GROFF_MS(7)GROFF_MS(7)NAMEgroff_ms - groff ms macros
SYNOPSIS
groff -ms [ options... ] [ files... ]
groff -m ms [ options... ] [ files... ]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page describes the GNU version of the ms
macros, which is part of the groff document formatting
system. The groff ms macros are intended to be compatible
with the documented behaviour of the 4.3 BSD Unix ms
macros subject to the following limitations:
the internals of groff ms are not similar to the
internals of Unix ms and so documents that depend
upon implementation details of Unix ms may well not
work with groff ms;
there is no support for typewriter-like devices;
Berkeley localisms, in particular the TM and CT
macros, are not implemented;
groff ms does not provide cut marks;
multiple line spacing is not allowed (use a larger
vertical spacing instead);
groff ms does not work in compatibility mode (eg
with the -C option);
the error-handling policy of groff ms is to detect
and report errors, rather than silently to ignore
them.
The groff ms macros make use of many features of GNU troff
and therefore cannot be used with any other troff.
Bell Labs localisms are not implemented in either the BSD
ms macros or in the groff ms macros.
Some Unix ms documentation says that the CW and GW number
registers can be used to control the column width and gut
ter width respectively. This is not the case. These num
ber registers are not used in groff ms.
Macros that cause a reset set the indent. Macros that
change the indent do not increment or decrement the
indent, but rather set it absolutely. This can cause
problems for documents that define additional macros of
their own. The solution is to use not the in request but
instead the RS and RE macros.
The number register GS is set to 1 by the groff ms macros,
but is not used by the Unix ms macros. It is intended
that documents that need to determine whether they are
being formatted with Unix ms or groff ms make use of this
number register.
Footnotes are implemented so that they can safely be used
within keeps and displays. Automatically numbered
footnotes within floating keeps are not recommended. It
is safe to have another \** between a \** and the corre
sponding .FS; it is required only that each .FS occur
after the corresponding \** and that the occurrences of
.FS are in the same order as the corresponding occurrences
of \**.
The strings \*{ and \*} can be used to begin and end a
superscript.
Some Unix V10 ms features are implemented. The B, I and
BI macros can have an optional third argument which will
be printed in the current font before the first argument.
There is a macro CW like B that changes to a constant-
width font.
The following strings can be redefined to adapt the groff
ms macros to languages other than English:
String Default Value
REFERENCES References
ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
TOC Table of Contents
MONTH1 January
MONTH2 February
MONTH3 March
MONTH4 April
MONTH5 May
MONTH6 June
MONTH7 July
MONTH8 August
MONTH9 September
MONTH10 October
MONTH11 November
MONTH12 December
The font family is reset from the string FAM; at initial
ization if this string is undefined it is set to the cur
rent font family. The point size, vertical spacing, and
inter-paragraph spacing for footnotes are taken from the
number registers FPS, FVS, and FPD; at initialization
these are set to \n(PS-2, \n[FPS]+2, and \n(PD/2 respec
tively; however, if any of these registers has been
defined before initialization, it will not be set. The
hyphenation flags (as set by the .hy request) are set from
the HY register; if this has not been defined at initial
ization, it will be set to 14.
Right-aligned displays are available with .DS R and .RD.
The following conventions are used for names of macros,
strings and number registers. External names available to
documents that use the groff ms macros contain only upper
case letters and digits. Internally the macros are
divided into modules. Names used only within one module
are of the form module*name. Names used outside the mod
ule in which they are defined are of the form module@name.
Names associated with a particular environment are of the
form environment:name; these are used only within the par
module, and name does not have a module prefix. Con
structed names used to implement arrays are of the form
array!index. Thus the groff ms macros reserve the follow
ing names:
names containing *;
names containing @;
names containing :;
names containing only uppercase letters and digits.
FILES
/usr/freeware/share/groff/1.17.2/tmac/ms.tmac (a wrapper
file for s.tmac)
/usr/freeware/share/groff/1.17.2/tmac/s.tmac
SEE ALSOgroff(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1)ms(7)Groff Version 1.17.2 27 June 2001 GROFF_MS(7)
