GROFF_MM(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual GROFF_MM(7)
NAME
groff_mm - memorandum macros for GNU roff
SYNOPSIS
groff -mm [option ...] [file ...]
groff -m mm [option ...] [file ...]
DESCRIPTION
The groff mm macros are intended to be compatible with the DWB mm
macros with the following limitations:
• No Bell Labs localisms are implemented.
• The macros OK and PM are not implemented.
• groff mm does not support cut marks.
mm is intended to support easy localization. Use mmse as an example
how to adapt the output format to a national standard. Localized
strings are collected in the file /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/xx.tmac,
where xx denotes the two-letter code for the language, as defined in
the ISO 639 standard. For Swedish, this is ‘sv.tmac’ – not ‘se’, which
is the ISO 3166 two-letter code for the country (as used for the output
format localization).
A file called locale or country_locale is read after the initialization
of the global variables. It is therefore possible to localize the
macros with a different company name and so on.
In this manual, square brackets are used to show optional arguments.
Number registers and strings
Many macros can be controlled by number registers and strings. A num-
ber register is assigned with the nr command:
.nr XXX [±]n [i]
XXX is the name of the register, n is the value to be assigned, and
i is the increment value for auto-increment. n can have a plus or mi-
nus sign as a prefix if an increment or decrement of the current value
is wanted. (Auto-increment or auto-decrement occurs if the number reg-
ister is used with a plus or minus sign, \n+[XXX] or \n-[XXX].)
Strings are defined with ds.
.ds YYY string
The string is assigned everything to the end of the line, even blanks.
Initial blanks in string should be prefixed with a double-quote.
(Strings are used in the text as \*[YYY].)
Special formatting of number registers
A number register is printed with normal digits if no format has been
given. Set the format with af:
.af R c
R is the name of the register, c is the format.
Form Sequence
1 0, 1, 2, 3, ...
001 000, 001, 002, 003, ...
i 0, i, ii, iii, iv, ...
I 0, I, II, III, IV, ...
a 0, a, b, c, ..., z, aa, ab, ...
A 0, A, B, C, ..., Z, AA, AB, ...
Fonts
In mm, the fonts (or rather, font styles) R (normal), I (italic), and
B (bold) are hardwired to font positions 1, 2, and 3, respectively.
Internally, font positions are used for backwards compatibility. From
a practical point of view it doesn't make a big difference – a differ-
ent font family can still be selected with a call to the .fam request
or using groff's -f command-line option. On the other hand, if you
want to replace just, say, font B, you have to replace the font at po-
sition 2 (with a call to ‘.fp 2 ...’).
Macros
)E level text
Add heading text text to the table of contents with level, which
is either 0 or in the range 1 to 7. See also .H. This macro is
used for customized tables of contents.
1C [1] Begin one-column processing. A 1 as an argument disables the
page break. Use wide footnotes, small footnotes may be over-
printed.
2C Begin two-column processing. Splits the page in two columns.
It is a special case of MC. See also 1C.
AE Abstract end, see AS.
AF [name-of-firm]
Author's firm, should be called before AU, see also COVER.
AL [type [text-indent [1]]]
Start auto-increment list. Items are numbered beginning with
one. The type argument controls the format of numbers.
Arg Description
1 Arabic (the default)
A Upper-case letters (A–Z)
a Lower-case letters (a–z)
I Upper-case roman
i Lower-case roman
text-indent sets the indentation and overrides Li. A third ar-
gument prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.
APP name text
Begin an appendix with name name. Automatic naming occurs if
name is "". The appendices start with A if automatic naming is
used. A new page is ejected, and a header is also produced if
the number variable Aph is non-zero. This is the default. The
appendix always appears in the ‘List of contents’ with correct
page numbers. The name ‘APPENDIX’ can be changed by setting the
string App to the desired text. The string Apptxt contains the
current appendix text.
APPSK name pages text
Same as .APP, but the page number is incremented with pages.
This is used when diagrams or other non-formatted documents are
included as appendices.
AS [arg [indent]]
Abstract start. Indentation is specified in ‘ens’, but scaling
is allowed. Argument arg controls where the abstract is
printed.
Arg Placement
0 Abstract is printed on page 1 and on the cover sheet if
used in the released-paper style (MT 4), otherwise it is
printed on page 1 without a cover sheet.
1 Abstract is only printed on the cover sheet (MT 4 only).
2 Abstract is printed only on the cover sheet (other than MT
4 only). The cover sheet is printed without a need for
CS.
An abstract is not printed at all in external letters (MT 5).
The indent parameter controls the indentation of both margins,
otherwise normal text indentation is used.
AST [title]
Abstract title. Default is ‘ABSTRACT’. Sets the text above the
abstract text.
AT title1 [title2 [...]]
Author's title. AT must appear just after each AU. The title
shows up after the name in the signature block.
AU [name [initials [loc [dept [ext [room [arg [arg [arg]]]]]]]]]
Author information. Specifies the author of the memo or paper,
and is printed on the cover sheet and on other similar places.
AU must not appear before TL. The author information can con-
tain initials, location, department, telephone extension, room
number or name and up to three extra arguments.
AV [name [1]]
Approval signature. Generates an approval line with place for
signature and date. The string ‘APPROVED:’ can be changed with
variable Letapp; it is replaced with an empty lin if there is a
second argument. The string ‘Date’ can be changed with variable
Letdate.
AVL [name]
Letter signature. Generates a line with place for signature.
B [bold-text [prev-font-text [bold [...]]]]
Begin boldface. No limit on the number of arguments. All argu-
ments are concatenated to one word; the first, third and so on
is printed in boldface.
B1 Begin box (as the ms macro). Draws a box around the text. The
text is indented one character, and the right margin is one
character shorter.
B2 End box. Finishes the box started with B1.
BE End bottom block, see BS.
BI [bold-text [italic-text [bold-text [...]]]]
Bold-italic. No limit on the number of arguments, see B.
BL [text-indent [1]]
Start bullet list. Initializes a list with a bullet and a space
in the beginning of each list item (see LI). text-indent over-
rides the default indentation of the list items set by number
register Pi. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank
line before each item.
