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groff

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 202-0-28
Index Return to Main Contents

Name

groff - front end to the GNU roff document formatting system
.nr d-fallback 1
.nr d-fallback 1

Synopsis

[-abcCeEgGijklNpRsStUVXzZ] [-d~ctext] [-d~string=text] [-D~fallbac-encoding] [-f~fon-family] [-F~fon-directory] [-I~inclusio-directory] [-K~inpu-encoding] [-L~spoole-argument] [-m~macr-package] [-M~macr-directory] [-n~pag-number] [-o~pag-list] [-P~postprocesso-argument] [-r~cnumeri-expression] [-r~register=numeri-expression] [-T~outpu-device] [-w~warnin-category] [-W~warnin-category] [file~...] -h --help -v [option~...] [file~...] --version [option~...] [file~...]

Description

groff is the primary front end to the GNU roff document formatting system. GNU roff is a typesetting system that reads plain text input that includes formatting commands to produce output in PostScript, PDF, HTML, or other formats, or for display to a terminal. Formatting commands can be lo-level typesetting primitives, macros from a supplied package, or use-defined macros. All three approaches can be combined. If no file operands are specified, or if file is [lq]-[rq], groff reads the standard input stream. A reimplementation and extension of troff and other programs from AT&T Unix, groff is widely available on POSIX and other systems owing to its long association with Unix manuals, including man pages. It and its predecessor have produced several bes-selling software engineering texts. groff can create typographically sophisticated documents while consuming minimal system resources. Like its predecessor [lq]troff[rq], the term [lq]groff[rq] affords two popular pronunciations: as one syllable (like the surname), rhyming with [lq]trough[rq], or as [lq]je-roff[rq], in analogy to the Bell Labs pronunciation [lq]te-roff[rq]. Little risk of confusion exists; use whichever suits you. The groff command orchestrates the execution of preprocessors, the transformation of input documents into a devic-independent page description language, and the production of output from that language.

Options

-h and --help display a usage message and exit. Because groff is intended to subsume most users' direct invocations of the formatter, the two programs share a set of options. However, groff has some options that troff does not share, and others which groff interprets differently. At the same time, not all valid troff options can be given to groff.

I]groff-specific options

The following options either do not exist in GNU troff or are interpreted differently by groff.

-D~enc: Use enc as fallback input encoding; implies -k.
-e: Run preprocessor.
-g: Run preprocessor.
-G: Run preprocessor; implies -p.
-I~dir: Works as troff's option (see below), but also implies -g and -s. groff passes -I options and their arguments to and output drivers; with the option letter changed to -M, it passes the same arguments to
-j: Run preprocessor; implies -p.
-k: Run preprocessor. Refer to its man page for its behavior if neither of groff's -K or -D options is also specified.
-K~enc: Set input encoding used by to enc; implies -k.
-l: Send the output to a spooler program for printing. The [lq]print[rq] directive in the device description file specifies the default command to be used; see If no such directive is present for the output device, output is piped to See options -L and -X.
-L~arg: Pass arg to the print spooler. If multiple args are required, pass each with a separate -L option. groff does not prefix an option dash to arg before passing it to the spooler.
-M: Works as troff's option (see below), but is also passed to and
-N: Prohibit newlines between eqn delimiters: pass -N to
-p: Run preprocessor.
-P~arg: Pass arg to the postprocessor. If multiple args are required, pass each with a separate -P option. groff does not prefix an option dash to arg before passing it to the postprocessor.
-R: Run preprocessor. No mechanism is provided for passing arguments to it; most refer options have equivalent language elements that can be specified within the document.
-s: Run preprocessor.
-S: Enable safer mode and ignore any subsequent -U option. groff passes the -S option to and
-t: Run preprocessor.
-T~dev: Prepare output for device dev. groff passes the -T option and its argument to troff, then (unless the -Z option is used) runs an output driver to convert troff's output to a form appropriate for dev; see subsection [lq]Output devices[rq] below.
-U: Operate in unsafe mode. groff passes the -U option to and
--version: -v Write version information for groff and all programs run by it to the standard output stream; that is, the given command line is processed in the usual way, passing -v to the formatter and any pr- or postprocessors invoked.
-V: Output the pipeline that groff would run to the standard output stream and exit. If given more than once, groff both writes the pipeline to the standard error stream and runs it.
-X: Use instead of the usual postprocessor to (pre)view a document on an X11 display. Combining this option with [lq]-T ps[rq] uses the font metrics of the PostScript device, whereas the [lq]-T X75[rq], [lq]-T X75-12[rq] [lq]-T X100[rq], and [lq]-T X100-12[rq] options use the metrics of X11 fonts.
-Z: Disable postprocessing. troff output appears on the standard output stream (unless suppressed with -z); see for a description of this format.

