Details of inline escape sequences in alphabetical order
\*[<colorname>]
begin using an initialized colour inline
\*[BCK n]
move wards in a line
\*[BOLDER]
\*[BOLDERX]
Emboldening on/off
\*[BOLDER] begins emboldening type. \*[BOLDERX] turns the
feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they
should not appear as separate lines, but rather be
embedded in text lines, like this:
Not \*[BOLDER]everything\*[BOLDERX] is as it seems.
Alternatively, if you wanted the whole line emboldened,
you should do
\*[BOLDER]Not everything is as it seems.\*[BOLDERX]
Once \*[BOLDER] is invoked, it remains in effect until
turned off.
Note: If you're using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom ignores \*[BOLDER] requests.
\*[BU n]
move characters pairs closer together inline (related to
macro .KERN)
\*[COND]
\*[CONDX]
Pseudo-condensing on/off
\*[COND] begins pseudo-condensing type. \*[CONDX] turns
the feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they
should not appear as separate lines, but rather be
embedded in text lines, like this:
\*[COND]Not everything is as it seems.\*[CONDX]
\*[COND] remains in effect until you turn it off with
\*[CONDX].
IMPORTANT: You must turn \*[COND] off before making any
changes to the point size of your type, either via the
.PT_SIZE macro or with the \s inline escape. If you wish
the new point size to be pseudo-condensed, simply reinvoke
\*[COND] afterwards. Equally, \*[COND] must be turned off
before changing the condense percentage with .CONDENSE.
Note: If you're using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom ignores \*[COND] requests.
\*[CONDSUP]...\*[CONDSUPX]
pseudo-condensed superscript
\*[DOWN n]
temporarily move downwards in a line
\*[EN-MARK]
mark initial line of a range of line numbers (for use with
line numbered endnotes)
\*[EXT]
\*[EXTX]
Pseudo-extending on/off
\*[EXT] begins pseudo-extending type. \*[EXTX] turns the
feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they
should not appear as separate lines, but rather be
embedded in text lines, like this:
\*[EXT]Not everything is as it seems.\*[EXTX]
\*[EXT] remains in effect until you turn it off with
\*[EXTX].
IMPORTANT: You must turn \*[EXT] off before making any
changes to the point size of your type, either via the
.PT_SIZE macro or with the \s inline escape. If you wish
the new point size to be pseudo-extended, simply reinvoke
\*[EXT] afterwards. Equally, \*[EXT] must be turned off
before changing the extend percentage with .EXTEND.
Note: If you are using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom ignores \*[EXT] requests.
\*[EXTSUP]...\*[EXTSUPX]
pseudo extended superscript
\*[FU n]
move characters pairs further apart inline (related to
macro .KERN)
\*[FWD n]
move forward in a line
\*[LEADER]
insert leaders at the end of a line
\*[RULE]
draw a full measure rule
\*[SIZE n]
change the point size inline (related to macro .PT_SIZE)
\*[SLANT]
\*[SLANTX]
Pseudo italic on/off
\*[SLANT] begins pseudo-italicizing type. \*[SLANTX]
turns the feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore
they should not appear as separate lines, but rather be
embedded in text lines, like this:
Not \*[SLANT]everything\*[SLANTX] is as it seems.
Alternatively, if you wanted the whole line pseudo-
italicized, you'd do
\*[SLANT]Not everything is as it seems.\*[SLANTX]
Once \*[SLANT] is invoked, it remains in effect until
turned off.
Note: If you're using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom underlines pseudo-italics by
default. To change this behaviour, use the special macro
.SLANT_MEANS_SLANT.
\*[ST<number>]...\*[ST<number>X]
Mark positions of string tabs
The quad direction must be LEFT or JUSTIFY (see .QUAD and
.JUSTIFY) or the no-fill mode set to LEFT in order for
these inlines to function properly. Please see IMPORTANT,
below.
String tabs need to be marked off with inline escapes
before being set up with the .ST macro. Any input line
may contain string tab markers. <number>, above, means
the numeric identifier of the tab.
The following shows a sample input line with string tab
markers.
\*[ST1]De minimus\*[ST1X]non curat\*[ST2]lex\*[ST2X].
