groff(1) — Linux manual page

Name | Synopsis | Description | Options | Usage | Exit status | Environment | Examples | Limitations | Installation directories | Availability | Authors | See also | COLOPHON

groff(1)                 General Commands Manual                groff(1)

Name         top

       groff - front end to the GNU roff document formatting system

Synopsis         top

       groff [-abcCeEgGijklNpRsStUVXzZ] [-d ctext] [-d string=text]
             [-D fallback-encoding] [-f font-family] [-F font-directory]
             [-I inclusion-directory] [-K input-encoding] [-L spooler-
             argument] [-m macro-package] [-M macro-directory] [-n page-
             number] [-o page-list] [-P postprocessor-argument]
             [-r cnumeric-expression] [-r register=numeric-expression]
             [-T output-device] [-w warning-category] [-W warning-
             category] [file ...]

       groff -h

       groff --help

       groff -v [option ...] [file ...]

       groff --version [option ...] [file ...]

Description         top

       groff is the primary front end to the GNU roff document
       formatting system.  GNU roff is a typesetting system that reads
       plain text input files that include formatting commands to
       produce output in PostScript, PDF, HTML, or other formats, or for
       display to a terminal.  Formatting commands can be low-level
       typesetting primitives, macros from a supplied package, or user-
       defined macros.  All three approaches can be combined.  If no
       file operands are specified, or if file is “-”, groff reads the
       standard input stream.

       A reimplementation and extension of the typesetter from AT&T
       Unix, groff is present on most POSIX systems owing to its long
       association with Unix manuals (including man pages).  It and its
       predecessor are notable for their production of several best-
       selling software engineering texts.  groff is capable of
       producing typographically sophisticated documents while consuming
       minimal system resources.

       The groff command orchestrates the execution of preprocessors,
       the transformation of input documents into a device-independent
       page description language, and the production of output from that
       language.

Options         top

       -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 in GNU troff or are
       interpreted differently by groff.

       -D enc Use enc as preconv(1)'s fallback input encoding; 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 -g
              and -s.  groff passes -I options and their arguments to
              soelim(1), troff(1), and output drivers; with the option
              letter changed to -M, the same arguments are passed to
              grn(1).

       -j     Run chem(1) preprocessor; implies -p.

       -k     Run preconv(1) preprocessor.  Refer to its man 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.  If multiple args are
              required, pass each with a separate -L option.  groff does
              not prefix an option dash to arg before passing it to the
              spooler.

       -M     Works as troff's option (see below), but is also passed to
              eqn(1), grap(1), and grn(1).

       -N     Prohibit newlines between eqn delimiters: pass -N to
              eqn(1).

       -p     Run pic(1) preprocessor.

       -P arg Pass arg to the postprocessor.  If multiple args are
              required, pass each with a separate -P option.  groff does
              not prefix an option dash to arg before passing it to the
              postprocessor.

       -R     Run refer(1) preprocessor.  No mechanism is provided for
              passing arguments to it; most refer options have
              equivalent language elements that can be specified within
              the document.

       -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 Prepare output for device dev.  groff passes the -T option
              and its argument to troff, then (unless the -Z option is
              used) runs an output driver to convert troff's output to a
              form appropriate for dev; see subsection “Output devices”
              below.

       -U     Operate in unsafe mode.  groff passes the -U option to pic
              and troff.

       --version
       -v     Write version information for groff and 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 groff would run to the standard
              output stream and exit.  If given more than once, groff
              both writes the pipeline to the standard error stream and
              runs it.

       -X     Use gxditview(1) instead of the usual postprocessor to
              (pre)view a document on an X11 display.  Combining this
              option with “-T ps” uses the font metrics of the
              PostScript device, whereas the “-T X75”, “-T X75-12” “-T
              X100”, and “-T X100-12” options use the metrics of X11
              fonts.

       -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 ctext
       -d string=text
              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 mac Read macro package mac before input files.  groff passes
              -m options and their arguments to eqn(1), grap(1), grn(1).

       -M dir Search directory dir for macro files.  groff passes -M
              options and their arguments to eqn(1), grap(1), grn(1).

