groff  prints  the
421              header  at  the  beginning  of the table; if the table runs onto
422              another page, groff prints the header on the next page as well.
423
424       .PS and .PE
425              Denote a graphic to be processed by the pic  preprocessor.   You
426              can  create  a  pic  file  by  hand,  using  the AT&T pic manual
427              available on the Web as a reference,  or  by  using  a  graphics
428              program such as xfig.
429
430       .EQ [align] and .EN
431              Denote an equation to be processed by the eqn preprocessor.  The
432              optional align argument can  be  C,  L,  or  I  to  center  (the
433              default), left-justify, or indent the equation, respectively.
434
435       .[ and .]
436              Denote  a  reference  to be processed by the refer preprocessor.
437              The GNU refer(1) manual page provides a comprehensive  reference
438              to   the  preprocessor  and  the  format  of  the  bibliographic
439              database.
440
441   Footnotes
442       The ms macros provide a flexible footnote system.  You  can  specify  a
443       numbered  footnote by using the \** escape, followed by the text of the
444       footnote enclosed by FS and FE macros.
445
446       You can specify symbolic footnotes by placing the mark character  (such
447       as  \(dg  for  the  dagger character) in the body text, followed by the
448       text of the footnote enclosed by FS \(dg and FE macros.
449
450       You can control how groff prints footnote numbers by changing the value
451       of the FF register as follows:
452
453              0      Prints  the footnote number as a superscript; indents the
454                     footnote (default).
455
456              1      Prints the number followed by a period  (that  is,  “1.”)
457                     and indents the footnote.
458
459              2      Like 1, without an indent.
460
461              3      Like  1,  but  prints  the footnote number as a paragraph
462                     with a hanging indent.
463
464       You can use footnotes safely within keeps and displays, but avoid using
465       numbered  footnotes  within  floating  keeps.  You can set a second \**
466       between a \** and its corresponding .FS; as long  as  each  .FS  occurs
467       after  the corresponding \** and the occurrences of .FS are in the same
468       order as the corresponding occurrences of \**.
469
470   Headers and footers
471       There are three ways to define headers and footers:
472
473       •  Use the strings LH, CH, and RH to set the left,  center,  and  right
474          headers.   Use  LF,  CF,  and  RF to set the left, center, and right
475          footers.  The string-setting approach works best for documents  that
476          do not distinguish between odd and even pages.
477
478       •  Use  the  OH  and  EH  macros to define headers for the odd and even
479          pages, and OF and EF macros to define footers for the odd  and  even
480          pages.   This is more flexible than defining the individual strings.
481          The syntax for these macros is as follows:
482
483                 .XX 'left'center'right'
484
485          where XX is one of the foregoing  four  macros  and  each  of  left,
486          center, and right is text of your choice.  You can replace the quote
487          (') marks with any character not appearing in the header  or  footer
488          text.
489
490       •  You  can redefine the PT and BT macros to change the behavior of the
491          header and footer, respectively.  The header process also calls  the
492          (undefined) HD macro after PT; you can define this macro if you need
493          additional processing after printing the  header  (for  example,  to
494          draw a line below the header).
495
496   Margins
497       You  control  margins  using  a set of number registers.  The following
498       table lists the register names and defaults:
499
500              Reg.          Definition             Effective      Default
501              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
502              PO     Page offset (left margin)   next page        1i
503              LL     Line length                 next paragraph   6i
504              LT     Header/footer length        next paragraph   6i
505              HM     Top (header) margin         next page        1i
506              FM     Bottom (footer) margin      next page        1i
507              ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
508
509       Note that there is no right margin setting.  The  combination  of  page
510       offset  and line length provide the information necessary to derive the
511       right margin.
512
513   Multiple columns
514       The ms macros can set text in as many columns as will reasonably fit on
515       the  page.   The  following  macros are available.  All of them force a
516       page break if a multi-column mode is  already  set.   However,  if  the
517       current  mode  is  single-column, starting a multi-column mode does not
518       force a page break.
519
520       .1C    Single-column mode.
521
522       .2C    Two-column mode.
523
524       .MC [column-width [gutter-width]]
525              Multi-column  mode.   If  you  specify  no  arguments,   it   is
526              equivalent  to  the  2C  macro.   Otherwise, column-width is the
527              width of each column  and  gutter-width  is  the  space  between
528              columns.  The MINGW number register is the default gutter width.
529
530   Creating a table of contents
531       Wrap text that you want to appear in the table of contents in XS and XE
532       macros.  Use the TC macro to print the table of contents at the end  of
533       the document, resetting the page number to i (Roman numeral 1).
534
535       You can manually create a table of contents by specifying a page number
536       as the first argument to XS.   Add  subsequent  entries  using  the  XA
537       macro.  For example:
538
539              .XS 1
540              Introduction
541              .XA 2
542              A Brief History of the Universe
543              .XA 729
544              Details of Galactic Formation
545              ...
546              .XE
547
548       Use  the  PX  macro  to  print  a  manually-generated table of contents
549       without resetting the page number.
550
551       If you give the argument no  to  either  PX  or  TC,  groff  suppresses
552       printing the title specified by the \*[TOC] string.
553
554   Fractional point sizes
555       Traditionally,  the  ms  macros  only  support  integer  values for the
556       document's  font  size  and  vertical  spacing.    To   overcome   this
557       restriction,  values  larger  than  or  equal  to  1000  are  taken  as
558       fractional values, multiplied by 1000.  For  example,  ‘.nr  PS  10250’
559       sets the font size to 10.25 points.
560
561       The  following  four  registers  accept fractional point sizes: PS, VS,
562       FPS, and FVS.
563
564       Due to backwards compatibility, the value of VS must  be  smaller  than
565       40000 (this is 40.0 points).
566

