Ubuntu Manpage: groff_mm - memorandum macros for GNU roff

NAME

       groff_mm - memorandum macros for GNU roff

SYNOPSIS

       groff -mm [option ...] [file ...]
       groff -m mm [option ...] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION

The groff mm macros are intended to be compatible with the DWB mm macros with the following limitations:

• No Bell Labs localisms are implemented.

• The macros OK and PM are not implemented.

• groff mm does not support cut marks.

mm is intended to support easy localization. Use mmse as an example how to adapt the output format to a
national standard. Localized strings are collected in the file /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/xx.tmac,
where xx denotes the two-letter code for the language, as defined in the ISO 639 standard. For Swedish,
this is ‘sv.tmac’ – not ‘se’, which is the ISO 3166 two-letter code for the country (as used for the
output format localization).

A file called locale or country_locale is read after the initialization of the global variables. It is
therefore possible to localize the macros with a different company name and so on.

In this manual, square brackets are used to show optional arguments.

Number registers and strings
Many macros can be controlled by number registers and strings. A number register is assigned with the nr
command:

.nr XXX [±]n [i]

XXX is the name of the register, n is the value to be assigned, and i is the increment value for auto-
increment. n can have a plus or minus sign as a prefix if an increment or decrement of the current value
is wanted. (Auto-increment or auto-decrement occurs if the number register is used with a plus or minus
sign, \n+[XXX] or \n-[XXX].)

Strings are defined with ds.

.ds YYY string

The string is assigned everything to the end of the line, even blanks. Initial blanks in string should
be prefixed with a double-quote. (Strings are used in the text as \*[YYY].)

Special formatting of number registers
A number register is printed with normal digits if no format has been given. Set the format with af:

.af R c

R is the name of the register, c is the format.

Form Sequence
1 0, 1, 2, 3, ...
001 000, 001, 002, 003, ...
i 0, i, ii, iii, iv, ...
I 0, I, II, III, IV, ...
a 0, a, b, c, ..., z, aa, ab, ...
A 0, A, B, C, ..., Z, AA, AB, ...

Fonts
In mm, the fonts (or rather, font styles) R (normal), I (italic), and B (bold) are hardwired to font
positions 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Internally, font positions are used for backwards compatibility.
From a practical point of view it doesn't make a big difference – a different font family can still be
selected with a call to the .fam request or using groff's -f command-line option. On the other hand, if
you want to replace just, say, font B, you have to replace the font at position 2 (with a call to
‘.fp 2 ...’).

Macros
)E level text
Add heading text text to the table of contents with level, which is either 0 or in the range 1
to 7. See also .H. This macro is used for customized tables of contents.

1C [1] Begin one-column processing. A 1 as an argument disables the page break. Use wide footnotes,
small footnotes may be overprinted.

2C Begin two-column processing. Splits the page in two columns. It is a special case of MC. See
also 1C.

AE Abstract end, see AS.

AF [name-of-firm]
Author's firm, should be called before AU, see also COVER.

AL [type [text-indent [1]]]
Start auto-increment list. Items are numbered beginning with one. The type argument controls the
format of numbers.

Arg Description
1 Arabic (the default)
A Upper-case letters (A–Z)
a Lower-case letters (a–z)
I Upper-case roman
i Lower-case roman

text-indent sets the indentation and overrides Li. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank
line before each item.

APP name text
Begin an appendix with name name. Automatic naming occurs if name is "". The appendices start
with A if automatic naming is used. A new page is ejected, and a header is also produced if the
number variable Aph is non-zero. This is the default. The appendix always appears in the ‘List
of contents’ with correct page numbers. The name ‘APPENDIX’ can be changed by setting the string
App to the desired text. The string Apptxt contains the current appendix text.

APPSK name pages text
Same as .APP, but the page number is incremented with pages. This is used when diagrams or other
non-formatted documents are included as appendices.

AS [arg [indent]]
Abstract start. Indentation is specified in ‘ens’, but scaling is allowed. Argument arg controls
where the abstract is printed.

Arg Placement
0 Abstract is printed on page 1 and on the cover sheet if used in the released-paper style (MT
4), otherwise it is printed on page 1 without a cover sheet.
1 Abstract is only printed on the cover sheet (MT 4 only).
2 Abstract is printed only on the cover sheet (other than MT 4 only). The cover sheet is
printed without a need for CS.

An abstract is not printed at all in external letters (MT 5). The indent parameter controls the
indentation of both margins, otherwise normal text indentation is used.

AST [title]
Abstract title. Default is ‘ABSTRACT’. Sets the text above the abstract text.

AT title1 [title2 [...]]
Author's title. AT must appear just after each AU. The title shows up after the name in the
signature block.

AU [name [initials [loc [dept [ext [room [arg [arg [arg]]]]]]]]]
Author information. Specifies the author of the memo or paper, and is printed on the cover sheet
and on other similar places. AU must not appear before TL. The author information can contain
initials, location, department, telephone extension, room number or name and up to three extra
arguments.

AV [name [1]]
Approval signature. Generates an approval line with place for signature and date. The string
‘APPROVED:’ can be changed with variable Letapp; it is replaced with an empty lin if there is a
second argument. The string ‘Date’ can be changed with variable Letdate.

AVL [name]
Letter signature. Generates a line with place for signature.

B [bold-text [prev-font-text [bold [...]]]]
Begin boldface. No limit on the number of arguments. All arguments are concatenated to one word;
the first, third and so on is printed in boldface.

B1 Begin box (as the ms macro). Draws a box around the text. The text is indented one character,
and the right margin is one character shorter.

B2 End box. Finishes the box started with B1.

BE End bottom block, see BS.

BI [bold-text [italic-text [bold-text [...]]]]
Bold-italic. No limit on the number of arguments, see B.

BL [text-indent [1]]
Start bullet list. Initializes a list with a bullet and a space in the beginning of each list
item (see LI). text-indent overrides the default indentation of the list items set by number
register Pi. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.