String tab 1 begins at the start of the line and ends
after the word time. String tab 2 starts at good and ends
after men. Inline escapes (e.g., font or point size
changes, or horizontal movements, including padding) are
taken into account when mom determines the position and
length of string tabs.
Up to nineteen string tabs may be marked (not necessarily
all on the same line, of course), and they must be
numbered between 1 and 19.
Once string tabs have been marked in input lines, they
have to be set with .ST, after which they may be called,
by number, with .TAB.
Note: Lines with string tabs marked off in them are normal
input lines, i.e. they get printed, just like any input
line. If you want to set up string tabs without the line
printing, use the .SILENT macro.
IMPORTANT: Owing to the way groff processes input lines
and turns them into output lines, it is not possible for
mom to guess the correct starting position of string tabs
marked off in lines that are centered or set flush right.
Equally, she cannot guess the starting position if a line
is fully justified and broken with .SPREAD.
In other words, in order to use string tabs, LEFT must be
active, or, if .QUAD LEFT or JUSTIFY are active, the line
on which the string tabs are marked must be broken
manually with .BR (but not .SPREAD).
To circumvent this behaviour, I recommend using the PAD to
set up string tabs in centered or flush right lines. Say,
for example, you want to use a string tab to underscore
the text of a centered line with a rule. Rather than
this,
.CENTER
\*[ST1]A line of text\*[ST1X]\c
.EL
.ST 1
.TAB 1
.PT_SIZE 24
.ALD 3p
\*[RULE]
.RLD 3p
.TQ
you should do:
.QUAD CENTER
.PAD "#\*[ST1]A line of text\*[ST1X]#"
.EL
.ST 1
.TAB 1
.PT_SIZE 24
.ALD 3p
\" You can't use \*[UP] or \*[DOWN] with \*[RULE].
.RLD 3p
.TQ
\*[SUP]...\*[SUPX]
superscript
\*[TB+]
Inline escape for .TN (Tab Next)
\*[UL]...\*[ULX]
invoke underlining inline (fixed width fonts only)
\*[UP n]
temporarily move upwards in a line
Details of macros in alphabetical order
.AUTOLEAD
set the linespacing relative to the point size
.B_MARGIN <bottom margin>
Bottom Margin
Requires a unit of measure
.B_MARGIN sets a nominal position at the bottom of the
page beyond which you don't want your type to go. When
the bottom margin is reached, mom starts a new page.
.B_MARGIN requires a unit of measure. Decimal fractions
are allowed. To set a nominal bottom margin of 3/4 inch,
enter
.B_MARGIN .75i
Obviously, if you haven't spaced the type on your pages so
that the last lines fall perfectly at the bottom margin,
the margin will vary from page to page. Usually, but not
always, the last line of type that fits on a page before
the bottom margin causes mom to start a new page.
Occasionally, owing to a peculiarity in groff, an extra
line will fall below the nominal bottom margin. If you're
using the document processing macros, this is unlikely to
happen; the document processing macros are very hard-nosed
about aligning bottom margins.
Note: The meaning of .B_MARGIN is slightly different when
you're using the document processing macros.
.FALLBACK_FONT <fallback font> [ ABORT | WARN ]
Fallback Font
In the event that you pass an invalid argument to .FAMILY
(i.e. a non-existent family), mom, by default, uses the
fallback font, Courier Medium Roman (CR), in order to
continue processing your file.
If you'd prefer another fallback font, pass .FALLBACK_FONT
the full family+font name of the font you'd like. For
example, if you'd rather the fallback font were Times
Roman Medium Roman,
.FALLBACK_FONT TR
would do the trick.
Mom issues a warning whenever a font style set with .FT
does not exist, either because you haven't registered the
style or because the font style does not exist in the
current family set with .FAMILY. By default, mom then
aborts, which allows you to correct the problem.
If you'd prefer that mom not abort on non-existent fonts,
but rather continue processing using a fallback font, you
can pass .FALLBACK_FONT the argument WARN, either by
itself, or in conjunction with your chosen fallback font.
