MAN(7) | Miscellaneous Information Manual | MAN(7) |
man
— legacy
formatting language for manual pages
Traditionally, the man
language has been
used to write UNIX manuals for the
man(1) utility. It supports
limited control of presentational details like fonts, indentation and
spacing. This reference document describes the structure of manual pages and
the syntax and usage of the man language.
man
to write your
manuals:In a man
document, lines beginning with
the control character ‘.’ are called “macro
lines”. The first word is the macro name. It usually consists of two
capital letters. For a list of available macros, see
MACRO OVERVIEW. The words following
the macro name are arguments to the macro.
Lines not beginning with the control character are called “text lines”. They provide free-form text to be printed; the formatting of the text depends on the respective processing context:
.SH Macro lines change control state. Text lines are interpreted within the current state.
Many aspects of the basic syntax of the
man
language are based on the
roff(7) language; see the
LANGUAGE SYNTAX
and MACRO
SYNTAX sections in the
roff(7) manual for details, in
particular regarding comments, escape sequences, whitespace, and
quoting.
Each man
document must contain the
TH macro describing the document's section and
title. It may occur anywhere in the document, although conventionally it
appears as the first macro.
Beyond TH, at least one macro or text line must appear in the document.
The following is a well-formed skeleton
man
file for a utility "progname":
.TH PROGNAME 1 2009-10-10 .SH NAME \fBprogname\fR \(en one line about what it does .\" .SH LIBRARY .\" For sections 2, 3, and 9 only. .\" Not used in OpenBSD. .SH SYNOPSIS \fBprogname\fR [\fB\-options\fR] \fIfile ...\fR .SH DESCRIPTION The \fBfoo\fR utility processes files ... .\" .Sh CONTEXT .\" For section 9 functions only. .\" .SH IMPLEMENTATION NOTES .\" Not used in OpenBSD. .\" .SH RETURN VALUES .\" For sections 2, 3, and 9 function return values only. .\" .SH ENVIRONMENT .\" For sections 1, 6, 7, and 8 only. .\" .SH FILES .\" .SH EXIT STATUS .\" For sections 1, 6, and 8 only. .\" .SH EXAMPLES .\" .SH DIAGNOSTICS .\" For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9 printf/stderr messages only. .\" .SH ERRORS .\" For sections 2, 3, 4, and 9 errno settings only. .\" .SH SEE ALSO .\" .BR foobar ( 1 ) .\" .SH STANDARDS .\" .SH HISTORY .\" .SH AUTHORS .\" .SH CAVEATS .\" .SH BUGS .\" .SH SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS .\" Not used in OpenBSD.
The sections in a man
document are
conventionally ordered as they appear above. Sections should be composed as
follows:
For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is generally structured as follows:
For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
And for the third, configurations (section 4):
Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a SYNOPSIS.
Historically, this section was used in place of EXIT STATUS for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is discouraged.
Cross-references should conventionally be ordered first by section, then alphabetically.
If not adhering to any standards, the HISTORY section should be used.
This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed together, to help find the best macro for any given purpose. Deprecated macros are not included in the overview, but can be found in the alphabetical reference below.
TH | set the title: title section date [source [volume]] |
AT | display AT&T UNIX version in the page footer (<= 1 argument) |
UC | display BSD version in the page footer (<= 1 argument) |
SH | section header (one line) |
SS | subsection header (one line) |
PP, LP, P | start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments) |
RS, RE | reset the left margin: [width] |
IP | indented paragraph: [head [width]] |
TP | tagged paragraph: [width] |
HP | hanged paragraph: [width] |
PD | set vertical paragraph distance: [height] |
br | force output line break in text mode (no arguments) |
sp | force vertical space: [height] |
fi, nf | fill mode and no-fill mode (no arguments) |
in | additional indent: [width] |
B | boldface font |
I | italic font |
R | roman (default) font |
SB | small boldface font |
SM | small roman font |
BI | alternate between boldface and italic fonts |
BR | alternate between boldface and roman fonts |
IB | alternate between italic and boldface fonts |
IR | alternate between italic and roman fonts |
RB | alternate between roman and boldface fonts |
RI | alternate between roman and italic fonts |
This section is a canonical reference to all macros, arranged alphabetically. For the scoping of individual macros, see MACRO SYNTAX.
Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from AT&T UNIX releases. The optional arguments specify which release it is from.
Text is rendered in bold face.
Text is rendered alternately in bold face and italic. Thus, ‘.BI this word and that’ causes ‘this’ and ‘and’ to render in bold face, while ‘word’ and ‘that’ render in italics. Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
Examples:
.BI bold italic bold
italic
The output of this example will be emboldened “bold” and italicised “italic”, with spaces stripped between arguments.
Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font). Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See BI for an equivalent example.
Has no effect. Included for compatibility.
This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility. In mandoc(1), it does the same as fi.
This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility. In mandoc(1), it does the same as nf.
Begin a paragraph whose initial output line is left-justified, but subsequent output lines are indented, with the following syntax:
The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width. If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
Text is rendered in italics.
Text is rendered alternately in italics and bold face. Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See BI for an equivalent example.
Begin an indented paragraph with the following syntax:
The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width defining the left margin. It's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
The head argument is used as a leading term, flushed to the left margin. This is useful for bulleted paragraphs and so on.
Text is rendered alternately in italics and roman (the default font). Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See BI for an equivalent example.
Begin an undecorated paragraph. The scope of a paragraph is closed by a subsequent paragraph, sub-section, section, or end of file. The saved paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
Optional command-line argument. This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility. It has the following syntax:
The key is usually a command-line flag and value its argument.
Synonym for LP.
Specify the vertical space to be inserted before each new
paragraph.
The syntax is as follows:
The height argument is a
roff(7) scaling width. It
defaults to 1v
. If the unit is omitted,
v
is assumed.
This macro affects the spacing before any subsequent instances of HP, IP, LP, P, PP, SH, SS, and TP.
Synonym for LP.
Text is rendered in roman (the default font).
Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face. Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See BI for an equivalent example.
Explicitly close out the scope of a prior RS. The default left margin is restored to the state before that RS invocation.
The syntax is as follows:
Without an argument, the most recent RS block is closed out. If level is 1, all open RS blocks are closed out. Otherwise, level − 1 nested RS blocks remain open.
Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and italics. Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output.
See BI for an equivalent example.
Temporarily reset the default left margin. This has the following syntax:
The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width. If not specified, the saved or default width is used.
See also RE.
Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font) bold face.
Begin a section. The scope of a section is only closed by another section or the end of file. The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
Text is rendered in small size (one point smaller than the default font).
Begin a sub-section. The scope of a sub-section is closed by a subsequent sub-section, section, or end of file. The paragraph left-margin width is reset to the default.
Sets the title of the manual page for use in the page header and footer with the following syntax:
Conventionally, the document
title is given in all caps. The recommended
date format is
YYYY-MM-DD as
specified in the ISO-8601 standard; if the argument does not conform, it is
printed verbatim. If the date is empty or not
specified, the current date is used. The optional
source string specifies the organisation providing the
utility. When unspecified,
mandoc(1) uses its
-Ios
argument. The volume
string replaces the default rendered volume, which is dictated by the manual
section.
Examples:
.TH CVS 5 1992-02-12 GNU
Begin a paragraph where the head, if exceeding the indentation width, is followed by a newline; if not, the body follows on the same line after a buffer to the indentation width. Subsequent output lines are indented. The syntax is as follows:
The width argument is a roff(7) scaling width. If specified, it's saved for later paragraph left-margins; if unspecified, the saved or default width is used.
Sets the volume for the footer for compatibility with man pages from BSD releases. The optional first argument specifies which release it is from.
End a uniform resource identifier block. This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility. See UE.
Begin a uniform resource identifier block. This is a non-standard GNU extension, included only for compatibility. It has the following syntax:
Breaks the current line. Consecutive invocations have no further effect.
See also sp.
End literal mode begun by nf.
Indent relative to the current indentation:
If width is signed, the new offset is relative. Otherwise, it is absolute. This value is reset upon the next paragraph, section, or sub-section.