BR [bold-text [roman-text [bold-text [...]]]]
Bold-roman. No limit on the number of arguments.

BS Bottom block start. Begins the definition of a text block which is printed at the bottom of each
page. The block ends with BE.

BVL text-indent [mark-indent [1]]
Start of broken variable-item list. Broken variable-item list has no fixed mark, it assumes that
every LI has a mark instead. The text always begins at the next line after the mark. text-indent
sets the indentation to the text, and mark-indent the distance from the current indentation to the
mark. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.

COVER [arg]
Begin a coversheet definition. It is important that .COVER appears before any normal text. This
macro uses arg to build the filename /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/arg.cov. Therefore it is
possible to create unlimited types of cover sheets. ms.cov is supposed to look like the ms cover
sheet. .COVER requires a .COVEND at the end of the cover definition. Always use this order of
the cover macros:

.COVER
.TL
.AF
.AU
.AT
.AS
.AE
.COVEND

However, only .TL and .AU are required.

COVEND Finish the cover description and print the cover page. It is defined in the cover file.

DE Display end. Ends a block of text or display that begins with DS or DF.

DF [format [fill [rindent]]]
Begin floating display (no nesting allowed). A floating display is saved in a queue and is
printed in the order entered. Format, fill, and rindent are the same as in DS. Floating displays
are controlled by the two number registers De and Df.

De register

0 Nothing special, this is the default.
1 A page eject occurs after each printed display, giving only one display per page and no
text following it.

Df register

0 Displays are printed at the end of each section (when section-page numbering is active)
or at the end of the document.
1 A new display is printed on the current page if there is enough space, otherwise it is
printed at the end of the document.
2 One display is printed at the top of each page or column (in multi-column mode).
3 Print one display if there is enough space for it, otherwise it is printed at the top
of the next page or column.
4 Print as many displays as possible in a new page or column. A page break occurs
between each display if De is not zero.
5 Fill the current page with displays and the rest beginning at a new page or column.
(This is the default.) A page break occurs between each display if De is not zero.

DL [text-indent [1 [1]]]
Dash list start. Begins a list where each item is printed after a dash. text-indent changes the
default indentation of the list items set by number register Pi. A second argument prevents an
empty line between each list item. See LI. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank line
before each item.

DS [format [fill [rindent]]]
Static display start. Begins collection of text until DE. The text is printed together on the
same page, unless it is longer than the height of the page. DS can be nested arbitrarily.

format

"" No indentation.
none No indentation.
L No indentation.
I Indent text with the value of number register Si.
C Center each line.
CB Center the whole display as a block.
R Right-adjust the lines.
RB Right-adjust the whole display as a block.

The values ‘L’, ‘I’, ‘C’, and ‘CB’ can also be specified as ‘0’, ‘1’, ‘2’, and ‘3’, respectively,
for compatibility reasons.

fill

"" Line-filling turned off.
none Line-filling turned off.
N Line-filling turned off.
F Line-filling turned on.

‘N’ and ‘F’ can also be specified as ‘0’ and ‘1’, respectively.

By default, an empty line is printed before and after the display. Setting number register Ds
to 0 prevents this. rindent shortens the line length by that amount.

EC [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Equation title. Sets a title for an equation. The override argument changes the numbering.

flag

none override is a prefix to the number.

0 override is a prefix to the number.
1 override is a suffix to the number.
2 override replaces the number.

EC uses the number register Ec as a counter. It is possible to use .af to change the format of
the number. If number register Of is 1, the format of title uses a dash instead of a dot after
the number.

The string Le controls the title of the List of Equations; default is ‘LIST OF EQUATIONS’. The
List of Equations is only printed if number register Le is 1. The default is 0. The string Liec
contains the word ‘Equation’, which is printed before the number. If refname is used, then the
equation number is saved with .SETR, and can be retrieved with ‘.GETST refname’.

Special handling of the title occurs if EC is used inside DS/DE; it is not affected by the format
of DS.

EF [arg]
Even-page footer, printed just above the normal page footer on even pages. See PF.

This macro defines string EOPef.

EH [arg]
Even-page header, printed just below the normal page header on even pages. See PH.

This macro defines string TPeh.

EN Equation end, see EQ.

EOP End-of-page user-defined macro. This macro is called instead of the normal printing of the
footer. The macro is executed in a separate environment, without any trap active. See TP.

Strings available to EOP

EOPf argument of PF
EOPef argument of EF
EOPof argument of OF

EPIC [-L] width height [name]
Draw a box with the given width and height. It also prints the text name or a default string if
name is not specified. This is used to include external pictures; just give the size of the
picture. -L left-adjusts the picture; the default is to center. See PIC.

EQ [label]
Equation start. EQ/EN are the delimiters for equations written for eqn(1). EQ/EN must be inside
of a DS/DE pair, except if EQ is used to set options for eqn only. The label argument appears at
the right margin of the equation, centered vertically within the DS/DE block, unless number
register Eq is 1. Then the label appears at the left margin.

If there are multiple EQ/EN blocks within a single DS/DE pair, only the last equation label (if
any) is printed.

EX [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Exhibit title. The arguments are the same as for EC. EX uses the number register Ex as a
counter. The string Lx controls the title of the List of Exhibits; default is ‘LIST OF EXHIBITS’.
The List of Exhibits is only printed if number register Lx is 1, which is the default. The string
Liex contains the word ‘Exhibit’, which is printed before the number. If refname is used, the
exhibit number is saved with .SETR, and can be retrieved with ‘.GETST refname’.

Special handling of the title occurs if EX is used inside DS/DE; it is not affected by the format
of DS.

FC [closing]
Print ‘Yours very truly,’ as a formal closing of a letter or memorandum. The argument replaces
the default string. The default is stored in string variable Letfc.

FD [arg [1]]
Footnote default format. Controls the hyphenation (hyphen), right margin justification (adjust),
and indentation of footnote text (indent). It can also change the label justification (ljust).

arg hyphen adjust indent ljust
0 no yes yes left
1 yes yes yes left
2 no no yes left
3 yes no yes left
4 no yes no left
5 yes yes no left
6 no no no left
7 yes no no left
8 no yes yes right
9 yes yes yes right
10 no no yes right
11 yes no yes right

An argument greater than or equal to 11 is considered as value 0. Default for mm is 10.

