The usage of groffer is very easy. Usually, it is just called
with a file name or man page. The following examples, however,
show that groffer has much more fancy capabilities.
sh# groffer /usr/local/share/doc/groff/meintro.ms.gz
Decompress, format and display the compressed file meintro.ms.gz
in the directory /usr/local/share/doc/groff, using the standard
viewer gxditview as graphical viewer when in the X Window System,
or the less(1) pager program otherwise.
sh# groffer groff
If the file ./groff exists use it as input. Otherwise interpret
the argument as a search for the man page named groff in the
smallest possible man section, being section 1 in this case.
sh# groffer man:groff
search for the man page of groff even when the file ./groff
exists.
sh# groffer groff.7
sh# groffer 7 groff
search the man page of groff in man section 7. This section
search works only for a digit or a single character from a small
set.
sh# groffer fb.modes
If the file ./fb.modes does not exist interpret this as a search
for the man page of fb.modes. As the extension modes is not a
single character in classical section style the argument is not
split to a search for fb.
sh# groffer groff 'troff(1)' man:roff
The arguments that are not existing files are looked-up as the
following man pages: groff (automatic search, should be found in
man section 1), troff (in section 1), and roff (in the section
with the lowest number, being 7 in this case). The quotes around
'troff(1)' are necessary because the parentheses are special
shell characters; escaping them with a backslash character \( and
\) would be possible, too. The formatted files are concatenated
and displayed in one piece.
sh# LANG=de groffer --man --viewer=galeon ls
Retrieve the German man page (language de) for the ls program,
decompress it, format it to html or xhtml format (www mode) and
view the result in the web browser galeon. The option --man
guarantees that the man page is retrieved, even when a local file
ls exists in the actual directory.
sh# groffer --source 'man:roff(7)'
Get the man page called roff in man section 7, decompress it, and
print its unformatted content, its source code.
sh# groffer --de-p --in --ap
This is a set of abbreviated arguments, it is determined as
sh# groffer --debug-params --intermediate-output --apropos
sh# cat file.gz | groffer -Z -mfoo
The file file.gz is sent to standard input, this is decompressed,
and then this is transported to the groff intermediate output
mode without post-processing (groff option -Z), using macro
package foo (groff option -m).
sh# echo '\f(CBWOW!' |
> groffer --x --bg red --fg yellow --geometry 200x100 -
Display the word WOW! in a small window in constant-width bold
font, using color yellow on red background.
