FreeBSD Man Pages

man(7)

NAME

       groff_man - groff `man' macros to support generation of man pages

SYNOPSIS

       groff -man [ options... ] [ files... ]
       groff -m man [ options... ] [ files... ]

DESCRIPTION

       The  man  macros  used to generate man pages with groff were written by
       James Clark.  This document provides a brief summary of the use of each
       macro in that package.

OPTIONS

       The  man  macros  understand  the following command line options (which
       define various registers).

       -rcR=1 This option (the default if in nroff mode) will create a single,
	      very long page instead of multiple pages.  Say -rcR=0 to disable
	      it.

       -rC1   If more than one manual page is given on the command line,  num-
	      ber the pages continuously, rather than starting each at 1.

       -rD1   Double-sided  printing.  Footers for even and odd pages are for-
	      matted differently.

       -rFT=dist
	      Set distance of the footer relative to the bottom of the page if
	      negative	or  relative  to  the top if positive.	The default is
	      -0.5i.

       -rHY=flags
	      Set hyphenation flags.  Possible values are 1 to hyphenate with-
	      out  restrictions,  2 to	not hyphenate the last word on a page,
	      4 to not hyphenate the last two characters of a word,  and  8 to
	      not  hyphenate the first two characters of a word.  These values
	      are additive; the default is 14.

       -rIN=width
	      Set body text indentation to  width.   The  default  is  7n  for
	      nroff,  7.2n  for troff.	For nroff, this value should always be
	      an integer multiple of unit `n' to get consistent indentation.

       -rLL=line-length
	      Set line length.	If this option is not given, the  line	length
	      defaults to 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.

       -rLT=title-length
	      Set title length.  If this option is not given, the title length
	      defaults to the line length.

       -rPnnn Enumeration of pages will start with nnn rather than with 1.

       -rSxx  Base document font size is xx points (xx can be 10,  11,	or 12)
	      rather than 10 points.

USAGE

       This section describes the available macros for manual pages.  For fur-
       ther customization, put additional macros and requests  into  the  file
       man.local which will be loaded immediately after the man package.

       .TH title section [extra1] [extra2] [extra3]
	      Set  the	title of the man page to title and the section to sec-
	      tion, which must take on a value between	1  and 8.   The  value
	      section may also have a string appended, e.g. `.pm', to indicate
	      a specific subsection of the man pages.  Both title and  section
	      are  positioned  at  the left and right in the header line (with
	      section in parentheses immediately appended  to  title.	extra1
	      will  be	positioned  in	the middle of the footer line.	extra2
	      will be positioned at the left in the footer  line  (or  at  the
	      left on even pages and at the right on odd pages if double-sided
	      printing is active).  extra3 is centered in the header line.

	      For HTML output, headers and footers are completely supressed.

	      Additionally, this macro starts a new page; the new line	number
	      is 1  again (except if the `-rC1' option is given on the command
	      line) -- this feature is intended only for  formatting  multiple
	      man pages; a single man page should contain exactly one TH macro
	      at the beginning of the file.

       .SH [text for a heading]
	      Set up an unnumbered section heading sticking out to  the  left.
	      Prints  out  all the text following SH up to the end of the line
	      (or the text in the next input line if there is no  argument  to
	      SH)  in  bold face (or the font specified by the string HF), one
	      size larger than the base document size.	Additionally, the left
	      margin  and  the	indentation for the following text is reset to
	      the default values.

       .SS [text for a heading]
	      Set up a secondary, unnumbered section heading.  Prints out  all
	      the  text following SS up to the end of the line (or the text in
	      the next input line if there is no argument to SS) in bold  face
	      (or  the	font  specified by the string HF), at the same size as
	      the base document size.  Additionally, the left margin  and  the
	      indentation  for the following text is reset to the default val-
	      ues.

       .TP [nnn]
	      Set up an indented paragraph with label.	The indentation is set
	      to  nnn if that argument is supplied (the default unit is `n' if
	      omitted), otherwise it is set to the previous indentation  value
	      specified with TP, IP, or HP (or to the default value if none of
	      them have been used yet).

	      The first input line of text following this macro is interpreted
	      as a string to be printed flush-left, as it is appropriate for a
	      label.  It is not interpreted as part of a paragraph,  so  there
	      is  no attempt to fill the first line with text from the follow-
	      ing input lines.	Nevertheless, if the label is not as  wide  as
	      the  indentation	the  paragraph	starts	at  the same line (but
	      indented), continuing on the following lines.  If the  label  is
	      wider than the indentation the descriptive part of the paragraph
       .LP
       .PP
       .P     These macros are mutual aliases.	Any  of  them  causes  a  line
	      break  at  the  current  position,  followed by a vertical space
	      downwards by the amount specified by the	PD  macro.   The  font
	      size  and  shape	are  reset  to	the  default value (10pt resp.
	      Roman).  Finally, the current left margin  and  the  indentation
	      are restored.

       .IP [designator] [nnn]
	      Set  up an indented paragraph, using designator as a tag to mark
	      its beginning.  The indentation is set to nnn if	that  argument
	      is  supplied  (the default unit is `n' if omitted), otherwise it
	      is set to the previous indentation value specified with TP,  IP,
	      or  HP  (or  to the default value if none of them have been used
	      yet).  Font size and face of the paragraph (but not the designa-
	      tor) are reset to its default values.

	      To start an indented paragraph with a particular indentation but
	      without a designator, use `""' (two doublequotes) as the	second
	      argument.

