NAME

       tblcvt - troffcvt preprocessor to convert tbl-format tables

SYNTAX

       tblcvt [ file ] ...

DESCRIPTION

       tblcvt  examines  troff  input  for  tables  that  would  normally be processed by the tbl
       program, i.e., for lines bracketed by the .TS table start  and  .TE  table  end  requests.
       tblcvt  parses  table  specifications and data and converts it to a form that troffcvt can
       more easily handle.  This is useful for document processing commands  that  use  troffcvt,
       since  troffcvt  has  knowledge only of the troff input language, and knows nothing of the
       tbl input language.

       tblcvt is a direct replacement for tbl.  Suppose you would  normally  process  a  document
       using tbl and troff (or groff, etc.) like this:
              % tbl file ... | troff ...
       To format the document using tblcvt and troffcvt, use a command like this:
              % tblcvt file ... | troffcvt ...
       Actually,  it's  more  likely  that you'll be using one of the troffcvt front ends such as
       troff2html than that you'll be using troffcvt directly.  troffcvt in the preceding command
       may be replaced by the name of the front end:
              % tblcvt file ... | troff2html ...
       If  it seems that troffcvt or a front end are not reading the output from tblcvt , specify
       - after the option list  to  explicitly  tell  them  to  read  the  standard  input  after
       processing their other options:
              % tblcvt file ... | troffcvt ... -
              % tblcvt file ... | troff2html ... -

DIAGNOSTICS

       Diagnostic messages are written in this format:
              tblcvt:line l (table t, section s): message...
       This indicates that a problem was detected at line number l, and that tblcvt considers the
       line to be part of table number t and section s within the table.  Section  numbers  start
       at one and are incremented for each .T& request that occurs within a table specification.

SEE ALSO

       troffcvt(1)

       tblcvt - A troffcvt Preprocessor

WHO-TO-BLAME

       Paul DuBois, dubois@primate.wisc.edu.

BUGS

       For the most part, tblcvt assumes your tables make sense, i.e., are legal according to the
       tbl input language.  tblcvt may complain about malformed table constructs (if  it  detects
       them), but it may also get confused by them and generate garbage output.

       tblcvt generates troff output that uses long request names, so you can't use compatibility
       mode -C  ( option) with troffcvt or a troffcvt front end.

       tblcvt doesn't support vertically-spanned lines.  It prints a warning when it detects one,
       but the table output won't be correct.

                                                                                        TBLCVT(1)