Provided by: groff_1.23.0-5_amd64 bug

Name

       groff_hdtbl - Heidelberger table macros for GNU roff

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(7)'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
       include  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 as  terminal  output  to  be  as  generic  as
       possible since hdtbl currently only supports the ps and pdf output drivers.

       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 terminal 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 terminal representation is

              +--------------------------+---------------------------+
              | 1*1                      | 1*2                       |
              +--------------------------+---------------------------+
              | 2*1                      | 2*2                       |
              +--------------------------+---------------------------+

       Here  we  see a difference from 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 is 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
       predecessors 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
       enclosed 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
       indicators.   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
                            surrounding 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
                            contents.
                            Default: ‘cpd=.5n’ (register ‘t*cpd’).
                     csp=n  Cell spacing, i.e., the  extra  space  between  the  table  border  or  vertical  or
                            horizontal 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
                            causes 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 neither 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
       eventually 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’
              argument.  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 a groff font family identifier, such as A for Avant Garde
              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, B, I, or BI for roman,  bold,  italic,  or  bold  italic,
              respectively.   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’:
              centered 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 /usr/share/doc/groff-base/examples/hdtbl/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
       call this macro by appending it the to end-of-input macro of the main, or “full-service”,  macro  package
       your document uses.  For example, try
              .am pg@end-text
              .  t*EM
              ..
       if you use the ms package.

Bugs and suggestions

       Please send your comments to the groff mailing list ⟨groff@gnu.org⟩ or directly to the author.

Authors

       The hdtbl macro package was written by Joachim Walsdorff ⟨Joachim.Walsdorff@urz.uni-heidelberg.de⟩.

See also

       groff(1)
              provides an overview of GNU roff and details how to invoke groff at the command line.

       groff(7)
              summarizes the roff language and GNU extensions to it.

       tbl(1) describes the traditional roff preprocessor for tables.