\"      Id: mdoc.7,v 1.287 2021/07/29 17:32:01 schwarze Exp
\"
\" Copyright (c) 2009, 2010, 2011 Kristaps Dzonsons <[email protected]>
\" Copyright (c) 2010, 2011, 2013-2020 Ingo Schwarze <[email protected]>
\"
\" Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any
\" purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
\" copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.
\"
\" THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES
\" WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR
\" ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES
\" WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN
\" ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF
\" OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
\"
Dd July 29, 2021
Dt MDOC 7
Os
Sh NAME
Nm mdoc
Nd semantic markup language for formatting manual pages
Sh DESCRIPTION
The
Nm mdoc
language supports authoring of manual pages for the
Xr man 1
utility by allowing semantic annotations of words, phrases,
page sections and complete manual pages.
Such annotations are used by formatting tools to achieve a uniform
presentation across all manuals written in
Nm ,
and to support hyperlinking if supported by the output medium.
Pp
This reference document describes the structure of manual pages
and the syntax and usage of the
Nm
language.
The reference implementation of a parsing and formatting tool is
Xr mandoc 1 ;
the
Sx COMPATIBILITY
section describes compatibility with other implementations.
Pp
In an
Nm
document, lines beginning with the control character
Sq \&.
are called
Dq macro lines .
The first word is the macro name.
It consists of two or three letters.
Most macro names begin with a capital letter.
For a list of available macros, see
Sx MACRO OVERVIEW .
The words following the macro name are arguments to the macro, optionally
including the names of other, callable macros; see
Sx MACRO SYNTAX
for details.
Pp
Lines not beginning with the control character are called
Dq text lines .
They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text
depends on the respective processing context:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Sh Macro lines change control state.
Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
Ed
Pp
Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
Nm
language are based on the
Xr roff 7
language; see the
Em LANGUAGE SYNTAX
and
Em MACRO SYNTAX
sections in the
Xr roff 7
manual for details, in particular regarding
comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting.
However, using
Xr roff 7
requests in
Nm
documents is discouraged;
Xr mandoc 1
supports some of them merely for backward compatibility.
Sh MANUAL STRUCTURE
A well-formed
Nm
document consists of a document prologue followed by one or more
sections.
Pp
The prologue, which consists of the
Ic \&Dd ,
Ic \&Dt ,
and
Ic \&Os
macros in that order, is required for every document.
Pp
The first section (sections are denoted by
Ic \&Sh )
must be the NAME section, consisting of at least one
Ic \&Nm
followed by
Ic \&Nd .
Pp
Following that, convention dictates specifying at least the
Em SYNOPSIS
and
Em DESCRIPTION
sections, although this varies between manual sections.
Pp
The following is a well-formed skeleton
Nm
file for a utility
Qq progname :
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
\&.Dt PROGNAME section
\&.Os
\&.Sh NAME
\&.Nm progname
\&.Nd one line about what it does
\&.\e\(dq .Sh LIBRARY
\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 only.
\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
\&.Sh SYNOPSIS
\&.Nm progname
\&.Op Fl options
\&.Ar
\&.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
\&.Nm
utility processes files ...
\&.\e\(dq .Sh CONTEXT
\&.\e\(dq For section 9 functions only.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh RETURN VALUES
\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 function return values only.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh ENVIRONMENT
\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh FILES
\&.\e\(dq .Sh EXIT STATUS
\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 6, and 8 only.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh EXAMPLES
\&.\e\(dq .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
\&.\e\(dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 printf/stderr messages only.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh ERRORS
\&.\e\(dq For sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 errno settings only.
\&.\e\(dq .Sh SEE ALSO
\&.\e\(dq .Xr foobar 1
\&.\e\(dq .Sh STANDARDS
\&.\e\(dq .Sh HISTORY
\&.\e\(dq .Sh AUTHORS
\&.\e\(dq .Sh CAVEATS
\&.\e\(dq .Sh BUGS
\&.\e\(dq .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
\&.\e\(dq Not used in OpenBSD.
Ed
Pp
The sections in an
Nm
document are conventionally ordered as they appear above.
Sections should be composed as follows:
Bl -ohang -offset Ds
It Em NAME
The name(s) and a one line description of the documented material.
The syntax for this as follows:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Nm name0 ,
\&.Nm name1 ,
\&.Nm name2
\&.Nd a one line description
Ed
Pp
Multiple
Sq \&Nm
names should be separated by commas.
Pp
The
Ic \&Nm
macro(s) must precede the
Ic \&Nd
macro.
Pp
See
Ic \&Nm
and
Ic \&Nd .
It Em LIBRARY
The name of the library containing the documented material, which is
assumed to be a function in a section 2, 3, or 9 manual.
The syntax for this is as follows:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Lb libarm
Ed
Pp
See
Ic \&Lb .
It Em SYNOPSIS
Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device
configuration.
Pp
For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is
generally structured as follows:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Nm bar
\&.Op Fl v
\&.Op Fl o Ar file
\&.Op Ar
\&.Nm foo
\&.Op Fl v
\&.Op Fl o Ar file
\&.Op Ar
Ed
Pp
Commands should be ordered alphabetically.
Pp
For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.In header.h
\&.Vt extern const char *global;
\&.Ft "char *"
\&.Fn foo "const char *src"
\&.Ft "char *"
\&.Fn bar "const char *src"
Ed
Pp
Ordering of
Ic \&In ,
Ic \&Vt ,
Ic \&Fn ,
and
Ic \&Fo
macros should follow C header-file conventions.
Pp
And for the third, configurations (section 4):
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Cd \(dqit* at isa? port 0x2e\(dq
\&.Cd \(dqit* at isa? port 0x4e\(dq
Ed
Pp
Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a
Em SYNOPSIS .
Pp
Some macros are displayed differently in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, particularly
Ic \&Nm ,
Ic \&Cd ,
Ic \&Fd ,
Ic \&Fn ,
Ic \&Fo ,
Ic \&In ,
Ic \&Vt ,
and
Ic \&Ft .
All of these macros are output on their own line.
If two such dissimilar macros are pairwise invoked (except for
Ic \&Ft
before
Ic \&Fo
or
Ic \&Fn ) ,
they are separated by a vertical space, unless in the case of
Ic \&Fo ,
Ic \&Fn ,
and
Ic \&Ft ,
which are always separated by vertical space.
Pp
When text and macros following an
Ic \&Nm
macro starting an input line span multiple output lines,
all output lines but the first will be indented to align
with the text immediately following the
Ic \&Nm
macro, up to the next
Ic \&Nm ,
Ic \&Sh ,
or
Ic \&Ss
macro or the end of an enclosing block, whichever comes first.
It Em DESCRIPTION
This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in
Em NAME :
Bd -literal -offset indent
The
\&.Nm
utility does this, that, and the other.
Ed
Pp
It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting a
command), such as:
Bd -literal -offset indent
The options are as follows:
\&.Bl \-tag \-width Ds
\&.It Fl v
Print verbose information.
\&.El
Ed
Pp
List the options in alphabetical order,
uppercase before lowercase for each letter and
with no regard to whether an option takes an argument.
Put digits in ascending order before all letter options.
Pp
Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.
Pp
Since the
Em DESCRIPTION
section usually contains most of the text of a manual, longer manuals
often use the
Ic \&Ss
macro to form subsections.
In very long manuals, the
Em DESCRIPTION
may be split into multiple sections, each started by an
Ic \&Sh
macro followed by a non-standard section name, and each having
several subsections, like in the present
Nm
manual.
It Em CONTEXT
This section lists the contexts in which functions can be called in section 9.
The contexts are autoconf, process, or interrupt.
It Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
Implementation-specific notes should be kept here.
This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side
effects or notable algorithmic implications.
It Em RETURN VALUES
This section documents the
return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.
Pp
See
Ic \&Rv .
It Em ENVIRONMENT
Lists the environment variables used by the utility,
and explains the syntax and semantics of their values.
The
Xr environ 7
manual provides examples of typical content and formatting.
Pp
See
Ic \&Ev .
It Em FILES
Documents files used.
It's helpful to document both the file name and a short description of how
the file is used (created, modified, etc.).
Pp
See
Ic \&Pa .
It Em EXIT STATUS
This section documents the
command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 utilities.
Historically, this information was described in
Em DIAGNOSTICS ,
a practise that is now discouraged.
Pp
See
Ic \&Ex .
It Em EXAMPLES
Example usages.
This often contains snippets of well-formed, well-tested invocations.
Make sure that examples work properly!
It Em DIAGNOSTICS
Documents error messages.
In section 4 and 9 manuals, these are usually messages printed by the
kernel to the console and to the kernel log.
In section 1, 6, 7, and 8, these are usually messages printed by
userland programs to the standard error output.
Pp
Historically, this section was used in place of
Em EXIT STATUS
for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is
discouraged.
Pp
See
Ic \&Bl
Fl diag .
It Em ERRORS
Documents
Xr errno 2
settings in sections 2, 3, 4, and 9.
Pp
See
Ic \&Er .
It Em SEE ALSO
References other manuals with related topics.
This section should exist for most manuals.
Cross-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then
alphabetically (ignoring case).