       -n num Begin numbering pages at num.

       -o list
              Output only pages in list.

       -r cnumeric-expression
       -r register=numeric-expression
              Define register.

       -w cat
       -W cat Enable and inhibit, respectively, warnings in category
              cat.

       -z     Suppress formatted device-independent output of troff.

Usage         top

       The architecture of the GNU roff system follows that of other
       device-independent roff implementations, comprising
       preprocessors, macro packages, output drivers (or
       “postprocessors”), and a suite of utilities, with the formatter
       program troff at its heart.  See roff(7) for a survey of how a
       roff system works.

       The front end programs available in the GNU roff system make it
       easier to use than traditional roffs that required the
       construction of pipelines or use of temporary files to carry a
       source document from maintainable form to device-ready output.
       The discussion below summarizes the constituent parts of the GNU
       roff system.  It complements roff(7) with groff-specific
       information.

   Getting started
       Those who prefer to learn by experimenting or are desirous of
       rapid feedback from the system may wish to start with a “Hello,
       world!” document.

       $ echo "Hello, world!" | groff -Tascii | sed '/^$/d'
       Hello, world!

       We used a sed command only to eliminate the 65 blank lines that
       would otherwise flood the terminal screen.  (roff systems were
       developed in the days of paper-based terminals with 66 lines to a
       page.)

       Today's users may prefer output to a UTF-8-capable terminal.

       $ echo "Hello, world!" | groff -Tutf8 | sed '/^$/d'

       Producing PDF, HTML, or TeX's DVI is also straightforward.  The
       hard part may be selecting a viewer program for the output.

       $ echo "Hello, world!" | groff -Tpdf > hello.pdf
       $ evince hello.pdf
       $ echo "Hello, world!" | groff -Thtml > hello.html
       $ firefox hello.html
       $ echo "Hello, world!" | groff -Tdvi > hello.dvi
       $ xdvi hello.dvi

   Using groff as a REPL
       Those with a programmer's bent may be pleased to know that they
       can use groff in a read-evaluate-print loop (REPL).  Doing so can
       be handy to verify one's understanding of the formatter's
       behavior and/or the syntax it accepts.  Turning on all warnings
       with -ww can aid this goal.

       $ groff -ww -Tutf8
       \# This is a comment. Let's define a register.
       .nr a 1
       \# Do integer arithmetic with operators evaluated left-to-right.
       .nr b \n[a]+5/2
       \# Let's get the result on the standard error stream.
       .tm \n[b]
       3
       \# Now we'll define a string.
       .ds name Leslie\" This is another form of comment.
       .nr b (\n[a] + (7/2))
       \# Center the next two text input lines.
       .ce 2
       Hi, \*[name].
       Your secret number is \n[b].
       \# We will see that the division rounded toward zero.
       It is
       \# Here's an if-else control structure.
       .ie (\n[b] % 2) odd.
       .el even.
       \# This trick sets the page length to the current vertical
       \# position, so that blank lines don't spew when we're done.
       .pl \n[nl]u
       <Control-D>
                                  Hi, Leslie.
                           Your secret number is 4.
       It is even.

   Paper format
       troff reads the device description file DESC for the selected
       output device when it starts; page dimensions declared there are
       used if present.  groff's build process configures a default page
       format and writes it to typesetters' DESC files.  This
       installation defaults to “letter”.  If the DESC file lacks this
       information, the formatter and output driver use a page length of
       11i (inches) for compatibility with AT&T troff.  See
       groff_font(5).

       In the formatter, the pl request changes the page length, but
       macro packages often do not support alteration of the paper
       format within a document.  One might, for instance, want to
       switch between portrait and landscape orientations.  Macro
       packages lack a consistent approach to configuration of
       parameters dependent on the paper format; some, like ms, benefit
       from a preamble in the document prior to the first macro call,
       while others, like mm, instead require the specification of
       registers on the command line to configure page dimensions.

