The GNU implementation of the man macro package is part of the
groff document formatting system. It is used to produce 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 cross-references to appropriate subsections
below.
Man page authors and maintainers 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
.I Italic Font style macros
.IB Italic, bold alternating Font style macros
.IP Indented paragraph Paragraph macros
.IR Italic, roman alternating Font style macros
.LP (Left) paragraph Paragraph macros
.ME Mail-to end Hyperlink and email macros
.MT Mail-to start Hyperlink and email macros
.OP (Command-line) option Command synopsis macros
.P Paragraph Paragraph macros
.PP Paragraph Paragraph 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
.SB Small bold Font style macros
.SH Section heading Document structure macros
.SM Small Font style macros
.SS Subsection heading Document structure macros
.SY Synopsis start Command synopsis macros
.TH Title heading Document structure macros
.TP Tagged paragraph Paragraph macros
.TQ Supplemental paragraph tag Paragraph macros
.UE URL end Hyperlink and email macros
.UR URL start Hyperlink and email macros
.YS Synopsis end Command synopsis macros
Macros whose use we discourage (.AT, .DT, .HP, .PD, and .UC) are
described in subsection 'Deprecated features' below.
Macro reference preliminaries
Each macro is described in a tagged paragraph. Closely related
macros, such as .EX and .EE, are grouped together.
An empty macro argument can be specified with a pair of double-
quotes ('""'), but the man package is designed such that this
should seldom be necessary. Most macro arguments are strings
that will be output as text; exceptions are noted.
Document structure macros
The highest level of organization of a man page is determined by
this group of macros. .TH (title heading) identifies the
document as a man page and defines information enabling its
indexing by mandb(8) or a similar tool. Section headings (.SH),
one of which is mandatory and many of which are standardized,
facilitate quick location of relevant material by the reader and
aid the man page writer to discuss all essential aspects of the
topic. Subsection headings (.SS) are optional and permit
sections that grow long to develop in a controlled way. Many
technical discussions benefit from examples; lengthy ones,
especially those reflecting multiple lines of input to or output
from the system, are usefully bracketed by .EX and .EE. When
none of the foregoing meets a structural demand, a region within
a (sub)section can be manually inset within .RS and .RE macros.
.TH title section [footer-middle] [footer-inside] [header-middle]
Define the title of the man page as title and the section
of the manual volume as section. See man(1) for details
on the section numbers and suffixes applicable to your
system. title and section are positioned together at the
left and right in the header line (with section in
parentheses immediately appended to title). footer-middle
is centered in the footer line. The arrangement of the
rest of the footer depends on whether double-sided layout
is enabled with the option -rD1. When disabled (the
default), footer-inside is positioned at the bottom left.
Otherwise, footer-inside appears at the bottom left on
odd-numbered (recto) pages, and at the bottom right on
even-numbered (verso) pages. The outside footer is the
page number, except in the continuous-rendering mode
enabled by the option -rcR=1, in which case it is the
title and section, as in the header. header-middle is
centered in the header line. If section is a simple
integer between 1 and 9 (inclusive), or is exactly '3p',
there is no need to specify header-middle; the macro
package will supply text for it. For HTML output, headers
and footers are completely suppressed.
Additionally, this macro starts a new page; the page
number is reset to 1 (unless the -rC1 option is given).
This feature is intended only for formatting multiple man
pages.
A man page should contain exactly one .TH call at or near
the beginning of the file, prior to any other macro calls.
.SH [heading-text]
Set heading-text as a section heading. The text following
.SH up to the end of the line, or the text on the next
input line if .SH is given no arguments, is set with no
indentation, in bold (or the font specified by the string
HF) and, on typesetter devices, slightly larger than the
base point size. If the heading font \*[HF] is bold, use
of an italic style in heading-text is mapped to the bold-
italic style if available in the font family.
Additionally, the left margin and indentation affecting
subsequent text are reset to their default values. Text
on input lines after heading-text is set as an ordinary
paragraph (.P).
The content of heading-text and ordering of sections has
been standardized by common practice, as has much of the
layout of material within sections. For example, a
section called 'Name' or 'NAME' must exist, must be the
first section after the .TH call, and must contain only a
line of the form
topic[, another-topic]... \- summary-description
for a man page to be properly indexed. See
groff_man_style(7) for suggestions and man(7) for the
conventions prevailing on your system.
.SS [subheading-text]
Set subheading-text as a subsection heading indented
between a section heading and an ordinary paragraph (.P).
