.\" $Id: mdoc.7,v 1.18 2009/10/27 21:40:07 schwarze Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 2009 Kristaps Dzonsons .\" .\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any .\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above .\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies. .\" .\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES .\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR .\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES .\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN .\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF .\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. .\" .Dd $Mdocdate: October 27 2009 $ .Dt MDOC 7 .Os . . .Sh NAME .Nm mdoc .Nd mdoc language reference . . .Sh DESCRIPTION The .Nm mdoc language is used to format .Bx .Ux manuals. In this reference document, we describe its syntax, structure, and usage. Our reference implementation is .Xr mandoc 1 . The .Sx COMPATIBILITY section describes compatibility with .Xr groff 1 . . .Pp An .Nm document follows simple rules: lines beginning with the control character .Sq \. are parsed for macros. Other lines are interpreted within the scope of prior macros: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Sh Macro lines change control state. Other lines are interpreted within the current state. .Ed . . .Sh LANGUAGE SYNTAX .Nm documents may contain only graphable 7-bit ASCII characters, the space character, and, in certain circumstances, the tab character. All manuals must have .Ux line terminators. . . .Ss Comments Text following a .Sq \e" , whether in a macro or free-form text line, is ignored to the end of line. A macro line with only a control character and comment escape, .Sq \&.\e" , is also ignored. Macro lines with only a control charater and optionally whitespace are stripped from input. . . .Ss Reserved Characters Within a macro line, the following characters are reserved: .Pp .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact .It \&. .Pq period .It \&, .Pq comma .It \&: .Pq colon .It \&; .Pq semicolon .It \&( .Pq left-parenthesis .It \&) .Pq right-parenthesis .It \&[ .Pq left-bracket .It \&] .Pq right-bracket .It \&? .Pq question .It \&! .Pq exclamation .It \&| .Pq vertical bar .El . .Pp Use of reserved characters is described in .Sx MACRO SYNTAX . For general use in macro lines, these characters must either be escaped with a non-breaking space .Pq Sq \e& or, if applicable, an appropriate escape sequence used. . . .Ss Special Characters Special characters may occur in both macro and free-form lines. Sequences begin with the escape character .Sq \e followed by either an open-parenthesis .Sq \&( for two-character sequences; an open-bracket .Sq \&[ for n-character sequences (terminated at a close-bracket .Sq \&] ) ; or a single one-character sequence. See .Xr mandoc_char 7 for a complete list. Examples include .Sq \e(em .Pq em-dash and .Sq \ee .Pq back-slash . . . .Ss Text Decoration Terms may be text-decorated using the .Sq \ef escape followed by an indicator: B (bold), I, (italic), or P and R (Roman, or reset). This form is not recommended for .Nm , which encourages semantic, not presentation, annotation. . . .Ss Predefined Strings Historically, .Xr groff 1 also defined a set of package-specific .Dq predefined strings , which, like .Sx Special Characters , demark special output characters and strings by way of input codes. Predefined strings are escaped with the slash-asterisk, .Sq \e* : single-character .Sq \e*X , two-character .Sq \e*(XX , and N-character .Sq \e*[N] . See .Xr mandoc_char 7 for a complete list. Examples include .Sq \e*(Am .Pq ampersand and .Sq \e*(Ba .Pq vertical bar . . . .Ss Whitespace In non-literal free-form lines, consecutive blocks of whitespace are pruned from input and added later in the output filter, if applicable: .Bd -literal -offset indent These spaces are pruned from input. \&.Bd \-literal These are not. \&.Ed .Ed . .Pp In macro lines, whitespace delimits arguments and is discarded. If arguments are quoted, whitespace within the quotes is retained. . .Pp Blank lines are only permitted within literal contexts, as are lines containing only whitespace. Tab characters are only acceptable when delimiting .Sq \&Bl \-column or when in a literal context. . . .Ss Quotation Macro arguments may be quoted with a double-quote to group space-delimited terms or to retain blocks of whitespace. A quoted argument begins with a double-quote preceded by whitespace. The next double-quote not pair-wise adjacent to another double-quote terminates the literal, regardless of surrounding whitespace. . .Pp This produces tokens .Sq a" , .Sq b c , .Sq de , and .Sq fg" . Note that any quoted term, be it argument or macro, is indiscriminately considered literal text. Thus, the following produces .Sq \&Em a : .