Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)

FreeBSD Manual Pages

  
 
  

home | help
GROFF_MS(7)	       Miscellaneous Information Manual		   GROFF_MS(7)

NAME
       groff_ms	- groff	ms macros

SYNOPSIS
       groff -ms [ options... ]	[ files... ]
       groff -m	ms [ options...	] [ files... ]

DESCRIPTION
       This  manual  page  describes the GNU version of	the ms macros, part of
       the groff typesetting system.  The ms macros are	mostly compatible with
       the documented behavior of the 4.3 BSD Unix ms macros (see  Differences
       from  troff  ms below for details).  The	ms macros are suitable for re-
       ports, letters, books, and technical documentation.

USAGE
       The ms macro package expects files to have a certain amount  of	struc-
       ture.  The simplest documents can begin with a paragraph	macro and con-
       sist of text separated by paragraph macros or even blank	lines.	Longer
       documents have a	structure as follows:

       Document	type
	      If  you  use the RP (report) macro at the	beginning of the docu-
	      ment, groff prints the cover page	information on its  own	 page;
	      otherwise	 it prints the information on the first	page with your
	      document text immediately	 following.   Other  document  formats
	      found  in	 AT&T  troff are specific to AT&T or Berkeley, and are
	      not supported in groff ms.

       Format and layout
	      By setting number	registers, you can change your document's type
	      (font and	size), margins,	 spacing,  headers  and	 footers,  and
	      footnotes.   See	Document  control registers below for more de-
	      tails.

       Cover page
	      A	cover page consists of a title,	and  optionally	 the  author's
	      name and institution, an abstract, and the date.	See Cover page
	      macros below for more details.

       Body   Following	the cover page is your document.  It consists of para-
	      graphs, headings,	and lists.

       Table of	contents
	      Longer  documents	usually	include	a table	of contents, which you
	      can add by placing the TC	macro at the end of your document.

   Document control registers
       The following table lists the document control number  registers.   For
       the sake	of consistency,	set registers related to margins at the	begin-
       ning of your document, or just after the	RP macro.

       Margin settings
	      Reg.	    Definition	       Effective    Default
	      ------------------------------------------------------
	       PO     Page offset (left	mar-   next page    1i
		      gin)
	       LL     Line length	       next para.   6i
	       LT     Header/footer length     next para.   6i
	       HM     Top (header) margin      next page    1i
	       FM     Bottom (footer) margin   next page    1i
	      ------------------------------------------------------

       Text settings
	      Reg.	    Definition	       Effective    Default
	      ------------------------------------------------------
	       PS     Point size	       next para.   10p
	       VS     Line spacing (leading)   next para.   12p
	      ------------------------------------------------------

       Paragraph settings
	      Reg.	    Definition		Effective    Default
	      -------------------------------------------------------
	       PI    Initial indent		next para.   5n
	       PD    Space between paragraphs	next para.   0.3v
	       QI    Quoted paragraph indent	next para.   5n
	      -------------------------------------------------------

       Footnote	settings
	      Reg.     Definition	 Effective     Default
	      -------------------------------------------------
	       FL    Footnote length   next footnote   LL*5/6
	       FI    Footnote indent   next footnote   2n
	       FF    Footnote format   next footnote   0
	      -------------------------------------------------

       Other settings
	       Reg.	     Definition		Effective   Default
	      ------------------------------------------------------
	       MINGW	Minimum	width between	next page   2n
			columns
	      ------------------------------------------------------

   Cover page macros
       Use  the	 following  macros to create a cover page for your document in
       the order shown.

       .RP [no]
	      Specifies	the report format for your document.  The report  for-
	      mat  creates  a  separate	 cover	page.  With no RP macro, groff
	      prints a subset of the cover page	on page	1 of your document.

	      If you use the optional no argument, groff prints	a  title  page
	      but  does	 not  repeat any of the	title page information (title,
	      author, abstract,	etc.) on page 1	of the document.

       .P1    (P-one) Prints the header	on page	1.  The	default	is to suppress
	      the header.

