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9718 update mandoc to 1.14.4
@@ -6,31 +6,59 @@
DESCRIPTION
This page documents the mandoc_roff(5) escape sequences accepted by
mandoc(1) to represent special characters in mdoc(5) and man(5)
documents.
- The rendering depends on the mandoc(1) output mode; in ASCII output, most
- characters are completely unintelligible. For that reason, using any of
- the special characters documented here, except those discussed in the
- DESCRIPTION, is strongly discouraged; they are supported merely for
- backwards compatibility with existing documents.
+ The rendering depends on the mandoc(1) output mode; it can be inspected
+ by calling man(1) on the mandoc_char manual page with different -T
+ arguments. In ASCII output, the rendering of some characters may be hard
+ to interpret for the reader. Many are rendered as descriptive strings
+ like "<integral>", "<degree>", or "<Gamma>", which may look ugly, and
+ many are replaced by similar ASCII characters. In particular, accented
+ characters are usually shown without the accent. For that reason, try to
+ avoid using any of the special characters documented here except those
+ discussed in the DESCRIPTION, unless they are essential for explaining
+ the subject matter at hand, for example when documenting complicated
+ mathematical functions.
In particular, in English manual pages, do not use special-character
escape sequences to represent national language characters in author
names; instead, provide ASCII transcriptions of the names.
Dashes and Hyphens
In typography there are different types of dashes of various width: the
- hyphen (-), the minus sign (-), the en-dash (-), and the em-dash (--).
+ hyphen (-), the en-dash (-), the em-dash (--), and the mathematical minus
+ sign (-).
Hyphens are used for adjectives; to separate the two parts of a compound
word; or to separate a word across two successive lines of text. The
hyphen does not need to be escaped:
blue-eyed
lorry-driver
+ The en-dash is used to separate the two elements of a range, or can be
+ used the same way as an em-dash. It should be written as `\(en':
+
+ pp. 95\(en97.
+ Go away \(en or else!
+
+ The em-dash can be used to show an interruption or can be used the same
+ way as colons, semi-colons, or parentheses. It should be written as
+ `\(em':
+
+ Three things \(em apples, oranges, and bananas.
+ This is not that \(em rather, this is that.
+
+ In mandoc_roff(5) documents, the minus sign is normally written as `\-'.
+ In manual pages, some style guides recommend to also use `\-' if an ASCII
+ 0x2d "hyphen-minus" output glyph that can be copied and pasted is desired
+ in output modes supporting it, for example in -T utf8 and -T html. But
+ currently, no practically relevant manual page formatter actually
+ requires that subtlety, so in manual pages just write plain `-' to
+ represent hyphen, minus, and hyphen-minus.
+
If a word on a text input line contains a hyphen, a formatter may decide
to insert an output line break after the hyphen if that helps filling the
current output line, but the whole word would overflow the line. If it
is important that the word is not broken across lines in this way, a
zero-width space (`\&') can be inserted before or after the hyphen.
@@ -44,33 +72,10 @@
break the line at syllable boundaries even inside words that contain no
hyphens. Such automatic hyphenation is not supported by mandoc(1), which
only breaks the line at whitespace, and inside words only after existing
hyphens.
- The mathematical minus sign is used for negative numbers or subtraction.
- It should be written as `\(mi':
-
- a = 3 \(mi 1;
- b = \(mi2;
-
- The en-dash is used to separate the two elements of a range, or can be
- used the same way as an em-dash. It should be written as `\(en':
-
- pp. 95\(en97.
- Go away \(en or else!
-
- The em-dash can be used to show an interruption or can be used the same
- way as colons, semi-colons, or parentheses. It should be written as
- `\(em':
-
- Three things \(em apples, oranges, and bananas.
- This is not that \(em rather, this is that.
-
- Note: hyphens, minus signs, and en-dashes look identical under normal
- ASCII output. Other formats, such as PostScript, render them correctly,
- with differing widths.
-
Spaces
To separate words in normal text, for indenting and alignment in literal
context, and when none of the following special cases apply, just use the
normal space character (` ').
@@ -210,12 +215,12 @@
\(bq , right low single-quote
\(lq " left double-quote
\(rq " right double-quote
\(oq ` left single-quote
\(cq ' right single-quote
- \(aq ' apostrophe quote (text)
- \(dq " double quote (text)
+ \(aq ' apostrophe quote (ASCII character)
+ \(dq " double quote (ASCII character)
\(Fo << left guillemet
\(Fc >> right guillemet
\(fo < left single guillemet
\(fc > right single guillemet
@@ -225,11 +230,11 @@
\(rB ] right bracket
\(lC { left brace
\(rC } right brace
\(la < left angle
\(ra > right angle
- \(bv | brace extension
+ \(bv | brace extension (special font)
\[braceex] | brace extension
\[bracketlefttp] | top-left hooked bracket
\[bracketleftbt] | bottom-left hooked bracket
\[bracketleftex] | left hooked bracket extension
\[bracketrighttp] | top-right hooked bracket
@@ -274,12 +279,12 @@
Logical:
Input Rendered Description
\(AN ^ logical and
\(OR v logical or
- \(no ~ logical not
- \[tno] ~ logical not (text)
+ \[tno] ~ logical not (text font)
+ \(no ~ logical not (special font)
\(te <there exists>
existential quantifier
\(fa <for all> universal quantifier
\(st <such that> such that
\(tf <therefore> therefore
@@ -286,23 +291,24 @@
\(3d <therefore> therefore
\(or | bitwise or
Mathematical:
Input Rendered Description
- \(pl + plus
- \(mi - minus
- \- - minus (text)
+ \- - minus (text font)
+ \(mi - minus (special font)
+ + + plus (text font)
+ \(pl + plus (special font)
\(-+ -+ minus-plus
- \(+- +- plus-minus
- \[t+-] +- plus-minus (text)
+ \[t+-] +- plus-minus (text font)
+ \(+- +- plus-minus (special font)
\(pc . center-dot
- \(mu x multiply
- \[tmu] x multiply (text)
+ \[tmu] x multiply (text font)
+ \(mu x multiply (special font)
\(c* x circle-multiply
\(c+ + circle-plus
- \(di / divide
- \[tdi] / divide (text)
+ \[tdi] / divide (text font)
+ \(di / divide (special font)
\(f/ / fraction
\(** * asterisk
\(<= <= less-than-equal
\(>= >= greater-than-equal
\(<< << much less
@@ -402,12 +408,12 @@
\(ad " dieresis
\(ah v caron
\(ao o ring
\(a~ ~ tilde
\(ho , ogonek
- \(ha ^ hat (text)
- \(ti ~ tilde (text)
+ \(ha ^ hat (ASCII character)
+ \(ti ~ tilde (ASCII character)
Accented letters:
Input Rendered Description
\('A A acute A
\('E E acute E
@@ -643,6 +649,6 @@
CAVEATS
The predefined string `\*(Ba' mimics the behaviour of the `|' character
in mdoc(5); thus, if you wish to render a vertical bar with no side
effects, use the `\(ba' escape.
-illumos June 14, 2017 illumos
+illumos August 8, 2018 illumos