xref: /openbsd-src/share/man/man7/mdoc.7 (revision c90a81c56dcebd6a1b73fe4aff9b03385b8e63b3)
1.\"	$OpenBSD: mdoc.7,v 1.162 2018/12/23 22:03:17 schwarze Exp $
2.\"
3.\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>
4.\" Copyright (c) 2010, 2011, 2013-2018 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 $Mdocdate: December 23 2018 $
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.Ic \&Dd ,
98.Ic \&Dt ,
99and
100.Ic \&Os
101macros in that order, is required for every document.
102.Pp
103The first section (sections are denoted by
104.Ic \&Sh )
105must be the NAME section, consisting of at least one
106.Ic \&Nm
107followed by
108.Ic \&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, and 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 CONTEXT
139\&.\e\(dq For section 9 functions only.
140\&.\e\(dq .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
141\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
142\&.\e\(dq .Sh RETURN VALUES
143\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 function return values only.
144\&.\e\(dq .Sh ENVIRONMENT
145\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only.
146\&.\e\(dq .Sh FILES
147\&.\e\(dq .Sh EXIT STATUS
148\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, and 8 only.
149\&.\e\(dq .Sh EXAMPLES
150\&.\e\(dq .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
151\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 printf/stderr messages only.
152\&.\e\(dq .Sh ERRORS
153\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 errno settings only.
154\&.\e\(dq .Sh SEE ALSO
155\&.\e\(dq .Xr foobar 1
156\&.\e\(dq .Sh STANDARDS
157\&.\e\(dq .Sh HISTORY
158\&.\e\(dq .Sh AUTHORS
159\&.\e\(dq .Sh CAVEATS
160\&.\e\(dq .Sh BUGS
161\&.\e\(dq .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
162\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
163.Ed
164.Pp
165The sections in an
166.Nm
167document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.
168Sections should be composed as follows:
169.Bl -ohang -offset Ds
170.It Em NAME
171The name(s) and a one line description of the documented material.
172The syntax for this as follows:
173.Bd -literal -offset indent
174\&.Nm name0 ,
175\&.Nm name1 ,
176\&.Nm name2
177\&.Nd a one line description
178.Ed
179.Pp
180Multiple
181.Sq \&Nm
182names should be separated by commas.
183.Pp
184The
185.Ic \&Nm
186macro(s) must precede the
187.Ic \&Nd
188macro.
189.Pp
190See
191.Ic \&Nm
192and
193.Ic \&Nd .
194.It Em LIBRARY
195The name of the library containing the documented material, which is
196assumed to be a function in a section 2, 3, or 9 manual.
197The syntax for this is as follows:
198.Bd -literal -offset indent
199\&.Lb libarm
200.Ed
201.Pp
202See
203.Ic \&Lb .
204.It Em SYNOPSIS
205Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device
206configuration.
207.Pp
208For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
209generally structured as follows:
210.Bd -literal -offset indent
211\&.Nm bar
212\&.Op Fl v
213\&.Op Fl o Ar file
214\&.Op Ar
215\&.Nm foo
216\&.Op Fl v
217\&.Op Fl o Ar file
218\&.Op Ar
219.Ed
220.Pp
221Commands should be ordered alphabetically.
222.Pp
223For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
224.Bd -literal -offset indent
225\&.In header.h
226\&.Vt extern const char *global;
227\&.Ft "char *"
228\&.Fn foo "const char *src"
229\&.Ft "char *"
230\&.Fn bar "const char *src"
231.Ed
232.Pp
233Ordering of
234.Ic \&In ,
235.Ic \&Vt ,
236.Ic \&Fn ,
237and
238.Ic \&Fo
239macros should follow C header-file conventions.
240.Pp
241And for the third, configurations (section 4):
242.Bd -literal -offset indent
243\&.Cd \(dqit* at isa? port 0x2e\(dq
244\&.Cd \(dqit* at isa? port 0x4e\(dq
245.Ed
246.Pp
247Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a
248.Em SYNOPSIS .
249.Pp
250Some macros are displayed differently in the
251.Em SYNOPSIS
252section, particularly
253.Ic \&Nm ,
254.Ic \&Cd ,
255.Ic \&Fd ,
256.Ic \&Fn ,
257.Ic \&Fo ,
258.Ic \&In ,
259.Ic \&Vt ,
260and
261.Ic \&Ft .
262All of these macros are output on their own line.
263If two such dissimilar macros are pairwise invoked (except for
264.Ic \&Ft
265before
266.Ic \&Fo
267or
268.Ic \&Fn ) ,
269they are separated by a vertical space, unless in the case of
270.Ic \&Fo ,
271.Ic \&Fn ,
272and
273.Ic \&Ft ,
274which are always separated by vertical space.
275.Pp
276When text and macros following an
277.Ic \&Nm
278macro starting an input line span multiple output lines,
279all output lines but the first will be indented to align
280with the text immediately following the
281.Ic \&Nm
282macro, up to the next
283.Ic \&Nm ,
284.Ic \&Sh ,
285or
286.Ic \&Ss
287macro or the end of an enclosing block, whichever comes first.
288.It Em DESCRIPTION
289This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in
290.Em NAME :
291.Bd -literal -offset indent
292The
293\&.Nm
294utility does this, that, and the other.
295.Ed
296.Pp
297It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting a
298command), such as:
299.Bd -literal -offset indent
300The arguments are as follows:
301\&.Bl \-tag \-width Ds
302\&.It Fl v
303Print verbose information.
304\&.El
305.Ed
306.Pp
307List the options in alphabetical order,
308uppercase before lowercase for each letter and
309with no regard to whether an option takes an argument.
310Put digits in ascending order before all letter options.
311.Pp
312Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.
313.Pp
314Since the
315.Em DESCRIPTION
316section usually contains most of the text of a manual, longer manuals
317often use the
318.Ic \&Ss
319macro to form subsections.
320In very long manuals, the
321.Em DESCRIPTION
322may be split into multiple sections, each started by an
323.Ic \&Sh
324macro followed by a non-standard section name, and each having
325several subsections, like in the present
326.Nm
327manual.
328.It Em CONTEXT
329This section lists the contexts in which functions can be called in section 9.
330The contexts are autoconf, process, or interrupt.
331.It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
332Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
333This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
334effects or notable algorithmic implications.
335.It Em RETURN VALUES
336This section documents the
337return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.
338.Pp
339See
340.Ic \&Rv .
341.It Em ENVIRONMENT
342Lists the environment variables used by the utility,
343and explains the syntax and semantics of their values.
344The
345.Xr environ 7
346manual provides examples of typical content and formatting.
347.Pp
348See
349.Ic \&Ev .
350.It Em FILES
351Documents files used.
352It's helpful to document both the file name and a short description of how
353the file is used (created, modified, etc.).
354.Pp
355See
356.Ic \&Pa .
357.It Em EXIT STATUS
358This section documents the
359command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 utilities.
360Historically, this information was described in
361.Em DIAGNOSTICS ,
362a practise that is now discouraged.
363.Pp
364See
365.Ic \&Ex .
366.It Em EXAMPLES
367Example usages.
368This often contains snippets of well-formed, well-tested invocations.
369Make sure that examples work properly!
370.It Em DIAGNOSTICS
371Documents error messages.
372In section 4 and 9 manuals, these are usually messages printed by the
373kernel to the console and to the kernel log.
374In section 1, 6, 7, and 8, these are usually messages printed by
375userland programs to the standard error output.
376.Pp
377Historically, this section was used in place of
378.Em EXIT STATUS
379for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
380discouraged.
381.Pp
382See
383.Ic \&Bl
384.Fl diag .
385.It Em ERRORS
386Documents
387.Xr errno 2
388settings in sections 2, 3, 4, and 9.
389.Pp
390See
391.Ic \&Er .
392.It Em SEE ALSO
393References other manuals with related topics.
394This section should exist for most manuals.
395Cross-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then
396alphabetically (ignoring case).
397.Pp
398References to other documentation concerning the topic of the manual page,
399for example authoritative books or journal articles, may also be
400provided in this section.
401.Pp
402See
403.Ic \&Rs
404and
405.Ic \&Xr .
406.It Em STANDARDS
407References any standards implemented or used.
408If not adhering to any standards, the
409.Em HISTORY
410section should be used instead.
411.Pp
412See
413.Ic \&St .
414.It Em HISTORY
415A brief history of the subject, including where it was first implemented,
416and when it was ported to or reimplemented for the operating system at hand.
417.It Em AUTHORS
418Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.
419Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.
420.Pp
421See
422.Ic \&An .
423.It Em CAVEATS
424Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained
425in this section.
426.It Em BUGS
427Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described
428in this section.
429.It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
430Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
431.El
432.Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
433This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
434together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose.
435Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found below
436in the alphabetical
437.Sx MACRO REFERENCE .
438.Ss Document preamble and NAME section macros
439.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
440.It Ic \&Dd Ta document date: Cm $\&Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year
441.It Ic \&Dt Ta document title: Ar TITLE section Op Ar arch
442.It Ic \&Os Ta operating system version: Op Ar system Op Ar version
443.It Ic \&Nm Ta document name (one argument)
444.It Ic \&Nd Ta document description (one line)
445.El
446.Ss Sections and cross references
447.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
448.It Ic \&Sh Ta section header (one line)
449.It Ic \&Ss Ta subsection header (one line)
450.It Ic \&Sx Ta internal cross reference to a section or subsection
451.It Ic \&Xr Ta cross reference to another manual page: Ar name section
452.It Ic \&Pp Ta start a text paragraph (no arguments)
453.El
454.Ss Displays and lists
455.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
456.It Ic \&Bd , \&Ed Ta display block:
457.Fl Ar type
458.Op Fl offset Ar width
459.Op Fl compact
460.It Ic \&D1 Ta indented display (one line)
461.It Ic \&Dl Ta indented literal display (one line)
462.It Ic \&Ql Ta in-line literal display: Ql text
463.It Ic \&Bl , \&El Ta list block:
464.Fl Ar type
465.Op Fl width Ar val
466.Op Fl offset Ar val
467.Op Fl compact
468.It Ic \&It Ta list item (syntax depends on Fl Ar type )
469.It Ic \&Ta Ta table cell separator in Ic \&Bl Fl column No lists
470.It Ic \&Rs , \&%* , \&Re Ta bibliographic block (references)
471.El
472.Ss Spacing control
473.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
474.It Ic \&Pf Ta prefix, no following horizontal space (one argument)
475.It Ic \&Ns Ta roman font, no preceding horizontal space (no arguments)
476.It Ic \&Ap Ta apostrophe without surrounding whitespace (no arguments)
477.It Ic \&Sm Ta switch horizontal spacing mode: Op Cm on | off
478.It Ic \&Bk , \&Ek Ta keep block: Fl words
479.El
480.Ss Semantic markup for command line utilities
481.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
482.It Ic \&Nm Ta start a SYNOPSIS block with the name of a utility
483.It Ic \&Fl Ta command line options (flags) (>=0 arguments)
484.It Ic \&Cm Ta command modifier (>0 arguments)
485.It Ic \&Ar Ta command arguments (>=0 arguments)
486.It Ic \&Op , \&Oo , \&Oc Ta optional syntax elements (enclosure)
487.It Ic \&Ic Ta internal or interactive command (>0 arguments)
488.It Ic \&Ev Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
489.It Ic \&Pa Ta file system path (>=0 arguments)
490.El
491.Ss Semantic markup for function libraries
492.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
493.It Ic \&Lb Ta function library (one argument)
494.It Ic \&In Ta include file (one argument)
495.It Ic \&Fd Ta other preprocessor directive (>0 arguments)
496.It Ic \&Ft Ta function type (>0 arguments)
497.It Ic \&Fo , \&Fc Ta function block: Ar funcname
498.It Ic \&Fn Ta function name: Ar funcname Op Ar argument ...
