xref: /netbsd-src/external/bsd/mdocml/dist/mdoc.7 (revision a5847cc334d9a7029f6352b847e9e8d71a0f9e0c)
1.\"	$Vendor-Id: mdoc.7,v 1.212 2011/09/27 21:49:23 schwarze Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
4.\" Copyright (c) 2010, 2011 Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>
5.\"
6.\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
7.\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
8.\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
9.\"
10.\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
11.\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
12.\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
13.\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
14.\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
15.\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
16.\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
17.\"
18.Dd September 27, 2011
19.Dt MDOC 7
20.Os
21.Sh NAME
22.Nm mdoc
23.Nd semantic markup language for formatting manual pages
24.Sh DESCRIPTION
25The
26.Nm mdoc
27language supports authoring of manual pages for the
28.Xr man 1
29utility by allowing semantic annotations of words, phrases,
30page sections and complete manual pages.
31Such annotations are used by formatting tools to achieve a uniform
32presentation across all manuals written in
33.Nm ,
34and to support hyperlinking if supported by the output medium.
35.Pp
36This reference document describes the structure of manual pages
37and the syntax and usage of the
38.Nm
39language.
40The reference implementation of a parsing and formatting tool is
41.Xr mandoc 1 ;
42the
43.Sx COMPATIBILITY
44section describes compatibility with other implementations.
45.Pp
46In an
47.Nm
48document, lines beginning with the control character
49.Sq \&.
50are called
51.Dq macro lines .
52The first word is the macro name.
53It consists of two or three letters.
54Most macro names begin with a capital letter.
55For a list of available macros, see
56.Sx MACRO OVERVIEW .
57The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro, optionally
58including the names of other, callable macros; see
59.Sx MACRO SYNTAX
60for details.
61.Pp
62Lines not beginning with the control character are called
63.Dq text lines .
64They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
65depends on the respective processing context:
66.Bd -literal -offset indent
67\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.
68Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
69.Ed
70.Pp
71Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
72.Nm
73language are based on the
74.Xr roff 7
75language; see the
76.Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX
77and
78.Em MACRO SYNTAX
79sections in the
80.Xr roff 7
81manual for details, in particular regarding
82comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
83However, using
84.Xr roff 7
85requests in
86.Nm
87documents is discouraged;
88.Xr mandoc 1
89supports some of them merely for backward compatibility.
90.Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
91A well-formed
92.Nm
93document consists of a document prologue followed by one or more
94sections.
95.Pp
96The prologue, which consists of the
97.Sx \&Dd ,
98.Sx \&Dt ,
99and
100.Sx \&Os
101macros in that order, is required for every document.
102.Pp
103The first section (sections are denoted by
104.Sx \&Sh )
105must be the NAME section, consisting of at least one
106.Sx \&Nm
107followed by
108.Sx \&Nd .
109.Pp
110Following that, convention dictates specifying at least the
111.Em SYNOPSIS
112and
113.Em DESCRIPTION
114sections, although this varies between manual sections.
115.Pp
116The following is a well-formed skeleton
117.Nm
118file for a utility
119.Qq progname :
120.Bd -literal -offset indent
121\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
122\&.Dt PROGNAME section
123\&.Os
124\&.Sh NAME
125\&.Nm progname
126\&.Nd one line about what it does
127\&.\e\(dq .Sh LIBRARY
128\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
129\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
130\&.Sh SYNOPSIS
131\&.Nm progname
132\&.Op Fl options
133\&.Ar
134\&.Sh DESCRIPTION
135The
136\&.Nm
137utility processes files ...
138\&.\e\(dq .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
139\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
140\&.\e\(dq .Sh RETURN VALUES
141\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
142\&.\e\(dq .Sh ENVIRONMENT
143\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
144\&.\e\(dq .Sh FILES
145\&.\e\(dq .Sh EXIT STATUS
146\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, & 8 only.
147\&.\e\(dq .Sh EXAMPLES
148\&.\e\(dq .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
149\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
150\&.\e\(dq .Sh ERRORS
151\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
152\&.\e\(dq .Sh SEE ALSO
153\&.\e\(dq .Xr foobar 1
154\&.\e\(dq .Sh STANDARDS
155\&.\e\(dq .Sh HISTORY
156\&.\e\(dq .Sh AUTHORS
157\&.\e\(dq .Sh CAVEATS
158\&.\e\(dq .Sh BUGS
159\&.\e\(dq .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
160\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
161.Ed
162.Pp
163The sections in an
164.Nm
165document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.
166Sections should be composed as follows:
167.Bl -ohang -offset Ds
168.It Em NAME
169The name(s) and a one line description of the documented material.
170The syntax for this as follows:
171.Bd -literal -offset indent
172\&.Nm name0 ,
173\&.Nm name1 ,
174\&.Nm name2
175\&.Nd a one line description
176.Ed
177.Pp
178Multiple
179.Sq \&Nm
180names should be separated by commas.
181.Pp
182The
183.Sx \&Nm
184macro(s) must precede the
185.Sx \&Nd
186macro.
187.Pp
188See
189.Sx \&Nm
190and
191.Sx \&Nd .
192.It Em LIBRARY
193The name of the library containing the documented material, which is
194assumed to be a function in a section 2, 3, or 9 manual.
195The syntax for this is as follows:
196.Bd -literal -offset indent
197\&.Lb libarm
198.Ed
199.Pp
200See
201.Sx \&Lb .
202.It Em SYNOPSIS
203Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device
204configuration.
205.Pp
206For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
207generally structured as follows:
208.Bd -literal -offset indent
209\&.Nm bar
210\&.Op Fl v
211\&.Op Fl o Ar file
212\&.Op Ar
213\&.Nm foo
214\&.Op Fl v
215\&.Op Fl o Ar file
216\&.Op Ar
217.Ed
218.Pp
219Commands should be ordered alphabetically.
220.Pp
221For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
222.Bd -literal -offset indent
223\&.In header.h
224\&.Vt extern const char *global;
225\&.Ft "char *"
226\&.Fn foo "const char *src"
227\&.Ft "char *"
228\&.Fn bar "const char *src"
229.Ed
230.Pp
231Ordering of
232.Sx \&In ,
233.Sx \&Vt ,
234.Sx \&Fn ,
235and
236.Sx \&Fo
237macros should follow C header-file conventions.
238.Pp
239And for the third, configurations (section 4):
240.Bd -literal -offset indent
241\&.Cd \(dqit* at isa? port 0x2e\(dq
242\&.Cd \(dqit* at isa? port 0x4e\(dq
243.Ed
244.Pp
245Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a
246.Em SYNOPSIS .
247.Pp
248Some macros are displayed differently in the
249.Em SYNOPSIS
250section, particularly
251.Sx \&Nm ,
252.Sx \&Cd ,
253.Sx \&Fd ,
254.Sx \&Fn ,
255.Sx \&Fo ,
256.Sx \&In ,
257.Sx \&Vt ,
258and
259.Sx \&Ft .
260All of these macros are output on their own line.
261If two such dissimilar macros are pairwise invoked (except for
262.Sx \&Ft
263before
264.Sx \&Fo
265or
266.Sx \&Fn ) ,
267they are separated by a vertical space, unless in the case of
268.Sx \&Fo ,
269.Sx \&Fn ,
270and
271.Sx \&Ft ,
272which are always separated by vertical space.
273.Pp
274When text and macros following an
275.Sx \&Nm
276macro starting an input line span multiple output lines,
277all output lines but the first will be indented to align
278with the text immediately following the
279.Sx \&Nm
280macro, up to the next
281.Sx \&Nm ,
282.Sx \&Sh ,
283or
284.Sx \&Ss
285macro or the end of an enclosing block, whichever comes first.
286.It Em DESCRIPTION
287This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in
288.Em NAME :
289.Bd -literal -offset indent
290The
291\&.Nm
292utility does this, that, and the other.
293.Ed
294.Pp
295It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting a
296command), such as:
297.Bd -literal -offset indent
298The arguments are as follows:
299\&.Bl \-tag \-width Ds
300\&.It Fl v
301Print verbose information.
302\&.El
303.Ed
304.Pp
305Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.
306.Pp
307Since the
308.Em DESCRIPTION
309section usually contains most of the text of a manual, longer manuals
310often use the
311.Sx \&Ss
312macro to form subsections.
313In very long manuals, the
314.Em DESCRIPTION
315may be split into multiple sections, each started by an
316.Sx \&Sh
317macro followed by a non-standard section name, and each having
318several subsections, like in the present
319.Nm
320manual.
321.It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
322Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
323This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
324effects or notable algorithmic implications.
325.It Em RETURN VALUES
326This section documents the
327return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.
328.Pp
329See
330.Sx \&Rv .
331.It Em ENVIRONMENT
332Lists the environment variables used by the utility,
333and explains the syntax and semantics of their values.
334The
335.Xr environ 7
336manual provides examples of typical content and formatting.
337.Pp
338See
339.Sx \&Ev .
340.It Em FILES
341Documents files used.
342It's helpful to document both the file name and a short description of how
343the file is used (created, modified, etc.).
344.Pp
345See
346.Sx \&Pa .
347.It Em EXIT STATUS
348This section documents the
349command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 utilities.
350Historically, this information was described in
351.Em DIAGNOSTICS ,
352a practise that is now discouraged.
353.Pp
354See
355.Sx \&Ex .
356.It Em EXAMPLES
357Example usages.
358This often contains snippets of well-formed, well-tested invocations.
359Make sure that examples work properly!
360.It Em DIAGNOSTICS
361Documents error conditions.
362This is most useful in section 4 manuals.
363Historically, this section was used in place of
364.Em EXIT STATUS
365for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
366discouraged.
367.Pp
368See
369.Sx \&Bl
370.Fl diag .
371.It Em ERRORS
372Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.
373.Pp
374See
375.Sx \&Er .
376.It Em SEE ALSO
377References other manuals with related topics.
378This section should exist for most manuals.
379Cross-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then
380alphabetically.
381.Pp
382References to other documentation concerning the topic of the manual page,
383for example authoritative books or journal articles, may also be
384provided in this section.
385.Pp
386See
387.Sx \&Rs
388and
389.Sx \&Xr .
390.It Em STANDARDS
391References any standards implemented or used.
392If not adhering to any standards, the
393.Em HISTORY
394section should be used instead.
395.Pp
396See
397.Sx \&St .
398.It Em HISTORY
399A brief history of the subject, including where it was first implemented,
400and when it was ported to or reimplemented for the operating system at hand.
401.It Em AUTHORS
402Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.
403Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.
404.Pp
405See
406.Sx \&An .
407.It Em CAVEATS
408Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained
409in this section.
410.It Em BUGS
411Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described
412in this section.
413.It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
414Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
415.El
416.Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
417This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
418together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose.
419Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found below
420in the alphabetical
421.Sx MACRO REFERENCE .
