-h and --help display a usage message and exit.
Because groff is intended to subsume most users' direct
invocations of the troff(1) formatter, the two programs share a
set of options. However, groff has some options that troff does
not share, and others which groff interprets differently. At the
same time, not all valid troff options can be given to groff.
groff-specific options
The following options either do not exist for troff or are
interpreted differently by groff.
-D enc Set default input encoding used by preconv(1) to enc;
implies -k.
-e Run eqn(1) preprocessor.
-g Run grn(1) preprocessor.
-G Run grap(1) preprocessor; implies -p.
-I dir Works as troff's option (see below), but also implies -s
and is passed to soelim(1).
-j Run chem(1) preprocessor; implies -p.
-k Run preconv(1), which is run before any other
preprocessor. Please refer to preconv's manual page for
its behavior if neither of groff's -K or -D options is
also specified.
-K enc Set input encoding used by preconv(1) to enc; implies -k.
-l Send the output to a spooler program for printing. The
'print' directive in the device description file specifies
the default command to be used; see groff_font(5). If no
such directive is present for the output device, output is
piped to lpr(1). See options -L and -X.
-L arg Pass arg to the print spooler program. If multiple args
are required, each should be passed with a separate -L
option. groff does not prepend '-' (a minus sign) to arg
before passing it to the spooler program.
-N Don't allow newlines within eqn delimiters. This is the
same as the -N option in eqn(1).
-p Run pic(1) preprocessor.
-P arg Pass arg to the postprocessor. If multiple args are
required, each should be passed with a separate -P option.
groff does not prepend '-' (a minus sign) to arg before
passing it to the postprocessor.
-R Run refer(1) preprocessor. No mechanism is provided for
passing arguments to refer because most refer options have
equivalent language elements that can be specified within
the document; see refer(1).
-s Run soelim(1) preprocessor.
-S Operate in 'safer' mode; see -U below for its opposite.
For security reasons, safer mode is enabled by default.
-t Run tbl(1) preprocessor.
-T dev Direct troff to format the input for the device dev.
groff then calls a postprocessor to convert troff's output
to a format appropriate for dev. See subsection 'Devices'
below.
-U Operate in unsafe mode; see -S. Pass the -U option to pic
and troff.
-v
--version
Write version information of groff and of all programs run
by it to the standard output stream; that is, the given
command line is processed in the usual way, passing -v to
the formatter and any pre- or postprocessors invoked.
-V Output the pipeline that would be run by groff (as a
wrapper program) to the standard output stream, but do not
execute it. If given more than once, the pipeline is both
written to the standard error stream and run.
-X Use gxditview(1) instead of the usual postprocessor to
(pre)view a document on an X11 display.
-Z Disable postprocessing. troff output will appear on the
standard output stream (unless suppressed with -z); see
groff_out(5) for a description of this format.
Transparent options
The following options are passed as-is to the formatter program
troff(1), and described in more detail in its man page.
-a Generate a plain text approximation of the typeset output.
-b Write a backtrace to the standard error stream on each
error or warning.
-c Start with color output disabled.
-C Enable AT&T troff compatibility mode; implies -c.
-d cs
-d name=string
Define string.
-E Inhibit troff error messages; implies -Ww.
-f fam Set default font family.
-F dir Search in directory dir for the selected output device's
directory of device and font description files.
-i Process standard input after the specified input files.
-I dir Search dir for input files.
-m name
Process name.tmac before any input files.
-M dir Search directory dir for macro files.
-n num Number the first page num.
-o list
Output only pages in list.
-r cn
-r reg=expr
Define register.
-w name
-W name
Enable (-w) or inhibit (-W) emission of warnings in
category name.
-z Suppress formatted device-independent output of troff.