499.It Ic \&Fa Ta function argument (>0 arguments)
500.It Ic \&Vt Ta variable type (>0 arguments)
501.It Ic \&Va Ta variable name (>0 arguments)
502.It Ic \&Dv Ta defined variable or preprocessor constant (>0 arguments)
503.It Ic \&Er Ta error constant (>0 arguments)
504.It Ic \&Ev Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
505.El
506.Ss Various semantic markup
507.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
508.It Ic \&An Ta author name (>0 arguments)
509.It Ic \&Lk Ta hyperlink: Ar uri Op Ar display_name
510.It Ic \&Mt Ta Do mailto Dc hyperlink: Ar localpart Ns @ Ns Ar domain
511.It Ic \&Cd Ta kernel configuration declaration (>0 arguments)
512.It Ic \&Ad Ta memory address (>0 arguments)
513.It Ic \&Ms Ta mathematical symbol (>0 arguments)
514.El
515.Ss Physical markup
516.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
517.It Ic \&Em Ta italic font or underline (emphasis) (>0 arguments)
518.It Ic \&Sy Ta boldface font (symbolic) (>0 arguments)
519.It Ic \&No Ta return to roman font (normal) (no arguments)
520.It Ic \&Bf , \&Ef Ta font block: Fl Ar type | Cm \&Em | \&Li | \&Sy
521.El
522.Ss Physical enclosures
523.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
524.It Ic \&Dq , \&Do , \&Dc Ta enclose in typographic double quotes: Dq text
525.It Ic \&Qq , \&Qo , \&Qc Ta enclose in typewriter double quotes: Qq text
526.It Ic \&Sq , \&So , \&Sc Ta enclose in single quotes: Sq text
527.It Ic \&Pq , \&Po , \&Pc Ta enclose in parentheses: Pq text
528.It Ic \&Bq , \&Bo , \&Bc Ta enclose in square brackets: Bq text
529.It Ic \&Brq , \&Bro , \&Brc Ta enclose in curly braces: Brq text
530.It Ic \&Aq , \&Ao , \&Ac Ta enclose in angle brackets: Aq text
531.It Ic \&Eo , \&Ec Ta generic enclosure
532.El
533.Ss Text production
534.Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
535.It Ic \&Ex Fl std Ta standard command exit values: Op Ar utility ...
536.It Ic \&Rv Fl std Ta standard function return values: Op Ar function ...
537.It Ic \&St Ta reference to a standards document (one argument)
538.It Ic \&At Ta At
539.It Ic \&Bx Ta Bx
540.It Ic \&Bsx Ta Bsx
541.It Ic \&Nx Ta Nx
542.It Ic \&Fx Ta Fx
543.It Ic \&Ox Ta Ox
544.It Ic \&Dx Ta Dx
545.El
546.Sh MACRO REFERENCE
547This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged
548alphabetically.
549For the scoping of individual macros, see
550.Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
551.Bl -tag -width 3n
552.It Ic \&%A Ar first_name ... last_name
553Author name of an
554.Ic \&Rs
555block.
556Multiple authors should each be accorded their own
557.Ic \%%A
558line.
559Author names should be ordered with full or abbreviated forename(s)
560first, then full surname.
561.It Ic \&%B Ar title
562Book title of an
563.Ic \&Rs
564block.
565This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographic context when
566referring to book titles.
567.It Ic \&%C Ar location
568Publication city or location of an
569.Ic \&Rs
570block.
571.It Ic \&%D Oo Ar month day , Oc Ar year
572Publication date of an
573.Ic \&Rs
574block.
575Provide the full English name of the
576.Ar month
577and all four digits of the
578.Ar year .
579.It Ic \&%I Ar name
580Publisher or issuer name of an
581.Ic \&Rs
582block.
583.It Ic \&%J Ar name
584Journal name of an
585.Ic \&Rs
586block.
587.It Ic \&%N Ar number
588Issue number (usually for journals) of an
589.Ic \&Rs
590block.
591.It Ic \&%O Ar line
592Optional information of an
593.Ic \&Rs
594block.
595.It Ic \&%P Ar number
596Book or journal page number of an
597.Ic \&Rs
598block.
599.It Ic \&%Q Ar name
600Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an
601.Ic \&Rs
602block.
603Multiple institutional authors should each be accorded their own
604.Ic \&%Q
605line.
606.It Ic \&%R Ar name
607Technical report name of an
608.Ic \&Rs
609block.
610.It Ic \&%T Ar title
611Article title of an
612.Ic \&Rs
613block.
614This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographical context when
615referring to article titles.
616.It Ic \&%U Ar protocol Ns :// Ns Ar path
617URI of reference document.
618.It Ic \&%V Ar number
619Volume number of an
620.Ic \&Rs
621block.
622.It Ic \&Ac
623Close an
624.Ic \&Ao
625block.
626Does not have any tail arguments.
627.It Ic \&Ad Ar address
628Memory address.
629Do not use this for postal addresses.
630.Pp
631Examples:
632.Dl \&.Ad [0,$]
633.Dl \&.Ad 0x00000000
634.It Ic \&An Fl split | nosplit | Ar first_name ... last_name
635Author name.
636Can be used both for the authors of the program, function, or driver
637documented in the manual, or for the authors of the manual itself.
638Requires either the name of an author or one of the following arguments:
639.Pp
640.Bl -tag -width "-nosplitX" -offset indent -compact
641.It Fl split
642Start a new output line before each subsequent invocation of
643.Ic \&An .
644.It Fl nosplit
645The opposite of
646.Fl split .
647.El
648.Pp
649The default is
650.Fl nosplit .
651The effect of selecting either of the
652.Fl split
653modes ends at the beginning of the
654.Em AUTHORS
655section.
656In the
657.Em AUTHORS
658section, the default is
659.Fl nosplit
660for the first author listing and
661.Fl split
662for all other author listings.
663.Pp
664Examples:
665.Dl \&.An -nosplit
666.Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq \&Mt kristaps@bsd.lv
667.It Ic \&Ao Ar block
668Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets.
669Does not have any head arguments.
670This macro is almost never useful.
671See
672.Ic \&Aq
673for more details.
674.It Ic \&Ap
675Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding whitespace.
676This is generally used as a grammatical device when referring to the verb
677form of a function.
678.Pp
679Examples:
680.Dl \&.Fn execve \&Ap d
681.It Ic \&Aq Ar line
682Enclose the rest of the input line in angle brackets.
683The only important use case is for email addresses.
684See
685.Ic \&Mt
686for an example.
687.Pp
688Occasionally, it is used for names of characters and keys, for example:
689.Bd -literal -offset indent
690Press the
691\&.Aq escape
692key to ...
693.Ed
694.Pp
695For URIs, use
696.Ic \&Lk
697instead, and
698.Ic \&In
699for
700.Dq #include
701directives.
702Never wrap
703.Ic \&Ar
704in
705.Ic \&Aq .
706.Pp
707Since
708.Ic \&Aq
709usually renders with non-ASCII characters in non-ASCII output modes,
710do not use it where the ASCII characters
711.Sq <
712and
713.Sq >
714are required as syntax elements.
715Instead, use these characters directly in such cases, combining them
716with the macros
717.Ic \&Pf ,
718.Ic \&Ns ,
719or
720.Ic \&Eo
721as needed.
722.Pp
723See also
724.Ic \&Ao .
725.It Ic \&Ar Op Ar placeholder ...
726Command arguments.
727If an argument is not provided, the string
728.Dq file ...\&
729is used as a default.
730.Pp
731Examples:
732.Dl ".Fl o Ar file"
733.Dl ".Ar"
734.Dl ".Ar arg1 , arg2 ."
735.Pp
736The arguments to the
737.Ic \&Ar
738macro are names and placeholders for command arguments;
739for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use
740.Ic \&Fl
741or
742.Ic \&Cm .
743.It Ic \&At Op Ar version
744Formats an
745.At
746version.
747Accepts one optional argument:
748.Pp
749.Bl -tag -width "v[1-7] | 32vX" -offset indent -compact
750.It Cm v[1-7] | 32v
751A version of
752.At .
753.It Cm III
754.At III .
755.It Cm V | V.[1-4]
756A version of
757.At V .
758.El
759.Pp
760Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.
761.Pp
762Examples:
763.Dl \&.At
764.Dl \&.At III
765.Dl \&.At V.1
766.Pp
767See also
768.Ic \&Bsx ,
769.Ic \&Bx ,
770.Ic \&Dx ,
771.Ic \&Fx ,
772.Ic \&Nx ,
773and
774.Ic \&Ox .
775.It Ic \&Bc
776Close a
777.Ic \&Bo
778block.
779Does not have any tail arguments.
780.It Ic \&Bd Fl Ns Ar type Oo Fl offset Ar width Oc Op Fl compact
781Begin a display block.
782Display blocks are used to select a different indentation and
783justification than the one used by the surrounding text.
784They may contain both macro lines and text lines.
785By default, a display block is preceded by a vertical space.
786.Pp
787The
788.Ar type
789must be one of the following:
790.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
791.It Fl centered
792Produce one output line from each input line, and center-justify each line.
793Using this display type is not recommended; many
794.Nm
795implementations render it poorly.
796.It Fl filled
797Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left- and
798right-justify the resulting block.
799.It Fl literal
800Produce one output line from each input line,
801and do not justify the block at all.
802Preserve white space as it appears in the input.
803Always use a constant-width font.
804Use this for displaying source code.
805.It Fl ragged
806Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left-justify
807the resulting block.
808.It Fl unfilled
809The same as
810.Fl literal ,
811but using the same font as for normal text, which is a variable width font
812if supported by the output device.
813.El
814.Pp
815The
816.Ar type
817must be provided first.
818Additional arguments may follow:
819.Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
820.It Fl offset Ar width
821Indent the display by the
822.Ar width ,
823which may be one of the following:
824.Bl -item
825.It
826One of the pre-defined strings
827.Cm indent ,
828the width of a standard indentation (six constant width characters);
829.Cm indent-two ,
830twice
831.Cm indent ;
832.Cm left ,
833which has no effect;
834.Cm right ,
835which justifies to the right margin; or
836.Cm center ,
837which aligns around an imagined center axis.