422.Ss Document preamble and NAME section macros
423.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
424.It Sx \&Dd Ta document date: Cm $\&Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year
425.It Sx \&Dt Ta document title: Ar TITLE section Op Ar volume | arch
426.It Sx \&Os Ta operating system version: Op Ar system Op Ar version
427.It Sx \&Nm Ta document name (one argument)
428.It Sx \&Nd Ta document description (one line)
429.El
430.Ss Sections and cross references
431.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
432.It Sx \&Sh Ta section header (one line)
433.It Sx \&Ss Ta subsection header (one line)
434.It Sx \&Sx Ta internal cross reference to a section or subsection
435.It Sx \&Xr Ta cross reference to another manual page: Ar name section
436.It Sx \&Pp , \&Lp Ta start a text paragraph (no arguments)
437.El
438.Ss Displays and lists
439.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
440.It Sx \&Bd , \&Ed Ta display block:
441.Fl Ar type
442.Op Fl offset Ar width
443.Op Fl compact
444.It Sx \&D1 Ta indented display (one line)
445.It Sx \&Dl Ta indented literal display (one line)
446.It Sx \&Bl , \&El Ta list block:
447.Fl Ar type
448.Op Fl width Ar val
449.Op Fl offset Ar val
450.Op Fl compact
451.It Sx \&It Ta list item (syntax depends on Fl Ar type )
452.It Sx \&Ta Ta table cell separator in Sx \&Bl Fl column No lists
453.It Sx \&Rs , \&%* , \&Re Ta bibliographic block (references)
454.El
455.Ss Spacing control
456.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
457.It Sx \&Pf Ta prefix, no following horizontal space (one argument)
458.It Sx \&Ns Ta roman font, no preceding horizontal space (no arguments)
459.It Sx \&Ap Ta apostrophe without surrounding whitespace (no arguments)
460.It Sx \&Sm Ta switch horizontal spacing mode: Cm on | off
461.It Sx \&Bk , \&Ek Ta keep block: Fl words
462.It Sx \&br Ta force output line break in text mode (no arguments)
463.It Sx \&sp Ta force vertical space: Op Ar height
464.El
465.Ss Semantic markup for command line utilities:
466.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
467.It Sx \&Nm Ta start a SYNOPSIS block with the name of a utility
468.It Sx \&Fl Ta command line options (flags) (>=0 arguments)
469.It Sx \&Cm Ta command modifier (>0 arguments)
470.It Sx \&Ar Ta command arguments (>=0 arguments)
471.It Sx \&Op , \&Oo , \&Oc Ta optional syntax elements (enclosure)
472.It Sx \&Ic Ta internal or interactive command (>0 arguments)
473.It Sx \&Ev Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
474.It Sx \&Pa Ta file system path (>=0 arguments)
475.El
476.Ss Semantic markup for function libraries:
477.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
478.It Sx \&Lb Ta function library (one argument)
479.It Sx \&In Ta include file (one argument)
480.It Sx \&Ft Ta function type (>0 arguments)
481.It Sx \&Fo , \&Fc Ta function block: Ar funcname
482.It Sx \&Fn Ta function name:
483.Op Ar functype
484.Ar funcname
485.Oo
486.Op Ar argtype
487.Ar argname
488.Oc
489.It Sx \&Fa Ta function argument (>0 arguments)
490.It Sx \&Vt Ta variable type (>0 arguments)
491.It Sx \&Va Ta variable name (>0 arguments)
492.It Sx \&Dv Ta defined variable or preprocessor constant (>0 arguments)
493.It Sx \&Er Ta error constant (>0 arguments)
494.It Sx \&Ev Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
495.El
496.Ss Various semantic markup:
497.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
498.It Sx \&An Ta author name (>0 arguments)
499.It Sx \&Lk Ta hyperlink: Ar uri Op Ar name
500.It Sx \&Mt Ta Do mailto Dc hyperlink: Ar address
501.It Sx \&Cd Ta kernel configuration declaration (>0 arguments)
502.It Sx \&Ad Ta memory address (>0 arguments)
503.It Sx \&Ms Ta mathematical symbol (>0 arguments)
504.It Sx \&Tn Ta tradename (>0 arguments)
505.El
506.Ss Physical markup
507.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
508.It Sx \&Em Ta italic font or underline (emphasis) (>0 arguments)
509.It Sx \&Sy Ta boldface font (symbolic) (>0 arguments)
510.It Sx \&Li Ta typewriter font (literal) (>0 arguments)
511.It Sx \&No Ta return to roman font (normal) (no arguments)
512.It Sx \&Bf , \&Ef Ta font block:
513.Op Fl Ar type | Cm \&Em | \&Li | \&Sy
514.El
515.Ss Physical enclosures
516.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
517.It Sx \&Dq , \&Do , \&Dc Ta enclose in typographic double quotes: Dq text
518.It Sx \&Qq , \&Qo , \&Qc Ta enclose in typewriter double quotes: Qq text
519.It Sx \&Sq , \&So , \&Sc Ta enclose in single quotes: Sq text
520.It Sx \&Ql Ta single-quoted literal text: Ql text
521.It Sx \&Pq , \&Po , \&Pc Ta enclose in parentheses: Pq text
522.It Sx \&Bq , \&Bo , \&Bc Ta enclose in square brackets: Bq text
523.It Sx \&Brq , \&Bro , \&Brc Ta enclose in curly braces: Brq text
524.It Sx \&Aq , \&Ao , \&Ac Ta enclose in angle brackets: Aq text
525.It Sx \&Eo , \&Ec Ta generic enclosure
526.El
527.Ss Text production
528.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
529.It Sx \&Ex Fl std Ta standard command exit values: Op Ar utility ...
530.It Sx \&Rv Fl std Ta standard function return values: Op Ar function ...
531.It Sx \&St Ta reference to a standards document (one argument)
532.It Sx \&Ux Ta Ux
533.It Sx \&At Ta At
534.It Sx \&Bx Ta Bx
535.It Sx \&Bsx Ta Bsx
536.It Sx \&Nx Ta Nx
537.It Sx \&Fx Ta Fx
538.It Sx \&Ox Ta Ox
539.It Sx \&Dx Ta Dx
540.El
541.Sh MACRO REFERENCE
542This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged
543alphabetically.
544For the scoping of individual macros, see
545.Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
546.Ss \&%A
547Author name of an
548.Sx \&Rs
549block.
550Multiple authors should each be accorded their own
551.Sx \%%A
552line.
553Author names should be ordered with full or abbreviated forename(s)
554first, then full surname.
555.Ss \&%B
556Book title of an
557.Sx \&Rs
558block.
559This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographic context when
560referring to book titles.
561.Ss \&%C
562Publication city or location of an
563.Sx \&Rs
564block.
565.Ss \&%D
566Publication date of an
567.Sx \&Rs
568block.
569Recommended formats of arguments are
570.Ar month day , year
571or just
572.Ar year .
573.Ss \&%I
574Publisher or issuer name of an
575.Sx \&Rs
576block.
577.Ss \&%J
578Journal name of an
579.Sx \&Rs
580block.
581.Ss \&%N
582Issue number (usually for journals) of an
583.Sx \&Rs
584block.
585.Ss \&%O
586Optional information of an
587.Sx \&Rs
588block.
589.Ss \&%P
590Book or journal page number of an
591.Sx \&Rs
592block.
593.Ss \&%Q
594Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an
595.Sx \&Rs
596block.
597Multiple institutional authors should each be accorded their own
598.Sx \&%Q
599line.
600.Ss \&%R
601Technical report name of an
602.Sx \&Rs
603block.
604.Ss \&%T
605Article title of an
606.Sx \&Rs
607block.
608This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographical context when
609referring to article titles.
610.Ss \&%U
611URI of reference document.
612.Ss \&%V
613Volume number of an
614.Sx \&Rs
615block.
616.Ss \&Ac
617Close an
618.Sx \&Ao
619block.
620Does not have any tail arguments.
621.Ss \&Ad
622Memory address.
623Do not use this for postal addresses.
624.Pp
625Examples:
626.Dl \&.Ad [0,$]
627.Dl \&.Ad 0x00000000
628.Ss \&An
629Author name.
630Can be used both for the authors of the program, function, or driver
631documented in the manual, or for the authors of the manual itself.
632Requires either the name of an author or one of the following arguments:
633.Pp
634.Bl -tag -width "-nosplitX" -offset indent -compact
635.It Fl split
636Start a new output line before each subsequent invocation of
637.Sx \&An .
638.It Fl nosplit
639The opposite of
640.Fl split .
641.El
642.Pp
643The default is
644.Fl nosplit .
645The effect of selecting either of the
646.Fl split
647modes ends at the beginning of the
648.Em AUTHORS
649section.
650In the
651.Em AUTHORS
652section, the default is
653.Fl nosplit
654for the first author listing and
655.Fl split
656for all other author listings.
657.Pp
658Examples:
659.Dl \&.An -nosplit
660.Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq kristaps@bsd.lv
661.Ss \&Ao
662Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets.
663Does not have any head arguments.
664.Pp
665Examples:
666.Dl \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Ao \&Ar val \&Ac
667.Pp
668See also
669.Sx \&Aq .
670.Ss \&Ap
671Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding whitespace.
672This is generally used as a grammatical device when referring to the verb
673form of a function.
674.Pp
675Examples:
676.Dl \&.Fn execve \&Ap d
677.Ss \&Aq
678Encloses its arguments in angle brackets.
679.Pp
680Examples:
681.Dl \&.Fl -key= \&Ns \&Aq \&Ar val
682.Pp
683.Em Remarks :
684this macro is often abused for rendering URIs, which should instead use
685.Sx \&Lk
686or
687.Sx \&Mt ,
688or to note pre-processor
689.Dq Li #include
690statements, which should use
691.Sx \&In .
692.Pp
693See also
694.Sx \&Ao .
695.Ss \&Ar
696Command arguments.
697If an argument is not provided, the string
698.Dq file ...\&
699is used as a default.
700.Pp
701Examples:
702.Dl ".Fl o Ar file"
703.Dl ".Ar"
704.Dl ".Ar arg1 , arg2 ."
705.Pp
706The arguments to the
707.Sx \&Ar
708macro are names and placeholders for command arguments;
709for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use
710.Sx \&Fl
711or
712.Sx \&Cm .
713.Ss \&At
714Formats an AT&T version.
715Accepts one optional argument:
716.Pp
717.Bl -tag -width "v[1-7] | 32vX" -offset indent -compact
718.It Cm v[1-7] | 32v
719A version of
720.At .
721.It Cm III
722.At III .
723.It Cm V[.[1-4]]?
724A version of
725.At V .
726.El
727.Pp
728Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.
729.Pp
730Examples:
731.Dl \&.At
732.Dl \&.At III
733.Dl \&.At V.1
734.Pp
735See also
736.Sx \&Bsx ,
737.Sx \&Bx ,
738.Sx \&Dx ,
739.Sx \&Fx ,
740.Sx \&Nx ,
741.Sx \&Ox ,
742and
743.Sx \&Ux .
744.Ss \&Bc
745Close a
746.Sx \&Bo
747block.
748Does not have any tail arguments.
749.Ss \&Bd
750Begin a display block.
751Its syntax is as follows:
752.Bd -ragged -offset indent
753.Pf \. Sx \&Bd
754.Fl Ns Ar type
755.Op Fl offset Ar width
756.Op Fl compact
757.Ed
758.Pp
759Display blocks are used to select a different indentation and
760justification than the one used by the surrounding text.
