Manpages - groff_mdoc.7
A complete reference for writing
manual pages with the
macro package; a
and
formatting package for
Its predecessor, the
package, addressed page layout leaving the manipulation of fonts and other typesetting details to the individual author. In
page layout macros make up the
which consists of macros for titles, section headers, displays and lists – essentially items which affect the physical position of text on a formatted page. In addition to the page structure domain, there are two more domains, the
domain and the
text domain. The general text domain is defined as macros which perform tasks such as quoting or emphasizing pieces of text. The manual domain is defined as macros that are a subset of the day to day informal language used to describe commands, routines and related
files. Macros in the manual domain handle command names, command-line arguments and options, function names, function parameters, pathnames, variables, cross references to other manual pages, and so on. These domain items have value for both the author and the future user of the manual page. Hopefully, the consistency gained across the manual set will provide easier translation to future documentation tools.
Throughout the
manual pages, a manual entry is simply referred to as a man page, regardless of actual length and without sexist intention.
The material presented in the remainder of this document is outlined as follows:
The
package attempts to simplify the process of writing a man page. Theoretically, one should not have to learn the tricky details of
to use
however, there are a few limitations which are unavoidable and best gotten out of the way. And, too, be forewarned, this package is
fast.
As in
a macro is called by placing a
(dot character) at the beginning of a line followed by the two-character (or three-character) name for the macro. There can be space or tab characters between the dot and the macro name. Arguments may follow the macro separated by spaces (but
tabs). It is the dot character at the beginning of the line which causes
to interpret the next two (or more) characters as a macro name. A single starting dot followed by nothing is ignored. To place a
(dot character) at the beginning of an input line in some context other than a macro invocation, precede the
(dot) with the
escape sequence which translates literally to a zero-width space, and is never displayed in the output.
In general,
macros accept an unlimited number of arguments (contrary to other versions of troff which can’t handle more than nine arguments). In limited cases, arguments may be continued or extended on the next line (See
below). Almost all macros handle quoted arguments (see
below).
Most of the
general text domain and manual domain macros are special in that their argument lists are
for callable macro names. This means an argument on the argument list which matches a general text or manual domain macro name (and which is defined to be callable) will be executed or called when it is processed. In this case the argument, although the name of a macro, is not preceded by a
(dot). This makes it possible to nest macros; for example the option macro,
may
the flag and argument macros,
and
to specify an optional flag with an argument:
is produced by
To prevent a string from being interpreted as a macro name, precede the string with the escape sequence
is produced by
Here the strings
and
are not interpreted as macros. Macros whose argument lists are parsed for callable arguments are referred to as
and macros which may be called from an argument list are referred to as
throughout this document. This is a technical
as almost all of the macros in
are parsed, but as it was cumbersome to constantly refer to macros as being callable and being able to call other macros, the term parsed has been used.
In the following, we call an
macro which starts a line (with a leading dot) a
if this distinction is necessary.
Sometimes it is desirable to give as an argument a string containing one or more blank space characters, say, to specify arguments to commands which expect particular arrangement of items in the argument list. Additionally, it makes
working faster. For example, the function command
expects the first argument to be the name of a function and any remaining arguments to be function parameters. As
stipulates the declaration of function parameters in the parenthesized parameter list, each parameter is guaranteed to be at minimum a two word string. For example,
There are two possible ways to pass an argument which contains an embedded space. One way of passing a string containing blank spaces is to use the hard or unpaddable space character
that is, a blank space preceded by the escape character
This method may be used with any macro but has the side effect of interfering with the adjustment of text over the length of a line.
sees the hard space as if it were any other printable character and cannot split the string into blank or newline separated pieces as one would expect. This method is useful for strings which are not expected to overlap a line boundary. An alternative is to use
a paddable (i.e. stretchable), unbreakable space (this is a
extension). The second method is to enclose the string with double quotes.
For example:
is created by
can also be created by
If the
before the space in the first example or double quotes in the second example were omitted,
would see three arguments, and the result would be:
can be confused by blank space characters at the end of a line. It is a wise preventive measure to globally remove all blank spaces from
character sequences. Should the need arise to use a blank character at the end of a line, it may be forced with an unpaddable space and the
escape character. For example,
Special characters like the newline character
are handled by replacing the
with
(e.g.
to preserve the backslash.
A warning is emitted when an empty input line is found outside of displays (see below). Use
instead. (Well, it is even better to use
macros to avoid the usage of low-level commands.)
Leading spaces will cause a break and are output directly. Avoid this behaviour if possible. Similarly, do not use more than one space character between words in an ordinary text line; contrary to other text formatters, they are
replaced with a single space.
You can’t pass
directly as an argument. Use
(or
instead.
By default,
inserts two space characters after a punctuation mark closing a sentence; characters like
or
are treated transparently, not influencing the sentence-ending behaviour. To change this, insert
before or after the dot:
The .Ql . character. .Pp The .Ql \&. character. .Pp .No test . test .Pp .No test. test
gives
The
character
The
character.
test
test
As can be seen in the first and third line,
handles punctuation characters specially in macro arguments. This will be explained in section
below. In the same way, you have to protect trailing full stops of abbreviations with a trailing zero-width space:
A comment in the source file of a man page can be either started with
on a single line,
after some input, or
anywhere (the latter is a
extension); the rest of such a line is ignored.