DIFFERENCES FROM troff ms

568       The groff ms macros are a complete re-implementation, using no original
569       AT&T code.  Since they take  advantage  of  the  extended  features  in
570       groff, they cannot be used with AT&T troff.  Other differences include:
571
572       •  The  internals  of  groff  ms  differ from the internals of Unix ms.
573          Documents that depend upon implementation details of Unix ms may not
574          format properly with groff ms.
575
576       •  The  error-handling  policy  of  groff  ms  is  to detect and report
577          errors, rather than silently to ignore them.
578
579       •  Some Bell Labs localisms are not implemented by  default.   However,
580          if  you call the otherwise undocumented SC section-header macro, you
581          will enable implementations of three other archaic Bell Labs macros:
582          UC,  P1,  and P2.  These are not enabled by default because (a) they
583          were not documented, in the original ms manual, and (b) the  P1  and
584          UC macros both collide with different macros in the Berkeley version
585          of ms.
586
587          These emulations are sufficient to give back the  1976  Kernighan  &
588          Cherry  paper  Typesetting  Mathematics    User's Guide its section
589          headings, and restore some text that had gone missing  as  arguments
590          of  undefined macros.  No warranty express or implied is given as to
591          how well the typographic details these produce  match  the  original
592          Bell Labs macros.
593
594       •  Berkeley  localisms,  in  particular  the  TM and CT macros, are not
595          implemented.
596
597Groff ms does not work in compatibility  mode  (e.g.,  with  the  -C
598          option).
599
600       •  There is no support for typewriter-like devices.
601
602Groff ms does not provide cut marks.
603
604       •  Multiple  line  spacing  is  not  supported  (use  a larger vertical
605          spacing instead).
606
607       •  Some Unix ms documentation says that the CW and GW number  registers
608          can   be  used  to  control  the  column  width  and  gutter  width,
609          respectively.  These number registers are not used in groff ms.
610
611       •  Macros that cause a reset (paragraphs, headings,  etc.)  may  change
612          the  indent.   Macros  that  change  the  indent do not increment or
613          decrement the indent, but rather set it absolutely.  This can  cause
614          problems  for  documents that define additional macros of their own.
615          The solution is to use not the in request but instead the RS and  RE
616          macros.
617
618       •  The  number  register  GS is set to 1 by the groff ms macros, but is
619          not used by the Unix ms macros.  Documents that  need  to  determine
620          whether they are being formatted with Unix ms or groff ms should use
621          this number register.
622
623       •  To make groff ms use the default page offset (which  also  specifies
624          the  left  margin), the PO number register must stay undefined until
625          the first ms macro is evaluated.  This implies that PO should not be
626          used early in the document, unless it is changed also: remember that
627          accessing an undefined register automatically defines it.
628
629   Strings
630       You can redefine the following strings to adapt the groff ms macros  to
631       languages other than English:
632
633                String       Default Value
634              ───────────────────────────────
635              REFERENCES   References