Transparent options

The following options are passed a-is to the formatter program and described in more detail in its man page.

-a: Generate a plain text approximation of the typeset output.
-b: Write a backtrace to the standard error stream on each error or warning.
-c: Start with color output disabled.
-C: Enable AT&T troff compatibility mode; implies -c.
-d~ctext: -d~string=text Define string.
-E: Inhibit troff error messages; implies -Ww.
-f~fam: Set default font family.
-F~dir: Search in directory dir for the selected output device's directory of device and font description files.
-i: Process standard input after the specified input files.
-I~dir: Search dir for input files.
-m~mac: Read macro package mac before input. groff passes -m options and their arguments to and
-M~dir: Search directory dir for macro files. groff passes -M options and their arguments to and
-n~num: Begin numbering pages at num.
-o~list: Output only pages in list.
-r~cnumeri-expression: -r~register=numeri-expression Define register.
-S: Enable safer mode and ignore any subsequent -U option.
-U: Operate in unsafe mode.
-w~cat: -W~cat Enable and inhibit, respectively, warnings in category cat.
-z: Suppress formatted devic-independent output of troff.

Usage

The architecture of the GNU roff system follows that of other devic-independent roff implementations, comprising preprocessors, macro packages, output drivers (or [lq]postprocessors[rq]), and a suite of utilities, with the formatter program at its heart. See for a survey of how a roff system works. The front end programs available in the GNU roff system make it easier to use than traditional roffs that required the construction of pipelines or use of temporary files to carry a source document from maintainable form to devic-ready output. The discussion below summarizes the constituent parts of the GNU roff system. It complements with groff-specific information.

Getting started

Those who prefer to learn by experimenting or are desirous of rapid feedback from the system may wish to start with a [lq]Hello, world![rq] document. $ echo [dq]Hello, world![dq] | groff -Tascii | sed [aq]/[ha]$/d[aq] Hello, world! We used a command only to eliminate the 65 blank lines that would otherwise flood the terminal screen. (roff systems were developed in the days of pape-based terminals with 66 lines to a page.) Today's users may prefer output to a UT--capable terminal. $ echo [dq]Hello, world![dq] | groff -Tutf8 | sed [aq]/[ha]$/d[aq] Producing PDF, HTML, or TeX]'s DVI is also straightforward. The hard part may be selecting a viewer program for the output. $ echo [dq]Hello, world![dq] | groff -Tpdf > hello.pdf $ evince hello.pdf $ echo [dq]Hello, world![dq] | groff -Thtml > hello.html $ firefox hello.html $ echo [dq]Hello, world![dq] | groff -Tdvi > hello.dvi $ xdvi hello.dvi

