Ubuntu Manpage: groff_tmac - macro files in the roff typesetting system

NAME

       groff_tmac - macro files in the roff typesetting system

DESCRIPTION

       The roff(7) type-setting system provides a set of macro packages suitable for special kinds of documents.
       Each macro package stores its macros and definitions in a file called the package's tmac file.  The  name
       is deduced from ‘TroffMACros’.

       The  tmac  files  are normal roff source documents, except that they usually contain only definitions and
       setup commands, but no text.  All tmac files are kept in a single or a small number of  directories,  the
       tmac directories.

GROFF MACRO PACKAGES

groff provides all classical macro packages, some more full packages, and some secondary packages for
special purposes. Note that it is not possible to use multiple primary macro packages at the same time;
saying e.g.

sh# groff -m man -m ms foo

sh# groff -m man foo -m ms bar

fails. Exception to this is the use of man pages written with either the mdoc or the man macro package.
See below the description of the andoc.tmac file.

Man Pages
man This is the classical macro package for UNIX manual pages (man pages); it is quite handy and easy
to use; see groff_man(7).

doc
mdoc An alternative macro package for man pages mainly used in BSD systems; it provides many new
features, but it is not the standard for man pages; see groff_mdoc(7).

andoc
mandoc Use this file in case you don't know whether the man macros or the mdoc package should be used.
Multiple man pages (in either format) can be handled.

Full Packages
The packages in this section provide a complete set of macros for writing documents of any kind, up to
whole books. They are similar in functionality; it is a matter of taste which one to use.

me The classical me macro package; see groff_me(7).

mm The semi-classical mm macro package; see groff_mm(7).

mom The new mom macro package, only available in groff. As this is not based on other packages, it
can be freely designed. So it is expected to become quite a nice, modern macro package. See
groff_mom(7).

ms The classical ms macro package; see groff_ms(7).

Language-specific Packages
cs This file adds support for Czech localization, including the main macro packages (me, mom, mm, and
ms).

Note that cs.tmac sets the input encoding to latin-2.

de
den German localization support, including the main macro packages (me, mom, mm, and ms).

de.tmac selects hyphenation patterns for traditional orthography, and den.tmac does the same for
the new orthography (‘Rechtschreibreform’). It should be used as the last macro package on the
command line.

fr This file adds support for French localization, including the main macro packages (me, mom, mm,
and ms). Example:

sh# groff -ms -mfr foo.ms > foo.ps

Note that fr.tmac sets the input encoding to latin-9 to get proper support of the ‘oe’ ligature.

sv Swedish localization support, including the me, mom, and ms macro packages. Note that Swedish for
the mm macros is handled separately; see groff_mmse(7) (only in Swedish locales). It should be
used as the last macro package on the command line.

Input Encodings
latin1
latin2
latin5
latin9 Various input encodings supported directly by groff. Normally, this macro is loaded at the very
beginning of a document or specified as the first macro argument on the command line. roff loads
latin1 by default at start-up. Note that these macro packages don't work on EBCDIC hosts.

cp1047 Encoding support for EBCDIC. On those platforms it is loaded automatically at start-up. Due to
different character ranges used in roff it doesn't work on architectures which are based on ASCII.

Note that it can happen that some input encoding characters are not available for a particular output
device. For example, saying

groff -Tlatin1 -mlatin9 ...

fails if you use the Euro character in the input. Usually, this limitation is present only for devices
which have a limited set of output glyphs (-Tascii, -Tlatin1); for other devices it is usually sufficient
to install proper fonts which contain the necessary glyphs.

Special Packages
The macro packages in this section are not intended for stand-alone usage, but can be used to add special
functionality to any other macro package or to plain groff.

62bit Provide some macros for addition, multiplication, and division of 60bit integers (allowing safe
multiplication of 31bit integers, for example).

ec Switch to the EC and TC font families. To be used with grodvi(1) – this man page also gives more
details of how to use it.

papersize
This macro file is already loaded at start-up by troff so it isn't necessary to call it
explicitly. It provides an interface to set the paper size on the command line with the option
-dpaper=size. Possible values for size are the same as the predefined papersize values in the
DESC file (only lowercase; see groff_font(5) for more) except a7–d7. An appended l (ell)
character denotes landscape orientation. Examples: a4, c3l, letterl.

