groff_me - “me” macro package for formatting roff documents

Description

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. adc set text adjustment mode to cafrf assign format f to register ramme append to macro m until e called asst append rest of line t to string sbpn begin new page numbered nbr break output line cen center next n output lines cpn en-/disable AT&T troff compatibility mode*deme define macro m until e called dot interpret input t with compatibility mode off*dsst define rest of line t as string selt interpret t if corresponding ie false fccd set field delimiter c and padding glyph dfi enable filling hcc set hyphenation character to chym set automatic hyphenation mode to miept as if, but enable interpretation of later elifpt if condition p, interpret rest of line tinh set indentation to distance hlcc set leader repetition glyph to clsn set line spacing to nmcch set (right) margin glyph to c at distance hmkr mark vertical position in register rna disable adjustment of text nev need vertical space of distance vnf disable filling nh disable automatic hyphenation nrrni assign register r value n with auto-increment ins begin no-space mode plv set page length to vpnn set next page number to npoh set page offset to hrjn right-align next n output lines*rmm remove macro, string, or request mrnmn rename macro, string, or request m to nrrr remove register rrs resume spacing (end no-space mode) rtv return to vertical position set by mk, or vsof source (interpolate) input file fspn insert n lines of vertical space ta ... set tab stops tcc set tab repetition glyph to ctih set temporary indentation (next line only) to htl ... output three-part title tr ... translate characters uln 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. Namespace 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 groffme, 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-mme”.

Name

groff_me - “me” macro package for formatting roff documents

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.