Using I]groff] as a REPL

Those with a programmer's bent may be pleased to know that they can use groff in a rea-evaluat-print loop (REPL). Doing so can be handy to verify one's understanding of the formatter's behavior and/or the syntax it accepts. Turning on all warnings with -ww can aid this goal. $ groff -ww -Tutf8 [rs]# This is a comment. Let[aq]s define a register. .nr a 1 [rs]# Do integer arithmetic with operators evaluated lef-t-right. .nr b [rs]n[a]+5/2 [rs]# Let[aq]s get the result on the standard error stream. .tm [rs]n[b] 3 [rs]# Now we[aq]ll define a string. .ds name Leslie[rs] This is another form of comment. .nr b ([rs]n[a] + (7/2)) [rs]# Center the next two text input lines. .ce 2 Hi, [rs]*[name]. Your secret number is [rs]n[b]. [rs]# We will see that the division rounded toward zero. It is [rs]# Here[aq]s an i-else control structure. .ie ([rs]n[b] % 2) odd. .el even. [rs]# This trick sets the page length to the current vertical [rs]# position, so that blank lines don[aq]t spew when we[aq]re done. .pl [rs]n[nl]u <Contro-D>
Hi, Leslie.
Your secret number is 4. It is even.

Paper format

The formatter reads the device description file DESC for the selected output device when it starts; page dimensions declared there are used if present. groff's build process configures a default page format and writes it to typesetters' DESC files. This installation defaults to [lq]A4[rq]. If the DESC file lacks this information, the formatter and output driver use a page length of [lq]11i[rq] (eleven inches) for compatibility with AT&T troff. See In the formatter, the pl request changes the page length, but macro packages often do not support alteration of the paper format within a document. One might, for instance, want to switch between portrait and landscape orientations. Macro packages lack a consistent approach to configuration of parameters dependent on the paper format; some, like ms, benefit from a preamble in the document prior to the first macro call, while others, like mm, instead require the specification of registers on the command line, or otherwise before its macro file is interpreted, to configure page dimensions. Output drivers for typesetters also recognize comman-line options -p to override the default page dimensions and -l to use landscape orientation. The output driver's man page, such as may be helpful. groff's [lq]-d paper[rq] comman-line option is a convenient means of setting the paper format; see Combine it with appropriate -P options for the output driver, overriding its defaults. The following command formats for PostScript on A4 paper in landscape orientation.

: $ groff -T ps -d paper=a4l -P -pa4 -P -l -ms my.ms >my.ps

Front end

The groff program wraps allowing one to specify preprocessors via comman-line options and running the appropriate output driver for the selected output device. This convenience avoids the manual construction of pipelines or management of temporary files required of users of traditional systems. Use to infer an appropriate groff command line to format a document.

Language

Input to a roff system is in plain text interleaved with control lines and escape sequences. The combination constitutes a document in one of a family of languages we also call roff; see for background. An overview of GNU roff language syntax and features, including lists of all supported escape sequences, requests, and predefined registers, can be found in GNU roff extensions to the AT&T troff language, a common subset of roff dialects extant today, are detailed in

Preprocessors

A preprocessor interprets a domai-specific language that produces roff language output. Frequently, such input is confined to sections or regions of roff input (bracketed with macro calls specific to each preprocessor), which it replaces. Preprocessors therefore often interpret a subset of roff syntax along with their own language. GNU roff provides reimplementations of most preprocessors familiar to users of AT&T troff; these routinely have extended features and/or require GNU troff to format their output.

tbl	lays out tables;
eqn	typesets mathematics;
pic	draws diagrams;
refer	processes bibliographic references;
soelim	preprocesses [lq]sourced[rq] input files;
grn	renders diagrams;
chem	draws chemical structural formul[ae] using pic;
gperl	populates groff registers and strings using
glilypond	embeds LilyPond sheet music; and
gpinyin	eases Mandarin Chinese input using Hanyu Pinyin.

A preprocessor unique to GNU roff is which converts various input encodings to something GNU troff can understand. When used, it is run before any other preprocessors. Most preprocessors enclose content between a pair of characteristic tokens. Such a token must occur at the beginning of an input line and use the dot control character. Spaces and tabs must not follow the control character or precede the end of the input line. Deviating from these rules defeats a token's recognition by the preprocessor. Tokens are generally preserved in preprocessor output and interpreted as macro calls subsequently by troff. The ideal preprocessor is not yet available in groff.

preprocessor	starting token	ending token

chem	.cstart	.cend
eqn	.EQ	.EN
grap	.G1	.G2
grn	.GS	.GE
ideal	.IS	.IE
		.IF
pic	.PS	.PE
		.PF
		.PY
refer	.R1	.R2
tbl	.TS	.TE

glilypond	.lilypond start	.lilypond stop
gperl	.Perl start	.Perl stop
gpinyin	.pinyin start	.pinyin stop