The body of a man page is easily constructed from a basic template:
.\“ The following commands are required for all man pages. .Dd Month day, year .Dt DOCUMENT_TITLE [section number] [architecture/volume] .Os [OPERATING_SYSTEM] [version/release] .Sh NAME .Nm name .Nd one line description of name .\” This next command is for sections 2 and 3 only. .\“ .Sh LIBRARY .Sh SYNOPSIS .Sh DESCRIPTION .\” The following commands should be uncommented and .\“ used where appropriate. .\” .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES .\“ This next command is for sections 2, 3, and 9 only .\” (function return values). .\“ .Sh RETURN VALUES .\” This next command is for sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only. .\“ .Sh ENVIRONMENT .\” .Sh FILES .\“ This next command is for sections 1, 6, and 8 only .\” (command return values to the shell). .\“ .Sh EXIT STATUS .\” .Sh EXAMPLES .\“ This next command is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 only .\” (fprintf/stderr type diagnostics). .\“ .Sh DIAGNOSTICS .\” .Sh COMPATIBILITY .\“ This next command is for sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 only .\” (settings of the errno variable). .\“ .Sh ERRORS .\” .Sh SEE ALSO .\“ .Sh STANDARDS .\” .Sh HISTORY .\“ .Sh AUTHORS .\” .Sh CAVEATS .\“ .Sh BUGS
The first items in the template are the commands
and
the document date, the operating system the man page or subject source is developed or modified for, and the man page title (in
along with the section of the manual the page belongs in. These commands identify the page and are discussed below in
The remaining items in the template are section headers
of which
and
are mandatory. The headers are discussed in
after presentation of
Several content macros are used to demonstrate page layout macros; reading about content macros before page layout macros is recommended.
In the description of all macros below, optional arguments are put into brackets. An ellipsis
represents zero or more additional arguments. Alternative values for a parameter are separated with
If there are alternative values for a mandatory parameter, braces are used (together with
to enclose the value set. Meta-variables are specified within angles.
Example:
Except stated explicitly, all macros are parsed and callable.
Note that a macro takes effect up to the next nested macro. For example,
doesn’t produce
but
Consequently, a warning message is emitted for most commands if the first argument is a macro itself since it cancels the effect of the calling command completely. Another consequence is that quoting macros never insert literal quotes;
has been produced by
Most macros have a default width value which can be used to specify a label width
or offset
for the
and
macros. It is recommended not to use this rather obscure feature to avoid dependencies on local modifications of the
package.
The title macros are part of the page structure domain but are presented first and separately for someone who wishes to start writing a man page yesterday. Three header macros designate the document title or manual page title, the operating system, and the date of authorship. These macros are called once at the very beginning of the document and are used to construct headers and footers only.
The document title is the subject of the man page and must be in
due to troff limitations. If omitted,
is used. The section number may be a number in the range
or
or
If it is specified, and no volume name is given, a default volume name is used.
Under
the following sections are defined:
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ||
| 3 | ||
| 4 | ||
| 5 | ||
| 6 | ||
| 7 | ||
| 8 | ||
| 9 |
A volume name may be arbitrary or one of the following:
| USD | |
| PS1 | |
| AMD | |
| SMM | |
| URM | |
| PRM | |
| KM | |
| IND | |
| LOCAL | |
| CON |
For compatibility,
can be used for
and
for
Values from the previous table will specify a new volume name. If the third parameter is a keyword designating a computer architecture, its value is prepended to the default volume name as specified by the second parameter. By default, the following architecture keywords are defined: .Bd -ragged -offset indent
If the section number is neither a numeric expression in the range 1 to 9 nor one of the above described keywords, the third parameter is used verbatim as the volume name.
In the following examples, the left (which is identical to the right) and the middle part of the manual page header strings are shown. Note how
prevents the digit 7 from being a valid numeric expression.
Local, OS-specific additions might be found in the file
look for strings named
(for the former type) and
(for the latter type);
then denotes the keyword to be used with the
macro.
This macro is neither callable nor parsed.
If the first parameter is empty, the default
is used. This may be overridden in the local configuration file,
In general, the name of the operating system should be the common acronym, e.g.
or
The release should be the standard release nomenclature for the system specified. In the following table, the possible second arguments for some predefined operating systems are listed. Similar to
local additions might be defined in
look for strings named
where
is the acronym for the operating system and
the release ID.
