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MAN(7)                 Miscellaneous Information Manual                 MAN(7)

NAME
     man - legacy formatting language for manual pages

DESCRIPTION
     The man language was the standard formatting language for AT&T UNIX
     manual pages from 1979 to 1989.  Do not use it to write new manual pages:
     it is a purely presentational language and lacks support for semantic
     markup.  Use the mdoc(7) language, instead.

     In a man document, lines beginning with the control character `.' are
     called "macro lines".  The first word is the macro name.  It usually
     consists of two capital letters.  For a list of portable macros, see
     MACRO OVERVIEW.  The words following the macro name are arguments to the
     macro.

     Lines not beginning with the control character are called "text lines".
     They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
     depends on the respective processing context:

           .SH Macro lines change control state.
           Text lines are interpreted within the current state.

     Many aspects of the basic syntax of the man language are based on the
     roff(7) language; see the LANGUAGE SYNTAX and MACRO SYNTAX sections in
     the roff(7) manual for details, in particular regarding comments, escape
     sequences, whitespace, and quoting.

     Each man document starts with the TH macro specifying the document's name
     and section, followed by the NAME section formatted as follows:

           .TH PROGNAME 1 1979-01-10
           .SH NAME
           \fBprogname\fR \(en one line about what it does

MACRO OVERVIEW
     This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
     together.  Deprecated and non-portable macros are not included in the
     overview, but can be found in the alphabetical reference below.

   Page header and footer meta-data
     TH        set the title: name section date [source [volume]]
     AT        display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)
     UC        display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument)

   Sections and paragraphs
     SH        section header (one line)
     SS        subsection header (one line)
     PP        start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments)
     RS, RE    reset the left margin: [width]
     IP        indented paragraph: [head [width]]
     TP        tagged paragraph: [width]
     PD        set vertical paragraph distance: [height]
     in        additional indent: [width]

   Physical markup
     B         boldface font
     I         italic font
     SB        small boldface font
     SM        small roman font
     BI        alternate between boldface and italic fonts
     BR        alternate between boldface and roman fonts
     IB        alternate between italic and boldface fonts
     IR        alternate between italic and roman fonts
     RB        alternate between roman and boldface fonts
     RI        alternate between roman and italic fonts

MACRO REFERENCE
     This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged
     alphabetically.  For the scoping of individual macros, see MACRO SYNTAX.

     AT   Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
          AT&T UNIX releases.  The optional arguments specify which release it
          is from.

     B    Text is rendered in bold face.

     BI   Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic.  Thus, `.BI
          this word and that' causes `this' and `and' to render in bold face,
          while `word' and `that' render in italics.  Whitespace between
          arguments is omitted in output.

          Example:

                .BI bold italic bold italic

     BR   Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default
          font).  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  See also
          BI.

     DT   Restore the default tabulator positions.  They are at intervals of
          0.5 inches.  This has no effect unless the tabulator positions were
          changed with the roff(7) ta request.

     EE   This is a non-standard GNU extension.  In mandoc(1), it does the
          same as the roff(7) fi request (switch to fill mode).

     EX   This is a non-standard GNU extension.  In mandoc(1), it does the
          same as the roff(7) nf request (switch to no-fill mode).

     HP   Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but
          subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:

                .HP [width]

          The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width.  If specified, it's
          saved for later paragraph left margins; if unspecified, the saved or
          default width is used.

          This macro is portable, but deprecated because it has no good
          representation in HTML output, usually ending up indistinguishable
          from PP.

     I    Text is rendered in italics.

     IB   Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face.  Whitespace
          between arguments is omitted in output.  See also BI.

     IP   Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:

                .IP [head [width]]

          The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width defining the left
          margin.  It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if
          unspecified, the saved or default width is used.

          The head argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left
          margin.  This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.

     IR   Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default
          font).  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  See also
          BI.

     LP   A synonym for PP.

     ME   End a mailto block started with MT.  This is a non-standard GNU
          extension.

     MT   Begin a mailto block.  This is a non-standard GNU extension.  It has
          the following syntax:

                .MT address
                link description to be shown
                .ME

     OP   Optional command-line argument.  This is a non-standard GNU
          extension.  It has the following syntax:

                .OP key [value]

          The key is usually a command-line flag and value its argument.

     P    A synonym for PP.

     PD   Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new paragraph.
          The syntax is as follows:

                .PD [height]

          The height argument is a roff(7) scaling width.  It defaults to 1v.
          If the unit is omitted, v is assumed.

          This macro affects the spacing before any subsequent instances of
          HP, IP, LP, P, PP, SH, SS, SY, and TP.

     PP   Begin an undecorated paragraph.  The scope of a paragraph is closed
          by a subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file.
          The saved paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.

     RB   Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold
          face.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  See also
          BI.

     RE   Explicitly close out the scope of a prior RS.  The default left
          margin is restored to the state before that RS invocation.

          The syntax is as follows:

                .RE [level]

          Without an argument, the most recent RS block is closed out.  If
          level is 1, all open RS blocks are closed out.  Otherwise, level - 1
          nested RS blocks remain open.

     RI   Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and
          italics.  Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.  See
          also BI.

     RS   Temporarily reset the default left margin.  This has the following
          syntax:

                .RS [width]

          The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width.  If not specified,
          the saved or default width is used.

          See also RE.

     SB   Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
          font) bold face.

     SH   Begin a section.  The scope of a section is only closed by another
          section or the end of file.  The paragraph left-margin width is
          reset to the default.