761They may contain both macro lines and text lines.
762By default, a display block is preceded by a vertical space.
763.Pp
764The
765.Ar type
766must be one of the following:
767.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
768.It Fl centered
769Produce one output line from each input line, and centre-justify each line.
770Using this display type is not recommended; many
771.Nm
772implementations render it poorly.
773.It Fl filled
774Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left- and
775right-justify the resulting block.
776.It Fl literal
777Produce one output line from each input line,
778and do not justify the block at all.
779Preserve white space as it appears in the input.
780Always use a constant-width font.
781Use this for displaying source code.
782.It Fl ragged
783Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left-justify
784the resulting block.
785.It Fl unfilled
786The same as
787.Fl literal ,
788but using the same font as for normal text, which is a variable width font
789if supported by the output device.
790.El
791.Pp
792The
793.Ar type
794must be provided first.
795Additional arguments may follow:
796.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
797.It Fl offset Ar width
798Indent the display by the
799.Ar width ,
800which may be one of the following:
801.Bl -item
802.It
803One of the pre-defined strings
804.Cm indent ,
805the width of a standard indentation (six constant width characters);
806.Cm indent-two ,
807twice
808.Cm indent ;
809.Cm left ,
810which has no effect;
811.Cm right ,
812which justifies to the right margin; or
813.Cm center ,
814which aligns around an imagined centre axis.
815.It
816A macro invocation, which selects a predefined width
817associated with that macro.
818The most popular is the imaginary macro
819.Ar \&Ds ,
820which resolves to
821.Sy 6n .
822.It
823A width using the syntax described in
824.Sx Scaling Widths .
825.It
826An arbitrary string, which indents by the length of this string.
827.El
828.Pp
829When the argument is missing,
830.Fl offset
831is ignored.
832.It Fl compact
833Do not assert vertical space before the display.
834.El
835.Pp
836Examples:
837.Bd -literal -offset indent
838\&.Bd \-literal \-offset indent \-compact
839   Hello       world.
840\&.Ed
841.Ed
842.Pp
843See also
844.Sx \&D1
845and
846.Sx \&Dl .
847.Ss \&Bf
848Change the font mode for a scoped block of text.
849Its syntax is as follows:
850.Bd -ragged -offset indent
851.Pf \. Sx \&Bf
852.Oo
853.Fl emphasis | literal | symbolic |
854.Cm \&Em | \&Li | \&Sy
855.Oc
856.Ed
857.Pp
858The
859.Fl emphasis
860and
861.Cm \&Em
862argument are equivalent, as are
863.Fl symbolic
864and
865.Cm \&Sy ,
866and
867.Fl literal
868and
869.Cm \&Li .
870Without an argument, this macro does nothing.
871The font mode continues until broken by a new font mode in a nested
872scope or
873.Sx \&Ef
874is encountered.
875.Pp
876See also
877.Sx \&Li ,
878.Sx \&Ef ,
879.Sx \&Em ,
880and
881.Sx \&Sy .
882.Ss \&Bk
883For each macro, keep its output together on the same output line,
884until the end of the macro or the end of the input line is reached,
885whichever comes first.
886Line breaks in text lines are unaffected.
887The syntax is as follows:
888.Pp
889.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Bk Fl words
890.Pp
891The
892.Fl words
893argument is required; additional arguments are ignored.
894.Pp
895The following example will not break within each
896.Sx \&Op
897macro line:
898.Bd -literal -offset indent
899\&.Bk \-words
900\&.Op Fl f Ar flags
901\&.Op Fl o Ar output
902\&.Ek
903.Ed
904.Pp
905Be careful in using over-long lines within a keep block!
906Doing so will clobber the right margin.
907.Ss \&Bl
908Begin a list.
909Lists consist of items specified using the
910.Sx \&It
911macro, containing a head or a body or both.
912The list syntax is as follows:
913.Bd -ragged -offset indent
914.Pf \. Sx \&Bl
915.Fl Ns Ar type
916.Op Fl width Ar val
917.Op Fl offset Ar val
918.Op Fl compact
919.Op HEAD ...
920.Ed
921.Pp
922The list
923.Ar type
924is mandatory and must be specified first.
925The
926.Fl width
927and
928.Fl offset
929arguments accept
930.Sx Scaling Widths
931or use the length of the given string.
932The
933.Fl offset
934is a global indentation for the whole list, affecting both item heads
935and bodies.
936For those list types supporting it, the
937.Fl width
938argument requests an additional indentation of item bodies,
939to be added to the
940.Fl offset .
941Unless the
942.Fl compact
943argument is specified, list entries are separated by vertical space.
944.Pp
945A list must specify one of the following list types:
946.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent
947.It Fl bullet
948No item heads can be specified, but a bullet will be printed at the head
949of each item.
950Item bodies start on the same output line as the bullet
951and are indented according to the
952.Fl width
953argument.
954.It Fl column
955A columnated list.
956The
957.Fl width
958argument has no effect; instead, each argument specifies the width
959of one column, using either the
960.Sx Scaling Widths
961syntax or the string length of the argument.
962If the first line of the body of a
963.Fl column
964list is not an
965.Sx \&It
966macro line,
967.Sx \&It
968contexts spanning one input line each are implied until an
969.Sx \&It
970macro line is encountered, at which point items start being interpreted as
971described in the
972.Sx \&It
973documentation.
974.It Fl dash
975Like
976.Fl bullet ,
977except that dashes are used in place of bullets.
978.It Fl diag
979Like
980.Fl inset ,
981except that item heads are not parsed for macro invocations.
982Most often used in the
983.Em DIAGNOSTICS
984section with error constants in the item heads.
985.It Fl enum
986A numbered list.
987No item heads can be specified.
988Formatted like
989.Fl bullet ,
990except that cardinal numbers are used in place of bullets,
991starting at 1.
992.It Fl hang
993Like
994.Fl tag ,
995except that the first lines of item bodies are not indented, but follow
996the item heads like in
997.Fl inset
998lists.
999.It Fl hyphen
1000Synonym for
1001.Fl dash .
1002.It Fl inset
1003Item bodies follow items heads on the same line, using normal inter-word
1004spacing.
1005Bodies are not indented, and the
1006.Fl width
1007argument is ignored.
1008.It Fl item
1009No item heads can be specified, and none are printed.
1010Bodies are not indented, and the
1011.Fl width
1012argument is ignored.
1013.It Fl ohang
1014Item bodies start on the line following item heads and are not indented.
1015The
1016.Fl width
1017argument is ignored.
1018.It Fl tag
1019Item bodies are indented according to the
1020.Fl width
1021argument.
1022When an item head fits inside the indentation, the item body follows
1023this head on the same output line.
1024Otherwise, the body starts on the output line following the head.
1025.El
1026.Pp
1027Lists may be nested within lists and displays.
1028Nesting of
1029.Fl column
1030and
1031.Fl enum
1032lists may not be portable.
1033.Pp
1034See also
1035.Sx \&El
1036and
1037.Sx \&It .
1038.Ss \&Bo
1039Begin a block enclosed by square brackets.
1040Does not have any head arguments.
1041.Pp
1042Examples:
1043.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1044\&.Bo 1 ,
1045\&.Dv BUFSIZ \&Bc
1046.Ed
1047.Pp
1048See also
1049.Sx \&Bq .
1050.Ss \&Bq
1051Encloses its arguments in square brackets.
1052.Pp
1053Examples:
1054.Dl \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ
1055.Pp
1056.Em Remarks :
1057this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for
1058commands; the correct macros to use for this purpose are
1059.Sx \&Op ,
1060.Sx \&Oo ,
1061and
1062.Sx \&Oc .
1063.Pp
1064See also
1065.Sx \&Bo .
1066.Ss \&Brc
1067Close a
1068.Sx \&Bro
1069block.
1070Does not have any tail arguments.
1071.Ss \&Bro
1072Begin a block enclosed by curly braces.
1073Does not have any head arguments.
1074.Pp
1075Examples:
1076.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1077\&.Bro 1 , ... ,
1078\&.Va n \&Brc
1079.Ed
1080.Pp
1081See also
1082.Sx \&Brq .
1083.Ss \&Brq
1084Encloses its arguments in curly braces.
1085.Pp
1086Examples:
1087.Dl \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n
1088.Pp
1089See also
1090.Sx \&Bro .
1091.Ss \&Bsx
1092Format the BSD/OS version provided as an argument, or a default value if
1093no argument is provided.
1094.Pp
1095Examples:
1096.Dl \&.Bsx 1.0
1097.Dl \&.Bsx
1098.Pp
1099See also
1100.Sx \&At ,
1101.Sx \&Bx ,
1102.Sx \&Dx ,
1103.Sx \&Fx ,
1104.Sx \&Nx ,
1105.Sx \&Ox ,
1106and
1107.Sx \&Ux .
1108.Ss \&Bt
1109Prints
1110.Dq is currently in beta test.
1111.Ss \&Bx
1112Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no
1113argument is provided.
1114.Pp
1115Examples:
1116.Dl \&.Bx 4.3 Tahoe
1117.Dl \&.Bx 4.4
1118.Dl \&.Bx
1119.Pp
1120See also
1121.Sx \&At ,
1122.Sx \&Bsx ,
1123.Sx \&Dx ,
1124.Sx \&Fx ,
1125.Sx \&Nx ,
1126.Sx \&Ox ,
1127and
1128.Sx \&Ux .
1129.Ss \&Cd
1130Kernel configuration declaration.
1131This denotes strings accepted by
1132.Xr config 8 .
1133It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.
1134.Pp
1135Examples:
1136.Dl \&.Cd device le0 at scode?
1137.Pp
1138.Em Remarks :
1139this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain
1140whitespace and align consecutive
1141.Sx \&Cd
1142declarations.
1143This practise is discouraged.
1144.Ss \&Cm
1145Command modifiers.
1146Typically used for fixed strings passed as arguments, unless
1147.Sx \&Fl
1148is more appropriate.
1149Also useful when specifying configuration options or keys.
1150.Pp
1151Examples:
1152.Dl ".Nm mt Fl f Ar device Cm rewind"
1153.Dl ".Nm ps Fl o Cm pid , Ns Cm command"
1154.Dl ".Nm dd Cm if= Ns Ar file1 Cm of= Ns Ar file2"
1155.Dl ".Cm IdentityFile Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa"
1156.Dl ".Cm LogLevel Dv DEBUG"
1157.Ss \&D1
1158One-line indented display.
1159This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented
1160statements.
1161It is followed by a newline.
1162.Pp
1163Examples:
1164.Dl \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh
1165.Pp
1166See also
1167.Sx \&Bd
1168and
1169.Sx \&Dl .
1170.Ss \&Db
1171Switch debugging mode.
1172Its syntax is as follows:
1173.Pp
1174.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Db Cm on | off
1175.Pp
1176This macro is ignored by
1177.Xr mandoc 1 .
1178.Ss \&Dc
1179Close a
1180.Sx \&Do
1181block.
1182Does not have any tail arguments.
1183.Ss \&Dd
1184Document date.
1185This is the mandatory first macro of any
1186.Nm
1187manual.
