GROFF(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual GROFF(7)
NAME
groff - a short reference for the GNU roff language
DESCRIPTION
The name groff stands for GNU roff and is the free implementation of
the roff type-setting system. See roff(7) for a survey and the back-
ground of the groff system.
This document provides only short descriptions of roff language ele-
ments. Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff, by Trent A. Fisher and
Werner Lemberg, is the primary groff manual, and is written in Texinfo.
You can browse it interactively with “info groff”.
Historically, the roff language was called troff. groff is compatible
with the classical system and provides proper extensions. So in GNU,
the terms roff, troff, and groff language could be used as synonyms.
However troff slightly tends to refer more to the classical aspects,
whereas groff emphasizes the GNU extensions, and roff is the general
term for the language.
The general syntax for writing groff documents is relatively easy, but
writing extensions to the roff language can be a bit harder.
The roff language is line-oriented. There are only two kinds of lines,
control lines and text lines. The control lines start with a control
character, by default a period “.” or a single quote “'”; all other
lines are text lines.
Control lines represent commands, optionally with arguments. They have
the following syntax. The leading control character can be followed by
a command name; arguments, if any, are separated by spaces (but not tab
characters) from the command name and among themselves, for example,
.command_name arg1 arg2
For indentation, any number of space or tab characters can be inserted
between the leading control character and the command name, but the
control character must be on the first position of the line.
Text lines represent the parts that is printed. They can be modified
by escape sequences, which are recognized by a leading backslash ‘\’.
These are in-line or even in-word formatting elements or functions.
Some of these take arguments separated by single quotes “'”, others are
regulated by a length encoding introduced by an open parenthesis ‘(’ or
enclosed in brackets ‘[’ and ‘]’.
The roff language provides flexible instruments for writing language
extension, such as macros. When interpreting macro definitions, the
roff system enters a special operating mode, called the copy mode.
The copy mode behaviour can be quite tricky, but there are some rules
that ensure a safe usage.
1. Printable backslashes must be denoted as \e. To be more pre-
cise, \e represents the current escape character. To get a
backslash glyph, use \(rs or \[rs].
2. Double all backslashes.
3. Begin all text lines with the special non-spacing character \&.
This does not produce the most efficient code, but it should work as a
first measure. For better strategies, see the groff Texinfo manual and
groff_tmac(5).
Reading roff source files is easier, just reduce all double backslashes
to a single one in all macro definitions.
GROFF ELEMENTS
The roff language elements add formatting information to a text file.
The fundamental elements are predefined commands and variables that
make roff a full-blown programming language.
There are two kinds of roff commands, possibly with arguments. Re-
quests are written on a line of their own starting with a dot ‘.’ or a
“'”, whereas Escape sequences are in-line functions and in-word format-
ting elements starting with a backslash ‘\’.
The user can define her own formatting commands using the de request.
These commands are called macros, but they are used exactly like re-
quests. Macro packages are pre-defined sets of macros written in the
groff language. A user's possibilities to create escape sequences her-
self is very limited, only special characters can be mapped.
The groff language provides several kinds of variables with different
interfaces. There are pre-defined variables, but the user can define
her own variables as well.
String variables store character sequences. They are set with the ds
request and retrieved by the \* escape sequences. Strings can have
variables.
Register variables can store numerical values, numbers with a scale
unit, and occasionally string-like objects. They are set with the nr
request and retrieved by the \n escape sequences.
Environments allow the user to temporarily store global formatting pa-
rameters like line length, font size, etc. for later reuse. This is
done by the ev request.
Fonts are identified either by a name or by an internal number. The
current font is chosen by the ft request or by the \f escape sequences.
Each device has special fonts, but the following fonts are available
for all devices. R is the standard font Roman. B is its bold counter-
part. The italic font is called I and is available everywhere, but on
text devices it is displayed as an underlined Roman font. For the
graphical output devices, there exist constant-width pendants of these
fonts, CR, CI, and CB. On text devices, all glyphs have a constant
width anyway.
Glyphs are visual representation forms of characters. In groff, the
distinction between those two elements is not always obvious (and a
full discussion is beyond the scope of this man page). A first approx-
imation is that glyphs have a specific size and colour and are taken
from a specific font; they can't be modified any more – characters are
the input, and glyphs are the output. As soon as an output line has
been generated, it no longer contains characters but glyphs. In this
man page, we use either ‘glyph’ or ‘character’, whatever is more appro-
priate.
Moreover, there are some advanced roff elements. A diversion stores
(formatted) information into a macro for later usage. See
groff_tmac(5) for more details. A trap is a positional condition like
a certain number of lines from page top or in a diversion or in the in-
put. Some action can be prescribed to be run automatically when the
condition is met.
More detailed information and examples can be found in the groff Tex-
info manual.
CONTROL CHARACTERS
There is a small set of characters that have a special controlling task
in certain conditions.
. A dot is only special at the beginning of a line or after the
condition in the requests if, ie, el, and while. There it is
the control character that introduces a request (or macro). By
using the cc request, the control character can be set to a dif-
ferent character, making the dot ‘.’ a non-special character.
In all other positions, it just means a dot character. In text
paragraphs, it is advantageous to start each sentence at a line
of its own.
' The single quote has two controlling tasks. At the beginning of
a line and in the conditional requests it is the non-breaking
control character. That means that it introduces a request like
the dot, but with the additional property that this request
doesn't cause a linebreak. By using the c2 request, the non-
break control character can be set to a different character.
As a second task, it is the most commonly used argument separa-
tor in some functional escape sequences (but any pair of charac-
ters not part of the argument do work). In all other positions,
it denotes the single quote or apostrophe character. Groff pro-
vides a printable representation with the \(cq escape sequence.
" The double quote is used to enclose arguments in macros (but not
in requests and strings). In the ds and as requests, a leading
double quote in the argument is stripped off, making everything
else afterwards the string to be defined (enabling leading
whitespace). The escaped double quote \" introduces a comment.
Otherwise, it is not special. Groff provides a printable repre-
sentation with the \(dq escape sequence.
\ The backslash usually introduces an escape sequence (this can be
changed with the ec request). A printed version of the escape
character is the \e escape; a backslash glyph can be obtained by
\(rs.
( The open parenthesis is only special in escape sequences when
introducing an escape name or argument consisting of exactly two
characters. In groff, this behaviour can be replaced by the []
construct.