Pp
References to other documentation concerning the topic of the manual page,
for example authoritative books or journal articles, may also be
provided in this section.
Pp
See
Ic \&Rs
and
Ic \&Xr .
It Em STANDARDS
References any standards implemented or used.
If not adhering to any standards, the
Em HISTORY
section should be used instead.
Pp
See
Ic \&St .
It Em HISTORY
A brief history of the subject, including where it was first implemented,
and when it was ported to or reimplemented for the operating system at hand.
It Em AUTHORS
Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documentation.
Authors should generally be noted by both name and email address.
Pp
See
Ic \&An .
It Em CAVEATS
Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained
in this section.
It Em BUGS
Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described
in this section.
It Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
El
Sh MACRO OVERVIEW
This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed
together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose.
Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found below
in the alphabetical
Sx MACRO REFERENCE .
Ss Document preamble and NAME section macros
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Dd Ta document date: Cm $\&Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year
It Ic \&Dt Ta document title: Ar TITLE section Op Ar arch
It Ic \&Os Ta operating system version: Op Ar system Op Ar version
It Ic \&Nm Ta document name (one argument)
It Ic \&Nd Ta document description (one line)
El
Ss Sections and cross references
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Sh Ta section header (one line)
It Ic \&Ss Ta subsection header (one line)
It Ic \&Sx Ta internal cross reference to a section or subsection
It Ic \&Xr Ta cross reference to another manual page: Ar name section
It Ic \&Tg Ta tag the definition of a Ar term Pq <= 1 arguments
It Ic \&Pp Ta start a text paragraph (no arguments)
El
Ss Displays and lists
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Bd , \&Ed Ta display block:
Fl Ar type
Op Fl offset Ar width
Op Fl compact
It Ic \&D1 Ta indented display (one line)
It Ic \&Dl Ta indented literal display (one line)
It Ic \&Ql Ta in-line literal display: Ql text
It Ic \&Bl , \&El Ta list block:
Fl Ar type
Op Fl width Ar val
Op Fl offset Ar val
Op Fl compact
It Ic \&It Ta list item (syntax depends on Fl Ar type )
It Ic \&Ta Ta table cell separator in Ic \&Bl Fl column No lists
It Ic \&Rs , \&%* , \&Re Ta bibliographic block (references)
El
Ss Spacing control
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Pf Ta prefix, no following horizontal space (one argument)
It Ic \&Ns Ta roman font, no preceding horizontal space (no arguments)
It Ic \&Ap Ta apostrophe without surrounding whitespace (no arguments)
It Ic \&Sm Ta switch horizontal spacing mode: Op Cm on | off
It Ic \&Bk , \&Ek Ta keep block: Fl words
El
Ss Semantic markup for command line utilities
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Nm Ta start a SYNOPSIS block with the name of a utility
It Ic \&Fl Ta command line options (flags) (>=0 arguments)
It Ic \&Cm Ta command modifier (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Ar Ta command arguments (>=0 arguments)
It Ic \&Op , \&Oo , \&Oc Ta optional syntax elements (enclosure)
It Ic \&Ic Ta internal or interactive command (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Ev Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Pa Ta file system path (>=0 arguments)
El
Ss Semantic markup for function libraries
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Lb Ta function library (one argument)
It Ic \&In Ta include file (one argument)
It Ic \&Fd Ta other preprocessor directive (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Ft Ta function type (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Fo , \&Fc Ta function block: Ar funcname
It Ic \&Fn Ta function name: Ar funcname Op Ar argument ...
It Ic \&Fa Ta function argument (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Vt Ta variable type (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Va Ta variable name (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Dv Ta defined variable or preprocessor constant (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Er Ta error constant (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Ev Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
El
Ss Various semantic markup
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&An Ta author name (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Lk Ta hyperlink: Ar uri Op Ar display_name
It Ic \&Mt Ta Do mailto Dc hyperlink: Ar localpart Ns @ Ns Ar domain
It Ic \&Cd Ta kernel configuration declaration (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Ad Ta memory address (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Ms Ta mathematical symbol (>0 arguments)
El
Ss Physical markup
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Em Ta italic font or underline (emphasis) (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Sy Ta boldface font (symbolic) (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&No Ta return to roman font (normal) (>0 arguments)
It Ic \&Bf , \&Ef Ta font block: Fl Ar type | Cm \&Em | \&Li | \&Sy
El
Ss Physical enclosures
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Dq , \&Do , \&Dc Ta enclose in typographic double quotes: Dq text
It Ic \&Qq , \&Qo , \&Qc Ta enclose in typewriter double quotes: Qq text
It Ic \&Sq , \&So , \&Sc Ta enclose in single quotes: Sq text
It Ic \&Pq , \&Po , \&Pc Ta enclose in parentheses: Pq text
It Ic \&Bq , \&Bo , \&Bc Ta enclose in square brackets: Bq text
It Ic \&Brq , \&Bro , \&Brc Ta enclose in curly braces: Brq text
It Ic \&Aq , \&Ao , \&Ac Ta enclose in angle brackets: Aq text
It Ic \&Eo , \&Ec Ta generic enclosure
El
Ss Text production
Bl -column "Brq, Bro, Brc" description
It Ic \&Ex Fl std Ta standard command exit values: Op Ar utility ...
It Ic \&Rv Fl std Ta standard function return values: Op Ar function ...
It Ic \&St Ta reference to a standards document (one argument)
It Ic \&At Ta At
It Ic \&Bx Ta Bx
It Ic \&Bsx Ta Bsx
It Ic \&Nx Ta Nx
It Ic \&Fx Ta Fx
It Ic \&Ox Ta Ox
It Ic \&Dx Ta Dx
El
Sh MACRO REFERENCE
This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged
alphabetically.
For the scoping of individual macros, see
Sx MACRO SYNTAX .
Bl -tag -width 3n
It Ic \&%A Ar first_name ... last_name
Author name of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
Multiple authors should each be accorded their own
Ic \%%A
line.
Author names should be ordered with full or abbreviated forename(s)
first, then full surname.
It Ic \&%B Ar title
Book title of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographic context when
referring to book titles.
It Ic \&%C Ar location
Publication city or location of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&%D Oo Ar month day , Oc Ar year
Publication date of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
Provide the full English name of the
Ar month
and all four digits of the
Ar year .
It Ic \&%I Ar name
Publisher or issuer name of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&%J Ar name
Journal name of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&%N Ar number
Issue number (usually for journals) of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&%O Ar line
Optional information of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&%P Ar number
Book or journal page number of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
Conventionally, the argument starts with
Ql p.\&
for a single page or
Ql pp.\&
for a range of pages, for example:
Pp
Dl .%P pp. 42\e(en47
It Ic \&%Q Ar name
Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
Multiple institutional authors should each be accorded their own
Ic \&%Q
line.
It Ic \&%R Ar name
Technical report name of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&%T Ar title
Article title of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
This macro may also be used in a non-bibliographical context when
referring to article titles.
It Ic \&%U Ar protocol Ns :// Ns Ar path
URI of reference document.
It Ic \&%V Ar number
Volume number of an
Ic \&Rs
block.
It Ic \&Ac
Close an
Ic \&Ao
block.
Does not have any tail arguments.
Tg Ad
It Ic \&Ad Ar address
Memory address.
Do not use this for postal addresses.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Ad [0,$]
Dl \&.Ad 0x00000000
Tg An
It Ic \&An Fl split | nosplit | Ar first_name ... last_name
Author name.
Can be used both for the authors of the program, function, or driver
documented in the manual, or for the authors of the manual itself.
Requires either the name of an author or one of the following arguments:
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-nosplitX" -offset indent -compact
It Fl split
Start a new output line before each subsequent invocation of
Ic \&An .
It Fl nosplit
The opposite of
Fl split .
El
Pp
The default is
Fl nosplit .
The effect of selecting either of the
Fl split
modes ends at the beginning of the
Em AUTHORS
section.
In the
Em AUTHORS
section, the default is
Fl nosplit
for the first author listing and
Fl split
for all other author listings.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.An -nosplit
Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq \&Mt [email protected]
It Ic \&Ao Ar block
Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets.
Does not have any head arguments.
This macro is almost never useful.
See
Ic \&Aq
for more details.
Tg Ap
It Ic \&Ap
Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding whitespace.
This is generally used as a grammatical device when referring to the verb
form of a function.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Fn execve \&Ap d
Tg Aq
It Ic \&Aq Ar line
Enclose the rest of the input line in angle brackets.
The only important use case is for email addresses.
See
Ic \&Mt
for an example.
Pp
Occasionally, it is used for names of characters and keys, for example:
Bd -literal -offset indent
Press the
\&.Aq escape
key to ...
Ed
Pp
For URIs, use
Ic \&Lk
instead, and
Ic \&In
for
Dq #include
directives.
Never wrap
Ic \&Ar
in
Ic \&Aq .
Pp
Since
Ic \&Aq
usually renders with non-ASCII characters in non-ASCII output modes,
do not use it where the ASCII characters
Sq <
and
Sq >
are required as syntax elements.
Instead, use these characters directly in such cases, combining them
with the macros
Ic \&Pf ,
Ic \&Ns ,
or
Ic \&Eo
as needed.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Ao .