838.It
839A macro invocation, which selects a predefined width
840associated with that macro.
841The most popular is the imaginary macro
842.Ar \&Ds ,
843which resolves to
844.Sy 6n .
845.It
846A scaling width as described in
847.Xr roff 7 .
848.It
849An arbitrary string, which indents by the length of this string.
850.El
851.Pp
852When the argument is missing,
853.Fl offset
854is ignored.
855.It Fl compact
856Do not assert vertical space before the display.
857.El
858.Pp
859Examples:
860.Bd -literal -offset indent
861\&.Bd \-literal \-offset indent \-compact
862   Hello       world.
863\&.Ed
864.Ed
865.Pp
866See also
867.Ic \&D1
868and
869.Ic \&Dl .
870.It Ic \&Bf Fl emphasis | literal | symbolic | Cm \&Em | \&Li | \&Sy
871Change the font mode for a scoped block of text.
872The
873.Fl emphasis
874and
875.Cm \&Em
876argument are equivalent, as are
877.Fl symbolic
878and
879.Cm \&Sy ,
880and
881.Fl literal
882and
883.Cm \&Li .
884Without an argument, this macro does nothing.
885The font mode continues until broken by a new font mode in a nested
886scope or
887.Ic \&Ef
888is encountered.
889.Pp
890See also
891.Ic \&Li ,
892.Ic \&Ef ,
893.Ic \&Em ,
894and
895.Ic \&Sy .
896.It Ic \&Bk Fl words
897For each macro, keep its output together on the same output line,
898until the end of the macro or the end of the input line is reached,
899whichever comes first.
900Line breaks in text lines are unaffected.
901.Pp
902The
903.Fl words
904argument is required; additional arguments are ignored.
905.Pp
906The following example will not break within each
907.Ic \&Op
908macro line:
909.Bd -literal -offset indent
910\&.Bk \-words
911\&.Op Fl f Ar flags
912\&.Op Fl o Ar output
913\&.Ek
914.Ed
915.Pp
916Be careful in using over-long lines within a keep block!
917Doing so will clobber the right margin.
918.It Xo
919.Ic \&Bl
920.Fl Ns Ar type
921.Op Fl width Ar val
922.Op Fl offset Ar val
923.Op Fl compact
924.Op Ar col ...
925.Xc
926Begin a list.
927Lists consist of items specified using the
928.Ic \&It
929macro, containing a head or a body or both.
930.Pp
931The list
932.Ar type
933is mandatory and must be specified first.
934The
935.Fl width
936and
937.Fl offset
938arguments accept macro names as described for
939.Ic \&Bd
940.Fl offset ,
941scaling widths as described in
942.Xr roff 7 ,
943or use the length of the given string.
944The
945.Fl offset
946is a global indentation for the whole list, affecting both item heads
947and bodies.
948For those list types supporting it, the
949.Fl width
950argument requests an additional indentation of item bodies,
951to be added to the
952.Fl offset .
953Unless the
954.Fl compact
955argument is specified, list entries are separated by vertical space.
956.Pp
957A list must specify one of the following list types:
958.Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent
959.It Fl bullet
960No item heads can be specified, but a bullet will be printed at the head
961of each item.
962Item bodies start on the same output line as the bullet
963and are indented according to the
964.Fl width
965argument.
966.It Fl column
967A columnated list.
968The
969.Fl width
970argument has no effect; instead, the string length of each argument
971specifies the width of one column.
972If the first line of the body of a
973.Fl column
974list is not an
975.Ic \&It
976macro line,
977.Ic \&It
978contexts spanning one input line each are implied until an
979.Ic \&It
980macro line is encountered, at which point items start being interpreted as
981described in the
982.Ic \&It
983documentation.
984.It Fl dash
985Like
986.Fl bullet ,
987except that dashes are used in place of bullets.
988.It Fl diag
989Like
990.Fl inset ,
991except that item heads are not parsed for macro invocations.
992Most often used in the
993.Em DIAGNOSTICS
994section with error constants in the item heads.
995.It Fl enum
996A numbered list.
997No item heads can be specified.
998Formatted like
999.Fl bullet ,
1000except that cardinal numbers are used in place of bullets,
1001starting at 1.
1002.It Fl hang
1003Like
1004.Fl tag ,
1005except that the first lines of item bodies are not indented, but follow
1006the item heads like in
1007.Fl inset
1008lists.
1009.It Fl hyphen
1010Synonym for
1011.Fl dash .
1012.It Fl inset
1013Item bodies follow items heads on the same line, using normal inter-word
1014spacing.
1015Bodies are not indented, and the
1016.Fl width
1017argument is ignored.
1018.It Fl item
1019No item heads can be specified, and none are printed.
1020Bodies are not indented, and the
1021.Fl width
1022argument is ignored.
1023.It Fl ohang
1024Item bodies start on the line following item heads and are not indented.
1025The
1026.Fl width
1027argument is ignored.
1028.It Fl tag
1029Item bodies are indented according to the
1030.Fl width
1031argument.
1032When an item head fits inside the indentation, the item body follows
1033this head on the same output line.
1034Otherwise, the body starts on the output line following the head.
1035.El
1036.Pp
1037Lists may be nested within lists and displays.
1038Nesting of
1039.Fl column
1040and
1041.Fl enum
1042lists may not be portable.
1043.Pp
1044See also
1045.Ic \&El
1046and
1047.Ic \&It .
1048.It Ic \&Bo Ar block
1049Begin a block enclosed by square brackets.
1050Does not have any head arguments.
1051.Pp
1052Examples:
1053.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1054\&.Bo 1 ,
1055\&.Dv BUFSIZ \&Bc
1056.Ed
1057.Pp
1058See also
1059.Ic \&Bq .
1060.It Ic \&Bq Ar line
1061Encloses its arguments in square brackets.
1062.Pp
1063Examples:
1064.Dl \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ
1065.Pp
1066.Em Remarks :
1067this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for
1068commands; the correct macros to use for this purpose are
1069.Ic \&Op ,
1070.Ic \&Oo ,
1071and
1072.Ic \&Oc .
1073.Pp
1074See also
1075.Ic \&Bo .
1076.It Ic \&Brc
1077Close a
1078.Ic \&Bro
1079block.
1080Does not have any tail arguments.
1081.It Ic \&Bro Ar block
1082Begin a block enclosed by curly braces.
1083Does not have any head arguments.
1084.Pp
1085Examples:
1086.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1087\&.Bro 1 , ... ,
1088\&.Va n \&Brc
1089.Ed
1090.Pp
1091See also
1092.Ic \&Brq .
1093.It Ic \&Brq Ar line
1094Encloses its arguments in curly braces.
1095.Pp
1096Examples:
1097.Dl \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n
1098.Pp
1099See also
1100.Ic \&Bro .
1101.It Ic \&Bsx Op Ar version
1102Format the
1103.Bsx
1104version provided as an argument, or a default value if
1105no argument is provided.
1106.Pp
1107Examples:
1108.Dl \&.Bsx 1.0
1109.Dl \&.Bsx
1110.Pp
1111See also
1112.Ic \&At ,
1113.Ic \&Bx ,
1114.Ic \&Dx ,
1115.Ic \&Fx ,
1116.Ic \&Nx ,
1117and
1118.Ic \&Ox .
1119.It Ic \&Bt
1120Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
1121Prints
1122.Dq is currently in beta test.
1123.It Ic \&Bx Op Ar version Op Ar variant
1124Format the
1125.Bx
1126version provided as an argument, or a default value if no
1127argument is provided.
1128.Pp
1129Examples:
1130.Dl \&.Bx 4.3 Tahoe
1131.Dl \&.Bx 4.4
1132.Dl \&.Bx
1133.Pp
1134See also
1135.Ic \&At ,
1136.Ic \&Bsx ,
1137.Ic \&Dx ,
1138.Ic \&Fx ,
1139.Ic \&Nx ,
1140and
1141.Ic \&Ox .
1142.It Ic \&Cd Ar line
1143Kernel configuration declaration.
1144This denotes strings accepted by
1145.Xr config 8 .
1146It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.
1147.Pp
1148Examples:
1149.Dl \&.Cd device le0 at scode?
1150.Pp
1151.Em Remarks :
1152this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain
1153whitespace and align consecutive
1154.Ic \&Cd
1155declarations.
1156This practise is discouraged.
1157.It Ic \&Cm Ar keyword ...
1158Command modifiers.
1159Typically used for fixed strings passed as arguments, unless
1160.Ic \&Fl
1161is more appropriate.
1162Also useful when specifying configuration options or keys.
1163.Pp
1164Examples:
1165.Dl ".Nm mt Fl f Ar device Cm rewind"
1166.Dl ".Nm ps Fl o Cm pid , Ns Cm command"
1167.Dl ".Nm dd Cm if= Ns Ar file1 Cm of= Ns Ar file2"
1168.Dl ".Cm IdentityFile Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa"
1169.Dl ".Cm LogLevel Dv DEBUG"
1170.It Ic \&D1 Ar line
1171One-line indented display.
1172This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented
1173statements.
1174It is followed by a newline.
1175.Pp
1176Examples:
1177.Dl \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh
1178.Pp
1179See also
1180.Ic \&Bd
1181and
1182.Ic \&Dl .
1183.It Ic \&Db
1184This macro is obsolete.
1185No replacement is needed.
1186It is ignored by
1187.Xr mandoc 1
1188and groff including its arguments.
1189It was formerly used to toggle a debugging mode.
1190.It Ic \&Dc
1191Close a
1192.Ic \&Do
1193block.
1194Does not have any tail arguments.
1195.It Ic \&Dd Cm $\&Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year
1196Document date for display in the page footer.
1197This is the mandatory first macro of any
1198.Nm
1199manual.
1200.Pp
1201The
1202.Ar month
1203is the full English month name, the
1204.Ar day
1205is an integer number, and the
1206.Ar year
1207is the full four-digit year.
1208.Pp
1209Other arguments are not portable; the
1210.Xr mandoc 1
1211utility handles them as follows:
1212.Bl -dash -offset 3n -compact
1213.It
1214To have the date automatically filled in by the
1215.Ox
1216version of
1217.Xr cvs 1 ,
1218the special string
1219.Dq $\&Mdocdate$
1220can be given as an argument.
1221.It
1222The traditional, purely numeric
1223.Xr man 7
1224format
1225.Ar year Ns \(en Ns Ar month Ns \(en Ns Ar day
1226is accepted, too.
1227.It
1228If a date string cannot be parsed, it is used verbatim.
1229.It
1230If no date string is given, the current date is used.