[ The opening bracket is only special in groff escape sequences;
there it is used to introduce a long escape name or long escape
argument. Otherwise, it is non-special, e.g. in macro calls.
] The closing bracket is only special in groff escape sequences;
there it terminates a long escape name or long escape argument.
Otherwise, it is non-special.
space Space characters are only functional characters. They separate
the arguments in requests, macros, and strings, and the words in
text lines. They are subject to groff's horizontal spacing cal-
culations. To get a defined space width, escape sequences like
‘\ ’ (this is the escape character followed by a space), \|, \^,
or \h should be used.
newline
In text paragraphs, newlines mostly behave like space charac-
ters. Continuation lines can be specified by an escaped new-
line, i.e., by specifying a backslash ‘\’ as the last character
of a line.
tab If a tab character occurs during text the interpreter makes a
horizontal jump to the next pre-defined tab position. There is
a sophisticated interface for handling tab positions.
NUMERICAL EXPRESSIONS
A numerical value is a signed or unsigned integer or float with or
without an appended scaling indicator. A scaling indicator is a one-
character abbreviation for a unit of measurement. A number followed by
a scaling indicator signifies a size value. By default, numerical val-
ues do not have a scaling indicator, i.e., they are normal numbers.
The roff language defines the following scaling indicators.
c centimeter
i inch
P pica = 1/6 inch
p point = 1/72 inch
m em = the font size in points (approx. width of letter
‘m’)
M 100th of an em
n en = em/2
u Basic unit for actual output device
v Vertical line space in basic units
s scaled point = 1/sizescale of a point (defined in font
DESC file)
f Scale by 65536.
Numerical expressions are combinations of the numerical values defined
above with the following arithmetical operators already defined in
classical troff.
+ Addition
- Subtraction
* Multiplication
/ Division
% Modulo
= Equals
== Equals
< Less than
> Greater than
<= Less or equal
>= Greater or equal
& Logical and
: Logical or
! Logical not
( Grouping of expressions
) Close current grouping
Moreover, groff added the following operators for numerical expres-
sions:
e1>?e2 The maximum of e1 and e2.
e1<?e2 The minimum of e1 and e2.
(c;e) Evaluate e using c as the default scaling indicator.
For details see the groff Texinfo manual.
CONDITIONS
Conditions occur in tests raised by the if, ie, and the while requests.
The following table characterizes the different types of conditions.
N A numerical expression N yields true if its value is
greater than 0.
!N True if the value of N is 0 (see below).
's1's2' True if string s1 is identical to string s2.
!'s1's2' True if string s1 is not identical to string s2 (see
below).
cch True if there is a glyph ch available.
dname True if there is a string, macro, diversion, or re-
quest called name.
e Current page number is even.
o Current page number is odd.
mname True if there is a color called name.
n Formatter is nroff.
rreg True if there is a register named reg.
t Formatter is troff.
Ffont True if there exists a font named font.
Sstyle True if a style named style has been registered.
Note that the ! operator may only appear at the beginning of an ex-
pression, and negates the entire expression. This maintains bug-com-
patibility with AT&T troff.
REQUESTS
This section provides a short reference for the predefined requests.
In groff, request, macro, and string names can be arbitrarily long. No
bracketing or marking of long names is needed.
Most requests take one or more arguments. The arguments are separated
by space characters (no tabs!); there is no inherent limit for their
length or number.
Some requests have optional arguments with a different behaviour. Not
all of these details are outlined here. Refer to the groff Texinfo
manual and groff_diff(7) for all details.
In the following request specifications, most argument names were cho-
sen to be descriptive. Only the following denotations need clarifica-
tion.
c denotes a single character.
font a font either specified as a font name or a font num-
ber.
anything all characters up to the end of the line or within \{
and \}.
n is a numerical expression that evaluates to an integer
value.
N is an arbitrary numerical expression, signed or un-
signed.
±N has three meanings depending on its sign, described
below.
If an expression defined as ±N starts with a ‘+’ sign the resulting
value of the expression is added to an already existing value inherent
to the related request, e.g. adding to a number register. If the ex-
pression starts with a ‘-’ the value of the expression is subtracted
from the request value.
Without a sign, N replaces the existing value directly. To assign a
negative number either prepend 0 or enclose the negative number in
parentheses.
Request Short Reference
. Empty line, ignored. Useful for structuring documents.
.\" anything
Complete line is a comment.
.ab string
Print string on standard error, exit program.
.ad Begin line adjustment for output lines in current adjust
mode.
.ad c Start line adjustment in mode c (c=l,r,c,b,n).
.af register c
Assign format c to register (c=l,i,I,a,A).
.aln alias register
Create alias name for register.
.als alias object
Create alias name for request, string, macro, or diversion
object.
.am macro Append to macro until .. is encountered.
.am macro end
Append to macro until .end is called.
.am1 macro
Same as .am but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.am1 macro end
Same as .am but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.ami macro
Append to a macro whose name is contained in the string reg-
ister macro until .. is encountered.
.ami macro end
Append to a macro indirectly. macro and end are string reg-
isters whose contents are interpolated for the macro name and
the end macro, respectively.
.ami1 macro
Same as .ami but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.ami1 macro end
Same as .ami but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.as stringvar anything
Append anything to stringvar.
.as1 stringvar anything
Same as .as but with compatibility mode switched off during
string expansion.
.asciify diversion
Unformat ASCII characters, spaces, and some escape sequences
in diversion.
.backtrace
Print a backtrace of the input on stderr.
.bd font N
Embolden font by N-1 units.
.bd S font N
Embolden Special Font S when current font is font.
.blm Unset the blank line macro.
.blm macro
Set the blank line macro to macro.
.box End current diversion.
.box macro
Divert to macro, omitting a partially filled line.
.boxa End current diversion.
.boxa macro
Divert and append to macro, omitting a partially filled line.
.bp Eject current page and begin new page.
.bp ±N Eject current page; next page number ±N.
.br Line break.
.brp Break output line; adjust if applicable.
.break Break out of a while loop.
.c2 Reset no-break control character to “'”.
.c2 c Set no-break control character to c.
.cc Reset control character to ‘.’.
.cc c Set control character to c.
.ce Center the next input line.
.ce N Center following N input lines.
.cf filename
Copy contents of file filename unprocessed to stdout or to
the diversion.
.cflags mode c1 c2 ...
Treat characters c1, c2, ... according to mode number.
.ch trap N
Change trap location to N.
