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Manual Reference Pages  - MDOC (7)

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mdoc - quick reference guide for the -mdoc macro package

CONTENTS

Synopsis
Description
Page Structure Domain
     Title Macros
     Page Layout Macros
Manual And General Text Domain Macros
     Manual Domain Macros
     General Text Domain Macros
Configuration
Files

groff -m doc files ...

The -mdoc package is a set of content-based and domain-based macros used to format the BSD man pages. The macro names and their meanings are listed below for quick reference; for a detailed explanation on using the package, see the tutorial sampler mdoc.samples(7).

Note that this is not the usual macro package for Linux documentation, although it is used for documentation of several widely-used programs; see man(7).

The macros are described in two groups, the first includes the structural and physical page layout macros. The second contains the manual and general text domain macros which differentiate the -\mdoc package from other troff formatting packages.

To create a valid manual page, these three macros, in this order, are required:

.Dd Month day, year	Document date.
.Dt DOCUMENT_TITLE [section] [volume]	Title, in upper case.
.Os OPERATING_SYSTEM [version/release]	Operating system (BSD).

Section headers, paragraph breaks, lists and displays.

.Sh	Section Headers. Valid headers, in the order of presentation:

NAME	Name section, should include the ‘.Nm’ or ‘.Fn’ and the ‘.Nd’ macros.
SYNOPSIS	Usage.
DESCRIPTION	General description, should include options and parameters.
RETURN VALUES
	Sections two and three function calls.
ENVIRONMENT	Describe environment variables.
FILES	Files associated with the subject.
EXAMPLES	Examples and suggestions.
DIAGNOSTICS	Normally used for section four device interface diagnostics.
ERRORS	Sections two and three error and signal handling.
SEE ALSO	Cross references and citations.
CONFORMING TO
	Conformance to standards if applicable.
HISTORY	If a standard is not applicable, the history of the subject should be given.
BUGS	Gotchas and caveats.
other	Customized headers may be added at the authors discretion.

.Ss	Subsection Headers.
.Pp	Paragraph Break. Vertical space (one line).
.D1	(D-one) Display-one Indent and display one text line.
.Dl	(D-ell) Display-one literal. Indent and display one line of literal text.
.Bd	Begin-display block. Display options:

-ragged	Unjustified (ragged edges).
-filled	Justified.
-literal	Literal text or code.
-file name	Read in named file and display.
-offset string	Offset display. Acceptable string values:

left	Align block on left (default).
center	Approximate center margin.
indent	Six constant width spaces (a tab).
indent-two
	Two tabs.
right	Left aligns block 2 inches from right.
xx n	Where xx is a number from 4 n to 99 n.
Aa	Where Aa is a callable macro name.
string	The width of string is used.

.Ed	End-display (matches .Bd).
.Bl	Begin-list. Create lists or columns. Options:

List-types
-bullet       Bullet Item List -item       Unlabeled List -enum       Enumerated List -tag       Tag Labeled List -diag       Diagnostic List -hang       Hanging Labeled List -ohang       Overhanging Labeled List -inset       Inset or Run-on Labeled List

List-parameters

-offset	(All lists.) See ‘.Bd’ begin-display above.
-width	(-tag and -hang lists only.) See ‘.Bd’.
-compact	(All lists.) Suppresses blank lines.

.El	End-list.
.It	List item.

The manual and general text domain macros are special in that most of them are parsed for callable macros for example:

.Op Fl s Ar file
	Produces [-s file]

In this example, the option enclosure macro ‘.Op’ is parsed, and calls the callable content macro ‘Fl’ which operates on the argument ‘s’ and then calls the callable content macro ‘Ar’ which operates on the argument ‘file’. Some macros may be callable, but are not parsed and vice versa. These macros are indicated in the parsed and callable columns below.

Unless stated, manual domain macros share a common syntax:

    .Va argument [ . , ; : ( ) [ ] argument ... ]

Note: Opening and closing punctuation characters are only recognized as such if they are presented one at a time. The string ‘),’ is not recognized as punctuation and will be output with a leading white space and in what ever font the calling macro uses. The argument list ‘] ) ,’ is recognized as three sequential closing punctuation characters and a leading white space is not output between the characters and the previous argument (if any). The special meaning of a punctuation character may be escaped with the string ‘\&’. For example the following string,

.Ar file1 , file2 , file3 ) .	Produces file1, file2, file3).