Most output drivers need additional command line switches -p and -l to override the default paper
length and orientation as set in the driver specific DESC file. For example, use the following
for PS output on A4 paper in landscape orientation:

sh# groff -Tps -dpaper=a4l -P-pa4 -P-l -ms foo.ms > foo.ps

pic This file provides proper definitions for the macros PS and PE, needed for the pic(1)
preprocessor. They center each picture. Use it only if your macro package doesn't provide proper
definitions for those two macros (actually, most of them already do).

pspic A single macro is provided in this file, PSPIC, to include a PostScript graphic in a document.
The following output devices support inclusion of PS images: -Tps, -Tdvi, -Thtml, and -Txhtml; for
all other devices the image is replaced with a hollow rectangle of the same size. This macro file
is already loaded at start-up by troff so it isn't necessary to call it explicitly.

Syntax:

.PSPIC [-L|-R|-C|-I n] file [width [height]]

file is the name of the PostScript file; width and height give the desired width and height of the
image. If neither a width nor a height argument is specified, the image's natural width (as given
in the file's bounding box) or the current line length is used as the width, whatever is smaller.
The width and height arguments may have scaling indicators attached; the default scaling indicator
is i. This macro scales the graphic uniformly in the x and y directions so that it is no more
than width wide and height high. Option -C centers the graphic horizontally, which is the
default. The -L and -R options cause the graphic to be left-aligned and right-aligned,
respectively. The -I option causes the graphic to be indented by n (default scaling indicator
is m).

For use of .PSPIC within a diversion it is recommended to extend it with the following code,
assuring that the diversion's width completely covers the image's width.

.am PSPIC
. vpt 0
\h'(\\n[ps-offset]u + \\n[ps-deswid]u)'
. sp -1
. vpt 1
..

ptx A single macro is provided in this file, xx, for formatting permuted index entries as produced by
the GNU ptx(1) program. In case you need a different formatting, copy the macro into your
document and adapt it to your needs.

trace Use this for tracing macro calls. It is only useful for debugging. See groff_trace(7).

tty-char
Overrides the definition of standard troff characters and some groff characters for TTY devices.
The optical appearance is intentionally inferior compared to that of normal TTY formatting to
allow processing with critical equipment.

www Additions of elements known from the HTML format, as used in the internet (World Wide Web) pages;
this includes URL links and mail addresses; see groff_www(7).

NAMING

       Classical roff systems were designed before the conventions of the modern C getopt(3) call  evolved,  and
       used  a  naming  scheme  for  macro  packages  that looks odd to modern eyes.  Macro packages were always
       included with the option -m;  when  this  option  was  directly  followed  by  its  argument  without  an
       intervening  space,  this  looked  like  a  long  option  preceded by a single minus — a sensation in the
       computer stone age.  To make this invocation form work, classical troff macro packages  used  names  that
       started with the letter ‘m’, which was omitted in the naming of the macro file.

       For  example,  the  macro  package for the man pages was called man, while its macro file tmac.an.  So it
       could be activated by the argument an to option -m, or -man for short.

       For similar reasons, macro packages that did not start with an  ‘m’  had  a  leading  ‘m’  added  in  the
       documentation  and  in  speech; for example, the package corresponding to tmac.doc was called mdoc in the
       documentation, although a more suitable name would be doc.  For, when  omitting  the  space  between  the
       option and its argument, the command line option for activating this package reads -mdoc.

       To cope with all situations, actual versions of groff(1) are smart about both naming schemes by providing
       two macro files for the inflicted macro packages; one with a leading ‘m’ the other one without it.  So in
       groff, the man macro package may be specified as on of the following four methods:

              sh# groff -m man
              sh# groff -man
              sh# groff -mman
              sh# groff -m an

       Recent  packages  that  do  not  start  with  ‘m’ do not use an additional ‘m’ in the documentation.  For
       example, the www macro package may be specified only as one of the two methods:

              sh# groff -m www
              sh# groff -mwww

       Obviously, variants like -mmwww would not make much sense.