       .DA [xxx]
	      (optional) Print the current date, or the	arguments to the macro
	      if any, on the title page	(if specified)	and  in	 the  footers.
	      This is the default for nroff.

       .ND [xxx]
	      (optional) Print the current date, or the	arguments to the macro
	      if any, on the title page	(if specified) but not in the footers.
	      This is the default for troff.

       .TL    Specifies	the document title.  Groff collects text following the
	      TL  macro	 into the title, until reaching	the author name	or ab-
	      stract.

       .AU    Specifies	the author's name.  You	can specify  multiple  authors
	      by using an AU macro for each author.

       .AI    Specifies	 the  author's	institution.  You can specify multiple
	      institutions.

       .AB [no]
	      Begins the abstract.  The	default	is to print the	word ABSTRACT,
	      centered and in italics, above the text of  the  abstract.   The
	      option no	suppresses this	heading.

       .AE    End the abstract.

   Paragraphs
       Use  the	 PP  macro  to create indented paragraphs, and the LP macro to
       create paragraphs with no initial indent.

       The QP macro indents all	text at	both left and right margins.  The  ef-
       fect is identical to the	HTML <BLOCKQUOTE> element.  The	next paragraph
       or heading returns margins to normal.

       The  XP	macro  produces	 an exdented paragraph.	 The first line	of the
       paragraph begins	at the left margin, and	subsequent lines are  indented
       (the opposite of	PP).

   Headings
       Use headings to create a	hierarchical structure for your	document.  The
       ms  macros  print headings in bold using	the same font family and point
       size as the body	text.

       The following heading macros are	available:

       .NH xx Numbered heading.	 The argument xx is either a numeric  argument
	      to  indicate  the	level of the heading, or S xx xx "..."	to set
	      the section number explicitly.  If you  specify  heading	levels
	      out  of  sequence,  such	as  invoking  .NH 3 after .NH 1, groff
	      prints a warning on standard error.

       .SH    Unnumbered subheading.

   Highlighting
       The ms macros provide a variety of methods to  highlight	 or  emphasize
       text:

       .B [txt [post [pre]]]
	      Sets  its	 first argument	in bold	type.  If you specify a	second
	      argument,	groff prints it	in the previous	font  after  the  bold
	      text, with no intervening	space (this allows you to set punctua-
	      tion after the highlighted text without highlighting the punctu-
	      ation).  Similarly, it prints the	third argument (if any)	in the
	      previous font before the first argument.	For example,

		     .B	foo ) (

	      prints (foo).

	      If  you give this	macro no arguments, groff prints all text fol-
	      lowing in	bold until the next highlighting, paragraph, or	 head-
	      ing macro.

       .R [txt [post [pre]]]
	      Sets its first argument in roman (or regular) type.  It operates
	      similarly	to the B macro otherwise.

       .I [txt [post [pre]]]
	      Sets  its	 first argument	in italic type.	 It operates similarly
	      to the B macro otherwise.

       .CW [txt	[post [pre]]]
	      Sets its first argument in a constant width face.	  It  operates
	      similarly	to the B macro otherwise.

       .BI [txt	[post [pre]]]
	      Sets  its	first argument in bold italic type.  It	operates simi-
	      larly to the B macro otherwise.

       .BX [txt]
	      Prints its argument and draws a box around it.  If you  want  to
	      box a string that	contains spaces, use a digit-width space (\0).

       .UL [txt	[post]]
	      Prints  its  first argument with an underline.  If you specify a
	      second argument, groff prints it in the previous font after  the
	      underlined text, with no intervening space.

       .LG    Prints  all  text	following in larger type (2 points larger than
	      the current point	size) until the	next font size,	 highlighting,
	      paragraph,  or heading macro.  You can specify this macro	multi-
	      ple times	to enlarge the point size as needed.

       .SM    Prints all text following	in smaller type	(2 points smaller than
	      the current point	size) until the	next type size,	 highlighting,
	      paragraph,  or heading macro.  You can specify this macro	multi-
	      ple times	to reduce the point size as needed.

       .NL    Prints all text following	in the normal point size (that is, the
	      value of the PS register).

       \*{text\*}
	      Print the	enclosed text as a superscript.

