HPUX groff_ms[7]
GROFF_MS(7) Groff Version 1.06 GROFF_MS(7)
6 August 1992
NAME
groff_ms - groff ms macros
SYNOPSIS
groff -mgs [ options... ] [ files... ]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page describes the GNU version of the ms macros, which is
part of the groff document formatting system. The groff ms macros are
intended to be compatible with the 4.3 BSD Unix ms macros subject to
the following limitations:
o the internals of groff ms are not similar to the internals of
Unix ms and so documents that depend upon implementation details
of Unix ms may well not work with groff ms;
o there is no support for typewriter-like devices;
o Berkeley localisms, in particular the TM and CT macros, are not
implemented;
o groff ms does not provide cut marks;
o multiple line spacing is not allowed (use a larger vertical
spacing instead);
o groff ms does not work in compatibility mode (eg with the -C
option);
o the error-handling policy of groff ms is to detect and report
errors, rather than silently to ignore them. The groff ms macros
make use of many features of GNU troff and therefore cannot be
used with any other troff. Bell Labs localisms are not
implemented in either the BSD ms macros or in the groff ms
macros. Some Unix ms documentation says that the CW and GW
number registers can be used to control the column width and
gutter width respectively. This is not the case. These number
registers are not used in groff ms. Macros that cause a reset
set the indent. Macros that change the indent do not increment
or decrement the indent, but rather set it absolutely. This can
cause problems for documents that define additional macros of
their own. The solution is to use not the in request but instead
the RS and RE macros. The number register GS is set to 1 by the
groff ms macros, but is not used by the Unix ms macros. It is
intended that documents that need to determine whether they are
being formatted with Unix ms or groff ms make use of this number
register. Footnotes are implemented so that they can safely be
used within keeps and displays. Automatically numbered footnotes
within floating keeps are not recommended. It is safe to have
another \** between a \** and the corresponding .FS; it is
required only that each .FS occur after the corresponding \** and
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that the occurrences of .FS are in the same order as the
corresponding occurrences of \**. The strings \*{ and \*} can be
used to begin and end a superscript. Some Unix V10 ms features
are implemented. The B, I and BI macros can have an optional
third argument which will be printed in the current font before
the first argument. There is a macro CW like B that changes to a
constant-width font. The following strings can be redefined to
adapt the groff ms macros to languages other than English:
String Default Value
REFERENCES References
ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
TOC Table of Contents
MONTH1 January
MONTH2 February
MONTH3 March
MONTH4 April
MONTH5 May
MONTH6 June
MONTH7 July
MONTH8 August
MONTH9 September
MONTH10 October
MONTH11 November
MONTH12 December
The font family is reset from the string FAM; at initialization
if this string is undefined it is set to the current font family.
The point size, vertical spacing, and inter-paragraph spacing for
footnotes are taken from the number registers FPS, FVS, and FPD;
at initialization these are set to \n(PS-2, \n[FPS]+2, and
\n(PD/2 respectively; however, if any of these registers has been
defined before initialization, it will not be set. Right-aligned
displays are available with .DS R and .RD. The following
conventions are used for names of macros, strings and number
registers. External names available to documents that use the
groff ms macros contain only uppercase letters and digits.
Internally the macros are divided into modules. Names used only
within one module are of the form module*name. Names used
outside the module in which they are defined are of the form
module@name. Names associated with a particular environment are
of the form environment:name; these are used only within the par
module, and name does not have a module prefix. Constructed
names used to implement arrays are of the form array!index. Thus
the groff ms macros reserve the following names:
o names containing *;
o names containing @;
o names containing :;
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GROFF_MS(7) Groff Version 1.06 GROFF_MS(7)
6 August 1992
o names containing only uppercase letters and digits.
FILES
/usr/local/lib/groff/tmac/tmac.gs
SEE ALSO
groff(1), gtroff(1), gtbl(1), gpic(1), geqn(1)
ms(7)
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