       A second strange feature of classical troff was to name macro files in the  form  tmac.name.   In  modern
       operating  systems,  the type of a file is specified as a postfix, the file name extension.  Again, groff
       copes with this situation  by  searching  both  anything.tmac  and  tmac.anything  if  only  anything  is
       specified.

       The  easiest  way  to  find  out  which macro packages are available on a system is to check the man page
       groff(1), or the contents of the tmac directories.

       In groff, most macro packages are described in man pages called groff_name(7), with a leading ‘m’ for the
       classical packages.

INCLUSION

       There  are  several  ways  to  use  a  macro  package in a document.  The classical way is to specify the
       troff/groff option -m name at run-time; this makes the contents of the macro package name available.   In
       groff,  the  file  name.tmac  is  searched  within the tmac path; if not found, tmac.name is searched for
       instead.

       Alternatively, it is also possible to include a macro file by adding the request .so  filename  into  the
       document;  the argument must be the full file name of an existing file, possibly with the directory where
       it is kept.  In groff, this was improved by the similar request .mso package, which  added  searching  in
       the tmac path, just like option -m does.

       Note  that  in order to resolve the .so and .mso requests, the roff preprocessor soelim(1) must be called
       if the files to be included need preprocessing.  This can be done either directly by a  pipeline  on  the
       command line or by using the troff/groff option -s.  man calls soelim automatically.

       For example, suppose a macro file is stored as

              /usr/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac/macros.tmac

       and is used in some document called docu.roff.

       At run-time, the formatter call for this is

              sh# groff -m macros docu.roff

       To include the macro file directly in the document either

              .mso macros.tmac

       is used or

              .so /usr/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac/macros.tmac

       In both cases, the formatter should be called with option -s to invoke soelim.

              sh# groff -s docu.roff

       If you want to write your own groff macro file, call it whatever.tmac and put it in some directory of the
       tmac path, see section FILES.  Then documents can include it with the .mso request or the option -m.

WRITING MACROS

A roff(7) document is a text file that is enriched by predefined formatting constructs, such as requests,
escape sequences, strings, numeric registers, and macros from a macro package. These elements are
described in roff(7).

To give a document a personal style, it is most useful to extend the existing elements by defining some
macros for repeating tasks; the best place for this is near the beginning of the document or in a
separate file.

Macros without arguments are just like strings. But the full power of macros reveals when arguments are
passed with a macro call. Within the macro definition, the arguments are available as the escape
sequences \$1, ..., \$9, \$[...], \$*, and \$@, the name under which the macro was called is in \$0, and
the number of arguments is in register \n[.$]; see groff(7).

Copy-in Mode
The phase when groff reads a macro is called copy-in mode or copy mode in roff-talk. This is comparable
to the C preprocessing phase during the development of a program written in the C language.

In this phase, groff interprets all backslashes; that means that all escape sequences in the macro body
are interpreted and replaced by their value. For constant expressions, this is wanted, but strings and
registers that might change between calls of the macro must be protected from being evaluated. This is
most easily done by doubling the backslash that introduces the escape sequence. This doubling is most
important for the positional parameters. For example, to print information on the arguments that were
passed to the macro to the terminal, define a macro named ‘.print_args’, say.

.ds midpart was called with
.de print_args
. tm \f[I]\\$0\f[] \*[midpart] \\n[.$] arguments:
. tm \\$*
..

When calling this macro by

.print_args arg1 arg2

the following text is printed to the terminal:

print_args was called with the following 2 arguments:
arg1 arg2

Let's analyze each backslash in the macro definition. As the positional parameters and the number of
arguments change with each call of the macro their leading backslash must be doubled, which results in
\\$* and \\[.$]. The same applies to the macro name because it could be called with an alias name, so
\\$0.

On the other hand, midpart is a constant string, it does not change, so no doubling for \*[midpart]. The
\f escape sequences are predefined groff elements for setting the font within the text. Of course, this
behavior does not change, so no doubling with \f[I] and \f[].