1231.El
1232.Pp
1233Examples:
1234.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
1235.Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 2 2018$
1236.Dl \&.Dd July 2, 2018
1237.Pp
1238See also
1239.Ic \&Dt
1240and
1241.Ic \&Os .
1242.It Ic \&Dl Ar line
1243One-line indented display.
1244This is formatted as literal text and is useful for commands and
1245invocations.
1246It is followed by a newline.
1247.Pp
1248Examples:
1249.Dl \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \e(ba less
1250.Pp
1251See also
1252.Ic \&Ql ,
1253.Ic \&Bd Fl literal ,
1254and
1255.Ic \&D1 .
1256.It Ic \&Do Ar block
1257Begin a block enclosed by double quotes.
1258Does not have any head arguments.
1259.Pp
1260Examples:
1261.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1262\&.Do
1263April is the cruellest month
1264\&.Dc
1265\e(em T.S. Eliot
1266.Ed
1267.Pp
1268See also
1269.Ic \&Dq .
1270.It Ic \&Dq Ar line
1271Encloses its arguments in
1272.Dq typographic
1273double-quotes.
1274.Pp
1275Examples:
1276.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1277\&.Dq April is the cruellest month
1278\e(em T.S. Eliot
1279.Ed
1280.Pp
1281See also
1282.Ic \&Qq ,
1283.Ic \&Sq ,
1284and
1285.Ic \&Do .
1286.It Ic \&Dt Ar TITLE section Op Ar arch
1287Document title for display in the page header.
1288This is the mandatory second macro of any
1289.Nm
1290file.
1291.Pp
1292Its arguments are as follows:
1293.Bl -tag -width section -offset 2n
1294.It Ar TITLE
1295The document's title (name), defaulting to
1296.Dq UNTITLED
1297if unspecified.
1298To achieve a uniform appearance of page header lines,
1299it should by convention be all caps.
1300.It Ar section
1301The manual section.
1302This may be one of
1303.Cm 1
1304.Pq General Commands ,
1305.Cm 2
1306.Pq System Calls ,
1307.Cm 3
1308.Pq Library Functions ,
1309.Cm 3p
1310.Pq Perl Library ,
1311.Cm 4
1312.Pq Device Drivers ,
1313.Cm 5
1314.Pq File Formats ,
1315.Cm 6
1316.Pq Games ,
1317.Cm 7
1318.Pq Miscellaneous Information ,
1319.Cm 8
1320.Pq System Manager's Manual ,
1321or
1322.Cm 9
1323.Pq Kernel Developer's Manual .
1324It should correspond to the manual's filename suffix and defaults to
1325the empty string if unspecified.
1326.It Ar arch
1327This specifies the machine architecture a manual page applies to,
1328where relevant.
1329For
1330.Ox ,
1331the following are valid architectures:
1332.Cm alpha ,
1333.Cm amd64 ,
1334.Cm armv7 ,
1335.Cm arm64 ,
1336.Cm hppa ,
1337.Cm i386 ,
1338.Cm landisk ,
1339.Cm loongson ,
1340.Cm luna88k ,
1341.Cm macppc ,
1342.Cm mips64 ,
1343.Cm octeon ,
1344.Cm sgi ,
1345.Cm socppc ,
1346and
1347.Cm sparc64 .
1348.El
1349.Pp
1350Examples:
1351.Dl \&.Dt FOO 1
1352.Dl \&.Dt FOO 9 i386
1353.Pp
1354See also
1355.Ic \&Dd
1356and
1357.Ic \&Os .
1358.It Ic \&Dv Ar identifier ...
1359Defined variables such as preprocessor constants, constant symbols,
1360enumeration values, and so on.
1361.Pp
1362Examples:
1363.Dl \&.Dv NULL
1364.Dl \&.Dv BUFSIZ
1365.Dl \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO
1366.Pp
1367See also
1368.Ic \&Er
1369and
1370.Ic \&Ev
1371for special-purpose constants,
1372.Ic \&Va
1373for variable symbols, and
1374.Ic \&Fd
1375for listing preprocessor variable definitions in the
1376.Em SYNOPSIS .
1377.It Ic \&Dx Op Ar version
1378Format the
1379.Dx
1380version provided as an argument, or a default
1381value if no argument is provided.
1382.Pp
1383Examples:
1384.Dl \&.Dx 2.4.1
1385.Dl \&.Dx
1386.Pp
1387See also
1388.Ic \&At ,
1389.Ic \&Bsx ,
1390.Ic \&Bx ,
1391.Ic \&Fx ,
1392.Ic \&Nx ,
1393and
1394.Ic \&Ox .
1395.It Ic \&Ec Op Ar closing_delimiter
1396Close a scope started by
1397.Ic \&Eo .
1398.Pp
1399The
1400.Ar closing_delimiter
1401argument is used as the enclosure tail, for example, specifying \e(rq
1402will emulate
1403.Ic \&Dc .
1404.It Ic \&Ed
1405End a display context started by
1406.Ic \&Bd .
1407.It Ic \&Ef
1408End a font mode context started by
1409.Ic \&Bf .
1410.It Ic \&Ek
1411End a keep context started by
1412.Ic \&Bk .
1413.It Ic \&El
1414End a list context started by
1415.Ic \&Bl .
1416See also
1417.Ic \&It .
1418.It Ic \&Em Ar word ...
1419Request an italic font.
1420If the output device does not provide that, underline.
1421.Pp
1422This is most often used for stress emphasis (not to be confused with
1423importance, see
1424.Ic \&Sy ) .
1425In the rare cases where none of the semantic markup macros fit,
1426it can also be used for technical terms and placeholders, except
1427that for syntax elements,
1428.Ic \&Sy
1429and
1430.Ic \&Ar
1431are preferred, respectively.
1432.Pp
1433Examples:
1434.Bd -literal -compact -offset indent
1435Selected lines are those
1436\&.Em not
1437matching any of the specified patterns.
1438Some of the functions use a
1439\&.Em hold space
1440to save the pattern space for subsequent retrieval.
1441.Ed
1442.Pp
1443See also
1444.Ic \&No ,
1445.Ic \&Ql ,
1446and
1447.Ic \&Sy .
1448.It Ic \&En Ar word ...
1449This macro is obsolete.
1450Use
1451.Ic \&Eo
1452or any of the other enclosure macros.
1453.Pp
1454It encloses its argument in the delimiters specified by the last
1455.Ic \&Es
1456macro.
1457.It Ic \&Eo Op Ar opening_delimiter
1458An arbitrary enclosure.
1459The
1460.Ar opening_delimiter
1461argument is used as the enclosure head, for example, specifying \e(lq
1462will emulate
1463.Ic \&Do .
1464.It Ic \&Er Ar identifier ...
1465Error constants for definitions of the
1466.Va errno
1467libc global variable.
1468This is most often used in section 2 and 3 manual pages.
1469.Pp
1470Examples:
1471.Dl \&.Er EPERM
1472.Dl \&.Er ENOENT
1473.Pp
1474See also
1475.Ic \&Dv
1476for general constants.
1477.It Ic \&Es Ar opening_delimiter closing_delimiter
1478This macro is obsolete.
1479Use
1480.Ic \&Eo
1481or any of the other enclosure macros.
1482.Pp
1483It takes two arguments, defining the delimiters to be used by subsequent
1484.Ic \&En
1485macros.
1486.It Ic \&Ev Ar identifier ...
1487Environmental variables such as those specified in
1488.Xr environ 7 .
1489.Pp
1490Examples:
1491.Dl \&.Ev DISPLAY
1492.Dl \&.Ev PATH
1493.Pp
1494See also
1495.Ic \&Dv
1496for general constants.
1497.It Ic \&Ex Fl std Op Ar utility ...
1498Insert a standard sentence regarding command exit values of 0 on success
1499and >0 on failure.
1500This is most often used in section 1, 6, and 8 manual pages.
1501.Pp
1502If
1503.Ar utility
1504is not specified, the document's name set by
1505.Ic \&Nm
1506is used.
1507Multiple
1508.Ar utility
1509arguments are treated as separate utilities.
1510.Pp
1511See also
1512.Ic \&Rv .
1513.It Ic \&Fa Ar argument ...
1514Function argument or parameter.
1515Each argument may be a name and a type (recommended for the
1516.Em SYNOPSIS
1517section), a name alone (for function invocations),
1518or a type alone (for function prototypes).
1519If both a type and a name are given or if the type consists of multiple
1520words, all words belonging to the same function argument have to be
1521given in a single argument to the
1522.Ic \&Fa
1523macro.
1524.Pp
1525This macro is also used to specify the field name of a structure.
1526.Pp
1527Most often, the
1528.Ic \&Fa
1529macro is used in the
1530.Em SYNOPSIS
1531within
1532.Ic \&Fo
1533blocks when documenting multi-line function prototypes.
1534If invoked with multiple arguments, the arguments are separated by a
1535comma.
1536Furthermore, if the following macro is another
1537.Ic \&Fa ,
1538the last argument will also have a trailing comma.
1539.Pp
1540Examples:
1541.Dl \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq
1542.Dl \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq
1543.Dl \&.Fa \(dqchar *\(dq size_t
1544.Pp
1545See also
1546.Ic \&Fo .
1547.It Ic \&Fc
1548End a function context started by
1549.Ic \&Fo .
1550.It Ic \&Fd Pf # Ar directive Op Ar argument ...
1551Preprocessor directive, in particular for listing it in the
1552.Em SYNOPSIS .
1553Historically, it was also used to document include files.
1554The latter usage has been deprecated in favour of
1555.Ic \&In .
1556.Pp
1557Examples:
1558.Dl \&.Fd #define sa_handler __sigaction_u.__sa_handler
1559.Dl \&.Fd #define SIO_MAXNFDS
1560.Dl \&.Fd #ifdef FS_DEBUG
1561.Dl \&.Ft void
1562.Dl \&.Fn dbg_open \(dqconst char *\(dq
1563.Dl \&.Fd #endif
1564.Pp
1565See also
1566.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1567.Ic \&In ,
1568and
1569.Ic \&Dv .
1570.It Ic \&Fl Op Ar word ...
1571Command-line flag or option.
1572Used when listing arguments to command-line utilities.
1573Prints a fixed-width hyphen
1574.Sq \-
1575directly followed by each argument.
1576If no arguments are provided, a hyphen is printed followed by a space.
1577If the argument is a macro, a hyphen is prefixed to the subsequent macro
1578output.
1579.Pp
1580Examples:
1581.Dl ".Fl R Op Fl H | L | P"
1582.Dl ".Op Fl 1AaCcdFfgHhikLlmnopqRrSsTtux"
1583.Dl ".Fl type Cm d Fl name Pa CVS"
1584.Dl ".Fl Ar signal_number"
1585.Dl ".Fl o Fl"
1586.Pp
1587See also
1588.Ic \&Cm .
1589.It Ic \&Fn Ar funcname Op Ar argument ...
1590A function name.
