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unroff-html-man(1)	    General Commands Manual	    unroff-html-man(1)

NAME
       unroff-html-man - back-end to translate manual pages to HTML 2.0

SYNOPSIS
       unroff [	-fhtml ] [ -man	] [ file | option... ]

OVERVIEW
       When  called with the -fhtml and	-man options, the troff	translator un-
       roff loads the back-end for converting UNIX manual pages	to the	Hyper-
       text Markup Language (HTML) version 2.0.

       Please  read  unroff(1) first for an overview of	the Scheme-based, pro-
       grammable troff translator and for a description	of the generic options
       that exist in addition to -f and	-m.  The translation  of  basic	 troff
       requests,  special  characters,	escape	sequences, etc.	as well	as the
       HTML-specific options are described in unroff-html(1).  For information
       about extending and programming unroff also refer to  the  Unroff  Pro-
       grammer's Manual.

OPTIONS
       The -man	extension provides one new keyword/value option	in addition to
       those listed in unroff(1) and unroff-html(1):

       do-signature (boolean)
	      If  set  to 1, a signature is appended to	each output file.  The
	      signature	is composed of a horizontal rule and a	one-line  mes-
	      sage  consisting	of version information and date	and time.  The
	      default value of this option is 1.

DESCRIPTION
       unroff reads and	parses its input files (each containing	a UNIX	manual
       page);  the  HTML  output is written to a separate output file for each
       input file.  The	name of	an output file is obtained  by	appending  the
       suffix  ".html" to the name of the corresponding	input file.  Any docu-
       ment option is ignored if input files are named in  the	command	 line.
       As usual, the special file name `-' can be used to interpolate standard
       input.

       If  no  file  name  is given in the command line, a manual page is read
       from standard input and sent to standard	output,	 unless	 the  document
       option is given,	in which case the HTML output is written to the	speci-
       fied file (with ".html" appended).  Example: this call to unroff	trans-
       lates  two  manual  pages  and  creates two corresponding output	files,
       cc.1.html and send.2.html:

		  unroff -fhtml	-man /usr/man/man1/cc.1	/usr/man/man2/send.2

       The following -man macros are recognized	and translated (in addition to
       any user-defined	macros):

	       .TH     .SH     .SS     .I      .B      .SB     .SM
	       .BI     .BR     .IB     .IR     .RB     .RI     .TP
	       .IP     .HP     .RS     .RE     .LP     .PP     .P

       In addition, the	following Sun-specific	macros	are  silently  ignored
       (.TX generates an informational message containing its argument):

	       .TX     .IX     .DT     .PD     .UC

       The  following  predefined troff	strings	are recognized (\*S expands to
       the empty string):

	       \*R     \*S     \*(lq   \*(rq

       The title of each HTML document generated is obtained  by  calling  the
       primitive substitute (as	explained in the Programmer's Manual) with the
       value  of the option title and the first	and second arguments passed to
       the initial call	to .TH.	 Thus, the specifiers "%1%" and	"%2%"  can  be
       used  in	 the  option  to interpolate the command (or whatever is docu-
       mented in the manual page) and the section number.  If  title  has  not
       been  specified,	 the  string  "Manual page for %1%(%2%)" is taken.  As
       generating the HTML title element is deferred until the	call  to  .TH,
       any macros or other troff requests that produce output must not be used
       before the initial .TH.

       HTML  header  elements  <h2>  and  <h3> are created for .SH and .SS re-
       quests.	The markup created for the initial  NAME  section  differs  in
       that  the  contents  of	the  section (usually a	single line) is	itself
       placed inside a header element.

       The font	switching macros are based on changes to the fonts  `R',  `I',
       and  `B',  as explained under FONTS in unroff-html(1).  Of course, this
       fails if	the fonts (which are mounted on	startup) are unmounted by  ex-
       plicit  .fp requests.  As HTML is lacking the concept of	text size, the
       macro .SB is just an alias for .B, and .SM simply echoes	its arguments.

       The translation rules for .TP and .IP employ a heuristic	 to  determine
       whether	to  generate  a	 definition  list or an	unordered list:	if the
       first in	a sequence of tagged/indented paragraph	macros is called  with
       a  tag  consisting  of the special character \(bu, a definition list is
       begun, otherwise	an unordered list.  Subsequent invocations  cause  the
       list  style  to change if appropriate.  Use of tagged paragraphs	inside
       non-filled (pre-formatted) text violates	the HTML definition and	should
       be avoided.  A warning message is printed in this and  other  question-
       able situations.

       As  hanging tags	cannot be realized with	HTML 2.0, a kludge is used for
       the .HP (hanging	paragraph) macro: the macro starts a  definition  list
       (as does	the ordinary .TP macro), and everything	up to the next request
       that  causes  a break is	placed inside the definition tag.  This	method
       obviously fails if no break occurs in subsequent	lines,	but  it	 works
       for the common, idiomatic use of	hanging	paragraphs in manual pages.

SEE ALSO
       unroff(1), unroff-html(1), troff(1), man(5 or 7).

       Unroff Programmer's Manual.

       http://www.informatik.uni-bremen.de/~net/unroff

       Berners-Lee,  Connolly,	et  al.,  HyperText Markup Language Specifica-
       tion--2.0, Internet Draft, Internet Engineering Task Force.

				  1995/08/23		    unroff-html-man(1)

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