GROFF_MAN(7)                                                      GROFF_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
              is set to respect any value set by a prior `.ll' request, (which
              must be in effect when the `.TH' macro is invoked), if this dif-
              fers  from  the built-in default for the formatter; otherwise it
              defaults to 78n in nroff mode and 6.5i in troff mode.

              Note that the use of a `.ll'  request  to  initialize  the  line
              length  is  supported  for backward compatibility with some ver-
              sions of the man program; direct initialization of the `LL' reg-
              ister  should  always be preferred to the use of such a request.
              In particular, note that a `.ll 65n' request will  not  preserve
              the  normal nroff default line length, (the man default initial-
              ization to 78n will prevail), whereas, the `-rLL=65n' option, or
              an equivalent `.nr LL 65n' request preceding the use of the `TH'
              macro, will set a line length of 65n.

       -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.

       -rSN=width
              Set sub-subheading indentation to width.  The default is 3n.

       -rXnnn After page nnn, number pages as  nnna,  nnnb,  nnnc,  etc.   For
              example,  the option `-rX2' will produce the following page num-
              bers: 1, 2, 2a, 2b, 2c, etc.

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 n page to title and the section to section,
              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  spe-
              cific  subsection  of the man pages.  Both title and section are
              positioned at the left and right in the header line  (with  sec-
              tion  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  print-
              ing 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
              begins on the line following the label, entirely indented.  Note
              that neither font shape nor font size of the label is set  to  a
              default value; on the other hand, the rest of the text will have
              default font settings.

              The TP macro is the macro used for the explanations you are just
              reading.

       .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 margin
              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.

              Calls to the RS macro can be nested.

       .RE [nnn]
              This macro moves the left margin back to  level  nnn,  restoring
              the previous left margin.  If no argument is given, it moves one
              level back.  The first level (i.e., no call to RS yet) has  num-
              ber 1, and each call to RS increases the level by 1.

       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.

MISCELLANEOUS
       The default indentation is 7.2n in troff mode  and  7n  in  nroff  mode
       except for grohtml which ignores indentation.

       .DT    Set  tabs  every  0.5 inches.  Since this macro is always called
              during a TH request, it makes sense to call it only if  the  tab
              positions have been changed.

       .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 man pages.  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 man pages.  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
              All man macros are contained in this file.

       man.local
              Local changes and customizations should be put into this file.

SEE ALSO
       Since the man macros consist of groups of groff requests, one  can,  in
       principle, supplement the functionality of the man macros with individ-
       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), man(7),

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 1.19.2            6 February 2006                   GROFF_MAN(7)