.char c anything
Define entity c as string anything.
.chop object
Chop the last character off macro, string, or diversion ob-
ject.
.class name c1 c2 ...
Assign a set of characters, character ranges, or classes c1,
c2, ... to name.
.close stream
Close the stream.
.color Enable colors.
.color N If N is zero disable colors, otherwise enable them.
.composite from to
Map glyph name from to glyph name to while constructing a
composite glyph name.
.continue Finish the current iteration of a while loop.
.cp Enable compatibility mode.
.cp N If N is zero disable compatibility mode, otherwise enable it.
.cs font N M
Set constant character width mode for font to N/36 ems with
em M.
.cu N Continuous underline in nroff, like .ul in troff.
.da End current diversion.
.da macro Divert and append to macro.
.de macro Define or redefine macro until .. is encountered.
.de macro end
Define or redefine macro until .end is called.
.de1 macro
Same as .de but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.de1 macro end
Same as .de but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.defcolor color scheme component
Define or redefine a color with name color. scheme can be
rgb, cym, cymk, gray, or grey. component can be single com-
ponents specified as fractions in the range 0 to 1 (default
scaling indicator f), as a string of two-digit hexadecimal
color components with a leading #, or as a string of four-
digit hexadecimal components with two leading #. The color
default can't be redefined.
.dei macro
Define or redefine a macro whose name is contained in the
string register macro until .. is encountered.
.dei macro end
Define or redefine a macro indirectly. macro and end are
string registers whose contents are interpolated for the
macro name and the end macro, respectively.
.dei1 macro
Same as .dei but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.dei1 macro end
Same as .dei but with compatibility mode switched off during
macro expansion.
.device anything
Write anything to the intermediate output as a device control
function.
.devicem name
Write contents of macro or string name uninterpreted to the
intermediate output as a device control function.
.di End current diversion.
.di macro Divert to macro. See groff_tmac(5) for more details.
.do name Interpret .name with compatibility mode disabled.
.ds stringvar anything
Set stringvar to anything.
.ds1 stringvar anything
Same as .ds but with compatibility mode switched off during
string expansion.
.dt N trap
Set diversion trap to position N (default scaling indica-
tor v).
.ec Reset escape character to ‘\’.
.ec c Set escape character to c.
.ecr Restore escape character saved with .ecs.
.ecs Save current escape character.
.el anything
Else part for if-else (.ie) request.
.em macro The macro is run after the end of input.
.eo Turn off escape character mechanism.
.ev Switch to previous environment and pop it off the stack.
.ev env Push down environment number or name env to the stack and
switch to it.
.evc env Copy the contents of environment env to the current environ-
ment. No pushing or popping.
.ex Exit from roff processing.
.fam Return to previous font family.
.fam name Set the current font family to name.
.fc Disable field mechanism.
.fc a Set field delimiter to a and pad glyph to space.
.fc a b Set field delimiter to a and pad glyph to b.
.fchar c anything
Define fallback character (or glyph) c as string anything.
.fcolor Set fill color to previous fill color.
.fcolor c Set fill color to c.
.fi Fill output lines.
.fl Flush output buffer.
.fp n font
Mount font on position n.
.fp n internal external
Mount font with long external name to short internal name on
position n.
.fschar f c anything
Define fallback character (or glyph) c for font f as string
anything.
.fspecial font
Reset list of special fonts for font to be empty.
.fspecial font s1 s2 ...
When the current font is font, then the fonts s1, s2, ... are
special.
.ft Return to previous font. Same as \ or \.
.ft font Change to font name or number font; same as \f[font] escape
sequence.
.ftr font1 font2
Translate font1 to font2.
.fzoom font
Don't magnify font.
.fzoom font zoom
Set zoom factor for font (in multiples of 1/1000th).
.gcolor Set glyph color to previous glyph color.
.gcolor c Set glyph color to c.
.hc Remove additional hyphenation indicator character.
.hc c Set up additional hyphenation indicator character c.
.hcode c1 code1 [c2 code2] ...
Set the hyphenation code of character c1 to code1, that of c2
to code2, etc.
.hla lang Set the current hyphenation language to lang.
.hlm n Set the maximum number of consecutive hyphenated lines to n.
.hpf file Read hyphenation patterns from file.
.hpfa file
Append hyphenation patterns from file.
.hpfcode a b c d ...
Set input mapping for .hpf.
.hw words List of words with exceptional hyphenation.
.hy N Switch to hyphenation mode N.
.hym n Set the hyphenation margin to n (default scaling indica-
tor m).
.hys n Set the hyphenation space to n.
.ie cond anything
If cond then anything else goto .el.
.if cond anything
If cond then anything; otherwise do nothing.
.ig Ignore text until .. is encountered.
.ig end Ignore text until .end is called.
.in Change to previous indentation value.
.in ±N Change indentation according to ±N (default scaling indica-
tor m).
.it N trap
Set an input-line count trap for the next N lines.
.itc N trap
Same as .it but don't count lines interrupted with \c.
.kern Enable pairwise kerning.
.kern n If n is zero, disable pairwise kerning, otherwise enable it.
.lc Remove leader repetition glyph.
.lc c Set leader repetition glyph to c.
.length register anything
Write the length of the string anything to register.
.linetabs Enable line-tabs mode (i.e., calculate tab positions relative
to output line).
.linetabs n
If n is zero, disable line-tabs mode, otherwise enable it.
.lf N Set input line number to N.
.lf N file
Set input line number to N and filename to file.
.lg N Ligature mode on if N>0.
.ll Change to previous line length.
.ll ±N Set line length according to ±N (default length 6.5i, default
scaling indicator m).
.lsm Unset the leading spaces macro.
.lsm macro
Set the leading spaces macro to macro.
.ls Change to the previous value of additional intra-line skip.
.ls N Set additional intra-line skip value to N, i.e., N-1 blank
lines are inserted after each text output line.
.lt ±N Length of title (default scaling indicator m).
.mc Margin glyph off.
.mc c Print glyph c after each text line at actual distance from
right margin.
.mc c N Set margin glyph to c and distance to N from right margin
(default scaling indicator m).
.mk [register]
Mark current vertical position in register, or in an internal
register used by .rt if no argument.
.mso file The same as .so except that file is searched in the tmac di-
rectories.
.na No output-line adjusting.
.ne Need a one-line vertical space.
.ne N Need N vertical space (default scaling indicator v).
