.\" Automatically generated from an mdoc input file.  Do not edit.
.\"	$Id: man.7,v 1.143 2019/03/02 22:04:40 schwarze Exp $
.\"
.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
.\" Copyright (c) 2011-2015,2017,2018,2019 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
.\" Copyright (c) 2017 Anthony Bentley <bentley@openbsd.org>
.\" Copyright (c) 2010 Joerg Sonnenberger <joerg@netbsd.org>
.\"
.\" 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.
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.\" 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.
.\"
.TH "MAN" "7" "March 2, 2019" "Debian" "Miscellaneous Information Manual"
.nh
.if n .ad l
.SH "NAME"
\fBman\fR
\- legacy formatting language for manual pages
.SH "DESCRIPTION"
The
\fBman\fR
language was the standard formatting language for
AT&T UNIX
manual pages from 1979 to 1989.
Do not use it to write new manual pages: it is a purely presentational
language and lacks support for semantic markup.
Use the
mdoc(7)
language, instead.
.PP
In a
\fBman\fR
document, lines beginning with the control character
\(oq\&.\(cq
are called
\(lqmacro lines\(rq.
The first word is the macro name.
It usually consists of two capital letters.
For a list of portable macros, see
\fIMACRO OVERVIEW\fR.
The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro.
.PP
Lines not beginning with the control character are called
\(lqtext lines\(rq.
They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
depends on the respective processing context:
.nf
.sp
.RS 6n
\&.SH Macro lines change control state.
Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
.RE
.fi
.PP
Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
\fBman\fR
language are based on the
roff(7)
language; see the
\fILANGUAGE SYNTAX\fR
and
\fIMACRO SYNTAX\fR
sections in the
roff(7)
manual for details, in particular regarding
comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
.PP
Each
\fBman\fR
document starts with the
\fBTH\fR
macro specifying the document's name and section, followed by the
\fINAME\fR
section formatted as follows:
.nf
.sp
.RS 6n
\&.TH PROGNAME 1 1979-01-10
\&.SH NAME
\efBprogname\efR \e(en one line about what it does
.RE
.fi
.SH "MACRO OVERVIEW"
This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
together.
Deprecated and non-portable macros are not included in the overview,
but can be found in the alphabetical reference below.
.SS "Page header and footer meta-data"
.TS
l l.
.PP
\fBTH\fR	set the title: \fIname section date\fR [\fIsource\fR [\fIvolume\fR]]
.PP
\fBAT\fR	display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
.PP
\fBUC\fR	display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
.TE
.SS "Sections and paragraphs"
.TS
l l.
.PP
\fBSH\fR	section header (one line)
.PP
\fBSS\fR	subsection header (one line)
.PP
\fBPP\fR	start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
.PP
\fBRS\fR, \fBRE\fR	reset the left margin: [\fIwidth\fR]
.PP
\fBIP\fR	indented paragraph: [\fIhead\fR [\fIwidth\fR]]
.PP
\fBTP\fR	tagged paragraph: [\fIwidth\fR]
.PP
\fBPD\fR	set vertical paragraph distance: [\fIheight\fR]
.PP
\fBin\fR	additional indent: [\fIwidth\fR]
.TE
.SS "Physical markup"
.TS
l l.
.PP
\fBB\fR	boldface font
.PP
\fBI\fR	italic font
.PP
\fBSB\fR	small boldface font
.PP
\fBSM\fR	small roman font
.PP
\fBBI\fR	alternate between boldface and italic fonts
.PP
\fBBR\fR	alternate between boldface and roman fonts
.PP
\fBIB\fR	alternate between italic and boldface fonts
.PP
\fBIR\fR	alternate between italic and roman fonts
.PP
\fBRB\fR	alternate between roman and boldface fonts
.PP
\fBRI\fR	alternate between roman and italic fonts
.TE
.SH "MACRO REFERENCE"
This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
alphabetically.