7th, 7, III, 3, V, V.2, V.3, V.4
3, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.3t, 4.3T, 4.3r, 4.3R, 4.4
0.8, 0.8a, 0.9, 0.9a, 1.0, 1.0a, 1.1, 1.2, 1.2a, 1.2b, 1.2c, 1.2d, 1.2e, 1.3, 1.3a, 1.4, 1.4.1, 1.4.2, 1.4.3, 1.5, 1.5.1, 1.5.2, 1.5.3, 1.6, 1.6.1, 1.6.2, 1.6.3, 2.0, 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.3, 2.1, 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.0.3, 3.1, 3.1.1, 4.0, 4.0.1, 5.0, 5.0.1, 5.0.2, 5.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 5.1.4, 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.2, 6.0, 6.0.1, 6.0.2, 6.0.3, 6.0.4, 6.0.5, 6.1, 6.1.1, 6.1.2, 6.1.3, 6.1.4
1.0, 1.1, 1.1.5, 1.1.5.1, 2.0, 2.0.5, 2.1, 2.1.5, 2.1.6, 2.1.7, 2.2, 2.2.1, 2.2.2, 2.2.5, 2.2.6, 2.2.7, 2.2.8, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 4.0, 4.1, 4.1.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.6.2, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 6.0, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.0, 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 10.0
2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6
1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 1.8.1, 1.9, 1.10, 1.12, 1.12.2, 1.13, 2.0, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9, 2.9.1, 2.10, 2.10.1, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13, 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8
8.0.0, 8.1.0, 8.2.0, 8.3.0, 8.4.0, 8.5.0, 8.6.0, 8.7.0, 8.8.0, 8.9.0, 8.10.0, 8.11.0, 9.0.0, 9.1.0, 9.2.0, 9.3.0, 9.4.0, 9.5.0, 9.6.0, 9.7.0, 9.8.0, 10.1.0, 10.2.0, 10.3.0, 10.4.0, 10.5.0, 10.6.0, 10.7.0, 10.8.0, 11.0.0, 11.1.0, 11.2.0, 11.3.0, 11.4.0, 11.5.0, 12.0.0, 12.1.0, 12.2.0, 13.0.0, 13.1.0, 13.2.0, 13.3.0, 13.4.0, 14.0.0
For
an unknown second parameter will be replaced with the string
for the other predefined acronyms it will be ignored and a warning message emitted. Unrecognized arguments are displayed as given in the page footer. For instance, a typical footer might be:
giving
or for a locally produced set
which will produce
If the
macro is not present, the bottom left corner of the manual page will be ugly.
This macro is neither callable nor parsed.
If
has no arguments,
is used for the date string. If it has exactly three arguments, they are concatenated, separated with unbreakable space:
The month’s name shall not be abbreviated.
With any other number of arguments, the current date is used, ignoring the parameters.
As a special exception, the format
is also recognized. It is used in
manuals to automatically insert the current date when committing.
This macro is neither callable nor parsed.
The manual domain macro names are derived from the day to day informal language used to describe commands, subroutines and related files. Slightly different variations of this language are used to describe the three different aspects of writing a man page. First, there is the description of
macro command usage. Second is the description of a
command
macros, and third, the description of a command to a user in the verbal sense; that is, discussion of a command in the text of a man page.
In the first case,
macros are themselves a type of command; the general syntax for a troff command is:
is a macro command, and anything following it are arguments to be processed. In the second case, the description of a
command using the content macros is a bit more involved; a typical
command line might be displayed as:
Here,
is the command name and the bracketed string
is a
argument designated as optional by the option brackets. In
terms,
and
are called
in this example, the user has to replace the meta expressions given in angle brackets with real file names. Note that in this document meta arguments are used to describe
commands; in most man pages, meta variables are not specifically written with angle brackets. The macros which formatted the above example:
.Nm filter .Op Fl flag .Ao Ar infile Ac Ao Ar outfile Ac
In the third case, discussion of commands and command syntax includes both examples above, but may add more detail. The arguments
and
from the example above might be referred to as
or
Some command-line argument lists are quite long:
Here one might talk about the command
and qualify the argument,
as an argument to the flag,
or discuss the optional file operand
In the verbal context, such detail can prevent confusion, however the
package does not have a macro for an argument
a flag. Instead the
argument macro is used for an operand or file argument like
as well as an argument to a flag like
The make command line was produced from:
.Nm make .Op Fl eiknqrstv .Op Fl D Ar variable .Op Fl d Ar flags .Op Fl f Ar makefile .Op Fl I Ar directory .Op Fl j Ar max_jobs .Op Ar variable Ns = Ns Ar value .Bk .Op Ar target … .Ek
The
and
macros are explained in
The manual domain and general text domain macros share a similar syntax with a few minor deviations; most notably,
and
differ only when called without arguments; and
and
impose an order on their argument lists. All content macros are capable of recognizing and properly handling punctuation, provided each punctuation character is separated by a leading space. If a command is given:
The result is:
The punctuation is not recognized and all is output in the font used by
If the punctuation is separated by a leading white space:
The result is:
The punctuation is now recognized and output in the default font distinguishing it from the argument strings. To remove the special meaning from a punctuation character escape it with
The following punctuation characters are recognized by
is limited as a macro language, and has difficulty when presented with a string containing a member of the mathematical, logical or quotation set:
{+,-,/,*,%,<,>,<=,>=,=,==,&,`,’,“}
The problem is that
may assume it is supposed to actually perform the operation or evaluation suggested by the characters. To prevent the accidental evaluation of these characters, escape them with
Typical syntax is shown in the first content macro displayed below,
The address macro identifies an address construct.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro is used to specify the name of the author of the item being documented, or the name of the author of the actual manual page.
The default width is 12n.