       Output drivers for typesetters also recognize command-line
       options -p to override the default page dimensions and -l to use
       landscape orientation.  The output driver's man page, such as
       grops(1), may be helpful.

       groff's “-d paper” command-line option is a convenient means of
       setting the paper format; see groff_tmac(5).  Combine it with
       appropriate -P options for the output driver, overriding its
       defaults.  The following command formats for PostScript on A4
       paper in landscape orientation.

              $ groff -T ps -d paper=a4l -P -pa4 -P -l -ms my.ms >my.ps

   Front end
       The groff program wraps troff(1), allowing one to specify
       preprocessors via command-line options and running the
       appropriate output driver for the selected output device.  This
       convenience avoids the manual construction of pipelines or
       management of temporary files required of users of traditional
       roff(7) systems.  Use grog(1) to infer an appropriate groff
       command line to format a document.

   Language
       Input to a roff system is in plain text interleaved with control
       lines and escape sequences.  The combination constitutes a
       document in one of a family of languages we also call roff; see
       roff(7) for background.  An overview of GNU roff language syntax
       and features, including lists of all supported escape sequences,
       requests, and predefined registers, can be found in groff(7).
       GNU roff extensions to the AT&T troff language, a common subset
       of roff dialects extant today, are detailed in groff_diff(7).

   Preprocessors
       A preprocessor interprets a domain-specific language that
       produces roff language output.  Frequently, such input is
       confined to sections or regions of a roff input file (bracketed
       with macro calls specific to each preprocessor), which it
       replaces.  Preprocessors therefore often interpret a subset of
       roff syntax along with their own language.  GNU roff provides
       reimplementations of most preprocessors familiar to users of AT&T
       troff; these routinely have extended features and/or require GNU
       troff to format their output.

              tbl         lays out tables;
              eqn         typesets mathematics;
              pic         draws diagrams;
              refer       processes bibliographic references;
              soelim      preprocesses “sourced” input files;
              grn         renders gremlin(1) diagrams;
              chem        draws chemical structural formulæ using pic;
              gperl       populates groff registers and strings using
                          perl(1);
              glilypond   embeds LilyPond sheet music; and
              gpinyin     eases Mandarin Chinese input using Hanyu
                          Pinyin.

       A preprocessor unique to GNU roff is preconv(1), which converts
       various input encodings to something GNU troff can understand.
       When used, it is run before any other preprocessors.

       Most preprocessors enclose content between a pair of
       characteristic tokens.  Such a token must occur at the beginning
       of an input line and use the dot control character.  Spaces and
       tabs must not follow the control character or precede the end of
       the input line.  Deviating from these rules defeats a token's
       recognition by the preprocessor.  Tokens are generally preserved
       in preprocessor output and interpreted as macro calls
       subsequently by troff.  The ideal preprocessor is not yet
       available in groff.

             ┌──────────────┬─────────────────┬────────────────┐
             │ preprocessor │ starting token  │  ending token  │
             ├──────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
             │     chem     │     .cstart     │     .cend      │
             │     eqn      │       .EQ       │      .EN       │
             │     grap     │       .G1       │      .G2       │
             │     grn      │       .GS       │      .GE       │
             │    ideal     │       .IS       │      .IE       │
             │              │                 │      .IF       │
             │     pic      │       .PS       │      .PE       │
             │              │                 │      .PF       │
             │              │                 │      .PY       │
             │    refer     │       .R1       │      .R2       │
             │     tbl      │       .TS       │      .TE       │
             ├──────────────┼─────────────────┼────────────────┤
             │  glilypond   │ .lilypond start │ .lilypond stop │
             │    gperl     │   .Perl start   │   .Perl stop   │
             │   gpinyin    │  .pinyin start  │  .pinyin stop  │
             └──────────────┴─────────────────┴────────────────┘

   Macro packages
       Macro files are roff input files designed to produce no output
       themselves but instead ease the preparation of other roff
       documents.  When a macro file is installed at a standard location
       and suitable for use by a general audience, it is termed a macro
       package.

