MDOC(7) BSD Miscellaneous Information Manual MDOC(7)NAME
mdoc — semantic markup language for formatting manual pages
DESCRIPTION
The mdoc language supports authoring of manual pages for the man(1) util‐
ity by allowing semantic annotations of words, phrases, page sections and
complete manual pages. Such annotations are used by formatting tools to
achieve a uniform presentation across all manuals written in mdoc, and to
support hyperlinking if supported by the output medium.
This reference document describes the structure of manual pages and the
syntax and usage of the mdoc language. The reference implementation of a
parsing and formatting tool is mandoc(1); the COMPATIBILITY section
describes compatibility with other implementations.
In an mdoc document, lines beginning with the control character ‘.’ are
called “macro lines”. The first word is the macro name. It consists of
two or three letters. Most macro names begin with a capital letter. For
a list of available macros, see MACRO OVERVIEW. The words following the
macro name are arguments to the macro, optionally including the names of
other, callable macros; see MACRO SYNTAX for details.
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 mdoc 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. However, using roff(7) requests in
mdoc documents is discouraged; mandoc(1) supports some of them merely for
backward compatibility.
MANUAL STRUCTURE
A well-formed mdoc document consists of a document prologue followed by
one or more sections.
The prologue, which consists of the Dd, Dt, and Os macros in that order,
is required for every document.
The first section (sections are denoted by Sh) must be the NAME section,
consisting of at least one Nm followed by Nd.
Following that, convention dictates specifying at least the SYNOPSIS and
DESCRIPTION sections, although this varies between manual sections.
The following is a well-formed skeleton mdoc file for a utility
"progname":
.Dd $Mdocdate$
.Dt PROGNAME section
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm progname
.Nd one line about what it does
.\" .Sh LIBRARY
.\" For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
.\" Not used in OpenBSD.
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm progname
.Op Fl options
.Ar
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
utility processes files ...
.\" .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
.\" Not used in OpenBSD.
.\" .Sh RETURN VALUES
.\" For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
.\" .Sh ENVIRONMENT
.\" For sections 1, 6, 7, & 8 only.
.\" .Sh FILES
.\" .Sh EXIT STATUS
.\" For sections 1, 6, & 8 only.
.\" .Sh EXAMPLES
.\" .Sh DIAGNOSTICS
.\" For sections 1, 4, 6, 7, & 8 only.
.\" .Sh ERRORS
.\" For sections 2, 3, & 9 only.
.\" .Sh SEE ALSO
.\" .Xr foobar 1
.\" .Sh STANDARDS
.\" .Sh HISTORY
.\" .Sh AUTHORS
.\" .Sh CAVEATS
.\" .Sh BUGS
.\" .Sh SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
.\" Not used in OpenBSD.
The sections in an mdoc document are conventionally ordered as they
appear above. Sections should be composed as follows:
NAME
The name(s) and a one line description of the documented material.
The syntax for this as follows:
.Nm name0 ,
.Nm name1 ,
.Nm name2
.Nd a one line description
Multiple ‘Nm’ names should be separated by commas.
The Nm macro(s) must precede the Nd macro.
See Nm and Nd.
LIBRARY
The name of the library containing the documented material, which
is assumed to be a function in a section 2, 3, or 9 manual. The
syntax for this is as follows:
.Lb libarm
See Lb.
SYNOPSIS
Documents the utility invocation syntax, function call syntax, or
device configuration.
For the first, utilities (sections 1, 6, and 8), this is generally
structured as follows:
.Nm bar
.Op Fl v
.Op Fl o Ar file
.Op Ar
.Nm foo
.Op Fl v
.Op Fl o Ar file
.Op Ar
Commands should be ordered alphabetically.
For the second, function calls (sections 2, 3, 9):
.In header.h
.Vt extern const char *global;
.Ft "char *"
.Fn foo "const char *src"
.Ft "char *"
.Fn bar "const char *src"
Ordering of In, Vt, Fn, and Fo macros should follow C header-file
conventions.
And for the third, configurations (section 4):
.Cd "it* at isa? port 0x2e"
.Cd "it* at isa? port 0x4e"
Manuals not in these sections generally don't need a SYNOPSIS.
Some macros are displayed differently in the SYNOPSIS section, par‐
ticularly Nm, Cd, Fd, Fn, Fo, In, Vt, and Ft. All of these macros
are output on their own line. If two such dissimilar macros are
pairwise invoked (except for Ft before Fo or Fn), they are sepa‐
rated by a vertical space, unless in the case of Fo, Fn, and Ft,
which are always separated by vertical space.
When text and macros following an Nm macro starting an input line
span multiple output lines, all output lines but the first will be
indented to align with the text immediately following the Nm macro,
up to the next Nm, Sh, or Ss macro or the end of an enclosing
block, whichever comes first.
DESCRIPTION
This begins with an expansion of the brief, one line description in
NAME:
The
.Nm
utility does this, that, and the other.
It usually follows with a breakdown of the options (if documenting
a command), such as:
The arguments are as follows:
.Bl -tag -width Ds
.It Fl v
Print verbose information.
.El
Manuals not documenting a command won't include the above fragment.
Since the DESCRIPTION section usually contains most of the text of
a manual, longer manuals often use the Ss macro to form subsec‐
tions. In very long manuals, the DESCRIPTION may be split into
multiple sections, each started by an Sh macro followed by a non-
standard section name, and each having several subsections, like in
the present mdoc manual.
IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
Implementation-specific notes should be kept here. This is useful
when implementing standard functions that may have side effects or
notable algorithmic implications.
RETURN VALUES
This section documents the return values of functions in sections
2, 3, and 9.
See Rv.
ENVIRONMENT
Lists the environment variables used by the utility, and explains
the syntax and semantics of their values. The environ(7) manual
provides examples of typical content and formatting.
See Ev.
FILES
Documents files used. It's helpful to document both the file name
and a short description of how the file is used (created, modified,
etc.).
See Pa.
EXIT STATUS
This section documents the command exit status for section 1, 6,
and 8 utilities. Historically, this information was described in
DIAGNOSTICS, a practise that is now discouraged.
See Ex.
EXAMPLES
Example usages. This often contains snippets of well-formed, well-
tested invocations. Make sure that examples work properly!
DIAGNOSTICS
Documents error conditions. This is most useful in section 4 manu‐
als. Historically, this section was used in place of EXIT STATUS
for manuals in sections 1, 6, and 8; however, this practise is dis‐
couraged.
See Bl -diag.
ERRORS
Documents error handling in sections 2, 3, and 9.
See Er.
SEE ALSO
References other manuals with related topics. This section should
exist for most manuals. Cross-references should conventionally be
ordered first by section, then alphabetically.
References to other documentation concerning the topic of the man‐
ual page, for example authoritative books or journal articles, may
also be provided in this section.
See Rs and Xr.
STANDARDS
References any standards implemented or used. If not adhering to
any standards, the HISTORY section should be used instead.
See St.
HISTORY
A brief history of the subject, including where it was first imple‐
mented, and when it was ported to or reimplemented for the operat‐
ing system at hand.
