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   groffer    ( 1 )

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Option Details

The groffer program can usually be run with very few options. But for special purposes, it supports many options. These can be classified in 5 option classes.

All short options of groffer are compatible with the short options of groff(1). All long options of groffer are compatible with the long options of man(1).

Arguments for long option names can be abbreviated in several ways. First, the argument is checked whether it can be prolonged as is. Furthermore, each minus sign - is considered as a starting point for a new abbreviation. This leads to a set of multiple abbreviations for a single argument. For example, --de-n-f can be used as an abbreviation for --debug-not-func, but --de-n works as well. If the abbreviation of the argument leads to several resulting options an error is raised.

These abbreviations are only allowed in the environment variable GROFFER_OPT, but not in the configuration files. In configuration, all long options must be exact.

groffer breaking options As soon as one of these options is found on the command line it is executed, printed to standard output, and the running groffer is terminated thereafter. All other arguments are ignored.

-h | --help Print help information with a short explanation of options to standard output.

-v | --version Print version information to standard output.

groffer mode options The display mode and the viewer programs are determined by these options. If none of these mode and viewer options is specified groffer tries to find a suitable display mode automatically. The default modes are mode pdf, mode ps, mode html, mode xhtml, mode x, and mode dvi in the X Window System with different viewers and mode tty with device utf8 under less on a terminal; other modes are tested if the programs for the main default mode do not exist.

In the X Window System, many programs create their own window when called. groffer can run these viewers as an independent program in the background. As this does not work in text mode on a terminal (tty) there must be a way to know which viewers are X Window System-based graphical programs. The groffer script has a small amount of information on some viewer names. If a viewer argument of the command-line chooses an element that is recognized as an X Window System-based program in this list, it is treated as a viewer that can run in the background. Unrecognized viewers are not run in the background.

For each mode, you are free to choose whatever viewer you want. That need not be some graphical viewer suitable for this mode. There is a chance to view the output source; for example, the combination of the options --mode=ps and --viewer=less shows the content of the PostScript output, the source code, with the pager less.

--auto Equivalent to --mode=auto.

--default Reset all configuration from previously processed command- line options to the default values. This is useful to wipe out all former options of the configuration, in GROFFER_OPT, and restart option processing using only the rest of the command line.

--default-modes mode1,mode2,... Set the sequence of modes for auto mode to the comma separated list given in the argument. See --mode for details on modes. Display in the default manner; actually, this means to try the modes x, ps, and tty in this sequence.

--dvi Equivalent to --mode=dvi. Known DVI viewers for the X Window System include xdvi(1) and dvilx(1).

--groff Equivalent to --mode=groff.

--html Equivalent to --mode=html.

--mode value Set the display mode. The following mode values are recognized:

auto Select the automatic determination of the display mode. The sequence of modes that are tried can be set with the --default-modes option. Useful for restoring the default mode when a different mode was specified before.

dvi Display formatted input in a DVI viewer program. By default, the formatted input is displayed with the xdvi(1) program.

groff After the file determination, switch groffer to process the input like groff(1) would do. This disables the groffer viewing features.

html Translate the input into HTML format and display the result in a web browser program. By default, the existence of a sequence of standard web browsers is tested, starting with konqueror(1) and mozilla(1). The text HTML viewer is lynx(1). By default, the existence of a sequence of standard web browsers is tested, starting with konqueror(1) and mozilla(1). The text HTML viewer is lynx(1).

pdf Transform roff input files into a PDF file by using the groff(1) device -Tpdf. This is the default PDF generator. The generated PDF file is displayed with suitable viewer programs, such as okular(1).

pdf2 This is the traditional pdf mode. Sometimes this mode produces more correct output than the default PDF mode. By default, the input is formatted by groff using the PostScript device, then it is transformed into the PDF file format using gs(1), or ps2pdf(1). If that's not possible, the PostScript mode (ps) is used instead. Finally it is displayed using different viewer programs.

ps Display formatted input in a PostScript viewer program. By default, the formatted input is displayed in one of many viewer programs.

text Format in a groff text mode and write the result to standard output without a pager or viewer program. The text device, latin1 by default, can be chosen with option -T.

tty Format in a groff text mode and write the result to standard output using a text pager program, even when in the X Window System.

www Equivalent to --mode=html.

x Display the formatted input in a native roff viewer. By default, the formatted input is displayed with the gxditview(1) program being distributed together with groff. But the legacy X Window System application xditview(1) can also be chosen with the option --viewer. The default resolution is 75dpi, but 100dpi are also possible. The default groff device for the resolution of 75dpi is X75-12, for 100dpi it is X100. The corresponding groff intermediate output for the actual device is generated and the result is displayed. For a resolution of 100dpi, the default width of the geometry of the display program is chosen to 850dpi.