BR [bold-text [roman-text [bold-text [...]]]]
Bold-roman. No limit on the number of arguments.
BS Bottom block start. Begins the definition of a text block which
is printed at the bottom of each page. The block ends with BE.
BVL text-indent [mark-indent [1]]
Start of broken variable-item list. Broken variable-item list
has no fixed mark, it assumes that every LI has a mark instead.
The text always begins at the next line after the mark. text-
indent sets the indentation to the text, and mark-indent the
distance from the current indentation to the mark. A third ar-
gument prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.
COVER [arg]
Begin a coversheet definition. It is important that .COVER ap-
pears before any normal text. This macro uses arg to build the
filename /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/arg.cov. Therefore it
is possible to create unlimited types of cover sheets. ms.cov
is supposed to look like the ms cover sheet. .COVER requires a
.COVEND at the end of the cover definition. Always use this or-
der of the cover macros:
.COVER
.TL
.AF
.AU
.AT
.AS
.AE
.COVEND
However, only .TL and .AU are required.
COVEND Finish the cover description and print the cover page. It is
defined in the cover file.
DE Display end. Ends a block of text or display that begins with
DS or DF.
DF [format [fill [rindent]]]
Begin floating display (no nesting allowed). A floating display
is saved in a queue and is printed in the order entered. For-
mat, fill, and rindent are the same as in DS. Floating displays
are controlled by the two number registers De and Df.
De register
0 Nothing special, this is the default.
1 A page eject occurs after each printed display, giv-
ing only one display per page and no text following
it.
Df register
0 Displays are printed at the end of each section (when
section-page numbering is active) or at the end of
the document.
1 A new display is printed on the current page if there
is enough space, otherwise it is printed at the end
of the document.
2 One display is printed at the top of each page or
column (in multi-column mode).
3 Print one display if there is enough space for it,
otherwise it is printed at the top of the next page
or column.
4 Print as many displays as possible in a new page or
column. A page break occurs between each display if
De is not zero.
5 Fill the current page with displays and the rest be-
ginning at a new page or column. (This is the de-
fault.) A page break occurs between each display if
De is not zero.
DL [text-indent [1 [1]]]
Dash list start. Begins a list where each item is printed after
a dash. text-indent changes the default indentation of the list
items set by number register Pi. A second argument prevents an
empty line between each list item. See LI. A third argument
prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.
DS [format [fill [rindent]]]
Static display start. Begins collection of text until DE. The
text is printed together on the same page, unless it is longer
than the height of the page. DS can be nested arbitrarily.
format
"" No indentation.
none No indentation.
L No indentation.
I Indent text with the value of number register Si.
C Center each line.
CB Center the whole display as a block.
R Right-adjust the lines.
RB Right-adjust the whole display as a block.
The values ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘CB’ can also be specified as ‘0’,
‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘3’, respectively, for compatibility reasons.
fill
"" Line-filling turned off.
none Line-filling turned off.
N Line-filling turned off.
F Line-filling turned on.
‘N’ and ‘F’ can also be specified as ‘0’ and ‘1’, respectively.
By default, an empty line is printed before and after the dis-
play. Setting number register Ds to 0 prevents this. rindent
shortens the line length by that amount.
EC [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Equation title. Sets a title for an equation. The override ar-
gument changes the numbering.
flag
none override is a prefix to the number.
0 override is a prefix to the number.
1 override is a suffix to the number.
2 override replaces the number.
EC uses the number register Ec as a counter. It is possible to
use .af to change the format of the number. If number register
Of is 1, the format of title uses a dash instead of a dot after
the number.
The string Le controls the title of the List of Equations; de-
fault is ‘LIST OF EQUATIONS’. The List of Equations is only
printed if number register Le is 1. The default is 0. The
string Liec contains the word ‘Equation’, which is printed be-
fore the number. If refname is used, then the equation number
is saved with .SETR, and can be retrieved with ‘.GETST refname’.
Special handling of the title occurs if EC is used inside DS/DE;
it is not affected by the format of DS.
EF [arg]
Even-page footer, printed just above the normal page footer on
even pages. See PF.
This macro defines string EOPef.
EH [arg]
Even-page header, printed just below the normal page header on
even pages. See PH.
This macro defines string TPeh.
EN Equation end, see EQ.
EOP End-of-page user-defined macro. This macro is called instead of
the normal printing of the footer. The macro is executed in a
separate environment, without any trap active. See TP.
Strings available to EOP
EOPf argument of PF
EOPef argument of EF
EOPof argument of OF
EPIC [-L] width height [name]
Draw a box with the given width and height. It also prints the
text name or a default string if name is not specified. This is
used to include external pictures; just give the size of the
picture. -L left-adjusts the picture; the default is to center.
See PIC.
EQ [label]
Equation start. EQ/EN are the delimiters for equations written
for eqn(1). EQ/EN must be inside of a DS/DE pair, except if EQ
is used to set options for eqn only. The label argument appears
at the right margin of the equation, centered vertically within
the DS/DE block, unless number register Eq is 1. Then the label
appears at the left margin.
If there are multiple EQ/EN blocks within a single DS/DE pair,
only the last equation label (if any) is printed.
EX [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Exhibit title. The arguments are the same as for EC. EX uses
the number register Ex as a counter. The string Lx controls the
title of the List of Exhibits; default is ‘LIST OF EXHIBITS’.
The List of Exhibits is only printed if number register Lx is 1,
which is the default. The string Liex contains the word ‘Ex-
hibit’, which is printed before the number. If refname is used,
the exhibit number is saved with .SETR, and can be retrieved
with ‘.GETST refname’.
Special handling of the title occurs if EX is used inside DS/DE;
it is not affected by the format of DS.
FC [closing]
Print ‘Yours very truly,’ as a formal closing of a letter or
memorandum. The argument replaces the default string. The de-
fault is stored in string variable Letfc.
FD [arg [1]]
Footnote default format. Controls the hyphenation (hyphen),
right margin justification (adjust), and indentation of footnote
text (indent). It can also change the label justification
(ljust).
arg hyphen adjust indent ljust
0 no yes yes left
1 yes yes yes left
2 no no yes left
3 yes no yes left
4 no yes no left
5 yes yes no left
6 no no no left
7 yes no no left
8 no yes yes right
9 yes yes yes right
10 no no yes right
11 yes no yes right
An argument greater than or equal to 11 is considered as
value 0. Default for mm is 10.