In the
section, the
command causes a line break allowing each new name to appear on its own line. If this is not desirable,
.An -nosplit
call will turn this off. To turn splitting back on, write
.An -split
The
argument macro may be used whenever an argument is referenced. If called without arguments, the
string is output.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro is used to demonstrate a
declaration for a device interface in a section four manual.
In the
section a
command causes a line break before and after its arguments are printed.
The default width is 12n.
The command modifier is identical to the
(flag) command with the exception that the
macro does not assert a dash in front of every argument. Traditionally flags are marked by the preceding dash, however, some commands or subsets of commands do not use them. Command modifiers may also be specified in conjunction with interactive commands such as editor commands. See
The default width is 10n.
A variable (or constant) which is defined in an include file is specified by the macro
The default width is 12n.
The
errno macro specifies the error return value for section 2, 3, and 9 library routines. The second example below shows
used with the
general text domain macro, as it would be used in a section two manual page.
The default width is 17n.
The
macro specifies an environment variable.
The default width is 15n.
The
macro handles command-line flags. It prepends a dash,
to the flag. For interactive command flags, which are not prepended with a dash, the
(command modifier) macro is identical, but without the dash.
The
macro without any arguments results in a dash representing stdin/stdout. Note that giving
a single dash will result in two dashes.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro is used in the
section with section two or three functions. It is neither callable nor parsed.
In the
section a
command causes a line break if a function has already been presented and a break has not occurred. This leaves a nice vertical space in between the previous function call and the declaration for the next function.
The
macro, while in the
section, represents the
statement, and is the short form of the above example. It specifies the C header file as being included in a C program. It also causes a line break.
While not in the
section, it represents the header file enclosed in angle brackets.
This macro is intended for the
section. It may be used anywhere else in the man page without problems, but its main purpose is to present the function type in kernel normal form for the
of sections two and three (it causes a line break, allowing the function name to appear on the next line).
The
macro is modeled on
conventions.
Note that any call to another macro signals the end of the
call (it will insert a closing parenthesis at that point).
For functions with many parameters (which is rare), the macros
(function open) and
(function close) may be used with
(function argument).
Example:
.Ft int .Fo res_mkquery .Fa “int op” .Fa “char *dname” .Fa “int class” .Fa “int type” .Fa “char *data” .Fa “int datalen” .Fa “struct rrec *newrr” .Fa “char *buf” .Fa “int buflen” .Fc
Produces:
In the
section, the function will always begin at the beginning of line. If there is more than one function presented in the
section and a function type has not been given, a line break will occur, leaving a nice vertical space between the current function name and the one prior.
The default width values of
and
are 12n and 16n, respectively.
The
macro is used to refer to function arguments (parameters) outside of the
section of the manual or inside the
section if the enclosure macros
and
instead of
are used.
may also be used to refer to structure members.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro generates text for use in the
section.
For example,
produces:
.ds doc-section-old “
The
option is valid only for manual page sections 2 and 3. Currently, this macro does nothing if used without the
flag.
The
macro generates text for use in the
section.
For example,
produces:
.ds doc-section-old “”
The
option is valid only for manual page sections 1, 6 and 8. Currently, this macro does nothing if used without the
flag.
The
macro designates an interactive or internal command.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro is used to specify the library where a particular function is compiled in.
Available arguments to
and their results are:
Local, OS-specific additions might be found in the file
look for strings named
then denotes the keyword to be used with the
macro.
In the
section an
command causes a line break before and after its arguments are printed.
The
literal macro may be used for special characters, variable constants, etc. - anything which should be displayed as it would be typed.
The default width is 16n.
The
macro is used for the document title or subject name. It has the peculiarity of remembering the first argument it was called with, which should always be the subject name of the page. When called without arguments,
regurgitates this initial name for the sole purpose of making less work for the author.
causes a line break within the
section.
Note: A section two or three document function name is addressed with the
in the
section, and with
in the
and remaining sections. For interactive commands, such as the
command keyword in
the
macro should be used. While
is nearly identical to
it can not recall the first argument it was invoked with.
The default width is 10n.
The
macro places option brackets around any remaining arguments on the command line, and places any trailing punctuation outside the brackets. The macros
and
(which produce an opening and a closing option bracket respectively) may be used across one or more lines or to specify the exact position of the closing parenthesis.
Here a typical example of the
and
macros:
.Oo .Op Fl k Ar kilobytes .Op Fl i Ar interval .Op Fl c Ar count .Oc
Produces:
The default width values of
and
are 14n and 10n, respectively.
The
macro formats path or file names. If called without arguments, the
string is output, which represents the current user’s home directory.
The default width is 32n.
The
macro replaces standard abbreviations with their formal names.
Available pairs for
are:
Part 1: System API
Part 2: Shell and Utilities
X/Open
Miscellaneous
The
macro may be used whenever a type is referenced. In the
section, it causes a line break (useful for old style variable declarations).
Generic variable reference.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro expects the first argument to be a manual page name. The optional second argument, if a string (defining the manual section), is put into parentheses.
The default width is 10n.
The following values for
are possible:
will be prepended to the string
The following values for
are possible:
For possible values of
see the description of the
command above in section
For possible values of
see the description of the
command above in section
For possible values of
see the description of the
command above in section
Text may be stressed or emphasized with the
macro. The usual font for emphasis is italic.
