www.LinuxHowtos.org howtos, tips&tricks and tutorials for linux

from small one page howto to huge articles all in one place

Other .linuxhowtos.org sites:gentoo.linuxhowtos.org

Last additions:

using iotop to find disk usage hogs

words:

887

views:

210172

userrating:

May 25th. 2007:

Words

486

Views

259148

why adblockers are bad

Workaround and fixes for the current Core Dump Handling vulnerability affected kernels

words:

161

views:

150507

userrating:

April, 26th. 2006:

Words

Views

107882

New subdomain: toolsntoys.linuxhowtos.org

You are here: manpages

MDOC

Section: Environments, Tables, and Troff Macros (7)
Index Return to Main Contents

BSD mandoc

NAME

mdoc - semantic markup language for formatting manual pages

DESCRIPTION

The mdoc language supports authoring of manual pages for the 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 , and to support hyperlinking if supported by the output medium.

This reference document describes the structure of manual pages and the syntax and usage of the language. The reference implementation of a parsing and formatting tool is mandoc(1); the Sx COMPATIBILITY section describes compatibility with other implementations.

In an document, lines beginning with the control character `.' are called ``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.

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

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

Many aspects of the basic syntax of the language are based on the roff(7) language; see the LANGUAGE SYNTAX and MACRO SYNTAX sections in the roff(7) manual for details, in particular regarding comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and quoting. However, using roff(7) requests in documents is discouraged; mandoc(1) supports some of them merely for backward compatibility.

MANUAL STRUCTURE

A wel-formed document consists of a document prologue followed by one or more sections.

The prologue, which consists of the , and macros in that order, is required for every document.

The first section (sections are denoted by

)

must be the NAME section, consisting of at least one followed by -

Following that, convention dictates specifying at least the SYNOPSIS and DESCRIPTION sections, although this varies between manual sections.

The following is a wel-formed skeleton file for a utility Qq progname :

.Dd $Mdocdate$
.Dt PROGNAME section
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm progname
.Nd one line about what it does
.dq .Sh LIBRARY
.dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 only.
.dq Not used in OpenBSD.
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm progname
.Op Fl options
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility processes files ...
.dq .Sh CONTEXT
.dq For section 9 functions only.
.dq .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
.dq Not used in OpenBSD.
.dq .Sh RETURN VALUES
.dq For sections 2, 3, and 9 function return values only.
.dq .Sh ENVIRONMENT
.dq For sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only.
.dq .Sh FILES
.dq .Sh EXIT STATUS
.dq For sections 1, 6, and 8 only.
.dq .Sh EXAMPLES
.dq .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
.dq For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 printf/stderr messages only.
.dq .Sh ERRORS
.dq For sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 errno settings only.
.dq .Sh SEE ALSO
.dq .Xr foobar 1
.dq .Sh STANDARDS
.dq .Sh HISTORY
.dq .Sh AUTHORS
.dq .Sh CAVEATS
.dq .Sh BUGS
.dq .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
.dq Not used in OpenBSD.

The sections in an document are conventionally ordered as they appear above. Sections should be composed as follows:

NAME

The name(s) and a one line description of the documented material. The syntax for this as follows:

.Nm name0 ,
.Nm name1 ,
.Nm name2
.Nd a one line description

Multiple ` ' names should be separated by commas.

The macro(s) must precede the - macro.

See and -

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:

.Lb libarm

See Lb

SYNOPSIS

Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or device configuration.

For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is generally structured as follows:

.Nm bar
.Op Fl v
.Op Fl o Ar file
.Op Ar
.Nm foo
.Op Fl v
.Op Fl o Ar file
.Op Ar

Commands should be ordered alphabetically.

For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):

.In header.h
.Vt extern const char *global;
.Ft "char *"
.Fn foo "const char *src"
.Ft "char *"
.Fn bar "const char *src"

Ordering of In , Vt , Fn , and Fo macros should follow C heade-file conventions.

And for the third, configurations (section 4):

.Cd dqit* at isa? port 0x2edq
.Cd dqit* at isa? port 0x4edq

Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a SYNOPSIS

Some macros are displayed differently in the SYNOPSIS section, particularly , Fd , Fn , Fo , In , Vt , and Ft All of these macros are output on their own line. If two such dissimilar macros are pairwise invoked (except for Ft before Fo or Fn ) they are separated by a vertical space, unless in the case of Fo , Fn , and Ft , which are always separated by vertical space.

