Annotation of src/usr.bin/mandoc/man.7, Revision 1.8
1.8 ! schwarze 1: .\" $Id: man.7,v 1.7 2009/08/09 17:20:17 schwarze Exp $
1.1 kristaps 2: .\"
1.2 schwarze 3: .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@kth.se>
1.1 kristaps 4: .\"
5: .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
1.2 schwarze 6: .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
7: .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
8: .\"
9: .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
10: .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
11: .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
12: .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
13: .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
14: .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
15: .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
1.1 kristaps 16: .\"
1.8 ! schwarze 17: .Dd $Mdocdate: August 9 2009 $
1.2 schwarze 18: .Dt MAN 7
1.1 kristaps 19: .Os
20: .\" SECTION
21: .Sh NAME
22: .Nm man
23: .Nd man language reference
24: .\" SECTION
25: .Sh DESCRIPTION
26: The
27: .Nm man
1.7 schwarze 28: language was historically used to format
1.1 kristaps 29: .Ux
1.6 schwarze 30: manuals. This reference document describes its syntax, structure, and
31: usage.
1.1 kristaps 32: .Pp
1.7 schwarze 33: .Bf -emphasis
34: Do not use
1.1 kristaps 35: .Nm
1.7 schwarze 36: to write your manuals.
1.6 schwarze 37: .Ef
38: Use the
1.1 kristaps 39: .Xr mdoc 7
40: language, instead.
41: .\" PARAGRAPH
42: .Pp
43: An
44: .Nm
45: document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control
1.7 schwarze 46: character
1.1 kristaps 47: .Sq \&.
48: are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of
49: prior macros:
50: .Bd -literal -offset indent
51: \&.SH Macro lines change control state.
52: Other lines are interpreted within the current state.
53: .Ed
54: .\" SECTION
55: .Sh INPUT ENCODING
56: .Nm
1.4 schwarze 57: documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the
1.6 schwarze 58: space character, and the tabs character. All manuals must have
1.1 kristaps 59: .Ux
1.7 schwarze 60: line termination.
1.1 kristaps 61: .Pp
62: Blank lines are acceptable; where found, the output will assert a
63: vertical space.
64: .Pp
65: The
66: .Sq \ec
67: escape is common in historical
68: .Nm
69: documents; if encountered at the end of a word, it ensures that the
70: subsequent word isn't off-set by whitespace.
1.3 schwarze 71: .\" SUB-SECTION
72: .Ss Comments
1.8 ! schwarze 73: Text following a
! 74: .Sq \e" ,
! 75: whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of
! 76: line. A macro line with only a control character and comment escape,
! 77: .Sq \&.\e" ,
! 78: is also ignored.
1.1 kristaps 79: .\" SUB-SECTION
80: .Ss Special Characters
1.8 ! schwarze 81: Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines.
! 82: Sequences begin with the escape character
1.1 kristaps 83: .Sq \e
1.7 schwarze 84: followed by either an open-parenthesis
1.1 kristaps 85: .Sq \&(
86: for two-character sequences; an open-bracket
87: .Sq \&[
88: for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket
89: .Sq \&] ) ;
1.8 ! schwarze 90: or a single one-character sequence. See
! 91: .Xr mandoc_char 7
! 92: for a complete list. Examples include
! 93: .Sq \e(em
! 94: .Pq em-dash
! 95: and
! 96: .Sq \ee
! 97: .Pq back-slash .
! 98: .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
! 99: .Ss Text Decoration
! 100: Terms may be text-decorated using the
1.5 schwarze 101: .Sq \ef
1.8 ! schwarze 102: escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R
! 103: (Roman, or reset).
! 104: .\" SUB-SECTION----------------------
1.5 schwarze 105: .Ss Whitespace
106: Unless specifically escaped, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned
107: from input. These are later re-added, if applicable, by a front-end
108: utility such as
109: .Xr mandoc 1 .
110: .\" SECTION
111: .Sh STRUCTURE
112: Each
113: .Nm
114: document must contain contains at least the
115: .Sq \&.TH
116: macro describing the document's section and title. It may occur
117: anywhere in the document, although conventionally, it appears as the
118: first macro.
119: .Pp
1.7 schwarze 120: Beyond the
1.5 schwarze 121: .Sq \&.TH ,
122: at least one macro or text node must appear in the document.