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Em "Em a" .Ed . .Pp In free-form mode, quotes are regarded as opaque text. . .Ss Dates There are several macros in .Nm that require a date argument. The .Em canonical form for dates is the American format: .Pp .D1 Cm Month Day , Year .Pp The .Cm Day value is an optionally zero-padded numeral. The .Cm Month value is the full month name. The .Cm Year value is the full four-digit year. .Pp The .Em non-canonical form is the same as the canonical form, but without the comma between the .Cm Day and .Cm Year field. .Pp Lastly, .Em reduced form dates range from only a .Cm Year to the full canonical or non-canonical form. .Pp Some examples of valid dates follow: .Pp .D1 "May, 2009" Pq reduced form .D1 "2009" Pq reduced form .D1 "May 20, 2009" Pq canonical form .D1 "May 20 2009" Pq non-canonical form . .Ss Scaling Widths Many macros support scaled widths for their arguments, such as stipulating a two-inch list indentation with the following: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bl -tag -width 2i .Ed . .Pp The syntax for scaled widths is .Sq Li [+-]?[0-9]*.[0-9]*[:unit:] , where a decimal must be preceded or proceeded by at least one digit. Negative numbers, while accepted, are truncated to zero. The following scaling units are accepted: .Pp .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact .It c centimetre .It i inch .It P pica (~1/6 inch) .It p point (~1/72 inch) .It f synonym for .Sq u .It v default vertical span .It m width of rendered .Sq m .Pq em character .It n width of rendered .Sq n .Pq en character .It u default horizontal span .It M mini-em (~1/100 em) .El .Pp Using anything other than .Sq m , .Sq n , .Sq u , or .Sq v is necessarily non-portable across output media. See .Sx COMPATIBILITY . . . .Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE A well-formed .Nm document consists of a document prologue followed by one or more sections. .Pp The prologue, which consists of (in order) the .Sx \&Dd , .Sx \&Dt , and .Sx \&Os macros, is required for every document. .Pp The first section (sections are denoted by .Sx \&Sh ) must be the NAME section, consisting of at least one .Sx \&Nm followed by .Sx \&Nd . .Pp Following that, convention dictates specifying at least the SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION sections, although this varies between manual sections. .Pp The following is a well-formed skeleton .Nm file: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$ \&.Dt mdoc 7 \&.Os \&. \&.Sh NAME \&.Nm foo \&.Nd a description goes here \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2 & 3 only. \&.\e\*q .Sh LIBRARY \&. \&.Sh SYNOPSIS \&.Nm foo \&.Op Fl options \&.Ar \&. \&.Sh DESCRIPTION The \&.Nm utility processes files ... \&.\e\*q .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1 & 8 only. \&.\e\*q .Sh EXIT STATUS \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only. \&.\e\*q .Sh RETURN VALUES \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only. \&.\e\*q .Sh ENVIRONMENT \&.\e\*q .Sh FILES \&.\e\*q .Sh EXAMPLES \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only. \&.\e\*q .Sh DIAGNOSTICS \&.\e\*q The next is for sections 2, 3, & 9 only. \&.\e\*q .Sh ERRORS \&.\e\*q .Sh SEE ALSO \&.\e\*q .Xr foobar 1 \&.\e\*q .Sh STANDARDS \&.\e\*q .Sh HISTORY \&.\e\*q .Sh AUTHORS \&.\e\*q .Sh CAVEATS \&.\e\*q .Sh BUGS \&.\e\*q .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS .Ed .Pp The sections in a .Nm document are conventionally ordered as they appear above. Sections should be composed as follows: .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset Ds .It NAME Must contain at least one .Sx \&Nm followed by .Sx \&Nd . The name needs re-stating since one .Nm documents can be used for more than one utility or function, such as .Xr grep 1 also being referenced as .Xr egrep 1 and .Xr fgrep 1 . .It LIBRARY .It SYNOPSIS .It DESCRIPTION .It IMPLEMENTATION NOTES .It EXIT STATUS .It RETURN VALUES .It ENVIRONMENT .It FILES .It EXAMPLES .It DIAGNOSTICS .It ERRORS .It SEE ALSO .It STANDARDS .It HISTORY .It AUTHORS .It CAVEATS .It BUGS .It SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS .El . . .Sh MACRO SYNTAX Macros are one to three three characters in length and begin with a control character , .Sq \&. , at the beginning of the line. An arbitrary amount of whitespace may sit between the control character and the macro name. Thus, the following are equivalent: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Pp \&.