AUTHORS
Credits to the person or persons who wrote the code and/or documen‐
tation. Authors should generally be noted by both name and email
address.
See An.
CAVEATS
Common misuses and misunderstandings should be explained in this
section.
BUGS
Known bugs, limitations, and work-arounds should be described in
this section.
SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS
Documents any security precautions that operators should consider.
MACRO OVERVIEW
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 below in the
alphabetical MACRO REFERENCE.
Document preamble and NAME section macros
Dd document date: $Mdocdate$ | month day, year
Dt document title: TITLE section [volume | arch]
Os operating system version: [system [version]]
Nm document name (one argument)
Nd document description (one line)
Sections and cross references
Sh section header (one line)
Ss subsection header (one line)
Sx internal cross reference to a section or subsection
Xr cross reference to another manual page: name section
Pp, Lp start a text paragraph (no arguments)
Displays and lists
Bd, Ed display block: -type [-offset width] [-compact]
D1 indented display (one line)
Dl indented literal display (one line)
Bl, El list block: -type [-width val] [-offset val] [-compact]
It list item (syntax depends on -type)
Ta table cell separator in Bl -column lists
Rs, %*, Re bibliographic block (references)
Spacing control
Pf prefix, no following horizontal space (one argument)
Ns roman font, no preceding horizontal space (no arguments)
Ap apostrophe without surrounding whitespace (no arguments)
Sm switch horizontal spacing mode: on | off
Bk, Ek keep block: -words
br force output line break in text mode (no arguments)
sp force vertical space: [height]
Semantic markup for command line utilities:
Nm start a SYNOPSIS block with the name of a utility
Fl command line options (flags) (>=0 arguments)
Cm command modifier (>0 arguments)
Ar command arguments (>=0 arguments)
Op, Oo, Oc optional syntax elements (enclosure)
Ic internal or interactive command (>0 arguments)
Ev environmental variable (>0 arguments)
Pa file system path (>=0 arguments)
Semantic markup for function libraries:
Lb function library (one argument)
In include file (one argument)
Ft function type (>0 arguments)
Fo, Fc function block: funcname
Fn function name: [functype] funcname [[argtype] argname]
Fa function argument (>0 arguments)
Vt variable type (>0 arguments)
Va variable name (>0 arguments)
Dv defined variable or preprocessor constant (>0 arguments)
Er error constant (>0 arguments)
Ev environmental variable (>0 arguments)
Various semantic markup:
An author name (>0 arguments)
Lk hyperlink: uri [name]
Mt “mailto” hyperlink: address
Cd kernel configuration declaration (>0 arguments)
Ad memory address (>0 arguments)
Ms mathematical symbol (>0 arguments)
Tn tradename (>0 arguments)
Physical markup
Em italic font or underline (emphasis) (>0 arguments)
Sy boldface font (symbolic) (>0 arguments)
Li typewriter font (literal) (>0 arguments)
No return to roman font (normal) (no arguments)
Bf, Ef font block: [-type | Em | Li | Sy]
Physical enclosures
Dq, Do, Dc enclose in typographic double quotes: “text”
Qq, Qo, Qc enclose in typewriter double quotes: "text"
Sq, So, Sc enclose in single quotes: ‘text’
Ql single-quoted literal text: ‘text’
Pq, Po, Pc enclose in parentheses: (text)
Bq, Bo, Bc enclose in square brackets: [text]
Brq, Bro, Brc enclose in curly braces: {text}
Aq, Ao, Ac enclose in angle brackets: ⟨text⟩
Eo, Ec generic enclosure
Text production
Ex -std standard command exit values: [utility ...]
Rv -std standard function return values: [function ...]
St reference to a standards document (one argument)
Ux UNIX
At AT&T UNIX
Bx BSD
Bsx BSD/OS
Nx NetBSD
Fx FreeBSD
Ox OpenBSD
Dx DragonFly
MACRO REFERENCE
This section is a canonical reference of all macros, arranged alphabeti‐
cally. For the scoping of individual macros, see MACRO SYNTAX.
%A
Author name of an Rs block. Multiple authors should each be accorded
their own %A line. Author names should be ordered with full or abbrevi‐
ated forename(s) first, then full surname.
%B
Book title of an Rs block. This macro may also be used in a non-biblio‐
graphic context when referring to book titles.
%C
Publication city or location of an Rs block.
%D
Publication date of an Rs block. Recommended formats of arguments are
month day, year or just year.
%I
Publisher or issuer name of an Rs block.
%J
Journal name of an Rs block.
%N
Issue number (usually for journals) of an Rs block.
%O
Optional information of an Rs block.
%P
Book or journal page number of an Rs block.
%Q
Institutional author (school, government, etc.) of an Rs block. Multiple
institutional authors should each be accorded their own %Q line.
%R
Technical report name of an Rs block.
%T
Article title of an Rs block. This macro may also be used in a non-bib‐
liographical context when referring to article titles.
%U
URI of reference document.
%V
Volume number of an Rs block.
Ac
Close an Ao block. Does not have any tail arguments.
Ad
Memory address. Do not use this for postal addresses.
Examples:
.Ad [0,$]
.Ad 0x00000000
An
Author name. Can be used both for the authors of the program, function,
or driver documented in the manual, or for the authors of the manual
itself. Requires either the name of an author or one of the following
arguments:
-split Start a new output line before each subsequent invoca‐
tion of An.
-nosplit The opposite of -split.
The default is -nosplit. The effect of selecting either of the -split
modes ends at the beginning of the AUTHORS section. In the AUTHORS sec‐
tion, the default is -nosplit for the first author listing and -split for
all other author listings.
Examples:
.An -nosplit
.An Kristaps Dzonsons Aq kristaps@bsd.lv
Ao
Begin a block enclosed by angle brackets. Does not have any head argu‐
ments.
Examples:
.Fl -key= Ns Ao Ar val Ac
See also Aq.
Ap
Inserts an apostrophe without any surrounding whitespace. This is gener‐
ally used as a grammatical device when referring to the verb form of a
function.
Examples:
.Fn execve Ap d
Aq
Encloses its arguments in angle brackets.
Examples:
.Fl -key= Ns Aq Ar val
Remarks: this macro is often abused for rendering URIs, which should
instead use Lk or Mt, or to note pre-processor “#include” statements,
which should use In.
See also Ao.
Ar
Command arguments. If an argument is not provided, the string “file ...”
is used as a default.
Examples:
.Fl o Ar file
.Ar
.Ar arg1 , arg2 .
The arguments to the Ar macro are names and placeholders for command
arguments; for fixed strings to be passed verbatim as arguments, use Fl
or Cm.
At
Formats an AT&T version. Accepts one optional argument:
v[1-7] | 32v A version of AT&T UNIX.
III AT&T UNIX III.
V[.[1-4]]? A version of AT&T System V UNIX.
Note that these arguments do not begin with a hyphen.
Examples:
.At
.At III
.At V.1
See also Bsx, Bx, Dx, Fx, Nx, Ox, and Ux.
