Empty line, ignored. Useful for structuring documents. Complete line is a comment. Print
string on standard error, exit program. Begin line adjustment for output lines in current adjust mode. Start line adjustment in mode
c (c=l,r,b,n). Assign format
c to
register (c=l,i,I,a,A). Create alias name for
register. Create alias name for request, string, macro, or diversion
object. Append to
macro until
.. is encountered. Append to
macro until is called. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Append to a macro whose name is contained in the string register
macro until
.. is encountered. Append to a macro indirectly.
macro and
end are string registers whose contents are interpolated for the macro name and the end macro, respectively. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Append
anything to
stringvar. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during string expansion. Unformat ASCII characters, spaces, and some escape sequences in
diversion. Print a backtrace of the input on stderr. Embolden
font by
N-1 units. Embolden Special Font
S when current font is
font. Unset the blank line macro. Set the blank line macro to
macro. End current diversion. Divert to
macro, omitting a partially filled line. End current diversion. Divert and append to
macro, omitting a partially filled line. Eject current page and begin new page. Eject current page; next page number
±N. Line break. Break and spread output line. Same as Break out of a while loop. Reset no-break control character to Set no-break control character to
c. Reset control character to Set control character to
c. Center the next input line. Center following
N input lines. Copy contents of file
filename unprocessed to stdout or to the diversion. Treat characters
c1, c2, ... according to
mode number. Change
trap location to
N. Define character
c as string
anything. Chop the last character off macro, string, or diversion
object. Close the
stream. Enable colors. If
N is zero disable colors, otherwise enable them. Map glyph name
from to glyph name
to while constructing a composite glyph name. Finish the current iteration of a while loop. Enable compatibility mode. If
N is zero disable compatibility mode, otherwise enable it. Set constant character width mode for
font to
N/36 ems with em
M. Continuous underline in nroff, like in troff. End current diversion. Divert and append to
macro. Define or redefine
macro until
.. is encountered. Define or redefine
macro until is called. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Define or redefine a color with name
color. scheme can be
rgb, cym, cymk, gray, or
grey. component can be single components specified as fractions in the range 0 to 1 (default scaling indicator as a string of two-digit hexadecimal color components with a leading
#, or as a string of four-digit hexadecimal components with two leading
#. The color
default can't be redefined. Define or redefine a macro whose name is contained in the string register
macro until
.. is encountered. Define or redefine a macro indirectly.
macro and
end are string registers whose contents are interpolated for the macro name and the end macro, respectively. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during macro expansion. End current diversion. Divert to
macro. Interpret with compatibility mode disabled. Set
stringvar to
anything. Same as but with compatibility mode switched off during string expansion. Set diversion trap to position
N (default scaling indicator Reset escape character to Set escape character to
c. Restore escape character saved with Save current escape character. Else part for if-else ( request. The
macro will be run after the end of input. Turn off escape character mechanism. Switch to previous environment. Push down environment number or name
env and switch to it. Copy the contents of environment
env to the current environment. No pushing or popping. Exit from roff processing. Return to previous font family. Set the current font family to
name. Disable field mechanism. Set field delimiter to
a and pad character to space. Set field delimiter to
a and pad character to
b. Define fallback character
c as string
anything. Set fill color to previous fill color. Set fill color to
c. Fill output lines. Flush output buffer. Mount
font on position
n. Mount font with long
external name to short
internal name on position
n. Define fallback character
c for font
f as string
anything. Reset list of special fonts for
font to be empty. When the current font is
font, then the fonts
s1, s2, ... will be special. Return to previous font. Same as or Change to font name or number
font; same as escape sequence. Translate
font1 to
font2. Set glyph color to previous glyph color. Set glyph color to
c. Remove additional hyphenation indicator character. Set up additional hyphenation indicator character
c. Set the hyphenation code of character
c1 to
code1, that of
c2 to
code2, etc. Set the current hyphenation language to
lang. Set the maximum number of consecutive hyphenated lines to
n. Read hyphenation patterns from
file. Append hyphenation patterns from
file. Set input mapping for List of
words with exceptional hyphenation. Switch to hyphenation mode
N. Set the hyphenation margin to
n (default scaling indicator Set the hyphenation space to
n. If
cond then
anything else goto If
cond then
anything; otherwise do nothing. Ignore text until
.. is encountered. Ignore text until Change to previous indent value. Change indent according to
±N (default scaling indicator Set an input-line count trap for the next
N lines. Same as but count lines interrupted with as one line. Enable pairwise kerning. If
n is zero, disable pairwise kerning, otherwise enable it. Remove leader repetition character. Set leader repetition character to
c. Write the length of the string
anything in
register. Enable line-tabs mode (i.e., calculate tab positions relative to output line). If
n is zero, disable line-tabs mode, otherwise enable it. Set input line number to
N. Set input line number to
N and filename to
file. Ligature mode on if
N>0. Change to previous line length. Set line length according to