	      For  example, the following paragraphs were all set up with bul-
	      lets as the designator, using `.IP \(bu 4'.  The whole block has
	      been enclosed with `.RS' and `.RE' to set the left margin tempo-
	      rarily to the current indentation value.

	      o   IP is one of the three macros used in  the  man  package  to
		  format lists.

	      o   HP  is another.  This macro produces a paragraph with a left
		  hanging indentation.

	      o   TP is another.  This macro produces an unindented label fol-
		  lowed by an indented paragraph.

       .HP [nnn]
	      Set  up a paragraph with hanging left indentation.  The indenta-
	      tion is set to nnn if that argument  is  supplied  (the  default
	      unit  is	`n'  if  omitted), otherwise it is set to the previous
	      indentation value specified with	TP,  IP,  or  HP  (or  to  the
	      default  value  if  none of them have been used yet).  Font size
	      and face are reset to its default values.  The  following  para-
	      graph illustrates the effect of this macro with hanging indenta-
	      tion set to 4 (enclosed by `.RS' and `.RE' to set the left  mar-
	      gin temporarily to the current indentation):

	      This is a paragraph following an invocation of the HP macro.  As
		  you can see, it produces a paragraph where all lines but the
		  first are indented.

       .RS [nnn]
	      This  macro  moves the left margin to the right by the value nnn
	      if specified (default unit is `n'); otherwise it is set  to  the
	      previous	indentation  value specified with TP, IP, or HP (or to
	      the default value if none of them  have  been  used  yet).   The
	      indentation value is then set to the default.

       To summarize, the following macros cause a line break with  the	inser-
       tion of vertical space (which amount can be changed with the PD macro):
       SH, SS, TP, LP (PP, P), IP, and HP.  The macros RS and RE also cause  a
       break but no insertion of vertical space.

MACROS TO SET FONTS

       The standard font is Roman; the default text size is 10 point.

       .SM [text]
	      Causes  the  text on the same line or the text on the next input
	      line to appear in a font that is one point size smaller than the
	      default font.

       .SB [text]
	      Causes  the  text on the same line or the text on the next input
	      line to appear in boldface font, one point size smaller than the
	      default font.

       .BI text
	      Causes  text on the same line to appear alternately in bold face
	      and italic.  The text must be on the  same  line	as  the  macro
	      call.  Thus

		     .BI this "word and" that

	      would  cause  `this'  and  `that'  to appear in bold face, while
	      `word and' appears in italics.

       .IB text
	      Causes text to appear alternately in italic and bold face.   The
	      text must be on the same line as the macro call.

       .RI text
	      Causes  text on the same line to appear alternately in roman and
	      italic.  The text must be on the same line as the macro call.

       .IR text
	      Causes text on the same line to appear alternately in italic and
	      roman.  The text must be on the same line as the macro call.

       .BR text
	      Causes  text on the same line to appear alternately in bold face
	      and roman.  The text must be on the same line as the macro call.

       .RB text
	      Causes  text on the same line to appear alternately in roman and
	      bold face.  The text must be on the same line as the macro call.

       .B [text]
	      Causes  text  to	appear in bold face.  If no text is present on
	      the line where the macro is called the text of  the  next  input
	      line appears in bold face.

       .I [text]
	      Causes  text  to appear in italic.  If no text is present on the
	      line where the macro is called the text of the next  input  line
	      appears in italic.

       .PD [nnn]
	      Adjust the empty space before a new paragraph or	section.   The
	      optional	argument  gives  the  amount of space (default unit is
	      `v'); without parameter, the value is reset to its default value
	      (1 line in nroff mode, 0.4v otherwise).  This affects the macros
	      SH, SS, TP, LP (resp. PP and P), IP, and HP.

       .AT [system [release]]
	      Alter the footer for  use  with  AT&T  manpages.	 This  command
	      exists only for compatibility; don't use it.  See the groff info
	      manual for more.

       .UC [version]
	      Alter the footer for use with BSD manpages.  This command exists
	      only for compatibility; don't use it.  See the groff info manual
	      for more.

       .PT    Print the header string.	Redefine this macro to get control  of
	      the header.

       .BT    Print  the footer string.  Redefine this macro to get control of
	      the footer.

       The following strings are defined:

       \*S    Switch back to the default font size.

       \*R    The `registered' sign.

       \*(Tm  The `trademark' sign.

       \*(lq
       \*(rq  Left and right quote.  This  is  equal  to  `\(lq'  and  `\(rq',
	      respectively.

       \*(HF  The  typeface  used  to  print  headings	and  subheadings.  The
	      default is `B'.

       If a preprocessor like tbl or eqn is needed, it	has  become  usage  to
       make the first line of the man page look like this:

	      .\" word

       Note  the single space character after the double quote.  word consists
       of letters for the needed preprocessors: `e' for eqn,  `r'  for	refer,
       and  `t'  for tbl.  Modern implementations of the man program read this
       first line and automatically call the right preprocessor(s).

FILES

       man.tmac
       an.tmac
	      These are wrapper files to call andoc.tmac.

       andoc.tmac
	      This file checks whether the man	macros	or  the  mdoc  package
	      should be used.

       an-old.tmac
       ual  groff  requests  where  necessary.	See the groff info pages for a
       complete reference of all requests.

       tbl(1), eqn(1), refer(1), man(1)

AUTHOR

       This manual page was originally written for the Debian GNU/Linux system
       by Susan G. Kleinmann <sgk@debian.org>, corrected and updated by Werner
       Lemberg <wl@gnu.org>, and is now part of the GNU troff distribution.

Groff Version 1.19		  1 May 2003			  GROFF_MAN(7)

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