The default width is 10n.
The
font mode must be ended with the
macro (the latter takes no arguments). Font modes may be nested within other font modes.
has the following syntax:
must be one of the following three types:
Same as if the
macro was used for the entire block of text.
Same as if the
macro was used for the entire block of text.
Same as if the
macro was used for the entire block of text.
Both macros are neither callable nor parsed.
The concept of enclosure is similar to quoting. The object being to enclose one or more strings between a pair of characters like quotes or parentheses. The terms quoting and enclosure are used interchangeably throughout this document. Most of the one-line enclosure macros end in small letter
to give a hint of quoting, but there are a few irregularities. For each enclosure macro there is also a pair of open and close macros which end in small letters
and
respectively.
.if t . ne 10
| Quote | Open | Close | Function | Result |
| .Aq | .Ao | .Ac | Angle Bracket Enclosure | <string> |
| .Bq | .Bo | .Bc | Bracket Enclosure | [string] |
| .Brq | .Bro | .Brc | Brace Enclosure | {string} |
| .Dq | .Do | .Dc | Double Quote | “string” |
| .Eq | .Eo | .Ec | Enclose String (in XX) | XXstring |
| .Pq | .Po | .Pc | Parenthesis Enclosure | (string) |
| .Ql | Quoted Literal | string or string | ||
| .Qo | .Qc | Straight Double Quote | “string” | |
| .Sq | .So | .Sc | Single Quote | ’string’ |
All macros ending with
and
have a default width value of 12n.
These macros expect the first argument to be the opening and closing strings respectively.
Due to the nine-argument limit in the original troff program two other macros have been implemented which are now rather obsolete:
takes the first and second parameter as the left and right enclosure string, which are then used to enclose the arguments of
The default width value is 12n for both macros.
The first and second arguments of this macro are the opening and closing strings respectively, followed by the arguments to be enclosed.
The quoted literal macro behaves differently in troff and nroff mode. If formatted with
a quoted literal is always quoted. If formatted with troff, an item is only quoted if the width of the item is less than three constant width characters. This is to make short strings more visible where the font change to literal (constant width) is less noticeable.
The default width is 16n.
The prefix macro suppresses the whitespace between its first and second argument:
The default width is 12n.
The
macro (see below) performs the analogous suffix function.
The
macro inserts an apostrophe and exits any special text modes, continuing in
mode.
Examples of quoting:
For a good example of nested enclosure macros, see the
option macro. It was created from the same underlying enclosure macros as those presented in the list above. The
and
extended argument list macros are discussed below.
The
macro can be used in a macro command line for parameters which should
be formatted. Be careful to add
to the word
if you really want that English word (and not the macro) as a parameter.
The default width is 12n.
The
macro suppresses insertion of a space between the current position and its first parameter. For example, it is useful for old style argument lists where there is no space between the flag and argument:
Note: The
macro always invokes the
macro after eliminating the space unless another macro name follows it. If used as a command (i.e., the second form above in the
line),
is identical to
The
macro designates a reference to a section header within the same document.
The default width is 16n.
The symbolic emphasis macro is generally a boldface macro in either the symbolic sense or the traditional English usage.
The default width is 6n.
Use this macro for mathematical symbols and similar things.
The default width is 6n.
The following macros make a modest attempt to handle references. At best, the macros make it convenient to manually drop in a subset of
style references.
Reference start (does not take arguments). Causes a line break in the
section and begins collection of reference information until the reference end macro is read.
Reference end (does not take arguments). The reference is printed.
Reference author name; one name per invocation.
Book title.
City/place.
Date.
Issuer/publisher name.
Journal name.
Issue number.
Optional information.
Page number.
Corporate or foreign author.
Report name.
Title of article.
Optional hypertext reference.
Volume.
Macros beginning with
are not callable but accept multiple arguments in the usual way. Only the
macro is handled properly as a parameter; other macros will cause strange output.
and
can be used outside of the
environment.
Example:
.Rs .%A “Matthew Bar” .%A “John Foo” .%T “Implementation Notes on foobar(1)” .%R “Technical Report ABC-DE-12-345” .%Q “Drofnats College” .%C “Nowhere” .%D “April 1991” .Re
produces
The trade name macro prints its arguments in a smaller font. Its intended use is to imitate a small caps fonts for uppercase acronyms.
The default width is 10n.
The
and
macros allow one to extend an argument list on a macro boundary for the
macro (see below). Note that
and
are implemented similarly to all other macros opening and closing an enclosure (without inserting characters, of course). This means that the following is true for those macros also.
Here is an example of
using the space mode macro to turn spacing off:
.Sm off .It Xo Sy I Ar operation .No \en Ar count No \en .Xc .Sm on
produces
Another one:
.Sm off .It Cm S No / Ar old_pattern Xo .No / Ar new_pattern .No / Op Cm g .Xc .Sm on
produces
Another example of
and enclosure macros: Test the value of a variable.
