NAME
groff_mm - groff mm macros
SYNOPSIS
groff -mm [ options... ] [ files... ]
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/1.20.1/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.
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/1.20.1/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
Df register
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
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
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 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.
Hi
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 centerered.
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
INITR filename
Initialize the refence macros. References are written to
stderr and are supposed to be written to ‘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 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 whitin 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 argmuent 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. See also section INTERNALS.
LO type [arg]
Specify options in letter (see .LT). This is a list of
the standard options:
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/1.20.1/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 [-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. The
optional width and height can also be given to resize the
picture.
PE Picture end. Ends a picture for pic(@MAN1EXT).
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
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.
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.
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.
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. Adds extra vertical top and margin
space. Option -T sets the total space instead. If no
argument is given, reset the margin to zero, or the
default (‘7v 5v’) if -T has been used. It is higly
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.
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 \"
Letns!to " to
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.
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 14
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.
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.
Ps Paragraph spacing. Default is 1.
Pt Paragraph type.
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.
AUTHOR
Jörgen Hägg, Lund, Sweden <jh@axis.se>.
FILES
/usr/share/groff/1.20.1/tmac/m.tmac
/usr/share/groff/1.20.1/tmac/mm/*.cov
/usr/share/groff/1.20.1/tmac/mm/*.MT
/usr/share/groff/1.20.1/tmac/mm/locale
SEE ALSO
groff(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1)
groff_mmse(7)