Bc
Close a Bo block. Does not have any tail arguments.
Bd
Begin a display block. Its syntax is as follows:
.Bd -type [-offset width] [-compact]
Display blocks are used to select a different indentation and justifica‐
tion than the one used by the surrounding text. They may contain both
macro lines and text lines. By default, a display block is preceded by a
vertical space.
The type must be one of the following:
-centered Produce one output line from each input line, and
centre-justify each line. Using this display type
is not recommended; many mdoc implementations render
it poorly.
-filled Change the positions of line breaks to fill each
line, and left- and right-justify the resulting
block.
-literal Produce one output line from each input line, and do
not justify the block at all. Preserve white space
as it appears in the input. Always use a constant-
width font. Use this for displaying source code.
-ragged Change the positions of line breaks to fill each
line, and left-justify the resulting block.
-unfilled The same as -literal, but using the same font as for
normal text, which is a variable width font if sup‐
ported by the output device.
The type must be provided first. Additional arguments may follow:
-offset width Indent the display by the width, which may be one of
the following:
One of the pre-defined strings indent, the width of
a standard indentation (six constant width charac‐
ters); indent-two, twice indent; left, which has no
effect; right, which justifies to the right margin;
or center, which aligns around an imagined centre
axis.
A macro invocation, which selects a predefined width
associated with that macro. The most popular is the
imaginary macro Ds, which resolves to 6n.
A width using the syntax described in Scaling
Widths.
An arbitrary string, which indents by the length of
this string.
When the argument is missing, -offset is ignored.
-compact Do not assert vertical space before the display.
Examples:
.Bd -literal -offset indent -compact
Hello world.
.Ed
See also D1 and Dl.
Bf
Change the font mode for a scoped block of text. Its syntax is as fol‐
lows:
.Bf [-emphasis | -literal | -symbolic | Em | Li | Sy]
The -emphasis and Em argument are equivalent, as are -symbolic and Sy,
and -literal and Li. Without an argument, this macro does nothing. The
font mode continues until broken by a new font mode in a nested scope or
Ef is encountered.
See also Li, Ef, Em, and Sy.
Bk
For each macro, keep its output together on the same output line, until
the end of the macro or the end of the input line is reached, whichever
comes first. Line breaks in text lines are unaffected. The syntax is as
follows:
.Bk -words
The -words argument is required; additional arguments are ignored.
The following example will not break within each Op macro line:
.Bk -words
.Op Fl f Ar flags
.Op Fl o Ar output
.Ek
Be careful in using over-long lines within a keep block! Doing so will
clobber the right margin.
Bl
Begin a list. Lists consist of items specified using the It macro, con‐
taining a head or a body or both. The list syntax is as follows:
.Bl -type [-width val] [-offset val] [-compact] [HEAD ...]
The list type is mandatory and must be specified first. The -width and
-offset arguments accept Scaling Widths or use the length of the given
string. The -offset is a global indentation for the whole list, affect‐
ing both item heads and bodies. For those list types supporting it, the
-width argument requests an additional indentation of item bodies, to be
added to the -offset. Unless the -compact argument is specified, list
entries are separated by vertical space.
A list must specify one of the following list types:
-bullet No item heads can be specified, but a bullet will be
printed at the head of each item. Item bodies start
on the same output line as the bullet and are
indented according to the -width argument.
-column A columnated list. The -width argument has no
effect; instead, each argument specifies the width of
one column, using either the Scaling Widths syntax or
the string length of the argument. If the first line
of the body of a -column list is not an It macro
line, It contexts spanning one input line each are
implied until an It macro line is encountered, at
which point items start being interpreted as
described in the It documentation.
-dash Like -bullet, except that dashes are used in place of
bullets.
-diag Like -inset, except that item heads are not parsed
for macro invocations. Most often used in the
DIAGNOSTICS section with error constants in the item
heads.
-enum A numbered list. No item heads can be specified.
Formatted like -bullet, except that cardinal numbers
are used in place of bullets, starting at 1.
-hang Like -tag, except that the first lines of item bodies
are not indented, but follow the item heads like in
-inset lists.
-hyphen Synonym for -dash.
-inset Item bodies follow items heads on the same line,
using normal inter-word spacing. Bodies are not
indented, and the -width argument is ignored.
-item No item heads can be specified, and none are printed.
Bodies are not indented, and the -width argument is
ignored.
-ohang Item bodies start on the line following item heads
and are not indented. The -width argument is
ignored.
-tag Item bodies are indented according to the -width
argument. When an item head fits inside the indenta‐
tion, the item body follows this head on the same
output line. Otherwise, the body starts on the out‐
put line following the head.
Lists may be nested within lists and displays. Nesting of -column and
-enum lists may not be portable.
See also El and It.
Bo
Begin a block enclosed by square brackets. Does not have any head argu‐
ments.
Examples:
.Bo 1 ,
.Dv BUFSIZ Bc
See also Bq.
Bq
Encloses its arguments in square brackets.
Examples:
.Bq 1, Dv BUFSIZ
Remarks: this macro is sometimes abused to emulate optional arguments for
commands; the correct macros to use for this purpose are Op, Oo, and Oc.
See also Bo.
Brc
Close a Bro block. Does not have any tail arguments.
Bro
Begin a block enclosed by curly braces. Does not have any head argu‐
ments.
Examples:
.Bro 1 , ... ,
.Va n Brc
See also Brq.
Brq
Encloses its arguments in curly braces.
Examples:
.Brq 1, ..., Va n
See also Bro.
Bsx
Format the BSD/OS version provided as an argument, or a default value if
no argument is provided.
Examples:
.Bsx 1.0
.Bsx
See also At, Bx, Dx, Fx, Nx, Ox, and Ux.
Bt
Prints “is currently in beta test.”
Bx
Format the BSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if no
argument is provided.
Examples:
.Bx 4.3 Tahoe
.Bx 4.4
.Bx
See also At, Bsx, Dx, Fx, Nx, Ox, and Ux.
Cd
Kernel configuration declaration. This denotes strings accepted by
config(8). It is most often used in section 4 manual pages.
Examples:
.Cd device le0 at scode?
Remarks: this macro is commonly abused by using quoted literals to retain
whitespace and align consecutive Cd declarations. This practise is dis‐
couraged.
Cm
Command modifiers. Typically used for fixed strings passed as arguments,
unless Fl is more appropriate. Also useful when specifying configuration
options or keys.
Examples:
.Nm mt Fl f Ar device Cm rewind
.Nm ps Fl o Cm pid , Ns Cm command
.Nm dd Cm if= Ns Ar file1 Cm of= Ns Ar file2
.Cm IdentityFile Pa ~/.ssh/id_rsa
.Cm LogLevel Dv DEBUG
D1
One-line indented display. This is formatted by the default rules and is
useful for simple indented statements. It is followed by a newline.
Examples:
.D1 Fl abcdefgh
See also Bd and Dl.
Db
Switch debugging mode. Its syntax is as follows:
.Db on | off
This macro is ignored by mandoc(1).