   Indents
       You may need to indent sections of text.	 A typical use for indents  is
       to create nested	lists and sublists.

       Use  the	 RS and	RE macros to start and end a section of	indented text,
       respectively.  The PI register controls the amount of indent.

       You can nest indented sections as deeply	as needed by  using  multiple,
       nested pairs of RS and RE.

   Lists
       The IP macro handles duties for all lists.  Its syntax is as follows:

       .IP [marker [width]]

	      The  marker  is  usually	a  bullet character \(bu for unordered
	      lists, a number (or auto-incrementing number register) for  num-
	      bered  lists,  or	a word or phrase for indented (glossary-style)
	      lists.

	      The width	specifies the indent for the body of each  list	 item.
	      Once  specified,	the indent remains the same for	all list items
	      in the document until specified again.

   Tab stops
       Use the ta request to set tab stops as needed.  Use the TA macro	to re-
       set tabs	to the default (every 5n).  You	can redefine the TA  macro  to
       create a	different set of default tab stops.

   Displays and	keeps
       Use displays to show text-based examples	or figures (such as code list-
       ings).	Displays  turn	off filling, so	lines of code can be displayed
       as-is without inserting br requests in between each line.  Displays can
       be kept on a single page, or allowed to break across pages.   The  fol-
       lowing table shows the display types available.
		   Display macro		Type of	display
		With keep      No keep
	      ---------------------------------------------------------
	      .DS L	       .LD	 Left-justified.
	      .DS I [indent]   .ID	 Indented (default indent in
					 the DI	register).
	      .DS B	       .BD	 Block-centered	(left-justi-
					 fied, longest line centered).
	      .DS C	       .CD	 Centered.
	      .DS R	       .RD	 Right-justified.
	      ---------------------------------------------------------

       Use the DE macro	to end any display type.

       To  keep	 text together on a page, such as a paragraph that refers to a
       table (or list, or other	item) immediately following, use the KS	and KE
       macros.	The KS macro begins a block of text to be  kept	 on  a	single
       page, and the KE	macro ends the block.

       You  can	 specify  a  floating keep using the KF	and KE macros.	If the
       keep cannot fit on the current page, groff holds	the  contents  of  the
       keep and	allows text following the keep (in the source file) to fill in
       the remainder of	the current page.  When	the page breaks, whether by an
       explicit	 bp  request  or by reaching the end of	the page, groff	prints
       the floating keep at the	top of the  new	 page.	 This  is  useful  for
       printing	 large	graphics  or tables that do not	need to	appear exactly
       where specified.

   Tables, figures, equations, and references
       The -ms macros support the standard groff preprocessors:	tbl, pic, eqn,
       and refer.  Mark	text meant for preprocessors by	enclosing it in	 pairs
       of tags as follows:

       .TS [H] and .TE
	      Denotes  a  table, to be processed by the	tbl preprocessor.  The
	      optional H argument instructs groff to create a  running	header
	      with  the	 information  up  to  the  TH macro.  Groff prints the
	      header at	the beginning of the table; if the table runs onto an-
	      other page, groff	prints the header on the next page as well.

       .PS and .PE
	      Denotes a	graphic, to be processed by the	pic preprocessor.  You
	      can create a pic file by hand, using the AT&T pic	manual	avail-
	      able  on	the Web	as a reference,	or by using a graphics program
	      such as xfig.

       .EQ [align] and .EN
	      Denotes an equation, to be processed by  the  eqn	 preprocessor.
	      The optional align argument can be C, L, or I to center (the de-
	      fault), left-justify, or indent the equation.

       .[ and .]
	      Denotes  a reference, to be processed by the refer preprocessor.
	      The GNU refer(1) manual page provides a comprehensive  reference
	      to  the  preprocessor  and the format of the bibliographic data-
	      base.

   Footnotes
       The ms macros provide a flexible	footnote system.  You  can  specify  a
       numbered	 footnote by using the \** escape, followed by the text	of the
       footnote	enclosed by FS and FE macros.

