man page

The GNU implementation of the man macro package is part of the groff document formatting system. It is used to compose manual pages (“man pages”) like the one you are reading. This document presents the macros thematically; for those needing only a quick reference, the following table lists them alphabetically, with references to appropriate subsections below. Readers who are not already experienced groff users should consult groff man style (7), an expanded version of this document, for additional explanations and advice. It covers only those concepts required for man page document maintenance, and not the full breadth of the groff typesetting system. Macro Meaning Subsection ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── .B Bold Font style macros .BI Bold, italic alternating Font style macros .BR Bold, roman alternating Font style macros .EE Example end Document structure macros .EX Example begin Document structure macros .HP Begin hanging paragraph Paragraphing macros .I Italic Font style macros .IB Italic, bold alternating Font style macros .IP Indented paragraph Paragraphing macros .IR Italic, roman alternating Font style macros .LP Begin paragraph Paragraphing macros .ME Mail-to end Hyperlink macros .MR Man page cross reference Hyperlink macros .MT Mail-to start Hyperlink macros .P Begin paragraph Paragraphing macros .PP Begin paragraph Paragraphing macros .RB Roman, bold alternating Font style macros .RE Relative inset end Document structure macros .RI Roman, italic alternating Font style macros .RS Relative inset start Document structure macros .SH Section heading Document structure macros .SM Small Font style macros .SS Subsection heading Document structure macros .SY Synopsis start Synopsis macros .TH Title heading Document structure macros .TP Tagged paragraph Paragraphing macros .TQ Supplemental paragraph tag Paragraphing macros .UE URI end Hyperlink macros .UR URI start Hyperlink macros .YS Synopsis end Synopsis macros Throughout Unix documentation, a manual entry is referred to simply as a “man page”, regardless of its length, without gendered implication, and irrespective of the macro package selected for its composition. .TH identifier section [ footer-middle [ footer-inside [ header- middle ]]] Break the page, reset the page number to 1 (unless the -rC1 option is given), and use the arguments to populate the page header and footer. Together, identifier and the section of the manual to which it belongs can uniquely identify a man document on the system. See man (1) or intro (1) for the manual sectioning applicable to your system. identifier and section are positioned at the left and right in the header; the latter is set after the former, in parentheses and without space. footer-middle is centered in the footer. By default, footer-inside is positioned at the bottom left. Use of the double-sided layout option -rD1 places footer-inside at the bottom left on recto (odd-numbered) pages, and the bottom right on verso (even-numbered) pages. By default, the outside footer is the page number. Use of the continuous-rendering option -rcR=1 replaces it with identifier and section, as in the header. header-middle is centered in the header. If section is an integer between 1 and 9 (inclusive), there is no need to specify header-middle; an.tmac supplies text for it. If identifier or footer-inside would overrun the space available in the header and/or footer, this package may abbreviate them with ellipses. groff man suppresses headers and footers in HTML output. A valid man document calls TH only once, early in the file, prior to any other macro calls. Ninth Edition Unix introduced the EX and EE extensions. Documenter's Workbench (DWB), Heirloom Doctools, and Plan 9 troff s, and mandoc (since 1.12.2) support them. Solaris troff does not. .TP [ indentation ] Set an indented paragraph with a leading unindented tag. The macro plants a one-line input trap that honors the c escape sequence; text on the next