636              ABSTRACT     ABSTRACT
637              TOC          Table of Contents
638              MONTH1       January
639              MONTH2       February
640              MONTH3       March
641              MONTH4       April
642              MONTH5       May
643              MONTH6       June
644              MONTH7       July
645              MONTH8       August
646              MONTH9       September
647              MONTH10      October
648              MONTH11      November
649              MONTH12      December
650              ───────────────────────────────
651
652       The \*- string produces an em dash—like this.
653
654       Use  \*Q  and  \*U  to  get  a  left  and  right  typographer's  quote,
655       respectively, in troff (and plain quotes in nroff).
656
657   Text Settings
658       The FAM string sets  the  default  font  family.   If  this  string  is
659       undefined at initialization, it is set to Times.
660
661       The  point  size,  vertical  spacing,  and  inter-paragraph spacing for
662       footnotes are controlled by the number registers FPS, FVS, and FPD;  at
663       initialization  these  are  set  to  \n(PS-2,  \n[FPS]+2,  and \n(PD/2,
664       respectively.   If  any  of  these   registers   are   defined   before
665       initialization, the initialization macro does not change them.
666
667       The  hyphenation  flags  (as set by the hy request) are set from the HY
668       register; the default is 6.
669
670       Improved accent marks (as originally defined in Berkeley's ms  version)
671       are  available  by  specifying  the  AM  macro at the beginning of your
672       document.  You can place an accent over most characters  by  specifying
673       the  string  defining  the  accent  directly  after the character.  For
674       example, n\*~ produces an n with a tilde over it.
675

NAMING CONVENTIONS

677       The following conventions are used for names of  macros,  strings,  and
678       number  registers.   External names available to documents that use the
679       groff ms macros contain only uppercase letters and digits.
680
681       Internally the macros are divided into modules; naming conventions  are
682       as follows:
683
684       •  Names used only within one module are of the form module*name.
685
686       •  Names  used  outside the module in which they are defined are of the
687          form module@name.
688
689       •  Names associated with a  particular  environment  are  of  the  form
690          environment:name; these are used only within the par module.
691
692name does not have a module prefix.
693
694       •  Constructed   names  used  to  implement  arrays  are  of  the  form
695          array!index.
696
697       Thus the groff ms macros reserve the following names:
698
699       •  Names containing the characters *, @, and :.
700
701       •  Names containing only uppercase letters and digits.
702

FILES

704       /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/ms.tmac (a wrapper file for s.tmac)
705       /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/s.tmac
706

AUTHORS

708       The GNU version of the ms macro package was written by James Clark  and
709       contributors.  This document was (re-)written by Larry Kollar ⟨lkollar@
710       despammed.com⟩.
711

SEE ALSO

713       groff(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1), refer(1)
714
715       Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff, by Trent A. Fisher  and  Werner
716       Lemberg
717
718
719
720groff 1.22.4                    19 January 2023                    GROFF_MS(7)
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