Macro packages

Macro files are roff input files designed to produce no output themselves but instead ease the preparation of other roff documents. When a macro file is installed at a standard location and suitable for use by a general audience, it is termed a macro package.
The -m~option loads a macro package prior to any roff input documents, and after performing any string and register assignments directed by -d and -r options. The GNU roff system implements most wel-known macro packages for AT&T troff in a compatible way and extends them. These have on- or tw-letter names arising from intense practices of naming economy in early Unix culture, a laconic approach that led to many of the packages being identified in general usage with the nroff and troff option letter used to invoke them, sometimes to punning effect, as with [lq]man[rq] (short for [lq]manual[rq]), and even with the option dash, as in the case of the s package, much better known as ms or even -ms. Macro packages serve a variety of purposes. Some are [lq]ful-service[rq] packages, adopting responsibility for page layout among other fundamental tasks, and defining their own lexicon of macros for document composition; each such package stands alone and a given document can use at most one.

an: is used to compose man pages in the format originating in Version~7 Unix (1979); see It can be specified on the command line as -man.
doc: is used to compose man pages in the format originating in 4.3BS-Reno (1990); see It can be specified on the command line as -mdoc.
e: is the Berkeley genera-purpose macro suite, developed as an alternative to AT&T's s; see It can be specified on the command line as -me.
m: implements the format used by the secon-generation AT&T macro suite for general documents, a successor to s; see It can be specified on the command line as -mm.
om: (invariably called [lq]mom[rq]) is a modern package written by Peter Schaffter specifically for GNU roff. Consult the mom HTML manual for extensive documentation. She[em]for mom takes the female pronoun[em]can be specified on the command line as -mom.
s: is the original AT&T genera-purpose document format; see It can be specified on the command line as -ms. Others are supplemental. For instance, andoc is a wrapper package specific to GNU roff that recognizes whether a document uses man or mdoc format and loads the corresponding macro package. It can be specified on the command line as -mandoc. A librarian may use this macro file to delegate loading of the correct macro package; it is thus unnecessary for man itself to scan the contents of a document to decide the issue. Many macro files augment the function of the ful-service packages, or of roff documents that do not employ such a package[em]the latter are sometimes characterized as [lq]raw[rq]. These auxiliary packages are described, along with details of macro file naming and placement, in

Formatters

The formatter, the program that interprets roff language input, is It provides the features of the AT&T troff and nroff programs as well as many extensions. The comman-line option -C switches troff into compatibility mode, which tries to emulate AT&T troff as closely as is practical to enable the formatting of documents written for the older system. A shell script, emulates the behavior of AT&T nroff. It attempts to correctly encode the output based on the locale, relieving the user of the need to specify an output device with the -T option and is therefore convenient for use with terminal output devices, described in the next subsection. GNU troff generates output in a devic-independent, but not devic-agnostic, page description language detailed in

Output devices

troff output is formatted for a particular output device, typically specified by the -T option to the formatter or a front end. If neither this option nor the GROFF_TYPESETTER environment variable is used, the default output device is ps. An output device may be any of the following.

ascii: for terminals using the ISO 646 1991:IRV character set and encoding, also known as U-ASCII.
dvi: for TeX DVI format.
html: xhtml for HTML and XHTML output, respectively.
latin1: for terminals using the ISO~Lati-1 (885-1) character set and encoding.
lbp: for Canon CaPSL printers (LB-4 and LB-8 series laser printers).
lj4: for HP LaserJet-compatible (or other PCL-compatible) printers.
pdf: for PDF output.
ps: for PostScript output.
utf8: for terminals using the ISO 10646 ([lq]Unicode[rq]) character set in UT-8 encoding.
X75: for previewing with gxditview using 75 dpi resolution and a 1-point base type size.
X75-12: for previewing with gxditview using 75 dpi resolution and a 1-point base type size.
X100: for previewing with gxditview using 100 dpi resolution and a 1-point base type size.
X100-12: for previewing with gxditview using 100 dpi resolution and a 1-point base type size.