\ \ \ \&Pp .Ed . .Pp The syntax of a macro depends on its classification. In this section, .Sq \-arg refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more .Sq parm parameters; .Sq \&Yo opens the scope of a macro; and if specified, .Sq \&Yc closes it out. . .Pp The .Em Callable column indicates that the macro may be called subsequent to the initial line-macro. If a macro is not callable, then its invocation after the initial line macro is interpreted as opaque text, such that .Sq \&.Fl \&Sh produces .Sq Fl \&Sh . . .Pp The .Em Parsable column indicates whether the macro may be followed by further (ostensibly callable) macros. If a macro is not parsable, subsequent macro invocations on the line will be interpreted as opaque text. . .Pp The .Em Scope column, if applicable, describes closure rules. . . .Ss Block full-explicit Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. All macros contains bodies; only .Sx \&Bf contains a head. .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \&.Yc .Ed . .Pp .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXX" .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope .It Sx \&Bd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ed .It Sx \&Bf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ef .It Sx \&Bk Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Ek .It Sx \&Bl Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&El .It Sx \&Ed Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bd .It Sx \&Ef Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bf .It Sx \&Ek Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bk .It Sx \&El Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Bl .El . . .Ss Block full-implicit Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro. All macros have bodies; some .Po .Sx \&It Fl bullet , .Fl hyphen , .Fl dash , .Fl enum , .Fl item .Pc don't have heads; only one .Po .Sx \&It Fl column .Pc has multiple heads. .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB .Ed . .Pp .Bl -column -compact -offset indent "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX" .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope .It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El .It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh .It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh .It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss .El . . .Ss Block partial-explicit Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope. Each has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head .Po .Sx \&Fo , .Sx \&Eo .Pc and/or tail .Pq Sx \&Ec . .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \ \(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB .Ed . .Pp .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "closed by XXXX" -compact -offset indent .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Scope .It Sx \&Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Ao .It Sx \&Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ac .It Sx \&Bc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Bo .It Sx \&Bo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Bc .It Sx \&Brc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Bro .It Sx \&Bro Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Brc .It Sx \&Dc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Do .It Sx \&Do Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Dc .It Sx \&Ec Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Eo .It Sx \&Eo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Ec .It Sx \&Fc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Fo .It Sx \&Fo Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Fc .It Sx \&Oc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Oo .It Sx \&Oo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Oc .It Sx \&Pc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Po .It Sx \&Po Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Pc .It Sx \&Qc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Oo .It Sx \&Qo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Oc .It Sx \&Re Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta opened by Sx \&Rs .It Sx \&Rs Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Re .It Sx \&Sc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&So .It Sx \&So Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Sc .It Sx \&Xc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Sx \&Xo .It Sx \&Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Sx \&Xc .El . . .Ss Block partial-implicit Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by .Sx Reserved Characters or end of line. .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB .Ed . .Pp .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" -compact -offset indent .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable .It Sx \&Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Bq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Brq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&D1 Ta \&No Ta \&Yes .It Sx \&Dl Ta \&No Ta Yes .It Sx \&Dq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Op Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Pq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Ql Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Qq Ta Yes Ta Yes .It Sx \&Sq Ta Yes Ta Yes .El . . .Ss In-line Closed by .Sx Reserved Characters , end of line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros. In-line macros have only text children. If a number (or inequality) of arguments is .Pq n , then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments. .