Dc
Close a Do block. Does not have any tail arguments.
Dd
Document date. This is the mandatory first macro of any mdoc manual.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Dd month day, year
The month is the full English month name, the day is an optionally zero-
padded numeral, and the year is the full four-digit year.
Other arguments are not portable; the mandoc(1) utility handles them as
follows:
- To have the date automatically filled in by the OpenBSD version of
cvs(1), the special string “$Mdocdate$” can be given as an argu‐
ment.
- A few alternative date formats are accepted as well and converted
to the standard form.
- If a date string cannot be parsed, it is used verbatim.
- If no date string is given, the current date is used.
Examples:
.Dd $Mdocdate$
.Dd $Mdocdate: July 21 2007$
.Dd July 21, 2007
See also Dt and Os.
Dl
One-line intended display. This is formatted as literal text and is use‐
ful for commands and invocations. It is followed by a newline.
Examples:
.Dl % mandoc mdoc.7 \(ba less
See also Bd and D1.
Do
Begin a block enclosed by double quotes. Does not have any head argu‐
ments.
Examples:
.Do
April is the cruellest month
.Dc
\(em T.S. Eliot
See also Dq.
Dq
Encloses its arguments in “typographic” double-quotes.
Examples:
.Dq April is the cruellest month
\(em T.S. Eliot
See also Qq, Sq, and Do.
Dt
Document title. This is the mandatory second macro of any mdoc file.
Its syntax is as follows:
.Dt [title [section [volume] [arch]]]
Its arguments are as follows:
title The document's title (name), defaulting to “UNKNOWN” if
unspecified. It should be capitalised.
section
The manual section. This may be one of 1 (utilities), 2
(system calls), 3 (libraries), 3p (Perl libraries), 4
(devices), 5 (file formats), 6 (games), 7 (miscellaneous),
8 (system utilities), 9 (kernel functions), X11 (X Window
System), X11R6 (X Window System), unass (unassociated),
local (local system), draft (draft manual), or paper
(paper). It should correspond to the manual's filename
suffix and defaults to “1” if unspecified.
volume This overrides the volume inferred from section. This
field is optional, and if specified, must be one of USD
(users' supplementary documents), PS1 (programmers'
supplementary documents), AMD (administrators'
supplementary documents), SMM (system managers' manuals),
URM (users' reference manuals), PRM (programmers' reference
manuals), KM (kernel manuals), IND (master index), MMI
(master index), LOCAL (local manuals), LOC (local manuals),
or CON (contributed manuals).
arch This specifies the machine architecture a manual page
applies to, where relevant, for example alpha, amd64, i386,
or sparc64. The list of supported architectures varies by
operating system. For the full list of all architectures
recognized by mandoc(1), see the file arch.in in the source
distribution.
Examples:
.Dt FOO 1
.Dt FOO 4 KM
.Dt FOO 9 i386
See also Dd and Os.
Dv
Defined variables such as preprocessor constants, constant symbols, enu‐
meration values, and so on.
Examples:
.Dv NULL
.Dv BUFSIZ
.Dv STDOUT_FILENO
See also Er and Ev for special-purpose constants and Va for variable sym‐
bols.
Dx
Format the DragonFly BSD version provided as an argument, or a default
value if no argument is provided.
Examples:
.Dx 2.4.1
.Dx
See also At, Bsx, Bx, Fx, Nx, Ox, and Ux.
Ec
Close a scope started by Eo. Its syntax is as follows:
.Ec [TERM]
The TERM argument is used as the enclosure tail, for example, specifying
\(rq will emulate Dc.
Ed
End a display context started by Bd.
Ef
End a font mode context started by Bf.
Ek
End a keep context started by Bk.
El
End a list context started by Bl.
See also Bl and It.
Em
Denotes text that should be emphasised. Note that this is a presentation
term and should not be used for stylistically decorating technical terms.
Depending on the output device, this is usually represented using an
italic font or underlined characters.
Examples:
.Em Warnings!
.Em Remarks:
See also Bf, Li, No, and Sy.
En
This macro is obsolete and not implemented in mandoc(1).
Eo
An arbitrary enclosure. Its syntax is as follows:
.Eo [TERM]
The TERM argument is used as the enclosure head, for example, specifying
\(lq will emulate Do.
Er
Error constants for definitions of the errno libc global variable. This
is most often used in section 2 and 3 manual pages.
Examples:
.Er EPERM
.Er ENOENT
See also Dv for general constants.
Es
This macro is obsolete and not implemented.
Ev
Environmental variables such as those specified in environ(7).
Examples:
.Ev DISPLAY
.Ev PATH
See also Dv for general constants.
Ex
Insert a standard sentence regarding command exit values of 0 on success
and >0 on failure. This is most often used in section 1, 6, and 8 manual
pages. Its syntax is as follows:
.Ex -std [utility ...]
If utility is not specified, the document's name set by Nm is used. Mul‐
tiple utility arguments are treated as separate utilities.
See also Rv.
Fa
Function argument. Its syntax is as follows:
.Fa [argtype] argname
This may be invoked for names with or without the corresponding type. It
is also used to specify the field name of a structure. Most often, the
Fa macro is used in the SYNOPSIS within Fo section when documenting
multi-line function prototypes. If invoked with multiple arguments, the
arguments are separated by a comma. Furthermore, if the following macro
is another Fa, the last argument will also have a trailing comma.
Examples:
.Fa "const char *p"
.Fa "int a" "int b" "int c"
.Fa foo
See also Fo.
Fc
End a function context started by Fo.
Fd
Historically used to document include files. This usage has been depre‐
cated in favour of In. Do not use this macro.
See also MANUAL STRUCTURE and In.
Fl
Command-line flag or option. Used when listing arguments to command-line
utilities. Prints a fixed-width hyphen ‘-’ directly followed by each
argument. If no arguments are provided, a hyphen is printed followed by
a space. If the argument is a macro, a hyphen is prefixed to the subse‐
quent macro output.
Examples:
.Fl R Op Fl H | L | P
.Op Fl 1AaCcdFfgHhikLlmnopqRrSsTtux
.Fl type Cm d Fl name Pa CVS
.Fl Ar signal_number
.Fl o Fl
See also Cm.
Fn
A function name. Its syntax is as follows:
.Fn [functype] funcname [[argtype] argname]
Function arguments are surrounded in parenthesis and are delimited by
commas. If no arguments are specified, blank parenthesis are output. In
the SYNOPSIS section, this macro starts a new output line, and a blank
line is automatically inserted between function definitions.
Examples:
.Fn "int funcname" "int arg0" "int arg1"
.Fn funcname "int arg0"
.Fn funcname arg0
.Ft functype
.Fn funcname
When referring to a function documented in another manual page, use Xr
instead. See also MANUAL STRUCTURE, Fo, and Ft.
Fo
Begin a function block. This is a multi-line version of Fn. Its syntax
is as follows:
.Fo funcname
Invocations usually occur in the following context:
.Ft functype
.Fo funcname
.Fa [argtype] argname
...