Draft Mode
Writing groff macros is easy when the escaping mechanism is temporarily disabled. In groff, this is done
by enclosing the macro definition(s) into a pair of .eo and .ec requests. Then the body in the macro
definition is just like a normal part of the document — text enhanced by calls of requests, macros,
strings, registers, etc. For example, the code above can be written in a simpler way by

.eo
.ds midpart was called with
.de print_args
. tm \f[I]\$0\f[] \*[midpart] \n[.$] arguments:
. tm \$*
..
.ec

Unfortunately, draft mode cannot be used universally. Although it is good enough for defining normal
macros, draft mode fails with advanced applications, such as indirectly defined strings, registers, etc.
An optimal way is to define and test all macros in draft mode and then do the backslash doubling as a
final step; do not forget to remove the .eo request.

Tips for Macro Definitions
• Start every line with a dot, for example, by using the groff request .nop for text lines, or write
your own macro that handles also text lines with a leading dot.

.de Text
. if (\\n[.$] == 0) \
. return
. nop \)\\$*\)
..

• Write a comment macro that works both for copy-in and draft mode; for as escaping is off in draft
mode, trouble might occur when normal comments are used. For example, the following macro just
ignores its arguments, so it acts like a comment line:

.de c
..
.c This is like a comment line.

• In long macro definitions, make ample use of comment lines or almost-empty lines (this is, lines
which have a leading dot and nothing else) for a better structuring.

• To increase readability, use groff's indentation facility for requests and macro calls (arbitrary
whitespace after the leading dot).

Diversions
Diversions can be used to implement quite advanced programming constructs. They are comparable to
pointers to large data structures in the C programming language, but their usage is quite different.

In their simplest form, diversions are multi-line strings, but they get their power when diversions are
used dynamically within macros. The (formatted) information stored in a diversion can be retrieved by
calling the diversion just like a macro.

Most of the problems arising with diversions can be avoided if you remain aware of the fact that
diversions always store complete lines. If diversions are used when the line buffer has not been
flushed, strange results are produced; not knowing this, many people get desperate about diversions. To
ensure that a diversion works, line breaks should be added at the right places. To be on the secure
side, enclose everything that has to do with diversions into a pair of line breaks; for example, by
explicitly using .br requests. This rule should be applied to diversion definition, both inside and
outside, and to all calls of diversions. This is a bit of overkill, but it works nicely.

[If you really need diversions which should ignore the current partial line, use environments to save the
current partial line and/or use the .box request.]

The most powerful feature using diversions is to start a diversion within a macro definition and end it
within another macro. Then everything between each call of this macro pair is stored within the
diversion and can be manipulated from within the macros.

FILES

       All  macro  names  must  be named name.tmac to fully use the tmac mechanism.  tmac.name as with classical
       packages is possible as well, but deprecated.

       The macro files are kept in the tmac directories; a colon separated list of these  constitutes  the  tmac
       path.

       The search sequence for macro files is (in that order):

       •      the directories specified with troff/groff's -M command line option

       •      the directories given in the $GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable

       •      the current directory (only if in unsafe mode, which is enabled by the -U command line switch)

       •      the home directory

       •      a platform-specific directory, being

                     /usr/lib/groff/site-tmac

              in this installation

       •      a site-specific (platform-independent) directory, being

                     /usr/share/groff/site-tmac

              in this installation

       •      the main tmac directory, being

                     /usr/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac

              in this installation

ENVIRONMENT

       $GROFF_TMAC_PATH
              A colon separated list of additional tmac directories in which to search for macro files.  See the
              previous section for a detailed description.

COPYING

       Copyright © 2000-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       This file is part of groff, the GNU roff type-setting system.

       Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms  of  the  GNU  Free
       Documentation  License,  Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with
       no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts.

       A copy of the Free Documentation License is included as a file called FDL in the main  directory  of  the
       groff source package, it is also available on-line at the GNU copyleft site ⟨http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
       fdl.html⟩.

AUTHOR

       This file was written by ⟨http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html⟩groff-bernd.warken-72@web.de Bernd  Warken
       ⟨http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html⟩ and Werner Lemberg ⟨wl@gnu.org⟩.