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NAME | SYNOPSIS | CALLING MOM | FILES | DOCUMENTATION IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER | QUICK REFERENCE | DOCUMENTATION OF DETAILS | SEE ALSO | BUGS | COPYING | AUTHORS | COLOPHON |
GROFF_MOM(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual GROFF_MOM(7)
groff_mom - groff `mom' macros, `mom' is a `roff' language, part of
`groff'
pdfmom [-Tps [pdfroff options]] [groff options] files ...
groff [-mom] files ...
groff [-m mom] files ...
mom is a macro set for groff, designed primarily to format documents
for PDF and PostScript output.
mom provides two categories of macros: macros for typesetting, and
macros for document processing. The typesetting macros provide
access to groff's typesetting capabilities in ways that are simpler
to master than groff's primitives. The document processing macros
provide highly customizable markup tags that allow the user to design
and output professional-looking documents with a minimum of
typesetting intervention.
Files processed with pdfmom(1) with or without the -Tps option,
produce PDF documents. The documents include a PDF outline that
appears in the ‘Contents’ panel of document viewers, and may contain
clickable internal and external links.
When -Tps is absent, groff's native PDF driver, gropdf, is used to
generate the output. When given, the output is still PDF, but
processing is passed over to pdfroff, which uses groff's PostScript
driver, grops. Not all PDF features are available when -Tps is
given; its primary use is to allow processing of files with embedded
PostScript images.
Files processed with groff -mom (or -m mom) produce PostScript output
by default.
mom comes with her own very complete documentation in HTML format. A
separate PDF manual, Producing PDFs with groff and mom, covers full
mom or PDF usage.
om.tmac
– the main macro file
mom.tmac
– a wrapper file that calls om.tmac directly.
/usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.22.3/html/mom/toc.html
– entry point to the HTML documentation
/usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.22.3/pdf/mom-pdf.pdf
– the PDF manual, Producing PDFs with groff and mom
/usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.22.3/examples/mom/*.mom
– example files using mom
This part of the man-page contains information just as in groff(7),
mom macros and mom escape sequences in alphabetical order.
The logical order of mom macros and mom escape sequences is very well
documented in
/usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.22.3/html/mom/toc.html
– entry point to the HTML documentation
That document is quite good for beginners, but other users should be
happy to have some documentation in reference style.
So we restrict this part to the alphabetical order of macros and
escape sequences. But, so far, we took all documentation details
from the toc.html file, just in a more useful alphabetical order. So
this part of the man-page is nothing new, but only a logical
arrangement.
Quick Reference of Inline Escape Sequences in alphabetical Order
\*[<colorname>]
begin using an initialized colour inline
\*[BCK n]
move backwards in a line
\*[BOLDER]
invoke pseudo bold inline (related to macro .SETBOLDER)
\*[BOLDERX]
off pseudo bold inline (related to macro .SETBOLDER)
\*[BU n]
move characters pairs closer together inline (related to macro
.KERN)
\*[COND]
invoke pseudo condensing inline (related to macro .CONDENSE)
\*[CONDX]
off pseudo condensing inline (related to macro .CONDENSE)
\*[CONDSUP]...\*[CONDSUPX]
pseudo-condensed superscript
\*[DOWN n]
temporarily move downwards in a line
\*[EN-MARK]
mark initial line of a range of line numbers (for use with
line numbered endnotes)
\*[EXT]
invoke pseudo extending inline (related to macro .EXTEND)
\*[EXTX]
off pseudo condensing inline (related to macro .EXTEND)
\*[EXTSUP]...\*[EXTSUPX]
pseudo extended superscript
\*[FU n]
move characters pairs further apart inline (related to macro
.KERN)
\*[FWD n]
move forward in a line
\*[LEADER]
insert leaders at the end of a line
\*[RULE]
draw a full measure rule
\*[SIZE n]
change the point size inline (related to macro .PT_SIZE)
\*[SLANT]
invoke pseudo italic inline (related to macro .SETSLANT)
\*[SLANTX]
off pseudo italic inline (related to macro .SETSLANT)
\*[ST<n>]...\*[ST<n>X]
string tabs (mark tab positions inline)
\*[SUP]...\*[SUPX]
superscript
\*[TB+]
inline escape for .TN (Tab Next)
\*[UL]...\*[ULX]
invoke underlining inline (fixed width fonts only)
\*[UP n]
temporarily move upwards in a line
Quick Reference of Macros in alphabetical Order
.AUTOLEAD
set the linespacing relative to the point size
.B_MARGIN
set a bottom margin
.BR break a justified line
.CENTER
set line-by-line quad centre
.CONDENSE
set the amount to pseudo condense
.EL break a line without advancing on the page
.EXTEND
set the amount to pseudo extend
.FALLBACK_FONT
establish a fallback font (for missing fonts)
.FAM alias to .FAMILY
.FAMILY <family>
set the family type
.FT set the font style (roman, italic, etc.)