.Fc
A Fo scope is closed by Fc.
See also MANUAL STRUCTURE, Fa, Fc, and Ft.
Fr
This macro is obsolete and not implemented in mandoc(1).
It was used to show function return values. The syntax was:
.Fr value
Ft
A function type. Its syntax is as follows:
.Ft functype
In the SYNOPSIS section, a new output line is started after this macro.
Examples:
.Ft int
.Ft functype
.Fn funcname
See also MANUAL STRUCTURE, Fn, and Fo.
Fx
Format the FreeBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if
no argument is provided.
Examples:
.Fx 7.1
.Fx
See also At, Bsx, Bx, Dx, Nx, Ox, and Ux.
Hf
This macro is not implemented in mandoc(1).
It was used to include the contents of a (header) file literally. The
syntax was:
.Hf filename
Ic
Designate an internal or interactive command. This is similar to Cm but
used for instructions rather than values.
Examples:
.Ic :wq
.Ic hash
.Ic alias
Note that using Bd -literal or D1 is preferred for displaying code; the
Ic macro is used when referring to specific instructions.
In
An “include” file. When invoked as the first macro on an input line in
the SYNOPSIS section, the argument is displayed in angle brackets and
preceded by “#include”, and a blank line is inserted in front if there is
a preceding function declaration. This is most often used in section 2,
3, and 9 manual pages.
Examples:
.In sys/types.h
See also MANUAL STRUCTURE.
It
A list item. The syntax of this macro depends on the list type.
Lists of type -hang, -ohang, -inset, and -diag have the following syntax:
.It args
Lists of type -bullet, -dash, -enum, -hyphen and -item have the following
syntax:
.It
with subsequent lines interpreted within the scope of the It until either
a closing El or another It.
The -tag list has the following syntax:
.It [args]
Subsequent lines are interpreted as with -bullet and family. The line
arguments correspond to the list's left-hand side; body arguments corre‐
spond to the list's contents.
The -column list is the most complicated. Its syntax is as follows:
.It cell [<TAB> cell ...]
.It cell [Ta cell ...]
The arguments consist of one or more lines of text and macros represent‐
ing a complete table line. Cells within the line are delimited by tabs
or by the special Ta block macro. The tab cell delimiter may only be
used within the It line itself; on following lines, only the Ta macro can
be used to delimit cells, and Ta is only recognised as a macro when
called by other macros, not as the first macro on a line.
Note that quoted strings may span tab-delimited cells on an It line. For
example,
.It "col1; <TAB> col2 ;" ;
will preserve the semicolon whitespace except for the last.
See also Bl.
Lb
Specify a library. The syntax is as follows:
.Lb library
The library parameter may be a system library, such as libz or libpam, in
which case a small library description is printed next to the linker
invocation; or a custom library, in which case the library name is
printed in quotes. This is most commonly used in the SYNOPSIS section as
described in MANUAL STRUCTURE.
Examples:
.Lb libz
.Lb mdoc
Li
Denotes text that should be in a literal font mode. Note that this is a
presentation term and should not be used for stylistically decorating
technical terms.
On terminal output devices, this is often indistinguishable from normal
text.
See also Bf, Em, No, and Sy.
Lk
Format a hyperlink. Its syntax is as follows:
.Lk uri [name]
Examples:
.Lk http://bsd.lv "The BSD.lv Project"
.Lk http://bsd.lv
See also Mt.
Lp
Synonym for Pp.
Ms
Display a mathematical symbol. Its syntax is as follows:
.Ms symbol
Examples:
.Ms sigma
.Ms aleph
Mt
Format a “mailto:” hyperlink. Its syntax is as follows:
.Mt address
Examples:
.Mt discuss@manpages.bsd.lv
Nd
A one line description of the manual's content. This may only be invoked
in the SYNOPSIS section subsequent the Nm macro.
Examples:
.Nd mdoc language reference
.Nd format and display UNIX manuals
The Nd macro technically accepts child macros and terminates with a sub‐
sequent Sh invocation. Do not assume this behaviour: some whatis(1)
database generators are not smart enough to parse more than the line
arguments and will display macros verbatim.
See also Nm.
Nm
The name of the manual page, or — in particular in section 1, 6, and 8
pages — of an additional command or feature documented in the manual
page. When first invoked, the Nm macro expects a single argument, the
name of the manual page. Usually, the first invocation happens in the
NAME section of the page. The specified name will be remembered and used
whenever the macro is called again without arguments later in the page.
The Nm macro uses Block full-implicit semantics when invoked as the first
macro on an input line in the SYNOPSIS section; otherwise, it uses ordi‐
nary In-line semantics.
Examples:
.Sh SYNOPSIS
.Nm cat
.Op Fl benstuv
.Op Ar
In the SYNOPSIS of section 2, 3 and 9 manual pages, use the Fn macro
rather than Nm to mark up the name of the manual page.
No
Normal text. Closes the scope of any preceding in-line macro. When used
after physical formatting macros like Em or Sy, switches back to the
standard font face and weight. Can also be used to embed plain text
strings in macro lines using semantic annotation macros.
Examples:
.Em italic , Sy bold , No and roman
.Sm off
.Cm :C No / Ar pattern No / Ar replacement No /
.Sm on
See also Em, Li, and Sy.
Ns
Suppress a space between the output of the preceding macro and the fol‐
lowing text or macro. Following invocation, input is interpreted as nor‐
mal text just like after an No macro.
This has no effect when invoked at the start of a macro line.
Examples:
.Ar name Ns = Ns Ar value
.Cm :M Ns Ar pattern
.Fl o Ns Ar output
See also No and Sm.
Nx
Format the NetBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if
no argument is provided.
Examples:
.Nx 5.01
.Nx
See also At, Bsx, Bx, Dx, Fx, Ox, and Ux.
Oc
Close multi-line Oo context.
Oo
Multi-line version of Op.
Examples:
.Oo
.Op Fl flag Ns Ar value
.Oc
Op
Optional part of a command line. Prints the argument(s) in brackets.
This is most often used in the SYNOPSIS section of section 1 and 8 manual
pages.
Examples:
.Op Fl a Ar b
.Op Ar a | b
See also Oo.
Os
Document operating system version. This is the mandatory third macro of
any mdoc file. Its syntax is as follows:
.Os [system [version]]
The optional system parameter specifies the relevant operating system or
environment. Left unspecified, it defaults to the local operating system
version. This is the suggested form.
Examples:
.Os
.Os KTH/CSC/TCS
.Os BSD 4.3
See also Dd and Dt.
Ot
This macro is obsolete and not implemented in mandoc(1).
Historical mdoc(7) packages described it as “old function type
(FORTRAN)”.
Ox
Format the OpenBSD version provided as an argument, or a default value if
no argument is provided.
Examples:
.Ox 4.5
.Ox
See also At, Bsx, Bx, Dx, Fx, Nx, and Ux.
Pa
An absolute or relative file system path, or a file or directory name.
If an argument is not provided, the character ‘~’ is used as a default.