.It Xo .Ic .ifndef .Oo \&! Oc Ns Ar variable Oo .Ar operator variable … .Oc Xc
produces
The following
section header macros are required in every man page. The remaining section headers are recommended at the discretion of the author writing the manual page. The
macro is parsed but not generally callable. It can be used as an argument in a call to
only; it then reactivates the default font for
The default width is 8n.
The
macro is mandatory. If not specified, headers, footers and page layout defaults will not be set and things will be rather unpleasant. The
section consists of at least three items. The first is the
name macro naming the subject of the man page. The second is the name description macro,
which separates the subject name from the third item, which is the description. The description should be the most terse and lucid possible, as the space available is small.
first prints
then all its arguments.
This section is for section two and three function calls. It should consist of a single
macro call; see
The
section describes the typical usage of the subject of a man page. The macros required are either
or
(and possibly
and
The function name macro
is required for manual page sections 2 and 3; the command and general name macro
is required for sections 1, 5, 6, 7, and 8. Section 4 manuals require a
or a
configuration device usage macro. Several other macros may be necessary to produce the synopsis line as shown below:
The following macros were used:
In most cases the first text in the
section is a brief paragraph on the command, function or file, followed by a lexical list of options and respective explanations. To create such a list, the
(begin list),
(list item) and
(end list) macros are used (see
below).
Implementation specific information should be placed here.
Sections 2, 3 and 9 function return values should go here. The
macro may be used to generate text for use in the
section for most section 2 and 3 library functions; see
The following
section headers are part of the preferred manual page layout and must be used appropriately to maintain consistency. They are listed in the order in which they would be used.
The
section should reveal any related environment variables and clues to their behavior and/or usage.
Files which are used or created by the man page subject should be listed via the
macro in the
section.
There are several ways to create examples. See the
section below for details.
Diagnostic messages from a command should be placed in this section. The
macro may be used to generate text for use in the
section for most section 1, 6 and 8 commands; see
Known compatibility issues (e.g. deprecated options or parameters) should be listed here.
Specific error handling, especially from library functions (man page sections 2, 3, and 9) should go here. The
macro is used to specify an error (errno).
References to other material on the man page topic and cross references to other relevant man pages should be placed in the
section. Cross references are specified using the
macro. Currently
style references are not accommodated.
It is recommended that the cross references are sorted on the section number, then alphabetically on the names within a section, and placed in that order and comma separated. Example:
If the command, library function or file adheres to a specific implementation such as
or
this should be noted here. If the command does not adhere to any standard, its history should be noted in the
section.
Any command which does not adhere to any specific standards should be outlined historically in this section.
Credits should be placed here. Use the
macro for names and the
macro for e-mail addresses within optional contact information. Explicitly indicate whether the person authored the initial manual page or the software or whatever the person is being credited for.
Blatant problems with the topic go here.
User-specified
sections may be added; for example, this section was set with:
.Sh “PAGE STRUCTURE DOMAIN”
Subsection headers have exactly the same syntax as section headers:
is parsed but not generally callable. It can be used as an argument in a call to
only; it then reactivates the default font for
The default width is 8n.
The
paragraph command may be used to specify a line space where necessary. The macro is not necessary after a
or
macro or before a
or
macro (which both assert a vertical distance unless the
flag is given).
The macro is neither callable nor parsed and takes no arguments; an alternative name is
The only keep that is implemented at this time is for words. The macros are
(begin keep) and
(end keep). The only option that
accepts currently is
(this is also the default if no option is given) which is useful for preventing line breaks in the middle of options. In the example for the make command-line arguments (see
the keep prevented
from placing up the flag and the argument on separate lines.
Both macros are neither callable nor parsed.
More work needs to be done with the keep macros; specifically, a
option should be added.
There are seven types of displays.
(This is D-one.) Display one line of indented text. This macro is parsed but not callable.
The above was produced by:
(This is D-ell.) Display one line of indented
text. The
example macro has been used throughout this file. It allows the indentation (display) of one line of text. Its default font is set to constant width (literal).
is parsed but not callable.
The above was produced by:
Begin display. The
display must be ended with the
macro. It has the following syntax:
Fill, but do not adjust the right margin (only left-justify).
Center lines between the current left and right margin. Note that each single line is centered.
Do not fill; display a block of text as typed, using line breaks as specified by the user. This can produce overlong lines without warning messages.
Display a filled block. The block of text is formatted (i.e., the text is justified on both the left and right side).
Display block with literal font (usually fixed-width). Useful for source code or simple tabbed or spaced text.
The file whose name follows the
flag is read and displayed before any data enclosed with
and
using the selected display type. Any
commands in the file will be processed.
If
is specified with one of the following strings, the string is interpreted to indicate the level of indentation for the forthcoming block of text:
Align block on the current left margin; this is the default mode of
Supposedly center the block. At this time unfortunately, the block merely gets left aligned about an imaginary center margin.
Indent by one default indent value or tab. The default indent value is also used for the
and
macros, so one is guaranteed the two types of displays will line up. The indentation value is normally set to 6n or about two thirds of an inch (six constant width characters).
Indent two times the default indent value.