X Equivalent to --mode=x.

xhtml Translate the input into XHTML format, which is an XML version of HTML. Then display the result in a web browser program, mostly the known HTML viewers.

The following modes do not use the groffer viewing features. They are only interesting for advanced applications.

groff Generate device output with plain groff without using the special viewing features of groffer. If no device was specified by option -T the groff default ps is assumed.

source Output the roff source code of the input files without further processing.

--pdf Equivalent to --mode=pdf. --pdf2 Equivalent to --mode=pdf2.

--ps Equivalent to --mode=ps. Common PostScript viewers include okular(1), evince(1), gv(1), ghostview(1), and gs(1), In each case, arguments can be provided additionally.

--source Equivalent to --mode=source.

--text Equivalent to --mode=text.

--to-stdout The file for the chosen mode is generated and its content is printed to standard output. It will not be displayed in graphical mode.

--tty Equivalent to --mode=tty. The standard pager is less(1). This option is equivalent to man option --pager=prog. The option argument can be a file name or a program to be searched in $PATH; arguments can be provided additionally.

--viewer prog Choose a viewer program for actual device or mode. This can be a file name or a program to be searched in $PATH; arguments can be provided additionally.

--www Equivalent to --mode=html.

--X | --x Equivalent to --mode=x. Suitable viewer programs are gxditview(1) which is the default and xditview(1).

-- Signals the end of option processing; all remaining arguments are interpreted as filespec parameters.

Besides these, groffer accepts all short options that are valid for the groff(1) program. All non-groffer options are sent unmodified via grog to groff. So postprocessors, macro packages, compatibility with classical troff, and much more can be manually specified.

Options related to groff All short options of groffer are compatible with the short options of groff(1). The following of groff options have either an additional special meaning within groffer or make sense for normal usage.

Because of the special outputting behavior of the groff option -Z groffer was designed to be switched into groff mode; the groffer viewing features are disabled there. The other groff options do not switch the mode, but allow to customize the formatting process.

--a This generates an ASCII approximation of output in the text modes. That could be important when the text pager has problems with control sequences in tty mode.

--m file Add file as a groff macro file. This is useful in case it cannot be recognized automatically.

--P opt_or_arg Send the argument opt_or_arg as an option or option argument to the actual groff postprocessor.

--T devname | --device devname This option determines groff's output device. The most important devices are the text output devices for referring to the different character sets, such as ascii, utf8, latin1, utf8, and others. Each of these arguments switches groffer into a text mode using this device, to mode tty if the actual mode is not a text mode. The following devname arguments are mapped to the corresponding groffer --mode=devname option: dvi, html, xhtml, and ps. All X* arguments are mapped to mode x. Each other devname argument switches to mode groff using this device.

--X is equivalent to groff -X. It displays the groff intermediate output with gxditview. As the quality is relatively bad this option is deprecated; use --X instead because the x mode uses an X* device for a better display.

-Z | --intermediate-output | --ditroff Switch into groff mode and format the input with the groff intermediate output without postprocessing; see groff_out(5). This is equivalent to option --ditroff of man, which can be used as well.

All other groff options are supported by groffer, but they are just transparently transferred to groff without any intervention. The options that are not explicitly handled by groffer are transparently passed to groff. Therefore these transparent options are not documented here, but in groff(1). Due to the automatism in groffer, none of these groff options should be needed, except for advanced usage.

