Provided by: groff_1.22.3-10_amd64 
NAME
groff_hdtbl - groff `hdtbl' macros for generation of tables
DESCRIPTION
The hdtbl macros consist of four base and three optional macros, controlled by about twenty arguments.
The syntax is simple and similar to the HTML table model and nearly as flexible: You can write sequences
of tokens (macro calls with their arguments and content data), separated by blanks and beginning with a
macro call, into the same line to get compact and cleanly arrranged input. An advantage of hdtbl is that
the tables are constructed without calling a preprocessor; this means that groff's full macro
capabilities are available. On the other hand, table processing with hdtbl is much slower than using the
tbl(1) preprocessor. A further advantage is that the HTML-like syntax of hdtbl will be easily converted
to HTML; this is not implemented yet.
USAGE
In this and the next section, we present examples to help users understand the basic workflow of hdtbl.
First of all, you must load the hdtbl.tmac file. As with nearly all other groff macro packages, there
are two possibilities to do so: Either add the line
.mso hdtbl.tmac
to your roff file before using any macros of the hdtbl package, or add the option
-m hdtbl
to the command line of groff (before the document file which contains hdtbl macros). Then you can in‐
clude on or more tables in your document, where each one must be started and ended with the .TBL and .ETB
macros, respectively.
In this man page, we approximate the result of each example in the tty format to be as generic as possi‐
ble since hdtbl currently only supports the PS and PDF output devices.
The simplest well-formed table consists of just single calls to the four base table macros in the right
order. Here we construct a table with only one cell.
.TBL
.TR
.TD
contents of the table cell
.ETB
A tty representation is
+------------------------------------------------------+
| contents-of-the-table-cell |
+------------------------------------------------------+
Equivalent to the above is the following notation.
.TBL .TR .TD "contents of the table cell" .ETB
By default, the formatted table is inserted into the surrounding text at the place of its definition. If
the vertical space isn't sufficient, it is placed at the top of the next page. Tables can also be stored
for later insertion.
Using ‘row-number*column-number’ as the data for the table cells, a table with two rows and two columns
can be written as
.TBL cols=2
. TR .TD 1*1 .TD 1*2
. TR .TD 2*1 .TD 2*2
.ETB
A tty representation is
+--------------------------+---------------------------+
| 1*1 | 1*2 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+
| 2*1 | 2*2 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+
Here we see a difference to HTML tables: The number of columns must be explicitly specified using the
‘cols=m’ argument (or indirectly via the ‘width’ argument, see below).
The contents of a table cell is arbitrary; for example, it can be another table, without restriction to
the nesting depth. A given table layout can be either constructed with suitably nested tables or with
proper arguments to .TD and .TH, controlling column and row spanning. Note, however, that this table
.TBL
. TR
. TD
. nop 1*1 1*2
. TR
. TD
. TBL cols=2 border=
. TR
. TD
. nop 2*1
. TD
. nop 2*2
. ETB
.ETB
and this table
.TBL cols=2
. TR
. TD colspan=2
. nop 1*1 1*2
. TR
. TD
. nop 2*1
. TD
. nop 2*2
.ETB
are similar but not identical (the use of .nop is purely cosmetic to get proper indentation).
The first table looks like
+------------------------------------------------------+
| 1*1 1*2 |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| 2*1 2*2 |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------+
and the second one like
+------------------------------------------------------+
| 1*1 1*2 |
+---------------------------+--------------------------+
| 2*1 | 2*2 |
+---------------------------+--------------------------+
Here the latter table in a more compact form.
.TBL cols=2 .TR ".TD colspan=2" 1*1 1*2
. TR .TD 2*1 .TD 2*2 .ETB
If a macro has one or more arguments (see below), and it is not starting a line, everything belonging to
this macro including the macro itself must be enclosed in double quotes.
MACROS AND ARGUMENTS
The order of macro calls and other tokens follows the HTML model. In the following list, valid predeces‐
sors and successors of all hdtbl macros are given, together with the possible arguments.
Macro arguments are separated by blanks. The order of arguments is arbitrary; they are of the form
key=value
or
key='value1 [value2 [...]]'
with the only exception of the optional argument of the macro .ETB, which is the string ‘hold’. Another
possible form is
"key=value1 [value2 [...]]"
However, this is limited to the case where the macro is the first one in the line and not already en‐
closed in double quotes.
Argument values specified below as c are colors predefined by groff or colors defined by the user with
the .defcolor request. Argument values d are decimal numbers with or without decimal point. Argument
values m are natural numbers. Argument values n are numerical values with the usual groff scaling indi‐
cators. Some of the arguments are specific to one or two macros, but most of them can be specified with
.TBL, .TR, .TD, and .TH. These common arguments are explained in the next subsection.
