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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.

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

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

	      ·	  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		20 October 2005			  GROFF_MAN(7)
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