Some examples of invoking .FALLBACK_FONT:
.FALLBACK_FONT WARN
mom will issue a warning whenever you try to access
a non-existent font but will continue processing
your file with the default fallback font, Courier
Medium Roman.
.FALLBACK_FONT TR WARN
mom will issue a warning whenever you try to access
a non-existent font but will continue processing
your file with a fallback font of Times Roman
Medium Roman; additionally, TR will be the fallback
font whenever you try to access a family that does
not exist.
.FALLBACK_FONT TR ABORT
mom will abort whenever you try to access a non-
existent font, and will use the fallback font TR
whenever you try to access a family that does not
exist. If, for some reason, you want to revert to
ABORT, just enter ".FALLBACK_FONT ABORT" and mom
will once again abort on font errors.
.FAM <family>
Type Family, alias of .FAMILY
.FAMILY <family>
Type Family, alias .FAM
.FAMILY takes one argument: the name of the family you
want. Groff comes with a small set of basic families,
each identified by a 1-, 2- or 3-letter mnemonic. The
standard families are:
A = Avant Garde
BM = Bookman
H = Helvetica
HN = Helvetica Narrow
N = New Century Schoolbook
P = Palatino
T = Times Roman
ZCM = Zapf Chancery
The argument you pass to .FAMILY is the identifier at
left, above. For example, if you want Helvetica, enter
.FAMILY H
Note: The font macro (.FT) lets you specify both the type
family and the desired font with a single macro. While
this saves a few keystrokes, I recommend using .FAMILY for
family, and .FT for font, except where doing so is
genuinely inconvenient. ZCM, for example, only exists in
one style: Italic (I).
Therefore,
.FT ZCMI
makes more sense than setting the family to ZCM, then
setting the font to I.
Additional note: If you are running a version of groff
lower than 1.19.2, you must follow all .FAMILY requests
with a .FT request, otherwise mom will set all type up to
the next .FT request in the fallback font.
If you are running a version of groff greater than or
equal to 1.19.2, when you invoke the .FAMILY macro, mom
remembers the font style (Roman, Italic, etc) currently in
use (if the font style exists in the new family) and will
continue to use the same font style in the new family.
For example:
.FAMILY BM \" Bookman family
.FT I \" Medium Italic
<some text> \" Bookman Medium Italic
.FAMILY H \" Helvetica family
<more text> \" Helvetica Medium Italic
However, if the font style does not exist in the new
family, mom will set all subsequent type in the fallback
font (by default, Courier Medium Roman) until she
encounters a .FT request that's valid for the family.
For example, assuming you don't have the font Medium
Condensed Roman (mom extension CD) in the Helvetica
family:
.FAMILY UN \" Univers family
.FT CD \" Medium Condensed
<some text> \" Univers Medium Condensed
.FAMILY H \" Helvetica family
<more text> \" Courier Medium Roman!
In the above example, you must follow .FAMILY H with a .FT
request that's valid for Helvetica.
Please see the Appendices, Adding fonts to groff, for
information on adding fonts and families to groff, as well
as to see a list of the extensions mom provides to groff's
basic R, I, B, BI styles.
Suggestion: When adding families to groff, I recommend
following the established standard for the naming families
and fonts. For example, if you add the Garamond family,
name the font files
GARAMONDR
GARAMONDI
GARAMONDB
GARAMONDBI
GARAMOND then becomes a valid family name you can pass to
.FAMILY. (You could, of course, shorten GARAMOND to just
G, or GD.) R, I, B, and BI after GARAMOND are the roman,
italic, bold and bold-italic fonts respectively.
.FONT R | B | BI | <any other valid font style>
Alias to .FT
.FT R | B | BI | <any other valid font style>
Set font
By default, groff permits .FT to take one of four possible
arguments specifying the desired font:
R = (Medium) Roman
I = (Medium) Italic
B = Bold (Roman)
BI = Bold Italic
For example, if your family is Helvetica, entering
.FT B
will give you the Helvetica bold font. If your family
were Palatino, you'd get the Palatino bold font.
Mom considerably extends the range of arguments you can
pass to .FT, making it more convenient to add and access
fonts of differing weights and shapes within the same
family.