Most of the argument default values can be changed by the user by setting corresponding default registers
or strings, as listed below.
.TBL [args]
Begin a new table.
predecessor: .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .CPTN, .TR
arguments:
border=[n]
Thickness of the surrounding box border. ‘border=’ (no value) means neither a sur‐
rounding box border nor any horizontal or vertical separator lines between the table
rows and cells. ‘border=0’ suppresses the surrounding box border, but still allows
separator lines between cells and rows.
Default: ‘border=.1n’ (register ‘t*b’).
bc=c Border color.
Default: ‘bc=red4’ (string ‘t*bc’).
cols=m Number of table columns. This argument is necessary if more than one column is in
the table and no ‘width’ arguments are present.
Default: ‘cols=1’ (register ‘t*cols’).
cpd=n Cell padding, i.e., the extra space between the cell space border and the cell con‐
tents.
Default: ‘cpd=.5n’ (register ‘t*cpd’).
csp=n Cell spacing, i.e., the extra space between the table border or vertical or horizon‐
tal lines between cells and the cellspace.
Default: ‘csp=.5n’ (register ‘t*csp’).
tal=l|c|r
Horizontal alignment of the table, if it is smaller than the line width. ‘tal=l’:
left alignment. ‘tal=c’: centered alignment. ‘tal=r’: right alignment.
Default: ‘tal=l’ (register ‘t*tal’).
width='w1 [w2 [...]]'
Widths of table cells. w1, w2, ... are either numbers of type n or natural numbers
with the pseudo-scaling indicator ‘%’, with the meaning “percent of the actual line
length (or column length for inner tables, respectively)”. If there are less width
values than table columns, the last width value is used for the remaining cells.
The argument
width='1.5i 10%'
for example indicates that the first column is 1.5 inches wide; the remaining
columns take 1/10 of the column length each.
Default: The table width equals the outer line length or column length; the columns
have equal widths.
height=n
Height of the table. If the table with its contents is lower than n, the last row
is stretched to this value.
.CPTN [args]
Text of caption.
The (optionally numbered) table caption. .CPTN is optional.
predecessor: .TBL
successor: .TR
arguments:
val=t|b
Vertical alignment of the table caption. ‘val=t’: The caption is placed above the
table. ‘val=b’: The caption is placed below the table.
Default: ‘val=t’ (string ‘t*cptn’).
.TR [args]
Begin a new table row.
predecessor: .TBL, .CPTN, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .TD, .TH
arguments:
height=n
The height of the row. If a cell in the row is higher than n this value is ignored;
otherwise the row height is stretched to n.
.TD [args [cell contents]]
Begin a table data cell.
.TH [args [cell contents]]
Begin a table header cell.
Arguments and cell contents can be mixed. The macro .TH is not really necessary and differs from
.TD only in three default settings, similar to the <TH> and <TD> HTML tags: The contents of .TH is
horizontally and vertically centered and typeset in boldface.
predecessor: .TR, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .TD, .TH, .TR, .ETB, cell contents
arguments:
colspan=m
The width of this cell is the sum of the widths of the m cells above and below this
row.
rowspan=m
The height of this cell is the sum of the heights of the m cells left and right of
this column.
Remark: Overlapping of column and row spanning, as in the following table fragment
(the overlapping happens in the second cell in the second row), is invalid and caus‐
es incorrect results.
.TR .TD 1*1 ".TD 1*2 rowspan=2" .TD 1*3
.TR ".TD 2*1 colspan=2" .TD 2*3
A working example for headers and cells with colspan is
.TBL cols=3
. TR ".TH colspan=2" header1+2 .TH header3
. TR .TD 1*1 .TD 1*2 .TD 1*3
. TR .TD 2*1 ".TD colspan=2" 2*2+3
.ETB
This looks like
+------------------------------+---------------+
| header1+2 | header3 |
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
| 1*1 | 1*2 | 1*3 |
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
| 2*1 | 2*2+3 |
+--------------+-------------------------------+
A working example with rowspan is
.TBL cols=3
. TR
. TD 1*1
. TD rowspan=2 1+2*2
. TD 1*3
.
. TR
. TD 2*1
. TD 2*3
.ETB
which looks like
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
| 1*1 | 1+2*2 | 1*3 |
+--------------+ +---------------+
| 2*1 | | 2*3 |
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
.ETB [hold]
End of the table.
This macro finishes a table. It causes one of the following actions.
• If the argument ‘hold’ is given, the table is held until it is freed by calling the macro
.t*free, which in turn prints the table immediately, either at the current position or at the
top of the next page if its height is larger than the remaining space on the page.
• Otherwise, if the table is higher than the remaining space on the page, it is printed at the
top of the next page.