When text and macros following an 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 macro, up to the next

,

macro or the end of an enclosing block, whichever comes first.

Em DESCRIPTION This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in NAME

The
.Nm
utility does this, that, and the other.

It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting a command), such as:

The options are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl v
Print verbose information.
.El

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.

Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.

Since the DESCRIPTION section usually contains most of the text of a manual, longer manuals often use the

macro to form subsections.

In very long manuals, the DESCRIPTION may be split into multiple sections, each started by an

macro followed by a no-standard section name, and each having

several subsections, like in the present manual. Em CONTEXT This section lists the contexts in which functions can be called in section 9. The contexts are autoconf, process, or interrupt. Em IMPLEMENTATION NOTES Implementatio-specific notes should be kept here. This is useful when implementing standard functions that may have side effects or notable algorithmic implications. Em RETURN VALUES This section documents the return values of functions in sections 2, 3, and 9.

See Rv Em ENVIRONMENT Lists the environment variables used by the utility, and explains the syntax and semantics of their values. The environ(7) manual provides examples of typical content and formatting.

See 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.).

See Em EXIT STATUS This section documents the command exit status for section 1, 6, and 8 utilities. Historically, this information was described in DIAGNOSTICS a practise that is now discouraged.

See Ex Em EXAMPLES Example usages. This often contains snippets of wel-formed, wel-tested invocations. Make sure that examples work properly! 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.

Historically, this section was used in place of EXIT STATUS for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is discouraged.

See

-diag

ERRORS

Documents errno(2) settings in sections 2, 3, 4, and 9.

See Er

SEE ALSO

References other manuals with related topics. This section should exist for most manuals. Cros-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then alphabetically (ignoring case).

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.

See

and . Em STANDARDS References any standards implemented or used. If not adhering to any standards, the HISTORY section should be used instead.

See St 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. 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.

See An Em CAVEATS Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained in this section. Em BUGS Known bugs, limitations, and wor-arounds should be described in this section. Em SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.

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 .

Document preamble and NAME section macros

Ta document date: $Mdocdate$ | month day , year

Ta operating system version: [system [version ] ]
Ta document name (one argument)
- Ta document description (one line)

Sections and cross references

Ta section header (one line)

Ic Ss Ta subsection header (one line) Ic Sx Ta internal cross reference to a section or subsection Ic Xr Ta cross reference to another manual page: Ar name section Ic Tg Ta tag the definition of a Ar term Pq <= 1 arguments Ic Pp Ta start a text paragraph (no arguments)

Displays and lists

: -type [-offset width ] [-compact ]
D1 Ta indented display (one line)
Ta indented literal display (one line)
`Ta i-line ': literal display: Ql text
-type [-width val ] [-offset val ] [-compact ]
Ta list item (syntax depends on -type

Ta Ta table cell separator in

%* , Re Ta bibliographic block (references)

Spacing control

Ta prefix, no following horizontal space (one argument)
Ta roman font, no preceding horizontal space (no arguments)
Ap Ta apostrophe without surrounding whitespace (no arguments)

, Ta keep block: -words

Semantic markup for command line utilities

Ta start a SYNOPSIS block with the name of a utility
-Ta command line options (flags) (>=0 arguments)
Ta command modifier (>0 arguments)
Ta command arguments (>=0 arguments)
[, [, Ta optional syntax elements (enclosure) ] ]
Ta internal or interactive command (>0 arguments)
Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)
Ta file system path (>=0 arguments)

Semantic markup for function libraries

Lb Ta function library (one argument)
In Ta include file (one argument)
Fd Ta other preprocessor directive (>0 arguments)
Ft Ta function type (>0 arguments)
Fo , Fc Ta function block: funcname
Fn Ta function name: funcname [argument ... ]
Fa Ta function argument (>0 arguments)
Vt Ta variable type (>0 arguments)
Ta variable name (>0 arguments)
Ta defined variable or preprocessor constant (>0 arguments)
Er Ta error constant (>0 arguments)
Ta environmental variable (>0 arguments)

Various semantic markup

An Ta author name (>0 arguments)
Lk Ta hyperlink: uri [display_name ]
Mt Ta Do mailto Dc hyperlink: localpart @ domain
Ta kernel configuration declaration (>0 arguments)
Ta memory address (>0 arguments)
Ta mathematical symbol (>0 arguments)