For the scoping of individual macros, see
\fIMACRO SYNTAX\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBAT\fR
Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
AT&T UNIX
releases.
The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
.TP 5n
\fBB\fR
Text is rendered in bold face.
.TP 5n
\fBBI\fR
Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.
Thus,
\(oq.BI this word and that\(cq
causes
\(oqthis\(cq
and
\(oqand\(cq
to render in bold face, while
\(oqword\(cq
and
\(oqthat\(cq
render in italics.
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
.sp
Example:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.BI bold italic bold italic
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBBR\fR
Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See also
\fBBI\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBDT\fR
Restore the default tabulator positions.
They are at intervals of 0.5 inches.
This has no effect unless the tabulator positions were changed with the
roff(7)
\fBta\fR
request.
.TP 5n
\fBEE\fR
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
In
mandoc(1),
it does the same as the
roff(7)
\fBfi\fR
request (switch to fill mode).
.TP 5n
\fBEX\fR
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
In
mandoc(1),
it does the same as the
roff(7)
\fBnf\fR
request (switch to no-fill mode).
.TP 5n
\fBHP\fR
Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBHP\fR [\fIwidth\fR]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
The
\fIwidth\fR
argument is a
roff(7)
scaling width.
If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left margins;
if unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
.sp
This macro is portable, but deprecated
because it has no good representation in HTML output,
usually ending up indistinguishable from
\fBPP\fR.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBI\fR
Text is rendered in italics.
.TP 5n
\fBIB\fR
Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See also
\fBBI\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBIP\fR
Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBIP\fR [\fIhead\fR [\fIwidth\fR]]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
The
\fIwidth\fR
argument is a
roff(7)
scaling width defining the left margin.
It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
default width is used.
.sp
The
\fIhead\fR
argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin.
This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBIR\fR
Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font).
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See also
\fBBI\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBLP\fR
A synonym for
\fBPP\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBME\fR
End a mailto block started with
\fBMT\fR.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
.TP 5n
\fBMT\fR
Begin a mailto block.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
It has the following syntax:
.nf
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBMT\fR \fIaddress\fR
link description to be shown
\&.\fBME\fR
.RE
.fi
.TP 5n
\fBOP\fR
Optional command-line argument.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
It has the following syntax:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBOP\fR \fIkey\fR [\fIvalue\fR]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
The
\fIkey\fR
is usually a command-line flag and
\fIvalue\fR
its argument.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBP\fR
A synonym for
\fBPP\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBPD\fR
Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new paragraph.
.br
The syntax is as follows:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBPD\fR [\fIheight\fR]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
The
\fIheight\fR
argument is a
roff(7)
scaling width.
It defaults to
\fB1v\fR.
If the unit is omitted,
\fBv\fR
is assumed.
.sp
This macro affects the spacing before any subsequent instances of
\fBHP\fR,
\fBIP\fR,
\fBLP\fR,
\fBP\fR,
\fBPP\fR,
\fBSH\fR,
\fBSS\fR,
\fBSY\fR,
and
\fBTP\fR.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBPP\fR
Begin an undecorated paragraph.
The scope of a paragraph is closed by a subsequent paragraph,
sub-section, section, or end of file.
The saved paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
.TP 5n
\fBRB\fR
Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See also
\fBBI\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBRE\fR
Explicitly close out the scope of a prior
\fBRS\fR.
The default left margin is restored to the state before that
\fBRS\fR
invocation.
.sp
The syntax is as follows:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBRE\fR [\fIlevel\fR]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
Without an argument, the most recent
\fBRS\fR
block is closed out.
If
\fIlevel\fR
is 1, all open
\fBRS\fR
blocks are closed out.
Otherwise,
\fIlevel\fR \(mi 1
nested
\fBRS\fR
blocks remain open.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBRI\fR
Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics.
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See also
\fBBI\fR.
.TP 5n
\fBRS\fR
Temporarily reset the default left margin.