FE Footnote end.
FG [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Figure title. The arguments are the same as for EC. FG uses
the number register Fg as a counter. The string Lf controls the
title of the List of Figures; default is ‘LIST OF FIGURES’. The
List of Figures is only printed if number register Lf is 1,
which is the default. The string Lifg contains the word ‘Fig-
ure’, which is printed before the number. If refname is used,
then the figure number is saved with .SETR, and can be retrieved
with ‘.GETST refname’.
Special handling of the title occurs if FG is used inside DS/DE,
it is not affected by the format of DS.
FS [label]
Footnote start. The footnote is ended by FE. By default, foot-
notes are automatically numbered; the number is available in
string F. Just add \*F in the text. By adding label, it is
possible to have other number or names on the footnotes. Foot-
notes in displays are now possible. An empty line separates
footnotes; the height of the line is controlled by number regis-
ter Fs, default value is 1.
GETHN refname [varname]
Include the header number where the corresponding ‘SETR refname’
was placed. This is displayed as ‘X.X.X.’ in pass 1. See
INITR. If varname is used, GETHN sets the string variable var-
name to the header number.
GETPN refname [varname]
Include the page number where the corresponding ‘SETR refname’
was placed. This is displayed as ‘9999’ in pass 1. See INITR.
If varname is used, GETPN sets the stringvariable varname to the
page number.
GETR refname
Combine GETHN and GETPN with the text ‘chapter’ and ‘, page’.
The string Qrf contains the text for the cross reference:
.ds Qrf See chapter \\*[Qrfh], page \\*[Qrfp].
Qrf may be changed to support other languages. Strings Qrfh and
Qrfp are set by GETR and contain the page and header number, re-
spectively.
GETST refname [varname]
Include the string saved with the second argument to .SETR.
This is a dummy string in pass 1. If varname is used, GETST
sets it to the saved string. See INITR.
H level [heading-text [heading-suffix]]
Numbered section heading. Section headers can have a level be-
tween 1 and 14; level 1 is the top level. The text is given in
heading-text, and must be surrounded by double quotes if it con-
tains spaces. heading-suffix is added to the header in the text
but not in the table of contents. This is normally used for
footnote marks and similar things. Don't use \*F in heading-
suffix, it doesn't work. A manual label must be used, see FS.
A call to the paragraph macro P directly after H is ignored.
H takes care of spacing and indentation.
Page ejection before heading
Number register Ej controls page ejection before the
heading. By default, a level-one heading gets two blank
lines before it; higher levels only get one. A new page
is ejected before each first-level heading if number reg-
ister Ej is 1. All levels below or equal the value of Ej
get a new page. Default value for Ej is 0.
Heading break level
A line break occurs after the heading if the heading
level is less or equal to number register Hb. Default
value is 2.
Heading space level
A blank line is inserted after the heading if the heading
level is less or equal to number register Hs. Default
value is 2.
Text follows the heading on the same line if the level is
greater than both Hb and Hs.
Post-heading indent
Indentation of the text after the heading is controlled
by number register Hi. Default value is 0.
Hi
0 The text is left-justified.
1 Indentation of the text follows the value of number
register Pt , see P.
2 The text is lined up with the first word of the head-
ing.
Centered section headings
All headings whose level is equal or below number regis-
ter Hc and also less than or equal to Hb or Hs are cen-
tered.
Font control of the heading
The font of each heading level is controlled by string
HF. It contains a font number or font name for each
level. Default value is
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
(all headings in italic). This could also be written as
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
Note that some other implementations use 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 as
the default value. All omitted values are presumed to
have value 1.
Point size control
String HP controls the point size of each heading, in the
same way as HF controls the font. A value of 0 selects
the default point size. Default value is
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Beware that only the point size changes, not the vertical
size. The latter can be controlled by the user-specified
macros HX and/or HZ.
Heading counters
Fourteen number registers named H1 up to H14 contain the
counter for each heading level. The values are printed
using Arabic numerals; this can be changed with the macro
HM (see below). All marks are concatenated before print-
ing. To avoid this, set number register Ht to 1. This
only prints the current heading counter at each heading.
Automatic table of contents
All headings whose level is equal or below number regis-
ter Cl are saved to be printed in the table of contents.
Default value is 2.
Special control of the heading, user-defined macros
The following macros can be defined by the user to get a
finer control of vertical spacing, fonts, or other fea-
tures. Argument level is the level-argument to H, but 0
for unnumbered headings (see HU). Argument rlevel is the
real level; it is set to number register Hu for unnum-
bered headings. Argument heading-text is the text argu-
ment to H and HU.
HX level rlevel heading-text
This macro is called just before the printing of
the heading. The following registers are avail-
able for HX. Note that HX may alter }0, }2, and
;3.
}0 (string)
Contains the heading mark plus two spaces
if rlevel is non-zero, otherwise empty.
;0 (register)
Contains the position of the text after the
heading. 0 means that the text should fol-
low the heading on the same line, 1 means
that a line break should occur before the
text, and 2 means that a blank line should
separate the heading and the text.
}2 (string)
Contains two spaces if register ;0 is 0.
It is used to separate the heading from the
text. The string is empty if ;0 is non-
zero.
;3 (register)
Contains the needed space in units after
the heading. Default is 2v. Can be used
to change things like numbering (}0), ver-
tical spacing (}2), and the needed space
after the heading.
HY dlevel rlevel heading-text
This macro is called after size and font calcula-
tions and might be used to change indentation.
HZ dlevel rlevel heading-text
This macro is called after the printing of the
heading, just before H or HU exits. Can be used
to change the page header according to the section
heading.
HC [hyphenation-character]
Set hyphenation character. Default value is ‘\%’. Resets to
the default if called without argument. Hyphenation can be
turned off by setting number register Hy to 0 at the beginning
of the file.
HM [arg1 [arg2 [... [arg14]]]]
Heading mark style. Controls the type of marking for printing
of the heading counters. Default is 1 for all levels.