Have a look here for a list of the weight/style arguments
mom allows. Be aware, though, that you must have the
fonts, correctly installed and named, in order to use the
arguments. (See Adding fonts to groff for instructions
and information.) Please also read the ADDITIONAL NOTE
found in the description of the .FAMILY macro.
How mom reacts to an invalid argument to .FT depends on
which version of groff you're using. If your groff
version is greater than or equal to 1.19.2, mom will issue
a warning and, depending on how you've set up the fallback
font, either continue processing using the fallback font,
or abort (allowing you to correct the problem). If your
groff version is less than 1.19.2, mom will silently
continue processing, using either the fallback font or the
font that was in effect prior to the invalid .FT call.
.FT will also accept, as an argument, a full family and
font name.
For example,
.FT HB
will set subsequent type in Helvetica Bold.
However, I strongly recommend keeping family and font
separate except where doing so is genuinely inconvenient.
For inline control of fonts, see Inline Escapes, font
control.
.HI [ <measure> ]
Hanging indent — the optional argument requires a unit of
measure.
A hanging indent looks like this:
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I
could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed
revenge. You who so well know the nature of my soul
will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a
threat, at length I would be avenged...
The first line of text hangs outside the left margin.
In order to use hanging indents, you must first have a
left indent active (set with either .IL or .IB). Mom will
not hang text outside the left margin set with .L_MARGIN
or outside the left margin of a tab.
The first time you invoke .HI, you must give it a measure.
If you want the first line of a paragraph to hang by, say,
1 pica, do
.IL 1P
.HI 1P
Subsequent invocations of .HI do not require you to supply
a measure; mom keeps track of the last measure you gave
it.
Generally speaking, you should invoke .HI immediately
prior to the line you want hung (i.e. without any
intervening control lines). And because hanging indents
affect only one line, there's no need to turn them off.
IMPORTANT: Unlike IL, IR and IB, measures given to .HI are
NOT additive. Each time you pass a measure to .HI , the
measure is treated literally. Recipe: A numbered list
using hanging indents
Note: mom has macros for setting lists. This recipe
exists to demonstrate the use of hanging indents only.
.PAGE 8.5i 11i 1i 1i 1i 1i
.FAMILY T
.FT R
.PT_SIZE 12
.LS 14
.JUSTIFY
.KERN
.SS 0
.IL \w'\0\0.'
.HI \w'\0\0.'
1.\0The most important point to be considered is whether
the answer to the meaning of Life, the Universe, and
Everything really is 42. We have no one's word on the
subject except Mr. Adams's.
.HI
2.\0If the answer to the meaning of Life, the Universe,
and Everything is indeed 42, what impact does this have on
the politics of representation? 42 is, after all not a
prime number. Are we to infer that prime numbers don't
deserve equal rights and equal access in the universe?
.HI
3.\0If 42 is deemed non-exclusionary, how do we present
it as the answer and, at the same time, forestall debate
on its exclusionary implications?
First, we invoke a left indent with a measure equal to the
width of 2 figures spaces plus a period (using the \w
inline escape). At this point, the left indent is active;
text afterwards would normally be indented. However, we
invoke a hanging indent of exactly the same width, which
hangs the first line (and first line only!) to the left of
the indent by the same distance (in this case, that means
'out to the left margin'). Because we begin the first
line with a number, a period, and a figure space, the
actual text (The most important point...) starts at
exactly the same spot as the indented lines that follow.
Notice that subsequent invocations of .HI don't require a
measure to be given.
Paste the example above into a file and preview it with
pdfmom filename.mom | ps2pdf - filename.pdf
to see hanging indents in action.
.IB [ <left measure> <right measure> ]
Indent both — the optional argument requires a unit of
measure
.IB allows you to set or invoke a left and a right indent
at the same time.
At its first invocation, you must supply a measure for
both indents; at subsequent invocations when you wish to
supply a measure, both must be given again. As with .IL
and .IR, the measures are added to the values previously
passed to the macro. Hence, if you wish to change just
one of the values, you must give an argument of zero to
the other.
A word of advice: If you need to manipulate left and right
indents separately, use a combination of .IL and .IR
instead of .IB. You'll save yourself a lot of grief.