Physical markup

Ta italic font or underline (emphasis) (>0 arguments)
Ta boldface font (symbolic) (>0 arguments)
Ta return to roman font (normal) (>0 arguments)
Bf , Ef Ta font block: -type | | |

Physical enclosures

``, Do , Dc Ta enclose in typographic double quotes: ``text'' ''
Qq , Qo , Qc Ta enclose in typewriter double quotes: Qq text
`, So , Sc Ta enclose in single quotes: `text' '
(, Po , Pc Ta enclose in parentheses: (text) )
Bq , Bo , Bc Ta enclose in square brackets: Bq text
Brq , Bro , Brc Ta enclose in curly braces: Brq text
Aq , Ao , Ac Ta enclose in angle brackets: Aq text
Eo , Ec Ta generic enclosure

Text production

Ex -std Ta standard command exit values: [utility ... ]
Rv -std Ta standard function return values: [function ... ]
St Ta reference to a standards document (one argument)
AT&T System Ta AT&T System
BSD Ta BSD
Bsx Ta Bsx
Nx Ta Nx
Fx Ta Fx
Ox Ta Ox
Dx Ta Dx

MACRO REFERENCE

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

%A first_name ... last_name

Author name of an

block. Multiple authors should each be accorded their own %A line. Author names should be ordered with full or abbreviated forename(s) first, then full surname. Ic %B Ar title Book title of an

block. This macro may also be used in a no-bibliographic context when referring to book titles. Ic %C Ar location Publication city or location of an

block. Ic %D Oo Ar month day , Oc Ar year Publication date of an

block. Provide the full English name of the month and all four digits of the year Ic %I Ar name Publisher or issuer name of an

block. Ic %J Ar name Journal name of an

block. Ic %N Ar number Issue number (usually for journals) of an

block. Ic %O Ar line Optional information of an

block. Ic %P Ar number Book or journal page number of an

block. Conventionally, the argument starts with `p.' for a single page or `pp.' for a range of pages, for example:

.%P pp. 42(en47

Ic %Q Ar name Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an

block. Multiple institutional authors should each be accorded their own %Q line. Ic %R Ar name Technical report name of an

block. Ic %T Ar title Article title of an

block. This macro may also be used in a no-bibliographical context when referring to article titles. Ic %U Ar protocol Ns :// Ns Ar path URI of reference document. Ic %V Ar number Volume number of an

block. Ic Ac Close an Ao block. Does not have any tail arguments. Tg Ad Ic Ad Ar address Memory address. Do not use this for postal addresses.

Examples:

.[0,$]

.0x00000000

Tg An 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:

-split: Start a new output line before each subsequent invocation of An
-nosplit: The opposite of -split

The default is -nosplit The effect of selecting either of the -split modes ends at the beginning of the AUTHORS section. In the AUTHORS section, the default is -nosplit for the first author listing and -split for all other author listings.

Examples:

.An -nosplit

.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq Mt kristaps@bsd.lv

Ic Ao Ar block Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets. Does not have any head arguments. This macro is almost never useful. See Aq for more details. Tg Ap 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.

Examples:

.Fn execve Ap d

Tg Aq Ic Aq Ar line Enclose the rest of the input line in angle brackets. The only important use case is for email addresses. See Mt for an example.

Occasionally, it is used for names of characters and keys, for example:

Press the
.Aq escape
key to ...

For URIs, use Lk instead, and In for ``#include'' directives. Never wrap file ... in Aq

Since Aq usually renders with no-ASCII characters in no-ASCII output modes, do not use it where the ASCII characters `<' and `>' are required as syntax elements. Instead, use these characters directly in such cases, combining them with the macros , , or Eo as needed.

See also Ao Tg Ar Ic Ar Op Ar placeholder ... Command arguments. If an argument is not provided, the string ``file ...'' is used as a default.

Examples:

".-o file

".Ar"

".arg1 , arg2 .

The arguments to the file ... macro are names and placeholders for command arguments; for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use - or Tg At Ic At Op Ar version Formats an AT&T System version. Accepts one optional argument:

v[-7] | 32v: A version of AT&T System .
III: AT&T System III .
V | V.[-4]: A version of AT&T System V .

Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.