Argument
1 Arabic numerals.
0001 Arabic numerals with leading zeroes, one or more.
A upper-case alphabetic
a lower-case alphabetic
I upper-case roman numerals
i lower-case roman numerals
"" Arabic numerals.
HU heading-text
Unnumbered section header. HU behaves like H at the level in
number register Hu. See H.
HX dlevel rlevel heading-text
User-defined heading exit. Called just before printing the
header. See H.
HY dlevel rlevel heading-text
User-defined heading exit. Called just before printing the
header. See H.
HZ dlevel rlevel heading-text
User-defined heading exit. Called just after printing the
header. See H.
I [italic-text [prev-font-text [italic-text [...]]]]
Italic. Changes the font to italic if called without arguments.
With one argument it sets the word in italic. With two argu-
ments it concatenates them and sets the first word in italic and
the second in the previous font. There is no limit on the num-
ber of argument; all are concatenated.
IA [addressee-name [title]]
Begin specification of the addressee and addressee's address in
letter style. Several names can be specified with empty IA/IE-
pairs, but only one address. See LT.
IB [italic-text [bold-text [italic-text [...]]]]
Italic-bold. Even arguments are printed in italic, odd in bold-
face. See I.
IE End the address specification after IA.
INITI type filename [macro]
Initialize the new index system and set the filename to collect
index lines in with IND. Argument type selects the type of in-
dex: page number, header marks or both. The default is page
numbers.
It is also possible to create a macro that is responsible for
formatting each row; just add the name of the macro as a third
argument. The macro is then called with the index as argu-
ment(s).
type
N Page numbers
H Header marks
B Both page numbers and header marks, separated with a tab
character.
INITR filename
Initialize the cross reference macros. Cross references are
written to stderr and are supposed to be redirected into file
filename.qrf. Requires two passes with groff; this is handled
by a separate program called mmroff(1). This program exists be-
cause groff(1) by default deactivates the unsafe operations that
are required by INITR. The first pass looks for cross refer-
ences, and the second one includes them. INITR can be used sev-
eral times, but it is only the first occurrence of INITR that is
active.
See also SETR, GETPN, and GETHN.
IND arg1 [arg2 [...]]
Write a line in the index file selected by INITI with all argu-
ments and the page number or header mark separated by tabs.
Examples
arg1\tpage number
arg1\targ2\tpage number
arg1\theader mark
arg1\tpage number\theader mark
INDP Print the index by running the command specified by string vari-
able Indcmd, which has ‘sort -t\t’ as the default value. INDP
reads the output from the command to form the index, by default
in two columns (this can be changed by defining TYIND). The in-
dex is printed with string variable Index as header, default is
‘INDEX’. One-column processing is reactivated after the list.
INDP calls the user-defined macros TXIND, TYIND, and TZIND if
defined. TXIND is called before printing the string ‘INDEX’,
TYIND is called instead of printing ‘INDEX’, and TZIND is called
after the printing and should take care of restoring to normal
operation again.
ISODATE [0]
Change the predefined date string in DT to ISO-format, this is,
‘YYYY-MM-DD’. This can also be done by adding -rIso=1 on the
command line. Reverts to old date format if argument is 0.
IR [italic-text [roman-text [italic-text [...]]]]
Italic-roman. Even arguments are printed in italic, odd in ro-
man. See I.
LB text-indent mark-indent pad type [mark [LI-space [LB-space]]]
List-begin macro. This is the common macro used for all lists.
text-indent is the number of spaces to indent the text from the
current indentation.
pad and mark-indent control where to put the mark. The mark is
placed within the mark area, and mark-indent sets the number of
spaces before this area. By default it is 0. The mark area
ends where the text begins. The start of the text is still con-
trolled by text-indent.
The mark is left-justified within the mark area if pad is 0. If
pad is greater than 0, mark-indent is ignored, and the mark is
placed pad spaces before the text. This right-justifies the
mark.
If type is 0 the list either has a hanging indentation or, if
argument mark is given, the string mark as a mark.
If type is greater than 0 automatic numbering occurs, using ara-
bic numbers if mark is empty. mark can then be any of ‘1’, ‘A’,
‘a’, ‘I’, or ‘i’.
type selects one of six possible ways to display the mark.
type
1 x.
2 x)
3 (x)
4 [x]
5 <x>
6 {x}
Every item in the list gets LI-space number of blank lines be-
fore them. Default is 1.
LB itself prints LB-space blank lines. Default is 0.
LC [list-level]
List-status clear. Terminates all current active lists down to
list-level, or 0 if no argument is given. This is used by H to
clear any active list.
LE [1] List end. Terminates the current list. LE outputs a blank line
if an argument is given.
LI [mark [1|2]]
List item preceding every item in a list. Without argument, LI
prints the mark determined by the current list type. By giving
LI one argument, it uses that as the mark instead. Two argu-
ments to LI makes mark a prefix to the current mark. There is
no separating space between the prefix and the mark if the sec-
ond argument is ‘2’ instead of ‘1’. This behaviour can also be
achieved by setting number register Limsp to zero. A zero
length mark makes a hanging indentation instead.
A blank line is printed before the list item by default. This
behaviour can be controlled by number register Ls. Pre-spacing
occurs for each list level less than or equal to Ls. Default
value is 99. There is no nesting limit.
The indentation can be changed through number register Li. De-
fault is 6.
All lists begin with a list initialization macro, LB. There
are, however, seven predefined list types to make lists easier
to use. They all call LB with different default values.
AL Automatically Incremented List
ML Marked List
VL Variable-Item List
BL Bullet List
DL Dash List
RL Reference List
BVL Broken Variable List.
These lists are described at other places in this manual. See
also LB.
LT [arg]
Format a letter in one of four different styles depending on the
argument. Also see section “Internals” below.
Arg Style
BL Blocked. Date line, return address, writer's ad-
dress and closing begins at the center of the line.
All other lines begin at the left margin.
SB Semi-blocked. Same as blocked, except that the
first line in every paragraph is indented five spa-
ces.
FB Full-blocked. All lines begin at the left margin.
SP Simplified. Almost the same as the full-blocked
style. Subject and the writer's identification are
printed in all-capital.