Examples:
.Pa /usr/bin/mandoc
.Pa /usr/share/man/man7/mdoc.7
See also Lk.
Pc
Close parenthesised context opened by Po.
Pf
Removes the space between its argument (“prefix”) and the following
macro. Its syntax is as follows:
.Pf prefix macro arguments ...
This is equivalent to:
.No prefix Ns macro arguments ...
Examples:
.Pf $ Ar variable_name
.Pf 0x Ar hex_digits
See also Ns and Sm.
Po
Multi-line version of Pq.
Pp
Break a paragraph. This will assert vertical space between prior and
subsequent macros and/or text.
Paragraph breaks are not needed before or after Sh or Ss macros or before
displays (Bd) or lists (Bl) unless the -compact flag is given.
Pq
Parenthesised enclosure.
See also Po.
Qc
Close quoted context opened by Qo.
Ql
Format a single-quoted literal. See also Qq and Sq.
Qo
Multi-line version of Qq.
Qq
Encloses its arguments in "typewriter" double-quotes. Consider using Dq.
See also Dq, Sq, and Qo.
Re
Close an Rs block. Does not have any tail arguments.
Rs
Begin a bibliographic (“reference”) block. Does not have any head argu‐
ments. The block macro may only contain %A, %B, %C, %D, %I, %J, %N, %O,
%P, %Q, %R, %T, %U, and %V child macros (at least one must be specified).
Examples:
.Rs
.%A J. E. Hopcroft
.%A J. D. Ullman
.%B Introduction to Automata Theory, Languages, and Computation
.%I Addison-Wesley
.%C Reading, Massachusettes
.%D 1979
.Re
If an Rs block is used within a SEE ALSO section, a vertical space is
asserted before the rendered output, else the block continues on the cur‐
rent line.
Rv
Insert a standard sentence regarding a function call's return value of 0
on success and -1 on error, with the errno libc global variable set on
error. Its syntax is as follows:
.Rv -std [function ...]
If function is not specified, the document's name set by Nm is used.
Multiple function arguments are treated as separate functions.
See also Ex.
Sc
Close single-quoted context opened by So.
Sh
Begin a new section. For a list of conventional manual sections, see
MANUAL STRUCTURE. These sections should be used unless it's absolutely
necessary that custom sections be used.
Section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by Sx. Although
this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it may not
be linked with Sx.
See also Pp, Ss, and Sx.
Sm
Switches the spacing mode for output generated from macros. Its syntax
is as follows:
.Sm on | off
By default, spacing is on. When switched off, no white space is inserted
between macro arguments and between the output generated from adjacent
macros, but text lines still get normal spacing between words and sen‐
tences.
So
Multi-line version of Sq.
Sq
Encloses its arguments in ‘typewriter’ single-quotes.
See also Dq, Qq, and So.
Ss
Begin a new subsection. Unlike with Sh, there is no convention for the
naming of subsections. Except DESCRIPTION, the conventional sections
described in MANUAL STRUCTURE rarely have subsections.
Sub-section names should be unique so that they may be keyed by Sx.
Although this macro is parsed, it should not consist of child node or it
may not be linked with Sx.
See also Pp, Sh, and Sx.
St
Replace an abbreviation for a standard with the full form. The following
standards are recognised:
-p1003.1-88 IEEE Std 1003.1-1988 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1-90 ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1-96 ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1-2001 IEEE Std 1003.1-2001 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1-2004 IEEE Std 1003.1-2004 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1-2008 IEEE Std 1003.1-2008 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1 IEEE Std 1003.1 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1b
-p1003.1b-93 IEEE Std 1003.1b-1993 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1c-95 IEEE Std 1003.1c-1995 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1g-2000 IEEE Std 1003.1g-2000 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.1i-95 IEEE Std 1003.1i-1995 (“POSIX.1”)
-p1003.2-92 IEEE Std 1003.2-1992 (“POSIX.2”)
-p1003.2a-92 IEEE Std 1003.2a-1992 (“POSIX.2”)
-p1387.2-95
-p1003.2 IEEE Std 1003.2 (“POSIX.2”)
-p1387.2
-isoC ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (“ISO C90”)
-isoC-90 ISO/IEC 9899:1990 (“ISO C90”)
-isoC-amd1 ISO/IEC 9899/AMD1:1995 (“ISO C90, Amendment 1”)
-isoC-tcor1 ISO/IEC 9899/TCOR1:1994 (“ISO C90, Technical Corrigendum
1”)
-isoC-tcor2 ISO/IEC 9899/TCOR2:1995 (“ISO C90, Technical Corrigendum
2”)
-isoC-99 ISO/IEC 9899:1999 (“ISO C99”)
-isoC-2011
-iso9945-1-90 ISO/IEC 9945-1:1990 (“POSIX.1”)
-iso9945-1-96 ISO/IEC 9945-1:1996 (“POSIX.1”)
-iso9945-2-93 ISO/IEC 9945-2:1993 (“POSIX.2”)
-ansiC ANSI X3.159-1989 (“ANSI C89”)
-ansiC-89 ANSI X3.159-1989 (“ANSI C89”)
-ansiC-99
-ieee754 IEEE Std 754-1985
-iso8802-3 ISO/IEC 8802-3:1989
-iso8601
-ieee1275-94 IEEE Std 1275-1994 (“Open Firmware”)
-xpg3 X/Open Portability Guide Issue 3 (“XPG3”)
-xpg4 X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4 (“XPG4”)
-xpg4.2 X/Open Portability Guide Issue 4, Version 2 (“XPG4.2”)
-xpg4.3
-xbd5 X/Open System Interface Definitions Issue 5 (“XBD5”)
-xcu5 X/Open Commands and Utilities Issue 5 (“XCU5”)
-xsh5 X/Open System Interfaces and Headers Issue 5 (“XSH5”)
-xns5 X/Open Networking Services Issue 5 (“XNS5”)
-xns5.2 X/Open Networking Services Issue 5.2 (“XNS5.2”)
-xns5.2d2.0
-xcurses4.2 X/Open Curses Issue 4, Version 2 (“XCURSES4.2”)
-susv2 Version 2 of the Single UNIX Specification (“SUSv2”)
-susv3 Version 3 of the Single UNIX Specification (“SUSv3”)
-svid4 System V Interface Definition, Fourth Edition (“SVID4”)
Sx
Reference a section or subsection in the same manual page. The refer‐
enced section or subsection name must be identical to the enclosed argu‐
ment, including whitespace.
Examples:
.Sx MANUAL STRUCTURE
See also Sh and Ss.
Sy
Format enclosed arguments in symbolic (“boldface”). Note that this is a
presentation term and should not be used for stylistically decorating
technical terms.
See also Bf, Em, Li, and No.
Ta
Table cell separator in Bl -column lists; can only be used below It.
Tn
Format a tradename.
Since this macro is often implemented to use a small caps font, it has
historically been used for acronyms (like ASCII) as well. Such usage is
not recommended because it would use the same macro sometimes for seman‐
tical annotation, sometimes for physical formatting.