FE Footnote end.

FG [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Figure title. The arguments are the same as for EC. FG uses the number register Fg as a counter.
The string Lf controls the title of the List of Figures; default is ‘LIST OF FIGURES’. The List
of Figures is only printed if number register Lf is 1, which is the default. The string Lifg
contains the word ‘Figure’, which is printed before the number. If refname is used, then the
figure number is saved with .SETR, and can be retrieved with ‘.GETST refname’.

Special handling of the title occurs if FG is used inside DS/DE, it is not affected by the format
of DS.

FS [label]
Footnote start. The footnote is ended by FE. By default, footnotes are automatically numbered;
the number is available in string F. Just add \*F in the text. By adding label, it is possible
to have other number or names on the footnotes. Footnotes in displays are now possible. An empty
line separates footnotes; the height of the line is controlled by number register Fs, default
value is 1.

GETHN refname [varname]
Include the header number where the corresponding ‘SETR refname’ was placed. This is displayed as
‘X.X.X.’ in pass 1. See INITR. If varname is used, GETHN sets the string variable varname to the
header number.

GETPN refname [varname]
Include the page number where the corresponding ‘SETR refname’ was placed. This is displayed as
‘9999’ in pass 1. See INITR. If varname is used, GETPN sets the stringvariable varname to the
page number.

GETR refname
Combine GETHN and GETPN with the text ‘chapter’ and ‘, page’. The string Qrf contains the text
for the cross reference:

.ds Qrf See chapter \\*[Qrfh], page \\*[Qrfp].

Qrf may be changed to support other languages. Strings Qrfh and Qrfp are set by GETR and contain
the page and header number, respectively.

GETST refname [varname]
Include the string saved with the second argument to .SETR. This is a dummy string in pass 1. If
varname is used, GETST sets it to the saved string. See INITR.

H level [heading-text [heading-suffix]]
Numbered section heading. Section headers can have a level between 1 and 14; level 1 is the top
level. The text is given in heading-text, and must be surrounded by double quotes if it contains
spaces. heading-suffix is added to the header in the text but not in the table of contents. This
is normally used for footnote marks and similar things. Don't use \*F in heading-suffix, it
doesn't work. A manual label must be used, see FS.

A call to the paragraph macro P directly after H is ignored. H takes care of spacing and
indentation.

Page ejection before heading

Number register Ej controls page ejection before the heading. By default, a level-one
heading gets two blank lines before it; higher levels only get one. A new page is ejected
before each first-level heading if number register Ej is 1. All levels below or equal the
value of Ej get a new page. Default value for Ej is 0.

Heading break level

A line break occurs after the heading if the heading level is less or equal to number
register Hb. Default value is 2.

Heading space level

A blank line is inserted after the heading if the heading level is less or equal to number
register Hs. Default value is 2.

Text follows the heading on the same line if the level is greater than both Hb and Hs.

Post-heading indent

Indentation of the text after the heading is controlled by number register Hi. Default
value is 0.

0 The text is left-justified.
1 Indentation of the text follows the value of number register Pt , see P.
2 The text is lined up with the first word of the heading.

Centered section headings

All headings whose level is equal or below number register Hc and also less than or equal
to Hb or Hs are centered.

Font control of the heading

The font of each heading level is controlled by string HF. It contains a font number or
font name for each level. Default value is

2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2

(all headings in italic). This could also be written as

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I

Note that some other implementations use 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 as the default value. All omitted
values are presumed to have value 1.

Point size control

String HP controls the point size of each heading, in the same way as HF controls the font.
A value of 0 selects the default point size. Default value is

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Beware that only the point size changes, not the vertical size. The latter can be
controlled by the user-specified macros HX and/or HZ.

Heading counters

Fourteen number registers named H1 up to H14 contain the counter for each heading level.
The values are printed using Arabic numerals; this can be changed with the macro HM (see
below). All marks are concatenated before printing. To avoid this, set number register Ht
to 1. This only prints the current heading counter at each heading.

Automatic table of contents

All headings whose level is equal or below number register Cl are saved to be printed in
the table of contents. Default value is 2.

Special control of the heading, user-defined macros

The following macros can be defined by the user to get a finer control of vertical spacing,
fonts, or other features. Argument level is the level-argument to H, but 0 for unnumbered
headings (see HU). Argument rlevel is the real level; it is set to number register Hu for
unnumbered headings. Argument heading-text is the text argument to H and HU.

HX level rlevel heading-text
This macro is called just before the printing of the heading. The following
registers are available for HX. Note that HX may alter }0, }2, and ;3.

}0 (string)
Contains the heading mark plus two spaces if rlevel is non-zero, otherwise
empty.

;0 (register)
Contains the position of the text after the heading. 0 means that the text
should follow the heading on the same line, 1 means that a line break should
occur before the text, and 2 means that a blank line should separate the
heading and the text.

}2 (string)
Contains two spaces if register ;0 is 0. It is used to separate the heading
from the text. The string is empty if ;0 is non-zero.

;3 (register)
Contains the needed space in units after the heading. Default is 2v. Can be
used to change things like numbering (}0), vertical spacing (}2), and the
needed space after the heading.

HY dlevel rlevel heading-text
This macro is called after size and font calculations and might be used to change
indentation.

HZ dlevel rlevel heading-text
This macro is called after the printing of the heading, just before H or HU exits.
Can be used to change the page header according to the section heading.

HC [hyphenation-character]
Set hyphenation character. Default value is ‘\%’. Resets to the default if called without
argument. Hyphenation can be turned off by setting number register Hy to 0 at the beginning of
the file.

HM [arg1 [arg2 [... [arg14]]]]
Heading mark style. Controls the type of marking for printing of the heading counters. Default
is 1 for all levels.