Examples:

.AT&T System

.AT&T System III

.AT&T System V.1

See also Bsx BSD , Dx , Fx , Nx , and Ox Ic Bc Close a Bo block. Does not have any tail arguments. Tg Bd 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.

The type must be one of the following:

-centered: Produce one output line from each input line, and cente-justify each line. Using this display type is not recommended; many implementations render it poorly.
-filled: Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and lef- and righ-justify the resulting block.
-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 constan-width font. Use this for displaying source code.
-ragged: Change the positions of line breaks to fill each line, and lef-justify the resulting block.
-unfilled: The same as -literal but using the same font as for normal text, which is a variable width font if supported by the output device.

The type must be provided first. Additional arguments may follow:

-offset width

Indent the display by the width which may be one of the following:

One of the pr-defined strings: indent the width of a standard indentation (six constant width characters); inden-two twice indent left which has no effect; right which justifies to the right margin; or center which aligns around an imagined center axis.
A macro invocation, which selects a predefined width: associated with that macro. The most popular is the imaginary macro Ds , which resolves to 6n
A scaling width as described in: roff(7).
An arbitrary string, which indents by the length of this string.

When the argument is missing, -offset is ignored.

-compact

Do not assert vertical space before the display.

Examples:

.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
   Hello       world.
.Ed

See also

and Ic Bo Ar block Begin a block enclosed by square brackets. Does not have any head arguments.

Examples:

.Bo 1 ,
.Dv BUFSIZ Bc

See also Bq Tg Bq Ic Bq Ar line Encloses its arguments in square brackets.

Examples:

.Bq 1 , BUFSIZ

Remarks this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for commands; the correct macros to use for this purpose are [,] [, and ]

See also Bo Ic Brc Close a Bro block. Does not have any tail arguments. Ic Bro Ar block Begin a block enclosed by curly braces. Does not have any head arguments.

Examples:

.Bro 1 , ... ,
.Va n Brc

See also Brq Tg Brq Ic Brq Ar line Encloses its arguments in curly braces.

Examples:

.Brq 1 , ... , n

See also Bro Tg Bsx Ic Bsx Op Ar version Format the Bs x version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided.

Examples:

.Bsx 1.0

.Bsx

See also AT&T System BSD , Dx , Fx , Nx , and Ox Ic Bt Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals. Prints ``is currently in beta test.'' Tg Bx Ic Bx Op Ar version Op Ar variant Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided.

Examples:

.BSD 4.3 Tahoe

.BSD 4.4

.BSD

See also AT&T System Bsx Dx , Fx , Nx , and Ox Tg Cd Ic Cd Ar line Kernel configuration declaration. This denotes strings accepted by config(8). It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.

Examples:

.device le0 at scode?

Remarks this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain whitespace and align consecutive declarations. This practise is discouraged. Tg Cm 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 - is more appropriate.

Examples:

".mt -f device rewind

".ps -o pid , command

".dd if= file1 of= file2

".set -o vi

".lookup file bind

".permit identity [as target ]

Tg D1 Ic D1 Ar line On-line indented display. This is formatted by the default rules and is useful for simple indented statements. It is followed by a newline.

Examples:

.D1 -abcdefgh

See also

Tg Em

word ...

Request an italic font. If the output device does not provide that, underline.

This is most often used for stress emphasis (not to be confused with importance, see ) 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, and file ... are preferred, respectively.

Examples:

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.

See also

Tg Lb

Lb lib name

Specify a library.

The name parameter may be a system library, such as z or 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 SYNOPSIS section as described in Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .

Examples:

.Lb libz

.Lb libmandoc

Tg Li

word ...

Request a typewriter (literal) font. Deprecated because on terminal output devices, this is usually indistinguishable from normal text. For literal displays, use `(i-line) '

(single line)

or instead. Tg Lk

Lk uri [display_name ]

Format a hyperlink.

Examples:

.Lk https://bsd.lv dqThe BSD.lv Projectdq

.Lk https://bsd.lv

invocation.

Do not assume this behaviour: some whatis(1) database generators are not smart enough to parse more than the line arguments and will display macros verbatim.

See also Tg Nm Ic Nm Op Ar name The name of the manual page, or - in particular in section 1, 6, and 8 pages - of an additional command or feature documented in the manual page. When first invoked, the macro expects a single argument, the name of the manual page. Usually, the first invocation happens in the 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 macro uses Sx Block ful-implicit semantics when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the SYNOPSIS section; otherwise, it uses ordinary Sx I-line semantics.