.nf No filling or adjusting of output lines.
.nh No hyphenation.
.nm Number mode off.
.nm ±N [M [S [I]]]
In line number mode, set number, multiple, spacing, and in-
dentation.
.nn Do not number next line.
.nn N Do not number next N lines.
.nop anything
Always process anything.
.nr register ±N [M]
Define or modify register using ±N with auto-increment M.
.nroff Make the built-in conditions n true and t false.
.ns Turn on no-space mode.
.nx Immediately jump to end of current file.
.nx filename
Immediately continue processing with file file.
.open stream filename
Open filename for writing and associate the stream named
stream with it.
.opena stream filename
Like .open but append to it.
.os Output vertical distance that was saved by the sv request.
.output string
Emit string directly to intermediate output, allowing leading
whitespace if string starts with " (which is stripped off).
.pc Reset page number character to ‘%’.
.pc c Page number character.
.pev Print the current environment and each defined environment
state to stderr.
.pi program
Pipe output to program (nroff only).
.pl Set page length to default 11i. The current page length is
stored in register .p.
.pl ±N Change page length to ±N (default scaling indicator v).
.pm Print macro names and sizes (number of blocks of 128 bytes).
.pm t Print only total of sizes of macros (number of 128 bytes
blocks).
.pn ±N Next page number N.
.pnr Print the names and contents of all currently defined number
registers on stderr.
.po Change to previous page offset. The current page offset is
available in register .o.
.po ±N Page offset N.
.ps Return to previous point size.
.ps ±N Point size; same as \s[±N].
.psbb filename
Get the bounding box of a PostScript image filename.
.pso command
This behaves like the so request except that input comes from
the standard output of command.
.ptr Print the names and positions of all traps (not including in-
put line traps and diversion traps) on stderr.
.pvs Change to previous post-vertical line spacing.
.pvs ±N Change post-vertical line spacing according to ±N (default
scaling indicator p).
.rchar c1 c2 ...
Remove the definitions of entities c1, c2, ...
.rd prompt
Read insertion.
.return Return from a macro.
.return anything
Return twice, namely from the macro at the current level and
from the macro one level higher.
.rfschar f c1 c2 ...
Remove the definitions of entities c1, c2, ... for font f.
.rj n Right justify the next n input lines.
.rm name Remove request, macro, diversion, or string name.
.rn old new
Rename request, macro, diversion, or string old to new.
.rnn reg1 reg2
Rename register reg1 to reg2.
.rr register
Remove register.
.rs Restore spacing; turn no-space mode off.
.rt Return (upward only) to vertical position marked by .mk on
the current page.
.rt ±N Return (upward only) to specified distance from the top of
the page (default scaling indicator v).
.schar c anything
Define global fallback character (or glyph) c as string any-
thing.
.shc Reset soft hyphen glyph to \(hy.
.shc c Set the soft hyphen glyph to c.
.shift n In a macro, shift the arguments by n positions.
.sizes s1 s2 ... sn [0]
Set available font sizes similar to the sizes command in a
DESC file.
.so filename
Include source file.
.sp Skip one line vertically.
.sp N Space vertical distance N up or down according to sign of N
(default scaling indicator v).
.special Reset global list of special fonts to be empty.
.special s1 s2 ...
Fonts s1, s2, etc. are special and are searched for glyphs
not in the current font.
.spreadwarn
Toggle the spread warning on and off without changing its
value.
.spreadwarn limit
Emit a warning if each space in an output line is widened by
limit or more (default scaling indicator m).
.ss N Set space glyph size to N/12 of the space width in the cur-
rent font.
.ss N M Set space glyph size to N/12 and sentence space size set to
M/12 of the space width in the current font.
.sty n style
Associate style with font position n.
.substring xx n1 n2
Replace the string named xx with the substring defined by the
indices n1 and n2.
.sv Save 1 v of vertical space.
.sv N Save the vertical distance N for later output with os request
(default scaling indicator v).
.sy command-line
Execute program command-line.
.ta T N Set tabs after every position that is a multiple of N (de-
fault scaling indicator m).
.ta n1 n2 ... nn T r1 r2 ... rn
Set tabs at positions n1, n2, ..., nn, then set tabs at
nn+m×rn+r1 through nn+m×rn+rn, where m increments from 0, 1,
2, ... to infinity.
.tc Remove tab repetition glyph.
.tc c Set tab repetition glyph to c.
.ti ±N Temporary indent next line (default scaling indicator m).
.tkf font s1 n1 s2 n2
Enable track kerning for font.
.tl ’left’center’right’
Three-part title.
.tm anything
Print anything on stderr.
.tm1 anything
Print anything on stderr, allowing leading whitespace if any-
thing starts with " (which is stripped off).
.tmc anything
Similar to .tm1 without emitting a final newline.
.tr abcd...
Translate a to b, c to d, etc. on output.
.trf filename
Transparently output the contents of file filename.
.trin abcd...
This is the same as the tr request except that the asciify
request uses the character code (if any) before the character
translation.
.trnt abcd...
This is the same as the tr request except that the transla-
tions do not apply to text that is transparently throughput
into a diversion with \!.
.troff Make the built-in conditions t true and n false.
.uf font Set underline font to font (to be switched to by .ul).
.ul N Underline (italicize in troff) N input lines.
.unformat diversion
Unformat space characters and tabs in diversion, preserving
font information.
.vpt n Enable vertical position traps if n is non-zero, disable them
otherwise.
.vs Change to previous vertical base line spacing.
.vs ±N Set vertical base line spacing to ±N (default scaling indica-
tor p).
.warn n Set warnings code to n.
.warnscale si
Set scaling indicator used in warnings to si.
.wh N Remove (first) trap at position N.
.wh N trap
Set location trap; negative means from page bottom.
.while cond anything
While condition cond is true, accept anything as input.
.write stream anything
Write anything to the stream named stream.
.writec stream anything
Similar to .write without emitting a final newline.
.writem stream xx
Write contents of macro or string xx to the stream named
stream.
Besides these standard groff requests, there might be further macro
calls. They can originate from a macro package (see roff(7) for an
overview) or from a preprocessor.
Preprocessor macros are easy to recognize. They enclose their code be-
tween a pair of characteristic macros.