A minus sign may be prepended to the arguments to subtract
from their current values. The \w inline escape may be
used to specify text-dependent measures, in which case no
unit of measure is required. For example,
.IB \w'margarine' \w'jello'
left indents text by the width of the word margarine and
right indents by the width of jello.
Like .IL and .IR, .IB with no argument indents by its last
active values. See the brief explanation of how mom
handles indents for more details.
Note: Calling a tab (with .TAB <n>) automatically cancels
any active indents.
Additional note: Invoking .IB automatically turns off .IL
and .IR.
.IL [ <measure> ]
Indent left — the optional argument requires a unit of
measure
.IL indents text from the left margin of the page, or if
you're in a tab, from the left edge of the tab. Once IL
is on, the left indent is applied uniformly to every
subsequent line of text, even if you change the line
length.
The first time you invoke .IL, you must give it a measure.
Subsequent invocations with a measure add to the previous
measure. A minus sign may be prepended to the argument to
subtract from the current measure. The \w inline escape
may be used to specify a text-dependent measure, in which
case no unit of measure is required. For example,
.IL \w'margarine'
indents text by the width of the word margarine.
With no argument, .IL indents by its last active value.
See the brief explanation of how mom handles indents for
more details.
Note: Calling a tab (with .TAB <n>) automatically cancels
any active indents.
Additional note: Invoking .IL automatically turns off IB.
.IQ [ <measure> ]
IQ — quit any/all indents
IMPORTANT NOTE: The original macro for quitting all
indents was .IX. This usage has been deprecated in favour
of IQ. .IX will continue to behave as before, but mom
will issue a warning to stderr indicating that you should
update your documents.
As a consequence of this change, .ILX, .IRX and .IBX may
now also be invoked as .ILQ, .IRQ and .IBQ. Both forms
are acceptable.
Without an argument, the macros to quit indents merely
restore your original margins and line length. The
measures stored in the indent macros themselves are saved
so you can call them again without having to supply a
measure.
If you pass these macros the optional argument CLEAR, they
not only restore your original left margin and line
length, but also clear any values associated with a
particular indent style. The next time you need an indent
of the same style, you have to supply a measure again.
.IQ CLEAR, as you'd suspect, quits and clears the values
for all indent styles at once.
.IR [ <measure> ]
Indent right — the optional argument requires a unit of
measure
.IR indents text from the right margin of the page, or if
you're in a tab, from the end of the tab.
The first time you invoke .IR, you must give it a measure.
Subsequent invocations with a measure add to the previous
indent measure. A minus sign may be prepended to the
argument to subtract from the current indent measure. The
\w inline escape may be used to specify a text-dependent
measure, in which case no unit of measure is required.
For example,
.IR \w'jello'
indents text by the width of the word jello.
With no argument, .IR indents by its last active value.
See the brief explanation of how mom handles indents for
more details.
Note: Calling a tab (with .TAB <n>) automatically cancels
any active indents.
Additional note: Invoking .IR automatically turns off IB.
.L_MARGIN <left margin>
Left Margin
L_MARGIN establishes the distance from the left edge of
the printer sheet at which you want your type to start.
It may be used any time, and remains in effect until you
enter a new value.
Left indents and tabs are calculated from the value you
pass to .L_MARGIN, hence it's always a good idea to invoke
it before starting any serious typesetting. A unit of
measure is required. Decimal fractions are allowed.
Therefore, to set the left margin at 3 picas (1/2 inch),
you'd enter either
.L_MARGIN 3P
or
.L_MARGIN .5i
If you use the macros .PAGE, .PAGEWIDTH or .PAPER without
invoking .L_MARGIN (either before or afterwards), mom
automatically sets .L_MARGIN to 1 inch.
Note: .L_MARGIN behaves in a special way when you're using
the document processing macros.
.MCO Begin multi-column setting.
.MCO (Multi-Column On) is the macro you use to begin
multi-column setting. It marks the current baseline as
the top of your columns, for use later with .MCR. See the
introduction to columns for an explanation of multi-
columns and some sample input.
Note: Do not confuse .MCO with the .COLUMNS macro in the
document processing macros.