Name Parsed Callable Description Ad      Yes      Yes      Address. (This macro may be deprecated.) An      Yes      Yes      Author name. Ar      Yes      Yes      Command line argument. Cd      No      No      Configuration declaration (section four only). Cm      Yes      Yes      Command line argument modifier. Dv      Yes      Yes      Defined variable (source code). Er      Yes      Yes      Error number (source code). Ev      Yes      Yes      Environment variable. Fa      Yes      Yes      Function argument. Fd      Yes      Yes      Function declaration. Fn      Yes      Yes      Function call (also .Fo and .Fc). Ic      Yes      Yes      Interactive command. Li      Yes      Yes      Literal text. Nm      Yes      Yes      Command name. Op      Yes      Yes      Option (also .Oo and .Oc). Ot      Yes      Yes      Old style function type (Fortran only). Pa      Yes      Yes      Pathname or file name. St      Yes      Yes      Standards (-p1003.2, -p1003.1 or -ansiC) Va      Yes      Yes      Variable name. Vt      Yes      Yes      Variable type (Fortran only). Xr      Yes      Yes      Manual Page Cross Reference.

Name   Parsed  Callable        Description %A      Yes      No      Reference author. %B      Yes      Yes      Reference book title. %C      No      No      Reference place of publishing (city). %D      No      No      Reference date. %J      Yes      Yes      Reference journal title. %N      No      No      Reference issue number. %O      No      No      Reference optional information. %P      No      No      Reference page number(s). %R      No      No      Reference report Name. %T      Yes      Yes      Reference article title. %V      No      No      Reference volume. Ac      Yes      Yes      Angle close quote. Ao      Yes      Yes      Angle open quote. Ap      Yes      Yes      Apostrophe. Aq      Yes      Yes      Angle quote. At      No      No      AT&T UNIX Bc      Yes      Yes      Bracket close quote. Bf      No      No      Begin font mode. Bo      Yes      Yes      Bracket open quote. Bq      Yes      Yes      Bracket quote. Bx      Yes      Yes      Bx. Db      No      No      Debug (default is "off") Dc      Yes      Yes      Double close quote. Do      Yes      Yes      Double open quote. Dq      Yes      Yes      Double quote. Ec      Yes      Yes      Enclose string close quote. Ef      No      No      End font mode. Em      Yes      Yes      Emphasis (traditional English). Eo      Yes      Yes      Enclose string open quote. Fx      No      No      FreeBSD operating system No      Yes      Yes      Normal text (no-op). Ns      Yes      Yes      No space. Pc      Yes      Yes      Parenthesis close quote. Pf      Yes      No      Prefix string. Po      Yes      Yes      Parenthesis open quote. Pq      Yes      Yes      Parentheses quote. Qc      Yes      Yes      Straight Double close quote. Ql      Yes      Yes      Quoted literal. Qo      Yes      Yes      Straight Double open quote. Qq      Yes      Yes      Straight Double quote. Re      No      No      Reference end. Rs      No      No      Reference start. Rv      No      No      Return values (sections two and three only). Sc      Yes      Yes      Single close quote. So      Yes      Yes      Single open quote. Sq      Yes      Yes      Single quote. Sm      No      No      Space mode (default is "on") Sx      Yes      Yes      Section Cross Reference. Sy      Yes      Yes      Symbolic (traditional English). Tn      Yes      Yes      Trade or type name (small Caps). Ux      Yes      Yes      Ux Xc      Yes      Yes      Extend argument list close. Xo      Yes      Yes      Extend argument list open.

Macro names ending in ‘q’ quote remaining items on the argument list. Macro names ending in ‘o’ begin a quote which may span more than one line of input and are close quoted with the matching macro name ending in ‘c’. Enclosure macros may be nested and are limited to eight arguments.

Note: the extended argument list macros (‘.Xo’, ‘.Xc’) and the function enclosure macros (‘.Fo’, ‘.Fc’) are irregular. The extended list macros are used when the number of macro arguments would exceed the troff limitation of nine arguments.

The macros UR (starting a URI/URL hypertext reference), UE (ending one), and UN (identifying a target for a reference) are also available. See man(7) for more information on these macros.

For site specific configuration of the macro package, see the file /usr/src/share/tmac/README.

tmac.doc	Manual and general text domain macros.
tmac.doc-common	Common structural macros and definitions.
tmac.doc-nroff	Site dependent nroff style file.
tmac.doc-ditroff
	Site dependent troff style file.
tmac.doc-syms	Special defines (such as the standards macro).

mdoc.samples(7), man(7)

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