┌─────────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────┐
│preprocessor │ start macro │ end macro │
├─────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ chem │ .cstart │ .cend │
│ eqn │ .EQ │ .EN │
│ grap │ .G1 │ .G2 │
│ grn │ .GS │ .GE │
│ ideal │ .IS │ .IE │
│ │ │ .IF │
│ pic │ .PS │ .PE │
│ refer │ .R1 │ .R2 │
│ soelim │ none │ none │
│ tbl │ .TS │ .TE │
├─────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ glilypond │ .lilypond start │ .lilypond stop │
│ gperl │ .Perl start │ .Perl stop │
│ gpinyin │ .pinyin start │ .pinyin stop │
└─────────────┴─────────────────┴────────────────┘
Note that the ‘ideal’ preprocessor is not available in groff yet.
ESCAPE SEQUENCES
Escape sequences are in-line language elements usually introduced by a
backslash ‘\’ and followed by an escape name and sometimes by a re-
quired argument. Input processing is continued directly after the es-
caped character or the argument (without an intervening separation
character). So there must be a way to determine the end of the escape
name and the end of the argument.
This is done by enclosing names (escape name and arguments consisting
of a variable name) by a pair of brackets [name] and constant arguments
(number expressions and characters) by apostrophes (ASCII 0x27) like
’constant’.
There are abbreviations for short names. Two-character escape names
can be specified by an opening parenthesis like \(xy or \*(xy without a
closing counterpart. And all one-character names different from the
special characters ‘[’ and ‘(’ can even be specified without a marker,
for example \nc or \$c.
Constant arguments of length 1 can omit the marker apostrophes, too,
but there is no two-character analogue.
While one-character escape sequences are mainly used for in-line func-
tions and system-related tasks, the two-letter names following the \(
construct are glyphs predefined by the roff system; these are called
‘Special Characters’ in the classical documentation. Escapes sequences
of the form \[name] denote glyphs too.
Single-Character Escapes
\" Start of a comment. Everything up to the end of the line is ig-
nored.
\# Everything up to and including the next newline is ignored.
This is interpreted in copy mode. This is like \" except that
the terminating newline is ignored as well.
\*s The string stored in the string variable with one-character
name s.
\*(st The string stored in the string variable with two-character name
st.
\*[string]
The string stored in the string variable with name string (with
arbitrary length).
\*[stringvar arg1 arg2 ...]
The string stored in the string variable with arbitrarily long
name stringvar, taking arg1, arg2, ... as arguments.
\$0 The name by which the current macro was invoked. The als re-
quest can make a macro have more than one name.
\$x Macro or string argument with one-digit number x in the range 1
to 9.
\$(xy Macro or string argument with two-digit number xy (larger than
zero).
\$[nexp]
Macro or string argument with number nexp, where nexp is a nu-
merical expression evaluating to an integer ≥1.
\$* In a macro or string, the concatenation of all the arguments
separated by spaces.
\$@ In a macro or string, the concatenation of all the arguments
with each surrounded by double quotes, and separated by spaces.
\$^ In a macro, the representation of all parameters as if they were
an argument to the ds request.
\\ reduces to a single backslash; useful to delay its interpreta-
tion as escape character in copy mode. For a printable back-
slash, use \e, or even better \[rs], to be independent from the
current escape character.
\´ The acute accent ´; same as \(aa. Unescaped: apostrophe, right
quotation mark, single quote (ASCII 0x27).
\` The grave accent `; same as \(ga. Unescaped: left quote, back-
quote (ASCII 0x60).
\- The - (minus) sign in the current font.
\_ The same as \(ul, the underline character.
\. The same as a dot (‘.’). Necessary in nested macro definitions
so that ‘\\..’ expands to ‘..’.
\% Default optional hyphenation character.
\! Transparent line indicator.
\?anything?
In a diversion, this transparently embeds anything in the diver-
sion. anything is read in copy mode. See also the escape se-
quences \! and \?.
\space Unpaddable space size space glyph (no line break).
\0 Digit-width space.
\| 1/6 em narrow space glyph; zero width in nroff.
\^ 1/12 em half-narrow space glyph; zero width in nroff.
\& Non-printable, zero-width glyph.
\) Like \& except that it behaves like a glyph declared with the
cflags request to be transparent for the purposes of end-of-sen-
tence recognition.
\/ Increases the width of the preceding glyph so that the spacing
between that glyph and the following glyph is correct if the
following glyph is a roman glyph.
\, Modifies the spacing of the following glyph so that the spacing
between that glyph and the preceding glyph is correct if the
preceding glyph is a roman glyph.
\~ Unbreakable space that stretches like a normal inter-word space
when a line is adjusted.
\: Inserts a zero-width break point (similar to \% but without a
soft hyphen character).
\newline
Ignored newline, for continuation lines.
\{ Begin conditional input.
\} End conditional input.
\(sc A glyph with two-character name sc; see section “Special Charac-
ters” below.
\[name]
A glyph with name name (of arbitrary length).
\[comp1 comp2 ...]
A composite glyph with components comp1, comp2, ...
\a Non-interpreted leader character.
\A’anything’
If anything is acceptable as a name of a string, macro, diver-
sion, register, environment or font it expands to 1, and to 0
otherwise.
\b’abc...’
Bracket building function.
\B’anything’
If anything is acceptable as a valid numeric expression it ex-
pands to 1, and to 0 otherwise.
\c Continue output line at next input line. Anything after this
escape on the same line is ignored except \R (which works as
usual). Anything before \c on the same line is appended to the
current partial output line. The next non-command line after a
line interrupted with \c counts as a new input line.
\C’glyph’
The glyph called glyph; same as \[glyph], but compatible to
other roff versions.
\d Forward (down) 1/2 em (1/2 line in nroff).
\D’charseq’
Draw a graphical element defined by the characters in charseq;
see the groff Texinfo manual for details.
\e Printable version of the current escape character.
\E Equivalent to an escape character, but is not interpreted in
copy mode.
\fF Change to font with one-character name or one-digit number F.
\fP Switch back to previous font.
\f(fo Change to font with two-character name or two-digit number fo.
\f[font]
Change to font with arbitrarily long name or number expression
font.
\f[] Switch back to previous font.
\Ff Change to font family with one-character name f.
\F(fm Change to font family with two-character name fm.
\F[fam]
Change to font family with arbitrarily long name fam.
\F[] Switch back to previous font family.
\gr Return format of register with one-character name r suitable for
af request.
\g(rg Return format of register with two-character name rg suitable
for af request.
\g[reg]
Return format of register with arbitrarily long name reg suit-
able for af request.