.HI [ <measure> ]
hanging indent
.HY automatic hyphenation on/off
.HY_SET
set automatic hyphenation parameters
.IB [ <left measure> <right measure> ]
indent both
.IBX [ CLEAR ]
exit indent both
.IL [ <measure> ]
indent left
.ILX [ CLEAR ]
exit indent left
.IQ [ CLEAR ]
quit any/all indents
.IR [ <measure> ]
indent right
.IRX [ CLEAR ]
exit indent right
.JUSTIFY
justify text to both margins
.KERN automatic character pair kerning on/off
.L_MARGIN
set a left margin (page offset)
.LEFT set line-by-line quad left
.LL set a line length
.LS set a linespacing (leading)
.PAGE set explicit page dimensions and margins
.PAGEWIDTH
set a custom page width
.PAGELENGTH
set a custom page length
.PAPER <paper_type>
set common paper sizes (letter, A4, etc)
.PT_SIZE
set the point size
.QUAD "justify" text left, centre, or right
.R_MARGIN
set a right margin
.RIGHT set line-by-line quad right
.SETBOLDER
set the amount of emboldening
.SETSLANT
set the degree of slant
.SPREAD
force justify a line
.SS set the sentence space size
.T_MARGIN
set a top margin
.TI [ <measure> ]
temporary left indent
.WS set the minimum word space size
Details of Inline Escape Sequences in alphabetical Order
\*[<colorname>]
begin using an initialized colour inline
\*[BCK n]
move wards in a line
\*[BOLDER]
\*[BOLDERX]
Emboldening on/off
\*[BOLDER] begins emboldening type. \*[BOLDERX] turns the
feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they should
not appear as separate lines, but rather be embedded in text
lines, like this:
Not \*[BOLDER]everything\*[BOLDERX] is as it seems.
Alternatively, if you wanted the whole line emboldened, you
should do
\*[BOLDER]Not everything is as it seems.\*[BOLDERX]
Once \*[BOLDER] is invoked, it remains in effect until turned
off.
Note: If you're using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom ignores \*[BOLDER] requests.
\*[BU n]
move characters pairs closer together inline (related to macro
.KERN)
\*[COND]
\*[CONDX]
Pseudo-condensing on/off
\*[COND] begins pseudo-condensing type. \*[CONDX] turns the
feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they should
not appear as separate lines, but rather be embedded in text
lines, like this:
\*[COND]Not everything is as it seems.\*[CONDX]
\*[COND] remains in effect until you turn it off with
\*[CONDX].
IMPORTANT: You must turn \*[COND] off before making any
changes to the point size of your type, either via the
.PT_SIZE macro or with the \s inline escape. If you wish the
new point size to be pseudo-condensed, simply reinvoke
\*[COND] afterwards. Equally, \*[COND] must be turned off
before changing the condense percentage with .CONDENSE.
Note: If you're using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom ignores \*[COND] requests.
\*[CONDSUP]...\*[CONDSUPX]
pseudo-condensed superscript
\*[DOWN n]
temporarily move downwards in a line
\*[EN-MARK]
mark initial line of a range of line numbers (for use with
line numbered endnotes)
\*[EXT]
\*[EXTX]
Pseudo-extending on/off
\*[EXT] begins pseudo-extending type. \*[EXTX] turns the fea‐
ture off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they should not
appear as separate lines, but rather be embedded in text
lines, like this:
\*[EXT]Not everything is as it seems.\*[EXTX]
\*[EXT] remains in effect until you turn it off with \*[EXTX].
