MAN(7)

NAME
man - macros to typeset manual

SYNOPSIS
nroff -man file ...

troff -man file ...

DESCRIPTION
These macros are used to format pages of this manual.

Except in and requests, any text argument denoted t in the request summary may be zero to six words. Quotes " ... " may be used to include blanks in a `word'. If t is empty, the special treatment is applied to the next text input line (the next line that doesn't begin with dot). In this way, for example, .I may be used to italicize a line of more than 6 words, or .SM followed by .B to make small letters in `bold' font.

A prevailing indent distance is remembered between successive indented paragraphs, and is reset to default value upon reaching a non-indented paragraph. Default units for indents i are ens.

The fonts are

R   roman, the main font, preferred for diagnostics
I   italic, preferred for parameters, short names of commands, names of manual pages, and naked function names
`bold', actually the constant width font,
    preferred for examples, file names, declarations, keywords, names of struct members, and literals (numbers are rarely literals)
L   also the constant width font. In troff L=B; in nroff arguments of the macros .L, .LR, and .RL are printed in quotes; preferred only where quotes really help (e.g. lower-case literals and punctuation).

Type font and size are reset to default values before each paragraph, and after processing font- or size-setting macros.

The -man macros admit equations and tables in the style of eqn(1) and tbl(1), but do not support arguments on .EQ and .TS macros.

These strings are predefined by -man:

\*R `(Reg)', trademark symbol in troff.

\*S Change to default type size. \*9 The root directory of the Plan 9 installation.

FILES
/tmac/tmac.an

/tmac/tmac.antimes

SEE ALSO
troff(1), man(1)

REQUESTS
Request    Cause    If no    Explanation
    Break    Argument
.B t    no    t=n.t.l.*    Text
t is `bold'.
.BI t    no    t=n.t.l.    Join
words of t alternating bold and italic.
.BR t    no    t=n.t.l.    Join
words of t alternating bold and Roman.
.DT    no    Restore default tabs.
.EE    yes    End displayed example
.EX    yes    Begin displayed example
.HP i    yes    i=p.i.*    Set prevailing indent to
i. Begin paragraph with hanging indent.
.I t    no    t=n.t.l.    Text
t is italic.
.IB t    no    t=n.t.l.    Join
words of t alternating italic and bold.
.IP x i    yes    x=""    Same as .TP with tag
x.
.IR t    no    t=n.t.l.    Join
words of t alternating italic and Roman.
.L t    no    t=n.t.l.    Text
t is literal.
.LP    yes    Same as .PP.
.LR t    no    Join 2
words of t alternating literal and Roman.
.PD d    no    d=.4v    Interparagraph distance is
d.
.PP    yes    Begin paragraph.
Set prevailing indent to default.
.RE    yes    End of relative indent.
Set prevailing indent to amount of starting .RS.
.RI t    no    t=n.t.l.    Join
words of t alternating Roman and italic.
.RL t    no    Join 2 or 3
words of t alternating Roman and literal.
.RS i    yes    i=p.i.    Start relative indent,
move left margin in distance i. Set prevailing indent to default for nested indents.
.SH t    yes    t=""    Subhead; reset paragraph distance.
.SM t    no    t=n.t.l.    Text
t is small.
.SS t    no    t=""    Secondary subhead.
.TF s    yes    Prevailing indent is wide as
string s in font L; paragraph distance is 0.
.TH n c x    yes    Begin page named
n of chapter c; x is extra commentary, e.g. `local', for page head. Set prevailing indent and tabs to default.
.TP i    yes    i=p.i.    Set prevailing indent to
i. Restore default indent if i=0. Begin indented paragraph with hanging tag given by next text line. If tag doesn't fit, place it on separate line.
.1C    yes    Equalize columns and return to 1-column output
.2C    yes    Start 2-column nofill output

* n.t.l. = next text line; p.i. = prevailing indent

BUGS
There's no way to fool troff into handling literal double quote marks " in font-alternation macros, such as

There is no direct way to suppress column widows in 2-column output; the column lengths may be adjusted by inserting requests before the closing