See subsection 'Horizontal and vertical spacing' below for
the indentation amount. The text following .SS up to the
end of the line, or the text on the next input line if .SS
is given no arguments, is set in bold (or the font
specified by the string HF). If the heading font \*[HF]
is bold, use of an italic style in heading-text is mapped
to the bold-italic style if available in the font family.
Additionally, the left margin and indentation affecting
subsequent text are reset to their default values. Text
on input lines after subheading-text is set as an ordinary
paragraph (.P).
.EX
.EE Begin and end example. After .EX, filling is disabled and
a constant-width (monospaced) font is selected. Calling
.EE enables filling and restores the previous font.
These macros are extensions, introduced in Version 9
Research Unix, to the original man package. Many systems
running AT&T, Heirloom Doctools, or Plan 9 troff support
them. To be certain your page will be portable to systems
that do not, copy their definitions from the an-ext.tmac
file of a groff installation.
.RS [indent]
Start a new relative inset level, moving the left margin
right by indent, if specified, and by a default amount
otherwise; see subsection 'Horizontal and vertical
spacing' below. Calls to .RS can be nested; each call
increments by 1 the inset level used by .RE. The inset
level prior to any .RS calls is 1.
.RE [level]
End a relative inset; move the left margin back to that
corresponding to inset level level. If no argument is
given, move the left margin one level back.
Paragraph macros
An ordinary paragraph (.P) is set without a first-line
indentation at the current left margin, which by default is
indented from the leftmost position of the output device. In man
pages and other technical literature, definition lists are
frequently encountered; these can be set as 'tagged paragraphs',
which have one (.TP) or more (.TQ) leading tags followed by a
paragraph that has an additional indentation. The indented
paragraph (.IP) macro is useful to continue the indented content
of a narrative started with .TP, or to present an itemized or
ordered list. All paragraph macros break the output line at the
current position. If another paragraph macro has occurred since
the previous .SH or .SS, they (except for .TQ) follow the break
with a default amount of vertical space, which can be changed by
the deprecated .PD macro; see subsection 'Horizontal and vertical
spacing' below. They also reset the point size and font style to
defaults (.TQ again excepted); see subsection 'Font style macros'
below.
.P
.LP
.PP Begin a new paragraph; these macros are synonymous. The
indentation is reset to the default value; the left
margin, as affected by .RS and .RE, is not.
.TP [indent]
Set a paragraph with a leading tag, and the remainder of
the paragraph indented. The input line following this
macro, known as the tag, is printed at the current left
margin. Subsequent text is indented by indent, if
specified, and by a default amount otherwise; see
subsection 'Horizontal and vertical spacing' below.
If the tag is not as wide as the indentation, the
paragraph starts on the same line as the tag, at the
applicable indentation, and continues on the following
lines. Otherwise, the descriptive part of the paragraph
begins on the line following the tag.
.TQ Set an additional tag for a paragraph tagged with .TP.
The pending output line is broken. The tag on the input
line following this macro and subsequent lines are handled
as with .TP.
This macro is a GNU extension not defined on systems
running AT&T, Plan 9, or Solaris troff; see an-ext.tmac in
section 'Files' below.
.IP [tag] [indent]
Set an indented paragraph with an optional tag. The tag
and indent arguments, if present, are handled as with .TP,
with the exception that the tag argument to .IP cannot
include a macro call.
Command synopsis macros
Command synopses are a staple of section 1 and 8 man pages.
These macros aid you to construct one that has the classical Unix
appearance. A command synopsis is wrapped in .SY/.YS calls, with
command-line options of some formats indicated by .OP.
These macros are extensions (.OP from Documenter's Workbench
troff, .SY and .YS from GNU) not defined on systems running AT&T,
Plan 9, or Solaris troff; see an-ext.tmac in section 'Files'
below.
.SY command
Begin synopsis. A new paragraph is begun at the left
margin unless .SY has already been called without a
corresponding .YS, in which case only a break is
performed. Hyphenation is turned off. The command
argument is set in bold. The output line is filled as
normal, but if a break is required, subsequent output
lines are indented by the width of command plus a space.
.OP option-name [option-argument]
Indicate an optional command parameter called option-name,
which is set in bold. If the option takes an argument,
specify option-argument using a noun, abbreviation, or
hyphenated noun phrase. If present, option-argument is
preceded by a space and set in italics. Square brackets
in roman surround both arguments.
.YS End synopsis. Restore previous indentation and initial
hyphenation mode.
Hyperlink and email macros
Email addresses are bracketed with .MT/.ME and URL hyperlinks
with .UR/.UE.