1188Its syntax is as follows:
1189.Pp
1190.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Dd Ar month day , year
1191.Pp
1192The
1193.Ar month
1194is the full English month name, the
1195.Ar day
1196is an optionally zero-padded numeral, and the
1197.Ar year
1198is the full four-digit year.
1199.Pp
1200Other arguments are not portable; the
1201.Xr mandoc 1
1202utility handles them as follows:
1203.Bl -dash -offset 3n -compact
1204.It
1205To have the date automatically filled in by the
1206.Ox
1207version of
1208.Xr cvs 1 ,
1209the special string
1210.Dq $\&Mdocdate$
1211can be given as an argument.
1212.It
1213A few alternative date formats are accepted as well
1214and converted to the standard form.
1215.It
1216If a date string cannot be parsed, it is used verbatim.
1217.It
1218If no date string is given, the current date is used.
1219.El
1220.Pp
1221Examples:
1222.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
1223.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 21 2007$
1224.Dl \&.Dd July 21, 2007
1225.Pp
1226See also
1227.Sx \&Dt
1228and
1229.Sx \&Os .
1230.Ss \&Dl
1231One-line intended display.
1232This is formatted as literal text and is useful for commands and
1233invocations.
1234It is followed by a newline.
1235.Pp
1236Examples:
1237.Dl \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \e(ba less
1238.Pp
1239See also
1240.Sx \&Bd
1241and
1242.Sx \&D1 .
1243.Ss \&Do
1244Begin a block enclosed by double quotes.
1245Does not have any head arguments.
1246.Pp
1247Examples:
1248.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1249\&.Do
1250April is the cruellest month
1251\&.Dc
1252\e(em T.S. Eliot
1253.Ed
1254.Pp
1255See also
1256.Sx \&Dq .
1257.Ss \&Dq
1258Encloses its arguments in
1259.Dq typographic
1260double-quotes.
1261.Pp
1262Examples:
1263.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1264\&.Dq April is the cruellest month
1265\e(em T.S. Eliot
1266.Ed
1267.Pp
1268See also
1269.Sx \&Qq ,
1270.Sx \&Sq ,
1271and
1272.Sx \&Do .
1273.Ss \&Dt
1274Document title.
1275This is the mandatory second macro of any
1276.Nm
1277file.
1278Its syntax is as follows:
1279.Bd -ragged -offset indent
1280.Pf \. Sx \&Dt
1281.Oo
1282.Ar title
1283.Oo
1284.Ar section
1285.Op Ar volume | arch
1286.Oc
1287.Oc
1288.Ed
1289.Pp
1290Its arguments are as follows:
1291.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset Ds
1292.It Ar title
1293The document's title (name), defaulting to
1294.Dq UNKNOWN
1295if unspecified.
1296It should be capitalised.
1297.It Ar section
1298The manual section.
1299This may be one of
1300.Ar 1
1301.Pq utilities ,
1302.Ar 2
1303.Pq system calls ,
1304.Ar 3
1305.Pq libraries ,
1306.Ar 3p
1307.Pq Perl libraries ,
1308.Ar 4
1309.Pq devices ,
1310.Ar 5
1311.Pq file formats ,
1312.Ar 6
1313.Pq games ,
1314.Ar 7
1315.Pq miscellaneous ,
1316.Ar 8
1317.Pq system utilities ,
1318.Ar 9
1319.Pq kernel functions ,
1320.Ar X11
1321.Pq X Window System ,
1322.Ar X11R6
1323.Pq X Window System ,
1324.Ar unass
1325.Pq unassociated ,
1326.Ar local
1327.Pq local system ,
1328.Ar draft
1329.Pq draft manual ,
1330or
1331.Ar paper
1332.Pq paper .
1333It should correspond to the manual's filename suffix and defaults to
1334.Dq 1
1335if unspecified.
1336.It Ar volume
1337This overrides the volume inferred from
1338.Ar section .
1339This field is optional, and if specified, must be one of
1340.Ar USD
1341.Pq users' supplementary documents ,
1342.Ar PS1
1343.Pq programmers' supplementary documents ,
1344.Ar AMD
1345.Pq administrators' supplementary documents ,
1346.Ar SMM
1347.Pq system managers' manuals ,
1348.Ar URM
1349.Pq users' reference manuals ,
1350.Ar PRM
1351.Pq programmers' reference manuals ,
1352.Ar KM
1353.Pq kernel manuals ,
1354.Ar IND
1355.Pq master index ,
1356.Ar MMI
1357.Pq master index ,
1358.Ar LOCAL
1359.Pq local manuals ,
1360.Ar LOC
1361.Pq local manuals ,
1362or
1363.Ar CON
1364.Pq contributed manuals .
1365.It Ar arch
1366This specifies a specific relevant architecture.
1367If
1368.Ar volume
1369is not provided, it may be used in its place, else it may be used
1370subsequent that.
1371It, too, is optional.
1372It must be one of
1373.Ar alpha ,
1374.Ar amd64 ,
1375.Ar amiga ,
1376.Ar arc ,
1377.Ar arm ,
1378.Ar armish ,
1379.Ar aviion ,
1380.Ar hp300 ,
1381.Ar hppa ,
1382.Ar hppa64 ,
1383.Ar i386 ,
1384.Ar landisk ,
1385.Ar loongson ,
1386.Ar luna88k ,
1387.Ar mac68k ,
1388.Ar macppc ,
1389.Ar mips64 ,
1390.Ar mvme68k ,
1391.Ar mvme88k ,
1392.Ar mvmeppc ,
1393.Ar pmax ,
1394.Ar sgi ,
1395.Ar socppc ,
1396.Ar sparc ,
1397.Ar sparc64 ,
1398.Ar sun3 ,
1399.Ar vax ,
1400or
1401.Ar zaurus .
1402.El
1403.Pp
1404Examples:
1405.Dl \&.Dt FOO 1
1406.Dl \&.Dt FOO 4 KM
1407.Dl \&.Dt FOO 9 i386
1408.Pp
1409See also
1410.Sx \&Dd
1411and
1412.Sx \&Os .
1413.Ss \&Dv
1414Defined variables such as preprocessor constants, constant symbols,
1415enumeration values, and so on.
1416.Pp
1417Examples:
1418.Dl \&.Dv NULL
1419.Dl \&.Dv BUFSIZ
1420.Dl \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO
1421.Pp
1422See also
1423.Sx \&Er
1424and
1425.Sx \&Ev
1426for special-purpose constants and
1427.Sx \&Va
1428for variable symbols.
1429.Ss \&Dx
1430Format the DragonFly BSD version provided as an argument, or a default
1431value if no argument is provided.
1432.Pp
1433Examples:
1434.Dl \&.Dx 2.4.1
1435.Dl \&.Dx
1436.Pp
1437See also
1438.Sx \&At ,
1439.Sx \&Bsx ,
1440.Sx \&Bx ,
1441.Sx \&Fx ,
1442.Sx \&Nx ,
1443.Sx \&Ox ,
1444and
1445.Sx \&Ux .
1446.Ss \&Ec
1447Close a scope started by
1448.Sx \&Eo .
1449Its syntax is as follows:
1450.Pp
1451.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ec Op Ar TERM
1452.Pp
1453The
1454.Ar TERM
1455argument is used as the enclosure tail, for example, specifying \e(rq
1456will emulate
1457.Sx \&Dc .
1458.Ss \&Ed
1459End a display context started by
1460.Sx \&Bd .
1461.Ss \&Ef
1462End a font mode context started by
1463.Sx \&Bf .
1464.Ss \&Ek
1465End a keep context started by
1466.Sx \&Bk .
1467.Ss \&El
1468End a list context started by
1469.Sx \&Bl .
1470.Pp
1471See also
1472.Sx \&Bl
1473and
1474.Sx \&It .
1475.Ss \&Em
1476Denotes text that should be
1477.Em emphasised .
1478Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for
1479stylistically decorating technical terms.
1480Depending on the output device, this is usually represented
1481using an italic font or underlined characters.
1482.Pp
1483Examples:
1484.Dl \&.Em Warnings!
1485.Dl \&.Em Remarks :
1486.Pp
1487See also
1488.Sx \&Bf ,
1489.Sx \&Li ,
1490.Sx \&No ,
1491and
1492.Sx \&Sy .
1493.Ss \&En
1494This macro is obsolete and not implemented in
1495.Xr mandoc 1 .
1496.Ss \&Eo
1497An arbitrary enclosure.
1498Its syntax is as follows:
1499.Pp
1500.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Eo Op Ar TERM
1501.Pp
1502The
1503.Ar TERM
1504argument is used as the enclosure head, for example, specifying \e(lq
1505will emulate
1506.Sx \&Do .
1507.Ss \&Er
1508Error constants for definitions of the
1509.Va errno
1510libc global variable.
1511This is most often used in section 2 and 3 manual pages.
1512.Pp
1513Examples:
1514.Dl \&.Er EPERM
1515.Dl \&.Er ENOENT
1516.Pp
1517See also
1518.Sx \&Dv
1519for general constants.
1520.Ss \&Es
1521This macro is obsolete and not implemented.
1522.Ss \&Ev
1523Environmental variables such as those specified in
1524.Xr environ 7 .
1525.Pp
1526Examples:
1527.Dl \&.Ev DISPLAY
1528.Dl \&.Ev PATH
1529.Pp
1530See also
1531.Sx \&Dv
1532for general constants.
1533.Ss \&Ex
1534Insert a standard sentence regarding command exit values of 0 on success
1535and >0 on failure.
1536This is most often used in section 1, 6, and 8 manual pages.
1537Its syntax is as follows:
1538.Pp
1539.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ex Fl std Op Ar utility ...
1540.Pp
1541If
1542.Ar utility
1543is not specified, the document's name set by
1544.Sx \&Nm
1545is used.
1546Multiple
1547.Ar utility
1548arguments are treated as separate utilities.
1549.Pp
1550See also
1551.Sx \&Rv .
1552.Ss \&Fa
1553Function argument.
1554Its syntax is as follows:
1555.Bd -ragged -offset indent
1556.Pf \. Sx \&Fa
1557.Op Cm argtype
1558.Cm argname
1559.Ed
1560.Pp
1561This may be invoked for names with or without the corresponding type.
1562It is also used to specify the field name of a structure.
1563Most often, the
1564.Sx \&Fa
1565macro is used in the
1566.Em SYNOPSIS
1567within
1568.Sx \&Fo
1569section when documenting multi-line function prototypes.
1570If invoked with multiple arguments, the arguments are separated by a
1571comma.
1572Furthermore, if the following macro is another
1573.Sx \&Fa ,
1574the last argument will also have a trailing comma.
1575.Pp
1576Examples:
1577.Dl \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq
1578.Dl \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq
1579.Dl \&.Fa foo
1580.Pp
1581See also
1582.Sx \&Fo .
1583.Ss \&Fc
1584End a function context started by
1585.Sx \&Fo .
1586.Ss \&Fd
1587Historically used to document include files.
1588This usage has been deprecated in favour of
1589.Sx \&In .
1590Do not use this macro.
1591.Pp
1592See also
1593.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
1594and
1595.Sx \&In .
