groff_me - Man Page

“me” macro package for formatting roff documents

Synopsis

groff -m me	[option ...] [file ...]
groff -m me	[option ...] [file ...]

The GNU implementation of the me macro package is part of the groff document formatting system. The me package of macro definitions for the roff language provides a convenient facility for preparing technical papers in various formats. This version is based on the me distributed with 4.4BSD and can be used with the GNU troff formatter as well as those descended from AT&T troff.

Some formatter requests affect page layout unpredictably when used in conjunction with this package; however, the following may be used with impunity after the first call to a paragraphing macro like lp or pp. Some arguments are optional; see groff(7) for details, particularly of requests whose argument list is designated with an ellipsis. An asterisk * marks groff extensions.

ad	c	set text adjustment mode to c
af	r f	assign format f to register r
am	m e	append to macro m until e called
as	s t	append rest of line t to string s
bp	n	begin new page numbered n
br		break output line
ce	n	center next n output lines
cp	n	en-/disable AT&T troff compatibility mode*
de	m e	define macro m until e called
do	t	interpret input t with compatibility mode off*
ds	s t	define rest of line t as string s
el	t	interpret t if corresponding ie false
fc	c d	set field delimiter c and padding glyph d
fi		enable filling
hc	c	set hyphenation character to c
hy	m	set automatic hyphenation mode to m
ie	p t	as if, but enable interpretation of later el
if	p t	if condition p, interpret rest of line t
in	h	set indentation to distance h
lc	c	set leader repetition glyph to c
ls	n	set line spacing to n
mc	c h	set (right) margin glyph to c at distance h
mk	r	mark vertical position in register r
na		disable adjustment of text
ne	v	need vertical space of distance v
nf		disable filling
nh		disable automatic hyphenation
nr	r n i	assign register r value n with auto-increment i
ns		begin no-space mode
pl	v	set page length to v
pn	n	set next page number to n
po	h	set page offset to h
rj	n	right-align next n output lines*
rm	m	remove macro, string, or request m
rn	m n	rename macro, string, or request m to n
rr	r	remove register r
rs		resume spacing (end no-space mode)
rt	v	return to vertical position set by mk, or v
so	f	source (interpolate) input file f
sp	n	insert n lines of vertical space
ta	...	set tab stops
tc	c	set tab repetition glyph to c
ti	h	set temporary indentation (next line only) to h
tl	...	output three-part title
tr	...	translate characters
ul	n	underline next n output lines

Except on title pages (produced by calling tp), me suppresses the output of vertical space at the tops of pages (after the output of any page header); the sp request will thus not work there. You can instead call bl or enclose the desired spacing request in a diversion, for instance by calling (b and )b. me also intercepts the ll request; see the “me Reference Manual” for details.

Name space

Objects in me follow a rigid naming convention. To avoid conflict, any user-defined register, string, or macro names should be single numerals or uppercase letters, or any longer sequence of letters and numerals with at least one uppercase letter. (For portability between BSD and groff me, limit names to two characters, and avoid the name [ (left square bracket).) The names employed by any preprocessors in use should also not be repurposed.