Examples:

.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm cat
.Op Fl benstuv
.Op Ar

In the SYNOPSIS of section 2, 3 and 9 manual pages, use the Fn macro rather than to mark up the name of the manual page. Tg No Ic No Ar word ... Normal text. Closes the scope of any preceding i-line macro. When used after physical formatting macros like or , 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.

Examples:

".italic , bold , and roman

.Sm off
.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /
.Sm on

See also , `,' and Tg Ns 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 macro.

This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.

Examples:

".name = value

".:M pattern

".-o output

See also and Tg Nx Ic Nx Op Ar version Format the Nx version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided.

Examples:

.Nx 5.01

.Nx

See also AT&T System Bsx BSD , Dx , Fx , and Ox Ic Oc Close mult-line [context. Ic Oo Ar block Mult-line version of []

Examples:

.Oo
.Op Fl flag Ns Ar value
.Oc

Tg Op Ic Op Ar line Optional part of a command line. Prints the argument(s) in brackets. This is most often used in the SYNOPSIS section of section 1 and 8 manual pages.

Examples:

.[-a b ]

.[a | b ]

See also [ Tg Os 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 file.

The optional system parameter specifies the relevant operating system or environment. It is suggested to leave it unspecified, in which case mandoc(1) uses its -Ios argument or, if that isn't specified either, Fa sysname and Fa release as returned by uname(3).

Examples:

.
.KTH/CSC/TCS

.BSD 4.3

See also and Ic Ot Ar functype This macro is obsolete. Use Ft instead; with mandoc(1), both have the same effect.

Historical packages described it as ``old function type (FORTRAN)'' Tg Ox Ic Ox Op Ar version Format the Ox version provided as an argument, or a default value if no argument is provided.

Examples:

.Ox 4.5

.Ox

See also AT&T System Bsx BSD , Dx , Fx , and Nx Tg Pa 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 `ti' is used as a default.

Examples:

./usr/bin/mandoc

./usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7

See also Lk Ic Pc Close parenthesised context opened by Po Tg Pf Ic Pf Ar prefix macro Op Ar argument ... Removes the space between its argument and the following macro. It is equivalent to:

The prefix argument is not parsed for macro names or delimiters, but used verbatim as if it were escaped.

Examples:

".$ variable_name

".. macro_name

".0x hex_digits

See also and Ic Po Ar block Mult-line version of () Tg Pp Ic Pp Break a paragraph. This will assert vertical space between prior and subsequent macros and/or text.

Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after

or

macros or before displays

( ) or lists (

(line ): Parenthesised enclosure.
See also Po
Qc Close quoted context opened by: Qo Tg Ql
`line ': I-line literal display. This can be used for complete command invocations and for mult-word code examples when an indented display is not desired.
See also
and
-literal
Qo block: Mult-line version of Qq Tg Qq
Qq line: Encloses its arguments in Qq typewriter doubl-quotes. Consider using ``''
See also ``,'' `,' and Qo

Close an

block. Does not have any tail arguments. Tg Rs Ic Rs Begin a bibliographic (``reference'' ) block. Does not have any head arguments. The block macro may only contain %A %B %C %D %I %J %N %O %P %Q %R %T %U and %V child macros (at least one must be specified).

Examples:

.Rs
.%A J. E. Hopcroft
.%A J. D. Ullman
.%B Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
.%I Addiso-Wesley
.%C Reading, Massachusetts
.%D 1979
.Re

If an

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 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 errno libc global variable set on error.

If function is not specified, the document's name set by is used. Multiple function arguments are treated as separate functions.

See also Ex Ic Sc Close singl-quoted context opened by So Tg Sh 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.

Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by Sx Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it may not be linked with Sx

See also

,

and Sx Tg Sm Ic Sm Op Cm on | off Switches the spacing mode for output generated from macros.

By default, spacing is on When switched 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.

When called without an argument, the macro toggles the spacing mode. Using this is not recommended because it makes the code harder to read. Ic So Ar block Mult-line version of `' Tg Sq Ic Sq Ar line Encloses its arguments in `typewriter' singl-quotes.

See also ``,'' Qq , and So Tg Ss Ic Ss Ar Title line Begin a new subsection. Unlike with

,

there is no convention for the naming of subsections. Except DESCRIPTION the conventional sections described in Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE rarely have subsections.