\h’N’ Local horizontal motion; move right N (left if negative).
\H’N’ Set height of current font to N.
\kr Mark horizontal input place in one-character register r.
\k(rg Mark horizontal input place in two-character register rg.
\k[reg]
Mark horizontal input place in register with arbitrarily long
name reg.
\l’Nc’ Horizontal line drawing function (optionally using character c).
\L’Nc’ Vertical line drawing function (optionally using character c).
\mc Change to color with one-character name c.
\m(cl Change to color with two-character name cl.
\m[color]
Change to color with arbitrarily long name color.
\m[] Switch back to previous color.
\Mc Change filling color for closed drawn objects to color with one-
character name c.
\M(cl Change filling color for closed drawn objects to color with two-
character name cl.
\M[color]
Change filling color for closed drawn objects to color with ar-
bitrarily long name color.
\M[] Switch to previous fill color.
\nr The numerical value stored in the register variable with the
one-character name r.
\n(re The numerical value stored in the register variable with the
two-character name re.
\n[reg]
The numerical value stored in the register variable with arbi-
trarily long name reg.
\N’n’ Typeset the glyph with index n in the current font. No special
fonts are searched. Useful for adding (named) entities to a
document using the char request and friends.
\o’abc...’
Overstrike glyphs a, b, c, etc.
\O0 Disable glyph output. Mainly for internal use.
\O1 Enable glyph output. Mainly for internal use.
\p Break output line at next word boundary; adjust if applicable.
\r Reverse 1 em vertical motion (reverse line in nroff).
\R’name ±n’
The same as .nr name ±n.
\s±N Set/increase/decrease the point size to/by N scaled points; N is
a one-digit number in the range 1 to 9. Same as ps request.
\s(±N
\s±(N Set/increase/decrease the point size to/by N scaled points; N is
a two-digit number ≥1. Same as ps request.
\s[±N]
\s±[N]
\s’±N’
\s±’N’ Set/increase/decrease the point size to/by N scaled points.
Same as ps request.
\S’N’ Slant output by N degrees.
\t Non-interpreted horizontal tab.
\u Reverse (up) 1/2 em vertical motion (1/2 line in nroff).
\v’N’ Local vertical motion; move down N (up if negative).
\Ve The contents of the environment variable with one-character
name e.
\V(ev The contents of the environment variable with two-character name
ev.
\V[env]
The contents of the environment variable with arbitrarily long
name env.
\w’string’
The width of the glyph sequence string.
\x’N’ Extra line-space function (negative before, positive after).
\X’string’
Output string as device control function.
\Yn Output string variable or macro with one-character name n unin-
terpreted as device control function.
\Y(nm Output string variable or macro with two-character name nm unin-
terpreted as device control function.
\Y[name]
Output string variable or macro with arbitrarily long name name
uninterpreted as device control function.
\zc Print c with zero width (without spacing).
\Z’anything’
Print anything and then restore the horizontal and vertical po-
sition; anything may not contain tabs or leaders.
The escape sequences \e, \., \", \$, \*, \a, \n, \t, \g, and \newline
are interpreted in copy mode.
Escape sequences starting with \( or \[ do not represent single charac-
ter escape sequences, but introduce escape names with two or more char-
acters.
If a backslash is followed by a character that does not constitute a
defined escape sequence, the backslash is silently ignored and the
character maps to itself.
Special Characters
[Note: ‘Special Characters’ is a misnomer; those entities are (output)
glyphs, not (input) characters.]
Common special characters are predefined by escape sequences of the
form \(xy with characters x and y. In groff, it is also possible to
use the writing \[xy] as well.
Some of these special characters exist in the usual font while most of
them are only available in the special font. Below you can see a small
selection of the most important glyphs; a complete list can be found in
groff_char(7).
\(Do Dollar $
\(Eu Euro €
\(Po British pound sterling £
\(aq Apostrophe quote '
\(bu Bullet sign •
\(co Copyright ©
\(cq Single closing quote (right) ’
\(ct Cent ¢
\(dd Double dagger ‡
\(de Degree °
\(dg Dagger †
\(dq Double quote (ASCII 34) "
\(em Em-dash —
\(en En-dash –
\(hy Hyphen -
\(lq Double quote left “
\(oq Single opening quote (left) ‘
\(rg Registered sign ®
\(rq Double quote right ”
\(rs Printable backslash character \
\(sc Section sign §
\(tm Trademark symbol ™
\(ul Underline character _
\(== Identical ≡
\(>= Larger or equal ≥
\(<= Less or equal ≤
\(!= Not equal ≠
\(-> Right arrow →
\(<- Left arrow ←
\(+- Plus-minus sign ±
Unicode Characters
The extended escape u allows the inclusion of all available Unicode
characters into a roff file.
\[uxxxx]
u is the escape name. xxxx is a hexadecimal number of four hex
digits, such as 0041 for the letter A, thus \[u0041].
\[uyyyyy]
u is the escape name. yyyyy is a hexadecimal number of five hex
digits, such as 2FA1A for a Chinese-looking character from the
Unicode block CJK Compatibility Ideographs Supplement, thus
\[u2FA1A].
The hexadecimal value indicates the corresponding Unicode code point
for a character.
\[uhex1_hex2]
\[uhex1_hex2_hex3]
hex1, hex2, and hex3 are all Unicode hexadecimal codes (4 or 5
hex digits) that are used for overstriking, e.g. \[u0041_0301]
is A acute, which can also be specified as Á; see groff_char(7).
The availability of the Unicode characters depends on the font used.
For text mode, the device -Tutf8 is quite complete; for troff modes it
might happen that some or many characters will not be displayed.
Please check your fonts.
Strings
Strings are defined by the ds request and can be retrieved by the \*
escape sequence.
Strings share their name space with macros. So strings and macros
without arguments are roughly equivalent; it is possible to call a
string like a macro and vice versa, but this often leads to unpre-
dictable results. The following string is the only one predefined in
groff.
\*[.T] The name of the current output device as specified by the -T
command-line option.
REGISTERS
Registers are variables that store a value. In groff, most registers
store numerical values (see section “Numerical Expressions” above), but
some can also hold a string value.
Each register is given a name. Arbitrary registers can be defined and
set with the nr request.
The value stored in a register can be retrieved by the escape sequences
introduced by \n.