       You can specify symbolic	footnotes by placing the mark character	 (such
       as  \(dg	 for  the  dagger character) in	the body text, followed	by the
       text of the footnote enclosed by	FS \(dg	and FE macros.

       You can control how groff prints	footnote numbers by changing the value
       of the FF register as follows:

	      0	     Prints the	footnote number	as a superscript; indents  the
		     footnote (default).

	      1	     Prints  the number	followed by a period (like 1.) and in-
		     dents the footnote.

	      2	     Like 1, without an	indent.

	      3	     Like 1, but prints	the footnote number as a hanging para-
		     graph.

       You can use footnotes safely within keeps and displays, but avoid using
       numbered	footnotes within floating keeps.  You can set a	second \** be-
       tween a \** and its corresponding .FS; as long as each .FS occurs after
       the corresponding \** and the occurrences of .FS	are in the same	 order
       as the corresponding occurrences	of \**.

   Headers and footers
       There are two ways to define headers and	footers:

         Use  the  strings  LH, CH, and RH to set the left, center, and right
	  headers; use LF, CF, and RF to set the left, center, and right foot-
	  ers.	This works best	for documents that do not distinguish  between
	  odd and even pages.

         Use  the  OH	and  EH	 macros	to define headers for the odd and even
	  pages; and OF	and EF macros to define	footers	for the	odd  and  even
	  pages.   This	is more	flexible than defining the individual strings.
	  The syntax for these macros is as follows:

		 .OH 'left'center'right'

	  You can replace the quote (')	marks with any character not appearing
	  in the header	or footer text.

   Margins
       You control margins using a set of number registers.  The following ta-
       ble lists the register names and	defaults:
	      Reg.	    Definition	       Effective    Default
	      ------------------------------------------------------
	       PO     Page offset (left	mar-   next page    1i
		      gin)
	       LL     Line length	       next para.   6i
	       LT     Header/footer length     next para.   6i
	       HM     Top (header) margin      next page    1i
	       FM     Bottom (footer) margin   next page    1i
	      ------------------------------------------------------

       Note that there is no right margin setting.  The	 combination  of  page
       offset  and line	length provide the information necessary to derive the
       right margin.

   Multiple columns
       The ms macros can set text in as	many columns as	will reasonably	fit on
       the page.  The following	macros are available.  All  of	them  force  a
       page break if a multi-column mode is already set.  However, if the cur-
       rent mode is single-column, starting a multi-column mode	does not force
       a page break.

       .1C    Single-column mode.

       .2C    Two-column mode.

       .MC [width [gutter]]
	      Multi-column  mode.   If you specify no arguments, it is equiva-
	      lent to the 2C macro.  Otherwise,	width is  the  width  of  each
	      column  and gutter is the	space between columns.	The MINGW num-
	      ber register is the default gutter width.

   Creating a table of contents
       Wrap text that you want to appear in the	table of contents in XS	and XE
       macros.	Use the	TC macro to print the table of contents	at the end  of
       the document, resetting the page	number to i (Roman numeral 1).

       You can manually	create a table of contents by specifying a page	number
       as  the	first  argument	 to  XS.   Add subsequent entries using	the XA
       macro.  For example:

	      .XS 1
	      Introduction
	      .XA 2
	      A	Brief History of the Universe
	      .XA 729
	      Details of Galactic Formation
	      ...
	      .XE

       Use the PX macro	to print a manually-generated table of contents	 with-
       out resetting the page number.

       If you give the argument	no to either PX	or TC, groff suppresses	print-
       ing the title specified by the \*[TOC] string.

DIFFERENCES FROM troff ms
       The groff ms macros are a complete re-implementation, using no original
       AT&T  code.   Since  they  take	advantage  of the extended features in
       groff, they cannot be used with AT&T troff.  Other differences include:

         The internals	of groff ms differ from	 the  internals	 of  Unix  ms.
	  Documents that depend	upon implementation details of Unix ms may not
	  format properly with groff ms.

         The  error-handling  policy  of groff	ms is to detect	and report er-
	  rors,	rather than silently to	ignore them.

         Bell Labs localisms are not implemented.