Options for man pages --apropos Start the apropos(1) command or facility of man(1) for searching the filespec arguments within all man page descriptions. Each filespec argument is taken for search as it is; section specific parts are not handled, such that 7 groff searches for the two arguments 7 and groff, with a large result; for the filespec groff.7 nothing will be found. The language locale is handled only when the called programs do support this; the GNU apropos and man -k do not. The display differs from the apropos program by the following concepts:

* Construct a groff frame similar to a man page to the output of apropos,

* each filespec argument is searched on its own.

* The restriction by --sections is handled as well,

* wildcard characters are allowed and handled without a further option.

--apropos-data Show only the apropos descriptions for data documents, these are the man(7) sections 4, 5, and 7. Direct section declarations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.

--apropos-devel Show only the apropos descriptions for development documents, these are the man(7) sections 2, 3, and 9. Direct section declarations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.

--apropos-progs Show only the apropos descriptions for documents on programs, these are the man(7) sections 1, 6, and 8. Direct section declarations are ignored, wildcards are accepted.

--whatis For each filespec argument search all man pages and display their description — or say that it is not a man page. This is written from anew, so it differs from man's whatis output by the following concepts

* each retrieved file name is added,

* local files are handled as well,

* the language and system locale is supported,

* the display is framed by a groff output format similar to a man page,

* wildcard characters are allowed without a further option.

The following options were added to groffer for choosing whether the file name arguments are interpreted as names for local files or as a search pattern for man pages. The default is looking up for local files.

--man Check the non-option command-line arguments (filespecs) first on being man pages, then whether they represent an existing file. By default, a filespec is first tested whether it is an existing file.

--no-man | --local-file Do not check for man pages. --local-file is the corresponding man option.

--no-special Disable former calls of --all, --apropos*, and --whatis.

Long options taken over from GNU man The long options of groffer were synchronized with the long options of GNU man. All long options of GNU man are recognized, but not all of these options are important to groffer, so most of them are just ignored. These ignored man options are --catman, --troff, and --update.

In the following, the man options that have a special meaning for groffer are documented.

If your system has GNU man installed the full set of long and short options of the GNU man program can be passed via the environment variable MANOPT; see man(1).

--all In searching man pages, retrieve all suitable documents instead of only one.

-7 | --ascii In text modes, display ASCII translation of special characters for critical environment. This is equivalent to groff -mtty_char; see groff_tmac(5).

--ditroff Produce groff intermediate output. This is equivalent to groffer -Z.

--extension suffix Restrict man page search to file names that have suffix appended to their section element. For example, in the file name /usr/share/man/man3/terminfo.3ncurses.gz the man page extension is ncurses.

--locale language Set the language for man pages. This has the same effect, but overwrites $LANG.

--location Print the location of the retrieved files to standard error.

--no-location Do not display the location of retrieved files; this resets a former call to --location. This was added by groffer.

--manpath 'dir1:dir2:...' Use the specified search path for retrieving man pages instead of the program defaults. If the argument is set to the empty string "" the search for man page is disabled.

--pager Set the pager program in tty mode; default is less. This can be set with --viewer.

--sections sec1:sec2:... Restrict searching for man pages to the given sections, a colon-separated list.

--systems sys1,sys2,... Search for man pages for the given operating systems; the argument systems is a comma-separated list.

--where Equivalent to --location.

X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics options The following long options were adapted from the corresponding X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics options. groffer will pass them to the actual viewer program if it is an X Window System program. Otherwise these options are ignored.

Unfortunately these options use the old style of a single minus for long options. For groffer that was changed to the standard with using a double minus for long options, for example, groffer uses the option --font for the X Window System Toolkit Intrinsics option -font.

See X(7) and the manual X Toolkit Intrinsics – C Language Interface for more details on these options and their arguments.

--background color Set the background color of the viewer window.

--bd pixels This is equivalent to --bordercolor.

--bg color This is equivalent to --background.

--bw pixels This is equivalent to --borderwidth.

--bordercolor pixels Specifies the color of the border surrounding the viewer window.

--borderwidth pixels Specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding the viewer window.

--display X-display Set the X Window System display on which the viewer program shall be started. See section 'Display Names' in X(7) for the syntax of the argument.

--foreground color Set the foreground color of the viewer window.

--fg color This is equivalent to --foreground.

--fn font_name This is equivalent to --font.

--font font_name Set the font used by the viewer window. The argument is an X Window System font name.