LO type [arg]
Specify options in letter (see .LT). This is a list of the
standard options:
CN Confidential notation. Prints ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ on the
second line below the date line. Any argument re-
places ‘CONFIDENTIAL’. See also string variable
LetCN.
RN Reference notation. Prints ‘In reference to:’ and
the argument two lines below the date line. See
also string variable LetRN.
AT Attention. Prints ‘ATTENTION:’ and the argument be-
low the inside address. See also string variable
LetAT.
SA Salutation. Prints ’To Whom It May Concern:’ or the
argument if it was present. The salutation is
printed two lines below the inside address. See
also string variable LetSA.
SJ Subject line. Prints the argument as subject pre-
fixed with ‘SUBJECT:’ two lines below the inside ad-
dress, except in letter type ‘SP’, where the subject
is printed in all-capital without any prefix. See
also string variable LetSJ.
MC column-size [column-separation]
Begin multiple columns. Return to normal with 1C. MC creates
as many columns as the current line length permits. column-size
is the width of each column, and column-separation is the space
between two columns. Default separation is column-size/15. See
also 1C.
ML mark [text-indent [1]]
Marked list start. The mark argument is printed before each
list item. text-indent sets the indent and overrides Li. A
third argument prohibits printing of a blank line before each
item.
MT [arg [addressee]]
Memorandum type. The argument arg is part of a filename in
/usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/*.MT. Memorandum types 0 to 5
are supported, including type ‘string’ (which gets internally
mapped to type 6). addressee just sets a variable, used in the
AT&T macros.
arg
0 Normal memorandum, no type printed.
1 Memorandum with ‘MEMORANDUM FOR FILE’ printed.
2 Memorandum with ‘PROGRAMMER'S NOTES’ printed.
3 Memorandum with ‘ENGINEER'S NOTES’ printed.
4 Released paper style.
5 External letter style.
See also COVER/COVEND, a more flexible type of front page.
MOVE y-pos [x-pos [line-length]]
Move to a position, setting page offset to x-pos. If line-
length is not given, the difference between current and new page
offset is used. Use PGFORM without arguments to return to nor-
mal.
MULB cw1 space1 [cw2 space2 [cw3 ...]]
Begin a special multi-column mode. All columns widths must be
specified. The space between the columns must be specified
also. The last column does not need any space definition. MULB
starts a diversion, and MULE ends the diversion and prints the
columns. The unit for the width and space arguments is ‘n’, but
MULB accepts all normal unit specifications like ‘c’ and ‘i’.
MULB operates in a separate environment.
MULN Begin the next column. This is the only way to switch the col-
umn.
MULE End the multi-column mode and print the columns.
nP [type]
Print numbered paragraph with header level two. See .P.
NCOL Force printing to the next column. Don't use this together with
the MUL* macros, see 2C.
NS [arg [1]]
Print different types of notations. The argument selects be-
tween the predefined type of notations. If the second argument
is available, then the argument becomes the entire notation. If
the argument doesn't select a predefined type, it is printed as
‘Copy (arg) to’. It is possible to add more standard notations,
see the string variables Letns and Letnsdef.
Arg Notation
none Copy To
"" Copy To
1 Copy To (with att.) to
2 Copy To (without att.) to
3 Att.
4 Atts.
5 Enc.
6 Encs.
7 Under separate cover
8 Letter to
9 Memorandum to
10 Copy (with atts.) to
11 Copy (without atts.) to
12 Abstract Only to
13 Complete Memorandum to
14 CC
ND new-date
New date. Overrides the current date. Date is not printed if
new-date is an empty string.
OF [arg]
Odd-page footer, a line printed just above the normal footer.
See EF and PF.
This macro defines string EOPof.
OH [arg]
Odd-page header, a line printed just below the normal header.
See EH and PH.
This macro defines string TPoh.
OP Make sure that the following text is printed at the top of an
odd-numbered page. Does not output an empty page if currently
at the top of an odd page.
P [type]
Begin new paragraph. P without argument produces left-justified
text, even the first line of the paragraph. This is the same as
setting type to 0. If the argument is 1, the first line of text
following P is indented by the number of spaces in number regis-
ter Pi, by default 5.
Instead of giving an argument to P it is possible to set the
paragraph type in number register Pt. Using 0 and 1 is the same
as adding that value to P. A value of 2 indents all paragraphs,
except after headings, lists, and displays (this value can't be
used as an argument to P itself).
The space between two paragraphs is controlled by number regis-
ter Ps, and is 1 by default (one blank line).
PGFORM [linelength [pagelength [pageoffset [1]]]]
Set line length, page length, and/or page offset. This macro
can be used for special formatting, like letter heads and other.
It is normally the first command in a file, though it is not
necessary. PGFORM can be used without arguments to reset every-
thing after a MOVE call. A line break is done unless the fourth
argument is given. This can be used to avoid the page number on
the first page while setting new width and length. (It seems as
if this macro sometimes doesn't work too well. Use the command-
line arguments to change line length, page length, and page off-
set instead.)
PGNH No header is printed on the next page. Used to get rid of the
header in letters or other special texts. This macro must be
used before any text to inhibit the page header on the first
page.
PIC [-B] [-L] [-C] [-R] [-I n] filename [width [height]]
Include a PostScript file in the document. The macro depends on
mmroff(1) and INITR. The arguments -L, -C, -R, and -I n adjust
the picture or indent it. With no flag the picture is adjusted
to the left. Adding -B draws a box around the picture. The op-
tional width and height can also be given to resize the picture.
PE Picture end. Ends a picture for pic(1).
PF [arg]
Page footer. PF sets the line to be printed at the bottom of
each page. Empty by default. See PH for the argument specifi-
cation.
This macro defines string EOPf.
PH [arg]
Page header, a line printed at the top of each page. The argu-
ment should be specified as
"'left-part'center-part'right-part'"
where left-part, center-part, and right-part are printed left-
justified, centered, and right justified, respectively. Within
the argument to PH, the character ‘%’ is changed to the current
page number. The default argument is
"''- % -''"
which gives the page number between two dashes.
This macro defines string TPh.
PS Picture start (from pic). Begins a picture for pic(1).