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lbres...\(rb \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc... \&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN .Ed . .Pp .Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsableX" "Arguments" -compact -offset indent .It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsable Ta Em Arguments .It Sx \&%A Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%B Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%C Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%D Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%I Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%J Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%N Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%O Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%P Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%Q Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%R Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%T Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%U Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&%V Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&Ad Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 .It Sx \&Ar Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&At Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1 .It Sx \&Bsx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Bt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&Bx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Cd Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Cm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Db Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 .It Sx \&Dd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&Dt Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Dv Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Em Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&En Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Es Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&Ev Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Ex Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Fd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta >0 .It Sx \&Fl Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Fr Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Hf Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Ic Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&In Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Lb Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 .It Sx \&Li Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Lp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&Ms Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Nm Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&No Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 .It Sx \&Ns Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0 .It Sx \&Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Os Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Ot Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Ox Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Pa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Pf Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1 .It Sx \&Pp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&Rv Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta n .It Sx \&Sm Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 .It Sx \&St Ta \&No Ta Yes Ta 1 .It Sx \&Sx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Sy Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Tn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Ud Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&Ux Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Va Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n .It Sx \&Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0 .It Sx \&Xr Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0, <3 .It Sx \&br Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 0 .It Sx \&sp Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta 1 .El . . .Sh REFERENCE This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged alphabetically. For the scoping of individual macros, see .Sx MACRO SYNTAX . . .Ss \&%A Author name of an .Sx \&Rs block. Multiple authors should each be accorded their own .Sx \%%A line. Author names should be ordered with full or abbreviated forename(s) first, then full surname. . .Ss \&%B Book title of an .Sx \&Rs block. This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographic context when referring