This has the following syntax:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBRS\fR [\fIwidth\fR]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
The
\fIwidth\fR
argument is a
roff(7)
scaling width.
If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
.sp
See also
\fBRE\fR.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBSB\fR
Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font)
bold face.
.TP 5n
\fBSH\fR
Begin a section.
The scope of a section is only closed by another section or the end of
file.
The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
.TP 5n
\fBSM\fR
Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
font).
.TP 5n
\fBSS\fR
Begin a sub-section.
The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent sub-section,
section, or end of file.
The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
.TP 5n
\fBSY\fR
Begin a synopsis block with the following syntax:
.nf
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBSY\fR \fIcommand\fR
\fIarguments\fR
\&.\fBYS\fR
.RE
.fi
.RS 5n
.sp
This is a non-standard GNU extension
and very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
Formatting is similar to
\fBIP\fR.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBTH\fR
Set the name of the manual page for use in the page header
and footer with the following syntax:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBTH\fR \fIname section date\fR [\fIsource\fR [\fIvolume\fR]]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
Conventionally, the document
\fIname\fR
is given in all caps.
The
\fIsection\fR
is usually a single digit, in a few cases followed by a letter.
The recommended
\fIdate\fR
format is
\fBYYYY-MM-DD\fR
as specified in the ISO-8601 standard;
if the argument does not conform, it is printed verbatim.
If the
\fIdate\fR
is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
The optional
\fIsource\fR
string specifies the organisation providing the utility.
When unspecified,
mandoc(1)
uses its
\fB\-Ios\fR
argument.
The
\fIvolume\fR
string replaces the default volume title of the
\fIsection\fR.
.sp
Examples:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.TH CVS 5 1992-02-12 GNU
.RE
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBTP\fR
Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is
followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after
advancing to the indentation width.
Subsequent output lines are indented.
The syntax is as follows:
.nf
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBTP\fR [\fIwidth\fR]
\fIhead\fR \e" one line
\fIbody\fR
.RE
.fi
.RS 5n
.sp
The
\fIwidth\fR
argument is a
roff(7)
scaling width.
If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
.RE
.TP 5n
\fBTQ\fR
Like
\fBTP\fR,
except that no vertical spacing is inserted before the paragraph.
This is a non-standard GNU extension
and very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
.TP 5n
\fBUC\fR
Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
BSD
releases.
The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
.TP 5n
\fBUE\fR
End a uniform resource identifier block started with
\fBUR\fR.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
.TP 5n
\fBUR\fR
Begin a uniform resource identifier block.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
It has the following syntax:
.nf
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBUR\fR \fIuri\fR
link description to be shown
\&.\fBUE\fR
.RE
.fi
.TP 5n
\fBYS\fR
End a synopsis block started with
\fBSY\fR.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
.TP 5n
\fBin\fR
Indent relative to the current indentation:
.sp
.RS 11n
\&.\fBin\fR [\fIwidth\fR]
.RE
.RS 5n
.sp
If
\fIwidth\fR
is signed, the new offset is relative.
Otherwise, it is absolute.
This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.
.RE
.SH "MACRO SYNTAX"
The
\fBman\fR
macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.
Line macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some
situations, the subsequent line).
Block macros are scoped to the current line and subsequent lines until
closed by another block macro.
.SS "Line Macros"
Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
consisting of zero or more arguments.
If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty,
the next line, which must be text, is used instead.
Thus:
.nf
.sp
.RS 6n
\&.I
foo
.RE
.fi
.PP
is equivalent to
\(oq.I foo\(cq.
If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used.
If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is
raised.
.PP
The syntax is as follows:
.nf
.sp
.RS 6n
\&.YO \(lBbody...\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
.RE
.fi
.RS 6n
.TS
l l l l.