Su-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by Sx Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it may not be linked with Sx

See also

,

and Sx Tg St 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.

C language standards

-ansiC: St -ansiC
-ansi-89: St -ansi-89
-isoC: St -isoC
-iso-90: St -iso-90
The original C standard.
-iso-amd1: St -iso-amd1
-iso-tcor1: St -iso-tcor1
-iso-tcor2: St -iso-tcor2
-iso-99: St -iso-99
The second major version of the C language standard.
-iso-2011: St -iso-2011
The third major version of the C language standard.

POSIX.1 before the Single UNIX Specification

-p1003.-88: St -p1003.-88
-p1003.1: St -p1003.1
The original POSIX standard, based on ANSI C.
-p1003.-90: St -p1003.-90
-iso994--90: St -iso994--90
The first update of POSIX.1.
-p1003.1-93: St -p1003.1-93
-p1003.1b: St -p1003.1b
Rea-time extensions.
-p1003.1-95: St -p1003.1-95
POSIX thread interfaces.
-p1003.1-95: St -p1003.1-95
Technical Corrigendum.
-p1003.-96: St -p1003.-96
-iso994--96: St -iso994--96
Includes POSIX.-1990, 1b, 1c, and 1i.

X/Open Portability Guide version 4 and related standards

-xpg3: St -xpg3
An XPG4 precursor, published in 1989.
-p1003.2: St -p1003.2
-p1003.-92: St -p1003.-92
-iso994--93: St -iso994--93
An XCU4 precursor.
-p1003.2-92: St -p1003.2-92
Updates to POSIX.2.
-xpg4: St -xpg4
Based on POSIX.1 and POSIX.2, published in 1992.

Single UNIX Specification version 1 and related standards

-susv1: St -susv1
-xpg4.2: St -xpg4.2
This standard was published in 1994. It was used as the basis for UNIX 95 certification. The following three refer to parts of it.
-xsh4.2: St -xsh4.2
-xcurses4.2: St -xcurses4.2
-p1003.1-2000: St -p1003.1-2000
Networking APIs, including sockets.
-svid4: St -svid4 ,
Published in 1995.

Single UNIX Specification version 2 and related standards

-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.
-xbd5: St -xbd5
-xsh5: St -xsh5
-xcu5: St -xcu5
-xns5: St -xns5
-xns5.2: St -xns5.2

Single UNIX Specification version 3

-p1003.-2001: St -p1003.-2001
-susv3: St -susv3
This standard is based on C99, SUSv2, POSIX.-1996, 1d, and 1j. It is also called X/Open Portability Guide version 6. It is used as the basis for UNIX 03 certification.
-p1003.-2004: St -p1003.-2004
The second and last Technical Corrigendum.

Single UNIX Specification version 4

-p1003.-2008: St -p1003.-2008
-susv4: St -susv4
This standard is also called X/Open Portability Guide version 7.

Other standards

-ieee754: St -ieee754
Floatin-point arithmetic.
-iso8601: St -iso8601
Representation of dates and times, published in 1988.
-iso880-3: St -iso880-3
Ethernet local area networks.
-ieee127-94: St -ieee127-94

Tg Sx 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.

Examples:

.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE

See also

and

Tg Sy Ic Sy Ar word ... Request a boldface font.

This is most often used to indicate importance or seriousness (not to be confused with stress emphasis, see ) When none of the semantic macros fit, it is also adequate for syntax elements that have to be given or that appear verbatim.

Examples:

.Sy Warning :
If
.Sy s
appears in the owner permissions, se-use-ID mode is set.
This utility replaces the former
.Sy dumpdir
program.

See also , , and `' Tg Ta Ic Ta Table cell separator in

lists; can only be used below

Tg Tg

Tg [term ]

Announce that the next input line starts a definition of the 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 mandoc(1) extension and is typically ignored by other formatters.

When viewing terminal output with less(1), the interactive :t command can be used to go to the definition of the term as described for the MANPAGER variable in man(1); when producing HTML output, a fragment identifier (id attribute ) is generated, to be used for deep linking to this place of the document.

In most cases, adding a Tg macro would be redundant because mandoc(1) is able to automatically tag most definitions. This macro is intended for cases where automatic tagging of a term is unsatisfactory, for example if a definition is not tagged automatically (false negative) or if places are tagged that do not define the term (false positives). When there is at least one Tg macro for a term no other places are automatically marked as definitions of that term

word ...

Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals. Even though the macro name (``tradename'' ) suggests a semantic function, historic usage is inconsistent, mostly using it as a presentatio-level macro to request a small caps font.

Ud Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals.

Prints out ``currently under development.''

UNIX

Supported only for compatibility, do not use this in new manuals. Prints out ``UNIX '' Tg Va

[type identifier ... ]

A variable name.

Examples:

.foo

.const char *bar

For function arguments and parameters, use Fa instead. For declarations of global variables in the SYNOPSIS section, use Vt Tg Vt

Vt type [identifier ]

A variable type.

This is also used for indicating global variables in the SYNOPSIS section, in which case a variable name is also specified. Note that it accepts Sx Block partia-implicit syntax when invoked as the first macro on an input line in the SYNOPSIS section, else it accepts ordinary Sx I-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.

Examples:

.Vt unsigned char

.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] ;

For parameters in function prototypes, use Fa instead, for function return types Ft , and for variable names outside the SYNOPSIS section , even when including a type with the name. See also Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE .

Close a scope opened by

block

Extend the header of an

macro or the body of a partia-implicit block macro

beyond the end of the input line. This macro originally existed to work around the -argument limit of historic roff(7). Tg Xr

Arnamesection

Link to another manual (Qq cros-reference )

Cross reference the name and section number of another man page.

Examples:

.mandoc(1)

.mandoc(1);

.mandoc(1)Nssbehaviour

MACRO SYNTAX

The syntax of a macro depends on its classification. In this section, `-arg' refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more `parm' parameters; `Yo opens the scope of a macro; and if specified, ' `Yc closes it out. '

The Callable column indicates that the macro may also be called by passing its name as an argument to another macro. For example, `.[-O file ] ' produces `[-O file ] ' To prevent a macro call and render the macro name literally, escape it by prepending a zer-width space, `&' For example, `[&-O ] ' produces `[-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, `.-

produces

' `-

The 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.

The Scope column, if applicable, describes closure rules.

Block ful-explicit

Mult-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. All macros contains bodies; only Bf and (optionally)

contain a head.

.Yo lB-arg lBparm...rBrB lBhead...rB
lBbody...rB
.Yc

Macro Ta Callable Ta Parsed Ta Scope

Bf Ta Ta Ta closed by Ef
Ta Ta Ta closed by
Ef Ta Ta Ta opened by Bf Ta Ta Ta opened by

Block ful-implicit

Mult-line scope closed by en-o-file or implicitly by another macro. All macros have bodies; some Po -bullet -hyphen -dash -enum -item Pc don't have heads; only one Po in

- Ta Ta Ta closed by

Ta Ta Yes Ta closed by ,

,

Ta Ta Yes Ta closed by

,

Note that the macro is a Sx Block ful-implicit macro only when invoked as the first macro in a SYNOPSIS section line, else it is Sx I-line .

Block partia-explicit

Like block ful-explicit, but also with singl-line scope. Each has at least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head Po Fo , Eo Pc and/or tail (Ec )

.Yo lB-arg lBparm...rBrB lBhead...rB
lBbody...rB
.Yc lBtail...rB

.Yo lB-arg lBparm...rBrB lBhead...rB lBbody...rB Yc lBtail...rB

Macro Ta Callable Ta Parsed Ta Scope
Ac Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Ao
Ao Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Ac
Bc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Bo
Bo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Bc
Brc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Bro
Bro Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Brc
Dc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Do
Do Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Dc
Ec Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Eo
Eo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Ec
Fc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Fo
Fo Ta Ta Ta closed by Fc
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by [
[Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by ] ]
Pc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Po
Po Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Pc
Qc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by [
Qo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by ]

Ic Rs Ta No Ta No Ta closed by Ic Re Ic Sc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Ic So Ic So Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Ic Sc Ic Xc Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta opened by Ic Xo Ic Xo Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Ic Xc

Block partia-implicit

Like block ful-implicit, but with singl-line scope closed by the end of the line.