These macros are GNU extensions not defined on systems running
AT&T, Plan 9, or Solaris troff; see an-ext.tmac in section
'Files' below.
.MT address
.ME [punctuation]
Identify address as an RFC 6068 addr-spec for a 'mailto:'
URI with the text between the two macro calls as the link
text. A punctuation argument to .ME is placed at the end
of the link text without intervening space. address may
not be visible in the output text, particularly if the man
page is being viewed as HTML. On a device that is not a
browser, address is set in angle brackets after the link
text and before punctuation.
.UR URL
.UE [punctuation]
Identify URL as an RFC 3986 URI hyperlink with the text
between the two macro calls as the link text. A
punctuation argument to .UE is placed at the end of the
link text without intervening space. URL may not be
visible in the output text, particularly if the man page
is being viewed as HTML. On a device that is not a
browser, URL is set in angle brackets after the link text
and before punctuation.
Font style macros
The man macro package is limited in its font styling options,
offering only bold (.B), italic (.I), and roman. Italic text is
usually set underscored instead on terminal devices. The .SM and
.SB macros set text in roman or bold, respectively, at a smaller
point size; these differ visually from regular-sized roman or
bold text only on typesetter devices. It is often necessary to
set text in different styles without intervening space. The
macros .BI, .BR, .IB, .IR, .RB, and .RI, where 'B', 'I', and 'R'
indicate bold, italic, and roman, respectively, set their odd-
and even-numbered arguments in alternating styles, with no space
separating them.
The default point size and family for typesetter devices is
10-point Times, except on the X75-12 and X100-12 devices where
the point size is 12. The default style is roman.
.B [text]
Set text in bold. If the macro is given no arguments, the
text of the next input line is set in bold.
.I [text]
Set text in italics. If the macro is given no arguments,
the text of the next input line is set in italics.
.SM [text]
Set text one point smaller than the default point size on
typesetter devices. If the macro is given no arguments,
the text of the next input line is set smaller.
.SB [text]
Set text in bold and (on typesetter devices) one point
smaller than the default point size. If the macro is
given no arguments, the text of the next input line is set
smaller and in bold.
Unlike the above font style macros, the font style alternation
macros below accept only arguments on the same line as the macro
call. Italic corrections are applied as appropriate. If space
is required within one of the arguments, first consider whether
the same result could be achieved with as much clarity by using
the single-style macros on separate input lines. When it cannot,
double-quote an argument containing embedded space characters.
Setting all three different styles within a word presents
challenges; see subsection 'Portability' in groff_man_style(7)
for approaches.
.BI bold-text italic-text ...
Set each argument in bold and italics, alternately.
.BR bold-text roman-text ...
Set each argument in bold and roman, alternately.
.IB italic-text bold-text ...
Set each argument in italics and bold, alternately.
.IR italic-text roman-text ...
Set each argument in italics and roman, alternately.
.RB roman-text bold-text ...
Set each argument in roman and bold, alternately.
.RI roman-text italic-text ...
Set each argument in roman and italics, alternately.
Horizontal and vertical spacing
The indent argument accepted by .RS, .IP, .TP, and the deprecated
.HP is a number plus an optional scaling indicator. If no
scaling indicator is given, the man package assumes 'n'. An
indentation specified in a call to .IP, .TP, or the deprecated
.HP persists until (1) another of these macros is called with an
explicit indent argument, or (2) .SH, .SS, or .P or its synonyms
is called; these clear the indentation entirely. Relative insets
created by .RS move the left margin and persist until .RS, .RE,
.SH, or .SS is called.
The indentation amount exhibited by ordinary paragraphs set with
.P (and its synonyms) not within an .RS/.RE relative inset, and
the default used when .IP, .RS, .TP, and the deprecated .HP are
not given an indentation argument, is 7.2n for typesetter devices
and 7n for terminal devices (but see the -rIN option). Headers,
footers (both set with .TH), and section headings (.SH) are set
with no indentation and subsection headings (.SS) are indented 3n
(but see the -rSN option). However, the HTML output device
ignores indentation completely.
The following macros break the output line and insert vertical
space: .SH, .SS, .TP, .P (and its synonyms), .IP, and the
deprecated .HP. The default inter-section and inter-paragraph
spacing is is 1v for terminal devices and 0.4v for typesetter
devices. In .EX/.EE sections, the inter-paragraph spacing is 1v
regardless of output device. (The deprecated macro .PD can
change this vertical spacing, but its use is discouraged.) The
macros .RS, .RE, .EX, .EE, and .TQ also cause a break but no
insertion of vertical space.