1.1 kristaps 123: .\" SECTION
1.4 schwarze 124: .Sh SYNTAX
1.1 kristaps 125: Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a
126: control character ,
127: .Sq \&. ,
128: at the beginning of the line. An arbitrary amount of whitespace may
129: sit between the control character and the macro name. Thus,
130: .Sq \&.PP
131: and
132: .Sq \&.\ \ \ \&PP
133: are equivalent.
134: .Pp
1.7 schwarze 135: All
1.1 kristaps 136: .Nm
137: macros follow the same structural rules:
138: .Bd -literal -offset indent
1.7 schwarze 139: \&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
1.1 kristaps 140: .Ed
141: .Pp
142: The
143: .Dq body
144: consists of zero or more arguments to the macro.
145: .Pp
146: .Nm
1.7 schwarze 147: has a primitive notion of multi-line scope for the following macros:
1.1 kristaps 148: .Sq \&.TM ,
149: .Sq \&.SM ,
150: .Sq \&.SB ,
151: .Sq \&.BI ,
152: .Sq \&.IB ,
153: .Sq \&.BR ,
154: .Sq \&.RB ,
155: .Sq \&.R ,
156: .Sq \&.B ,
157: .Sq \&.I ,
1.7 schwarze 158: .Sq \&.IR
1.1 kristaps 159: and
160: .Sq \&.RI .
161: When these macros are invoked without arguments, the subsequent line is
162: considered a continuation of the macro. Thus:
1.7 schwarze 163: .Bd -literal -offset indent
164: \&.RI
1.1 kristaps 165: foo
166: .Ed
167: .Pp
1.7 schwarze 168: is equivalent to
1.1 kristaps 169: .Sq \&.RI foo .
170: If two consecutive lines exhibit the latter behaviour,
171: an error is raised. Thus, the following is not acceptable:
1.7 schwarze 172: .Bd -literal -offset indent
173: \&.RI
174: \&.I
1.1 kristaps 175: Hello, world.
176: .Ed
177: .Pp
178: The
179: .Sq \&.TP
180: macro is similar, but does not need an empty argument line to trigger
181: the behaviour.
1.4 schwarze 182: .\" SECTION
1.1 kristaps 183: .Sh MACROS
1.7 schwarze 184: This section contains a complete list of all
1.1 kristaps 185: .Nm
186: macros and corresponding number of arguments.
187: .Pp
188: .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
189: .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments
190: .It \&.TH Ta >1, <6
191: .It \&.SH Ta >0
192: .It \&.SS Ta >0
193: .It \&.TP Ta n
194: .It \&.LP Ta 0
195: .It \&.PP Ta 0
196: .It \&.P Ta 0
197: .It \&.IP Ta <3
198: .It \&.HP Ta <2
199: .It \&.SM Ta n
200: .It \&.SB Ta n
201: .It \&.BI Ta n
202: .It \&.IB Ta n
203: .It \&.BR Ta n
204: .It \&.RB Ta n
205: .It \&.R Ta n
206: .It \&.B Ta n
207: .It \&.I Ta n
208: .It \&.IR Ta n
209: .It \&.RI Ta n
210: .El
211: .Pp
212: Although not historically part of the
213: .Nm
214: system, the following macros are also supported:
215: .Pp
216: .Bl -column "MacroX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent
217: .It Em Macro Ta Em Arguments
218: .It \&.br Ta 0
219: .It \&.i Ta n
220: .El
221: .Pp
222: These follow the same calling conventions as the above
223: .Nm
224: macros.
1.5 schwarze 225: .\" SECTION
226: .Sh COMPATIBILITY
227: See
228: .Xr mdoc 7
229: for groff compatibility notes.
1.1 kristaps 230: .\" SECTION
231: .Sh SEE ALSO
232: .Xr mandoc 1 ,
233: .Xr mandoc_char 7
234: .\" SECTION
235: .Sh AUTHORS
236: The
237: .Nm
1.7 schwarze 238: utility was written by
1.2 schwarze 239: .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se .
1.1 kristaps 240: .\" SECTION
241: .Sh CAVEATS
242: Do not use this language. Use
243: .Xr mdoc 7 ,
244: instead.
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