.MCR Once you've turned multi-columns on (with .MCO), .MCR, at
any time, returns you to the top of your columns.
.MCX [ <distance to advance below longest column> ]
Optional argument requires a unit of measure.
Exit multi-columns.
.MCX takes you out of any tab you were in (by silently
invoking .TQ) and advances to the bottom of the longest
column.
Without an argument, .MCX advances 1 linespace below the
longest column.
Linespace, in this instance, is the leading in effect at
the moment .MCX is invoked.
If you pass the <distance> argument to .MCX, it advances 1
linespace below the longest column (see above) PLUS the
distance specified by the argument. The argument requires
a unit of measure; therefore, to advance an extra 6 points
below where .MCX would normally place you, you'd enter
.MCX 6p
Note: If you wish to advance a precise distance below the
baseline of the longest column, use .MCX with an argument
of 0 (zero; no unit of measure required) in conjunction
with the .ALD macro, like this:
.MCX 0
.ALD 24p
The above advances to precisely 24 points below the
baseline of the longest column.
.NEWPAGE
Whenever you want to start a new page, use .NEWPAGE, by
itself with no argument. Mom will finish up processing
the current page and move you to the top of a new one
(subject to the top margin set with .T_MARGIN).
.PAGE <width> [ <length> [ <lm> [ <rm> [ <tm> [ <bm> ] ] ] ] ]
All arguments require a unit of measure
IMPORTANT: If you're using the document processing macros,
.PAGE must come after .START. Otherwise, it should go at
the top of a document, prior to any text. And remember,
when you're using the document processing macros, top
margin and bottom margin mean something slightly different
than when you're using just the typesetting macros (see
Top and bottom margins in document processing).
.PAGE lets you establish paper dimensions and page margins
with a single macro. The only required argument is page
width. The rest are optional, but they must appear in
order and you can't skip over any. <lm>, <rm>, <tm> and
<bm> refer to the left, right, top and bottom margins
respectively.
Assuming your page dimensions are 11 inches by 17 inches,
and that's all you want to set, enter
.PAGE 11i 17i
If you want to set the left margin as well, say, at 1
inch, PAGE would look like this:
.PAGE 11i 17i 1i
Now suppose you also want to set the top margin, say, at
1–1/2 inches. <tm> comes after <rm> in the optional
arguments, but you can't skip over any arguments,
therefore to set the top margin, you must also give a
right margin. The .PAGE macro would look like this:
.PAGE 11i 17i 1i 1i 1.5i
| |
required right---+ +---top margin
margin
Clearly, .PAGE is best used when you want a convenient way
to tell mom just the dimensions of your printer sheet
(width and length), or when you want to tell her
everything about the page (dimensions and all the
margins), for example
.PAGE 8.5i 11i 45p 45p 45p 45p
This sets up an 8½ by 11 inch page with margins of 45
points (5/8-inch) all around.
Additionally, if you invoke .PAGE with a top margin
argument, any macros you invoke after .PAGE will almost
certainly move the baseline of the first line of text down
by one linespace. To compensate, do
.RLD 1v
immediately before entering any text, or, if it's
feasible, make .PAGE the last macro you invoke prior to
entering text.
Please read the Important note on page dimensions and
papersize for information on ensuring groff respects your
.PAGE dimensions and margins.
.PAGELENGTH <length of printer sheet>
tells mom how long your printer sheet is. It works just
like .PAGEWIDTH.
Therefore, to tell mom your printer sheet is 11 inches
long, you enter
.PAGELENGTH 11i
Please read the important note on page dimensions and
papersize for information on ensuring groff respects your
PAGELENGTH.
.PAGEWIDTH <width of printer sheet>
The argument to .PAGEWIDTH is the width of your printer
sheet.
.PAGEWIDTH requires a unit of measure. Decimal fractions
are allowed. Hence, to tell mom that the width of your
printer sheet is 8½ inches, you enter
.PAGEWIDTH 8.5i
Please read the Important note on page dimensions and
papersize for information on ensuring groff respects your
PAGEWIDTH.