PX Page header user-defined exit. This macro is called just after
the printing of the page header in no-space mode.
R Roman. Return to roman font, see also I.
RB [roman-text [bold-text [roman-text [...]]]]
Roman-bold. Even arguments are printed in roman, odd in bold-
face. See I.
RD [prompt [diversion [string]]]
Read from standard input to diversion and/or string. The text
is saved in a diversion named diversion. Recall the text by
writing the name of the diversion after a dot on an empty line.
A string is also defined if string is given. Diversion and/or
prompt can be empty ("").
RF Reference end. Ends a reference definition and returns to nor-
mal processing. See RS.
RI [roman-text [italic-text [roman-text [...]]]]
Print even arguments in roman, odd in italic. See I.
RL [text-indent[1]]
Reference list start. Begins a list where each item is preceded
with an automatically incremented number between square brack-
ets. text-indent changes the default indentation.
RP [arg1 [arg2]]
Produce reference page. This macro can be used if a reference
page is wanted somewhere in the document. It is not needed if
TC is used to produce a table of contents. The reference page
is then printed automatically.
The reference counter is not reset if arg1 is 1.
arg2 tells RP whether to eject a page or not.
arg2
0 The reference page is printed on a separate page.
1 Do not eject page after the list.
2 Do not eject page before the list.
3 Do not eject page before and after the list.
The reference items are separated by a blank line. Setting num-
ber register Ls to 0 suppresses the line.
The string Rp contains the reference page title and is set to
‘REFERENCES’ by default. The number register Rpe holds the de-
fault value for the second argument of RP; it is initially set
to 0.
RS [string-name]
Begin an automatically numbered reference definition. Put the
string \*(Rf where the reference mark should be and write the
reference between RS/RF at next new line after the reference
mark. The reference number is stored in number register :R. If
string-name is given, a string with that name is defined and
contains the current reference mark. The string can be refer-
enced as \*[string-name] later in the text.
S [size [spacing]]
Set point size and vertical spacing. If any argument is equal
to ‘P’, the previous value is used. A ‘C’ means current value,
and ‘D’ the default value. If ‘+’ or ‘-’ is used before the
value, the current value is incremented or decremented, respec-
tively.
SA [arg]
Set right-margin justification. Justification is turned on by
default. No argument or value ‘0’ turns off justification, and
‘1’ turns on justification.
SETR refname [string]
Remember the current header and page number as refname. Saves
string if string is defined. string is retrieved with .GETST.
See INITR.
SG [arg [1]]
Signature line. Prints the authors name(s) after the formal
closing. The argument is appended to the reference data,
printed at either the first or last author. The reference data
is the location, department, and initials specified with .AU.
It is printed at the first author if the second argument is
given, otherwise at the last. No reference data is printed if
the author(s) is specified through .WA/.WE. See section “Inter-
nals” below.
SK [pages]
Skip pages. If pages is 0 or omitted, a skip to the next page
occurs unless it is already at the top of a page. Otherwise it
skips pages pages.
SM string1 [string2 [string3]]
Make a string smaller. If string2 is given, string1 is made
smaller and string2 stays at normal size, concatenated with
string1. With three arguments, everything is concatenated, but
only string2 is made smaller.
SP [lines]
Space vertically. lines can have any scaling factor, like ‘3i’
or ‘8v’. Several SP calls in a line only produces the maximum
number of lines, not the sum. SP is ignored also until the
first text line in a page. Add \& before a call to SP to avoid
this.
TAB Reset tabs to every 5n. Normally used to reset any previous tab
positions.
TB [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Table title. The arguments are the same as for EC. TB uses the
number register Tb as a counter. The string Lt controls the ti-
tle of the List of Tables; default value is ‘LIST OF TABLES’.
The List of Tables is only printed if number register Lt is 1,
which is the default. The string Litb contains the word ‘TA-
BLE’, which is printed before the number.
Special handling of the title occurs if TB is used inside DS/DE,
it is not affected by the format of DS.
TC [slevel [spacing [tlevel [tab [h1 [h2 [h3 [h4 [h5]]]]]]]]]
Table of contents. This macro is normally used as the last line
of the document. It generates a table of contents with headings
up to the level controlled by number register Cl. Note that Cl
controls the saving of headings, it has nothing to do with TC.
Headings with a level less than or equal to slevel get spacing
number of lines before them. Headings with a level less than or
equal to tlevel have their page numbers right-justified with
dots or spaces separating the text and the page number. Spaces
are used if tab is greater than zero, dots otherwise. Other
headings have the page number directly at the end of the heading
text (ragged-right).
The rest of the arguments is printed, centered, before the table
of contents.
The user-defined macros TX and TY are used if TC is called with
at most four arguments. TX is called before the printing of the
string ‘CONTENTS’, and TY is called instead of printing ‘CON-
TENTS’.
Equivalent macros can be defined for list of figures, tables,
equations and exhibits by defining TXxx or TYxx, where xx is
‘Fg’, ‘TB’, ‘EC’, or ‘EX’, respectively.
String Ci can be set to control the indentations for each head-
ing-level. It must be scaled, like
.ds Ci .25i .5i .75i 1i 1i
By default, the indentation is controlled by the maximum length
of headings in each level.
The string variables Lifg, Litb, Liex, Liec, and Licon contain
‘Figure’, ‘TABLE’, ‘Exhibit’, ‘Equation’, and ‘CONTENTS’, re-
spectively. These can be redefined to other languages.
TE Table end. See TS.
TH [N] Table header. See TS. TH ends the header of the table. This
header is printed again if a page break occurs. Argument ‘N’
isn't implemented yet.
TL [charging-case-number [filing-case-number]]
Begin title of memorandum. All text up to the next AU is in-
cluded in the title. charging-case-number and filing-case-num-
ber are saved for use in the front page processing.
TM [num1 [num2 [...]]]
Technical memorandum numbers used in .MT. An unlimited number
of arguments may be given.
TP Top-of-page user-defined macro. This macro is called instead of
the normal page header. It is possible to get complete control
over the header. Note that the header and the footer are
printed in a separate environment. Line length is preserved,
though. See EOP.
strings available to TP
TPh argument of PH
TPeh argument of EH
TPoh argument of OH
TS [H] Table start. This is the start of a table specification to
tbl(1). TS ends with TE. Argument ‘H’ tells mm that the table
has a header. See TH.