Begin literal mode: all subsequent free-form lines have their end of line boundaries preserved. May be ended by fi. Literal mode is implicitly ended by SH or SS.
Insert vertical spaces into output with the following syntax:
The height argument is a scaling width as described in roff(7). If 0, this is equivalent to the br macro. Defaults to 1, if unspecified.
See also br.
The man
macros are classified by scope:
line scope or block scope. Line macros are only scoped to the current line
(and, in some situations, the subsequent line). Block macros are scoped to
the current line and subsequent lines until closed by another block
macro.
Line macros are generally scoped to the current line, with the body consisting of zero or more arguments. If a macro is scoped to the next line and the line arguments are empty, the next line, which must be text, is used instead. Thus:
.I foo
is equivalent to ‘.I foo’. If next-line macros are invoked consecutively, only the last is used. If a next-line macro is followed by a non-next-line macro, an error is raised, except for br and sp.
The syntax is as follows:
.YO [body...] [body...]
Macro | Arguments | Scope | Notes |
AT | <=1 | current | |
B | n | next-line | |
BI | n | current | |
BR | n | current | |
DT | 0 | current | |
EE | 0 | current | compat |
EX | 0 | current | compat |
I | n | next-line | |
IB | n | current | |
IR | n | current | |
OP | 0, 1 | current | compat |
PD | 1 | current | |
R | n | next-line | |
RB | n | current | |
RI | n | current | |
SB | n | next-line | |
SM | n | next-line | |
TH | >1, <6 | current | |
UC | <=1 | current | |
br | 0 | current | compat |
fi | 0 | current | compat |
in | 1 | current | compat |
nf | 0 | current | compat |
sp | 1 | current | compat |
Macros marked as "compat" are included for compatibility
with the significant corpus of existing manuals that mix dialects of roff.
These macros should not be used for portable man
manuals.
Block macros comprise a head and body. As with in-line macros, the head is scoped to the current line and, in one circumstance, the next line (the next-line stipulations as in Line Macros apply here as well).
The syntax is as follows:
.YO [head...] [head...] [body...]
The closure of body scope may be to the section, where a macro is closed by SH; sub-section, closed by a section or SS; part, closed by a section, sub-section, or RE; or paragraph, closed by a section, sub-section, part, HP, IP, LP, P, PP, or TP. No closure refers to an explicit block closing macro.
As a rule, block macros may not be nested; thus, calling a block macro while another block macro scope is open, and the open scope is not implicitly closed, is syntactically incorrect.
Macro | Arguments | Head Scope | Body Scope | Notes |
HP | <2 | current | paragraph | |
IP | <3 | current | paragraph | |
LP | 0 | current | paragraph | |
P | 0 | current | paragraph | |
PP | 0 | current | paragraph | |
RE | 0 | current | none | compat |
RS | 1 | current | part | compat |
SH | >0 | next-line | section | |
SS | >0 | next-line | sub-section | |
TP | n | next-line | paragraph | |
UE | 0 | current | none | compat |
UR | 1 | current | part | compat |
Macros marked "compat" are as mentioned in Line Macros.
If a block macro is next-line scoped, it may only be followed by in-line macros for decorating text.
In man
documents, both
Physical markup macros and
roff(7)
‘\f
’ font escape sequences can be used
to choose fonts. In text lines, the effect of manual font selection by
escape sequences only lasts until the next macro invocation; in macro lines,
it only lasts until the end of the macro scope. Note that macros like
BR open and close a font scope for each
argument.
man(1), mandoc(1), eqn(7), mandoc_char(7), mdoc(7), roff(7), tbl(7)
The man
language first appeared as a macro
package for the roff typesetting system in Version 7
AT&T UNIX. It was later rewritten by James Clark as a macro
package for groff. Eric S. Raymond wrote the extended
man
macros for groff in 2007. The stand-alone
implementation that is part of the
mandoc(1) utility written by
Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in OpenBSD 4.6.
This man
reference was written by
Kristaps Dzonsons
<kristaps@bsd.lv>.
Do not use this language. Use mdoc(7), instead.
January 29, 2015 | OpenBSD-5.8 |