--ft font_name This is equivalent to --font.

--geometry size_pos Set the geometry of the display window, that means its size and its starting position. See section 'Geometry Specifications' in X(7) for the syntax of the argument.

--resolution value Set X Window System resolution in dpi (dots per inch) in some viewer programs. The only supported dpi values are 75 and 100. Actually, the default resolution for groffer is set to 75dpi. The resolution also sets the default device in mode x.

--rv Reverse foreground and background color of the viewer window.

--title 'some text' Set the title for the viewer window.

--xrm 'resource' Set the X Window System server resource to the given value.

Options for development --debug Enable all debugging options --debug-type. The temporary files are kept and not deleted, the grog output is printed, the name of the temporary directory is printed, the displayed file names are printed, and the parameters are printed.

--debug-filenames Print the names of the files and man pages that are displayed by groffer.

--debug-grog Print the output of all grog commands.

--debug-keep Enable two debugging informations. Print the name of the temporary directory and keep the temporary files, do not delete them during the run of groffer.

--debug-params Print the parameters, as obtained from the configuration files, from GROFFER_OPT, and the command-line arguments.

--debug-tmpdir Print the name of the temporary directory.

--do-nothing This is like --version, but without the output; no viewer is started. This makes only sense in development.

--print=text Just print the argument to standard error. This is good for parameter check.

-V This is an advanced option for debugging only. Instead of displaying the formatted input, a lot of groffer specific information is printed to standard output:

* the output file name in the temporary directory,

* the display mode of the actual groffer run,

* the display program for viewing the output with its arguments,

* the active parameters from the config files, the arguments in GROFFER_OPT, and the arguments of the command line,

* the pipeline that would be run by the groff program, but without executing it.

Other useful debugging options are the groff option -Z and --mode=groff.

Filespec arguments A filespec parameter is an argument that is not an option or option argument. In groffer, filespec parameters are a file name or a template for searching man pages. These input sources are collected and composed into a single output file such as groff does.

The strange POSIX behavior to regard all arguments behind the first non-option argument as filespec arguments is ignored. The GNU behavior to recognize options even when mixed with filespec arguments is used throughout. But, as usual, the double minus argument -- ends the option handling and interprets all following arguments as filespec arguments; so the POSIX behavior can be easily adopted.

The options --apropos* have a special handling of filespec arguments. Each argument is taken as a search scheme of its own. Also a regexp (regular expression) can be used in the filespec. For example, groffer --apropos '^gro.f$' searches groff in the man page name, while groffer --apropos groff searches groff somewhere in the name or description of the man pages.

All other parts of groffer, such as the normal display or the output with --whatis have a different scheme for filespecs. No regular expressions are used for the arguments. The filespec arguments are handled by the following scheme.

It is necessary to know that on each system the man pages are sorted according to their content into several sections. The classical man sections have a single-character name, either a digit from 1 to 9 or one of the characters n or o.

This can optionally be followed by a string, the so-called extension. The extension allows the storage of several man pages with the same name in the same section. But the extension is only rarely used; usually it is omitted. Then the extensions are searched automatically by alphabet.

In the following, we use the name section_extension for a word that consists of a single character section name or a section character that is followed by an extension. Each filespec parameter can have one of the following forms in decreasing sequence.

* No filespec parameters means that groffer waits for standard input. The minus option - always stands for standard input; it can occur several times. If you want to look up a man page called - use the argument man:-.

* Next a filespec is tested whether it is the path name of an existing file. Otherwise it is assumed to be a searching pattern for a man page.

* man:name(section_extension), man:name.section_extension, name(section_extension), or name.section_extension search the man page name in man section and possibly extension of section_extension.

* Now man:name searches for a man page in the lowest man section that has a document called name.

* section_extension name is a pattern of 2 arguments that originates from a strange argument parsing of the man program. Again, this searches the man page name with section_extension, a combination of a section character optionally followed by an extension.

* We are left with the argument name which is not an existing file. So this searches for the man page called name in the lowest man section that has a document for this name.

Several file name arguments can be supplied. They are mixed by groff into a single document. Note that the set of option arguments must fit to all of these file arguments. So they should have at least the same style of the groff language.