TX User-defined table of contents exit. This macro is called just
before TC prints the word ‘CONTENTS’. See TC.
TY User-defined table of contents exit. This macro is called in-
stead of printing ‘CONTENTS’. See TC.
VERBON [flag [point-size [font]]]
Begin verbatim output using Courier font. Usually for printing
programs. All characters have equal width. The point size can
be changed with the second argument. By specifying a third ar-
gument it is possible to use another font instead of Courier.
flag controls several special features. Its value is the sum of
all wanted features.
Arg Description
1 Disable the escape character (\). This is normally
turned on during verbose output.
2 Add an empty line before the verbose text.
4 Add an empty line after the verbose text.
8 Print the verbose text with numbered lines. This
adds four digit-sized spaces in the beginning of
each line. Finer control is available with the
string variable Verbnm. It contains all arguments
to the troff(1) command .nm, normally ‘1’.
16 Indent the verbose text by ‘5n’. This is con-
trolled by the number-variable Verbin (in units).
VERBOFF
End verbatim output.
VL text-indent [mark-indent [1]]
Variable-item list. It has no fixed mark, it assumes that every
LI has a mark instead. text-indent sets the indent to the text,
and mark-indent the distance from the current indentation to the
mark. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank line be-
fore each item.
VM [-T] [top [bottom]]
Vertical margin. Increase the top and bottom margin by top and
bottom, respectively. If option -T is specified, set those mar-
gins to top and bottom. If no argument is given, reset the mar-
gin to zero, or to the default (‘7v 5v’) if -T is used. It is
highly recommended that macros TP and/or EOP are defined if us-
ing -T and setting top and/or bottom margin to less than the de-
fault.
WA [writer-name [title]]
Begin specification of the writer and writer's address. Several
names can be specified with empty WA/WE pairs, but only one ad-
dress.
WE End the address specification after .WA.
WC [format1] [format2] [...]
Footnote and display width control.
N Set default mode which is equal to using the options -WF,
-FF, -WD, and FB.
WF Wide footnotes, wide also in two-column mode.
-WF Normal footnote width, follow column mode.
FF All footnotes gets the same width as the first footnote
encountered.
-FF Normal footnotes, width follows WF and -WF.
WD Wide displays, wide also in two-column mode.
-WD Normal display width, follow column mode.
FB Floating displays generates a line break when printed on
the current page.
-FB Floating displays does not generate line break.
Strings used in mm
App A string containing the word ‘APPENDIX’.
Apptxt The current appendix text.
EM Em dash string
H1txt Updated by .H and .HU to the current heading text. Also updated
in table of contents & friends.
HF Font list for headings, ‘2 2 2 2 2 2 2’ by default. Non-numeric
font names may also be used.
HP Point size list for headings. By default, this is ’0 0 0 0 0 0
0’ which is the same as ‘10 10 10 10 10 10 10’.
Index Contains the string ‘INDEX’.
Indcmd Contains the index command. Default value is ‘sort -t\t’.
Lifg String containing ‘Figure’.
Litb String containing ‘TABLE’.
Liex String containing ‘Exhibit’.
Liec String containing ‘Equation’.
Licon String containing ‘CONTENTS’.
Lf Contains the string ‘LIST OF FIGURES’.
Lt Contains the string ‘LIST OF TABLES’.
Lx Contains the string ‘LIST OF EXHIBITS’.
Le Contains the string ‘LIST OF EQUATIONS’.
Letfc Contains the string ‘Yours very truly,’, used in .FC.
Letapp Contains the string ‘APPROVED:’, used in .AV.
Letdate
Contains the string ‘Date’, used in .AV.
LetCN Contains the string ‘CONFIDENTIAL’, used in .LO CN.
LetSA Contains the string ‘To Whom It May Concern:’, used in .LO SA.
LetAT Contains the string ‘ATTENTION:’, used in .LO AT.
LetSJ Contains the string ‘SUBJECT:’, used in .LO SJ.
LetRN Contains the string ‘In reference to:’, used in .LO RN.
Letns is an array containing the different strings used in .NS. It is
really a number of string variables prefixed with Letns!. If
the argument doesn't exist, it is included between () with
Letns!copy as a prefix and Letns!to as a suffix. Observe the
space after ‘Copy’ and before ‘to’.
Name Value
Letns!0 Copy to
Letns!1 Copy (with att.) to
Letns!2 Copy (without att.) to
Letns!3 Att.
Letns!4 Atts.
Letns!5 Enc.
Letns!6 Encs.
Letns!7 Under separate cover
Letns!8 Letter to
Letns!9 Memorandum to
Letns!10 Copy (with atts.) to
Letns!11 Copy (without atts.) to
Letns!12 Abstract Only to
Letns!13 Complete Memorandum to
Letns!14 CC
Letns!copy Copy (with trailing space)
Letns!to to (note leading space)
Letnsdef
Define the standard notation used when no argument is given to
.NS. Default is 0.
MO1 – MO12
Strings containing the month names ‘January’ through ‘December’.
Qrf String containing ‘See chapter \\*[Qrfh], page \\n[Qrfp].’.
Rp Contains the string ‘REFERENCES’.
Tcst Contains the current status of the table of contents and list of
figures, etc. Empty outside of .TC. Useful in user-defined
macros like .TP.
Value Meaning
co Table of contents
fg List of figures
tb List of tables
ec List of equations
ex List of exhibits
ap Appendix
Tm Contains the string ‘\(tm’, the trade mark symbol.
Verbnm Argument to .nm in the .VERBON command. Default is 1.
Number variables used in mm
Aph Print an appendix page for every new appendix if this number
variable is non-zero. No output occurs if Aph is zero, but
there is always an appendix entry in the ‘List of contents’.
Cl Contents level (in the range 0 to 14). The contents is saved if
a heading level is lower than or equal to the value of Cl. De-
fault is 2.
Cp Eject page between list of table, list of figure, etc., if the
value of Cp is zero. Default is 0.