       Macro packages can be loaded prior to any roff input documents
       with the -m option.  The GNU roff system implements most well-
       known macro packages for AT&T troff in a compatible way and
       extends them.  These have one- or two-letter names arising from
       intense practices of naming economy in early Unix culture, a
       laconic approach that led to many of the packages being
       identified in general usage with the nroff and troff option
       letter used to invoke them, sometimes to punning effect, as with
       “man” (short for “manual”), and even with the option dash, as in
       the case of the s package, much better known as ms or even -ms.

       Macro packages serve a variety of purposes.  Some are “full-
       service” packages, adopting responsibility for page layout among
       other fundamental tasks, and defining their own lexicon of macros
       for document composition; each such package stands alone and a
       given document can use at most one.

       an     is used to compose man pages in the format originating in
              Version 7 Unix (1979); see groff_man(7).  It can be
              specified on the command line as -man.

       doc    is used to compose man pages in the format originating in
              4.3BSD-Reno (1990); see groff_mdoc(7).  It can be
              specified on the command line as -mdoc.

       e      is the Berkeley general-purpose macro suite, developed as
              an alternative to AT&T's s; see groff_me(7).  It can be
              specified on the command line as -me.

       m      implements the format used by the second-generation AT&T
              macro suite for general documents, a successor to s; see
              groff_mm(7).  It can be specified on the command line as
              -mm.

       om     (invariably called “mom”) is a modern package written by
              Peter Schaffter specifically for GNU roff.  Consult the
              mom HTML manual ⟨file:///usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/
              html/mom/toc.html⟩ for extensive documentation.  She—for
              mom takes the female pronoun—can be specified on the
              command line as -mom.

       s      is the original AT&T general-purpose document format; see
              groff_ms(7).  It can be specified on the command line as
              -ms.

       Others are supplemental.  For instance, andoc is a wrapper
       package specific to GNU roff that recognizes whether a document
       uses man or mdoc format and loads the corresponding macro
       package.  It can be specified on the command line as -mandoc.  A
       man(1) librarian may use this macro file to delegate loading of
       the correct macro package; it is thus unnecessary for man itself
       to scan the contents of a document to decide the issue.

       Many macro files augment the function of the full-service
       packages, or of roff documents that do not employ such a package—
       the latter are sometimes characterized as “raw”.  These auxiliary
       packages are described, along with details of macro file naming
       and placement, in groff_tmac(5).

   Formatters
       The formatter, the program that interprets roff language input,
       is troff(1).  It provides the features of the AT&T troff and
       nroff programs as well as many extensions.  The command-line
       option -C switches troff into compatibility mode, which tries to
       emulate AT&T troff as closely as is practical to enable the
       formatting of documents written for the older system.

       A shell script, nroff(1), emulates the behavior of AT&T nroff.
       It attempts to correctly encode the output based on the locale,
       relieving the user of the need to specify an output device with
       the -T option and is therefore convenient for use with terminal
       output devices, described in the next subsection.

       GNU troff generates output in a device-independent, but not
       device-agnostic, page description language detailed in
       groff_out(5).

   Output devices
       troff output is formatted for a particular output device,
       typically specified by the -T option to the formatter or a front
       end.  If neither this option nor the GROFF_TYPESETTER environment
       variable is used, the default output device is ps.  An output
       device may be any of the following.

       ascii  for terminals using the ISO 646 1991:IRV character set and
              encoding, also known as US-ASCII.

       cp1047 for terminals using the IBM code page 1047 character set
              and encoding.

       dvi    for TeX DVI format.

       html
       xhtml  for HTML and XHTML output, respectively.

       latin1 for terminals using the ISO Latin-1 (ISO 8859-1) character
              set and encoding.

       lbp    for Canon CaPSL printers (LBP-4 and LBP-8 series laser
              printers).

       lj4    for HP LaserJet4-compatible (or other PCL5-compatible)
              printers.

       pdf    for PDF output.

       ps     for PostScript output.

       utf8   for terminals using the ISO 10646 (“Unicode”) character
              set in UTF-8 encoding.

       X75    for previewing with gxditview using 75 dpi resolution and
              a 10-point base type size.

       X75-12 for previewing with gxditview using 75 dpi resolution and
              a 12-point base type size.

       X100   for previewing with gxditview using 100 dpi resolution and
              a 10-point base type size.