Most useful are predefined registers. In the following the notation
name is used to refer to register name to make clear that we speak
about registers. Please keep in mind that the \n[] decoration is not
part of the register name.
Read-only Registers
The following registers have predefined values that should not be modi-
fied by the user (usually, registers starting with a dot are read-
only). Mostly, they provide information on the current settings or
store results from request calls.
\n[$$] The process ID of troff.
\n[.$] Number of arguments in the current macro or string.
\n[.a] Post-line extra line-space most recently utilized using \x.
\n[.A] Set to 1 in troff if option -A is used; always 1 in nroff.
\n[.b] The emboldening offset while .bd is active.
\n[.br] Within a macro, set to 1 if macro called with the ‘normal’
control character, and to 0 otherwise.
\n[.c] Current input line number.
\n[.C] 1 if compatibility mode is in effect, 0 otherwise.
\n[.cdp] The depth of the last glyph added to the current environment.
It is positive if the glyph extends below the baseline.
\n[.ce] The number of lines remaining to be centered, as set by the
ce request.
\n[.cht] The height of the last glyph added to the current environ-
ment. It is positive if the glyph extends above the base-
line.
\n[.color]
1 if colors are enabled, 0 otherwise.
\n[.csk] The skew of the last glyph added to the current environment.
The skew of a glyph is how far to the right of the center of
a glyph the center of an accent over that glyph should be
placed.
\n[.d] Current vertical place in current diversion; equal to regis-
ter nl.
\n[.ev] The name or number of the current environment (string-val-
ued).
\n[.f] Current font number.
\n[.F] The name of the current input file (string-valued).
\n[.fam] The current font family (string-valued).
\n[.fn] The current (internal) real font name (string-valued).
\n[.fp] The number of the next free font position.
\n[.g] Always 1 in GNU troff. Macros should use it to test if run-
ning under groff.
\n[.h] Text base-line high-water mark on current page or diversion.
\n[.H] Number of basic units per horizontal unit of output device
resolution.
\n[.height]
The current font height as set with \H.
\n[.hla] The current hyphenation language as set by the hla request.
\n[.hlc] The number of immediately preceding consecutive hyphenated
lines.
\n[.hlm] The maximum allowed number of consecutive hyphenated lines,
as set by the hlm request.
\n[.hy] The current hyphenation flags (as set by the hy request).
\n[.hym] The current hyphenation margin (as set by the hym request).
\n[.hys] The current hyphenation space (as set by the hys request).
\n[.i] Current indentation.
\n[.in] The indentation that applies to the current output line.
\n[.int] Positive if last output line contains \c.
\n[.j] The current adjustment mode. It can be stored and used to
set adjustment. (n = 1, b = 1, l = 0, r = 5, c = 3).
\n[.k] The current horizontal output position (relative to the cur-
rent indentation).
\n[.kern] 1 if pairwise kerning is enabled, 0 otherwise.
\n[.l] Current line length.
\n[.L] The current line spacing setting as set by .ls.
\n[.lg] The current ligature mode (as set by the lg request).
\n[.linetabs]
The current line-tabs mode (as set by the linetabs request).
\n[.ll] The line length that applies to the current output line.
\n[.lt] The title length (as set by the lt request).
\n[.m] The current drawing color (string-valued).
\n[.M] The current background color (string-valued).
\n[.n] Length of text portion on previous output line.
\n[.ne] The amount of space that was needed in the last ne request
that caused a trap to be sprung. Useful in conjunction with
register .trunc.
\n[.ns] 1 if in no-space mode, 0 otherwise.
\n[.o] Current page offset.
\n[.O] The suppression nesting level (see \O).
\n[.p] Current page length.
\n[.P] 1 if the current page is being printed, 0 otherwise (as de-
termined by the -o command-line option).
\n[.pe] 1 during page ejection, 0 otherwise.
\n[.pn] The number of the next page: either the value set by a pn re-
quest, or the number of the current page plus 1.
\n[.ps] The current point size in scaled points.
\n[.psr] The last-requested point size in scaled points.
\n[.pvs] The current post-vertical line spacing.
\n[.R] The number of unused number registers. Always 10000 in GNU
troff.
\n[.rj] The number of lines to be right-justified as set by the rj
request.
\n[.s] Current point size as a decimal fraction.
\n[.slant]
The slant of the current font as set with \S.
\n[.sr] The last requested point size in points as a decimal fraction
(string-valued).
\n[.ss] The value of the parameters set by the first argument of the
ss request.
\n[.sss] The value of the parameters set by the second argument of the
ss request.
\n[.sty] The current font style (string-valued).
\n[.t] Vertical distance to the next trap.
\n[.T] Set to 1 if option -T is used.
\n[.tabs] A string representation of the current tab settings suitable
for use as an argument to the ta request.
\n[.trunc]
The amount of vertical space truncated by the most recently
sprung vertical position trap, or, if the trap was sprung by
an ne request, minus the amount of vertical motion produced
by .ne. Useful in conjunction with the register .ne.
\n[.u] Equal to 1 in fill mode and 0 in no-fill mode.
\n[.U] Equal to 1 in safer mode and 0 in unsafe mode.
\n[.v] Current vertical line spacing.
\n[.V] Number of basic units per vertical unit of output device res-
olution.
\n[.vpt] 1 if vertical position traps are enabled, 0 otherwise.
\n[.w] Width of previous glyph.
\n[.warn] The sum of the number codes of the currently enabled warn-
ings.
\n[.x] The major version number.
\n[.y] The minor version number.
\n[.Y] The revision number of groff.
\n[.z] Name of current diversion.
\n[.zoom] Zoom factor for current font (in multiples of 1/1000th; zero
if no magnification).
Writable Registers
The following registers can be read and written by the user. They have
predefined default values, but these can be modified for customizing a
document.
\n[%] Current page number.
\n[c.] Current input line number.
\n[ct] Character type (set by width function \w).
\n[dl] Maximal width of last completed diversion.
\n[dn] Height of last completed diversion.
\n[dw] Current day of week (1–7).
\n[dy] Current day of month (1–31).
\n[hours] The number of hours past midnight. Initialized at start-up.
\n[hp] Current horizontal position at input line.
\n[llx] Lower left x-coordinate (in PostScript units) of a given
PostScript image (set by .psbb).
\n[lly] Lower left y-coordinate (in PostScript units) of a given
PostScript image (set by .psbb).
\n[ln] Output line number.
\n[lsn] The number of leading spaces of an input line.