Tg Ar
It Ic \&Ar Op Ar placeholder ...
Command arguments.
If an argument is not provided, the string
Dq file ...\&
is used as a default.
Pp
Examples:
Dl ".Fl o Ar file"
Dl ".Ar"
Dl ".Ar arg1 , arg2 ."
Pp
The arguments to the
Ic \&Ar
macro are names and placeholders for command arguments;
for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use
Ic \&Fl
or
Ic \&Cm .
Tg At
It Ic \&At Op Ar version
Formats an
At
version.
Accepts one optional argument:
Pp
Bl -tag -width "v[1-7] | 32vX" -offset indent -compact
It Cm v[1-7] | 32v
A version of
At .
It Cm III
At III .
It Cm V | V.[1-4]
A version of
At V .
El
Pp
Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.At
Dl \&.At III
Dl \&.At V.1
Pp
See also
Ic \&Bsx ,
Ic \&Bx ,
Ic \&Dx ,
Ic \&Fx ,
Ic \&Nx ,
and
Ic \&Ox .
It Ic \&Bc
Close a
Ic \&Bo
block.
Does not have any tail arguments.
Tg Bd
It Ic \&Bd Fl Ns Ar type Oo Fl offset Ar width Oc Op Fl compact
Begin a display block.
Display blocks are used to select a different indentation and
justification than the one used by the surrounding text.
They may contain both macro lines and text lines.
By default, a display block is preceded by a vertical space.
Pp
The
Ar type
must be one of the following:
Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
It Fl centered
Produce one output line from each input line, and center-justify each line.
Using this display type is not recommended; many
Nm
implementations render it poorly.
It Fl filled
Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left- and
right-justify the resulting block.
It Fl literal
Produce one output line from each input line,
and do not justify the block at all.
Preserve white space as it appears in the input.
Always use a constant-width font.
Use this for displaying source code.
It Fl ragged
Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and left-justify
the resulting block.
It Fl unfilled
The same as
Fl literal ,
but using the same font as for normal text, which is a variable width font
if supported by the output device.
El
Pp
The
Ar type
must be provided first.
Additional arguments may follow:
Bl -tag -width 13n -offset indent
It Fl offset Ar width
Indent the display by the
Ar width ,
which may be one of the following:
Bl -item
It
One of the pre-defined strings
Cm indent ,
the width of a standard indentation (six constant width characters);
Cm indent-two ,
twice
Cm indent ;
Cm left ,
which has no effect;
Cm right ,
which justifies to the right margin; or
Cm center ,
which aligns around an imagined center axis.
It
A macro invocation, which selects a predefined width
associated with that macro.
The most popular is the imaginary macro
Ar \&Ds ,
which resolves to
Sy 6n .
It
A scaling width as described in
Xr roff 7 .
It
An arbitrary string, which indents by the length of this string.
El
Pp
When the argument is missing,
Fl offset
is ignored.
It Fl compact
Do not assert vertical space before the display.
El
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Bd \-literal \-offset indent \-compact
  Hello       world.
\&.Ed
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&D1
and
Ic \&Dl .
Tg Bf
It Ic \&Bf Fl emphasis | literal | symbolic | Cm \&Em | \&Li | \&Sy
Change the font mode for a scoped block of text.
The
Fl emphasis
and
Cm \&Em
argument are equivalent, as are
Fl symbolic
and
Cm \&Sy ,
and
Fl literal
and
Cm \&Li .
Without an argument, this macro does nothing.
The font mode continues until broken by a new font mode in a nested
scope or
Ic \&Ef
is encountered.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Li ,
Ic \&Ef ,
Ic \&Em ,
and
Ic \&Sy .
Tg Bk
It Ic \&Bk Fl words
For each macro, keep its output together on the same output line,
until the end of the macro or the end of the input line is reached,
whichever comes first.
Line breaks in text lines are unaffected.
Pp
The
Fl words
argument is required; additional arguments are ignored.
Pp
The following example will not break within each
Ic \&Op
macro line:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Bk \-words
\&.Op Fl f Ar flags
\&.Op Fl o Ar output
\&.Ek
Ed
Pp
Be careful in using over-long lines within a keep block!
Doing so will clobber the right margin.
Tg Bl
It Xo
Ic \&Bl
Fl Ns Ar type
Op Fl width Ar val
Op Fl offset Ar val
Op Fl compact
Op Ar col ...
Xc
Begin a list.
Lists consist of items specified using the
Ic \&It
macro, containing a head or a body or both.
Pp
The list
Ar type
is mandatory and must be specified first.
The
Fl width
and
Fl offset
arguments accept macro names as described for
Ic \&Bd
Fl offset ,
scaling widths as described in
Xr roff 7 ,
or use the length of the given string.
The
Fl offset
is a global indentation for the whole list, affecting both item heads
and bodies.
For those list types supporting it, the
Fl width
argument requests an additional indentation of item bodies,
to be added to the
Fl offset .
Unless the
Fl compact
argument is specified, list entries are separated by vertical space.
Pp
A list must specify one of the following list types:
Bl -tag -width 12n -offset indent
It Fl bullet
No item heads can be specified, but a bullet will be printed at the head
of each item.
Item bodies start on the same output line as the bullet
and are indented according to the
Fl width
argument.
It Fl column
A columnated list.
The
Fl width
argument has no effect; instead, the string length of each argument
specifies the width of one column.
If the first line of the body of a
Fl column
list is not an
Ic \&It
macro line,
Ic \&It
contexts spanning one input line each are implied until an
Ic \&It
macro line is encountered, at which point items start being interpreted as
described in the
Ic \&It
documentation.
It Fl dash
Like
Fl bullet ,
except that dashes are used in place of bullets.
It Fl diag
Like
Fl inset ,
except that item heads are not parsed for macro invocations.
Most often used in the
Em DIAGNOSTICS
section with error constants in the item heads.
It Fl enum
A numbered list.
No item heads can be specified.
Formatted like
Fl bullet ,
except that cardinal numbers are used in place of bullets,
starting at 1.
It Fl hang
Like
Fl tag ,
except that the first lines of item bodies are not indented, but follow
the item heads like in
Fl inset
lists.
It Fl hyphen
Synonym for
Fl dash .
It Fl inset
Item bodies follow items heads on the same line, using normal inter-word
spacing.
Bodies are not indented, and the
Fl width
argument is ignored.
It Fl item
No item heads can be specified, and none are printed.
Bodies are not indented, and the
Fl width
argument is ignored.
It Fl ohang
Item bodies start on the line following item heads and are not indented.
The
Fl width
argument is ignored.
It Fl tag
Item bodies are indented according to the
Fl width
argument.
When an item head fits inside the indentation, the item body follows
this head on the same output line.
Otherwise, the body starts on the output line following the head.
El
Pp
Lists may be nested within lists and displays.
Nesting of
Fl column
and
Fl enum
lists may not be portable.
Pp
See also
Ic \&El
and
Ic \&It .
It Ic \&Bo Ar block
Begin a block enclosed by square brackets.
Does not have any head arguments.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Bo 1 ,
\&.Dv BUFSIZ \&Bc
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&Bq .
Tg Bq
It Ic \&Bq Ar line
Encloses its arguments in square brackets.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Bq 1 , \&Dv BUFSIZ
Pp
Em Remarks :
this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for
commands; the correct macros to use for this purpose are
Ic \&Op ,
Ic \&Oo ,
and
Ic \&Oc .
Pp
See also
Ic \&Bo .
It Ic \&Brc
Close a
Ic \&Bro
block.
Does not have any tail arguments.
It Ic \&Bro Ar block
Begin a block enclosed by curly braces.
Does not have any head arguments.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Bro 1 , ... ,
\&.Va n \&Brc
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&Brq .
Tg Brq
It Ic \&Brq Ar line
Encloses its arguments in curly braces.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Brq 1 , ... , \&Va n
Pp
See also
Ic \&Bro .
Tg Bsx
It Ic \&Bsx Op Ar version
Format the
Bsx
version provided as an argument, or a default value if
no argument is provided.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Bsx 1.0
Dl \&.Bsx
Pp
See also
Ic \&At ,
Ic \&Bx ,
Ic \&Dx ,
Ic \&Fx ,
Ic \&Nx ,
and
Ic \&Ox .
It Ic \&Bt
Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
Prints
Dq is currently in beta test.
Tg Bx
It Ic \&Bx Op Ar version Op Ar variant
Format the
Bx
version provided as an argument, or a default value if no
argument is provided.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Bx 4.3 Tahoe
Dl \&.Bx 4.4
Dl \&.Bx
Pp
See also
Ic \&At ,
Ic \&Bsx ,
Ic \&Dx ,
Ic \&Fx ,
Ic \&Nx ,
and
Ic \&Ox .
Tg Cd
It Ic \&Cd Ar line
Kernel configuration declaration.
This denotes strings accepted by
Xr config 8 .
It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Cd device le0 at scode?
Pp
Em Remarks :
this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain
whitespace and align consecutive
Ic \&Cd
declarations.
This practise is discouraged.
Tg Cm
It Ic \&Cm Ar keyword ...
Command modifiers.