Postprocessors

Any program that interprets the output of GNU troff is a postprocessor. The postprocessors provided by GNU roff are output drivers, which prepare a document for viewing or printing. Postprocessors for other purposes, such as page resequencing or statistical measurement of a document, are conceivable. An output driver supports one or more output devices, each with its own device description file. A device determines its postprocessor with the postpro directive in its device description file; see The -X option overrides this selection, causing gxditview to serve as the output driver.

: provides dvi.
: provides html and xhtml.
: provides lbp.
: provides lj4.
: provides pdf.
: provides ps.
: provides ascii, latin1, and utf8.
: provides X75, X75-12, X100, and X100-12, and additionally can preview ps.

Utilities

GNU roff includes a suite of utilities.

: marks differences between a pair of roff input files.
: infers the groff command a document requires. Several utilities prepare descriptions of fonts, enabling the formatter to use them when producing output for a given device.
: adds information to AT&T troff font description files to enable their use with GNU troff.
: creates font description files for PostScript Type~1 fonts.
: translates a PostScript Type~1 font in PFB (Printer Font Binary) format to PFA (Printer Font ASCII), which can then be interpreted by afmtodit.
: creates font description files for the HP LaserJet~4 family of printers.
: creates font description files for the TeX DVI device.
: creates font description files for X Window System core fonts. A trio of tools transform material constructed using roff preprocessor languages into graphical image files.
: converts an eqn equation into a cropped image.
: converts a grap diagram into a cropped image.
: converts a pic diagram into a cropped image. Another set of programs works with the bibliographic data files used by the preprocessor.
: makes inverted indices for bibliographic databases, speeding lookup operations on them.
: searches the databases.
: interactively searches the databases.

Exit status

groff exits successfully (with status~0) if either of the options -h or --help is specified, status~2 if the program cannot interpret its comman-line arguments, and status~1 if it encounters an error during operation. Otherwise, groff runs a pipeline to process its input; if all commands within the pipeline exit successfully, groff does likewise. If not, groff's exit status encodes a summary of problems encountered, setting bit~2 if a command exited with a failure status, bit~3 if a command was terminated with a signal, and bit~4 if a command could not be executed. (Thus, if all three misfortunes befall one's pipeline, groff exits with status 2[ha]2 + 2[ha]3 + 2[ha]4 = 4+8+16 = 28.) To troubleshoot pipeline problems, r-run the groff command with the -V option and break the reported pipeline down into separate stages, inspecting the exit status of, and diagnostic messages emitted by, each command.

Environment

Environment variables in the host system affect the behavior of programs supplied by groff as follows. Normally, the path separator in environment variables ending with PATH is the colon; this may vary depending on the operating system. For example, Windows uses a semicolon instead.

GROFF_BIN_PATH: Locate groff commands in these directories, followed by those in PATH. If not set, the installation directory of GNU roff executables, /usr/:bin, is searched before PATH.
GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX: Apply a prefix to certain GNU roff commands. groff can be configured at compile time to apply a prefix to the names of programs it provides that had counterparts in AT&T troff, so that name collisions are avoided at run time. The default prefix is empty.
: When used, this prefix is conventionally the letter [lq]g[rq]. For example, GNU troff would be installed as gtroff. Besides troff, the prefix applies to the formatter wrapper nroff; the preprocessors eqn, grn, pic, refer, tbl, and soelim; and the utilities indxbib and lookbib.
GROFF_ENCODING: Specify the assumed character encoding of the input. groff passes its value as an argument to preconv(1) preprocessor's -e option. This variable's existence implies the groff option -k. If set but empty, groff runs preconv without an -e option. groff's -K option overrides GROFF_ENCODING.
GROFF_FONT_PATH: Seek the selected output device's directory of device and font description files in this list of directories. See and
GROFF_TMAC_PATH: Seek macro packages in this list of directories. See and
GROFF_TMPDIR: Create temporary files in this directory. If not set, but TMPDIR is, the latter is used instead. On Windows systems, if neither of the foregoing are set, the environment variables TMP and TEMP (in that order) are checked also. Otherwise, temporary files are created in /tmp. The and commands use temporary files.
GROFF_TYPESETTER: Set the default output device. If empty or not set, ps is used. The -T option overrides GROFF_TYPESETTER.
SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH: Declare a time stamp (expressed as seconds since the Unix epoch) to use as the output creation time stamp in place of the current time. The time is converted to huma-readable form using and when the formatter starts up and stored in registers usable by documents and macro packages.
TZ: Declare the time zone to use when converting the current time to huma-readable form; see If SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is used, it is always converted to huma-readable form using UTC.

