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troff(1) General Commands Manual troff(1)
troff - GNU roff typesetter and document formatter
troff [-abcCEiRUz] [-d cs] [-d name=string] [-f fam] [-F dir] [-I dir] [-m name] [-M dir] [-n num] [-o list] [-r cn] [-r reg=expr] [-T dev] [-w name] [-W name] [file ...] troff --help troff -v troff --version
The GNU version of troff is the heart of the groff document formatting system. troff is the groff system's formatter, the program that transforms roff language input into a device- independent output format. It is functionally compatible with the AT&T troff typesetter and features numerous extensions. Many people prefer to use the groff(1) command, a front end which also runs preprocessors and output drivers in the appropriate order and with appropriate options.
-a Generate a plain text approximation of the typeset output. The read-only register .A is set to 1. This option produces a sort of abstract preview of the formatted output. • Page breaks are marked by a phrase in angle brackets; for example, “<beginning of page>”. • Lines are broken where they would be in the formatted output. • A horizontal motion of any size is represented as one space. Adjacent horizontal motions are not combined. Inter-sentence space nodes (those arising from the second argument to the .ss request) are not represented. • Vertical motions are not represented. • Special characters are rendered in angle brackets; for example, the default soft hyphen character appears as “<hy>”. The above description should not be considered a specification; the details of -a output are subject to change. -b Write a backtrace reporting the state of troff's input parser to the standard error stream with each diagnostic message. The line numbers given in the backtrace might not always be correct, because troff's idea of line numbers can be confused by requests that append to strings or macros. -c Start with color output disabled. -C Enable AT&T troff compatibility mode; implies -c. -d cs -d name=string Define roff string c or name as s or string; c must be a one-character name. Due to getopt_long(3) limitations, c cannot be and name cannot contain an equals sign, even though that is a valid character in a roff identifier. -E Inhibit troff error messages; implies -Ww. This option does not suppress messages sent to the standard error stream by documents or macro packages using .tm or related requests. -f fam Use fam as the default font family. -F dir Search in directory dir for the selected output device's directory of device and font description files. See the description of GROFF_FONT_PATH in section “Environment” below for the default search locations and ordering. -i Read the standard input after all the named input files have been processed. -I dir Search dir for input files (those on the command line, those named in .psbb, .so, and .soquiet requests, and those named in “\X'ps: import'”, “\X'ps: file'”, and “\X'pdf: pdfpic'” escape sequences). This option may be specified more than once; the directories are then searched in the order specified. If you want to search the current directory before others, add “-I .” at the appropriate place. The current working directory is otherwise searched last. -I works similarly to, and is named for, the “include” option of Unix C compilers. No directory search is performed for files specified using an absolute file name. -m name Process name.tmac before any input files. If name.tmac is not found, tmac.name is attempted. name (in both arrangements) is presumed to be a macro file; see the description of GROFF_TMAC_PATH in section “Environment” below for the default search locations and ordering. -M dir Search directory dir for macro files. See the description of GROFF_TMAC_PATH in section “Environment” below for the default search locations and ordering. -n num Number the first page num. -o list Output only pages in list, which is a comma-separated list of page ranges; n means print page n, m-n means print every page between m and n, n, -n means print every page up to n, and n- means print every page from n on. troff stops processing and exits after formatting the last page enumerated in list. -r cn -r reg=n Define roff register c or reg as groff numeric expression n or expr; c must be a one-character name. Due to getopt_long(3) limitations, c cannot be and reg cannot contain an equals sign, even though that is a valid character in a roff identifier. -R Don't load troffrc and troffrc-end. -T dev Prepare output for device dev, rather than the default, “ps”; see groff(1). -U Operate in unsafe mode, which enables the .open, .opena, .pi, .pso, and .sy requests. These requests are disabled by default because they allow an untrusted input document to write to arbitrary file names and run arbitrary commands. This option also adds the current directory to the macro search path; see the -m option above. -w name -W name Enable (-w) or inhibit (-W) emission of warnings in category name. See section “Warnings” below. -z Suppress formatted output.