\n[lss] The horizontal space corresponding to the leading spaces of
an input line.
\n[minutes]
The number of minutes after the hour. Initialized at start-
up.
\n[mo] Current month (1–12).
\n[nl] Vertical position of last printed text base-line.
\n[opmaxx]
\n[opmaxy]
\n[opminx]
\n[opminy]
These four registers mark the top left and bottom right hand
corners of a box which encompasses all written glyphs. They
are reset to -1 by \O0 or \O1.
\n[rsb] Like register sb, but takes account of the heights and depths
of glyphs.
\n[rst] Like register st, but takes account of the heights and depths
of glyphs.
\n[sb] Depth of string below base line (generated by width function
\w).
\n[seconds]
The number of seconds after the minute. Initialized at
start-up.
\n[skw] Right skip width from the center of the last glyph in the \w
argument.
\n[slimit]
If greater than 0, the maximum number of objects on the input
stack. If ≤0 there is no limit, i.e., recursion can continue
until virtual memory is exhausted.
\n[ssc] The amount of horizontal space (possibly negative) that
should be added to the last glyph before a subscript (gener-
ated by width function \w).
\n[st] Height of string above base line (generated by width function
\w).
\n[systat]
The return value of the system() function executed by the
last sy request.
\n[urx] Upper right x-coordinate (in PostScript units) of a given
PostScript image (set by .psbb).
\n[ury] Upper right y-coordinate (in PostScript units) of a given
PostScript image (set by .psbb).
\n[year] The current year (year 2000 compliant).
\n[yr] Current year minus 1900. For Y2K compliance use register
year instead.
HYPHENATION
The .hy request, given an integer argument, controls when hyphenation
applies. The default value is 1, which enables hyphenation almost ev-
erywhere (see below). Macro packages often override this default.
1 disables hyphenation only after the first and before the last
character of a word.
2 disables hyphenation only of the last word on a page or column.
4 disables hyphenation only before the last two characters of a
word.
8 disables hyphenation only after the first two characters of a
word.
16 enables hyphenation before the last character of a word.
32 enables hyphenation after the first character of a word.
The values are additive. Some values cannot be used together because
they contradict; for instance, 4 and 16; 8 and 32.
UNDERLINING
In the RUNOFF language, the underlining was quite easy. But in roff
this is much more difficult.
Underlining with .ul
There exists a groff request .ul (see above) that can underline the
next or further source lines in nroff, but in troff it produces only a
font change into italic. So this request is not really useful.
Underlining with .UL from ms
In the ‘ms’ macro package in tmac/s.tmac groff_ms(7), there is the
macro .UL. But this works only in troff, not in nroff.
Underlining macro definitions
So one can use the italic nroff idea from .ul and the troff definition
in ms for writing a useful new macro, something like
.de UNDERLINE
. ie n \\$1\f[I]\\$2\f[P]\\$3
. el \\$1\Z'\\$2'\v'.25m'\D'l \w'\\$2'u 0'\v'-.25m'\\$3
..
If doclifter(1) makes trouble, change the macro name UNDERLINE into
some 2-letter word, like Ul. Moreover change the font writing from
\f[P] to \fP.
Underlining without macro definitions
If one does not want to use macro definitions, e.g., when doclifter
gets lost, use the following:
.ds u1 before
.ds u2 in
.ds u3 after
.ie n \*[u1]\f[I]\*[u2]\f[P]\*[u3]
.el \*[u1]\Z'\*[u2]'\v'.25m'\D'l \w'\*[u2]'u 0'\v'-.25m'\*[u3]
Due to doclifter, it might be necessary to change the variable writing
\[xy] and \*[xy] into the strange ancient writing \*(xy and \(xy, and
so on.
Then these lines could look like
.ds u1 before
.ds u2 in
.ds u3 after
.ie n \*[u1]\fI\*(u2\fP\*(u3
.el \*(u1\Z'\*(u2'\v'.25m'\D'l \w'\*(u2'u 0'\v'-.25m'\*(u3
The result looks like
before in after
Underlining with Overstriking \z and \(ul
There is another possibility for underlining by using overstriking with
\zc (print c with zero width without spacing) and \(ul (underline char-
acter). This produces the underlining of 1 character, both in nroff
and in troff.
For example the underlining of a character say t looks like \z\[ul]t or
\z\(ult
Longer words look then a bit strange, but a useful mode is to write
each character into a whole own line. To underlines the 3 character
part "tar" of the word "start":
before s\
\z\[ul]t\
\z\[ul]a\
\z\[ul]r\
t after
or
before s\
\z\(ult\
\z\(ula\
\z\(ulr\
t after
The result looks like
before start after
COMPATIBILITY
The differences between the groff language and classical troff as de-
fined by [CSTR #54] are documented in groff_diff(7).
The groff system provides a compatibility mode, see groff(1) on how to
invoke this.
AUTHORS
This document was written by Bernd Warken ⟨groff-bernd.warken-72@
web.de⟩.
SEE ALSO
Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff, by Trent A. Fisher and Werner
Lemberg, is the primary groff manual. You can browse it interactively
with “info groff”. Besides the gory details, it contains many exam-
ples.
groff(1)
the usage of the groff program and pointers to the documentation
and availability of the groff system.
groff_diff(7)
describes the differences between the groff language and classi-
cal troff.
This is the authoritative document for the predefined language
elements that are specific to groff.
groff_char(7)
the predefined groff special characters (glyphs).
groff_font(5)
the specification of fonts and the DESC file.
groff_tmac(5)
contains an overview of available groff macro packages, instruc-
tions on how to interface them with a document, guidance on
writing macro packages and using diversions, and historical in-
formation on macro package naming conventions.
roff(7)
the history of roff, the common parts shared by all roff sys-
tems, and pointers to further documentation.
[CSTR #54]
Nroff/Troff User's Manual by Ossanna & Kernighan ⟨http://
cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/cstr/54.ps.gz⟩ — the bible for classical
troff.
Wikipedia
article about groff ⟨https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Groff_%28software%29⟩.
Tutorial about groff
Manas Laha - An Introduction to the GNU Groff Text Processing
System ⟨dl.dropbox.com/u/4299293/grofftut.pdf⟩
troff.org
This is a collection of internet sites with classical roff docu-
mentations and other information.
groff 1.22.4 7 March 2023 GROFF(7)
Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Thu Jun 20 14:23:22 CEST 2024.