man —
legacy formatting language for manual pages
The
man language was the standard formatting
language for
AT&T UNIX manual pages from 1979 to
1989. Do not use it to write new manual pages: it is a purely presentational
language and lacks support for semantic markup. Use the
mdoc(7) language, instead.
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 portable 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 starts with the
TH macro specifying the document's
name and section, followed by the
NAME section formatted as follows:
.TH PROGNAME 1 1979-01-10
.SH NAME
\fBprogname\fR \(en one line about what it does
This overview is sorted such that macros of similar purpose are listed together.
Deprecated and non-portable macros are not included in the overview, but can
be found in the alphabetical reference below.
| TH |
set the title: name section date
[] |
| 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 |
start an undecorated paragraph (no arguments) |
| RS,
RE |
reset the left margin:
[ width ] |
| IP |
indented paragraph:
[] |
| TP |
tagged paragraph:
[ width ] |
| HP |
hanged paragraph:
[ width ] |
| PD |
set vertical paragraph distance:
[ height ] |
| fi,
nf |
fill mode and no-fill mode (no arguments) |
| in |
additional indent:
[ width ] |
| B |
boldface font |
| I |
italic 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.
Example:
.BI bold italic bold
italic
Text is rendered alternately in bold face and roman (the default font).
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output. See also
BI.
Restore the default tabulator positions. They are at intervals of 0.5 inches.
This has no effect unless the tabulator positions were changed with the
roff(7)
ta request.
This is a non-standard GNU extension. In
mandoc(1), it does the same as
fi.
This is a non-standard GNU extension. 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 also
BI.
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 also
BI.
A synonym for
PP.
End a mailto block started with
MT. This
is a non-standard GNU extension.
Begin a mailto block. This is a non-standard GNU extension. It has the following
syntax:
.MT address
link description to be shown
.ME
Optional command-line argument. This is a non-standard GNU extension. It has the
following syntax:
The
key is usually a command-line flag and
value its argument.
A synonym for
PP.
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,
SY, and
TP.
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.
Text is rendered alternately in roman (the default font) and bold face.
Whitespace between arguments is omitted in output. See also
BI.
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 also
BI.
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.
Begin a synopsis block with the following syntax:
.SY command
arguments
.YS
This is a non-standard GNU extension and very rarely used even in GNU manual
pages. Formatting is similar to
IP.
Set the name of the manual page for use in the page header and footer with the
following syntax:
Conventionally, the document
name 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.
Like
TP, except that no vertical spacing
is inserted before the paragraph. This is a non-standard GNU extension and
very rarely used even in GNU manual pages.
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 started with
UR. This is a non-standard GNU
extension.
Begin a uniform resource identifier block. This is a non-standard GNU extension.
It has the following syntax:
.UR uri
link description to be shown
.UE
End a synopsis block started with
SY.
This is a non-standard GNU extension.
End literal mode started with
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.
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:
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.
The syntax is as follows:
| Macro |
Arguments |
Scope |
Notes |
| AT |
<=1 |
current |
|
| B |
n |
next-line |
|
| BI |
n |
current |
|
| BR |
n |
current |
|
| DT |
0 |
current |
|
| EE |
0 |
current |
GNU |
| EX |
0 |
current |
GNU |
| I |
n |
next-line |
|
| IB |
n |
current |
|
| IR |
n |
current |
|
| OP |
>=1 |
current |
GNU |
| PD |
1 |
current |
|
| RB |
n |
current |
|
| RI |
n |
current |
|
| SB |
n |
next-line |
|
| SM |
n |
next-line |
|
| TH |
>1, <6 |
current |
|
| UC |
<=1 |
current |
|
| fi |
0 |
current |
roff(7) |
| in |
1 |
current |
roff(7) |
| nf |
0 |
current |
roff(7) |
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; or paragraph, closed by a
section, sub-section,
HP,
IP,
LP,
P,
PP,
RE,
SY, 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 |
|
| ME |
0 |
none |
none |
GNU |
| MT |
1 |
current |
to ME |
GNU |
| P |
0 |
current |
paragraph |
|
| PP |
0 |
current |
paragraph |
|
| RE |
<=1 |
current |
none |
|
| RS |
1 |
current |
to RE |
|
| SH |
>0 |
next-line |
section |
|
| SS |
>0 |
next-line |
sub-section |
|
| SY |
1 |
current |
to YS |
GNU |
| TP |
n |
next-line |
paragraph |
|
| TQ |
n |
next-line |
paragraph |
GNU |
| UE |
0 |
current |
none |
GNU |
| UR |
1 |
current |
part |
GNU |
| YS |
0 |
none |
none |
GNU |
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>.
![[OpenBSD]](/openbsd.gif){kind=small}