D Debug flag. Values greater than zero produce debug information
of increasing verbosity. A value of 1 gives information about
the progress of formatting. Default is 0.
De If set to 1, eject after floating display is output. Default
is 0.
Dsp If defined, it controls the space output before and after static
displays. Otherwise the value of Lsp is used.
Df Control floating keep output. This is a number in the range 0
to 5, with a default value of 5. See .DF.
Ds If set to 1, use the amount of space stored in register Lsp be-
fore and after display. Default is 1.
Ej If set to 1, eject page before each first-level heading. De-
fault is 0.
Eq Equation labels are left-adjusted if set to 0 and right-adjusted
if set to 1. Default is 0.
Fs Footnote spacing. Default is 1.
H1 – H7
Heading counters
H1dot Append a dot after the level-one heading number if value is
greater than zero. Default is 1.
H1h A copy of number register H1, but it is incremented just before
the page break. Useful in user-defined header macros.
Hb Heading break level. A number in the range 0 to 14, with a de-
fault value of 2. See .H.
Hc Heading centering level. A number in the range 0 to 14, with a
default value value of 0. See .H.
Hi Heading temporary indent. A number in the range 0 to 2, with a
default value of 1.
0 no indentation, left margin
1 indent to the right, similar to ‘.P 1’
2 indent to line up with text part of preceding heading
Hps Heading pre-space level. If the heading level is less than or
equal to Hps, two lines precede the section heading instead of
one. Default is first level only. The real amount of lines is
controlled by the variables Hps1 and Hps2.
Hps1 Number of lines preceding .H if the heading level is greater
than Hps. Value is in units, default is 0.5.
Hps2 Number of lines preceding .H if the heading level is less than
or equal to Hps. Value is in units, default is 1.
Hs Heading space level. A number in the range 0 to 14, with a de-
fault value of 2. See .H.
Hss Number of lines following .H if the heading level is less than
or equal to Hs. Value is in units, default is 1.
Ht Heading numbering type.
0 multiple levels (1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc.)
1 single level
Default is 0.
Hu Unnumbered heading level. Default is 2.
Hy Hyphenation status of text body.
0 no hyphenation
1 hyphenation on, set to value 6
Default is 0.
Iso Set this variable to 1 on the command line to get an ISO-format-
ted date string (-rIso=1). Useless inside of a document.
L Page length, only for command-line settings.
Letwam Maximum lines in return-address, used in .WA/.WE. Default
is 14.
Lf, Lt, Lx, Le
Enable (1) or disable (0) the printing of List of figures, List
of tables, List of exhibits and List of equations, respectively.
Default values are Lf=1, Lt=1, Lx=1, and Le=0.
Li List indentation, used by .AL. Default is 6.
Limsp A flag controlling the insertion of space between prefix and
mark in automatic lists (.AL).
0 no space
1 emit space
Ls List space threshold. If current list level is greater than Ls
no spacing occurs around lists. Default is 99.
Lsp The vertical space used by an empty line. The default is 0.5v
in troff mode and 1v in nroff mode.
N Page numbering style.
0 normal header for all pages.
1 header replaces footer on first page, header is
empty.
2 page header is removed on the first page.
3 ‘section-page’ numbering style enabled.
4 page header is removed on the first page.
5 ‘section-page’ and ‘section-figure’ numbering style
enabled.
Default is 0. See also the number registers Sectf and Sectp.
Np A flag to control whether paragraphs are numbered.
0 not numbered
1 numbered in first-level headings.
Default is 0.
O Page offset, only for command-line settings.
Of Format of figure, table, exhibit, and equation titles.
0 ". "
1 " - "
Default is 0.
P Current page-number, normally the same as ‘%’ unless ‘section-
page’ numbering style is enabled.
Pi Paragraph indentation. Default is 5.
Pgps A flag to control whether header and footer point size should
follow the current settings or just change when the header and
footer are defined.
0 Point size only changes to the current setting when
.PH, .PF, .OH, .EH, .OF, or .OE is executed.
1 Point size changes after every .S. This is the de-
fault.
Ps Paragraph spacing. Default is 1.
Pt Paragraph type.
0 left-justified
1 indented paragraphs
2 indented paragraphs except after .H, .DE, or .LE.
Default is 0.
Rpe Set default value for second argument of .RP. Default is 0.
Sectf A flag controlling ‘section-figures’ numbering style. A non-
zero value enables this. See also register N.
Sectp A flag controlling ’section-page’ numbering style. A non-zero
value enables this. See also register N.
Si Display indentation. Default is 5.
Verbin Indentation for .VERBON. Default is 5n.
W Line length, only for command-line settings.
.mgm Always 1.
INTERNALS
The letter macros are using different submacros depending on the letter
type. The name of the submacro has the letter type as suffix. It is
therefore possible to define other letter types, either in the national
macro-file, or as local additions. .LT sets the number variables Pt
and Pi to 0 and 5, respectively. The following strings and macros must
be defined for a new letter type.
let@init_type
This macro is called directly by .LT. It is supposed to ini-
tialize variables and other stuff.
let@head_type
This macro prints the letter head, and is called instead of the
normal page header. It is supposed to remove the alias
let@header, otherwise it is called for all pages.
let@sg_type name title n flag [arg1 [arg2 [...]]]
.SG is calling this macro only for letters; memorandums have its
own processing. name and title are specified through .WA/.WB.
n is the counter, 1-max, and flag is true for the last name.
Any other argument to .SG is appended.
let@fc_type closing
This macro is called by .FC, and has the formal closing as the
argument.
.LO is implemented as a general option-macro. It demands that a string
named Lettype is defined, where type is the letter type. .LO then as-
signs the argument to the string variable let*lo-type.
FILES
/usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/m.tmac
/usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/*.cov
/usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/*.MT
/usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/locale
AUTHORS
The GNU version of the mm macro package was written by Jörgen Hägg ⟨jh@
axis.se⟩ of Lund, Sweden.
SEE ALSO
groff(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1)
groff_mmse(7) (only in Swedish locales)
groff 1.22.4 7 March 2023 GROFF_MM(7)
Generated by dwww version 1.15 on Sat Jun 22 12:56:12 CEST 2024.