This
aligns the block about two inches from the right side of the page. This macro needs work and perhaps may never do the right thing within
If
is a valid numeric expression instead
use that value for indentation. The most useful scale indicators are
and
specifying the so-called
and
This is approximately the width of the letters
and
respectively of the current font (for nroff output, both scale indicators give the same values). If
isn’t a numeric expression, it is tested whether it is an
macro name, and the default offset value associated with this macro is used. Finally, if all tests fail, the width of
(typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken as the offset.
Suppress insertion of vertical space before begin of display.
End display (takes no arguments).
There are several types of lists which may be initiated with the
begin-list macro. Items within the list are specified with the
item macro, and each list must end with the
macro. Lists may be nested within themselves and within displays. The use of columns inside of lists or lists inside of columns is unproven.
In addition, several list attributes may be specified such as the width of a tag, the list offset, and compactness (blank lines between items allowed or disallowed). Most of this document has been formatted with a tag style list
It has the following syntax forms:
And now a detailed description of the list types.
A bullet list.
.Bl -bullet -offset indent -compact .It Bullet one goes here. .It Bullet two here. .El
Produces:
Bullet one goes here.
Bullet two here.
A dash list.
.Bl -dash -offset indent -compact .It Dash one goes here. .It Dash two here. .El
Produces:
Dash one goes here.
Dash two here.
An enumerated list.
.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact .It Item one goes here. .It And item two here. .El
The result:
Item one goes here.
And item two here.
If you want to nest enumerated lists, use the
flag (starting with the second-level list):
.Bl -enum -offset indent -compact .It Item one goes here .Bl -enum -nested -compact .It Item two goes here. .It And item three here. .El .It And item four here. .El
Result:
Item one goes here.
Item two goes here.
And item three here.
And item four here.
A list of type
without list markers.
.Bl -item -offset indent .It Item one goes here. Item one goes here. Item one goes here. .It Item two here. Item two here. Item two here. .El
Produces:
Item one goes here. Item one goes here. Item one goes here.
Item two here. Item two here. Item two here.
A list with tags. Use
to specify the tag width.
sleep time of the process (seconds blocked)
number of disk
resulting from references by the process to pages not loaded in core.
numerical user-id of process owner
numerical id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in non-interruptible wait)
The raw text:
.Bl -tag -width “PPID” -compact -offset indent .It SL sleep time of the process (seconds blocked) .It PAGEIN number of disk .Tn I/O Ns ’s resulting from references by the process to pages not loaded in core. .It UID numerical user-id of process owner .It PPID numerical id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in non-interruptible wait) .El
Diag lists create section four diagnostic lists and are similar to inset lists except callable macros are ignored. The
flag is not meaningful in this context.
Example:
.Bl -diag .It You can’t use Sy here. The message says all. .El
produces
The message says all.
A list with hanging tags.
labels appear similar to tagged lists when the label is smaller than the label width.
blend into the paragraph unlike tagged paragraph labels.
And the unformatted text which created it:
.Bl -hang -offset indent .It Em Hanged labels appear similar to tagged lists when the label is smaller than the label width. .It Em Longer hanged list labels blend into the paragraph unlike tagged paragraph labels. .El
Lists with overhanging tags do not use indentation for the items; tags are written to a separate line.
sleep time of the process (seconds blocked)
number of disk
resulting from references by the process to pages not loaded in core.
numerical user-id of process owner
numerical id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in non-interruptible wait)
The raw text:
.Bl -ohang -offset indent .It Sy SL sleep time of the process (seconds blocked) .It Sy PAGEIN number of disk .Tn I/O Ns ’s resulting from references by the process to pages not loaded in core. .It Sy UID numerical user-id of process owner .It Sy PPID numerical id of parent of process priority (non-positive when in non-interruptible wait) .El
Here is an example of inset labels:
The tagged list (also called a tagged paragraph) is the most common type of list used in the Berkeley manuals. Use a
attribute as described below.
Diag lists create section four diagnostic lists and are similar to inset lists except callable macros are ignored.
Hanged labels are a matter of taste.
Overhanging labels are nice when space is constrained.
Inset labels are useful for controlling blocks of paragraphs and are valuable for converting
manuals to other formats.
Here is the source text which produced the above example:
.Bl -inset -offset indent .It Em Tag The tagged list (also called a tagged paragraph) is the most common type of list used in the Berkeley manuals. .It Em Diag Diag lists create section four diagnostic lists and are similar to inset lists except callable macros are ignored. .It Em Hang Hanged labels are a matter of taste. .It Em Ohang Overhanging labels are nice when space is constrained. .It Em Inset Inset labels are useful for controlling blocks of paragraphs and are valuable for converting .Nm -mdoc manuals to other formats. .El
This list type generates multiple columns. The number of columns and the width of each column is determined by the arguments to the
list,
etc. If
starts with a
(dot) immediately followed by a valid
macro name, interpret
and use the width of the result. Otherwise, the width of
(typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken as the
column width.
Each
argument is parsed to make a row, each column within the row is a separate argument separated by a tab or the
macro.
The table:
was produced by:
.Bl -column -offset indent “.Sy String” “.Sy Nroff” “.Sy Troff” .It Sy String Ta Sy Nroff Ta Sy Troff .It Li <= Ta <= Ta \*(<= .It Li >= Ta >= Ta \*(>= .El
Don’t abuse this list type! For more complicated cases it might be far better and easier to use
the table preprocessor.