Examples

roff systems are best known for formatting man pages. A librarian program, having located a page, might render it with a groff command.

: groff -t -man -Tutf8 /usr/share/man/man1/groff.1

The librarian will also pipe the output through a pager, which might not interpret terminal escape sequences groff emits for boldface, underlining, italics, or hyperlinking; see section [lq]Limitations[rq] below. To process a roff input file using the preprocessors tbl and pic and the me macro package in the way to which AT&T troff users were accustomed, one would type (or script) a pipeline.

pic foo.me | tbl | troff -me -Tutf8 | grotty Shorten this pipeline to an equivalent command using groff.

groff -p -t -me -T utf8 foo.me An even easier way to do this is to use to guess the preprocessor and macro options and execute the result by using the command substitution feature of the shell.

$(grog -Tutf8 foo.me) Each comman-line option to a postprocessor must be specified with any required leading dashes [lq]-[rq] because groff passes the arguments a-is to the postprocessor; this permits arbitrary arguments to be transmitted. For example, to pass a title to the gxditview postprocessor, the shell commands

: groff -X -P -title -P [aq]trial run[aq] mydoc.t

and

: groff -X -Z mydoc.t | gxditview -title [aq]trial run[aq] -

are equivalent.

Limitations

When paging output for the ascii, latin1, and utf8 devices, programs like and may require comman-line options to correctly handle some terminal escape sequences; see

Installation directories

GNU roff installs files in varying locations depending on its compil-time configuration. On this installation, the following locations are used.

/usr/:bin: Directory containing groff's executable commands.
/usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2/:eign: List of common words for
/usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2: Directory for data files.
/usr/:dict/:papers/:Ind: Default index for and
/usr/:share/:doc/:groff-1.24.2: Documentation directory.
/usr/:share/:doc/:groff-1.24.2/:examples: Example directory.
/usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2/:font: Font directory.
/usr/:share/:doc/:groff-1.24.2/:html: HTML documentation directory.
/usr/:lib/:font: Legacy font directory.
/usr/:share/:groff/:site-font: Local font directory.
/usr/:share/:groff/:site-tmac: Local macro package (tmac file) directory.
/usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2/:tmac: Macro package (tmac file) directory.
/usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2/:oldfont: Font directory for compatibility with old versions of groff; see
/usr/:share/:doc/:groff-1.24.2/:pdf: PDF documentation directory.

I]groff] macro directory

Most macro files supplied with GNU roff are stored in /usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2/:tmac for the installation corresponding to this document. As a rule, multiple directories are searched for macro files; see For a catalog of macro files GNU roff provides, see

I]groff] device and font description directory

Device and font description files supplied with GNU roff are stored in /usr/:share/:groff/:1.24.2/:font for the installation corresponding to this document. As a rule, multiple directories are searched for device and font description files; see For the formats of these files, see

Availability

Obtain links to groff releases for download, its source repository, discussion mailing lists, a support ticket tracker, and further information from the groff page of the GNU website A free implementation of the grap preprocessor, written by Ted Faber can be found at the grap website groff supports only this grap.

Authors

groff (both the fron-end command and the overall system) was primarily written by James Clark Contributors to this document include Clark, Trent A. Fisher, Werner Lemberg Bernd Warken and G. Branden Robinson