Argument

1 Arabic numerals.
0001 Arabic numerals with leading zeroes, one or more.
A upper-case alphabetic
a lower-case alphabetic
I upper-case roman numerals
i lower-case roman numerals
"" Arabic numerals.

HU heading-text
Unnumbered section header. HU behaves like H at the level in number register Hu. See H.

HX dlevel rlevel heading-text
User-defined heading exit. Called just before printing the header. See H.

HY dlevel rlevel heading-text
User-defined heading exit. Called just before printing the header. See H.

HZ dlevel rlevel heading-text
User-defined heading exit. Called just after printing the header. See H.

I [italic-text [prev-font-text [italic-text [...]]]]
Italic. Changes the font to italic if called without arguments. With one argument it sets the
word in italic. With two arguments it concatenates them and sets the first word in italic and the
second in the previous font. There is no limit on the number of argument; all are concatenated.

IA [addressee-name [title]]
Begin specification of the addressee and addressee's address in letter style. Several names can
be specified with empty IA/IE-pairs, but only one address. See LT.

IB [italic-text [bold-text [italic-text [...]]]]
Italic-bold. Even arguments are printed in italic, odd in boldface. See I.

IE End the address specification after IA.

INITI type filename [macro]
Initialize the new index system and set the filename to collect index lines in with IND. Argument
type selects the type of index: page number, header marks or both. The default is page numbers.

It is also possible to create a macro that is responsible for formatting each row; just add the
name of the macro as a third argument. The macro is then called with the index as argument(s).

type

N Page numbers
H Header marks
B Both page numbers and header marks, separated with a tab character.

INITR filename
Initialize the cross reference macros. Cross references are written to stderr and are supposed to
be redirected into file filename.qrf. Requires two passes with groff; this is handled by a
separate program called mmroff(1). This program exists because groff(1) by default deactivates
the unsafe operations that are required by INITR. The first pass looks for cross references, and
the second one includes them. INITR can be used several times, but it is only the first
occurrence of INITR that is active.

See also SETR, GETPN, and GETHN.

IND arg1 [arg2 [...]]
Write a line in the index file selected by INITI with all arguments and the page number or header
mark separated by tabs.

Examples

arg1\tpage number
arg1\targ2\tpage number
arg1\theader mark
arg1\tpage number\theader mark

INDP Print the index by running the command specified by string variable Indcmd, which has ‘sort -t\t’
as the default value. INDP reads the output from the command to form the index, by default in two
columns (this can be changed by defining TYIND). The index is printed with string variable Index
as header, default is ‘INDEX’. One-column processing is reactivated after the list. INDP calls
the user-defined macros TXIND, TYIND, and TZIND if defined. TXIND is called before printing the
string ‘INDEX’, TYIND is called instead of printing ‘INDEX’, and TZIND is called after the
printing and should take care of restoring to normal operation again.

ISODATE [0]
Change the predefined date string in DT to ISO-format, this is, ‘YYYY-MM-DD’. This can also be
done by adding -rIso=1 on the command line. Reverts to old date format if argument is 0.

IR [italic-text [roman-text [italic-text [...]]]]
Italic-roman. Even arguments are printed in italic, odd in roman. See I.

LB text-indent mark-indent pad type [mark [LI-space [LB-space]]]
List-begin macro. This is the common macro used for all lists. text-indent is the number of
spaces to indent the text from the current indentation.

pad and mark-indent control where to put the mark. The mark is placed within the mark area, and
mark-indent sets the number of spaces before this area. By default it is 0. The mark area ends
where the text begins. The start of the text is still controlled by text-indent.

The mark is left-justified within the mark area if pad is 0. If pad is greater than 0, mark-
indent is ignored, and the mark is placed pad spaces before the text. This right-justifies the
mark.

If type is 0 the list either has a hanging indentation or, if argument mark is given, the string
mark as a mark.

If type is greater than 0 automatic numbering occurs, using arabic numbers if mark is empty. mark
can then be any of ‘1’, ‘A’, ‘a’, ‘I’, or ‘i’.

type selects one of six possible ways to display the mark.

type

1 x.
2 x)
3 (x)
4 [x]
5 <x>
6 {x}

Every item in the list gets LI-space number of blank lines before them. Default is 1.

LB itself prints LB-space blank lines. Default is 0.

LC [list-level]
List-status clear. Terminates all current active lists down to list-level, or 0 if no argument is
given. This is used by H to clear any active list.

LE [1] List end. Terminates the current list. LE outputs a blank line if an argument is given.

LI [mark [1|2]]
List item preceding every item in a list. Without argument, LI prints the mark determined by the
current list type. By giving LI one argument, it uses that as the mark instead. Two arguments to
LI makes mark a prefix to the current mark. There is no separating space between the prefix and
the mark if the second argument is ‘2’ instead of ‘1’. This behaviour can also be achieved by
setting number register Limsp to zero. A zero length mark makes a hanging indentation instead.

A blank line is printed before the list item by default. This behaviour can be controlled by
number register Ls. Pre-spacing occurs for each list level less than or equal to Ls. Default
value is 99. There is no nesting limit.

The indentation can be changed through number register Li. Default is 6.

All lists begin with a list initialization macro, LB. There are, however, seven predefined list
types to make lists easier to use. They all call LB with different default values.

AL Automatically Incremented List
ML Marked List
VL Variable-Item List
BL Bullet List
DL Dash List
RL Reference List
BVL Broken Variable List.

These lists are described at other places in this manual. See also LB.

LT [arg]
Format a letter in one of four different styles depending on the argument. Also see section
“Internals” below.

Arg Style

BL Blocked. Date line, return address, writer's address and closing begins at the
center of the line. All other lines begin at the left margin.
SB Semi-blocked. Same as blocked, except that the first line in every paragraph is
indented five spaces.
FB Full-blocked. All lines begin at the left margin.
SP Simplified. Almost the same as the full-blocked style. Subject and the writer's
identification are printed in all-capital.