to book titles. . .Ss \&%C Publication city or location of an .Sx \&Rs block. .Pp .Em Remarks : this macro is not implemented in .Xr groff 1 . . .Ss \&%D Publication date of an .Sx \&Rs block. This should follow the reduced syntax for .Sx Dates . Canonical or non-canonical form is not necessary since publications are often referenced only by year, or month and year. . .Ss \&%I Publisher or issuer name of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&%J Journal name of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&%N Issue number (usually for journals) of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&%O Optional information of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&%P Book or journal page number of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&%Q Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an .Sx \&Rs block. Multiple institutional authors should each be accorded their own .Sx \&%Q line. . .Ss \&%R Technical report name of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&%T Article title of an .Sx \&Rs block. This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographical context when referring to article titles. . .Ss \&%U URI of reference document. . .Ss \&%V Volume number of an .Sx \&Rs block. . .Ss \&Ac Closes an .Sx \&Ao block. Does not have any tail arguments. . .Ss \&Ad Address construct: usually in the context of an computational address in memory, not a physical (post) address. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Ad [0,$] \&.Ad 0x00000000 .Ed . .Ss \&An Author name. This macro may alternatively accepts the following arguments, although these may not be specified along with a parameter: .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent .It Fl split Renders a line break before each author listing. .It Fl nosplit The opposite of .Fl split . .El .Pp In the AUTHORS section, the default is not to split the first author listing, but all subsequent author listings, whether or not they're interspersed by other macros or text, are split. Thus, specifying .Fl split will cause the first listing also to be split. If not in the AUTHORS section, the default is not to split. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.An -nosplit \&.An J. E. Hopcraft , \&.An J. D. Ullman . .Ed .Pp .Em Remarks : the effects of .Fl split or .Fl nosplit are re-set when entering the AUTHORS section, so if one specifies .Sx \&An Fl nosplit in the general document body, it must be re-specified in the AUTHORS section. . .Ss \&Ao Begins a block enclosed by angled brackets. Does not have any head arguments. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Fl -key= Ns Ao Ar val Ac .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Aq . . .Ss \&Ap Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding white-space. This is generally used as a grammatic device when referring to the verb form of a function: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Fn execve Ap d .Ed . .Ss \&Aq Encloses its arguments in angled brackets. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Fl -key= Ns Aq Ar val .Ed .Pp .Em Remarks : this macro is often abused for rendering URIs, which should instead use .Sx \&Lk or .Sx \&Mt , or to note pre-processor .Dq Li #include statements, which should use .Sx \&In . .Pp See also .Sx \&Ao . . .Ss \&Ar Command arguments. If an argument is not provided, the string .Dq file ... is used as a default. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Fl o Ns Ar file1 \&.Ar \&.Ar arg1 , arg2 . .Ed . .Ss \&At Formats an AT&T version. Accepts at most one parameter: .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent .It Cm v[1-7] | 32v A version of .At . .It Cm V[.[1-4]]? A system version of .At . .El .Pp Note that these parameters do not begin with a hyphen. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.At \&.At V.1 .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Nx , .Sx \&Ox , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Bc Closes a .Sx \&Bo block. Does not have any tail arguments. . .Ss \&Bd Begins a display block. A display is collection of macros or text which may be collectively offset or justified in a manner different from that of the enclosing context. By default, the block is preceded by a vertical space. .Pp Each display is associated with a type, which must be one of the following arguments: .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent .It Fl ragged Only left-justify the block. .It Fl unfilled Do not justify the block at all. .It Fl filled Left- and right-justify the block. .It Fl literal Alias for .Fl unfilled . .It Fl centered Centre-justify each line. .El .Pp The type must be provided first. Secondary arguments are as follows: .Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent .It Fl offset Ar width Offset by the value of .Ar width , which is interpreted as one of the following, specified in order: .Bl -item .It As one of the pre-defined strings .Ar indent , the width of standard indentation; .Ar indent-two , twice .Ar indent ; .Ar left , which has no effect ; .Ar right , which justifies to the right margin; and .Ar center , which aligns around an imagined centre axis. .It As a precalculated width for a named macro. The most popular is the imaginary macro .Ar \&Ds , which resolves to .Ar 6n . .It As a scaling unit following the syntax described in .Sx Scaling Widths . .It As the calculated string length of the opaque string. .El .Pp If unset, it will revert to the value of .Ar 8n as described in .Sx Scaling Widths . .It Fl compact Do not assert a vertical space before the block. .It Fl file Ar file Prepend the file .Ar file before any text or macros within the block. .El .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bd \-unfilled \-offset two-indent \-compact Hello world. \&.Ed .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&D1 and .Sx \&Dl . . .Ss \&Bf .Ss \&Bk .Ss \&Bl . .Ss \&Bo Begins a block enclosed by square brackets. Does not have any head arguments. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bo 1 , \&.Dv BUFSIZ Bc .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Bq . . .Ss \&Bq Encloses its arguments in square brackets. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bq 1 , Dv BUFSIZ .Ed .Pp .Em Remarks : this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for commands; the correct macros to use for this purpose are .Sx \&Op , .Sx \&Oo , and .Sx \&Oc . .Pp See also .Sx \&Bo . . .Ss \&Brc Closes a .Sx \&Bro block. Does not have any tail arguments. . .Ss \&Bro Begins a block enclosed by curly braces. Does not have any head arguments. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bro 1 , ... , \&.Va n Brc .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Brq . . .Ss \&Brq Encloses its arguments in curly braces. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Brq 1 , ... , Va n .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Bro . . .Ss \&Bsx Format the BSD/OS version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bsx 1.0 \&.Bsx .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Nx , .Sx \&Ox , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Bt Prints .Dq is currently in beta test. . .Ss \&Bx Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Bx 4.4 \&.Bx .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Nx , .Sx \&Ox , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Cd Configuration declaration (suggested for use only in section four manuals). This denotes strings accepted by .Xr config 8 . .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Cd device le0 at scode? .Ed .Pp .Em Remarks : this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain white-space and align consecutive .Sx \&Cd declarations. This practise is discouraged. . .Ss \&Cm Command modifiers. Useful when specifying configuration options or keys. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Cm ControlPath \&.Cm ControlMaster .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Fl . . .Ss \&D1 One-line indented display. This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented statements. It is followed by a newline. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.D1 Fl abcdefgh .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Bd and .Sx \&Dl . . .Ss \&Db .Ss \&Dc Closes a .Sx \&Do block. Does not have any tail arguments. . .Ss \&Dd Document date. This is the mandatory first macro of any .Nm manual. Its calling syntax is as follows: .Pp .D1 \. Ns Sx \&Dd Cm date .Pp The .Cm date field may be either .Ar $\&Mdocdate$ , which signifies the current manual revision date dictated by .Xr cvs 1 or instead a valid canonical date as specified by .Sx Dates . .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$ \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$ \&.Dd July 21, 2007 .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Dt and .Sx \&Os . . .Ss \&Dl One-line intended display. This is formatted as literal text and is useful for commands and invocations. It is followed by a newline. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 | less .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Bd and .Sx \&D1 . . .Ss \&Do Begins a block enclosed by double quotes. Does not have any head arguments. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.D1 Do April is the cruellest month Dc \e(em T.S. Eliot .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Dq . . .Ss \&Dq Encloses its arguments in double quotes. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dq April is the cruellest month \e(em T.S. Eliot .