IMPORTANT: You must turn \*[EXT] off before making any changes
to the point size of your type, either via the .PT_SIZE macro
or with the \s inline escape. If you wish the new point size
to be pseudo-extended, simply reinvoke \*[EXT] afterwards.
Equally, \*[EXT] must be turned off before changing the extend
percentage with .EXTEND.
Note: If you are using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom ignores \*[EXT] requests.
\*[EXTSUP]...\*[EXTSUPX]
pseudo extended superscript
\*[FU n]
move characters pairs further apart inline (related to macro
.KERN)
\*[FWD n]
move forward in a line
\*[LEADER]
insert leaders at the end of a line
\*[RULE]
draw a full measure rule
\*[SIZE n]
change the point size inline (related to macro .PT_SIZE)
\*[SLANT]
\*[SLANTX]
Pseudo italic on/off
\*[SLANT] begins pseudo-italicizing type. \*[SLANTX] turns
the feature off. Both are inline escapes, therefore they
should not appear as separate lines, but rather be embedded in
text lines, like this:
Not \*[SLANT]everything\*[SLANTX] is as it seems.
Alternatively, if you wanted the whole line pseudo-italicized,
you'd do
\*[SLANT]Not everything is as it seems.\*[SLANTX]
Once \*[SLANT] is invoked, it remains in effect until turned
off.
Note: If you're using the document processing macros with
.PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, mom underlines pseudo-italics by
default. To change this behaviour, use the special macro
.SLANT_MEANS_SLANT.
\*[ST<number>]...\*[ST<number>X]
Mark positions of string tabs
The quad direction must be LEFT or JUSTIFY (see .QUAD and
.JUSTIFY) or the no-fill mode set to LEFT in order for these
inlines to function properly. Please see IMPORTANT, below.
String tabs need to be marked off with inline escapes before
being set up with the .ST macro. Any input line may contain
string tab markers. <number>, above, means the numeric iden‐
tifier of the tab.
The following shows a sample input line with string tab mark‐
ers.
\*[ST1]Now is the time\*[ST1X] for all \*[ST2]good men\*ST2X] to come to the aid of the party.
String tab 1 begins at the start of the line and ends after
the word time. String tab 2 starts at good and ends after
men. Inline escapes (e.g. font or point size changes, or
horizontal movements, including padding) are taken into
account when mom determines the position and length of string
tabs.
Up to nineteen string tabs may be marked (not necessarily all
on the same line, of course), and they must be numbered
between 1 and 19.
Once string tabs have been marked in input lines, they have to
be set with .ST, after which they may be called, by number,
with .TAB.
Note: Lines with string tabs marked off in them are normal
input lines, i.e. they get printed, just like any input line.
If you want to set up string tabs without the line printing,
use the .SILENT macro.
IMPORTANT: Owing to the way groff processes input lines and
turns them into output lines, it is not possible for mom to
guess the correct starting position of string tabs marked off
in lines that are centered or set flush right.
Equally, she cannot guess the starting position if a line is
fully justified and broken with .SPREAD.
In other words, in order to use string tabs, LEFT must be
active, or, if .QUAD LEFT or JUSTIFY are active, the line on
which the string tabs are marked must be broken manually with
.BR (but not .SPREAD).
To circumvent this behaviour, I recommend using the PAD to set
up string tabs in centered or flush right lines. Say, for
example, you want to use a string tab to underscore the text
of a centered line with a rule. Rather than this,
.CENTER
\*[ST1]A line of text\*[ST1X]\c
.EL
.ST 1
.TAB 1
.PT_SIZE 24
.ALD 3p
\*[RULE]
.RLD 3p
.TQ
you should do:
.QUAD CENTER
.PAD "#\*[ST1]A line of text\*[ST1X]#"
.EL
.ST 1
.TAB 1
.PT_SIZE 24
.ALD 3p
\*[RULE] \" Note that you can't use \*[UP] or \*[DOWN] with \*[RULE]
.RLD 3p
.TQ
\*[SUP]...\*[SUPX]
superscript
\*[TB+]
Inline escape for .TN (Tab Next)
\*[UL]...\*[ULX]
invoke underlining inline (fixed width fonts only)
\*[UP n]
temporarily move upwards in a line
Details of Macros in alphabetical Order
.AUTOLEAD
set the linespacing relative to the point size
.B_MARGIN <bottom margin>
Bottom Margin
Requires a unit of measure
.B_MARGIN sets a nominal position at the bottom of the page
beyond which you don't want your type to go. When the bottom
margin is reached, mom starts a new page. .B_MARGIN requires
a unit of measure. Decimal fractions are allowed. To set a
nominal bottom margin of 3/4 inch, enter
.B_MARGIN .75i
Obviously, if you haven't spaced the type on your pages so
that the last lines fall perfectly at the bottom margin, the
margin will vary from page to page. Usually, but not always,
the last line of type that fits on a page before the bottom
margin causes mom to start a new page.