1596.Ss \&Fl
1597Command-line flag or option.
1598Used when listing arguments to command-line utilities.
1599Prints a fixed-width hyphen
1600.Sq \-
1601directly followed by each argument.
1602If no arguments are provided, a hyphen is printed followed by a space.
1603If the argument is a macro, a hyphen is prefixed to the subsequent macro
1604output.
1605.Pp
1606Examples:
1607.Dl ".Fl R Op Fl H | L | P"
1608.Dl ".Op Fl 1AaCcdFfgHhikLlmnopqRrSsTtux"
1609.Dl ".Fl type Cm d Fl name Pa CVS"
1610.Dl ".Fl Ar signal_number"
1611.Dl ".Fl o Fl"
1612.Pp
1613See also
1614.Sx \&Cm .
1615.Ss \&Fn
1616A function name.
1617Its syntax is as follows:
1618.Bd -ragged -offset indent
1619.Pf \. Ns Sx \&Fn
1620.Op Ar functype
1621.Ar funcname
1622.Op Oo Ar argtype Oc Ar argname
1623.Ed
1624.Pp
1625Function arguments are surrounded in parenthesis and
1626are delimited by commas.
1627If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output.
1628In the
1629.Em SYNOPSIS
1630section, this macro starts a new output line,
1631and a blank line is automatically inserted between function definitions.
1632.Pp
1633Examples:
1634.Dl \&.Fn \(dqint funcname\(dq \(dqint arg0\(dq \(dqint arg1\(dq
1635.Dl \&.Fn funcname \(dqint arg0\(dq
1636.Dl \&.Fn funcname arg0
1637.Pp
1638.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1639\&.Ft functype
1640\&.Fn funcname
1641.Ed
1642.Pp
1643When referring to a function documented in another manual page, use
1644.Sx \&Xr
1645instead.
1646See also
1647.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1648.Sx \&Fo ,
1649and
1650.Sx \&Ft .
1651.Ss \&Fo
1652Begin a function block.
1653This is a multi-line version of
1654.Sx \&Fn .
1655Its syntax is as follows:
1656.Pp
1657.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Fo Ar funcname
1658.Pp
1659Invocations usually occur in the following context:
1660.Bd -ragged -offset indent
1661.Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype
1662.br
1663.Pf \. Sx \&Fo Ar funcname
1664.br
1665.Pf \. Sx \&Fa Oo Ar argtype Oc Ar argname
1666.br
1667\&.\.\.
1668.br
1669.Pf \. Sx \&Fc
1670.Ed
1671.Pp
1672A
1673.Sx \&Fo
1674scope is closed by
1675.Sx \&Fc .
1676.Pp
1677See also
1678.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1679.Sx \&Fa ,
1680.Sx \&Fc ,
1681and
1682.Sx \&Ft .
1683.Ss \&Fr
1684This macro is obsolete and not implemented in
1685.Xr mandoc 1 .
1686.Pp
1687It was used to show function return values.
1688The syntax was:
1689.Pp
1690.Dl Pf . Sx \&Fr Ar value
1691.Ss \&Ft
1692A function type.
1693Its syntax is as follows:
1694.Pp
1695.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ft Ar functype
1696.Pp
1697In the
1698.Em SYNOPSIS
1699section, a new output line is started after this macro.
1700.Pp
1701Examples:
1702.Dl \&.Ft int
1703.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1704\&.Ft functype
1705\&.Fn funcname
1706.Ed
1707.Pp
1708See also
1709.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1710.Sx \&Fn ,
1711and
1712.Sx \&Fo .
1713.Ss \&Fx
1714Format the
1715.Fx
1716version provided as an argument, or a default value
1717if no argument is provided.
1718.Pp
1719Examples:
1720.Dl \&.Fx 7.1
1721.Dl \&.Fx
1722.Pp
1723See also
1724.Sx \&At ,
1725.Sx \&Bsx ,
1726.Sx \&Bx ,
1727.Sx \&Dx ,
1728.Sx \&Nx ,
1729.Sx \&Ox ,
1730and
1731.Sx \&Ux .
1732.Ss \&Hf
1733This macro is not implemented in
1734.Xr mandoc 1 .
1735.Pp
1736It was used to include the contents of a (header) file literally.
1737The syntax was:
1738.Pp
1739.Dl Pf . Sx \&Hf Ar filename
1740.Ss \&Ic
1741Designate an internal or interactive command.
1742This is similar to
1743.Sx \&Cm
1744but used for instructions rather than values.
1745.Pp
1746Examples:
1747.Dl \&.Ic :wq
1748.Dl \&.Ic hash
1749.Dl \&.Ic alias
1750.Pp
1751Note that using
1752.Sx \&Bd Fl literal
1753or
1754.Sx \&D1
1755is preferred for displaying code; the
1756.Sx \&Ic
1757macro is used when referring to specific instructions.
1758.Ss \&In
1759An
1760.Dq include
1761file.
1762When invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
1763.Em SYNOPSIS
1764section, the argument is displayed in angle brackets
1765and preceded by
1766.Dq #include ,
1767and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
1768function declaration.
1769This is most often used in section 2, 3, and 9 manual pages.
1770.Pp
1771Examples:
1772.Dl \&.In sys/types.h
1773.Pp
1774See also
1775.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
1776.Ss \&It
1777A list item.
1778The syntax of this macro depends on the list type.
1779.Pp
1780Lists
1781of type
1782.Fl hang ,
1783.Fl ohang ,
1784.Fl inset ,
1785and
1786.Fl diag
1787have the following syntax:
1788.Pp
1789.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar args
1790.Pp
1791Lists of type
1792.Fl bullet ,
1793.Fl dash ,
1794.Fl enum ,
1795.Fl hyphen
1796and
1797.Fl item
1798have the following syntax:
1799.Pp
1800.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It
1801.Pp
1802with subsequent lines interpreted within the scope of the
1803.Sx \&It
1804until either a closing
1805.Sx \&El
1806or another
1807.Sx \&It .
1808.Pp
1809The
1810.Fl tag
1811list has the following syntax:
1812.Pp
1813.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Op Cm args
1814.Pp
1815Subsequent lines are interpreted as with
1816.Fl bullet
1817and family.
1818The line arguments correspond to the list's left-hand side; body
1819arguments correspond to the list's contents.
1820.Pp
1821The
1822.Fl column
1823list is the most complicated.
1824Its syntax is as follows:
1825.Pp
1826.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar cell Op <TAB> Ar cell ...
1827.D1 Pf \. Sx \&It Ar cell Op Sx \&Ta Ar cell ...
1828.Pp
1829The arguments consist of one or more lines of text and macros
1830representing a complete table line.
1831Cells within the line are delimited by tabs or by the special
1832.Sx \&Ta
1833block macro.
1834The tab cell delimiter may only be used within the
1835.Sx \&It
1836line itself; on following lines, only the
1837.Sx \&Ta
1838macro can be used to delimit cells, and
1839.Sx \&Ta
1840is only recognised as a macro when called by other macros,
1841not as the first macro on a line.
1842.Pp
1843Note that quoted strings may span tab-delimited cells on an
1844.Sx \&It
1845line.
1846For example,
1847.Pp
1848.Dl .It \(dqcol1 ; <TAB> col2 ;\(dq \&;
1849.Pp
1850will preserve the semicolon whitespace except for the last.
1851.Pp
1852See also
1853.Sx \&Bl .
1854.Ss \&Lb
1855Specify a library.
1856The syntax is as follows:
1857.Pp
1858.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lb Ar library
1859.Pp
1860The
1861.Ar library
1862parameter may be a system library, such as
1863.Cm libz
1864or
1865.Cm libpam ,
1866in which case a small library description is printed next to the linker
1867invocation; or a custom library, in which case the library name is
1868printed in quotes.
1869This is most commonly used in the
1870.Em SYNOPSIS
1871section as described in
1872.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
1873.Pp
1874Examples:
1875.Dl \&.Lb libz
1876.Dl \&.Lb mdoc
1877.Ss \&Li
1878Denotes text that should be in a
1879.Li literal
1880font mode.
1881Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for
1882stylistically decorating technical terms.
1883.Pp
1884On terminal output devices, this is often indistinguishable from
1885normal text.
1886.Pp
1887See also
1888.Sx \&Bf ,
1889.Sx \&Em ,
1890.Sx \&No ,
1891and
1892.Sx \&Sy .
1893.Ss \&Lk
1894Format a hyperlink.
1895Its syntax is as follows:
1896.Pp
1897.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Lk Ar uri Op Ar name
1898.Pp
1899Examples:
1900.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv \(dqThe BSD.lv Project\(dq
1901.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv
1902.Pp
1903See also
1904.Sx \&Mt .
1905.Ss \&Lp
1906Synonym for
1907.Sx \&Pp .
1908.Ss \&Ms
1909Display a mathematical symbol.
1910Its syntax is as follows:
1911.Pp
1912.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Ms Ar symbol
1913.Pp
1914Examples:
1915.Dl \&.Ms sigma
1916.Dl \&.Ms aleph
1917.Ss \&Mt
1918Format a
1919.Dq mailto:
1920hyperlink.
1921Its syntax is as follows:
1922.Pp
1923.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Mt Ar address
1924.Pp
1925Examples:
1926.Dl \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv
1927.Ss \&Nd
1928A one line description of the manual's content.
1929This may only be invoked in the
1930.Em SYNOPSIS
1931section subsequent the
1932.Sx \&Nm
1933macro.
1934.Pp
1935Examples:
1936.Dl Pf . Sx \&Nd mdoc language reference
1937.Dl Pf . Sx \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals
1938.Pp
1939The
1940.Sx \&Nd
1941macro technically accepts child macros and terminates with a subsequent
1942.Sx \&Sh
1943invocation.
1944Do not assume this behaviour: some
1945.Xr whatis 1
1946database generators are not smart enough to parse more than the line
1947arguments and will display macros verbatim.
1948.Pp
1949See also
1950.Sx \&Nm .
1951.Ss \&Nm
1952The name of the manual page, or \(em in particular in section 1, 6,
1953and 8 pages \(em of an additional command or feature documented in
1954the manual page.
1955When first invoked, the
1956.Sx \&Nm
1957macro expects a single argument, the name of the manual page.
1958Usually, the first invocation happens in the
1959.Em NAME
1960section of the page.
1961The specified name will be remembered and used whenever the macro is
1962called again without arguments later in the page.
1963The
1964.Sx \&Nm
1965macro uses
1966.Sx Block full-implicit
1967semantics when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
1968.Em SYNOPSIS
1969section; otherwise, it uses ordinary
1970.Sx In-line
1971semantics.
1972.Pp
1973Examples:
1974.Bd -literal -offset indent
1975\&.Sh SYNOPSIS
1976\&.Nm cat
1977\&.Op Fl benstuv
1978\&.Op Ar
1979.Ed
1980.Pp
1981In the
1982.Em SYNOPSIS
1983of section 2, 3 and 9 manual pages, use the
1984.Sx \&Fn
1985macro rather than
1986.Sx \&Nm
1987to mark up the name of the manual page.
1988.Ss \&No
1989Normal text.
1990Closes the scope of any preceding in-line macro.