.PAPER <paper type>
provides a convenient way to set the page dimensions for
some common printer sheet sizes. The argument <paper
type> can be one of: LETTER, LEGAL, STATEMENT, TABLOID,
LEDGER, FOLIO, QUARTO, EXECUTIVE, 10x14, A3, A4, A5, B4,
B5.
.PRINTSTYLE
.PT_SIZE <size of type in points>
Point size of type, does not require a unit of measure.
.PT_SIZE (Point Size) takes one argument: the size of type
in points. Unlike most other macros that establish the
size or measure of something, .PT_SIZE does not require
that you supply a unit of measure since it's a near
universal convention that type size is measured in points.
Therefore, to change the type size to, say, 11 points,
enter
.PT_SIZE 11
Point sizes may be fractional (e.g., 10.25 or 12.5).
You can prepend a plus or a minus sign to the argument to
.PT_SIZE, in which case the point size will be changed by
+ or - the original value. For example, if the point size
is 12 , and you want 14 , you can do
.PT_SIZE +2
then later reset it to 12 with
.PT_SIZE -2
The size of type can also be changed inline.
Note: It is unfortunate that the pic preprocessor has
already taken the name, PS, and thus mom's macro for
setting point sizes can't use it. However, if you aren't
using pic, you might want to alias .PT_SIZE as .PS, since
there'd be no conflict. For example
.ALIAS PS PT_SIZE
would allow you to set point sizes with .PS.
.R_MARGIN <right margin>
Right Margin
Requires a unit of measure.
IMPORTANT: .R_MARGIN, if used, must come after .PAPER,
.PAGEWIDTH, .L_MARGIN, and/or .PAGE (if a right margin
isn't given to PAGE). The reason is that .R_MARGIN
calculates line length from the overall page dimensions
and the left margin.
Obviously, it can't make the calculation if it doesn't
know the page width and the left margin.
.R_MARGIN establishes the amount of space you want between
the end of typeset lines and the right hand edge of the
printer sheet. In other words, it sets the line length.
.R_MARGIN requires a unit of measure. Decimal fractions
are allowed.
The line length macro (LL) can be used in place of
.R_MARGIN. In either case, the last one invoked sets the
line length. The choice of which to use is up to you. In
some instances, you may find it easier to think of a
section of type as having a right margin. In others,
giving a line length may make more sense.
For example, if you're setting a page of type you know
should have 6-pica margins left and right, it makes sense
to enter a left and right margin, like this:
.L_MARGIN 6P
.R_MARGIN 6P
That way, you don't have to worry about calculating the
line length. On the other hand, if you know the line
length for a patch of type should be 17 picas and 3
points, entering the line length with LL is much easier
than calculating the right margin, e.g.,
.LL 17P+3p
If you use the macros .PAGE, .PAGEWIDTH or PAPER without
invoking .R_MARGIN afterwards, mom automatically sets
.R_MARGIN to 1 inch. If you set a line length after these
macros (with .LL), the line length calculated by .R_MARGIN
is, of course, overridden.
Note: .R_MARGIN behaves in a special way when you're using
the document processing macros.
.ST <tab number> L | R | C | J [ QUAD ]
After string tabs have been marked off on an input line
(see \*[ST]...\*[STX]), you need to set them by giving
them a direction and, optionally, the QUAD argument.
In this respect, .ST is like .TAB_SET except that you
don't have to give .ST an indent or a line length (that's
already taken care of, inline, by \*[ST]...\*[STX]).
If you want string tab 1 to be left, enter
.ST 1 L
If you want it to be left and filled, enter
.ST 1 L QUAD
If you want it to be justified, enter
.ST 1 J
.TAB <tab number>
After tabs have been defined (either with .TAB_SET or
.ST), .TAB moves to whatever tab number you pass it as an
argument.
For example,
.TAB 3
moves you to tab 3.
Note: .TAB breaks the line preceding it and advances 1
linespace. Hence,
.TAB 1
A line of text in tab 1.
.TAB 2
A line of text in tab 2.
produces, on output
A line of text in tab 1.
A line of text in tab 2.
If you want the tabs to line up, use .TN (Tab Next) or,
more conveniently, the inline escape \*[TB+]:
.TAB 1
A line of text in tab 1.\*[TB+]
A line of text in tab 2.
which produces
A line of text in tab 1. A line of text in tab 2.