Occasionally, owing to a peculiarity in groff, an extra line
will fall below the nominal bottom margin. If you're using
the document processing macros, this is unlikely to happen;
the document processing macros are very hard-nosed about
aligning bottom margins.
Note: The meaning of .B_MARGIN is slightly different when
you're using the document processing macros.
.FALLBACK_FONT <fallback font> [ ABORT | WARN ]
Fallback Font
In the event that you pass an invalid argument to .FAMILY
(i.e. a non-existent family), mom, by default, uses the fall‐
back font, Courier Medium Roman (CR), in order to continue
processing your file.
If you'd prefer another fallback font, pass .FALLBACK_FONT the
full family+font name of the font you'd like. For example, if
you'd rather the fallback font were Times Roman Medium Roman,
.FALLBACK_FONT TR
would do the trick.
Mom issues a warning whenever a font style set with .FT does
not exist, either because you haven't registered the style or
because the font style does not exist in the current family
set with .FAMILY. By default, mom then aborts, which allows
you to correct the problem.
If you'd prefer that mom not abort on non-existent fonts, but
rather continue processing using a fallback font, you can pass
.FALLBACK_FONT the argument WARN, either by itself, or in con‐
junction with your chosen fallback font.
Some examples of invoking .FALLBACK_FONT:
.FALLBACK_FONT WARN
mom will issue a warning whenever you try to access a
non-existent font but will continue processing your
file with the default fallback font, Courier Medium
Roman.
.FALLBACK_FONT TR WARN
mom will issue a warning whenever you try to access a
non-existent font but will continue processing your
file with a fallback font of Times Roman Medium Roman;
additionally, TR will be the fallback font whenever you
try to access a family that does not exist.
.FALLBACK_FONT TR ABORT
mom will abort whenever you try to access a non-exis‐
tent font, and will use the fallback font TR whenever
you try to access a family that does not exist. If,
for some reason, you want to revert to ABORT, just
enter ".FALLBACK_FONT ABORT" and mom will once again
abort on font errors.
.FAM <family>
Type Family, alias of .FAMILY
.FAMILY <family>
Type Family, alias .FAM
.FAMILY takes one argument: the name of the family you want.
Groff comes with a small set of basic families, each identi‐
fied by a 1-, 2- or 3-letter mnemonic. The standard families
are:
A = Avant Garde
BM = Bookman
H = Helvetica
HN = Helvetica Narrow
N = New Century Schoolbook
P = Palatino
T = Times Roman
ZCM = Zapf Chancery
The argument you pass to .FAMILY is the identifier at left,
above. For example, if you want Helvetica, enter
.FAMILY H
Note: The font macro (.FT) lets you specify both the type fam‐
ily and the desired font with a single macro. While this
saves a few keystrokes, I recommend using .FAMILY for family,
and .FT for font, except where doing so is genuinely inconve‐
nient. ZCM, for example, only exists in one style: Italic
(I).
Therefore,
.FT ZCMI
makes more sense than setting the family to ZCM, then setting
the font to I.
Additional note: If you are running a version of groff lower
than 1.19.2, you must follow all .FAMILY requests with a FT
request, otherwise mom will set all type up to the next .FT
request in the fallback font.