Typically used for fixed strings passed as arguments to interactive
commands, to commands in interpreted scripts, or to configuration
file directives, unless
Ic \&Fl
is more appropriate.
Pp
Examples:
Dl ".Nm mt Fl f Ar device Cm rewind"
Dl ".Nm ps Fl o Cm pid , Ns Cm command"
Dl ".Nm dd Cm if= Ns Ar file1 Cm of= Ns Ar file2"
Dl ".Ic set Fl o Cm vi"
Dl ".Ic lookup Cm file bind"
Dl ".Ic permit Ar identity Op Cm as Ar target"
Tg D1
It Ic \&D1 Ar line
One-line indented display.
This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented
statements.
It is followed by a newline.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.D1 \&Fl abcdefgh
Pp
See also
Ic \&Bd
and
Ic \&Dl .
It Ic \&Db
This macro is obsolete.
No replacement is needed.
It is ignored by
Xr mandoc 1
and groff including its arguments.
It was formerly used to toggle a debugging mode.
It Ic \&Dc
Close a
Ic \&Do
block.
Does not have any tail arguments.
Tg Dd
It Ic \&Dd Cm $\&Mdocdate$ | Ar month day , year
Document date for display in the page footer,
by convention the date of the last change.
This is the mandatory first macro of any
Nm
manual.
Pp
The
Ar month
is the full English month name, the
Ar day
is an integer number, and the
Ar year
is the full four-digit year.
Pp
Other arguments are not portable; the
Xr mandoc 1
utility handles them as follows:
Bl -dash -offset 3n -compact
It
To have the date automatically filled in by the
Ox
version of
Xr cvs 1 ,
the special string
Dq $\&Mdocdate$
can be given as an argument.
It
The traditional, purely numeric
Xr man 7
format
Ar year Ns \(en Ns Ar month Ns \(en Ns Ar day
is accepted, too.
It
If a date string cannot be parsed, it is used verbatim.
It
If no date string is given, the current date is used.
El
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate$
Dl \&.Dd $\&Mdocdate: July 2 2018$
Dl \&.Dd July 2, 2018
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dt
and
Ic \&Os .
Tg Dl
It Ic \&Dl Ar line
One-line indented display.
This is formatted as literal text and is useful for commands and
invocations.
It is followed by a newline.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \e(ba less
Pp
See also
Ic \&Ql ,
Ic \&Bd Fl literal ,
and
Ic \&D1 .
It Ic \&Do Ar block
Begin a block enclosed by double quotes.
Does not have any head arguments.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Do
April is the cruellest month
\&.Dc
\e(em T.S. Eliot
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dq .
Tg Dq
It Ic \&Dq Ar line
Encloses its arguments in
Dq typographic
double-quotes.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Dq April is the cruellest month
\e(em T.S. Eliot
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&Qq ,
Ic \&Sq ,
and
Ic \&Do .
Tg Dt
It Ic \&Dt Ar TITLE section Op Ar arch
Document title for display in the page header.
This is the mandatory second macro of any
Nm
file.
Pp
Its arguments are as follows:
Bl -tag -width section -offset 2n
It Ar TITLE
The document's title (name), defaulting to
Dq UNTITLED
if unspecified.
To achieve a uniform appearance of page header lines,
it should by convention be all caps.
It Ar section
The manual section.
This may be one of
Cm 1
Pq General Commands ,
Cm 2
Pq System Calls ,
Cm 3
Pq Library Functions ,
Cm 3p
Pq Perl Library ,
Cm 4
Pq Device Drivers ,
Cm 5
Pq File Formats ,
Cm 6
Pq Games ,
Cm 7
Pq Miscellaneous Information ,
Cm 8
Pq System Manager's Manual ,
or
Cm 9
Pq Kernel Developer's Manual .
It should correspond to the manual's filename suffix and defaults to
the empty string if unspecified.
It Ar arch
This specifies the machine architecture a manual page applies to,
where relevant, for example
Cm alpha ,
Cm amd64 ,
Cm i386 ,
or
Cm sparc64 .
The list of valid architectures varies by operating system.
El
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Dt FOO 1
Dl \&.Dt FOO 9 i386
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dd
and
Ic \&Os .
Tg Dv
It Ic \&Dv Ar identifier ...
Defined variables such as preprocessor constants, constant symbols,
enumeration values, and so on.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Dv NULL
Dl \&.Dv BUFSIZ
Dl \&.Dv STDOUT_FILENO
Pp
See also
Ic \&Er
and
Ic \&Ev
for special-purpose constants,
Ic \&Va
for variable symbols, and
Ic \&Fd
for listing preprocessor variable definitions in the
Em SYNOPSIS .
Tg Dx
It Ic \&Dx Op Ar version
Format the
Dx
version provided as an argument, or a default
value if no argument is provided.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Dx 2.4.1
Dl \&.Dx
Pp
See also
Ic \&At ,
Ic \&Bsx ,
Ic \&Bx ,
Ic \&Fx ,
Ic \&Nx ,
and
Ic \&Ox .
It Ic \&Ec Op Ar closing_delimiter
Close a scope started by
Ic \&Eo .
Pp
The
Ar closing_delimiter
argument is used as the enclosure tail, for example, specifying \e(rq
will emulate
Ic \&Dc .
It Ic \&Ed
End a display context started by
Ic \&Bd .
It Ic \&Ef
End a font mode context started by
Ic \&Bf .
It Ic \&Ek
End a keep context started by
Ic \&Bk .
It Ic \&El
End a list context started by
Ic \&Bl .
See also
Ic \&It .
Tg Em
It Ic \&Em Ar word ...
Request an italic font.
If the output device does not provide that, underline.
Pp
This is most often used for stress emphasis (not to be confused with
importance, see
Ic \&Sy ) .
In the rare cases where none of the semantic markup macros fit,
it can also be used for technical terms and placeholders, except
that for syntax elements,
Ic \&Sy
and
Ic \&Ar
are preferred, respectively.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -compact -offset indent
Selected lines are those
\&.Em not
matching any of the specified patterns.
Some of the functions use a
\&.Em hold space
to save the pattern space for subsequent retrieval.
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&No ,
Ic \&Ql ,
and
Ic \&Sy .
It Ic \&En Ar word ...
This macro is obsolete.
Use
Ic \&Eo
or any of the other enclosure macros.
Pp
It encloses its argument in the delimiters specified by the last
Ic \&Es
macro.
Tg Eo
It Ic \&Eo Op Ar opening_delimiter
An arbitrary enclosure.
The
Ar opening_delimiter
argument is used as the enclosure head, for example, specifying \e(lq
will emulate
Ic \&Do .
Tg Er
It Ic \&Er Ar identifier ...
Error constants for definitions of the
Va errno
libc global variable.
This is most often used in section 2 and 3 manual pages.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Er EPERM
Dl \&.Er ENOENT
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dv
for general constants.
It Ic \&Es Ar opening_delimiter closing_delimiter
This macro is obsolete.
Use
Ic \&Eo
or any of the other enclosure macros.
Pp
It takes two arguments, defining the delimiters to be used by subsequent
Ic \&En
macros.
Tg Ev
It Ic \&Ev Ar identifier ...
Environmental variables such as those specified in
Xr environ 7 .
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Ev DISPLAY
Dl \&.Ev PATH
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dv
for general constants.
Tg Ex
It Ic \&Ex Fl std Op Ar utility ...
Insert a standard sentence regarding command exit values of 0 on success
and >0 on failure.
This is most often used in section 1, 6, and 8 manual pages.
Pp
If
Ar utility
is not specified, the document's name set by
Ic \&Nm
is used.
Multiple
Ar utility
arguments are treated as separate utilities.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Rv .
Tg Fa
It Ic \&Fa Ar argument ...
Function argument or parameter.
Each argument may be a name and a type (recommended for the
Em SYNOPSIS
section), a name alone (for function invocations),
or a type alone (for function prototypes).
If both a type and a name are given or if the type consists of multiple
words, all words belonging to the same function argument have to be
given in a single argument to the
Ic \&Fa
macro.
Pp
This macro is also used to specify the field name of a structure.
Pp
Most often, the
Ic \&Fa
macro is used in the
Em SYNOPSIS
within
Ic \&Fo
blocks when documenting multi-line function prototypes.
If invoked with multiple arguments, the arguments are separated by a
comma.
Furthermore, if the following macro is another
Ic \&Fa ,
the last argument will also have a trailing comma.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Fa \(dqconst char *p\(dq
Dl \&.Fa \(dqint a\(dq \(dqint b\(dq \(dqint c\(dq
Dl \&.Fa \(dqchar *\(dq size_t
Pp
See also
Ic \&Fo .
It Ic \&Fc
End a function context started by
Ic \&Fo .
Tg Fd
It Ic \&Fd Pf # Ar directive Op Ar argument ...
Preprocessor directive, in particular for listing it in the
Em SYNOPSIS .
Historically, it was also used to document include files.
The latter usage has been deprecated in favour of
Ic \&In .
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Fd #define sa_handler __sigaction_u.__sa_handler
Dl \&.Fd #define SIO_MAXNFDS
Dl \&.Fd #ifdef FS_DEBUG
Dl \&.Ft void
Dl \&.Fn dbg_open \(dqconst char *\(dq
Dl \&.Fd #endif
Pp
See also
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
Ic \&In ,
and
Ic \&Dv .