.PP
\fIMacro\fR	\fIArguments\fR	\fIScope\fR	\fINotes\fR
.PP
\fBAT\fR	<=1	current	\&
.PP
\fBB\fR	n	next-line	\&
.PP
\fBBI\fR	n	current	\&
.PP
\fBBR\fR	n	current	\&
.PP
\fBDT\fR	0	current	\&
.PP
\fBEE\fR	0	current	GNU
.PP
\fBEX\fR	0	current	GNU
.PP
\fBI\fR	n	next-line	\&
.PP
\fBIB\fR	n	current	\&
.PP
\fBIR\fR	n	current	\&
.PP
\fBOP\fR	>=1	current	GNU
.PP
\fBPD\fR	1	current	\&
.PP
\fBRB\fR	n	current	\&
.PP
\fBRI\fR	n	current	\&
.PP
\fBSB\fR	n	next-line	\&
.PP
\fBSM\fR	n	next-line	\&
.PP
\fBTH\fR	>1, <6	current	\&
.PP
\fBUC\fR	<=1	current	\&
.PP
\fBin\fR	1	current	roff(7)
.TE
.RE
.SS "Block Macros"
Block macros comprise a head and body.
As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in
one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in
\fILine Macros\fR
apply here as well).
.PP
The syntax is as follows:
.nf
.sp
.RS 6n
\&.YO \(lBhead...\(rB
\(lBhead...\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
.RE
.fi
.PP
The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
by
\fBSH\fR;
sub-section, closed by a section or
\fBSS\fR;
or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section,
\fBHP\fR,
\fBIP\fR,
\fBLP\fR,
\fBP\fR,
\fBPP\fR,
\fBRE\fR,
\fBSY\fR,
or
\fBTP\fR.
No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
.PP
As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
.RS 6n
.TS
l l l l l.
.PP
\fIMacro\fR	\fIArguments\fR	\fIHead Scope\fR	\fIBody Scope\fR	\fINotes\fR
.PP
\fBHP\fR	<2	current	paragraph	\&
.PP
\fBIP\fR	<3	current	paragraph	\&
.PP
\fBLP\fR	0	current	paragraph	\&
.PP
\fBME\fR	0	none	none	GNU
.PP
\fBMT\fR	1	current	to \&ME	GNU
.PP
\fBP\fR	0	current	paragraph	\&
.PP
\fBPP\fR	0	current	paragraph	\&
.PP
\fBRE\fR	<=1	current	none	\&
.PP
\fBRS\fR	1	current	to \&RE	\&
.PP
\fBSH\fR	>0	next-line	section	\&
.PP
\fBSS\fR	>0	next-line	sub-section	\&
.PP
\fBSY\fR	1	current	to \&YS	GNU
.PP
\fBTP\fR	n	next-line	paragraph	\&
.PP
\fBTQ\fR	n	next-line	paragraph	GNU
.PP
\fBUE\fR	0	current	none	GNU
.PP
\fBUR\fR	1	current	part	GNU
.PP
\fBYS\fR	0	none	none	GNU
.TE
.RE
.PP
If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
macros for decorating text.
.SS "Font handling"
In
\fBman\fR
documents, both
\fIPhysical markup\fR
macros and
roff(7)
\(oq\ef\(cq
font escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.
In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by escape sequences
only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts
until the end of the macro scope.
Note that macros like
\fBBR\fR
open and close a font scope for each argument.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
man(1),
mandoc(1),
eqn(7),
mandoc_char(7),
mdoc(7),
roff(7),
tbl(7)
.SH "HISTORY"
The
\fBman\fR
language first appeared as a macro package for the roff typesetting
system in
Version\~7 AT&T UNIX.
It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro package for groff.
Eric S. Raymond wrote the extended
\fBman\fR
macros for groff in 2007.
The stand-alone implementation that is part of the
mandoc(1)
utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
OpenBSD\ 4.6.
.SH "AUTHORS"
This
\fBman\fR
reference was written by
Kristaps Dzonsons <\fIkristaps@bsd.lv\fR>.