         Berkeley localisms, in particular the	TM and CT macros, are not  im-
	  plemented.

         Groff	 ms  does not work in compatibility mode (e.g. with the	-C op-
	  tion).

         There	is no support for typewriter-like devices.

         Groff	ms does	not provide cut	marks.

         Multiple line	spacing	is not supported (use a	larger vertical	 spac-
	  ing instead).

         Some	Unix ms	documentation says that	the CW and GW number registers
	  can be used to control the column width  and	gutter	width  respec-
	  tively.  These number	registers are not used in groff	ms.

         Macros  that	cause a	reset (paragraphs, headings, etc.)  may	change
	  the indent.  Macros that change  the	indent	do  not	 increment  or
	  decrement  the indent, but rather set	it absolutely.	This can cause
	  problems for documents that define additional	macros of  their  own.
	  The  solution	is to use not the in request but instead the RS	and RE
	  macros.

         The number register GS is set	to 1 by	the groff ms  macros,  but  is
	  not  used  by	 the Unix ms macros.  Documents	that need to determine
	  whether they are being formatted with	Unix ms	or groff ms should use
	  this number register.

   Strings
       You can redefine	the following strings to adapt the groff ms macros  to
       languages other than English:
			     String	   Default Value
			  ---------------------------------
			   REFERENCES	 References
			   ABSTRACT	 ABSTRACT
			   TOC		 Table of Contents
			   MONTH1	 January
			   MONTH2	 February
			   MONTH3	 March
			   MONTH4	 April
			   MONTH5	 May
			   MONTH6	 June
			   MONTH7	 July
			   MONTH8	 August
			   MONTH9	 September
			   MONTH10	 October
			   MONTH11	 November
			   MONTH12	 December
			  ---------------------------------

       The \*- string produces an em dash -- like this.

   Text	Settings
       The  FAM	 string	sets the default font family.  If this string is unde-
       fined at	initialization,	it is set to Times.

       The point size, vertical	spacing, and inter-paragraph spacing for foot-
       notes are controlled by the number registers FPS, FVS, and FPD; at ini-
       tialization these are set to \n(PS-2, \n[FPS]+2,	 and  \n(PD/2  respec-
       tively.	 If  any of these registers are	defined	before initialization,
       the initialization macro	does not change	them.

       The hyphenation flags (as set by	the hy request)	are set	 from  the  HY
       register; the default is	14.

       Improved	 accent	marks (as originally defined in	Berkeley's ms version)
       are available by	specifying the AM macro	at the beginning of your docu-
       ment.  You can place an accent over most	characters by  specifying  the
       string  defining	the accent directly after the character.  For example,
       n\*~ produces an	n with a tilde over it.

NAMING CONVENTIONS
       The following conventions are used for names  of	 macros,  strings  and
       number  registers.   External names available to	documents that use the
       groff ms	macros contain only uppercase letters and digits.

       Internally the macros are divided into modules; naming conventions  are
       as follows:

         Names	used only within one module are	of the form module*name.

         Names	 used  outside the module in which they	are defined are	of the
	  form module@name.

         Names	associated with	a  particular  environment  are	 of  the  form
	  environment:name; these are used only	within the par module.

         name does not	have a module prefix.

         Constructed	names  used  to	 implement  arrays  are	 of  the  form
	  array!index.

       Thus the	groff ms macros	reserve	the following names:

         Names	containing the characters *, @,	and :.

         Names	containing only	uppercase letters and digits.

FILES
       /usr/local/share/groff/1.18.1/tmac/ms.tmac (a wrapper file for s.tmac)
       /usr/local/share/groff/1.18.1/tmac/s.tmac

SEE ALSO
       groff(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1), refer(1),  Groff:  The  GNU
       Implementation of troff by Trent	Fisher and Werner Lemberg.

AUTHOR
       Original	 manual	 page  by James	Clark et al; rewritten by Larry	Kollar
       (lkollar@despammed.com).

Groff Version 1.18.1		 09 March 2002			   GROFF_MS(7)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
<https://man.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=groff_ms&sektion=7&manpath=FreeBSD+Ports+14.3.quarterly>

home | help