Tg Fl
It Ic \&Fl Op Ar word ...
Command-line flag or option.
Used when listing arguments to command-line utilities.
For each argument, prints an ASCII hyphen-minus character
Sq \- ,
immediately followed by the argument.
If no arguments are provided, a hyphen-minus is printed followed by a space.
If the argument is a macro, a hyphen-minus is prefixed
to the subsequent macro output.
Pp
Examples:
Dl ".Nm du Op Fl H | L | P"
Dl ".Nm ls Op Fl 1AaCcdFfgHhikLlmnopqRrSsTtux"
Dl ".Nm route Cm add Fl inet Ar destination gateway"
Dl ".Nm locate.updatedb Op Fl \e-fcodes Ns = Ns Ar dbfile"
Dl ".Nm aucat Fl o Fl"
Dl ".Nm kill Fl Ar signal_number"
Pp
For GNU-sytle long options, escaping the additional hyphen-minus is not
strictly required, but may be safer with future versions of GNU troff; see
Xr mandoc_char 7
for details.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Cm .
Tg Fn
It Ic \&Fn Ar funcname Op Ar argument ...
A function name.
Pp
Function arguments are surrounded in parenthesis and
are delimited by commas.
If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output.
In the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, this macro starts a new output line,
and a blank line is automatically inserted between function definitions.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Fn \(dqint funcname\(dq \(dqint arg0\(dq \(dqint arg1\(dq
Dl \&.Fn funcname \(dqint arg0\(dq
Dl \&.Fn funcname arg0
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Ft functype
\&.Fn funcname
Ed
Pp
When referring to a function documented in another manual page, use
Ic \&Xr
instead.
See also
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
Ic \&Fo ,
and
Ic \&Ft .
Tg Fo
It Ic \&Fo Ar funcname
Begin a function block.
This is a multi-line version of
Ic \&Fn .
Pp
Invocations usually occur in the following context:
Bd -ragged -offset indent
Pf \. Ic \&Ft Ar functype
br
Pf \. Ic \&Fo Ar funcname
br
Pf \. Ic \&Fa Qq Ar argtype Ar argname
br
\&.\.\.
br
Pf \. Ic \&Fc
Ed
Pp
A
Ic \&Fo
scope is closed by
Ic \&Fc .
Pp
See also
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
Ic \&Fa ,
Ic \&Fc ,
and
Ic \&Ft .
It Ic \&Fr Ar number
This macro is obsolete.
No replacement markup is needed.
Pp
It was used to show numerical function return values in an italic font.
Tg Ft
It Ic \&Ft Ar functype
A function type.
Pp
In the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, a new output line is started after this macro.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Ft int
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Ft functype
\&.Fn funcname
Ed
Pp
See also
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE ,
Ic \&Fn ,
and
Ic \&Fo .
Tg Fx
It Ic \&Fx Op Ar version
Format the
Fx
version provided as an argument, or a default value
if no argument is provided.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Fx 7.1
Dl \&.Fx
Pp
See also
Ic \&At ,
Ic \&Bsx ,
Ic \&Bx ,
Ic \&Dx ,
Ic \&Nx ,
and
Ic \&Ox .
It Ic \&Hf Ar filename
This macro is not implemented in
Xr mandoc 1 .
It was used to include the contents of a (header) file literally.
Tg Ic
It Ic \&Ic Ar keyword ...
Internal or interactive command, or configuration instruction
in a configuration file.
See also
Ic \&Cm .
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Ic :wq
Dl \&.Ic hash
Dl \&.Ic alias
Pp
Note that using
Ic \&Ql ,
Ic \&Dl ,
or
Ic \&Bd Fl literal
is preferred for displaying code samples; the
Ic \&Ic
macro is used when referring to an individual command name.
Tg In
It Ic \&In Ar filename
The name of an include file.
This macro is most often used in section 2, 3, and 9 manual pages.
Pp
When invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, the argument is displayed in angle brackets
and preceded by
Qq #include ,
and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
function declaration.
In other sections, it only encloses its argument in angle brackets
and causes no line break.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.In sys/types.h
Pp
See also
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
Tg It
It Ic \&It Op Ar head
A list item.
The syntax of this macro depends on the list type.
Pp
Lists
of type
Fl hang ,
Fl ohang ,
Fl inset ,
and
Fl diag
have the following syntax:
Pp
D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Ar args
Pp
Lists of type
Fl bullet ,
Fl dash ,
Fl enum ,
Fl hyphen
and
Fl item
have the following syntax:
Pp
D1 Pf \. Ic \&It
Pp
with subsequent lines interpreted within the scope of the
Ic \&It
until either a closing
Ic \&El
or another
Ic \&It .
Pp
The
Fl tag
list has the following syntax:
Pp
D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Op Cm args
Pp
Subsequent lines are interpreted as with
Fl bullet
and family.
The line arguments correspond to the list's left-hand side; body
arguments correspond to the list's contents.
Pp
The
Fl column
list is the most complicated.
Its syntax is as follows:
Pp
D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Ar cell Op Ic \&Ta Ar cell ...
D1 Pf \. Ic \&It Ar cell Op <TAB> Ar cell ...
Pp
The arguments consist of one or more lines of text and macros
representing a complete table line.
Cells within the line are delimited by the special
Ic \&Ta
block macro or by literal tab characters.
Pp
Using literal tabs is strongly discouraged because they are very
hard to use correctly and
Nm
code using them is very hard to read.
In particular, a blank character is syntactically significant
before and after the literal tab character.
If a word precedes or follows the tab without an intervening blank,
that word is never interpreted as a macro call, but always output
literally.
Pp
The tab cell delimiter may only be used within the
Ic \&It
line itself; on following lines, only the
Ic \&Ta
macro can be used to delimit cells, and portability requires that
Ic \&Ta
is called by other macros: some parsers do not recognize it when
it appears as the first macro on a line.
Pp
Note that quoted strings may span tab-delimited cells on an
Ic \&It
line.
For example,
Pp
Dl .It \(dqcol1 ,\& <TAB> col2 ,\(dq \&;
Pp
will preserve the whitespace before both commas,
but not the whitespace before the semicolon.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Bl .
Tg Lb
It Ic \&Lb Cm lib Ns Ar name
Specify a library.
Pp
The
Ar name
parameter may be a system library, such as
Cm z
or
Cm pam ,
in which case a small library description is printed next to the linker
invocation; or a custom library, in which case the library name is
printed in quotes.
This is most commonly used in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section as described in
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Lb libz
Dl \&.Lb libmandoc
Tg Li
It Ic \&Li Ar word ...
Request a typewriter (literal) font.
Deprecated because on terminal output devices, this is usually
indistinguishable from normal text.
For literal displays, use
Ic \&Ql Pq in-line ,
Ic \&Dl Pq single line ,
or
Ic \&Bd Fl literal Pq multi-line
instead.
Tg Lk
It Ic \&Lk Ar uri Op Ar display_name
Format a hyperlink.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Lk https://bsd.lv \(dqThe BSD.lv Project\(dq
Dl \&.Lk https://bsd.lv
Pp
See also
Ic \&Mt .
It Ic \&Lp
Deprecated synonym for
Ic \&Pp .
Tg Ms
It Ic \&Ms Ar name
Display a mathematical symbol.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Ms sigma
Dl \&.Ms aleph
Tg Mt
It Ic \&Mt Ar localpart Ns @ Ns Ar domain
Format a
Dq mailto:
hyperlink.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Mt [email protected]
Dl \&.An Kristaps Dzonsons \&Aq \&Mt [email protected]
Tg Nd
It Ic \&Nd Ar line
A one line description of the manual's content.
This is the mandatory last macro of the
Em NAME
section and not appropriate for other sections.
Pp
Examples:
Dl Pf . Ic \&Nd mdoc language reference
Dl Pf . Ic \&Nd format and display UNIX manuals
Pp
The
Ic \&Nd
macro technically accepts child macros and terminates with a subsequent
Ic \&Sh
invocation.
Do not assume this behaviour: some
Xr whatis 1
database generators are not smart enough to parse more than the line
arguments and will display macros verbatim.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Nm .
Tg Nm
It Ic \&Nm Op Ar name
The name of the manual page, or \(em in particular in section 1, 6,
and 8 pages \(em of an additional command or feature documented in
the manual page.
When first invoked, the
Ic \&Nm
macro expects a single argument, the name of the manual page.
Usually, the first invocation happens in the
Em NAME
section of the page.
The specified name will be remembered and used whenever the macro is
called again without arguments later in the page.
The
Ic \&Nm
macro uses
Sx Block full-implicit
semantics when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section; otherwise, it uses ordinary
Sx In-line
semantics.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Sh SYNOPSIS
\&.Nm cat
\&.Op Fl benstuv
\&.Op Ar
Ed
Pp
In the
Em SYNOPSIS
of section 2, 3 and 9 manual pages, use the
Ic \&Fn
macro rather than
Ic \&Nm
to mark up the name of the manual page.
Tg No
It Ic \&No Ar word ...
Normal text.