1991When used after physical formatting macros like
1992.Sx \&Em
1993or
1994.Sx \&Sy ,
1995switches back to the standard font face and weight.
1996Can also be used to embed plain text strings in macro lines
1997using semantic annotation macros.
1998.Pp
1999Examples:
2000.Dl ".Em italic , Sy bold , No and roman"
2001.Pp
2002.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
2003\&.Sm off
2004\&.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /
2005\&.Sm on
2006.Ed
2007.Pp
2008See also
2009.Sx \&Em ,
2010.Sx \&Li ,
2011and
2012.Sx \&Sy .
2013.Ss \&Ns
2014Suppress a space between the output of the preceding macro
2015and the following text or macro.
2016Following invocation, input is interpreted as normal text
2017just like after an
2018.Sx \&No
2019macro.
2020.Pp
2021This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.
2022.Pp
2023Examples:
2024.Dl ".Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value"
2025.Dl ".Cm :M Ns Ar pattern"
2026.Dl ".Fl o Ns Ar output"
2027.Pp
2028See also
2029.Sx \&No
2030and
2031.Sx \&Sm .
2032.Ss \&Nx
2033Format the
2034.Nx
2035version provided as an argument, or a default value if
2036no argument is provided.
2037.Pp
2038Examples:
2039.Dl \&.Nx 5.01
2040.Dl \&.Nx
2041.Pp
2042See also
2043.Sx \&At ,
2044.Sx \&Bsx ,
2045.Sx \&Bx ,
2046.Sx \&Dx ,
2047.Sx \&Fx ,
2048.Sx \&Ox ,
2049and
2050.Sx \&Ux .
2051.Ss \&Oc
2052Close multi-line
2053.Sx \&Oo
2054context.
2055.Ss \&Oo
2056Multi-line version of
2057.Sx \&Op .
2058.Pp
2059Examples:
2060.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
2061\&.Oo
2062\&.Op Fl flag Ns Ar value
2063\&.Oc
2064.Ed
2065.Ss \&Op
2066Optional part of a command line.
2067Prints the argument(s) in brackets.
2068This is most often used in the
2069.Em SYNOPSIS
2070section of section 1 and 8 manual pages.
2071.Pp
2072Examples:
2073.Dl \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b
2074.Dl \&.Op \&Ar a | b
2075.Pp
2076See also
2077.Sx \&Oo .
2078.Ss \&Os
2079Document operating system version.
2080This is the mandatory third macro of
2081any
2082.Nm
2083file.
2084Its syntax is as follows:
2085.Pp
2086.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Os Op Ar system Op Ar version
2087.Pp
2088The optional
2089.Ar system
2090parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment.
2091Left unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system version.
2092This is the suggested form.
2093.Pp
2094Examples:
2095.Dl \&.Os
2096.Dl \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS
2097.Dl \&.Os BSD 4.3
2098.Pp
2099See also
2100.Sx \&Dd
2101and
2102.Sx \&Dt .
2103.Ss \&Ot
2104This macro is obsolete and not implemented in
2105.Xr mandoc 1 .
2106.Pp
2107Historical
2108.Xr mdoc 7
2109packages described it as
2110.Dq "old function type (FORTRAN)" .
2111.Ss \&Ox
2112Format the
2113.Ox
2114version provided as an argument, or a default value
2115if no argument is provided.
2116.Pp
2117Examples:
2118.Dl \&.Ox 4.5
2119.Dl \&.Ox
2120.Pp
2121See also
2122.Sx \&At ,
2123.Sx \&Bsx ,
2124.Sx \&Bx ,
2125.Sx \&Dx ,
2126.Sx \&Fx ,
2127.Sx \&Nx ,
2128and
2129.Sx \&Ux .
2130.Ss \&Pa
2131An absolute or relative file system path, or a file or directory name.
2132If an argument is not provided, the character
2133.Sq \(ti
2134is used as a default.
2135.Pp
2136Examples:
2137.Dl \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc
2138.Dl \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7
2139.Pp
2140See also
2141.Sx \&Lk .
2142.Ss \&Pc
2143Close parenthesised context opened by
2144.Sx \&Po .
2145.Ss \&Pf
2146Removes the space between its argument
2147.Pq Dq prefix
2148and the following macro.
2149Its syntax is as follows:
2150.Pp
2151.D1 .Pf Ar prefix macro arguments ...
2152.Pp
2153This is equivalent to:
2154.Pp
2155.D1 .No Ar prefix No \&Ns Ar macro arguments ...
2156.Pp
2157Examples:
2158.Dl ".Pf $ Ar variable_name"
2159.Dl ".Pf 0x Ar hex_digits"
2160.Pp
2161See also
2162.Sx \&Ns
2163and
2164.Sx \&Sm .
2165.Ss \&Po
2166Multi-line version of
2167.Sx \&Pq .
2168.Ss \&Pp
2169Break a paragraph.
2170This will assert vertical space between prior and subsequent macros
2171and/or text.
2172.Pp
2173Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after
2174.Sx \&Sh
2175or
2176.Sx \&Ss
2177macros or before displays
2178.Pq Sx \&Bd
2179or lists
2180.Pq Sx \&Bl
2181unless the
2182.Fl compact
2183flag is given.
2184.Ss \&Pq
2185Parenthesised enclosure.
2186.Pp
2187See also
2188.Sx \&Po .
2189.Ss \&Qc
2190Close quoted context opened by
2191.Sx \&Qo .
2192.Ss \&Ql
2193Format a single-quoted literal.
2194See also
2195.Sx \&Qq
2196and
2197.Sx \&Sq .
2198.Ss \&Qo
2199Multi-line version of
2200.Sx \&Qq .
2201.Ss \&Qq
2202Encloses its arguments in
2203.Qq typewriter
2204double-quotes.
2205Consider using
2206.Sx \&Dq .
2207.Pp
2208See also
2209.Sx \&Dq ,
2210.Sx \&Sq ,
2211and
2212.Sx \&Qo .
2213.Ss \&Re
2214Close an
2215.Sx \&Rs
2216block.
2217Does not have any tail arguments.
2218.Ss \&Rs
2219Begin a bibliographic
2220.Pq Dq reference
2221block.
2222Does not have any head arguments.
2223The block macro may only contain
2224.Sx \&%A ,
2225.Sx \&%B ,
2226.Sx \&%C ,
2227.Sx \&%D ,
2228.Sx \&%I ,
2229.Sx \&%J ,
2230.Sx \&%N ,
2231.Sx \&%O ,
2232.Sx \&%P ,
2233.Sx \&%Q ,
2234.Sx \&%R ,
2235.Sx \&%T ,
2236.Sx \&%U ,
2237and
2238.Sx \&%V
2239child macros (at least one must be specified).
2240.Pp
2241Examples:
2242.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
2243\&.Rs
2244\&.%A J. E. Hopcroft
2245\&.%A J. D. Ullman
2246\&.%B Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
2247\&.%I Addison-Wesley
2248\&.%C Reading, Massachusettes
2249\&.%D 1979
2250\&.Re
2251.Ed
2252.Pp
2253If an
2254.Sx \&Rs
2255block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical space is asserted
2256before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current
2257line.
2258.Ss \&Rv
2259Insert a standard sentence regarding a function call's return value of 0
2260on success and \-1 on error, with the
2261.Va errno
2262libc global variable set on error.
2263Its syntax is as follows:
2264.Pp
2265.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Rv Fl std Op Ar function ...
2266.Pp
2267If
2268.Ar function
2269is not specified, the document's name set by
2270.Sx \&Nm
2271is used.
2272Multiple
2273.Ar function
2274arguments are treated as separate functions.
2275.Pp
2276See also
2277.Sx \&Ex .
2278.Ss \&Sc
2279Close single-quoted context opened by
2280.Sx \&So .
2281.Ss \&Sh
2282Begin a new section.
2283For a list of conventional manual sections, see
2284.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
2285These sections should be used unless it's absolutely necessary that
2286custom sections be used.
2287.Pp
2288Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
2289.Sx \&Sx .
2290Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
2291may not be linked with
2292.Sx \&Sx .
2293.Pp
2294See also
2295.Sx \&Pp ,
2296.Sx \&Ss ,
2297and
2298.Sx \&Sx .
2299.Ss \&Sm
2300Switches the spacing mode for output generated from macros.
2301Its syntax is as follows:
2302.Pp
2303.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Sm Cm on | off
2304.Pp
2305By default, spacing is
2306.Cm on .
2307When switched
2308.Cm off ,
2309no white space is inserted between macro arguments and between the
2310output generated from adjacent macros, but text lines
2311still get normal spacing between words and sentences.
2312.Ss \&So
2313Multi-line version of
2314.Sx \&Sq .
2315.Ss \&Sq
2316Encloses its arguments in
2317.Sq typewriter
2318single-quotes.
2319.Pp
2320See also
2321.Sx \&Dq ,
2322.Sx \&Qq ,
2323and
2324.Sx \&So .
2325.Ss \&Ss
2326Begin a new subsection.
2327Unlike with
2328.Sx \&Sh ,
2329there is no convention for the naming of subsections.
2330Except
2331.Em DESCRIPTION ,
2332the conventional sections described in
2333.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
2334rarely have subsections.
2335.Pp
2336Sub-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
2337.Sx \&Sx .
2338Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
2339may not be linked with
2340.Sx \&Sx .
2341.Pp
2342See also
2343.Sx \&Pp ,
2344.Sx \&Sh ,
2345and
2346.Sx \&Sx .
2347.Ss \&St
2348Replace an abbreviation for a standard with the full form.
2349The following standards are recognised:
2350.Pp
2351.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000X" -compact
2352.It \-p1003.1-88
2353.St -p1003.1-88
2354.It \-p1003.1-90
2355.St -p1003.1-90
2356.It \-p1003.1-96
2357.St -p1003.1-96
2358.It \-p1003.1-2001
2359.St -p1003.1-2001
2360.It \-p1003.1-2004
2361.St -p1003.1-2004
2362.It \-p1003.1-2008
2363.St -p1003.1-2008
2364.It \-p1003.1
2365.St -p1003.1
2366.It \-p1003.1b
2367.St -p1003.1b
2368.It \-p1003.1b-93
2369.St -p1003.1b-93
2370.It \-p1003.1c-95
2371.St -p1003.1c-95
2372.It \-p1003.1g-2000
2373.St -p1003.1g-2000
2374.It \-p1003.1i-95
2375.St -p1003.1i-95
2376.It \-p1003.2-92
2377.St -p1003.2-92
2378.It \-p1003.2a-92
2379.St -p1003.2a-92
2380.It \-p1387.2-95
2381.St -p1387.2-95
2382.It \-p1003.2
2383.St -p1003.2
2384.It \-p1387.2
2385.St -p1387.2
2386.It \-isoC
2387.St -isoC
2388.It \-isoC-90
2389.St -isoC-90
2390.It \-isoC-amd1
2391.St -isoC-amd1
2392.It \-isoC-tcor1
2393.St -isoC-tcor1
2394.It \-isoC-tcor2
2395.St -isoC-tcor2
2396.It \-isoC-99
2397.St -isoC-99
2398.It \-iso9945-1-90
2399.St -iso9945-1-90
2400.It \-iso9945-1-96
2401.St -iso9945-1-96
2402.It \-iso9945-2-93
2403.St -iso9945-2-93
2404.It \-ansiC
2405.St -ansiC
2406.It \-ansiC-89
2407.St -ansiC-89
2408.It \-ansiC-99
2409.St -ansiC-99
2410.It \-ieee754
2411.St -ieee754
2412.It \-iso8802-3
2413.St -iso8802-3
2414.It \-iso8601
2415.St -iso8601
2416.It \-ieee1275-94
2417.St -ieee1275-94
2418.It \-xpg3
2419.St -xpg3
2420.It \-xpg4
2421.St -xpg4
2422.It \-xpg4.2
2423.St -xpg4.2
2424.It \-xpg4.3
2425.St -xpg4.3
2426.It \-xbd5
2427.St -xbd5
2428.It \-xcu5
2429.St -xcu5
2430.It \-xsh5
2431.St -xsh5
2432.It \-xns5
2433.St -xns5
2434.It \-xns5.2
2435.St -xns5.2
2436.It \-xns5.2d2.0
2437.St -xns5.2d2.0
2438.It \-xcurses4.2
2439.St -xcurses4.2
2440.It \-susv2
2441.St -susv2
2442.It \-susv3
2443.St -susv3
2444.It \-svid4
2445.St -svid4
2446.El
2447.Ss \&Sx
2448Reference a section or subsection in the same manual page.