       X100-12
              for previewing with gxditview using 100 dpi resolution and
              a 12-point base type size.

   Postprocessors
       Any program that interprets the output of GNU troff is a
       postprocessor.  The postprocessors provided by GNU roff are
       output drivers, which prepare a document for viewing or printing.
       Postprocessors for other purposes, such as page resequencing or
       statistical measurement of a document, are conceivable.

       An output driver supports one or more output devices, each with
       its own device description file.  A device determines its
       postprocessor with the postpro directive in its device
       description file; see groff_font(5).  The -X option overrides
       this selection, causing gxditview to serve as the output driver.

       grodvi(1)
              provides dvi.

       grohtml(1)
              provides html and xhtml.

       grolbp(1)
              provides lbp.

       grolj4(1)
              provides lj4.

       gropdf(1)
              provides pdf.

       grops(1)
              provides ps.

       grotty(1)
              provides ascii, cp1047, latin1, and utf8.

       gxditview(1)
              provides X75, X75-12, X100, and X100-12, and additionally
              can preview ps.

   Utilities
       GNU roff includes a suite of utilities.

       gdiffmk(1)
              marks differences between a pair of roff input files.

       grog(1)
              infers the groff command a document requires.

       Several utilities prepare descriptions of fonts, enabling the
       formatter to use them when producing output for a given device.

       addftinfo(1)
              adds information to AT&T troff font description files to
              enable their use with GNU troff.

       afmtodit(1)
              creates font description files for PostScript Type 1
              fonts.

       pfbtops(1)
              translates a PostScript Type 1 font in PFB (Printer Font
              Binary) format to PFA (Printer Font ASCII), which can then
              be interpreted by afmtodit.

       hpftodit(1)
              creates font description files for the HP LaserJet 4
              family of printers.

       tfmtodit(1)
              creates font description files for the TeX DVI device.

       xtotroff(1)
              creates font description files for X Window System core
              fonts.

       A trio of tools transform material constructed using roff
       preprocessor languages into graphical image files.

       eqn2graph(1)
              converts an eqn equation into a cropped image.

       grap2graph(1)
              converts a grap diagram into a cropped image.

       pic2graph(1)
              converts a pic diagram into a cropped image.

       Another set of programs works with the bibliographic data files
       used by the refer(1) preprocessor.

       indxbib(1)
              makes inverted indices for bibliographic databases,
              speeding lookup operations on them.

       lkbib(1)
              searches the databases.

       lookbib(1)
              interactively searches the databases.

Exit status         top

       groff exits with a failure status if there was a problem parsing
       its arguments and a successful status if either of the options -h
       or --help was specified.  Otherwise, groff runs a pipeline to
       process its input; if all commands within the pipeline exit
       successfully, groff does likewise.  If not, groff's exit status
       encodes a summary of problems encountered, setting bit 0 if a
       command exited with a failure status, bit 1 if a command was
       terminated with a signal, and bit 2 if a command could not be
       executed.  (Thus, if all three misfortunes befell one's pipeline,
       groff would exit with status 2^0 + 2^1 + 2^2 = 1+2+4 = 7.)  To
       troubleshoot pipeline problems, you may wish to re-run the groff
       command with the -V option and break the reported pipeline down
       into separate stages, inspecting the exit status of and
       diagnostic messages emitted by each command.

Environment         top

       Environment variables in the host system affect the behavior of
       programs supplied by groff as follows.  Normally, the path
       separator in environment variables ending with PATH is the colon;
       this may vary depending on the operating system.  For example,
       Windows uses a semicolon instead.

       GROFF_BIN_PATH
              Locate groff commands in these directories, followed by
              those in PATH.  If not set, the installation directory of
              GNU roff executables, /usr/local/bin, is searched before
              PATH.

       GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX
              Apply a prefix to certain GNU roff commands.  groff can be
              configured at compile time to apply a prefix to the names
              of programs it provides that had counterparts in AT&T
              troff, so that name collisions are avoided at run time.
              The default prefix is empty.