Closes the scope of any preceding in-line macro.
When used after physical formatting macros like
Ic \&Em
or
Ic \&Sy ,
switches back to the standard font face and weight.
Can also be used to embed plain text strings in macro lines
using semantic annotation macros.
Pp
Examples:
Dl ".Em italic , Sy bold , No and roman"
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Sm off
\&.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /
\&.Sm on
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&Em ,
Ic \&Ql ,
and
Ic \&Sy .
Tg Ns
It Ic \&Ns
Suppress a space between the output of the preceding macro
and the following text or macro.
Following invocation, input is interpreted as normal text
just like after an
Ic \&No
macro.
Pp
This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.
Pp
Examples:
Dl ".Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value"
Dl ".Cm :M Ns Ar pattern"
Dl ".Fl o Ns Ar output"
Pp
See also
Ic \&No
and
Ic \&Sm .
Tg Nx
It Ic \&Nx Op Ar version
Format the
Nx
version provided as an argument, or a default value if
no argument is provided.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Nx 5.01
Dl \&.Nx
Pp
See also
Ic \&At ,
Ic \&Bsx ,
Ic \&Bx ,
Ic \&Dx ,
Ic \&Fx ,
and
Ic \&Ox .
It Ic \&Oc
Close multi-line
Ic \&Oo
context.
It Ic \&Oo Ar block
Multi-line version of
Ic \&Op .
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Oo
\&.Op Fl flag Ns Ar value
\&.Oc
Ed
Tg Op
It Ic \&Op Ar line
Optional part of a command line.
Prints the argument(s) in brackets.
This is most often used in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section of section 1 and 8 manual pages.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Op \&Fl a \&Ar b
Dl \&.Op \&Ar a | b
Pp
See also
Ic \&Oo .
Tg Os
It Ic \&Os Op Ar system Op Ar version
Operating system version for display in the page footer.
This is the mandatory third macro of
any
Nm
file.
Pp
The optional
Ar system
parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment.
It is suggested to leave it unspecified, in which case
Xr mandoc 1
uses its
Fl Ios
argument or, if that isn't specified either,
Fa sysname
and
Fa release
as returned by
Xr uname 3 .
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Os
Dl \&.Os KTH/CSC/TCS
Dl \&.Os BSD 4.3
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dd
and
Ic \&Dt .
It Ic \&Ot Ar functype
This macro is obsolete.
Use
Ic \&Ft
instead; with
Xr mandoc 1 ,
both have the same effect.
Pp
Historical
Nm
packages described it as
Dq "old function type (FORTRAN)" .
Tg Ox
It Ic \&Ox Op Ar version
Format the
Ox
version provided as an argument, or a default value
if no argument is provided.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Ox 4.5
Dl \&.Ox
Pp
See also
Ic \&At ,
Ic \&Bsx ,
Ic \&Bx ,
Ic \&Dx ,
Ic \&Fx ,
and
Ic \&Nx .
Tg Pa
It Ic \&Pa Ar name ...
An absolute or relative file system path, or a file or directory name.
If an argument is not provided, the character
Sq \(ti
is used as a default.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc
Dl \&.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7
Pp
See also
Ic \&Lk .
It Ic \&Pc
Close parenthesised context opened by
Ic \&Po .
Tg Pf
It Ic \&Pf Ar prefix macro Op Ar argument ...
Removes the space between its argument and the following macro.
It is equivalent to:
Pp
D1 Ic \&No Pf \e& Ar prefix Ic \&Ns Ar macro Op Ar argument ...
Pp
The
Ar prefix
argument is not parsed for macro names or delimiters,
but used verbatim as if it were escaped.
Pp
Examples:
Dl ".Pf $ Ar variable_name"
Dl ".Pf . Ar macro_name"
Dl ".Pf 0x Ar hex_digits"
Pp
See also
Ic \&Ns
and
Ic \&Sm .
It Ic \&Po Ar block
Multi-line version of
Ic \&Pq .
Tg Pp
It Ic \&Pp
Break a paragraph.
This will assert vertical space between prior and subsequent macros
and/or text.
Pp
Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after
Ic \&Sh
or
Ic \&Ss
macros or before displays
Pq Ic \&Bd Ar line
or lists
Pq Ic \&Bl
unless the
Fl compact
flag is given.
Tg Pq
It Ic \&Pq Ar line
Parenthesised enclosure.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Po .
It Ic \&Qc
Close quoted context opened by
Ic \&Qo .
Tg Ql
It Ic \&Ql Ar line
In-line literal display.
This can be used for complete command invocations and for multi-word
code examples when an indented display is not desired.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dl
and
Ic \&Bd
Fl literal .
It Ic \&Qo Ar block
Multi-line version of
Ic \&Qq .
Tg Qq
It Ic \&Qq Ar line
Encloses its arguments in
Qq typewriter
double-quotes.
Consider using
Ic \&Dq .
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dq ,
Ic \&Sq ,
and
Ic \&Qo .
It Ic \&Re
Close an
Ic \&Rs
block.
Does not have any tail arguments.
Tg Rs
It Ic \&Rs
Begin a bibliographic
Pq Dq reference
block.
Does not have any head arguments.
The block macro may only contain
Ic \&%A ,
Ic \&%B ,
Ic \&%C ,
Ic \&%D ,
Ic \&%I ,
Ic \&%J ,
Ic \&%N ,
Ic \&%O ,
Ic \&%P ,
Ic \&%Q ,
Ic \&%R ,
Ic \&%T ,
Ic \&%U ,
and
Ic \&%V
child macros (at least one must be specified).
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
\&.Rs
\&.%A J. E. Hopcroft
\&.%A J. D. Ullman
\&.%B Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
\&.%I Addison-Wesley
\&.%C Reading, Massachusetts
\&.%D 1979
\&.Re
Ed
Pp
If an
Ic \&Rs
block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical space is asserted
before the rendered output, else the block continues on the current
line.
Tg Rv
It Ic \&Rv Fl std Op Ar function ...
Insert a standard sentence regarding a function call's return value of 0
on success and \-1 on error, with the
Va errno
libc global variable set on error.
Pp
If
Ar function
is not specified, the document's name set by
Ic \&Nm
is used.
Multiple
Ar function
arguments are treated as separate functions.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Ex .
It Ic \&Sc
Close single-quoted context opened by
Ic \&So .
Tg Sh
It Ic \&Sh Ar TITLE LINE
Begin a new section.
For a list of conventional manual sections, see
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
These sections should be used unless it's absolutely necessary that
custom sections be used.
Pp
Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
Ic \&Sx .
Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
may not be linked with
Ic \&Sx .
Pp
See also
Ic \&Pp ,
Ic \&Ss ,
and
Ic \&Sx .
Tg Sm
It Ic \&Sm Op Cm on | off
Switches the spacing mode for output generated from macros.
Pp
By default, spacing is
Cm on .
When switched
Cm off ,
no white space is inserted between macro arguments and between the
output generated from adjacent macros, but text lines
still get normal spacing between words and sentences.
Pp
When called without an argument, the
Ic \&Sm
macro toggles the spacing mode.
Using this is not recommended because it makes the code harder to read.
It Ic \&So Ar block
Multi-line version of
Ic \&Sq .
Tg Sq
It Ic \&Sq Ar line
Encloses its arguments in
Sq typewriter
single-quotes.
Pp
See also
Ic \&Dq ,
Ic \&Qq ,
and
Ic \&So .
Tg Ss
It Ic \&Ss Ar Title line
Begin a new subsection.
Unlike with
Ic \&Sh ,
there is no convention for the naming of subsections.
Except
Em DESCRIPTION ,
the conventional sections described in
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
rarely have subsections.
Pp
Sub-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by
Ic \&Sx .
Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
may not be linked with
Ic \&Sx .
Pp
See also
Ic \&Pp ,
Ic \&Sh ,
and
Ic \&Sx .
Tg St
It Ic \&St Fl Ns Ar abbreviation
Replace an abbreviation for a standard with the full form.
The following standards are recognised.
Where multiple lines are given without a blank line in between,
they all refer to the same standard, and using the first form
is recommended.
Bl -tag -width 1n
It C language standards
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-ansiC
St -ansiC
It \-ansiC-89
St -ansiC-89
It \-isoC
St -isoC
It \-isoC-90
St -isoC-90
br
The original C standard.
Pp
It \-isoC-amd1
St -isoC-amd1
Pp
It \-isoC-tcor1
St -isoC-tcor1
Pp
It \-isoC-tcor2
St -isoC-tcor2
Pp
It \-isoC-99
St -isoC-99
br
Edition 2 of the C language standard.
Pp
It \-isoC-2011
St -isoC-2011
br
Edition 3 of the C language standard.
Pp
It \-isoC-2023
St -isoC-2023
br
Edition 5 of the C language standard.
El
It POSIX.1 before the Single UNIX Specification
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-p1003.1-88
St -p1003.1-88
It \-p1003.1
St -p1003.1
br
The original POSIX standard, based on ANSI C.
Pp
It \-p1003.1-90
St -p1003.1-90
It \-iso9945-1-90
St -iso9945-1-90
br
The first update of POSIX.1.