1591.Pp
1592Function arguments are surrounded in parenthesis and
1593are delimited by commas.
1594If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output.
1595In the
1596.Em SYNOPSIS
1597section, this macro starts a new output line,
1598and a blank line is automatically inserted between function definitions.
1599.Pp
1600Examples:
1601.Dl \&.Fn \(dqint funcname\(dq \(dqint arg0\(dq \(dqint arg1\(dq
1602.Dl \&.Fn funcname \(dqint arg0\(dq
1603.Dl \&.Fn funcname arg0
1604.Pp
1605.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1606\&.Ft functype
1607\&.Fn funcname
1608.Ed
1609.Pp
1610When referring to a function documented in another manual page, use
1611.Ic \&Xr
1612instead.
1613See also
1614.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1615.Ic \&Fo ,
1616and
1617.Ic \&Ft .
1618.It Ic \&Fo Ar funcname
1619Begin a function block.
1620This is a multi-line version of
1621.Ic \&Fn .
1622.Pp
1623Invocations usually occur in the following context:
1624.Bd -ragged -offset indent
1625.Pf \. Ic \&Ft Ar functype
1626.br
1627.Pf \. Ic \&Fo Ar funcname
1628.br
1629.Pf \. Ic \&Fa Qq Ar argtype Ar argname
1630.br
1631\&.\.\.
1632.br
1633.Pf \. Ic \&Fc
1634.Ed
1635.Pp
1636A
1637.Ic \&Fo
1638scope is closed by
1639.Ic \&Fc .
1640.Pp
1641See also
1642.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1643.Ic \&Fa ,
1644.Ic \&Fc ,
1645and
1646.Ic \&Ft .
1647.It Ic \&Fr Ar number
1648This macro is obsolete.
1649No replacement markup is needed.
1650.Pp
1651It was used to show numerical function return values in an italic font.
1652.It Ic \&Ft Ar functype
1653A function type.
1654.Pp
1655In the
1656.Em SYNOPSIS
1657section, a new output line is started after this macro.
1658.Pp
1659Examples:
1660.Dl \&.Ft int
1661.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1662\&.Ft functype
1663\&.Fn funcname
1664.Ed
1665.Pp
1666See also
1667.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
1668.Ic \&Fn ,
1669and
1670.Ic \&Fo .
1671.It Ic \&Fx Op Ar version
1672Format the
1673.Fx
1674version provided as an argument, or a default value
1675if no argument is provided.
1676.Pp
1677Examples:
1678.Dl \&.Fx 7.1
1679.Dl \&.Fx
1680.Pp
1681See also
1682.Ic \&At ,
1683.Ic \&Bsx ,
1684.Ic \&Bx ,
1685.Ic \&Dx ,
1686.Ic \&Nx ,
1687and
1688.Ic \&Ox .
1689.It Ic \&Hf Ar filename
1690This macro is not implemented in
1691.Xr mandoc 1 .
1692It was used to include the contents of a (header) file literally.
1693.It Ic \&Ic Ar keyword ...
1694Designate an internal or interactive command.
1695This is similar to
1696.Ic \&Cm
1697but used for instructions rather than values.
1698.Pp
1699Examples:
1700.Dl \&.Ic :wq
1701.Dl \&.Ic hash
1702.Dl \&.Ic alias
1703.Pp
1704Note that using
1705.Ic \&Ql ,
1706.Ic \&Dl ,
1707or
1708.Ic \&Bd Fl literal
1709is preferred for displaying code samples; the
1710.Ic \&Ic
1711macro is used when referring to an individual command name.
1712.It Ic \&In Ar filename
1713The name of an include file.
1714This macro is most often used in section 2, 3, and 9 manual pages.
1715.Pp
1716When invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
1717.Em SYNOPSIS
1718section, the argument is displayed in angle brackets
1719and preceded by
1720.Qq #include ,
1721and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
1722function declaration.
1723In other sections, it only encloses its argument in angle brackets
1724and causes no line break.
1725.Pp
1726Examples:
1727.Dl \&.In sys/types.h
1728.Pp
1729See also
1730.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
1731.It Ic \&It Op Ar head
1732A list item.
1733The syntax of this macro depends on the list type.
1734.Pp
1735Lists
1736of type
1737.Fl hang ,
1738.Fl ohang ,
1739.Fl inset ,
1740and
1741.Fl diag
1742have the following syntax:
1743.Pp
1744.D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Ar args
1745.Pp
1746Lists of type
1747.Fl bullet ,
1748.Fl dash ,
1749.Fl enum ,
1750.Fl hyphen
1751and
1752.Fl item
1753have the following syntax:
1754.Pp
1755.D1 Pf \. Ic \&It
1756.Pp
1757with subsequent lines interpreted within the scope of the
1758.Ic \&It
1759until either a closing
1760.Ic \&El
1761or another
1762.Ic \&It .
1763.Pp
1764The
1765.Fl tag
1766list has the following syntax:
1767.Pp
1768.D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Op Cm args
1769.Pp
1770Subsequent lines are interpreted as with
1771.Fl bullet
1772and family.
1773The line arguments correspond to the list's left-hand side; body
1774arguments correspond to the list's contents.
1775.Pp
1776The
1777.Fl column
1778list is the most complicated.
1779Its syntax is as follows:
1780.Pp
1781.D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Ar cell Op Ic \&Ta Ar cell ...
1782.D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Ar cell Op <TAB> Ar cell ...
1783.Pp
1784The arguments consist of one or more lines of text and macros
1785representing a complete table line.
1786Cells within the line are delimited by the special
1787.Ic \&Ta
1788block macro or by literal tab characters.
1789.Pp
1790Using literal tabs is strongly discouraged because they are very
1791hard to use correctly and
1792.Nm
1793code using them is very hard to read.
1794In particular, a blank character is syntactically significant
1795before and after the literal tab character.
1796If a word precedes or follows the tab without an intervening blank,
1797that word is never interpreted as a macro call, but always output
1798literally.
1799.Pp
1800The tab cell delimiter may only be used within the
1801.Ic \&It
1802line itself; on following lines, only the
1803.Ic \&Ta
1804macro can be used to delimit cells, and portability requires that
1805.Ic \&Ta
1806is called by other macros: some parsers do not recognize it when
1807it appears as the first macro on a line.
1808.Pp
1809Note that quoted strings may span tab-delimited cells on an
1810.Ic \&It
1811line.
1812For example,
1813.Pp
1814.Dl .It \(dqcol1 ,\& <TAB> col2 ,\(dq \&;
1815.Pp
1816will preserve the whitespace before both commas,
1817but not the whitespace before the semicolon.
1818.Pp
1819See also
1820.Ic \&Bl .
1821.It Ic \&Lb Cm lib Ns Ar name
1822Specify a library.
1823.Pp
1824The
1825.Ar name
1826parameter may be a system library, such as
1827.Cm z
1828or
1829.Cm pam ,
1830in which case a small library description is printed next to the linker
1831invocation; or a custom library, in which case the library name is
1832printed in quotes.
1833This is most commonly used in the
1834.Em SYNOPSIS
1835section as described in
1836.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
1837.Pp
1838Examples:
1839.Dl \&.Lb libz
1840.Dl \&.Lb libmandoc
1841.It Ic \&Li Ar word ...
1842Request a typewriter (literal) font.
1843Deprecated because on terminal output devices, this is usually
1844indistinguishable from normal text.
1845For literal displays, use
1846.Ic \&Ql Pq in-line ,
1847.Ic \&Dl Pq single line ,
1848or
1849.Ic \&Bd Fl literal Pq multi-line
1850instead.
1851.It Ic \&Lk Ar uri Op Ar display_name
1852Format a hyperlink.
1853.Pp
1854Examples:
1855.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv \(dqThe BSD.lv Project\(dq
1856.Dl \&.Lk http://bsd.lv
1857.Pp
1858See also
1859.Ic \&Mt .
1860.It Ic \&Lp
1861Deprecated synonym for
1862.Ic \&Pp .
1863.It Ic \&Ms Ar name
1864Display a mathematical symbol.
1865.Pp
1866Examples:
1867.Dl \&.Ms sigma
1868.Dl \&.Ms aleph
1869.It Ic \&Mt Ar localpart Ns @ Ns Ar domain
1870Format a
1871.Dq mailto:
1872hyperlink.
1873.Pp
1874Examples:
1875.Dl \&.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv
1876.Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq \&Mt kristaps@bsd.lv
1877.It Ic \&Nd Ar line
1878A one line description of the manual's content.
1879This is the mandatory last macro of the
1880.Em NAME
1881section and not appropriate for other sections.
1882.Pp
1883Examples:
1884.Dl Pf . Ic \&Nd mdoc language reference
1885.Dl Pf . Ic \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals
1886.Pp
1887The
1888.Ic \&Nd
1889macro technically accepts child macros and terminates with a subsequent
1890.Ic \&Sh
1891invocation.
1892Do not assume this behaviour: some
1893.Xr whatis 1
1894database generators are not smart enough to parse more than the line
1895arguments and will display macros verbatim.
1896.Pp
1897See also
1898.Ic \&Nm .
1899.It Ic \&Nm Op Ar name
1900The name of the manual page, or \(em in particular in section 1, 6,
1901and 8 pages \(em of an additional command or feature documented in
1902the manual page.
1903When first invoked, the
1904.Ic \&Nm
1905macro expects a single argument, the name of the manual page.
1906Usually, the first invocation happens in the
1907.Em NAME
1908section of the page.
1909The specified name will be remembered and used whenever the macro is
1910called again without arguments later in the page.
1911The
1912.Ic \&Nm
1913macro uses
1914.Sx Block full-implicit
1915semantics when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
1916.Em SYNOPSIS
1917section; otherwise, it uses ordinary
1918.Sx In-line
1919semantics.
1920.Pp
1921Examples:
1922.Bd -literal -offset indent
1923\&.Sh SYNOPSIS
1924\&.Nm cat
1925\&.Op Fl benstuv
1926\&.Op Ar
1927.Ed
1928.Pp
1929In the
1930.Em SYNOPSIS
1931of section 2, 3 and 9 manual pages, use the
1932.Ic \&Fn
1933macro rather than
1934.Ic \&Nm
1935to mark up the name of the manual page.
1936.It Ic \&No Ar word ...
1937Normal text.
1938Closes the scope of any preceding in-line macro.
1939When used after physical formatting macros like
1940.Ic \&Em
1941or
1942.Ic \&Sy ,
1943switches back to the standard font face and weight.
1944Can also be used to embed plain text strings in macro lines
1945using semantic annotation macros.
1946.Pp
1947Examples:
1948.Dl ".Em italic , Sy bold , No and roman"
1949.Pp
1950.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
1951\&.Sm off
1952\&.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /
1953\&.Sm on
1954.Ed
1955.Pp
1956See also
1957.Ic \&Em ,
1958.Ic \&Ql ,
1959and
1960.Ic \&Sy .