              When used, this prefix is conventionally the letter “g”.
              For example, GNU troff would be installed as gtroff.
              Besides troff, the prefix applies to the formatter wrapper
              nroff; the preprocessors eqn, grn, pic, refer, tbl, and
              soelim; and the utilities indxbib and lookbib.

       GROFF_ENCODING
              Specify the assumed character encoding of input files.
              groff passes its value as an argument to preconv(1)
              preprocessor's -e option.  This variable's existence
              implies the groff option -k.  If set but empty, groff runs
              preconv without an -e option.  groff's -K option overrides
              GROFF_ENCODING.

       GROFF_FONT_PATH
              Seek the selected output device's directory of device and
              font description files in this list of directories.  See
              troff(1) and groff_font(5).

       GROFF_TMAC_PATH
              Seek macro packages in this list of directories.  See
              troff(1) and groff_tmac(5).

       GROFF_TMPDIR
              Create temporary files in this directory.  If not set, but
              TMPDIR is, the latter is used instead.  On Windows
              systems, if neither of the foregoing are set, the
              environment variables TMP and TEMP (in that order) are
              checked also.  Otherwise, temporary files are created in
              /tmp.  The refer(1), grohtml(1), and grops(1) commands use
              temporary files.

       GROFF_TYPESETTER
              Set the default output device.  If empty or not set, ps is
              used.  The -T option overrides GROFF_TYPESETTER.

       SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
              Declare a time stamp (expressed as seconds since the Unix
              epoch) to use as the output creation time stamp in place
              of the current time.  The time is converted to human-
              readable form using gmtime(3) and asctime(3) when the
              formatter starts up and stored in registers usable by
              documents and macro packages.

       TZ     Declare the time zone to use when converting the current
              time to human-readable form; see tzset(3).  If
              SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH is used, it is always converted to
              human-readable form using UTC.

Examples         top

       roff systems are best known for formatting man pages.  A man(1)
       librarian program, having located a page, might render it with a
       groff command.
              groff -t -man -Tutf8 /usr/share/man/man1/groff.1
       The librarian will also pipe the output through a pager, which
       might not interpret terminal escape sequences groff emits for
       boldface, underlining, italics, or hyperlinking; see section
       “Limitations” below.

       To process a roff input file using the preprocessors tbl and pic
       and the me macro package in the way to which AT&T troff users
       were accustomed, one would type (or script) a pipeline.

              pic foo.me | tbl | troff -me -Tutf8 | grotty

       Shorten this pipeline to an equivalent command using groff.

              groff -p -t -me -T utf8 foo.me

       An even easier way to do this is to use grog(1) to guess the
       preprocessor and macro options and execute the result by using
       the command substitution feature of the shell.

              $(grog -Tutf8 foo.me)

       Each command-line option to a postprocessor must be specified
       with any required leading dashes “-” because groff passes the
       arguments as-is to the postprocessor; this permits arbitrary
       arguments to be transmitted.  For example, to pass a title to the
       gxditview postprocessor, the shell commands
              groff -X -P -title -P 'trial run' mydoc.t
       and
              groff -X -Z mydoc.t | gxditview -title 'trial run' -
       are equivalent.

Limitations         top

       When paging output for the ascii, cp1047, latin1, and utf8
       devices, programs like more(1) and less(1) may require command-
       line options to correctly handle some terminal escape sequences;
       see grotty(1).

       On EBCDIC hosts such as OS/390 Unix, the output devices ascii and
       latin1 aren't available.  Conversely, the output device cp1047 is
       not available on systems based on the ISO 646 or ISO 8859
       character encoding standards.

Installation directories         top

       GNU roff installs files in varying locations depending on its
       compile-time configuration.  On this installation, the following
       locations are used.

       /usr/local/bin
              Directory containing groff's executable commands.

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/eign
              List of common words for indxbib(1).

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0
              Directory for data files.

       /usr/dict/papers/Ind
              Default index for lkbib(1) and refer(1).

       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0
              Documentation directory.

       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/examples
              Example directory.

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/font
              Font directory.

       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/html
              HTML documentation directory.

       /usr/lib/font
              Legacy font directory.

