1GROFF_MAN(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual GROFF_MAN(7)
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6 groff_man - groff `man' macros to support generation of man pages
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9 groff -man [ options... ] [ files... ]
10 groff -m man [ options... ] [ files... ]
11
13 The man macros used to generate man pages with groff were written by
14 James Clark. This document provides a brief summary of the use of each
15 macro in that package.
16
18 The man macros understand the following command line options (which
19 define various registers).
20 -rLL=line-length
22 Set line length. If this option is not given, the line length
23 defaults to 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
24 -rLT=title-length
26 Set title length. If this option is not given, the title length
27 defaults to 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.
28 -rcR=1 This option (the default if in nroff mode) will create a single,
30 very long page instead of multiple pages. Say -rcR=0 to disable
31 it.
32 -rC1 If more than one manual page is given on the command line, num‐
34 ber the pages continuously, rather than starting each at 1.
35 -rD1 Double-sided printing. Footers for even and odd pages are for‐
37 matted differently.
38 -rPnnn Enumeration of pages will start with nnn rather than with 1.
40 -rSxx Base document font size is xx points (xx can be 10, 11, or 12)
42 rather than 10 points.
43 -rXnnn After page nnn, number pages as nnna, nnnb, nnnc, etc. For
45 example, the option `-rX2' will produce the following page num‐
46 bers: 1, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, etc.
47
49 This section describes the available macros for manual pages. For fur‐
50 ther customization, put additional macros and requests into the file
51 man.local which will be loaded immediately after the man package.
52 .TH title section [extra1] [extra2] [extra3]
54 Sets the title of the man page to title and the section to sec‐
55 tion, which must take on a value between 1 and 8. The value
56 section may also have a string appended, e.g. `.pm', to indicate
57 a specific subsection of the man pages. Both title and section
58 are positioned at the left and right in the header line (with
59 section in parentheses immediately appended to title. extra1
60 will be positioned in the middle of the footer line. extra2
61 will be positioned at the left in the footer line (resp. at the
62 left on even pages and at the right on odd pages if double-sided
63 printing is active). extra3 is centered in the header line.
64 For HTML output, headers and footers are completely supressed.
66 Additionally, this macro starts a new page; the new line number
68 is 1 again (except if the `-rC1' option is given on the command
69 line) -- this feature is intended only for formatting multiple
70 man pages; a single man page should contain exactly one TH macro
71 at the beginning of the file.
72 .SH [text for a heading]
74 Sets up an unnumbered section heading sticking out to the left.
75 Prints out all the text following SH up to the end of the line
76 (resp. the text in the next input line if there is no argument
77 to SH) in bold face, one size larger than the base document
78 size. Additionally, the left margin for the following text is
79 reset to its default value.
80 .SS [text for a heading]
82 Sets up an secondary, unnumbered section heading. Prints out
83 all the text following SS up to the end of the line (resp. the
84 text in the next input line if there is no argument to SS) in
85 bold face, at the same size as the base document size. Addi‐
86 tionally, the left margin for the following text is reset to its
87 default value.
88 .TP [nnn]
90 Sets up an indented paragraph with label. The indentation is
91 set to nnn if that argument is supplied (the default unit is `n'
92 if omitted), otherwise it is set to the default indentation
93 value. The first input line of text following this macro is
94 interpreted as a string to be printed flush-left, as it is
95 appropriate for a label. It is not interpreted as part of a
96 paragraph, so there is no attempt to fill the first line with
97 text from the following input lines. Nevertheless, if the label
98 is not as wide as the indentation, then the paragraph starts at
99 the same line (but indented), continuing on the following lines.
100 If the label is wider than the indentation, then the descriptive
101 part of the paragraph begins on the line following the label,
102 entirely indented. Note that neither font shape nor font size
103 of the label is set to a default value; on the other hand, the
104 rest of the text will have default font settings. The TP macro
105 is the macro used for the explanations you are just reading.
106 .LP
108 .PP
109 .P These macros are mutual aliases. Any of them causes a line
110 break at the current position, followed by a vertical space
111 downwards by the amount specified by the PD macro. The font
112 size and shape are reset to the default value (10pt resp.
113 Roman). Finally, the current left margin is restored.
114 .IP [designator] [nnn]
116 Sets up an indented paragraph, using designator as a tag to mark
117 its beginning. The indentation is set to nnn if that argument
118 is supplied (default unit is `n'), otherwise the default inden‐
119 tation value is used. Font size and face of the paragraph (but
120 not the designator) are reset to its default values. To start
121 an indented paragraph with a particular indentation but without
122 a designator, use `""' (two doublequotes) as the second argu‐
123 ment.
124 For example, the following paragraphs were all set up with bul‐
126 lets as the designator, using `.IP \(bu 4':
127 · IP is one of the three macros used in the man package to
129 format lists.