     SM   Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default
          font).

     SS   Begin a sub-section.  The scope of a sub-section is closed by a
          subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file.  The paragraph
          left-margin width is reset to the default.

     SY   Begin a synopsis block with the following syntax:

                .SY command
                arguments
                .YS

          This is a non-standard GNU extension and very rarely used even in
          GNU manual pages.  Formatting is similar to IP.

     TH   Set the name of the manual page for use in the page header and
          footer with the following syntax:

                .TH name section date [source [volume]]

          Conventionally, the document name is given in all caps.  The section
          is usually a single digit, in a few cases followed by a letter.  The
          recommended date format is YYYY-MM-DD as specified in the ISO-8601
          standard; if the argument does not conform, it is printed verbatim.
          If the date is empty or not specified, the current date is used.
          The optional source string specifies the organisation providing the
          utility.  When unspecified, mandoc(1) uses its -Ios argument.  The
          volume string replaces the default volume title of the section.

          Examples:

                .TH CVS 5 1992-02-12 GNU

     TP   Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation
          width, is followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the
          same line after advancing to the indentation width.  Subsequent
          output lines are indented.  The syntax is as follows:

                .TP [width]
                head \" one line
                body

          The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width.  If specified, it's
          saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or
          default width is used.

     TQ   Like TP, except that no vertical spacing is inserted before the
          paragraph.  This is a non-standard GNU extension and very rarely
          used even in GNU manual pages.

     UC   Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from
          BSD releases.  The optional first argument specifies which release
          it is from.

     UE   End a uniform resource identifier block started with UR.  This is a
          non-standard GNU extension.

     UR   Begin a uniform resource identifier block.  This is a non-standard
          GNU extension.  It has the following syntax:

                .UR uri
                link description to be shown
                .UE

     YS   End a synopsis block started with SY.  This is a non-standard GNU
          extension.

     in   Indent relative to the current indentation:

                .in [width]

          If width is signed, the new offset is relative.  Otherwise, it is
          absolute.  This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or
          sub-section.

MACRO SYNTAX
     The man macros are classified by scope: line scope or block scope.  Line
     macros are only scoped to the current line (and, in some situations, the
     subsequent line).  Block macros are scoped to the current line and
     subsequent lines until closed by another block macro.

   Line Macros
     Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body
     consisting of zero or more arguments.  If a macro is scoped to the next
     line and the line arguments are empty, the next line, which must be text,
     is used instead.  Thus:

           .I
           foo

     is equivalent to `.I foo'.  If next-line macros are invoked
     consecutively, only the last is used.  If a next-line macro is followed
     by a non-next-line macro, an error is raised.

     The syntax is as follows:

           .YO [body...]
           [body...]

           Macro     Arguments     Scope         Notes
           AT        <=1           current
           B         n             next-line
           BI        n             current
           BR        n             current
           DT        0             current
           EE        0             current       GNU
           EX        0             current       GNU
           I         n             next-line
           IB        n             current
           IR        n             current
           OP        >=1           current       GNU
           PD        1             current
           RB        n             current
           RI        n             current
           SB        n             next-line
           SM        n             next-line
           TH        >1, <6        current
           UC        <=1           current
           in        1             current       roff(7)

   Block Macros
     Block macros comprise a head and body.  As with in-line macros, the head
     is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the next line
     (the next-line stipulations as in Line Macros apply here as well).

     The syntax is as follows:

           .YO [head...]
           [head...]
           [body...]

     The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed
     by SH; sub-section, closed by a section or SS; or paragraph, closed by a
     section, sub-section, HP, IP, LP, P, PP, RE, SY, or TP.  No closure
     refers to an explicit block closing macro.

     As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro
     while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not
     implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.

           Macro    Arguments    Head Scope    Body Scope     Notes
           HP       <2           current       paragraph
           IP       <3           current       paragraph
           LP       0            current       paragraph
           ME       0            none          none           GNU
           MT       1            current       to ME          GNU
           P        0            current       paragraph
           PP       0            current       paragraph
           RE       <=1          current       none
           RS       1            current       to RE
           SH       >0           next-line     section
           SS       >0           next-line     sub-section
           SY       1            current       to YS          GNU
           TP       n            next-line     paragraph
           TQ       n            next-line     paragraph      GNU
           UE       0            current       none           GNU
           UR       1            current       part           GNU
           YS       0            none          none           GNU

     If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line
     macros for decorating text.

   Font handling
     In man documents, both Physical markup macros and roff(7) `\f' font
     escape sequences can be used to choose fonts.  In text lines, the effect
     of manual font selection by escape sequences only lasts until the next
     macro invocation; in macro lines, it only lasts until the end of the
     macro scope.  Note that macros like BR open and close a font scope for
     each argument.

SEE ALSO
     man(1), mandoc(1), eqn(7), mandoc_char(7), mdoc(7), roff(7), tbl(7)

HISTORY
     The man language first appeared as a macro package for the roff
     typesetting system in Version 7 AT&T UNIX.  It was later rewritten by
     James Clark as a macro package for groff.  Eric S. Raymond wrote the
     extended man macros for groff in 2007.  The stand-alone implementation
     that is part of the mandoc(1) utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons
     appeared in OpenBSD 4.6.

AUTHORS
     This man reference was written by Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>.

NetBSD 10.99                     March 2, 2019                    NetBSD 10.99