1961.It Ic \&Ns
1962Suppress a space between the output of the preceding macro
1963and the following text or macro.
1964Following invocation, input is interpreted as normal text
1965just like after an
1966.Ic \&No
1967macro.
1968.Pp
1969This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.
1970.Pp
1971Examples:
1972.Dl ".Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value"
1973.Dl ".Cm :M Ns Ar pattern"
1974.Dl ".Fl o Ns Ar output"
1975.Pp
1976See also
1977.Ic \&No
1978and
1979.Ic \&Sm .
1980.It Ic \&Nx Op Ar version
1981Format the
1982.Nx
1983version provided as an argument, or a default value if
1984no argument is provided.
1985.Pp
1986Examples:
1987.Dl \&.Nx 5.01
1988.Dl \&.Nx
1989.Pp
1990See also
1991.Ic \&At ,
1992.Ic \&Bsx ,
1993.Ic \&Bx ,
1994.Ic \&Dx ,
1995.Ic \&Fx ,
1996and
1997.Ic \&Ox .
1998.It Ic \&Oc
1999Close multi-line
2000.Ic \&Oo
2001context.
2002.It Ic \&Oo Ar block
2003Multi-line version of
2004.Ic \&Op .
2005.Pp
2006Examples:
2007.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
2008\&.Oo
2009\&.Op Fl flag Ns Ar value
2010\&.Oc
2011.Ed
2012.It Ic \&Op Ar line
2013Optional part of a command line.
2014Prints the argument(s) in brackets.
2015This is most often used in the
2016.Em SYNOPSIS
2017section of section 1 and 8 manual pages.
2018.Pp
2019Examples:
2020.Dl \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b
2021.Dl \&.Op \&Ar a | b
2022.Pp
2023See also
2024.Ic \&Oo .
2025.It Ic \&Os Op Ar system Op Ar version
2026Operating system version for display in the page footer.
2027This is the mandatory third macro of
2028any
2029.Nm
2030file.
2031.Pp
2032The optional
2033.Ar system
2034parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment.
2035It is suggested to leave it unspecified, in which case
2036.Xr mandoc 1
2037uses its
2038.Fl Ios
2039argument or, if that isn't specified either,
2040.Fa sysname
2041and
2042.Fa release
2043as returned by
2044.Xr uname 3 .
2045.Pp
2046Examples:
2047.Dl \&.Os
2048.Dl \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS
2049.Dl \&.Os BSD 4.3
2050.Pp
2051See also
2052.Ic \&Dd
2053and
2054.Ic \&Dt .
2055.It Ic \&Ot Ar functype
2056This macro is obsolete.
2057Use
2058.Ic \&Ft
2059instead; with
2060.Xr mandoc 1 ,
2061both have the same effect.
2062.Pp
2063Historical
2064.Nm
2065packages described it as
2066.Dq "old function type (FORTRAN)" .
2067.It Ic \&Ox Op Ar version
2068Format the
2069.Ox
2070version provided as an argument, or a default value
2071if no argument is provided.
2072.Pp
2073Examples:
2074.Dl \&.Ox 4.5
2075.Dl \&.Ox
2076.Pp
2077See also
2078.Ic \&At ,
2079.Ic \&Bsx ,
2080.Ic \&Bx ,
2081.Ic \&Dx ,
2082.Ic \&Fx ,
2083and
2084.Ic \&Nx .
2085.It Ic \&Pa Ar name ...
2086An absolute or relative file system path, or a file or directory name.
2087If an argument is not provided, the character
2088.Sq \(ti
2089is used as a default.
2090.Pp
2091Examples:
2092.Dl \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc
2093.Dl \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7
2094.Pp
2095See also
2096.Ic \&Lk .
2097.It Ic \&Pc
2098Close parenthesised context opened by
2099.Ic \&Po .
2100.It Ic \&Pf Ar prefix macro Op Ar argument ...
2101Removes the space between its argument and the following macro.
2102It is equivalent to:
2103.Pp
2104.D1 Ic \&No Pf \e& Ar prefix Ic \&Ns Ar macro Op Ar argument ...
2105.Pp
2106The
2107.Ar prefix
2108argument is not parsed for macro names or delimiters,
2109but used verbatim as if it were escaped.
2110.Pp
2111Examples:
2112.Dl ".Pf $ Ar variable_name"
2113.Dl ".Pf . Ar macro_name"
2114.Dl ".Pf 0x Ar hex_digits"
2115.Pp
2116See also
2117.Ic \&Ns
2118and
2119.Ic \&Sm .
2120.It Ic \&Po Ar block
2121Multi-line version of
2122.Ic \&Pq .
2123.It Ic \&Pp
2124Break a paragraph.
2125This will assert vertical space between prior and subsequent macros
2126and/or text.
2127.Pp
2128Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after
2129.Ic \&Sh
2130or
2131.Ic \&Ss
2132macros or before displays
2133.Pq Ic \&Bd Ar line
2134or lists
2135.Pq Ic \&Bl
2136unless the
2137.Fl compact
2138flag is given.
2139.It Ic \&Pq Ar line
2140Parenthesised enclosure.
2141.Pp
2142See also
2143.Ic \&Po .
2144.It Ic \&Qc
2145Close quoted context opened by
2146.Ic \&Qo .
2147.It Ic \&Ql Ar line
2148In-line literal display.
2149This can be used for complete command invocations and for multi-word
2150code examples when an indented display is not desired.
2151.Pp
2152See also
2153.Ic \&Dl
2154and
2155.Ic \&Bd
2156.Fl literal .
2157.It Ic \&Qo Ar block
2158Multi-line version of
2159.Ic \&Qq .
2160.It Ic \&Qq Ar line
2161Encloses its arguments in
2162.Qq typewriter
2163double-quotes.
2164Consider using
2165.Ic \&Dq .
2166.Pp
2167See also
2168.Ic \&Dq ,
2169.Ic \&Sq ,
2170and
2171.Ic \&Qo .
2172.It Ic \&Re
2173Close an
2174.Ic \&Rs
2175block.
2176Does not have any tail arguments.
2177.It Ic \&Rs
2178Begin a bibliographic
2179.Pq Dq reference
2180block.
2181Does not have any head arguments.
2182The block macro may only contain
2183.Ic \&%A ,
2184.Ic \&%B ,
2185.Ic \&%C ,
2186.Ic \&%D ,
2187.Ic \&%I ,
2188.Ic \&%J ,
2189.Ic \&%N ,
2190.Ic \&%O ,
2191.Ic \&%P ,
2192.Ic \&%Q ,
2193.Ic \&%R ,
2194.Ic \&%T ,
2195.Ic \&%U ,
2196and
2197.Ic \&%V
2198child macros (at least one must be specified).
2199.Pp
2200Examples:
2201.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
2202\&.Rs
2203\&.%A J. E. Hopcroft
2204\&.%A J. D. Ullman
2205\&.%B Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
2206\&.%I Addison-Wesley
2207\&.%C Reading, Massachusetts
2208\&.%D 1979
2209\&.Re
2210.Ed
2211.Pp
2212If an
2213.Ic \&Rs
2214block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical space is asserted
2215before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current
2216line.
2217.It Ic \&Rv Fl std Op Ar function ...
2218Insert a standard sentence regarding a function call's return value of 0
2219on success and \-1 on error, with the
2220.Va errno
2221libc global variable set on error.
2222.Pp
2223If
2224.Ar function
2225is not specified, the document's name set by
2226.Ic \&Nm
2227is used.
2228Multiple
2229.Ar function
2230arguments are treated as separate functions.
2231.Pp
2232See also
2233.Ic \&Ex .
2234.It Ic \&Sc
2235Close single-quoted context opened by
2236.Ic \&So .
2237.It Ic \&Sh Ar TITLE LINE
2238Begin a new section.
2239For a list of conventional manual sections, see
2240.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
2241These sections should be used unless it's absolutely necessary that
2242custom sections be used.
2243.Pp
2244Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
2245.Ic \&Sx .
2246Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
2247may not be linked with
2248.Ic \&Sx .
2249.Pp
2250See also
2251.Ic \&Pp ,
2252.Ic \&Ss ,
2253and
2254.Ic \&Sx .
2255.It Ic \&Sm Op Cm on | off
2256Switches the spacing mode for output generated from macros.
2257.Pp
2258By default, spacing is
2259.Cm on .
2260When switched
2261.Cm off ,
2262no white space is inserted between macro arguments and between the
2263output generated from adjacent macros, but text lines
2264still get normal spacing between words and sentences.
2265.Pp
2266When called without an argument, the
2267.Ic \&Sm
2268macro toggles the spacing mode.
2269Using this is not recommended because it makes the code harder to read.
2270.It Ic \&So Ar block
2271Multi-line version of
2272.Ic \&Sq .
2273.It Ic \&Sq Ar line
2274Encloses its arguments in
2275.Sq typewriter
2276single-quotes.
2277.Pp
2278See also
2279.Ic \&Dq ,
2280.Ic \&Qq ,
2281and
2282.Ic \&So .
2283.It Ic \&Ss Ar Title line
2284Begin a new subsection.
2285Unlike with
2286.Ic \&Sh ,
2287there is no convention for the naming of subsections.
2288Except
2289.Em DESCRIPTION ,
2290the conventional sections described in
2291.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
2292rarely have subsections.
2293.Pp
2294Sub-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
2295.Ic \&Sx .
2296Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
2297may not be linked with
2298.Ic \&Sx .
2299.Pp
2300See also
2301.Ic \&Pp ,
2302.Ic \&Sh ,
2303and
2304.Ic \&Sx .
2305.It Ic \&St Fl Ns Ar abbreviation
2306Replace an abbreviation for a standard with the full form.
2307The following standards are recognised.
2308Where multiple lines are given without a blank line in between,
2309they all refer to the same standard, and using the first form
2310is recommended.
2311.Bl -tag -width 1n
2312.It C language standards
2313.Pp
2314.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2315.It \-ansiC
2316.St -ansiC
2317.It \-ansiC-89
2318.St -ansiC-89
2319.It \-isoC
2320.St -isoC
2321.It \-isoC-90
2322.St -isoC-90
2323.br
2324The original C standard.
2325.Pp
2326.It \-isoC-amd1
2327.St -isoC-amd1
2328.Pp
2329.It \-isoC-tcor1
2330.St -isoC-tcor1
2331.Pp
2332.It \-isoC-tcor2
2333.St -isoC-tcor2
2334.Pp
2335.It \-isoC-99
2336.St -isoC-99
2337.br
2338The second major version of the C language standard.
2339.Pp
2340.It \-isoC-2011
2341.St -isoC-2011
2342.br
2343The third major version of the C language standard.
2344.El
2345.It POSIX.1 before the Single UNIX Specification
2346.Pp
2347.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2348.It \-p1003.1-88
2349.St -p1003.1-88
2350.It \-p1003.1
2351.St -p1003.1
2352.br
2353The original POSIX standard, based on ANSI C.