Registers
Registers are described in section 'Options' below. They can be
set not only on the command line but in the site man.local file
as well; see section 'Files' below.
Strings
The following strings are defined for use in man pages. None of
these is necessary in a contemporary man page; see
groff_man_style(7). Others are supported for configuration of
rendering parameters; see section 'Options' below.
\*R interpolates a special character escape sequence for the
'registered sign' glyph, \(rg, if available, and '(Reg.)'
otherwise.
\*S interpolates an escape sequence setting the point size to
the document default.
\*(lq
\*(rq interpolate special character escape sequences for left
and right double-quotation marks, \(lq and \(rq,
respectively.
\*(Tm interpolate special character escape sequences for the
'trade mark sign' glyph, \(tm, if available, and '(TM)'
otherwise.
Interaction with preprocessors
When a preprocessor like tbl or eqn is needed, a hint can be
given to the man page librarian by making the first line of a man
page look like this:
'\" word
The line starts with an apostrophe ('), not a dot, and a single
space character follows the double quote. The word consists of
one letter for each needed preprocessor: 'e' for eqn, 'r' for
refer, and 't' for tbl. Modern implementations of the man
program can use this information to automatically call the
required preprocessor(s) in the right order.
The usual tbl and eqn macros for table and equation inclusion,
.TS, .T&, .TE, .EQ, and .EN, may be used freely. Terminal
devices are extremely limited in presentation of mathematical
equations.
Hooks
Two macros, both GNU extensions, are called internally by the
groff man package to format page headers and footers and can be
redefined by the administrator in a site's man.local file (see
section 'Files' below). The default headers and footers are
documented in the description of .TH above. Because these macros
are hooks for groff man internals, man pages have no reason to
call them. A macro definition for these hooks typically consists
of a '.tl' request.
.BT Set the page footer text ('bottom trap').
.PT Set the page header text ('page trap').
Deprecated features
Use of the following in man pages for public distribution is
discouraged.
.AT [system [release]]
Alter the footer for use with legacy AT&T man pages,
overriding any definition of the footer-inside argument to
.TH. This macro exists only for compatibility, to render
man pages from historical systems.
The first argument system can be:
3 7th edition (default)
4 System III
5 System V
The optional second argument release specifies the release
number, such as in 'System V Release 3'.
.DT Set tab stops every 0.5i (inches). Since this macro is
called by .TH, it would make sense to call it only if a
man page changes the tab stops.
Use of this presentation-level macro is deprecated. It
translates poorly to HTML, under which exact space control
and tabulation are not readily available. Thus,
information or distinctions that you use .DT to express
are likely to be lost. If you feel tempted to use it, you
should probably be composing a table using tbl(1) markup
instead.
.HP [indent]
Set up a paragraph with a hanging left indentation. The
indent argument, if present, is handled as with .TP.
Use of this presentation-level macro is deprecated. A
hanging indentation cannot be expressed naturally under
HTML, and HTML-based man page processors may interpret it
as starting an ordinary paragraph. Thus, any information
or distinction you mean to express with the indentation
may be lost.
.PD [vertical-space]
Define the vertical space between paragraphs or
(sub)sections. The optional argument vertical-space
specifies the amount; the default scaling indicator is
'v'. Without an argument, the spacing is reset to its
default value; see subsection 'Horizontal and vertical
spacing' above.
Use of this presentation-level macro is deprecated. It
translates poorly to HTML, under which exact control of
inter-paragraph spacing is not readily available. Thus,
information or distinctions that you use .PD to express
are likely to be lost.
.UC [version]
Alter the footer for use with legacy BSD man pages,
overriding any definition of the footer-inside argument to
.TH. This macro exists only for compatibility, to render
man pages from historical systems.
The argument version can be:
3 3rd Berkeley Distribution (default)
4 4th Berkeley Distribution
5 4.2 Berkeley Distribution
6 4.3 Berkeley Distribution
7 4.4 Berkeley Distribution
History
Version 7 Unix (1979) introduced the man macro package and
supported all of the macros described in this page not listed as
extensions, except .P, .SB, and the deprecated .AT and .UC. The
only strings defined were R and S; no registers were documented.
.UC appeared in 3BSD (1980) and .P in Unix System III (1980).
PWB/UNIX 2.0 (1980) added the Tm string. 4BSD (1980) added lq
and rq strings. 4.3BSD (1986) added .AT and .P. Version 9 Unix
(1986) introduced .EX and .EE. SunOS 4.0 (1988) may have been
the first to support .SB.