Examples:
.Tn IBM
Ud
Prints out “currently under development.”
Ux
Format the UNIX name. Accepts no argument.
Examples:
.Ux
See also At, Bsx, Bx, Dx, Fx, Nx, and Ox.
Va
A variable name.
Examples:
.Va foo
.Va const char *bar;
Vt
A variable type. This is also used for indicating global variables in
the SYNOPSIS section, in which case a variable name is also specified.
Note that it accepts Block partial-implicit syntax when invoked as the
first macro on an input line in the SYNOPSIS section, else it accepts
ordinary In-line syntax. In the former case, this macro starts a new
output line, and a blank line is inserted in front if there is a preced‐
ing function definition or include directive.
Note that this should not be confused with Ft, which is used for function
return types.
Examples:
.Vt unsigned char
.Vt extern const char * const sys_signame[] ;
See also MANUAL STRUCTURE and Va.
Xc
Close a scope opened by Xo.
Xo
Extend the header of an It macro or the body of a partial-implicit block
macro beyond the end of the input line. This macro originally existed to
work around the 9-argument limit of historic roff(7).
Xr
Link to another manual ("cross-reference"). Its syntax is as follows:
.Xr name section
The name and section are the name and section of the linked manual. If
section is followed by non-punctuation, an Ns is inserted into the token
stream. This behaviour is for compatibility with GNU troff.
Examples:
.Xr mandoc 1
.Xr mandoc 1 ;
.Xr mandoc 1 Ns s behaviour
br
Emits a line-break. This macro should not be used; it is implemented for
compatibility with historical manuals.
Consider using Pp in the event of natural paragraph breaks.
sp
Emits vertical space. This macro should not be used; it is implemented
for compatibility with historical manuals. Its syntax is as follows:
.sp [height]
The height argument must be formatted as described in Scaling Widths. If
unspecified, sp asserts a single vertical space.
MACRO SYNTAX
The syntax of a macro depends on its classification. In this section,
‘-arg’ refers to macro arguments, which may be followed by zero or more
‘parm’ parameters; ‘Yo’ opens the scope of a macro; and if specified,
‘Yc’ closes it out.
The Callable column indicates that the macro may also be called by pass‐
ing its name as an argument to another macro. For example, ‘.Op Fl O Ar
file’ produces ‘[-O file]’. To prevent a macro call and render the macro
name literally, escape it by prepending a zero-width space, ‘\&’. For
example, ‘Op \&Fl O’ produces ‘[Fl O]’. If a macro is not callable but
its name appears as an argument to another macro, it is interpreted as
opaque text. For example, ‘.Fl Sh’ produces ‘-Sh’.
The Parsed column indicates whether the macro may call other macros by
receiving their names as arguments. If a macro is not parsed but the
name of another macro appears as an argument, it is interpreted as opaque
text.
The Scope column, if applicable, describes closure rules.
Block full-explicit
Multi-line scope closed by an explicit closing macro. All macros con‐
tains bodies; only Bf and (optionally) Bl contain a head.
.Yo [-arg [parm...]] [head...]
[body...]
.Yc
Macro Callable Parsed Scope
Bd No No closed by Ed
Bf No No closed by Ef
Bk No No closed by Ek
Bl No No closed by El
Ed No No opened by Bd
Ef No No opened by Bf
Ek No No opened by Bk
El No No opened by Bl
Block full-implicit
Multi-line scope closed by end-of-file or implicitly by another macro.
All macros have bodies; some (It -bullet, -hyphen, -dash, -enum, -item)
don't have heads; only one (It in Bl -column) has multiple heads.
.Yo [-arg [parm...]] [head... [Ta head...]]
[body...]
Macro Callable Parsed Scope
It No Yes closed by It, El
Nd No No closed by Sh
Nm No Yes closed by Nm, Sh, Ss
Sh No Yes closed by Sh
Ss No Yes closed by Sh, Ss
Note that the Nm macro is a Block full-implicit macro only when invoked
as the first macro in a SYNOPSIS section line, else it is In-line.
Block partial-explicit
Like block full-explicit, but also with single-line scope. Each has at
least a body and, in limited circumstances, a head (Fo, Eo) and/or tail
(Ec).
.Yo [-arg [parm...]] [head...]
[body...]
.Yc [tail...]
.Yo [-arg [parm...]] [head...] [body...] Yc [tail...]
Macro Callable Parsed Scope
Ac Yes Yes opened by Ao
Ao Yes Yes closed by Ac
Bc Yes Yes closed by Bo
Bo Yes Yes opened by Bc
Brc Yes Yes opened by Bro
Bro Yes Yes closed by Brc
Dc Yes Yes opened by Do
Do Yes Yes closed by Dc
Ec Yes Yes opened by Eo
Eo Yes Yes closed by Ec
Fc Yes Yes opened by Fo
Fo No No closed by Fc
Oc Yes Yes closed by Oo
Oo Yes Yes opened by Oc
Pc Yes Yes closed by Po
Po Yes Yes opened by Pc
Qc Yes Yes opened by Oo
Qo Yes Yes closed by Oc
Re No No opened by Rs
Rs No No closed by Re
Sc Yes Yes opened by So
So Yes Yes closed by Sc
Xc Yes Yes opened by Xo
Xo Yes Yes closed by Xc
Block partial-implicit
Like block full-implicit, but with single-line scope closed by the end of
the line.
.Yo [-arg [val...]] [body...] [res...]
Macro Callable Parsed
Aq Yes Yes
Bq Yes Yes
Brq Yes Yes
D1 No Yes
Dl No Yes
Dq Yes Yes
Op Yes Yes
Pq Yes Yes
Ql Yes Yes
Qq Yes Yes
Sq Yes Yes
Vt Yes Yes
Note that the Vt macro is a Block partial-implicit only when invoked as
the first macro in a SYNOPSIS section line, else it is In-line.
Special block macro
The Ta macro can only be used below It in Bl -column lists. It delimits
blocks representing table cells; these blocks have bodies, but no heads.
Macro Callable Parsed Scope
Ta Yes Yes closed by Ta, It
In-line
Closed by the end of the line, fixed argument lengths, and/or subsequent
macros. In-line macros have only text children. If a number (or
inequality) of arguments is (n), then the macro accepts an arbitrary num‐
ber of arguments.
.Yo [-arg [val...]] [args...] [res...]
.Yo [-arg [val...]] [args...] Yc...