LO type [arg]
Specify options in letter (see .LT). This is a list of the standard options:

CN Confidential notation. Prints ‘CONFIDENTIAL’ on the second line below the date line.
Any argument replaces ‘CONFIDENTIAL’. See also string variable LetCN.
RN Reference notation. Prints ‘In reference to:’ and the argument two lines below the
date line. See also string variable LetRN.
AT Attention. Prints ‘ATTENTION:’ and the argument below the inside address. See also
string variable LetAT.
SA Salutation. Prints ’To Whom It May Concern:’ or the argument if it was present. The
salutation is printed two lines below the inside address. See also string variable
LetSA.
SJ Subject line. Prints the argument as subject prefixed with ‘SUBJECT:’ two lines below
the inside address, except in letter type ‘SP’, where the subject is printed in all-
capital without any prefix. See also string variable LetSJ.

MC column-size [column-separation]
Begin multiple columns. Return to normal with 1C. MC creates as many columns as the current line
length permits. column-size is the width of each column, and column-separation is the space
between two columns. Default separation is column-size/15. See also 1C.

ML mark [text-indent [1]]
Marked list start. The mark argument is printed before each list item. text-indent sets the
indent and overrides Li. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.

MT [arg [addressee]]
Memorandum type. The argument arg is part of a filename in /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/*.MT.
Memorandum types 0 to 5 are supported, including type ‘string’ (which gets internally mapped to
type 6). addressee just sets a variable, used in the AT&T macros.

arg

0 Normal memorandum, no type printed.
1 Memorandum with ‘MEMORANDUM FOR FILE’ printed.
2 Memorandum with ‘PROGRAMMER'S NOTES’ printed.
3 Memorandum with ‘ENGINEER'S NOTES’ printed.
4 Released paper style.
5 External letter style.

See also COVER/COVEND, a more flexible type of front page.

MOVE y-pos [x-pos [line-length]]
Move to a position, setting page offset to x-pos. If line-length is not given, the difference
between current and new page offset is used. Use PGFORM without arguments to return to normal.

MULB cw1 space1 [cw2 space2 [cw3 ...]]
Begin a special multi-column mode. All columns widths must be specified. The space between the
columns must be specified also. The last column does not need any space definition. MULB starts
a diversion, and MULE ends the diversion and prints the columns. The unit for the width and space
arguments is ‘n’, but MULB accepts all normal unit specifications like ‘c’ and ‘i’. MULB operates
in a separate environment.

MULN Begin the next column. This is the only way to switch the column.

MULE End the multi-column mode and print the columns.

nP [type]
Print numbered paragraph with header level two. See .P.

NCOL Force printing to the next column. Don't use this together with the MUL* macros, see 2C.

NS [arg [1]]
Print different types of notations. The argument selects between the predefined type of
notations. If the second argument is available, then the argument becomes the entire notation.
If the argument doesn't select a predefined type, it is printed as ‘Copy (arg) to’. It is
possible to add more standard notations, see the string variables Letns and Letnsdef.

Arg Notation
none Copy To
"" Copy To
1 Copy To (with att.) to
2 Copy To (without att.) to
3 Att.
4 Atts.
5 Enc.
6 Encs.
7 Under separate cover
8 Letter to
9 Memorandum to
10 Copy (with atts.) to
11 Copy (without atts.) to
12 Abstract Only to
13 Complete Memorandum to
14 CC

ND new-date
New date. Overrides the current date. Date is not printed if new-date is an empty string.

OF [arg]
Odd-page footer, a line printed just above the normal footer. See EF and PF.

This macro defines string EOPof.

OH [arg]
Odd-page header, a line printed just below the normal header. See EH and PH.

This macro defines string TPoh.

OP Make sure that the following text is printed at the top of an odd-numbered page. Does not output
an empty page if currently at the top of an odd page.

P [type]
Begin new paragraph. P without argument produces left-justified text, even the first line of the
paragraph. This is the same as setting type to 0. If the argument is 1, the first line of text
following P is indented by the number of spaces in number register Pi, by default 5.

Instead of giving an argument to P it is possible to set the paragraph type in number register Pt.
Using 0 and 1 is the same as adding that value to P. A value of 2 indents all paragraphs, except
after headings, lists, and displays (this value can't be used as an argument to P itself).

The space between two paragraphs is controlled by number register Ps, and is 1 by default (one
blank line).

PGFORM [linelength [pagelength [pageoffset [1]]]]
Set line length, page length, and/or page offset. This macro can be used for special formatting,
like letter heads and other. It is normally the first command in a file, though it is not
necessary. PGFORM can be used without arguments to reset everything after a MOVE call. A line
break is done unless the fourth argument is given. This can be used to avoid the page number on
the first page while setting new width and length. (It seems as if this macro sometimes doesn't
work too well. Use the command-line arguments to change line length, page length, and page offset
instead.)

PGNH No header is printed on the next page. Used to get rid of the header in letters or other special
texts. This macro must be used before any text to inhibit the page header on the first page.

PIC [-B] [-L] [-C] [-R] [-I n] filename [width [height]]
Include a PostScript file in the document. The macro depends on mmroff(1) and INITR. The
arguments -L, -C, -R, and -I n adjust the picture or indent it. With no flag the picture is
adjusted to the left. Adding -B draws a box around the picture. The optional width and height
can also be given to resize the picture.

PE Picture end. Ends a picture for pic(1).

PF [arg]
Page footer. PF sets the line to be printed at the bottom of each page. Empty by default. See
PH for the argument specification.

This macro defines string EOPf.

PH [arg]
Page header, a line printed at the top of each page. The argument should be specified as

"'left-part'center-part'right-part'"

where left-part, center-part, and right-part are printed left-justified, centered, and right
justified, respectively. Within the argument to PH, the character ‘%’ is changed to the current
page number. The default argument is

"''- % -''"

which gives the page number between two dashes.

This macro defines string TPh.

PS Picture start (from pic). Begins a picture for pic(1).

PX Page header user-defined exit. This macro is called just after the printing of the page header in
no-space mode.

R Roman. Return to roman font, see also I.