.Yo lB-arg lBval...rBrB lBbody...rB lBres...rB

Macro Ta Callable Ta Parsed
Aq Ta Yes Ta Yes
Bq Ta Yes Ta Yes
Brq Ta Yes Ta Yes
D1 Ta Ta Yes
Ta Ta Yes
``Ta Yes Ta Yes ''
En Ta Yes Ta Yes
[Ta Yes Ta Yes ]
(Ta Yes Ta Yes )
`Ta Yes '
Ta Yes
Qq Ta Yes Ta Yes
`Ta Yes Ta Yes '
Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes

Note that the Vt macro is a Sx Block partia-implicit only when invoked as the first macro in a SYNOPSIS section line, else it is Sx I-line .

Special block macro

The Ta macro can only be used below in

lists. It delimits blocks representing table cells; these blocks have bodies, but no heads.

Macro Ta Callable Ta Parsed Ta Scope
Ta Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta closed by Ta ,

I-line

Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent macros. I-line macros have only text children. If a number (or inequality) of arguments is (n) then the macro accepts an arbitrary number of arguments.

.Yo lB-arg lBval...rBrB lBargs...rB lBres...rB

.Yo lB-arg lBval...rBrB lBargs...rB Yc...

.Yo lB-arg lBval...rBrB arg0 arg1 argN

Macro Ta Callable Ta Parsed Ta Arguments
%A Ta Ta Ta >0
%B Ta Ta Ta >0
%C Ta Ta Ta >0
%D Ta Ta Ta >0
%I Ta Ta Ta >0
%J Ta Ta Ta >0
%N Ta Ta Ta >0
%O Ta Ta Ta >0
%P Ta Ta Ta >0
%Q Ta Ta Ta >0
%R Ta Ta Ta >0
%T Ta Ta Ta >0
%U Ta Ta Ta >0
%V Ta Ta Ta >0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
An Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ap Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
AT&T System Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1
Bsx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
is currently in beta test. Ta Ta Ta 0
BSD Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Db Ta Ta Ta 1
Ta Ta Ta n

Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Dx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Er Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Es Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 2
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ex Ta Ta Ta n
Fa Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Fd Ta Ta Ta >0
-Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Fn Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ft Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Fx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Hf Ta Ta Ta n
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
In Ta Ta Ta 1
Lb Ta Ta Ta 1
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Lk Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Lp Ta Ta Ta 0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Mt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 0
Nx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Ta Ta Ta n
Ot Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ox Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta 1

Rv Ta Ta Ta n

St Ta Ta Yes Ta 1
Sx Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Tg Ta Ta Ta <2
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
Ud Ta Ta Ta 0
UNIX
Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta n
Vt Ta Yes Ta Yes Ta >0
TaYesTaYesTa2

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 zer-width space (`&' ) In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be used as normal punctuation.

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,

renders as:

Opening delimiters are:

(: left parenthesis
[: left bracket

Closing delimiters are:

.: period
,: comma
:: colon
;: semicolon
): right parenthesis
]: right bracket
?: question mark
!: exclamation mark

Note that even a period preceded by a backslash (`.' ) gets this special handling; use `&.' to prevent that.

Many i-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter delimiters, and resume their scope when more arguments follow that are not delimiters. For example,

renders as:

This applies to both opening and closing delimiters, and also to the middle delimiter, which does not suppress spacing:

|: vertical bar

As a special case, the predefined string *(Ba is handled and rendered in the same way as a plain `|' character. Using this predefined string is not recommended in new manuals.

Appending a zer-width space (`&' ) 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.

Font handling

In 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 macro switches the roff(7) font mode, it will automatically restore the previous font when exiting its scope. Manually switching the font using the roff(7) `f' font escape sequences is never required.

COMPATIBILITY

This section provides an incomplete list of compatibility issues between mandoc and GNU troff (Qq groff )

The following problematic behaviour is found in groff:

does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under: certain list types.
Ta can only be called by other macros, but not at the beginning of a line.
`f' (font face): and `F' (font family face) Sx Text Decoration escapes behave irregularly when specified within lin-macro scopes.
Negative scaling units return to prior lines.: Instead, mandoc truncates them to zero.

The following features are unimplemented in mandoc:

: is unsupported for security reasons.
-filled: does not adjust the right margin, but is an alias for -ragged
-literal: does not use a literal font, but is an alias for -unfilled
-offset center: and -offset right don't work. Groff does not implement centered and flus-right rendering either, but produces large indentations.

HISTORY

The language first appeared as a troff macro package in BSD 4.4 It was later significantly updated by Werner Lemberg and Ruslan Ermilov in grof-1.17. The standalone implementation that is part of the mandoc(1) utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in Ox 4.6 .