Pp
It \-p1003.1b-93
St -p1003.1b-93
It \-p1003.1b
St -p1003.1b
br
Real-time extensions.
Pp
It \-p1003.1c-95
St -p1003.1c-95
br
POSIX thread interfaces.
Pp
It \-p1003.1i-95
St -p1003.1i-95
br
Technical Corrigendum.
Pp
It \-p1003.1-96
St -p1003.1-96
It \-iso9945-1-96
St -iso9945-1-96
br
Includes POSIX.1-1990, 1b, 1c, and 1i.
El
It X/Open Portability Guide version 4 and related standards
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-xpg3
St -xpg3
br
An XPG4 precursor, published in 1989.
Pp
It \-p1003.2
St -p1003.2
It \-p1003.2-92
St -p1003.2-92
It \-iso9945-2-93
St -iso9945-2-93
br
An XCU4 precursor.
Pp
It \-p1003.2a-92
St -p1003.2a-92
br
Updates to POSIX.2.
Pp
It \-xpg4
St -xpg4
br
Based on POSIX.1 and POSIX.2, published in 1992.
El
It Single UNIX Specification version 1 and related standards
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-susv1
St -susv1
It \-xpg4.2
St -xpg4.2
br
This standard was published in 1994.
It was used as the basis for UNIX 95 certification.
The following three refer to parts of it.
Pp
It \-xsh4.2
St -xsh4.2
Pp
It \-xcurses4.2
St -xcurses4.2
Pp
It \-p1003.1g-2000
St -p1003.1g-2000
br
Networking APIs, including sockets.
Pp
It \-svid4
St -svid4 ,
br
Published in 1995.
El
It Single UNIX Specification version 2 and related standards
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-susv2
St -susv2
This Standard was published in 1997
and is also called X/Open Portability Guide version 5.
It was used as the basis for UNIX 98 certification.
The following refer to parts of it.
Pp
It \-xbd5
St -xbd5
Pp
It \-xsh5
St -xsh5
Pp
It \-xcu5
St -xcu5
Pp
It \-xns5
St -xns5
It \-xns5.2
St -xns5.2
El
It Single UNIX Specification version 3
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1-2001" -compact
It \-p1003.1-2001
St -p1003.1-2001
It \-susv3
St -susv3
br
This standard is based on C99, SUSv2, POSIX.1-1996, 1d, and 1j.
It is also called X/Open Portability Guide version 6.
It is used as the basis for UNIX 03 certification.
Pp
It \-p1003.1-2004
St -p1003.1-2004
br
The second and last Technical Corrigendum.
El
It POSIX issues 7 and 8
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-p1003.1-2008
St -p1003.1-2008
It \-susv4
St -susv4
br
This standard is based on C99.
It is also called the
Open Group Standard Base Specifications, Issue 7.
El
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-p1003.1-2024
St -p1003.1-2024
br
This standard is based on C17.
It is also called the
Open Group Standard Base Specifications, Issue 8.
El
It Other standards
Pp
Bl -tag -width "-p1003.1g-2000" -compact
It \-ieee754
St -ieee754
br
Floating-point arithmetic.
Pp
It \-iso8601
St -iso8601
br
Representation of dates and times, published in 1988.
Pp
It \-iso8802-3
St -iso8802-3
br
Ethernet local area networks.
Pp
It \-ieee1275-94
St -ieee1275-94
El
El
Tg Sx
It Ic \&Sx Ar Title line
Reference a section or subsection in the same manual page.
The referenced section or subsection name must be identical to the
enclosed argument, including whitespace.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
Pp
See also
Ic \&Sh
and
Ic \&Ss .
Tg Sy
It Ic \&Sy Ar word ...
Request a boldface font.
Pp
This is most often used to indicate importance or seriousness (not to be
confused with stress emphasis, see
Ic \&Em ) .
When none of the semantic macros fit, it is also adequate for syntax
elements that have to be given or that appear verbatim.
Pp
Examples:
Bd -literal -compact -offset indent
\&.Sy Warning :
If
\&.Sy s
appears in the owner permissions, set-user-ID mode is set.
This utility replaces the former
\&.Sy dumpdir
program.
Ed
Pp
See also
Ic \&Em ,
Ic \&No ,
and
Ic \&Ql .
Tg Ta
It Ic \&Ta
Table cell separator in
Ic \&Bl Fl column
lists; can only be used below
Ic \&It .
Tg Tg
It Ic \&Tg Op Ar term
Announce that the next input line starts a definition of the
Ar term .
This macro must appear alone on its own input line.
The argument defaults to the first argument of the first macro
on the next line.
The argument may not contain whitespace characters, not even when it is quoted.
This macro is a
Xr mandoc 1
extension and is typically ignored by other formatters.
Pp
When viewing terminal output with
Xr less 1 ,
the interactive
Ic :t
command can be used to go to the definition of the
Ar term
as described for the
Ev MANPAGER
variable in
Xr man 1 ;
when producing HTML output, a fragment identifier
Pq Ic id No attribute
is generated, to be used for deep linking to this place of the document.
Pp
In most cases, adding a
Ic \&Tg
macro would be redundant because
Xr mandoc 1
is able to automatically tag most definitions.
This macro is intended for cases where automatic tagging of a
Ar term
is unsatisfactory, for example if a definition is not tagged
automatically (false negative) or if places are tagged that do
not define the
Ar term
(false positives).
When there is at least one
Ic \&Tg
macro for a
Ar term ,
no other places are automatically marked as definitions of that
Ar term .
It Ic \&Tn Ar word ...
Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
Even though the macro name
Pq Dq tradename
suggests a semantic function, historic usage is inconsistent, mostly
using it as a presentation-level macro to request a small caps font.
It Ic \&Ud
Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
Prints out
Dq currently under development.
It Ic \&Ux
Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.
Prints out
Dq Ux .
Tg Va
It Ic \&Va Oo Ar type Oc Ar identifier ...
A variable name.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Va foo
Dl \&.Va const char *bar ;
Pp
For function arguments and parameters, use
Ic \&Fa
instead.
For declarations of global variables in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, use
Ic \&Vt .
Tg Vt
It Ic \&Vt Ar type Op Ar identifier
A variable type.
Pp
This is also used for indicating global variables in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, in which case a variable name is also specified.
Note that it accepts
Sx Block partial-implicit
syntax when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the
Em SYNOPSIS
section, else it accepts ordinary
Sx In-line
syntax.
In the former case, this macro starts a new output line,
and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preceding
function definition or include directive.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Vt unsigned char
Dl \&.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] \&;
Pp
For parameters in function prototypes, use
Ic \&Fa
instead, for function return types
Ic \&Ft ,
and for variable names outside the
Em SYNOPSIS
section
Ic \&Va ,
even when including a type with the name.
See also
Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .
It Ic \&Xc
Close a scope opened by
Ic \&Xo .
It Ic \&Xo Ar block
Extend the header of an
Ic \&It
macro or the body of a partial-implicit block macro
beyond the end of the input line.
This macro originally existed to work around the 9-argument limit
of historic
Xr roff 7 .
Tg Xr
It Ic \&Xr Ar name section
Link to another manual
Pq Qq cross-reference .
Pp
Cross reference the
Ar name
and
Ar section
number of another man page.
Pp
Examples:
Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1
Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&;
Dl \&.Xr mandoc 1 \&Ns s behaviour
El
Sh MACRO SYNTAX
The syntax of a macro depends on its classification.
In this section,
Sq \-arg
refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more
Sq parm
parameters;
Sq \&Yo
opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,
Sq \&Yc
closes it out.
Pp
The
Em Callable
column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name
as an argument to another macro.
For example,
Sq \&.Op \&Fl O \&Ar file
produces
Sq Op Fl O Ar file .
To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally,
escape it by prepending a zero-width space,
Sq \e& .
For example,
Sq \&Op \e&Fl O
produces
Sq Op \&Fl O .
If a macro is not callable but its name appears as an argument
to another macro, it is interpreted as opaque text.
For example,
Sq \&.Fl \&Sh
produces
Sq Fl \&Sh .
Pp
The
Em Parsed
column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by receiving
their names as arguments.
If a macro is not parsed but the name of another macro appears
as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque text.
Pp
The
Em Scope
column, if applicable, describes closure rules.
Ss Block full-explicit
Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro.
All macros contains bodies; only
Ic \&Bf
and
Pq optionally
Ic \&Bl
contain a head.
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
\&.Yc
Ed
Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXX" -offset indent
It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
It Ic \&Bd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Ed
It Ic \&Bf  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Ef
It Ic \&Bk  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Ek
It Ic \&Bl  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&El
It Ic \&Ed  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bd
It Ic \&Ef  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bf
It Ic \&Ek  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bk
It Ic \&El  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Bl
El
Ss Block full-implicit
Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.
All macros have bodies; some
Po
Ic \&It Fl bullet ,
Fl hyphen ,
Fl dash ,
Fl enum ,
Fl item
Pc
don't have heads; only one
Po
Ic \&It
in
Ic \&Bl Fl column
Pc
has multiple heads.