RB [roman-text [bold-text [roman-text [...]]]]
Roman-bold. Even arguments are printed in roman, odd in boldface. See I.

RD [prompt [diversion [string]]]
Read from standard input to diversion and/or string. The text is saved in a diversion named
diversion. Recall the text by writing the name of the diversion after a dot on an empty line. A
string is also defined if string is given. Diversion and/or prompt can be empty ("").

RF Reference end. Ends a reference definition and returns to normal processing. See RS.

RI [roman-text [italic-text [roman-text [...]]]]
Print even arguments in roman, odd in italic. See I.

RL [text-indent[1]]
Reference list start. Begins a list where each item is preceded with an automatically incremented
number between square brackets. text-indent changes the default indentation.

RP [arg1 [arg2]]
Produce reference page. This macro can be used if a reference page is wanted somewhere in the
document. It is not needed if TC is used to produce a table of contents. The reference page is
then printed automatically.

The reference counter is not reset if arg1 is 1.

arg2 tells RP whether to eject a page or not.

arg2

0 The reference page is printed on a separate page.
1 Do not eject page after the list.
2 Do not eject page before the list.
3 Do not eject page before and after the list.

The reference items are separated by a blank line. Setting number register Ls to 0 suppresses the
line.

The string Rp contains the reference page title and is set to ‘REFERENCES’ by default. The number
register Rpe holds the default value for the second argument of RP; it is initially set to 0.

RS [string-name]
Begin an automatically numbered reference definition. Put the string \*(Rf where the reference
mark should be and write the reference between RS/RF at next new line after the reference mark.
The reference number is stored in number register :R. If string-name is given, a string with that
name is defined and contains the current reference mark. The string can be referenced as
\*[string-name] later in the text.

S [size [spacing]]
Set point size and vertical spacing. If any argument is equal to ‘P’, the previous value is used.
A ‘C’ means current value, and ‘D’ the default value. If ‘+’ or ‘-’ is used before the value, the
current value is incremented or decremented, respectively.

SA [arg]
Set right-margin justification. Justification is turned on by default. No argument or value ‘0’
turns off justification, and ‘1’ turns on justification.

SETR refname [string]
Remember the current header and page number as refname. Saves string if string is defined.
string is retrieved with .GETST. See INITR.

SG [arg [1]]
Signature line. Prints the authors name(s) after the formal closing. The argument is appended to
the reference data, printed at either the first or last author. The reference data is the
location, department, and initials specified with .AU. It is printed at the first author if the
second argument is given, otherwise at the last. No reference data is printed if the author(s) is
specified through .WA/.WE. See section “Internals” below.

SK [pages]
Skip pages. If pages is 0 or omitted, a skip to the next page occurs unless it is already at the
top of a page. Otherwise it skips pages pages.

SM string1 [string2 [string3]]
Make a string smaller. If string2 is given, string1 is made smaller and string2 stays at normal
size, concatenated with string1. With three arguments, everything is concatenated, but only
string2 is made smaller.

SP [lines]
Space vertically. lines can have any scaling factor, like ‘3i’ or ‘8v’. Several SP calls in a
line only produces the maximum number of lines, not the sum. SP is ignored also until the first
text line in a page. Add \& before a call to SP to avoid this.

TAB Reset tabs to every 5n. Normally used to reset any previous tab positions.

TB [title [override [flag [refname]]]]
Table title. The arguments are the same as for EC. TB uses the number register Tb as a counter.
The string Lt controls the title of the List of Tables; default value is ‘LIST OF TABLES’. The
List of Tables is only printed if number register Lt is 1, which is the default. The string Litb
contains the word ‘TABLE’, which is printed before the number.

Special handling of the title occurs if TB is used inside DS/DE, it is not affected by the format
of DS.

TC [slevel [spacing [tlevel [tab [h1 [h2 [h3 [h4 [h5]]]]]]]]]
Table of contents. This macro is normally used as the last line of the document. It generates a
table of contents with headings up to the level controlled by number register Cl. Note that Cl
controls the saving of headings, it has nothing to do with TC. Headings with a level less than or
equal to slevel get spacing number of lines before them. Headings with a level less than or equal
to tlevel have their page numbers right-justified with dots or spaces separating the text and the
page number. Spaces are used if tab is greater than zero, dots otherwise. Other headings have
the page number directly at the end of the heading text (ragged-right).

The rest of the arguments is printed, centered, before the table of contents.

The user-defined macros TX and TY are used if TC is called with at most four arguments. TX is
called before the printing of the string ‘CONTENTS’, and TY is called instead of printing
‘CONTENTS’.

Equivalent macros can be defined for list of figures, tables, equations and exhibits by defining
TXxx or TYxx, where xx is ‘Fg’, ‘TB’, ‘EC’, or ‘EX’, respectively.

String Ci can be set to control the indentations for each heading-level. It must be scaled, like

.ds Ci .25i .5i .75i 1i 1i

By default, the indentation is controlled by the maximum length of headings in each level.

The string variables Lifg, Litb, Liex, Liec, and Licon contain ‘Figure’, ‘TABLE’, ‘Exhibit’,
‘Equation’, and ‘CONTENTS’, respectively. These can be redefined to other languages.

TE Table end. See TS.

TH [N] Table header. See TS. TH ends the header of the table. This header is printed again if a page
break occurs. Argument ‘N’ isn't implemented yet.

TL [charging-case-number [filing-case-number]]
Begin title of memorandum. All text up to the next AU is included in the title. charging-case-
number and filing-case-number are saved for use in the front page processing.

TM [num1 [num2 [...]]]
Technical memorandum numbers used in .MT. An unlimited number of arguments may be given.

TP Top-of-page user-defined macro. This macro is called instead of the normal page header. It is
possible to get complete control over the header. Note that the header and the footer are printed
in a separate environment. Line length is preserved, though. See EOP.

strings available to TP

TPh argument of PH
TPeh argument of EH
TPoh argument of OH

TS [H] Table start. This is the start of a table specification to tbl(1). TS ends with TE. Argument
‘H’ tells mm that the table has a header. See TH.