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Do . . .Ss \&Dt Document title. This is the mandatory second macro of any .Nm file. Its calling syntax is as follows: .Pp .D1 \. Ns Sx \&Dt Cm title section Op Cm volume | arch .Pp Its arguments are as follows: .Bl -tag -width Ds -offset Ds .It Cm title The document's title (name). This should be capitalised and is required. .It Cm section The manual section. This may be one of .Ar 1 .Pq utilities , .Ar 2 .Pq system calls , .Ar 3 .Pq libraries , .Ar 3p .Pq Perl libraries , .Ar 4 .Pq devices , .Ar 5 .Pq file formats , .Ar 6 .Pq games , .Ar 7 .Pq miscellaneous , .Ar 8 .Pq system utilities , .Ar 9 .Pq kernel functions , .Ar X11 .Pq X Window System , .Ar X11R6 .Pq X Window System , .Ar unass .Pq unassociated , .Ar local .Pq local system , .Ar draft .Pq draft manual , or .Ar paper .Pq paper . It is also required and should correspond to the manual's filename suffix. .It Cm volume This overrides the volume inferred from .Ar section . This field is optional, and if specified, must be one of .Ar USD .Pq users' supplementary documents , .Ar PS1 .Pq programmers' supplementary documents , .Ar AMD .Pq administrators' supplementary documents , .Ar SMM .Pq system managers' manuals , .Ar URM .Pq users' reference manuals , .Ar PRM .Pq programmers' reference manuals , .Ar KM .Pq kernel manuals , .Ar IND .Pq master index , .Ar MMI .Pq master index , .Ar LOCAL .Pq local manuals , .Ar LOC .Pq local manuals , or .Ar CON .Pq contributed manuals . .It Cm arch This specifies a specific relevant architecture. If .Cm volume is not provided, it may be used in its place, else it may be used subsequent that. It, too, is optional. It must be one of .Ar alpha , .Ar amd64 , .Ar amiga , .Ar arc , .Ar arm , .Ar armish , .Ar aviion , .Ar hp300 , .Ar hppa , .Ar hppa64 , .Ar i386 , .Ar landisk , .Ar luna88k , .Ar mac68k , .Ar macppc , .Ar mvme68k , .Ar mvme88k , .Ar mvmeppc , .Ar pmax , .Ar sgi , .Ar socppc , .Ar sparc , .Ar sparc64 , .Ar sun3 , .Ar vax , or .Ar zaurus . .El .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dt FOO 1 \&.Dt FOO 4 KM \&.Dt FOO 9 i386 \&.Dt FOO 9 KM i386 .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Dd and .Sx \&Os . . .Ss \&Dv Defined variables such as preprocessor constants. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dv BUFSIZ \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Er . . .Ss \&Dx Format the DragonFlyBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Dx 2.4.1 \&.Dx .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Nx , .Sx \&Ox , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Ec .Ss \&Ed .Ss \&Ef .Ss \&Ek .Ss \&El .Ss \&Em Denotes text that should be emphasised. Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for stylistically decorating technical terms. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Ed Warnings! \&.Ed Remarks : .Ed . .Ss \&En .Ss \&Eo .Ss \&Er Error constants (suggested for use only in section two manuals). .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Er EPERM \&.Er ENOENT .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Dv . . .Ss \&Es . .Ss \&Ev Environmental variables such as those specified in .Xr environ 7 . .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Ev DISPLAY \&.Ev PATH .Ed . .Ss \&Ex Inserts text regarding a utility's exit values. This macro must have first the .Fl std argument specified, then an optional .Ar utility . If .Ar utility is not provided, the document's name as stipulated in .Sx \&Nm is provided. .Ss \&Fa .Ss \&Fc .Ss \&Fd .Ss \&Fl .Ss \&Fn .Ss \&Fo .Ss \&Fr .Ss \&Ft .Ss \&Fx Format the FreeBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Fx 7.1 \&.Fx .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Nx , .Sx \&Ox , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Hf .Ss \&Ic .Ss \&In .Ss \&It .Ss \&Lb .Ss \&Li .Ss \&Lk Format a hyperlink. The calling syntax is as follows: .Pp .D1 \. Ns Sx \&Lk Cm uri Op Cm name .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Lk http://bsd.lv "The BSD.lv Project" \&.Lk http://bsd.lv .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Mt . . .Ss \&Lp .Ss \&Ms .Ss \&Mt .Ss \&Nd .Ss \&Nm .Ss \&No .Ss \&Ns .Ss \&Nx Format the NetBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Nx 5.01 \&.Nx .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Ox , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Oc .Ss \&Oo .Ss \&Op .Ss \&Os Document operating system version. This is the mandatory third macro of any .Nm file. Its calling syntax is as follows: .Pp .D1 \. Ns Sx \&Os Op Cm system .Pp The optional .Cm system parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment. Left unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system version. This is the suggested form. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Os \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS \&.Os BSD 4.3 .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&Dd and .Sx \&Dt . . .Ss \&Ot Unknown usage. .Pp .Em Remarks : this macro has been deprecated. . .Ss \&Ox Format the OpenBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Ox 4.5 \&.Ox .