GROFF(1) MachTen Programmer’s Manual GROFF(1)

NAME
groff - front end for the groff document formatting system

SYNOPSIS
groff [ -tpeszaivhblCENRSVXZ ] [ -wname ] [ -Wname ] [
-mname ] [ -Fdir ] [ -Tdev ] [ -ffam ] [ -Mdir ] [ -dcs ]
[ -rcn ] [ -nnum ] [ -olist ] [ -Parg ] [ files... ]

DESCRIPTION
groff is a front-end to the groff document formatting sys-
tem. Normally it runs the troff program and a postproces-
sor appropriate for the selected device. Available
devices are:

ps For PostScript printers and previewers

dvi For TeX dvi format

X75 For a 75 dpi X11 previewer

X100 For a 100dpi X11 previewer

ascii For typewriter-like devices

latin1 For typewriter-like devices using the ISO Latin-1
character set.

lj4 For an HP LaserJet4-compatible (or other PCL5-com-
patible) printer.

The postprocessor to be used for a device is specified by
the postpro command in the device description file. This
can be overridden with the -X option.

The default device is ps. It can optionally preprocess
with any of pic, eqn, tbl, refer, or soelim.

Options without an argument can be grouped behind a single
-. A filename of - denotes the standard input.

The grog command can be used to guess the correct groff
command to use to format a file.

OPTIONS
-h Print a help message.

-e Preprocess with eqn.

-t Preprocess with tbl.

-p Preprocess with pic.

-s Preprocess with soelim.

-R Preprocess with refer. No mechanism is provided
for passing arguments to refer because most refer
options have equivalent commands which can be
included in the file. See refer(1) for more
details.

-v Make programs run by groff print out their version
number.

-V Print the pipeline on stdout instead of executing
it.

-z Suppress output from troff. Only error messages
will be printed.

-Z Do not postprocess the output of troff. Normally
groff will automatically run the appropriate post-
processor.

-Parg Pass arg to the postprocessor. Each argument
should be passed with a separate -P option. Note
that groff does not prepend - to arg before passing
it to the postprocessor.

-l Send the output to a printer. The command used for
this is specified by the print command in the
device description file.

-Larg Pass arg to the spooler. Each argument should be
passed with a separate -L option. Note that groff
does not prepend - to arg before passing it to the
postprocessor.

-Tdev Prepare output for device dev. The default device
is ps.

-X Preview with gxditview instead of using the usual
postprocessor. Groff passes gxditview a -printCom-
mand option which will make the Print action do
what groff would have done if the -l option had
been given. This is unlikely to produce good
results except with -Tps.

-N Don’t allow newlines with eqn delimiters. This is
the same as the -N option in eqn.

-S Safer mode. Pass the -S option to pic and use the
-msafer macros with troff.

-a
-b
-i
-C
-E
-wname
-Wname
-mname
-olist
-dcs
-rcn
-Fdir
-Mdir
-ffam
-nnum These are as described in troff(1).

ENVIRONMENT
GROFF_COMMAND_PREFIX
If this is set X, then groff will run Xtroff
instead of troff. This also applies to tbl, pic,
eqn, refer and soelim. It does not apply to grops,
grodvi, grotty and gxditview.

GROFF_TMAC_PATH
A colon separated list of directories in which to
search for macro files.

GROFF_TYPESETTER
Default device.

GROFF_FONT_PATH
A colon separated list of directories in which to
search for the devname directory.

PATH The search path for commands executed by groff.

GROFF_TMPDIR
The directory in which temporary files will be cre-
ated. If this is not set and TMPDIR is set, tempo-
rary files will be created in that directory. Oth-
erwise temporary files will be created in /tmp.
The grops(1) and refer(1) commands can create tem-
porary files.

FILES
/usr/share/groff/font/devname/DESC
Device description file for device name.

/usr/share/groff/font/devname/F
Font file for font F of device name.

AUTHOR
James Clark <jjc@jclark.com>

BUGS
Report bugs to bug-groff@prep.ai.mit.edu. Include a com-
plete, self-contained example that will allow the bug to
be reproduced, and say which version of groff you are
using.

groff is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public
License as published by the Free Software Foundation;
either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.

groff is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied war-
ranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PUR-
POSE. See the GNU General Public License for more
details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public
License along with groff; see the file COPYING. If not,
write to the Free Software Foundation, 59 Temple Place -
Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

AVAILABILITY
The most recent released version of groff is always avail-
able for anonymous ftp from prep.ai.mit.edu (18.71.0.38)
in the directory pub/gnu.

SEE ALSO
grog(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1), soelim(1),
refer(1), grops(1), grodvi(1), grotty(1), gxditview(1),
groff_font(5), groff_out(5), groff_ms(7), me(7),
groff_char(7), msafer(7)

Groff Version 1.11 15 August 1997 4