TX User-defined table of contents exit. This macro is called just before TC prints the word
‘CONTENTS’. See TC.

TY User-defined table of contents exit. This macro is called instead of printing ‘CONTENTS’. See
TC.

VERBON [flag [point-size [font]]]
Begin verbatim output using Courier font. Usually for printing programs. All characters have
equal width. The point size can be changed with the second argument. By specifying a third
argument it is possible to use another font instead of Courier. flag controls several special
features. Its value is the sum of all wanted features.

Arg Description
1 Disable the escape character (\). This is normally turned on during verbose output.
2 Add an empty line before the verbose text.
4 Add an empty line after the verbose text.
8 Print the verbose text with numbered lines. This adds four digit-sized spaces in the
beginning of each line. Finer control is available with the string variable Verbnm.
It contains all arguments to the troff(1) command .nm, normally ‘1’.
16 Indent the verbose text by ‘5n’. This is controlled by the number-variable Verbin
(in units).

VERBOFF
End verbatim output.

VL text-indent [mark-indent [1]]
Variable-item list. It has no fixed mark, it assumes that every LI has a mark instead. text-
indent sets the indent to the text, and mark-indent the distance from the current indentation to
the mark. A third argument prohibits printing of a blank line before each item.

VM [-T] [top [bottom]]
Vertical margin. Increase the top and bottom margin by top and bottom, respectively. If option
-T is specified, set those margins to top and bottom. If no argument is given, reset the margin
to zero, or to the default (‘7v 5v’) if -T is used. It is highly recommended that macros TP
and/or EOP are defined if using -T and setting top and/or bottom margin to less than the default.

WA [writer-name [title]]
Begin specification of the writer and writer's address. Several names can be specified with empty
WA/WE pairs, but only one address.

WE End the address specification after .WA.

WC [format1] [format2] [...]
Footnote and display width control.

N Set default mode which is equal to using the options -WF, -FF, -WD, and FB.
WF Wide footnotes, wide also in two-column mode.
-WF Normal footnote width, follow column mode.
FF All footnotes gets the same width as the first footnote encountered.
-FF Normal footnotes, width follows WF and -WF.
WD Wide displays, wide also in two-column mode.
-WD Normal display width, follow column mode.
FB Floating displays generates a line break when printed on the current page.
-FB Floating displays does not generate line break.

Strings used in mm
App A string containing the word ‘APPENDIX’.

Apptxt The current appendix text.

EM Em dash string

H1txt Updated by .H and .HU to the current heading text. Also updated in table of contents & friends.

HF Font list for headings, ‘2 2 2 2 2 2 2’ by default. Non-numeric font names may also be used.

HP Point size list for headings. By default, this is ’0 0 0 0 0 0 0’ which is the same as ‘10 10 10
10 10 10 10’.

Index Contains the string ‘INDEX’.

Indcmd Contains the index command. Default value is ‘sort -t\t’.

Lifg String containing ‘Figure’.

Litb String containing ‘TABLE’.

Liex String containing ‘Exhibit’.

Liec String containing ‘Equation’.

Licon String containing ‘CONTENTS’.

Lf Contains the string ‘LIST OF FIGURES’.

Lt Contains the string ‘LIST OF TABLES’.

Lx Contains the string ‘LIST OF EXHIBITS’.

Le Contains the string ‘LIST OF EQUATIONS’.

Letfc Contains the string ‘Yours very truly,’, used in .FC.

Letapp Contains the string ‘APPROVED:’, used in .AV.

Letdate
Contains the string ‘Date’, used in .AV.

LetCN Contains the string ‘CONFIDENTIAL’, used in .LO CN.

LetSA Contains the string ‘To Whom It May Concern:’, used in .LO SA.

LetAT Contains the string ‘ATTENTION:’, used in .LO AT.

LetSJ Contains the string ‘SUBJECT:’, used in .LO SJ.

LetRN Contains the string ‘In reference to:’, used in .LO RN.

Letns is an array containing the different strings used in .NS. It is really a number of string
variables prefixed with Letns!. If the argument doesn't exist, it is included between () with
Letns!copy as a prefix and Letns!to as a suffix. Observe the space after ‘Copy’ and before ‘to’.

Name Value
Letns!0 Copy to
Letns!1 Copy (with att.) to
Letns!2 Copy (without att.) to
Letns!3 Att.
Letns!4 Atts.
Letns!5 Enc.
Letns!6 Encs.
Letns!7 Under separate cover
Letns!8 Letter to
Letns!9 Memorandum to
Letns!10 Copy (with atts.) to
Letns!11 Copy (without atts.) to
Letns!12 Abstract Only to
Letns!13 Complete Memorandum to
Letns!14 CC
Letns!copy Copy (with trailing space)
Letns!to to (note leading space)

Letnsdef
Define the standard notation used when no argument is given to .NS. Default is 0.

MO1 – MO12
Strings containing the month names ‘January’ through ‘December’.

Qrf String containing ‘See chapter \\*[Qrfh], page \\n[Qrfp].’.

Rp Contains the string ‘REFERENCES’.

Tcst Contains the current status of the table of contents and list of figures, etc. Empty outside of
.TC. Useful in user-defined macros like .TP.

Value Meaning
co Table of contents
fg List of figures
tb List of tables
ec List of equations
ex List of exhibits
ap Appendix

Tm Contains the string ‘\(tm’, the trade mark symbol.

Verbnm Argument to .nm in the .VERBON command. Default is 1.

Number variables used in mm
Aph Print an appendix page for every new appendix if this number variable is non-zero. No output
occurs if Aph is zero, but there is always an appendix entry in the ‘List of contents’.

Cl Contents level (in the range 0 to 14). The contents is saved if a heading level is lower than or
equal to the value of Cl. Default is 2.

Cp Eject page between list of table, list of figure, etc., if the value of Cp is zero. Default is 0.

D Debug flag. Values greater than zero produce debug information of increasing verbosity. A value
of 1 gives information about the progress of formatting. Default is 0.