2354.Pp
2355.It \-p1003.1-90
2356.St -p1003.1-90
2357.It \-iso9945-1-90
2358.St -iso9945-1-90
2359.br
2360The first update of POSIX.1.
2361.Pp
2362.It \-p1003.1b-93
2363.St -p1003.1b-93
2364.It \-p1003.1b
2365.St -p1003.1b
2366.br
2367Real-time extensions.
2368.Pp
2369.It \-p1003.1c-95
2370.St -p1003.1c-95
2371.br
2372POSIX thread interfaces.
2373.Pp
2374.It \-p1003.1i-95
2375.St -p1003.1i-95
2376.br
2377Technical Corrigendum.
2378.Pp
2379.It \-p1003.1-96
2380.St -p1003.1-96
2381.It \-iso9945-1-96
2382.St -iso9945-1-96
2383.br
2384Includes POSIX.1-1990, 1b, 1c, and 1i.
2385.El
2386.It X/Open Portability Guide version 4 and related standards
2387.Pp
2388.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2389.It \-xpg3
2390.St -xpg3
2391.br
2392An XPG4 precursor, published in 1989.
2393.Pp
2394.It \-p1003.2
2395.St -p1003.2
2396.It \-p1003.2-92
2397.St -p1003.2-92
2398.It \-iso9945-2-93
2399.St -iso9945-2-93
2400.br
2401An XCU4 precursor.
2402.Pp
2403.It \-p1003.2a-92
2404.St -p1003.2a-92
2405.br
2406Updates to POSIX.2.
2407.Pp
2408.It \-xpg4
2409.St -xpg4
2410.br
2411Based on POSIX.1 and POSIX.2, published in 1992.
2412.El
2413.It Single UNIX Specification version 1 and related standards
2414.Pp
2415.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2416.It \-susv1
2417.St -susv1
2418.It \-xpg4.2
2419.St -xpg4.2
2420.br
2421This standard was published in 1994.
2422It was used as the basis for UNIX 95 certification.
2423The following three refer to parts of it.
2424.Pp
2425.It \-xsh4.2
2426.St -xsh4.2
2427.Pp
2428.It \-xcurses4.2
2429.St -xcurses4.2
2430.Pp
2431.It \-p1003.1g-2000
2432.St -p1003.1g-2000
2433.br
2434Networking APIs, including sockets.
2435.Pp
2436.It \-svid4
2437.St -svid4 ,
2438.br
2439Published in 1995.
2440.El
2441.It Single UNIX Specification version 2 and related standards
2442.Pp
2443.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2444.It \-susv2
2445.St -susv2
2446This Standard was published in 1997
2447and is also called X/Open Portability Guide version 5.
2448It was used as the basis for UNIX 98 certification.
2449The following refer to parts of it.
2450.Pp
2451.It \-xbd5
2452.St -xbd5
2453.Pp
2454.It \-xsh5
2455.St -xsh5
2456.Pp
2457.It \-xcu5
2458.St -xcu5
2459.Pp
2460.It \-xns5
2461.St -xns5
2462.It \-xns5.2
2463.St -xns5.2
2464.El
2465.It Single UNIX Specification version 3
2466.Pp
2467.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1-2001" -compact
2468.It \-p1003.1-2001
2469.St -p1003.1-2001
2470.It \-susv3
2471.St -susv3
2472.br
2473This standard is based on C99, SUSv2, POSIX.1-1996, 1d, and 1j.
2474It is also called X/Open Portability Guide version 6.
2475It is used as the basis for UNIX 03 certification.
2476.Pp
2477.It \-p1003.1-2004
2478.St -p1003.1-2004
2479.br
2480The second and last Technical Corrigendum.
2481.El
2482.It Single UNIX Specification version 4
2483.Pp
2484.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2485.It \-p1003.1-2008
2486.St -p1003.1-2008
2487.It \-susv4
2488.St -susv4
2489.br
2490This standard is also called
2491X/Open Portability Guide version 7.
2492.El
2493.It Other standards
2494.Pp
2495.Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
2496.It \-ieee754
2497.St -ieee754
2498.br
2499Floating-point arithmetic.
2500.Pp
2501.It \-iso8601
2502.St -iso8601
2503.br
2504Representation of dates and times, published in 1988.
2505.Pp
2506.It \-iso8802-3
2507.St -iso8802-3
2508.br
2509Ethernet local area networks.
2510.Pp
2511.It \-ieee1275-94
2512.St -ieee1275-94
2513.El
2514.El
2515.It Ic \&Sx Ar Title line
2516Reference a section or subsection in the same manual page.
2517The referenced section or subsection name must be identical to the
2518enclosed argument, including whitespace.
2519.Pp
2520Examples:
2521.Dl \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
2522.Pp
2523See also
2524.Ic \&Sh
2525and
2526.Ic \&Ss .
2527.It Ic \&Sy Ar word ...
2528Request a boldface font.
2529.Pp
2530This is most often used to indicate importance or seriousness (not to be
2531confused with stress emphasis, see
2532.Ic \&Em ) .
2533When none of the semantic macros fit, it is also adequate for syntax
2534elements that have to be given or that appear verbatim.
2535.Pp
2536Examples:
2537.Bd -literal -compact -offset indent
2538\&.Sy Warning :
2539If
2540\&.Sy s
2541appears in the owner permissions, set-user-ID mode is set.
2542This utility replaces the former
2543\&.Sy dumpdir
2544program.
2545.Ed
2546.Pp
2547See also
2548.Ic \&Em ,
2549.Ic \&No ,
2550and
2551.Ic \&Ql .
2552.It Ic \&Ta
2553Table cell separator in
2554.Ic \&Bl Fl column
2555lists; can only be used below
2556.Ic \&It .
2557.It Ic \&Tn Ar word ...
2558Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
2559Even though the macro name
2560.Pq Dq tradename
2561suggests a semantic function, historic usage is inconsistent, mostly
2562using it as a presentation-level macro to request a small caps font.
2563.It Ic \&Ud
2564Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
2565Prints out
2566.Dq currently under development.
2567.It Ic \&Ux
2568Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
2569Prints out
2570.Dq Ux .
2571.It Ic \&Va Oo Ar type Oc Ar identifier ...
2572A variable name.
2573.Pp
2574Examples:
2575.Dl \&.Va foo
2576.Dl \&.Va const char *bar ;
2577.Pp
2578For function arguments and parameters, use
2579.Ic \&Fa
2580instead.
2581For declarations of global variables in the
2582.Em SYNOPSIS
2583section, use
2584.Ic \&Vt .
2585.It Ic \&Vt Ar type Op Ar identifier
2586A variable type.
2587.Pp
2588This is also used for indicating global variables in the
2589.Em SYNOPSIS
2590section, in which case a variable name is also specified.
2591Note that it accepts
2592.Sx Block partial-implicit
2593syntax when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
2594.Em SYNOPSIS
2595section, else it accepts ordinary
2596.Sx In-line
2597syntax.
2598In the former case, this macro starts a new output line,
2599and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
2600function definition or include directive.
2601.Pp
2602Examples:
2603.Dl \&.Vt unsigned char
2604.Dl \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;
2605.Pp
2606For parameters in function prototypes, use
2607.Ic \&Fa
2608instead, for function return types
2609.Ic \&Ft ,
2610and for variable names outside the
2611.Em SYNOPSIS
2612section
2613.Ic \&Va ,
2614even when including a type with the name.
2615See also
2616.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
2617.It Ic \&Xc
2618Close a scope opened by
2619.Ic \&Xo .
2620.It Ic \&Xo Ar block
2621Extend the header of an
2622.Ic \&It
2623macro or the body of a partial-implicit block macro
2624beyond the end of the input line.
2625This macro originally existed to work around the 9-argument limit
2626of historic
2627.Xr roff 7 .
2628.It Ic \&Xr Ar name section
2629Link to another manual
2630.Pq Qq cross-reference .
2631.Pp
2632Cross reference the
2633.Ar name
2634and
2635.Ar section
2636number of another man page.
2637.Pp
2638Examples:
2639.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1
2640.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;
2641.Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour
2642.El
2643.Sh MACRO SYNTAX
2644The syntax of a macro depends on its classification.
2645In this section,
2646.Sq \-arg
2647refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more
2648.Sq parm
2649parameters;
2650.Sq \&Yo
2651opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,
2652.Sq \&Yc
2653closes it out.
2654.Pp
2655The
2656.Em Callable
2657column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name
2658as an argument to another macro.
2659For example,
2660.Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file
2661produces
2662.Sq Op Fl O Ar file .
2663To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally,
2664escape it by prepending a zero-width space,
2665.Sq \e& .
2666For example,
2667.Sq \&Op \e&Fl O
2668produces
2669.Sq Op \&Fl O .
2670If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument
2671to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text.
2672For example,
2673.Sq \&.Fl \&Sh
2674produces
2675.Sq Fl \&Sh .
2676.Pp
2677The
2678.Em Parsed
2679column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving
2680their names as arguments.
2681If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears
2682as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text.
2683.Pp
2684The
2685.Em Scope
2686column, if applicable, describes closure rules.
2687.Ss Block full-explicit
2688Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro.
2689All macros contains bodies; only
2690.Ic \s&Bf
2691and
2692.Pq optionally
2693.Ic \&Bl
2694contain a head.
2695.Bd -literal -offset indent
2696\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
2697\(lBbody...\(rB
2698\&.Yc
2699.Ed
2700.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXX" -offset indent
2701.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2702.It Ic \&Bd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Ed
2703.It Ic \&Bf  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Ef
2704.It Ic \&Bk  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Ek
2705.It Ic \&Bl  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&El
2706.It Ic \&Ed  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bd
2707.It Ic \&Ef  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bf
2708.It Ic \&Ek  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bk
2709.It Ic \&El  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bl
2710.El
2711.Ss Block full-implicit
2712Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.
2713All macros have bodies; some
2714.Po
2715.Ic \&It Fl bullet ,
2716.Fl hyphen ,
2717.Fl dash ,
2718.Fl enum ,
2719.Fl item
2720.Pc
2721don't have heads; only one
2722.Po
2723.Ic \&It
2724in
2725.Ic \&Bl Fl column
2726.Pc
2727has multiple heads.
2728.Bd -literal -offset indent
2729\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB
2730\(lBbody...\(rB
2731.Ed
2732.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent
2733.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2734.It Ic \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&It , Ic \&El
2735.It Ic \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Ic \&Sh
2736.It Ic \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&Nm , Ic \&Sh , Ic \&Ss
2737.It Ic \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&Sh
2738.It Ic \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&Sh , Ic \&Ss
2739.El
2740.Pp
2741Note that the
2742.Ic \&Nm
2743macro is a
2744.Sx Block full-implicit
2745macro only when invoked as the first macro
2746in a
2747.Em SYNOPSIS
2748section line, else it is
2749.Sx In-line .
