xref: /freebsd/share/doc/usd/22.trofftut/tt01 (revision 02e9120893770924227138ba49df1edb3896112a)
Hey, Emacs, edit this file in -*- nroff-fill -*- mode!
This module is believed to contain source code proprietary to AT&T.
Use and redistribution is subject to the Berkeley Software License
Agreement and your Software Agreement with AT&T (Western Electric).
Copyright (C) Caldera International Inc. 2001-2002. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

Redistributions of source code and documentation must retain the above
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
disclaimer.

Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
must display the following acknowledgement:

This product includes software developed or owned by Caldera
International, Inc. Neither the name of Caldera International, Inc.
nor the names of other contributors may be used to endorse or promote
products derived from this software without specific prior written
permission.

USE OF THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED FOR UNDER THIS LICENSE BY CALDERA
INTERNATIONAL, INC. AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL CALDERA INTERNATIONAL, INC. BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR
BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY,
WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE
OR OTHERWISE) RISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN
IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.


Introduction .tr ^.

troff [1] is a text-formatting program, written originally by J. F. Ossanna, for producing high-quality printed output from the phototypesetter on the C UNIX operating system. This document is an example of troff output.

The single most important rule of using troff is not to use it directly, but through some intermediary. In many ways, troff resembles an assembly language _ a remarkably powerful and flexible one _ but nonetheless such that many operations must be specified at a level of detail and in a form that is too hard for most people to use effectively.

For two special applications, there are programs that provide an interface to troff for the majority of users. eqn [2] provides an easy to learn language for typesetting mathematics; the eqn user need know no troff whatsoever to typeset mathematics. tbl [3] provides the same convenience for producing tables of arbitrary complexity.

For producing straight text (which may well contain mathematics or tables), there are a number of `macro packages' that define formatting rules and operations for specific styles of documents, and reduce the amount of direct contact with troff . In particular, the `-ms' [4], PWB/MM [5], and `-me' [6] packages for internal memoranda and external papers provide most of the facilities needed for a wide range of document preparation.\(dg .FS \(dg Most Berkeley Unix sites only have -ms and -me. .FE (This memo was prepared with `-ms'.) There are also packages for viewgraphs, for simulating the older roff formatters, and for other special applications. Typically you will find these packages easier to use than troff once you get beyond the most trivial operations; you should always consider them first.

In the few cases where existing packages don't do the whole job, the solution is .ul not to write an entirely new set of troff instructions from scratch, but to make small changes to adapt packages that already exist. .WS

In accordance with this philosophy of letting someone else do the work, the part of troff described here is only a small part of the whole, although it tries to concentrate on the more useful parts. In any case, there is no attempt to be complete. Rather, the emphasis is on showing how to do simple things, and how to make incremental changes to what already exists. The contents of the remaining sections are:

\02. Point sizes and line spacing
\03. Fonts and special characters
\04. Indents and line length
\05. Tabs
\06. Local motions: Drawing lines and characters
\07. Strings
\08. Introduction to macros
\09. Titles, pages and numbering
10. Number registers and arithmetic
11. Macros with arguments
12. Conditionals
13. Environments
14. Diversions
 Appendix: Typesetter character set
The troff described here is the C-language version supplied with C UNIX Version 7 and 32V as documented in [1]. .WS

To use troff you have to prepare not only the actual text you want printed, but some information that tells .ul how you want it printed. (Readers who use roff will find the approach familiar.) For troff the text and the formatting information are often intertwined quite intimately. Most commands to troff are placed on a line separate from the text itself, beginning with a period (one command per line). For example,

1 Some text. ^ps 14 Some more text.

2 will change the `point size', that is, the size of the letters being printed, to `14 point' (one point is 1/72 inch) like this:

1

Some text. Some more text.

2

Occasionally, though, something special occurs in the middle of a line _ to produce

1 Area = \(*pr\|\s8\u2\d\s0

2 you have to type

1 Area = \e(*p\efIr\efR\e\^|\^\es8\eu2\ed\es0

2 (which we will explain shortly). The backslash character \e is used to introduce troff commands and special characters within a line of text.