.Yo [-arg [val...]] arg0 arg1 argN
Macro Callable Parsed Arguments
%A No No >0
%B No No >0
%C No No >0
%D No No >0
%I No No >0
%J No No >0
%N No No >0
%O No No >0
%P No No >0
%Q No No >0
%R No No >0
%T No No >0
%U No No >0
%V No No >0
Ad Yes Yes >0
An Yes Yes >0
Ap Yes Yes 0
Ar Yes Yes n
At Yes Yes 1
Bsx Yes Yes n
Bt No No 0
Bx Yes Yes n
Cd Yes Yes >0
Cm Yes Yes >0
Db No No 1
Dd No No n
Dt No No n
Dv Yes Yes >0
Dx Yes Yes n
Em Yes Yes >0
En No No 0
Er Yes Yes >0
Es No No 0
Ev Yes Yes >0
Ex No No n
Fa Yes Yes >0
Fd No No >0
Fl Yes Yes n
Fn Yes Yes >0
Fr No No n
Ft Yes Yes >0
Fx Yes Yes n
Hf No No n
Ic Yes Yes >0
In No No 1
Lb No No 1
Li Yes Yes >0
Lk Yes Yes >0
Lp No No 0
Ms Yes Yes >0
Mt Yes Yes >0
Nm Yes Yes n
No Yes Yes 0
Ns Yes Yes 0
Nx Yes Yes n
Os No No n
Ot No No n
Ox Yes Yes n
Pa Yes Yes n
Pf Yes Yes 1
Pp No No 0
Rv No No n
Sm No No 1
St No Yes 1
Sx Yes Yes >0
Sy Yes Yes >0
Tn Yes Yes >0
Ud No No 0
Ux Yes Yes n
Va Yes Yes n
Vt Yes Yes >0
Xr Yes Yes >0
br No No 0
sp No No 1
Delimiters
When a macro argument consists of one single input character considered
as a delimiter, the argument gets special handling. This does not apply
when delimiters appear in arguments containing more than one character.
Consequently, to prevent special handling and just handle it like any
other argument, a delimiter can be escaped by prepending a zero-width
space (‘\&’). In text lines, delimiters never need escaping, but may be
used as normal punctuation.
For many macros, when the leading arguments are opening delimiters, these
delimiters are put before the macro scope, and when the trailing argu‐
ments are closing delimiters, these delimiters are put after the macro
scope. For example,
.Aq ( [ word ] ) .
renders as:
([⟨word⟩]).
Opening delimiters are:
( left parenthesis
[ left bracket
Closing delimiters are:
. period
, comma
: colon
; semicolon
) right parenthesis
] right bracket
? question mark
! exclamation mark
Note that even a period preceded by a backslash (‘\.’) gets this special
handling; use ‘\&.’ to prevent that.
Many in-line macros interrupt their scope when they encounter delimiters,
and resume their scope when more arguments follow that are not delim‐
iters. For example,
.Fl a ( b | c \*(Ba d ) e
renders as:
-a (-b | -c | -d) -e
This applies to both opening and closing delimiters, and also to the mid‐
dle delimiter:
| vertical bar
As a special case, the predefined string \*(Ba is handled and rendered in
the same way as a plain ‘|’ character. Using this predefined string is
not recommended in new manuals.
Font handling
In mdoc documents, usage of semantic markup is recommended in order to
have proper fonts automatically selected; only when no fitting semantic
markup is available, consider falling back to Physical markup macros.
Whenever any mdoc macro switches the roff(7) font mode, it will automati‐
cally restore the previous font when exiting its scope. Manually switch‐
ing the font using the roff(7) ‘\f’ font escape sequences is never
required.
COMPATIBILITY
This section documents compatibility between mandoc and other other troff
implementations, at this time limited to GNU troff ("groff"). The term
"historic groff" refers to groff versions before 1.17, which featured a
significant update of the doc.tmac file.
Heirloom troff, the other significant troff implementation accepting
-mdoc, is similar to historic groff.
The following problematic behaviour is found in groff:
- Display macros (Bd, Dl, and D1) may not be nested. (Historic groff
only.)
- At with unknown arguments produces no output at all. (Historic groff
only.) Newer groff and mandoc print "AT&T UNIX" and the arguments.
- Bl -column does not recognise trailing punctuation characters when
they immediately precede tabulator characters, but treats them as
normal text and outputs a space before them.
- Bd -ragged -compact does not start a new line. (Historic groff
only.)
- Dd with non-standard arguments behaves very strangely. When there
are three arguments, they are printed verbatim. Any other number of
arguments is replaced by the current date, but without any arguments
the string “Epoch” is printed.
- Fl does not print a dash for an empty argument. (Historic groff
only.)
- Fn does not start a new line unless invoked as the line macro in the
SYNOPSIS section. (Historic groff only.)
- Fo with non-Fa children causes inconsistent spacing between argu‐
ments. In mandoc, a single space is always inserted between argu‐
ments.
- Ft in the SYNOPSIS causes inconsistent vertical spacing, depending on
whether a prior Fn has been invoked. See Ft and Fn for the nor‐
malised behaviour in mandoc.
- In ignores additional arguments and is not treated specially in the
SYNOPSIS. (Historic groff only.)
- It sometimes requires a -nested flag. (Historic groff only.) In new
groff and mandoc, any list may be nested by default and -enum lists
will restart the sequence only for the sub-list.
- Li followed by a delimiter is incorrectly used in some manuals
instead of properly quoting that character, which sometimes works
with historic groff.
- Lk only accepts a single link-name argument; the remainder is misfor‐
matted.
- Pa does not format its arguments when used in the FILES section under
certain list types.
- Ta can only be called by other macros, but not at the beginning of a
line.
- %C is not implemented.
- Historic groff only allows up to eight or nine arguments per macro
input line, depending on the exact situation. Providing more argu‐
ments causes garbled output. The number of arguments on one input
line is not limited with mandoc.
- Historic groff has many un-callable macros. Most of these (excluding
some block-level macros) are callable in new groff and mandoc.
- ‘|’ (vertical bar) is not fully supported as a delimiter. (Historic
groff only.)
- ‘\f’ (font face) and ‘\f’ (font family face) Text Decoration escapes
behave irregularly when specified within line-macro scopes.
- Negative scaling units return to prior lines. Instead, mandoc trun‐
cates them to zero.
The following features are unimplemented in mandoc:
- Bd -file file.
- Bd -offset center and -offset right. Groff does not implement cen‐
tred and flush-right rendering either, but produces large indenta‐
tions.
- The ‘\h’ (horizontal position), ‘\v’ (vertical position), ‘\m’ (text
colour), ‘\M’ (text filling colour), ‘\z’ (zero-length character),
‘\w’ (string length), ‘\k’ (horizontal position marker), ‘\o’ (text
overstrike), and ‘\s’ (text size) escape sequences are all discarded
in mandoc.
- The ‘\f’ scaling unit is accepted by mandoc, but rendered as the
default unit.
- In quoted literals, groff allows pairwise double-quotes to produce a
standalone double-quote in formatted output. This is not supported
by mandoc.
SEE ALSOman(1), mandoc(1), eqn(7), man(7), mandoc_char(7), roff(7), tbl(7)HISTORY
The mdoc language first appeared as a troff macro package in 4.4BSD. It
was later significantly updated by Werner Lemberg and Ruslan Ermilov in
groff-1.17. The standalone implementation that is part of the mandoc(1)
utility written by Kristaps Dzonsons appeared in OpenBSD 4.6.
AUTHORS
The mdoc reference was written by Kristaps Dzonsons, kristaps@bsd.lv.
BSD January 3, 2012 BSD