±N (default size default scaling indicator Change to the previous value of additional intra-line skip. Set additional intra-line skip value to
N, i.e.,
N-1 blank lines are inserted after each text output line. Length of title (default scaling indicator Margin character off. Print character
c after each text line at actual distance from right margin. Set margin character to
c and distance to
N from right margin (default scaling indicator Mark current vertical position in
register. The same as the .so request except that
file is searched in the tmac directories. No output-line adjusting. Need a one-line vertical space. Need
N vertical space (default scaling indicator No filling or adjusting of output-lines. No hyphenation. Number mode off. In line number mode, set number, multiple, spacing, and indent. Do not number next line. Do not number next
N lines. Always execute
anything. Define or modify
register using
±N with auto-increment
M. Make the built-in condition
n true and
t false. Turn no-space mode on. Immediately jump to end of current file. Next file. Open for writing and associate the stream named with it. Like but append to it. Output vertical distance that was saved by the request. Emit
string directly to intermediate output, allowing leading whitespace if
string starts with (which will be stripped off). Reset page number character to Page number character. Pipe output to
program (nroff only). Set page length to default The current page length is stored in Change page length to
±N (default scaling indicator Print macro names and sizes (number of blocks of 128 bytes). Print only total of sizes of macros (number of 128 bytes blocks). Next page number
N. Print the names and contents of all currently defined number registers on stderr. Change to previous page offset. The current page offset is available in Page offset
N. Return to previous point-size. Point size; same as Get the bounding box of a PostScript image
filename. This behaves like the request except that input comes from the standard output of
command. Print the names and positions of all traps (not including input line traps and diversion traps) on stderr. Change to previous post-vertical line spacing. Change post-vertical line spacing according to
±N (default scaling indicator Remove the definitions of characters
c1, c2, ... Read insertion. Return from a macro. Return twice, namely from the macro at the current level and from the macro one level higher. Remove the definitions of characters
c1, c2, ... for font
f. Right justify the next
n input lines. Remove request, macro, or string
name. Rename request, macro, or string
old to
new. Rename register
reg1 to
reg2. Remove
register. Restore spacing; turn no-space mode off. Return
(upward only) to marked vertical place (default scaling indicator Define global fallback character
c as string
anything. Reset soft hyphen character to Set the soft hyphen character to
c. In a macro, shift the arguments by
n positions. Set available font sizes similar to the
sizes command in a
DESC file. Include source file. Skip one line vertically. Space vertical distance
N up or down according to sign of
N (default scaling indicator Reset global list of special fonts to be empty. Fonts
s1, s2, etc. are special and will be searched for characters not in the current font. Toggle the spread warning on and off without changing its value. Emit a warning if each space in an output line is widened by
limit or more (default scaling indicator Space-character size set to
N/12 of the spacewidth in the current font. Space-character size set to
N/12 and sentence space size set to
M/12 of the spacewidth in the current font (=1/3 em). Associate
style with font position
n. Replace the string named
xx with the substring defined by the indices
n1 and
n2. Save of vertical space. Save the vertical distance
N for later output with request. Execute program
command-line. Set tabs after every position that is a multiple of
N (default scaling indicator Set tabs at positions
n1, n2, nn, then set tabs at
nn+r1, nn+r2, nn+rn, then at
nn+rn+r1, nn+rn+r2, nn+rn+rn, and so on. Remove tab repition character. Set tab repetition character to
c. Temporary indent next line (default scaling indicator Enable track kerning for
font. Three-part title. Print
anything on terminal (UNIX standard message output). Print
anything on terminal (UNIX standard message output), allowing leading whitespace if
anything starts with (which will be stripped off). Similar to without emitting a final newline. Translate
a to
b, c to
d, etc. on output. Transparently output the contents of file
filename. This is the same as the request except that the
asciify request will use the character code (if any) before the character translation. This is the same as the request except that the translations do not apply to text that is transparently throughput into a diversion with Make the built-in condition
t true and
n false. Underline font set to
font (to be switched to by Underline (italicize in troff)
N input lines. Unformat space characters and tabs, preserving font information in
diversion. Enable vertical position traps if
n is non-zero, disable them otherwise. Change to previous vertical base line spacing. Set vertical base line spacing according to
±N (default scaling indicator Default value is Set warnings code to
n. Set scaling indicator used in warnings to
si. Remove (first) trap at position
N. Set location trap; negative means from page bottom. While condition
cond is true, accept
anything as input. Write
anything to the stream named
stream. Similar to without emitting a final newline. Write contents of macro or string
xx to the stream named
stream.Besides these standard groff requests, there might be further macro calls. They can originate from a macro package (see roff(7) for an overview) or from a preprocessor.
Preprocessor macros are easy to be recognized. They enclose their code into a pair of characteristic macros.
box, center, tab (@); c | c | c CfCB | CfCB | CfCB. preprocessor@start macro@ end macro = eqn@.PS@.PE grap@.G1@.G2 grn@.GS@.GE pic@.PS@.PE refer@.R1@.R2 soelim@none@none tbl@.TS@.TE