130 · HP is another. This macro produces a paragraph with a left
132 hanging indentation.
133 · TP is another. This macro produces an unindented label fol‐
135 lowed by an indented paragraph.
136 .HP [nnn]
138 Sets up a paragraph with hanging left indentation. The indenta‐
139 tion is set to nnn if that argument is supplied (default unit is
140 `n'), otherwise the default indentation value is used. Font
141 size and face are reset to its default values. The following
142 paragraph illustrates the effect of this macro with hanging
143 indentation set to 4:
144 This is a paragraph following an invocation of the HP macro. As
146 you can see, it produces a paragraph where all lines but the
147 first are indented.
148 .RS [nnn]
150 This macro moves the left margin to the right by the value nnn
151 if specified (default unit is `n'); otherwise the default inden‐
152 tation value is used. Calls to the RS macro can be nested.
153 .RE [nnn]
155 This macro moves the left margin back to level nnn; if no argu‐
156 ment is given, it moves one level back. The first level (i.e.,
157 no call to RS yet) has number 1, and each call to RS increases
158 the level by 1.
159 To summarize, the following macros cause a line break with the inser‐
161 tion of vertical space (which amount can be changed with the PD macro):
162 SH, SS, TP, LP (PP, P), IP, and HP. The macros RS and RE also cause a
163 break but no insertion of vertical space. Finally, the macros SH, SS,
164 LP (PP, P), and RS reset the indentation to its default value.
165
167 The standard font is Roman; the default text size is 10 point.
168 .SM [text]
170 Causes the text on the same line or the text on the next input
171 line to appear in a font that is one point size smaller than the
172 default font.
173 .SB [text]
175 Causes the text on the same line or the text on the next input
176 line to appear in boldface font, one point size smaller than the
177 default font.
178 .BI text
180 Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in bold face
181 and italic. The text must be on the same line as the macro
182 call. Thus
183 .BI this "word and" that
185 would cause `this' and `that' to appear in bold face, while
187 `word and' appears in italics.
188 .IB text
190 Causes text to appear alternately in italic and bold face. The
191 text must be on the same line as the macro call.
192 .RI text
194 Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in roman and
195 italic. The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
196 .IR text
198 Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in italic and
199 roman. The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
200 .BR text
202 Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in bold face
203 and roman. The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
204 .RB text
206 Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in roman and
207 bold face. The text must be on the same line as the macro call.
208 .B [text]
210 Causes text to appear in bold face. If no text is present on
211 the line where the macro is called, then the text of the next
212 input line appears in bold face.
213 .I [text]
215 Causes text to appear in italic. If no text is present on the
216 line where the macro is called, then the text of the next input
217 line appears in italic.
218
220 The default indentation is 7.2n for all output devices except for gro‐
221 html which ignores indentation.
222 .DT Sets tabs every 0.5 inches. Since this macro is always called
224 during a TH request, it makes sense to call it only if the tab
225 positions have been changed.
226 .PD [nnn]
228 Adjusts the empty space before a new paragraph (resp. section).
229 The optional argument gives the amount of space (default units
230 are `v'); without parameter, the value is reset to its default
231 value (1 line for tty devices, 0.4v otherwise). This affects
232 the macros SH, SS, TP, LP (resp. PP and P), IP, and HP.
233 The following strings are defined:
235 \*S Switch back to the default font size.
237 \*R The `registered' sign.
239 \*(Tm The `trademark' sign.
241 \*(lq
243 \*(rq Left and right quote. This is equal to `\(lq' and `\(rq',
244 respectively.
245 If a preprocessor like tbl or eqn is needed, it has become usage to
247 make the first line of the man page look like this:
248 .\" word
250 Note the single space character after the double quote. word consists
252 of letters for the needed preprocessors: `e' for eqn, `r' for refer,
253 and `t' for tbl. Modern implementations of the man program read this
254 first line and automatically call the right preprocessor(s).
255
257 man.tmac
258 an.tmac
259 These are wrapper files to call andoc.tmac.
260 andoc.tmac
262 This file checks whether the man macros or the mdoc package
263 should be used.
264 an-old.tmac
266 All man macros are contained in this file.
267 man.local
269 Local changes and customizations should be put into this file.
270
272 Since the man macros consist of groups of groff requests, one can, in
273 principle, supplement the functionality of the man macros with individ‐
274 ual groff requests where necessary. A complete list of these requests
275 is available on the WWW at
276 http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/gnu/groff/groff_toc.html
278 tbl(1), eqn(1), refer(1), man(1)
280
282 This manual page was originally written for the Debian GNU/Linux system
283 by Susan G. Kleinmann <sgk@debian.org>, corrected and updated by Werner
284 Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>, and is now part of the GNU troff distribution.
285Groff Version 1.18.1.4 05 September 2002 GROFF_MAN(7)