If the text in your tabs runs to several lines, and you
want the first lines of each tab to align, you must use
the multi-column macros.
Additional note: Any indents in effect prior to calling a
tab are automatically turned off by TAB. If you were
happily zipping down the page with a left indent of 2
picas turned on, and you call a tab whose indent from the
left margin is 6 picas, your new distance from the left
margin will be 6 picas, not I 6 picas plus the 2 pica
indent.
Tabs are not by nature columnar, which is to say that if
the text inside a tab runs to several lines, calling
another tab does not automatically move to the baseline of
the first line in the previous tab. To demonstrate:
TAB 1
Carrots
Potatoes
Broccoli
.TAB 2
$1.99/5 lbs
$0.25/lb
$0.99/bunch
produces, on output
Carrots
Potatoes
Broccoli
$1.99/5 lbs
$0.25/lb
$0.99/bunch
.TB <tab number>
Alias to .TAB
.TI [ <measure> ]
Temporary left indent — the optional argument requires a
unit of measure
A temporary indent is one that applies only to the first
line of text that comes after it. Its chief use is
indenting the first line of paragraphs. (Mom's .PP macro,
for example, uses a temporary indent.)
The first time you invoke .TI, you must give it a measure.
If you want to indent the first line of a paragraph by,
say, 2 ems, do
.TI 2m
Subsequent invocations of .TI do not require you to supply
a measure; mom keeps track of the last measure you gave
it.
Because temporary indents are temporary, there's no need
to turn them off.
IMPORTANT: Unlike .IL, .IR and IB, measures given to .TI
are NOT additive. In the following example, the second
".TI 2P" is exactly 2 picas.
.TI 1P
The beginning of a paragraph...
.TI 2P
The beginning of another paragraph...
.TN Tab Next
Inline escape \*[TB+]
TN moves over to the next tab in numeric sequence (tab
n+1) without advancing on the page. See the NOTE in the
description of the .TAB macro for an example of how TN
works.
In tabs that aren't given the QUAD argument when they're
set up with .TAB_SET or ST, you must terminate the line
preceding .TN with the \c inline escape. Conversely, if
you did give a QUAD argument to .TAB_SET or ST, the \c
must not be used.
If you find remembering whether to put in the \c
bothersome, you may prefer to use the inline escape
alternative to .TN, \*[TB+], which works consistently
regardless of the fill mode.
Note: You must put text in the input line immediately
after .TN. Stacking of .TN's is not allowed. In other
words, you cannot do
.TAB 1
Some text\c
.TN
Some more text\c
.TN
.TN
Yet more text
The above example, assuming tabs numbered from 1 to 4,
should be entered
.TAB 1
Some text\c
.TN
Some more text\c
.TN
\&\c
.TN
Yet more text
\& is a zero-width, non-printing character that groff
recognizes as valid input, hence meets the requirement for
input text following .TN.
.TQ TQ takes you out of whatever tab you were in, advances 1
linespace, and restores the left margin, line length, quad
direction and fill mode that were in effect prior to
invoking any tabs.
.T_MARGIN <top margin>
Top margin
Requires a unit of measure
.T_MARGIN establishes the distance from the top of the
printer sheet at which you want your type to start. It
requires a unit of measure, and decimal fractions are
allowed. To set a top margin of 2½ centimetres, you'd
enter
.T_MARGIN 2.5c
.T_MARGIN calculates the vertical position of the first
line of type on a page by treating the top edge of the
printer sheet as a baseline. Therefore,
.T_MARGIN 1.5i
puts the baseline of the first line of type 1½ inches
beneath the top of the page.
Note: .T_MARGIN means something slightly different when
you're using the document processing macros. See Top and
bottom margins in document processing for an explanation.
IMPORTANT: .T_MARGIN does two things: it establishes the
top margin for pages that come after it and it moves to
that position on the current page. Therefore, .T_MARGIN
should only be used at the top of a file (prior to
entering text) or after NEWPAGE, like this:
.NEWPAGE
.T_MARGIN 6P
<text>