De If set to 1, eject after floating display is output. Default is 0.

Dsp If defined, it controls the space output before and after static displays. Otherwise the value of
Lsp is used.

Df Control floating keep output. This is a number in the range 0 to 5, with a default value of 5.
See .DF.

Ds If set to 1, use the amount of space stored in register Lsp before and after display. Default
is 1.

Ej If set to 1, eject page before each first-level heading. Default is 0.

Eq Equation labels are left-adjusted if set to 0 and right-adjusted if set to 1. Default is 0.

Fs Footnote spacing. Default is 1.

H1 – H7
Heading counters

H1dot Append a dot after the level-one heading number if value is greater than zero. Default is 1.

H1h A copy of number register H1, but it is incremented just before the page break. Useful in user-
defined header macros.

Hb Heading break level. A number in the range 0 to 14, with a default value of 2. See .H.

Hc Heading centering level. A number in the range 0 to 14, with a default value value of 0. See .H.

Hi Heading temporary indent. A number in the range 0 to 2, with a default value of 1.

0 no indentation, left margin
1 indent to the right, similar to ‘.P 1’
2 indent to line up with text part of preceding heading

Hps Heading pre-space level. If the heading level is less than or equal to Hps, two lines precede the
section heading instead of one. Default is first level only. The real amount of lines is
controlled by the variables Hps1 and Hps2.

Hps1 Number of lines preceding .H if the heading level is greater than Hps. Value is in units, default
is 0.5.

Hps2 Number of lines preceding .H if the heading level is less than or equal to Hps. Value is in
units, default is 1.

Hs Heading space level. A number in the range 0 to 14, with a default value of 2. See .H.

Hss Number of lines following .H if the heading level is less than or equal to Hs. Value is in units,
default is 1.

Ht Heading numbering type.

0 multiple levels (1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc.)
1 single level

Default is 0.

Hu Unnumbered heading level. Default is 2.

Hy Hyphenation status of text body.

0 no hyphenation
1 hyphenation on, set to value 6

Default is 0.

Iso Set this variable to 1 on the command line to get an ISO-formatted date string (-rIso=1). Useless
inside of a document.

L Page length, only for command-line settings.

Letwam Maximum lines in return-address, used in .WA/.WE. Default is 14.

Lf, Lt, Lx, Le
Enable (1) or disable (0) the printing of List of figures, List of tables, List of exhibits and
List of equations, respectively. Default values are Lf=1, Lt=1, Lx=1, and Le=0.

Li List indentation, used by .AL. Default is 6.

Limsp A flag controlling the insertion of space between prefix and mark in automatic lists (.AL).

0 no space

1 emit space

Ls List space threshold. If current list level is greater than Ls no spacing occurs around lists.
Default is 99.

Lsp The vertical space used by an empty line. The default is 0.5v in troff mode and 1v in nroff mode.

N Page numbering style.

0 normal header for all pages.
1 header replaces footer on first page, header is empty.
2 page header is removed on the first page.
3 ‘section-page’ numbering style enabled.
4 page header is removed on the first page.
5 ‘section-page’ and ‘section-figure’ numbering style enabled.

Default is 0. See also the number registers Sectf and Sectp.

Np A flag to control whether paragraphs are numbered.

0 not numbered
1 numbered in first-level headings.

Default is 0.

O Page offset, only for command-line settings.

Of Format of figure, table, exhibit, and equation titles.

0 ". "
1 " - "

Default is 0.

P Current page-number, normally the same as ‘%’ unless ‘section-page’ numbering style is enabled.

Pi Paragraph indentation. Default is 5.

Pgps A flag to control whether header and footer point size should follow the current settings or just
change when the header and footer are defined.

0 Point size only changes to the current setting when .PH, .PF, .OH, .EH, .OF, or .OE is
executed.
1 Point size changes after every .S. This is the default.

Ps Paragraph spacing. Default is 1.

Pt Paragraph type.

0 left-justified
1 indented paragraphs
2 indented paragraphs except after .H, .DE, or .LE.

Default is 0.

Rpe Set default value for second argument of .RP. Default is 0.

Sectf A flag controlling ‘section-figures’ numbering style. A non-zero value enables this. See also
register N.

Sectp A flag controlling ’section-page’ numbering style. A non-zero value enables this. See also
register N.

Si Display indentation. Default is 5.

Verbin Indentation for .VERBON. Default is 5n.

W Line length, only for command-line settings.

.mgm Always 1.

INTERNALS

       The  letter  macros are using different submacros depending on the letter type.  The name of the submacro
       has the letter type as suffix.  It is therefore possible to define other  letter  types,  either  in  the
       national  macro-file,  or  as  local  additions.   .LT  sets  the  number variables Pt and Pi to 0 and 5,
       respectively.  The following strings and macros must be defined for a new letter type.

       let@init_type
              This macro is called directly by .LT.  It is supposed to initialize variables and other stuff.

       let@head_type
              This macro prints the letter head, and is called  instead  of  the  normal  page  header.   It  is
              supposed to remove the alias let@header, otherwise it is called for all pages.

       let@sg_type name title n flag [arg1 [arg2 [...]]]
              .SG  is  calling this macro only for letters; memorandums have its own processing.  name and title
              are specified through .WA/.WB.  n is the counter, 1-max, and flag is true for the last name.   Any
              other argument to .SG is appended.

       let@fc_type closing
              This macro is called by .FC, and has the formal closing as the argument.

       .LO  is  implemented as a general option-macro.  It demands that a string named Lettype is defined, where
       type is the letter type.  .LO then assigns the argument to the string variable let*lo-type.

FILES

       /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/m.tmac

       /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/*.cov

       /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/*.MT

       /usr/share/groff/1.22.4/tmac/mm/locale

AUTHORS

       The GNU version of the mm macro package was written by Jörgen Hägg ⟨jh@axis.se⟩ of Lund, Sweden.

NAME

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

INTERNALS

FILES

AUTHORS

SEE ALSO