2750.Ss Block partial-explicit
2751Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope.
2752Each has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head
2753.Po
2754.Ic \&Fo ,
2755.Ic \&Eo
2756.Pc
2757and/or tail
2758.Pq Ic \&Ec .
2759.Bd -literal -offset indent
2760\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
2761\(lBbody...\(rB
2762\&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
2763
2764\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \
2765\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
2766.Ed
2767.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent
2768.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2769.It Ic \&Ac  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Ao
2770.It Ic \&Ao  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Ac
2771.It Ic \&Bc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Bo
2772.It Ic \&Bo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Bc
2773.It Ic \&Brc Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Bro
2774.It Ic \&Bro Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Brc
2775.It Ic \&Dc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Do
2776.It Ic \&Do  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Dc
2777.It Ic \&Ec  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Eo
2778.It Ic \&Eo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Ec
2779.It Ic \&Fc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Fo
2780.It Ic \&Fo  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Fc
2781.It Ic \&Oc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Oo
2782.It Ic \&Oo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Oc
2783.It Ic \&Pc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Po
2784.It Ic \&Po  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Pc
2785.It Ic \&Qc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Oo
2786.It Ic \&Qo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Oc
2787.It Ic \&Re  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Rs
2788.It Ic \&Rs  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Re
2789.It Ic \&Sc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&So
2790.It Ic \&So  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Sc
2791.It Ic \&Xc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Xo
2792.It Ic \&Xo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Xc
2793.El
2794.Ss Block partial-implicit
2795Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the
2796end of the line.
2797.Bd -literal -offset indent
2798\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
2799.Ed
2800.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" -offset indent
2801.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed
2802.It Ic \&Aq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2803.It Ic \&Bq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2804.It Ic \&Brq Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2805.It Ic \&D1  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&Yes
2806.It Ic \&Dl  Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes
2807.It Ic \&Dq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2808.It Ic \&En  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2809.It Ic \&Op  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2810.It Ic \&Pq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2811.It Ic \&Ql  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2812.It Ic \&Qq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2813.It Ic \&Sq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2814.It Ic \&Vt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
2815.El
2816.Pp
2817Note that the
2818.Ic \&Vt
2819macro is a
2820.Sx Block partial-implicit
2821only when invoked as the first macro
2822in a
2823.Em SYNOPSIS
2824section line, else it is
2825.Sx In-line .
2826.Ss Special block macro
2827The
2828.Ic \&Ta
2829macro can only be used below
2830.Ic \&It
2831in
2832.Ic \&Bl Fl column
2833lists.
2834It delimits blocks representing table cells;
2835these blocks have bodies, but no heads.
2836.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent
2837.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
2838.It Ic \&Ta  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes    Ta closed by Ic \&Ta , Ic \&It
2839.El
2840.Ss In-line
2841Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths,
2842and/or subsequent macros.
2843In-line macros have only text children.
2844If a number (or inequality) of arguments is
2845.Pq n ,
2846then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.
2847.Bd -literal -offset indent
2848\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
2849
2850\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc...
2851
2852\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN
2853.Ed
2854.Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "Arguments" -offset indent
2855.It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Arguments
2856.It Ic \&%A  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2857.It Ic \&%B  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2858.It Ic \&%C  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2859.It Ic \&%D  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2860.It Ic \&%I  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2861.It Ic \&%J  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2862.It Ic \&%N  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2863.It Ic \&%O  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2864.It Ic \&%P  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2865.It Ic \&%Q  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2866.It Ic \&%R  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2867.It Ic \&%T  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2868.It Ic \&%U  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2869.It Ic \&%V  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2870.It Ic \&Ad  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2871.It Ic \&An  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2872.It Ic \&Ap  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
2873.It Ic \&Ar  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2874.It Ic \&At  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
2875.It Ic \&Bsx Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2876.It Ic \&Bt  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2877.It Ic \&Bx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2878.It Ic \&Cd  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2879.It Ic \&Cm  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2880.It Ic \&Db  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2881.It Ic \&Dd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2882.It Ic \&Dt  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2883.It Ic \&Dv  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2884.It Ic \&Dx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2885.It Ic \&Em  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2886.It Ic \&Er  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2887.It Ic \&Es  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    2
2888.It Ic \&Ev  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2889.It Ic \&Ex  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2890.It Ic \&Fa  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2891.It Ic \&Fd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
2892.It Ic \&Fl  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2893.It Ic \&Fn  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2894.It Ic \&Fr  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2895.It Ic \&Ft  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2896.It Ic \&Fx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2897.It Ic \&Hf  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2898.It Ic \&Ic  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2899.It Ic \&In  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2900.It Ic \&Lb  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
2901.It Ic \&Li  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2902.It Ic \&Lk  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2903.It Ic \&Lp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2904.It Ic \&Ms  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2905.It Ic \&Mt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2906.It Ic \&Nm  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2907.It Ic \&No  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
2908.It Ic \&Ns  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
2909.It Ic \&Nx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2910.It Ic \&Os  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2911.It Ic \&Ot  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2912.It Ic \&Ox  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2913.It Ic \&Pa  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2914.It Ic \&Pf  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
2915.It Ic \&Pp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2916.It Ic \&Rv  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
2917.It Ic \&Sm  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    <2
2918.It Ic \&St  Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    1
2919.It Ic \&Sx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2920.It Ic \&Sy  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2921.It Ic \&Tn  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2922.It Ic \&Ud  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
2923.It Ic \&Ux  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2924.It Ic \&Va  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
2925.It Ic \&Vt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
2926.It Ic \&Xr  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    2
2927.El
2928.Ss Delimiters
2929When a macro argument consists of one single input character
2930considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling.
2931This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing
2932more than one character.
2933Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it
2934like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending
2935a zero-width space
2936.Pq Sq \e& .
2937In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used
2938as normal punctuation.
2939.Pp
2940For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters,
2941these delimiters are put before the macro scope,
2942and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters,
2943these delimiters are put after the macro scope.
2944Spacing is suppressed after opening delimiters
2945and before closing delimiters.
2946For example,
2947.Pp
2948.D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ."
2949.Pp
2950renders as:
2951.Pp
2952.D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) .
2953.Pp
2954Opening delimiters are:
2955.Pp
2956.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
2957.It \&(
2958left parenthesis
2959.It \&[
2960left bracket
2961.El
2962.Pp
2963Closing delimiters are:
2964.Pp
2965.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
2966.It \&.
2967period
2968.It \&,
2969comma
2970.It \&:
2971colon
2972.It \&;
2973semicolon
2974.It \&)
2975right parenthesis
2976.It \&]
2977right bracket
2978.It \&?
2979question mark
2980.It \&!
2981exclamation mark
2982.El
2983.Pp
2984Note that even a period preceded by a backslash
2985.Pq Sq \e.\&
2986gets this special handling; use
2987.Sq \e&.
2988to prevent that.
2989.Pp
2990Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter
2991delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that
2992are not delimiters.
2993For example,
2994.Pp
2995.D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e"
2996.Pp
2997renders as:
2998.Pp
2999.D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e
3000.Pp
3001This applies to both opening and closing delimiters,
3002and also to the middle delimiter, which does not suppress spacing:
3003.Pp
3004.Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
3005.It \&|
3006vertical bar
3007.El
3008.Pp
3009As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered
3010in the same way as a plain
3011.Sq \&|
3012character.
3013Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals.
3014.Ss Font handling
3015In
3016.Nm
3017documents, usage of semantic markup is recommended in order to have
3018proper fonts automatically selected; only when no fitting semantic markup
3019is available, consider falling back to
3020.Sx Physical markup
3021macros.
3022Whenever any
3023.Nm
3024macro switches the
3025.Xr roff 7
3026font mode, it will automatically restore the previous font when exiting
3027its scope.
3028Manually switching the font using the
3029.Xr roff 7
3030.Ql \ef
3031font escape sequences is never required.
3032.Sh COMPATIBILITY
3033This section provides an incomplete list of compatibility issues
3034between mandoc and GNU troff
3035.Pq Qq groff .
3036.Pp
3037The following problematic behaviour is found in groff:
3038.Pp
3039.Bl -dash -compact
3040.It
3041.Ic \&Dd
3042with non-standard arguments behaves very strangely.
3043When there are three arguments, they are printed verbatim.
3044Any other number of arguments is replaced by the current date,
3045but without any arguments the string
3046.Dq Epoch
3047is printed.
3048.It
3049.Ic \&Lk
3050only accepts a single link-name argument; the remainder is misformatted.
3051.It
3052.Ic \&Pa
3053does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under
3054certain list types.
3055.It
3056.Ic \&Ta
3057can only be called by other macros, but not at the beginning of a line.
3058.It
3059.Ic \&%C
3060is not implemented (up to and including groff-1.22.2).
3061.It
3062.Sq \ef
3063.Pq font face
3064and
3065.Sq \eF
3066.Pq font family face
3067.Sx Text Decoration
3068escapes behave irregularly when specified within line-macro scopes.
3069.It
3070Negative scaling units return to prior lines.
3071Instead, mandoc truncates them to zero.
3072.El
3073.Pp
3074The following features are unimplemented in mandoc:
3075.Pp
3076.Bl -dash -compact
3077.It
3078.Ic \&Bd Fl file Ar file
3079is unsupported for security reasons.
3080.It
3081.Ic \&Bd
3082.Fl filled
3083does not adjust the right margin, but is an alias for
3084.Ic \&Bd
3085.Fl ragged .
3086.It
3087.Ic \&Bd
3088.Fl literal
3089does not use a literal font, but is an alias for
3090.Ic \&Bd
3091.Fl unfilled .
3092.It
3093.Ic \&Bd
3094.Fl offset Cm center
3095and
3096.Fl offset Cm right
3097don't work.
3098Groff does not implement centered and flush-right rendering either,
3099but produces large indentations.
3100.El
3101.Sh SEE ALSO
3102.Xr man 1 ,
3103.Xr mandoc 1 ,
3104.Xr eqn 7 ,
3105.Xr man 7 ,
3106.Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
3107.Xr roff 7 ,
3108.Xr tbl 7
3109.Pp
3110The web page
3111.Lk http://mandoc.bsd.lv/mdoc/ "extended documentation for the mdoc language"
3112provides a few tutorial-style pages for beginners, an extensive style
3113guide for advanced authors, and an alphabetic index helping to choose
3114the best macros for various kinds of content.
3115.Sh HISTORY
3116The
3117.Nm
3118language first appeared as a troff macro package in
3119.Bx 4.4 .
3120It was later significantly updated by Werner Lemberg and Ruslan Ermilov
3121in groff-1.17.
3122The standalone implementation that is part of the
3123.Xr mandoc 1
3124utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
3125.Ox 4.6 .
3126.Sh AUTHORS
3127The
3128.Nm
3129reference was written by
3130.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq Mt kristaps@bsd.lv .
3131