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Nx , and .Sx \&Ux . . .Ss \&Pa .Ss \&Pc .Ss \&Pf .Ss \&Po .Ss \&Pp .Ss \&Pq .Ss \&Qc .Ss \&Ql .Ss \&Qo .Ss \&Qq . .Ss \&Re Closes a .Sx \&Rs block. Does not have any tail arguments. . .Ss \&Rs Begins a bibliographic .Pq Dq reference block. Does not have any head arguments. The block macro may only contain .Sx \&%A , .Sx \&%B , .Sx \&%C , .Sx \&%D , .Sx \&%I , .Sx \&%J , .Sx \&%N , .Sx \&%O , .Sx \&%P , .Sx \&%Q , .Sx \&%R , .Sx \&%T , and .Sx \&%V child macros (at least one must be specified). .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Rs \&.%A J. E. Hopcroft \&.%A J. D. Ullman \&.%B Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation \&.%I Addison-Wesley \&.%C Reading, Massachusettes \&.%D 1979 \&.Re .Ed .Pp If an .Sx \&Rs block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical space is asserted before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current line. . .Ss \&Rv .Ss \&Sc .Ss \&Sh .Ss \&Sm .Ss \&So .Ss \&Sq .Ss \&Ss .Ss \&St .Ss \&Sx .Ss \&Sy .Ss \&Tn .Ss \&Ud .Ss \&Ux Format the UNIX name. Accepts no argument. .Pp Examples: .Bd -literal -offset indent \&.Ux .Ed .Pp See also .Sx \&At , .Sx \&Bsx , .Sx \&Bx , .Sx \&Dx , .Sx \&Fx , .Sx \&Nx , and .Sx \&Ox . . .Ss \&Va .Ss \&Vt .Ss \&Xc .Ss \&Xo .Ss \&Xr .Ss \&br .Ss \&sp . . .Sh COMPATIBILITY This section documents compatibility with other roff implementations, at this time limited to .Xr groff 1 . The term .Qq historic groff refers to those versions before the .Pa doc.tmac file re-write .Pq somewhere between 1.15 and 1.19 . . .Pp .Bl -dash -compact .It Negative scaling units are now truncated to zero instead of creating interesting conditions, such as with .Sq \&sp -1i . Furthermore, the .Sq f scaling unit, while accepted, is rendered as the default unit. .It In quoted literals, groff allowed pair-wise double-quotes to produce a standalone double-quote in formatted output. This idiosyncratic behaviour is no longer applicable. .It Display types .Sx \&Bd Fl center and .Fl right are aliases for .Fl left . The .Fl file Ar file argument is ignored. Since text is not right-justified, .Fl ragged and .Fl filled are aliases, as are .Fl literal and .Fl unfilled . .It Blocks of whitespace are stripped from both macro and free-form text lines (except when in literal mode), while groff would retain whitespace in free-form text lines. .It Historic groff has many un-callable macros. Most of these (excluding some block-level macros) are now callable, conforming to the non-historic groff version. .It The vertical bar .Sq \(ba made historic groff .Qq go orbital but is a proper delimiter in this implementation. .It .Sx \&It Fl nested is assumed for all lists (it wasn't in historic groff): any list may be nested and .Fl enum lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list. .It Some manuals use .Sx \&Li incorrectly by following it with a reserved character and expecting the delimiter to render. This is not supported. .It In groff, the .Sx \&Fo macro only produces the first parameter. This is no longer the case. .El . . .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr mandoc 1 , .Xr mandoc_char 7 . . .Sh AUTHORS The .Nm reference was written by .An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@kth.se . .\" .\" XXX: this really isn't the place for these caveats. .\" . .\" . .\" .Sh CAVEATS .\" There are many ambiguous parts of mdoc. .\" . .\" .Pp .\" .Bl -dash -compact .\" .It .\" .Sq \&Fa .\" should be .\" .Sq \&Va .\" as function arguments are variables. .\" .It .\" .Sq \&Ft .\" should be .\" .Sq \&Vt .\" as function return types are still types. Furthermore, the .\" .Sq \&Ft .\" should be removed and .\" .Sq \&Fo , .\" which ostensibly follows it, should follow the same convention as .\" .Sq \&Va . .\" .It .\" .Sq \&Va .\" should formalise that only one or two arguments are acceptable: a .\" variable name and optional, preceding type. .\" .It .\" .Sq \&Fd .\" is ambiguous. It's commonly used to indicate an include file in the .\" synopsis section. .\" .Sq \&In .\" should be used, instead. .\" .It .\" Only the .\" .Sq \-literal .\" argument to .\" .Sq \&Bd .\" makes sense. The remaining ones should be removed. .\" .It .\" The .\" .Sq \&Xo .\" and .\" .Sq \&Xc .\" macros should be deprecated. .\" .It .\" The .\" .Sq \&Dt .\" macro lacks clarity. It should be absolutely clear which title will .\" render when formatting the manual page. .\" .It .\" A .\" .Sq \&Lx .\" should be provided for Linux (\(`a la .\" .Sq \&Ox , .\" .Sq \&Nx .\" etc.). .\" .It .\" There's no way to refer to references in .\" .Sq \&Rs/Re .\" blocks. .\" .It .\" The \-split and \-nosplit dictates via .\" .Sq \&An .\" are re-set when entering and leaving the AUTHORS section. .\" .El .\" .