       /usr/local/share/groff/site-font
              Local font directory.

       /usr/local/share/groff/site-tmac
              Local macro package (tmac file) directory.

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac
              Macro package (tmac file) directory.

       /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/oldfont
              Font directory for compatibility with old versions of
              groff; see grops(1).

       /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/pdf
              PDF documentation directory.

   groff macro directory
       Most macro files supplied with GNU roff are stored in /usr/local/
       share/groff/1.23.0/tmac for the installation corresponding to
       this document.  As a rule, multiple directories are searched for
       macro files; see troff(1).  For a catalog of macro files GNU roff
       provides, see groff_tmac(5).

   groff device and font description directory
       Device and font description files supplied with GNU roff are
       stored in /usr/local/share/groff/1.23.0/font for the installation
       corresponding to this document.  As a rule, multiple directories
       are searched for device and font description files; see troff(1).
       For the formats of these files, see groff_font(5).

Availability         top

       Obtain links to groff releases for download, its source
       repository, discussion mailing lists, a support ticket tracker,
       and further information from the groff page of the GNU website 
       ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff⟩.

       A free implementation of the grap preprocessor, written by Ted
       Faber ⟨[email protected]⟩, can be found at the grap website 
       ⟨http://www.lunabase.org/~faber/Vault/software/grap/⟩.  groff
       supports only this grap.

Authors         top

       groff (both the front-end command and the overall system) was
       primarily written by James Clark ⟨[email protected]⟩.  Contributors
       to this document include Clark, Trent A. Fisher, Werner Lemberg
       ⟨[email protected]⟩, Bernd Warken ⟨[email protected]⟩, and G.
       Branden Robinson ⟨[email protected]⟩.

See also         top

       Groff: The GNU Implementation of troff, by Trent A. Fisher and
       Werner Lemberg, is the primary groff manual.  You can browse it
       interactively with “info groff”.

       A list of all groff man pages follows.  A few (grohtml, gropdf,
       gxditview, and xtotroff) will be unavailable if their
       corresponding programs were disabled during compilation.

       Introduction, history, and further reading:
              roff(7)

       Viewer for groff (and AT&T device-independent troff) documents:
              gxditview(1)

       Preprocessors:
              chem(1), eqn(1), neqn(1), glilypond(1), grn(1),
              preconv(1), gperl(1), pic(1), gpinyin(1), refer(1),
              soelim(1), tbl(1)

       Macro packages and package-specific utilities:
              groff_hdtbl(7), groff_man(7), groff_man_style(7),
              groff_mdoc(7), groff_me(7), groff_mm(7), groff_mmse(7),
              mmroff(1), groff_mom(7), groff_ms(7), groff_rfc1345(7),
              groff_trace(7), groff_www(7)

       Bibliographic database management tools:
              indxbib(1), lkbib(1), lookbib(1)

       Language, conventions, and GNU extensions:
              groff(7), groff_char(7), groff_diff(7), groff_font(5),
              groff_tmac(5)

       Device-independent output language:
              groff_out(5)

       Formatter program:
              troff(1)

       Formatter wrappers:
              nroff(1), pdfmom(1), pdfroff(1)

       Postprocessors for output devices:
              grodvi(1), grohtml(1), grolbp(1), grolj4(1), gropdf(1),
              grops(1), grotty(1)

       Font support utilities:
              addftinfo(1), afmtodit(1), hpftodit(1), pfbtops(1),
              tfmtodit(1), xtotroff(1)

       Graphics conversion utilities:
              eqn2graph(1), grap2graph(1), pic2graph(1)

       Difference-marking utility:
              gdiffmk(1)

       “groff guess” utility:
              grog(1)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the groff (GNU troff) project.  Information
       about the project can be found at 
       ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩.
       This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/groff.git⟩ on 2024-06-14.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2024-06-10.)  If you discover any rendering
       problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
       is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
       corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
       (which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       [email protected]

groff 1.23.0.1273-9d53-dirty   6 June 2024                      groff(1)

Pages that refer to this page: man(1)zsoelim(1)suffixes(7)