Macros

$0	post-section heading hook
$1	pre-section depth 1 hook
$2	pre-section depth 2 hook
$3	pre-section depth 3 hook
$4	pre-section depth 4 hook
$5	pre-section depth 5 hook
$6	pre-section depth 6 hook
$C	post-chapter title hook
$H	page/column heading hook
$c	output chapter number and title
$f	output footer
$h	output header
$p	output section heading
$s	output footnote area separator
(b	begin block
(c	begin centered block
(d	begin delayed text
(f	begin footnote
(l	begin list
(q	begin long quotation
(x	begin index entry
(z	begin floating keep
)b	end block
)c	end centered block
)d	end delayed text
)f	end footnote
)l	end list
)q	end long quotation
)x	end index entry
)z	end floating keep
++	set document segment type
+c	begin chapter
1c	end multi-column layout
2c	begin multi-column layout
EN	end eqn equation
EQ	begin eqn equation
GE	end grn picture with drawing position at bottom
GF	end grn picture with drawing position at top
GS	start grn picture
IE	end ideal picture with drawing position at bottom
IF	end ideal picture with drawing position at top
IS	start ideal picture
PE	end pic picture with drawing position at bottom
PF	end pic picture with drawing position at top
PS	start pic picture
TE	end tbl table
TH	end heading for multi-page tbl table
TS	start tbl table
b	embolden argument
ba	set base indentation
bc	begin new column
bi	embolden and italicize argument
bx	box argument
ef	set even-numbered page footer
eh	set even-numbered page header
ep	end page
fo	set footer
he	set header
hl	draw horizontal line
hx	suppress next page's headers/footers
i	italicize argument
ip	begin indented paragraph
ld	reset localization and date registers and strings*
ll	set line length
lp	begin fully left-aligned paragraph
np	begin numbered paragraph
of	set odd-numbered page footer
oh	set odd-numbered page header
pd	output delayed text
pp	begin first-line indented paragraph
q	quote argument
r	set argument in roman
re	reset tab stops
sh	begin numbered section
sm	set argument at smaller type size
sx	change section depth
sz	set type size and vertical spacing
tp	begin title page
u	underline argument
uh	begin unnumbered section
xl	set line length (local)
xp	output index

Some macros are provided for “old” roff(1) compatibility. The “me Reference Manual” describes alternatives for modern documents.

ar	use Arabic numerals for page numbers
bl	insert space (even at page top; cf. sp)
ix	set indentation without break
m1	set page top to header distance
m2	set header to text distance
m3	set text to footer distance
m4	set footer to page bottom distance
n1	begin output line numbering
n2	end or alter output line numbering
pa	begin page
ro	use Roman numerals for page numbers
sk	skip next page

Registers

$0	section depth
$1	first section number component
$2	second section number component
$3	third section number component
$4	fourth section number component
$5	fifth section number component
$6	sixth section number component
$c	current column number
$d	delayed text number
$f	footnote number
$i	paragraph base indentation
$l	column width
$m	number of available columns
$p	numbered paragraph number
$s	column spacing (indentation)
bi	display (block) indentation
bm	distance from text area to page bottom
bs	display (block) pre/post space
bt	block threshold for keeps
ch	current chapter number
df	display font
dv	vertical spacing of displayed text (as percentage)*
es	equation pre/post space
ff	footnote font
fi	footnote indentation (first line only)
fm	footer margin
fp	footnote type size in points
fs	footnote prespace
fu	footnote undent (right indentation)
hm	header margin
ii	indented paragraph indentation
no	line numbering offset*
pf	paragraph font
pi	paragraph indentation
po	page offset
pp	paragraph type size in points
ps	paragraph prespace
qi	long quotation left/right indentation
qp	long quotation type size in points
qs	long quotation pre/post space
sf	section title font
si	section indentation per level of depth
so	additional section title offset
sp	section title type size in points
ss	section prespace
sx	super/subscript line height increase*
tf	title font
tm	distance from page top to text area
tp	title type size in points
tv	vertical spacing of text (as percentage)*
xs	index entry prespace
xu	index undent (right indentation)
y2	year of the century*
y4	year*
yr	year minus 1900
zs	floating keep pre/post space

Strings

#	delayed text marker
$n	concatenated section number
*	footnote marker
-	em dash
<	begin subscripting
>	end subscripting
dw	weekday name
lq	left double quotation mark
mo	month name
rq	right double quotation mark
td	date
wa	term for “appendix” used by .$c*
wc	term for “chapter” used by .$c*
{	begin superscripting
}	end superscripting

Files

/usr/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/e.tmac: implements the package.
/usr/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/refer-me.tmac: implements refer(1) support for me.
/usr/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/me.tmac: is a wrapper enabling the package to be loaded with “groff -m me”.

Notes

Early roff macro packages often limited their names to a single letter, which followed the formatter's m flag letter, resulting in mm, ms, mv, mn, and so on. The “e” in “me” stands for “Eric P. Allman”, who wrote the macro package and the original technical papers documenting it while an undergraduate at the University of California.

Referenced By

groff(1), groff_tmac(5).

24 January 2024 groff 1.23.0