2449The referenced section or subsection name must be identical to the
2450enclosed argument, including whitespace.
2451.Pp
2452Examples:
2453.Dl \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
2454.Pp
2455See also
2456.Sx \&Sh
2457and
2458.Sx \&Ss .
2459.Ss \&Sy
2460Format enclosed arguments in symbolic
2461.Pq Dq boldface .
2462Note that this is a presentation term and should not be used for
2463stylistically decorating technical terms.
2464.Pp
2465See also
2466.Sx \&Bf ,
2467.Sx \&Em ,
2468.Sx \&Li ,
2469and
2470.Sx \&No .
2471.Ss \&Ta
2472Table cell separator in
2473.Sx \&Bl Fl column
2474lists; can only be used below
2475.Sx \&It .
2476.Ss \&Tn
2477Format a tradename.
2478.Pp
2479Since this macro is often implemented to use a small caps font,
2480it has historically been used for acronyms (like ASCII) as well.
2481Such usage is not recommended because it would use the same macro
2482sometimes for semantical annotation, sometimes for physical formatting.
2483.Pp
2484Examples:
2485.Dl \&.Tn IBM
2486.Ss \&Ud
2487Prints out
2488.Dq currently under development.
2489.Ss \&Ux
2490Format the UNIX name.
2491Accepts no argument.
2492.Pp
2493Examples:
2494.Dl \&.Ux
2495.Pp
2496See also
2497.Sx \&At ,
2498.Sx \&Bsx ,
2499.Sx \&Bx ,
2500.Sx \&Dx ,
2501.Sx \&Fx ,
2502.Sx \&Nx ,
2503and
2504.Sx \&Ox .
2505.Ss \&Va
2506A variable name.
2507.Pp
2508Examples:
2509.Dl \&.Va foo
2510.Dl \&.Va const char *bar ;
2511.Ss \&Vt
2512A variable type.
2513This is also used for indicating global variables in the
2514.Em SYNOPSIS
2515section, in which case a variable name is also specified.
2516Note that it accepts
2517.Sx Block partial-implicit
2518syntax when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
2519.Em SYNOPSIS
2520section, else it accepts ordinary
2521.Sx In-line
2522syntax.
2523In the former case, this macro starts a new output line,
2524and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
2525function definition or include directive.
2526.Pp
2527Note that this should not be confused with
2528.Sx \&Ft ,
2529which is used for function return types.
2530.Pp
2531Examples:
2532.Dl \&.Vt unsigned char
2533.Dl \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;
2534.Pp
2535See also
2536.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
2537and
2538.Sx \&Va .
2539.Ss \&Xc
2540Close a scope opened by
2541.Sx \&Xo .
2542.Ss \&Xo
2543Extend the header of an
2544.Sx \&It
2545macro or the body of a partial-implicit block macro
2546beyond the end of the input line.
2547This macro originally existed to work around the 9-argument limit
2548of historic
2549.Xr roff 7 .
2550.Ss \&Xr
2551Link to another manual
2552.Pq Qq cross-reference .
2553Its syntax is as follows:
2554.Pp
2555.D1 Pf \. Sx \&Xr Ar name section
2556.Pp
2557The
2558.Ar name
2559and
2560.Ar section
2561are the name and section of the linked manual.
2562If
2563.Ar section
2564is followed by non-punctuation, an
2565.Sx \&Ns
2566is inserted into the token stream.
2567This behaviour is for compatibility with
2568GNU troff.
2569.Pp
2570Examples:
2571.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1
2572.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;
2573.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour
2574.Ss \&br
2575Emits a line-break.
2576This macro should not be used; it is implemented for compatibility with
2577historical manuals.
2578.Pp
2579Consider using
2580.Sx \&Pp
2581in the event of natural paragraph breaks.
2582.Ss \&sp
2583Emits vertical space.
2584This macro should not be used; it is implemented for compatibility with
2585historical manuals.
2586Its syntax is as follows:
2587.Pp
2588.D1 Pf \. Sx \&sp Op Ar height
2589.Pp
2590The
2591.Ar height
2592argument must be formatted as described in
2593.Sx Scaling Widths .
2594If unspecified,
2595.Sx \&sp
2596asserts a single vertical space.
2597.Sh MACRO SYNTAX
2598The syntax of a macro depends on its classification.
2599In this section,
2600.Sq \-arg
2601refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more
2602.Sq parm
2603parameters;
2604.Sq \&Yo
2605opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,
2606.Sq \&Yc
2607closes it out.
2608.Pp
2609The
2610.Em Callable
2611column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name
2612as an argument to another macro.
2613For example,
2614.Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file
2615produces
2616.Sq Op Fl O Ar file .
2617To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally,
2618escape it by prepending a zero-width space,
2619.Sq \e& .
2620For example,
2621.Sq \&Op \e&Fl O
2622produces
2623.Sq Op \&Fl O .
2624If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument
2625to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text.
2626For example,
2627.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh
2628produces
2629.Sq Fl \&Sh .
2630.Pp
2631The
2632.Em Parsed
2633column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving
2634their names as arguments.
2635If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears
2636as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text.
2637.Pp
2638The
2639.Em Scope
2640column, if applicable, describes closure rules.
2641.Ss Block full-explicit
2642Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro.
2643All macros contains bodies; only
2644.Sx \&Bf
2645and
2646.Pq optionally
2647.Sx \&Bl
2648contain a head.
2649.Bd -literal -offset indent
2650\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
2651\(lBbody...\(rB
2652\&.Yc
2653.Ed
2654.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXX" -offset indent
2655.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2656.It Sx \&Bd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Sx \&Ed
2657.It Sx \&Bf  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Sx \&Ef
2658.It Sx \&Bk  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Sx \&Ek
2659.It Sx \&Bl  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Sx \&El
2660.It Sx \&Ed  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Sx \&Bd
2661.It Sx \&Ef  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Sx \&Bf
2662.It Sx \&Ek  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Sx \&Bk
2663.It Sx \&El  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Sx \&Bl
2664.El
2665.Ss Block full-implicit
2666Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.
2667All macros have bodies; some
2668.Po
2669.Sx \&It Fl bullet ,
2670.Fl hyphen ,
2671.Fl dash ,
2672.Fl enum ,
2673.Fl item
2674.Pc
2675don't have heads; only one
2676.Po
2677.Sx \&It
2678in
2679.Sx \&Bl Fl column
2680.Pc
2681has multiple heads.
2682.Bd -literal -offset indent
2683\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB
2684\(lBbody...\(rB
2685.Ed
2686.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent
2687.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2688.It Sx \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Sx \&It , Sx \&El
2689.It Sx \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Sx \&Sh
2690.It Sx \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Sx \&Nm , Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss
2691.It Sx \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Sx \&Sh
2692.It Sx \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Sx \&Sh , Sx \&Ss
2693.El
2694.Pp
2695Note that the
2696.Sx \&Nm
2697macro is a
2698.Sx Block full-implicit
2699macro only when invoked as the first macro
2700in a
2701.Em SYNOPSIS
2702section line, else it is
2703.Sx In-line .
2704.Ss Block partial-explicit
2705Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope.
2706Each has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head
2707.Po
2708.Sx \&Fo ,
2709.Sx \&Eo
2710.Pc
2711and/or tail
2712.Pq Sx \&Ec .
2713.Bd -literal -offset indent
2714\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
2715\(lBbody...\(rB
2716\&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
2717
2718\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \
2719\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
2720.Ed
2721.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent
2722.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2723.It Sx \&Ac  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Ao
2724.It Sx \&Ao  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Ac
2725.It Sx \&Bc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Bo
2726.It Sx \&Bo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Bc
2727.It Sx \&Brc Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Bro
2728.It Sx \&Bro Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Brc
2729.It Sx \&Dc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Do
2730.It Sx \&Do  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Dc
2731.It Sx \&Ec  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Eo
2732.It Sx \&Eo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Ec
2733.It Sx \&Fc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Fo
2734.It Sx \&Fo  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Sx \&Fc
2735.It Sx \&Oc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Oo
2736.It Sx \&Oo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Oc
2737.It Sx \&Pc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Po
2738.It Sx \&Po  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Pc
2739.It Sx \&Qc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Oo
2740.It Sx \&Qo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Oc
2741.It Sx \&Re  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Sx \&Rs
2742.It Sx \&Rs  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Sx \&Re
2743.It Sx \&Sc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&So
2744.It Sx \&So  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Sc
2745.It Sx \&Xc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Sx \&Xo
2746.It Sx \&Xo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Sx \&Xc
2747.El
2748.Ss Block partial-implicit
2749Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the
2750end of the line.
2751.Bd -literal -offset indent
2752\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
2753.Ed
2754.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" -offset indent
2755.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed
2756.It Sx \&Aq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2757.It Sx \&Bq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2758.It Sx \&Brq Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2759.It Sx \&D1  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&Yes
2760.It Sx \&Dl  Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes
2761.It Sx \&Dq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2762.It Sx \&Op  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2763.It Sx \&Pq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2764.It Sx \&Ql  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2765.It Sx \&Qq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2766.It Sx \&Sq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2767.It Sx \&Vt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2768.El
2769.Pp
2770Note that the
2771.Sx \&Vt
2772macro is a
2773.Sx Block partial-implicit
2774only when invoked as the first macro
2775in a
2776.Em SYNOPSIS
2777section line, else it is
2778.Sx In-line .
2779.Ss Special block macro
2780The
2781.Sx \&Ta
2782macro can only be used below
2783.Sx \&It
2784in
2785.Sx \&Bl Fl column
2786lists.
2787It delimits blocks representing table cells;
2788these blocks have bodies, but no heads.