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead... \(lBTa head...\(rB\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
Ed
Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXXXXXXXXX" -offset indent
It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
It Ic \&It Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&It , Ic \&El
It Ic \&Nd Ta \&No Ta \&No Ta closed by Ic \&Sh
It Ic \&Nm Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&Nm , Ic \&Sh , Ic \&Ss
It Ic \&Sh Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&Sh
It Ic \&Ss Ta \&No Ta Yes  Ta closed by Ic \&Sh , Ic \&Ss
El
Pp
Note that the
Ic \&Nm
macro is a
Sx Block full-implicit
macro only when invoked as the first macro
in a
Em SYNOPSIS
section line, else it is
Sx In-line .
Ss Block partial-explicit
Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope.
Each has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head
Po
Ic \&Fo ,
Ic \&Eo
Pc
and/or tail
Pq Ic \&Ec .
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB
\(lBbody...\(rB
\&.Yc \(lBtail...\(rB

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBparm...\(rB\(rB \(lBhead...\(rB \
\(lBbody...\(rB \&Yc \(lBtail...\(rB
Ed
Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent
It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
It Ic \&Ac  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Ao
It Ic \&Ao  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Ac
It Ic \&Bc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Bo
It Ic \&Bo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Bc
It Ic \&Brc Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Bro
It Ic \&Bro Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Brc
It Ic \&Dc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Do
It Ic \&Do  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Dc
It Ic \&Ec  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Eo
It Ic \&Eo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Ec
It Ic \&Fc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Fo
It Ic \&Fo  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Fc
It Ic \&Oc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Oo
It Ic \&Oo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Oc
It Ic \&Pc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Po
It Ic \&Po  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Pc
It Ic \&Qc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Oo
It Ic \&Qo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Oc
It Ic \&Re  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    opened by Ic \&Rs
It Ic \&Rs  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    closed by Ic \&Re
It Ic \&Sc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&So
It Ic \&So  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Sc
It Ic \&Xc  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    opened by Ic \&Xo
It Ic \&Xo  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    closed by Ic \&Xc
El
Ss Block partial-implicit
Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the
end of the line.
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBbody...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB
Ed
Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" -offset indent
It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed
It Ic \&Aq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Bq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Brq Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&D1  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&Yes
It Ic \&Dl  Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Dq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&En  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Op  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Pq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Ql  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Qq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Sq  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
It Ic \&Vt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes
El
Pp
Note that the
Ic \&Vt
macro is a
Sx Block partial-implicit
only when invoked as the first macro
in a
Em SYNOPSIS
section line, else it is
Sx In-line .
Ss Special block macro
The
Ic \&Ta
macro can only be used below
Ic \&It
in
Ic \&Bl Fl column
lists.
It delimits blocks representing table cells;
these blocks have bodies, but no heads.
Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "closed by XXXX" -offset indent
It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Scope
It Ic \&Ta  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes    Ta closed by Ic \&Ta , Ic \&It
El
Ss In-line
Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths,
and/or subsequent macros.
In-line macros have only text children.
If a number (or inequality) of arguments is
Pq n ,
then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.
Bd -literal -offset indent
\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB \(lBres...\(rB

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB \(lBargs...\(rB Yc...

\&.Yo \(lB\-arg \(lBval...\(rB\(rB arg0 arg1 argN
Ed
Bl -column "MacroX" "CallableX" "ParsedX" "Arguments" -offset indent
It Em Macro Ta Em Callable Ta Em Parsed Ta Em Arguments
It Ic \&%A  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%B  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%C  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%D  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%I  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%J  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%N  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%O  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%P  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%Q  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%R  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%T  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%U  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&%V  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ad  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&An  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ap  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
It Ic \&Ar  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&At  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
It Ic \&Bsx Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Bt  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
It Ic \&Bx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Cd  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Cm  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Db  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
It Ic \&Dd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
It Ic \&Dt  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
It Ic \&Dv  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Dx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Em  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Er  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Es  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    2
It Ic \&Ev  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ex  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
It Ic \&Fa  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Fd  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    >0
It Ic \&Fl  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Fn  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Fr  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ft  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Fx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Hf  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
It Ic \&Ic  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&In  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
It Ic \&Lb  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    1
It Ic \&Li  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Lk  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Lp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
It Ic \&Ms  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Mt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Nm  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&No  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ns  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    0
It Ic \&Nx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Os  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
It Ic \&Ot  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ox  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Pa  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Pf  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    1
It Ic \&Pp  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
It Ic \&Rv  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    n
It Ic \&Sm  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    <2
It Ic \&St  Ta    \&No     Ta    Yes      Ta    1
It Ic \&Sx  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Sy  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Tg  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    <2
It Ic \&Tn  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Ud  Ta    \&No     Ta    \&No     Ta    0
It Ic \&Ux  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Va  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    n
It Ic \&Vt  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    >0
It Ic \&Xr  Ta    Yes      Ta    Yes      Ta    2
El
Ss Delimiters
When a macro argument consists of one single input character
considered as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling.
This does not apply when delimiters appear in arguments containing
more than one character.
Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it
like any other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending
a zero-width space
Pq Sq \e& .
In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used
as normal punctuation.
Pp
For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters,
these delimiters are put before the macro scope,
and when the trailing arguments are closing delimiters,
these delimiters are put after the macro scope.
Spacing is suppressed after opening delimiters
and before closing delimiters.
For example,
Pp
D1 Pf \. \&Aq "( [ word ] ) ."
Pp
renders as:
Pp
D1 Aq ( [ word ] ) .
Pp
Opening delimiters are:
Pp
Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
It \&(
left parenthesis
It \&[
left bracket
El
Pp
Closing delimiters are:
Pp
Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
It \&.
period
It \&,
comma
It \&:
colon
It \&;
semicolon
It \&)
right parenthesis
It \&]
right bracket
It \&?
question mark
It \&!
exclamation mark
El
Pp
Note that even a period preceded by a backslash
Pq Sq \e.\&
gets this special handling; use
Sq \e&.\&
to prevent that.
Pp
Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter
delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that
are not delimiters.
For example,
Pp
D1 Pf \. \&Fl "a ( b | c \e*(Ba d ) e"
Pp
renders as:
Pp
D1 Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e
Pp
This applies to both opening and closing delimiters,
and also to the middle delimiter, which does not suppress spacing:
Pp
Bl -tag -width Ds -offset indent -compact
It \&|
vertical bar
El
Pp
As a special case, the predefined string \e*(Ba is handled and rendered
in the same way as a plain
Sq \&|
character.
Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals.
Pp
Appending a zero-width space
Pq Sq \e&
to the end of an input line is also useful to prevent the interpretation
of a trailing period, exclamation or question mark as the end of a
sentence, for example when an abbreviation happens to occur
at the end of a text or macro input line.
Ss Font handling
In
Nm
documents, usage of semantic markup is recommended in order to have
proper fonts automatically selected; only when no fitting semantic markup
is available, consider falling back to
Sx Physical markup
macros.
Whenever any
Nm
macro switches the
Xr roff 7
font mode, it will automatically restore the previous font when exiting
its scope.
Manually switching the font using the
Xr roff 7
Ql \ef
font escape sequences is never required.
Sh COMPATIBILITY
This section provides an incomplete list of compatibility issues
between mandoc and GNU troff
Pq Qq groff .
Pp
The following problematic behaviour is found in groff:
Pp
Bl -dash -compact
It
Ic \&Pa
does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under
certain list types.
It
Ic \&Ta
can only be called by other macros, but not at the beginning of a line.
It
Sq \ef
Pq font face
and
Sq \eF
Pq font family face
Sx Text Decoration
escapes behave irregularly when specified within line-macro scopes.
It
Negative scaling units return to prior lines.
Instead, mandoc truncates them to zero.
El
Pp
The following features are unimplemented in mandoc:
Pp
Bl -dash -compact
It
Ic \&Bd Fl file Ar file
is unsupported for security reasons.
It
Ic \&Bd
Fl filled
does not adjust the right margin, but is an alias for
Ic \&Bd
Fl ragged .
It
Ic \&Bd
Fl literal
does not use a literal font, but is an alias for
Ic \&Bd
Fl unfilled .
It
Ic \&Bd
Fl offset Cm center
and
Fl offset Cm right
don't work.
Groff does not implement centered and flush-right rendering either,
but produces large indentations.
El
Sh SEE ALSO
Xr man 1 ,
Xr mandoc 1 ,
Xr eqn 7 ,
Xr man 7 ,
Xr mandoc_char 7 ,
Xr roff 7 ,
Xr tbl 7
Pp
The web page
Lk https://mandoc.bsd.lv/mdoc/ "extended documentation for the mdoc language"
provides a few tutorial-style pages for beginners, an extensive style
guide for advanced authors, and an alphabetic index helping to choose
the best macros for various kinds of content.
Pp
The manual page
Lk https://man.voidlinux.org/groff_mdoc "groff_mdoc(7)"
contained in the
Dq groff
package documents exactly the same language in a somewhat different style.
Sh HISTORY
The
Nm
language first appeared as a troff macro package in
Bx 4.4 .
It was later significantly updated by Werner Lemberg and Ruslan Ermilov
in groff-1.17.
The standalone implementation that is part of the
Xr mandoc 1
utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in
Ox 4.6 .
Sh AUTHORS
The
Nm
reference was written by
An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq Mt [email protected] .

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