Other keywords:
If
starts with a
(dot) immediately followed by a valid
macro name, interpret
and use the width of the result. Almost all lists in this document use this option.
Example:
.Bl -tag -width “.Fl test Ao Ar string Ac” .It Fl test Ao Ar string Ac This is a longer sentence to show how the .Fl width flag works in combination with a tag list. .El
gives:
This is a longer sentence to show how the
flag works in combination with a tag list.
(Note that the current state of
is saved before
is interpreted; afterwards, all variables are restored again. However, boxes (used for enclosures) can’t be saved in
as a consequence, arguments must always be
to avoid nasty errors. For example, do not write
but
instead if you really need only an opening angle bracket.)
Otherwise, if
is a valid numeric expression
use that value for indentation. The most useful scale indicators are
and
specifying the so-called
and
This is approximately the width of the letters
and
respectively of the current font (for nroff output, both scale indicators give the same values). If
isn’t a numeric expression, it is tested whether it is an
macro name, and the default width value associated with this macro is used. Finally, if all tests fail, the width of
(typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken as the width.
If a width is not specified for the tag list type,
is used.
If
is
a default indent value (normally set to 6n, similar to the value used in
or
is used. If
is a valid numeric expression instead
use that value for indentation. The most useful scale indicators are
and
specifying the so-called
and
This is approximately the width of the letters
and
respectively of the current font (for nroff output, both scale indicators give the same values). If
isn’t a numeric expression, it is tested whether it is an
macro name, and the default offset value associated with this macro is used. Finally, if all tests fail, the width of
(typeset with a fixed-width font) is taken as the offset.
Suppress insertion of vertical space before the list and between list items.
Here a list of the remaining macros which do not fit well into one of the above sections. We couldn’t find real examples for the following macros:
and
They are documented here for completeness - if you know how to use them properly please send a mail to
(including an example).
prints
It is neither callable nor parsed and takes no arguments.
Don’t use this macro. It allows a break right before the return value (usually a single digit) which is bad typographical behaviour. Use
to tie the return value to the previous word.
Use this macro to include a (header) file literally. It first prints
followed by the file name, then the contents of
It is neither callable nor parsed.
To be written.
Exact usage unknown. The documentation in the
source file describes it as a macro for
Its default width is 6n.
To be written.
Exact usage unknown. The documentation in the
source file describes it as
Activate (toggle) space mode.
If space mode is off, no spaces between macro arguments are inserted. If called without a parameter (or if the next parameter is neither
nor
toggles space mode.
prints
It is neither callable nor parsed and takes no arguments.
The following strings are predefined:
| String | Nroff | Troff | Meaning |
| <= | <= | less equal | |
| >= | >= | greater equal | |
| Rq | ’’ | right double quote | |
| Lq | `` | left double quote | |
| ua | ^ | upwards arrow | |
| aa | ’ | acute accent | |
| ga | ` | grave accent | |
| q | “ | straight double quote | |
| Pi | pi | greek pi | |
| Ne | != | not equal | |
| Le | <= | less equal | |
| Ge | >= | greater equal | |
| Lt | < | less than | |
| Gt | > | greater than | |
| Pm | +- | plus minus | |
| If | infinity | infinity | |
| Am | ampersand | ||
| Na | not a number | ||
| Ba | vertical bar |
The names of the columns
and
are a bit misleading;
shows the
representation, while
gives the best glyph form available. For example, a Unicode enabled
device will have proper glyph representations for all strings, whereas the enhancement for a Latin1
device is only the plus-minus sign.
String names which consist of two characters can be written as
string names which consist of one character can be written as
A generic syntax for a string name of any length is
(this is a
extension). .Sh DIAGNOSTICS The debugging macro
available in previous versions of
has been removed since
provides better facilities to check parameters; additionally, many error and warning messages have been added to this macro package, making it both more robust and verbose.
The only remaining debugging macro is
which yields a register dump of all global registers and strings. A normal user will never need it.
By default, the package inhibits page breaks, headers, and footers if displayed with a
device like
or
to make the manual more efficient for viewing on-line. This behaviour can be changed (e.g. to create a hardcopy of the
output) by setting the register
to zero while calling
resulting in multiple pages instead of a single, very long page:
For double-sided printing, set register
to 1:
To change the document font size to 11pt or 12pt, set register
accordingly:
Register
is ignored for
devices.
The line and title length can be changed by setting the registers
and
respectively:
If not set, both registers default to 78n for TTY devices and 6.5i otherwise.
The main manual macro package.
A wrapper file to call
Common strings, definitions, stuff related typographic output.
Definitions used for a
output device.
Definitions used for all other devices.
Local additions and customizations.
Use this file if you don’t know whether the
or the
package should be used. Multiple man pages (in either format) can be handled.
Section 3f has not been added to the header routines.
font should be changed in
section.
needs to have a check to prevent splitting up if the line length is too short. Occasionally it separates the last parenthesis, and sometimes looks ridiculous if a line is in fill mode.
The list and display macros do not do any keeps and certainly should be able to.