2789.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent
2790.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2791.It Sx \&Ta  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes    Ta closed by Sx \&Ta , Sx \&It
2792.El
2793.Ss In-line
2794Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths,
2795and/or subsequent macros.
2796In-line macros have only text children.
2797If a number (or inequality) of arguments is
2798.Pq n ,
2799then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.
2800.Bd -literal -offset indent
2801\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
2802
2803\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc...
2804
2805\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN
2806.Ed
2807.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "Arguments" -offset indent
2808.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Arguments
2809.It Sx \&%A  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2810.It Sx \&%B  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2811.It Sx \&%C  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2812.It Sx \&%D  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2813.It Sx \&%I  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2814.It Sx \&%J  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2815.It Sx \&%N  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2816.It Sx \&%O  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2817.It Sx \&%P  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2818.It Sx \&%Q  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2819.It Sx \&%R  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2820.It Sx \&%T  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2821.It Sx \&%U  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2822.It Sx \&%V  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2823.It Sx \&Ad  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2824.It Sx \&An  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2825.It Sx \&Ap  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
2826.It Sx \&Ar  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2827.It Sx \&At  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
2828.It Sx \&Bsx Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2829.It Sx \&Bt  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2830.It Sx \&Bx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2831.It Sx \&Cd  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2832.It Sx \&Cm  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2833.It Sx \&Db  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2834.It Sx \&Dd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2835.It Sx \&Dt  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2836.It Sx \&Dv  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2837.It Sx \&Dx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2838.It Sx \&Em  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2839.It Sx \&En  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2840.It Sx \&Er  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2841.It Sx \&Es  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2842.It Sx \&Ev  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2843.It Sx \&Ex  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2844.It Sx \&Fa  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2845.It Sx \&Fd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2846.It Sx \&Fl  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2847.It Sx \&Fn  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2848.It Sx \&Fr  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2849.It Sx \&Ft  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2850.It Sx \&Fx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2851.It Sx \&Hf  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2852.It Sx \&Ic  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2853.It Sx \&In  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2854.It Sx \&Lb  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2855.It Sx \&Li  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2856.It Sx \&Lk  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2857.It Sx \&Lp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2858.It Sx \&Ms  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2859.It Sx \&Mt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2860.It Sx \&Nm  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2861.It Sx \&No  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
2862.It Sx \&Ns  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
2863.It Sx \&Nx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2864.It Sx \&Os  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2865.It Sx \&Ot  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2866.It Sx \&Ox  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2867.It Sx \&Pa  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2868.It Sx \&Pf  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
2869.It Sx \&Pp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2870.It Sx \&Rv  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2871.It Sx \&Sm  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2872.It Sx \&St  Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    1
2873.It Sx \&Sx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2874.It Sx \&Sy  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2875.It Sx \&Tn  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2876.It Sx \&Ud  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2877.It Sx \&Ux  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2878.It Sx \&Va  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2879.It Sx \&Vt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2880.It Sx \&Xr  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2881.It Sx \&br  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2882.It Sx \&sp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2883.El
2884.Ss Delimiters
2885When a macro argument consists of one single input character
2886considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling.
2887This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing
2888more than one character.
2889Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it
2890like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending
2891a zero-width space
2892.Pq Sq \e& .
2893In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used
2894as normal punctuation.
2895.Pp
2896For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters,
2897these delimiters are put before the macro scope,
2898and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters,
2899these delimiters are put after the macro scope.
2900For example,
2901.Pp
2902.D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ."
2903.Pp
2904renders as:
2905.Pp
2906.D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) .
2907.Pp
2908Opening delimiters are:
2909.Pp
2910.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
2911.It \&(
2912left parenthesis
2913.It \&[
2914left bracket
2915.El
2916.Pp
2917Closing delimiters are:
2918.Pp
2919.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
2920.It \&.
2921period
2922.It \&,
2923comma
2924.It \&:
2925colon
2926.It \&;
2927semicolon
2928.It \&)
2929right parenthesis
2930.It \&]
2931right bracket
2932.It \&?
2933question mark
2934.It \&!
2935exclamation mark
2936.El
2937.Pp
2938Note that even a period preceded by a backslash
2939.Pq Sq \e.\&
2940gets this special handling; use
2941.Sq \e&.
2942to prevent that.
2943.Pp
2944Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter
2945delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that
2946are not delimiters.
2947For example,
2948.Pp
2949.D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e"
2950.Pp
2951renders as:
2952.Pp
2953.D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e
2954.Pp
2955This applies to both opening and closing delimiters,
2956and also to the middle delimiter:
2957.Pp
2958.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
2959.It \&|
2960vertical bar
2961.El
2962.Pp
2963As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered
2964in the same way as a plain
2965.Sq \&|
2966character.
2967Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals.
2968.Ss Font handling
2969In
2970.Nm
2971documents, usage of semantic markup is recommended in order to have
2972proper fonts automatically selected; only when no fitting semantic markup
2973is available, consider falling back to
2974.Sx Physical markup
2975macros.
2976Whenever any
2977.Nm
2978macro switches the
2979.Xr roff 7
2980font mode, it will automatically restore the previous font when exiting
2981its scope.
2982Manually switching the font using the
2983.Xr roff 7
2984.Ql \ef
2985font escape sequences is never required.
2986.Sh COMPATIBILITY
2987This section documents compatibility between mandoc and other other
2988troff implementations, at this time limited to GNU troff
2989.Pq Qq groff .
2990The term
2991.Qq historic groff
2992refers to groff versions before 1.17,
2993which featured a significant update of the
2994.Pa doc.tmac
2995file.
2996.Pp
2997Heirloom troff, the other significant troff implementation accepting
2998\-mdoc, is similar to historic groff.
2999.Pp
3000The following problematic behaviour is found in groff:
3001.ds hist (Historic groff only.)
3002.Pp
3003.Bl -dash -compact
3004.It
3005Display macros
3006.Po
3007.Sx \&Bd ,
3008.Sx \&Dl ,
3009and
3010.Sx \&D1
3011.Pc
3012may not be nested.
3013\*[hist]
3014.It
3015.Sx \&At
3016with unknown arguments produces no output at all.
3017\*[hist]
3018Newer groff and mandoc print
3019.Qq AT&T UNIX
3020and the arguments.
3021.It
3022.Sx \&Bl Fl column
3023does not recognise trailing punctuation characters when they immediately
3024precede tabulator characters, but treats them as normal text and
3025outputs a space before them.
3026.It
3027.Sx \&Bd Fl ragged compact
3028does not start a new line.
3029\*[hist]
3030.It
3031.Sx \&Dd
3032with non-standard arguments behaves very strangely.
3033When there are three arguments, they are printed verbatim.
3034Any other number of arguments is replaced by the current date,
3035but without any arguments the string
3036.Dq Epoch
3037is printed.
3038.It
3039.Sx \&Fl
3040does not print a dash for an empty argument.
3041\*[hist]
3042.It
3043.Sx \&Fn
3044does not start a new line unless invoked as the line macro in the
3045.Em SYNOPSIS
3046section.
3047\*[hist]
3048.It
3049.Sx \&Fo
3050with
3051.Pf non- Sx \&Fa
3052children causes inconsistent spacing between arguments.
3053In mandoc, a single space is always inserted between arguments.
3054.It
3055.Sx \&Ft
3056in the
3057.Em SYNOPSIS
3058causes inconsistent vertical spacing, depending on whether a prior
3059.Sx \&Fn
3060has been invoked.
3061See
3062.Sx \&Ft
3063and
3064.Sx \&Fn
3065for the normalised behaviour in mandoc.
3066.It
3067.Sx \&In
3068ignores additional arguments and is not treated specially in the
3069.Em SYNOPSIS .
3070\*[hist]
3071.It
3072.Sx \&It
3073sometimes requires a
3074.Fl nested
3075flag.
3076\*[hist]
3077In new groff and mandoc, any list may be nested by default and
3078.Fl enum
3079lists will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.
3080.It
3081.Sx \&Li
3082followed by a delimiter is incorrectly used in some manuals
3083instead of properly quoting that character, which sometimes works with
3084historic groff.
3085.It
3086.Sx \&Lk
3087only accepts a single link-name argument; the remainder is misformatted.
3088.It
3089.Sx \&Pa
3090does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under
3091certain list types.
3092.It
3093.Sx \&Ta
3094can only be called by other macros, but not at the beginning of a line.
3095.It
3096.Sx \&%C
3097is not implemented.
3098.It
3099Historic groff only allows up to eight or nine arguments per macro input
3100line, depending on the exact situation.
3101Providing more arguments causes garbled output.
3102The number of arguments on one input line is not limited with mandoc.
3103.It
3104Historic groff has many un-callable macros.
3105Most of these (excluding some block-level macros) are callable
3106in new groff and mandoc.
3107.It
3108.Sq \(ba
3109(vertical bar) is not fully supported as a delimiter.
3110\*[hist]
3111.It
3112.Sq \ef
3113.Pq font face
3114and
3115.Sq \ef
3116.Pq font family face
3117.Sx Text Decoration
3118escapes behave irregularly when specified within line-macro scopes.
3119.It
3120Negative scaling units return to prior lines.
3121Instead, mandoc truncates them to zero.
3122.El
3123.Pp
3124The following features are unimplemented in mandoc:
3125.Pp
3126.Bl -dash -compact
3127.It
3128.Sx \&Bd
3129.Fl file Ar file .
3130.It
3131.Sx \&Bd
3132.Fl offset Ar center
3133and
3134.Fl offset Ar right .
3135Groff does not implement centred and flush-right rendering either,
3136but produces large indentations.
3137.It
3138The
3139.Sq \eh
3140.Pq horizontal position ,
3141.Sq \ev
3142.Pq vertical position ,
3143.Sq \em
3144.Pq text colour ,
3145.Sq \eM
3146.Pq text filling colour ,
3147.Sq \ez
3148.Pq zero-length character ,
3149.Sq \ew
3150.Pq string length ,
3151.Sq \ek
3152.Pq horizontal position marker ,
3153.Sq \eo
3154.Pq text overstrike ,
3155and
3156.Sq \es
3157.Pq text size
3158escape sequences are all discarded in mandoc.
3159.It
3160The
3161.Sq \ef
3162scaling unit is accepted by mandoc, but rendered as the default unit.
3163.It
3164In quoted literals, groff allows pairwise double-quotes to produce a
3165standalone double-quote in formatted output.
3166This is not supported by mandoc.
3167.El
3168.Sh SEE ALSO
3169.Xr man 1 ,
3170.Xr mandoc 1 ,
3171.Xr eqn 7 ,
3172.Xr man 7 ,
3173.Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
3174.Xr roff 7 ,
3175.Xr tbl 7
3176.Sh HISTORY
3177The
3178.Nm
3179language first appeared as a troff macro package in
3180.Bx 4.4 .
3181It was later significantly updated by Werner Lemberg and Ruslan Ermilov
3182in groff-1.17.
3183The standalone implementation that is part of the
3184.Xr mandoc 1
3185utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
3186.Ox 4.6 .
3187.Sh AUTHORS
3188The
3189.Nm
3190reference was written by
3191.An Kristaps Dzonsons ,
3192.Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
3193