• If none of the two above constraints hold, the table is printed immediately at the place of its
definition.
predecessor: .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .TBL, .TR, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
arguments:
hold Prevent the table from being printed until it is freed by calling the macro .t*free.
This argument is ignored for inner (nested) tables.
.t*free [n]
Free the next held table or n held tables. Call this utility macro to print tables which are held
by using the ‘hold’ argument of the .ETB macro.
Arguments common to .TBL, .TR, .TD, and .TH
The arguments described in this section can be specified with the .TBL and .TR macros, but they are even‐
tually passed on to the table cells. If omitted, the defaults take place, which the user can change by
setting the corresponding default registers or strings, as documented below. Setting an argument with
the .TBL macro has the same effect as setting it for all rows in the table. Setting an argument with a
.TR macro has the same effect as setting it for all the .TH or .TD macro in this row.
bgc=[c]
The background color of the table cells. This includes the area specified with the ‘csp’ argu‐
ment. The argument ‘bgc=’ (no value) suppresses a background color; this makes the background
transparent.
Default: ‘bgc=bisque’ (string ‘t*bgc’).
fgc=c The foreground color of the cell contents.
Default: ‘fgc=red4’ (string ‘t*fgc’).
ff=name
The font family for the table. name is one of the groff font families, for example A for the
AvantGarde fonts or HN for Helvetica-Narrow.
Default: The font family found before the table (string ‘t*ff’).
fst=style
The font style for the table. One of R, I, B, or BI for roman, bold, italic, or bold italic, re‐
spectively. As with roff's .ft request the ‘fst’ argument can be used to specify the font family
and font style together, for example ‘fst=HNBI’ instead of ‘ff=HN’ and ‘fst=BI’.
Default: The font style in use right before the table (string ‘t*fst’).
fsz='d1 [d2]'
A decimal or fractional factor d1, by which the point size for the table is changed, and d2, by
which the vertical line spacing is changed. If d2 is omitted, value d1 is taken for both.
Default: ‘fsz='1.0 1.0'’ (string ‘t*fsz’).
hal=l|c|b|r
Horizontal alignment of the cell contents in the table. ‘hal=l’: left alignment. ‘hal=c’: cen‐
tered alignment. ‘hal=b’: both (left and right) alignment. ‘hal=r’: right alignment.
Default: ‘hal=b’ (string ‘t*hal’).
val=t|m|b
Vertical alignment of the cell contents in the table for cells lower than the current row.
‘val=t’: alignment below the top of the cell. ‘val=m’: alignment in the middle of the cell.
‘val=b’: alignment above the cell bottom.
Default: ‘val=t’ (string ‘t*val’).
hl=[s|d]
Horizontal line between the rows. If specified with .TD or .TH this is a separator line to the
cell below. ‘hl=’ (no value): no separator line. ‘hl=s’: a single separator line between the
rows. ‘hl=d’: a double separator line.
The thickness of the separator lines is the half of the border thickness, but at least 0.1 inches.
The distance between the double lines is equal to the line thickness.
Remark: Together with ‘border=0’ for proper formatting the value of ‘csp’ must be at least
.05 inches for single separator lines and .15 inches for double separator lines.
Default: ‘hl=s’ (string ‘t*hl’).
vl=[s|d]
Vertical separator line between the cells. If specified with .TD or .TH this is a separator line
to the cell on the right. ‘vl=s’: a single separator line between the cells. ‘vl=d’: a double
separator line. ‘vl=’ (no value): no vertical cell separator lines. For more information see the
documentation of the ‘hl’ argument above.
Default: ‘vl=s’ (string ‘t*vl’).
HDTBL CUSTOMIZATION
Before creating the first table, you should configure default values to minimize the markup needed in
each table. The following example sets up defaults suitable for typical papers:
.ds t*bgc white\" background color
.ds t*fgc black\" foreground color
.ds t*bc black\" border color
.nr t*cpd 0.1n\" cell padding
The file examples/common.roff provides another example setup in the ``minimal Page setup'' section.
A table which does not fit on a partially filled page is printed automatically on the top of the next
page if you append the little utility macro t*hm to the page header macro of your document's main macro
package. For example, say
.am pg@top
. t*hm
..
if you use the ms macro package.
The macro t*EM checks for held or kept tables, and for missing ETB macros (table not closed). You can
append this macro to the ``end'' macro of your document's main macro package. For example:
.am pg@end-text
. t*EM
..
If you use the ms macro package.
BUGS AND SUGGESTIONS
Please send your commments to the groff mailing list or directly to the author.
COPYING
Copyright © 2005-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of groff, the groff.
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
the Invariant Sections being this .ig-section and AUTHORS, 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.
AUTHORS
This document was written by Joachim Walsdorff.
Groff Version 1.22.3 10 February 2018 GROFF_HDTBL(7)