Warning diagnostics emitted by troff are divided into named, numbered categories. The name associated with each warning category is used by the -w and -W options. Each category is also assigned a power of two; the sum of enabled category codes is used by the warn request and the .warn register. Warnings of each category are produced under the following circumstances. ┌──────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐ │Bit Code Category │ Bit Code Category │ ├──────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤ │ 0 1 char │ 10 1024 reg │ │ 1 2 number │ 11 2048 tab │ │ 2 4 break │ 12 4096 right-brace │ │ 3 8 delim │ 13 8192 missing │ │ 4 16 el │ 14 16384 input │ │ 5 32 scale │ 15 32768 escape │ │ 6 64 range │ 16 65536 space │ │ 7 128 syntax │ 17 131072 font │ │ 8 256 di │ 18 262144 ig │ │ 9 512 mac │ 19 524288 color │ │ │ 20 1048576 file │ └──────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘ break 4 When filling is enabled, a line could not be broken such that its length was less than the output line length \n[.l]. This is enabled by default. char 1 An undefined glyph was requested for output. (“char” is a misnomer since it reports missing glyphs—there are no “missing” input characters, only invalid ones.) This cateogry is enabled by default. color 524288 An undefined color was dereferenced, an attempt was made to define a color using an unrecognized color space, an invalid component in a color definition was encountered, or an attempt was made to redefine the default color. delim 8 The closing delimiter in an escape sequence was missing or mismatched. di 256 A di, da, box, or boxa request was invoked without an argument when there was no current diversion. el 16 The el request was encountered with no prior corresponding ie request. escape 32768 An unsupported escape sequence was encountered. In such a sequence \X, the escape character is ignored and X is output. file 1048576 An attempt was made to load a file that does not exist. This category is enabled by default. font 131072 A non-existent font was dereferenced. This category is enabled by default. ig 262144 An invalid escape sequence occurred in input ignored using the ig request. This warning category diagnoses a condition that is an error when it occurs in non-ignored input. input 16384 An invalid character occurred on the input stream. mac 512 An undefined string, macro, diversion, or box was used. When such an object is dereferenced, an empty object of that name is automatically created. So, in most cases, at most one warning is given for each name. This warning is also emitted upon an attempt to move an unplanted trap. In such cases, the unplanted macro is not dereferenced, so it is not created if it does not exist. missing 8192 A request was invoked with a mandatory argument absent. number 2 An invalid numeric expression was encountered. This category is enabled by default. range 64 A numeric expression was out of range for its context. reg 1024 An undefined register was used. When an undefined register is dereferenced, it is automatically defined with a value of 0. So, in most cases, at most one warning is given for each name. right-brace 4096 A right brace escape sequence \} was encountered where a number was expected. scale 32 An inappropriate scaling indicator was used in a numeric expression. space 65536 A space was missing between a request or macro and its argument. This warning is produced when an undefined name longer than two characters is encountered and the first two characters of the name constitute a defined name. No request is invoked, no macro called, and an empty macro is not defined. This category is enabled by default. It never occurs in compatibility mode. syntax 128 A self-contradictory hyphenation mode was requested; an empty or incomplete numeric expression was encountered; an operand to a numeric operator was missing; an attempt was made to define a recursive, empty, or nonsensical character class; or a groff extension conditional expression operator was used while in compatibility mode. tab 2048 A tab character was encountered where a number was expected, or appeared in an unquoted macro argument. Two warning names group other warning categories for convenience. all All warning categories except di, mac, and reg. This shorthand is intended to produce all warnings that are useful with macro packages written for AT&T troff and its descendants, which have less fastidious diagnostics than GNU troff. w All warning categories. Authors of documents and macro packages targeting groff are encouraged to use this setting.
GROFF_FONT_PATH and GROFF_TMAC_PATH each accept a search path of directories; that is, a list of directory names separated by the system's path component separator character. On Unix systems, this character is a colon (:); on Windows systems, it is a semicolon (;). GROFF_FONT_PATH A list of directories in which to seek the selected output device's directory of device and font description files. troff will scan directories given as arguments to any specified -F options before these, then in a site-specific directory (/usr/local/share/groff/site-font), a standard location (/usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/font), and a compatibility directory (/usr/lib/font) after them. GROFF_TMAC_PATH A list of directories in which to search for macro files. troff will scan directories given as arguments to any specified -M options before these, then the current directory (only if in unsafe mode), the user's home directory, a platform-specific directory (/usr/local/lib/ groff/site-tmac), a site-specific directory (/usr/local/ share/groff/site-tmac), and a standard location (/usr/ local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac) after them. GROFF_TYPESETTER Set the default output device. If empty or not set, “ps” is used. The -T option overrides GROFF_TYPESETTER. SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH A timestamp (expressed as seconds since the Unix epoch) to use as the creation timestamp in place of the current time. The time is converted to human-readable form using ctime(3) when the formatter starts up and stored in registers usable by documents and macro packages. TZ The timezone to use when converting the current time (or value of SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH) to human-readable form; see tzset(3).
/usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/troffrc is an initialization macro file loaded before any macro packages specified with -m options. /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/troffrc-end is an initialization macro file loaded after all macro packages specified with -m options. /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/name.tmac /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/tmac.name are macro files distributed with groff. /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/font/devname/DESC describes the output device name. /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/font/devname/F describes the font F of device name. troffrc and troffrc-end are sought neither in the current nor the home directory by default for security reasons, even if the -U option is specified. Use the -M command-line option or the GROFF_TMAC_PATH environment variable to add these directories to the search path if necessary.
The GNU version of troff was originally written by James Clark; he also wrote the original version of this document, which was updated by Werner Lemberg ⟨wl@gnu.org⟩, Bernd Warken ⟨groff-bernd .warken-72@web.de⟩, and G. Branden Robinson ⟨g.branden.robinson@ gmail.com⟩.
Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff, by Trent A. Fisher and Werner Lemberg, is the primary groff manual. You can browse it interactively with “info groff”. groff(1) offers an overview of the GNU roff system and describes its front end executable. groff(7) details the groff language, including a short but complete reference of all predefined requests, registers, and escape sequences. groff_char(7) explains the syntax of groff special character escape sequences, and lists all special characters predefined by the language. groff_diff(7) enumerates the differences between AT&T device-independent troff and groff. groff_font(5) covers the format of groff device and font description files. groff_out(5) describes the format of troff's output. groff_tmac(5) includes information about macro files that ship with groff. roff(7) supplies background on roff systems in general, including pointers to further related documentation.
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groff 1.23.0.rc1.1101-d1263-di2r6tyAugust 2021 troff(1)
Pages that refer to this page: colcrt(1), groffer(1), grops(1), man(1), zsoelim(1), groff_char(7), groff_trace(7), roff(7)