If you are running a version of groff greater than or equal to
1.19.2, when you invoke the .FAMILY macro, mom remembers the
font style (Roman, Italic, etc) currently in use (if the font
style exists in the new family) and will continue to use the
same font style in the new family. For example:
.FAMILY BM \" Bookman family
.FT I \" Medium Italic
<some text> \" Bookman Medium Italic
.FAMILY H \" Helvetica family
<more text> \" Helvetica Medium Italic
However, if the font style does not exist in the new family,
mom will set all subsequent type in the fallback font (by
default, Courier Medium Roman) until she encounters a .FT
request that's valid for the family.
For example, assuming you don't have the font Medium Condensed
Roman (mom extension CD) in the Helvetica family:
.FAMILY UN \" Univers family
.FT CD \" Medium Condensed
<some text> \" Univers Medium Condensed
.FAMILY H \" Helvetica family
<more text> \" Courier Medium Roman!
In the above example, you must follow .FAMILY H with a .FT
request that's valid for Helvetica.
Please see the Appendices, Adding fonts to groff, for informa‐
tion on adding fonts and families to groff, as well as to see
a list of the extensions mom provides to groff's basic R, I,
B, BI styles.
Suggestion: When adding families to groff, I recommend follow‐
ing the established standard for the naming families and
fonts. For example, if you add the Garamond family, name the
font files
GARAMONDR
GARAMONDI
GARAMONDB
GARAMONDBI
GARAMOND then becomes a valid family name you can pass to
.FAMILY. (You could, of course, shorten GARAMOND to just G,
or GD.) R, I, B, and BI after GARAMOND are the roman, italic,
bold and bold-italic fonts respectively.
.FONT R | B | BI | <any other valid font style>
Alias to .FT
.FT R | B | BI | <any other valid font style>
Set font
By default, groff permits .FT to take one of four possible
arguments specifying the desired font:
R = (Medium) Roman
I = (Medium) Italic
B = Bold (Roman)
BI = Bold Italic
For example, if your family is Helvetica, entering
.FT B
will give you the Helvetica bold font. If your family were
Palatino, you'd get the Palatino bold font.
Mom considerably extends the range of arguments you can pass
to .FT, making it more convenient to add and access fonts of
differing weights and shapes within the same family.
Have a look here for a list of the weight/style arguments mom
allows. Be aware, though, that you must have the fonts, cor‐
rectly installed and named, in order to use the arguments.
(See Adding fonts to groff for instructions and information.)
Please also read the ADDITIONAL NOTE found in the description
of the .FAMILY macro.
How mom reacts to an invalid argument to .FT depends on which
version of groff you're using. If your groff version is
greater than or equal to 1.19.2, mom will issue a warning and,
depending on how you've set up the fallback font, either con‐
tinue processing using the fallback font, or abort (allowing
you to correct the problem). If your groff version is less
than 1.19.2, mom will silently continue processing, using
either the fallback font or the font that was in effect prior
to the invalid .FT call.
.FT will also accept, as an argument, a full family and font
name.
For example,
.FT HB
will set subsequent type in Helvetica Bold.
However, I strongly recommend keeping family and font separate
except where doing so is genuinely inconvenient.
For inline control of fonts, see Inline Escapes, font control.
.HI [ <measure> ]
Hanging indent — the optional argument requires a unit of mea‐
sure.
A hanging indent looks like this:
The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I
could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed
revenge. You who so well know the nature of my soul
will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a
threat, at length I would be avenged...
The first line of text hangs outside the left margin.
In order to use hanging indents, you must first have a left
indent active (set with either .IL or .IB). Mom will not hang
text outside the left margin set with .L_MARGIN or outside the
left margin of a tab.
The first time you invoke .HI, you must give it a measure. If
you want the first line of a paragraph to hang by, say, 1
pica, do
.IL 1P
.HI 1P
Subsequent invocations of .HI do not require you to supply a
measure; mom keeps track of the last measure you gave it.
Generally speaking, you should invoke .HI immediately prior to
the line you want hung (i.e. without any intervening control
lines). And because hanging indents affect only one line,
there's no need to turn them off.
IMPORTANT: Unlike IL, IR and IB, measures given to .HI are NOT
additive. Each time you pass a measure to .HI , the measure
is treated literally. Recipe: A numbered list using hanging
indents
Note: mom has macros for setting lists. This recipe exists to
demonstrate the use of hanging indents only.
.PAGE 8.5i 11i 1i 1i 1i 1i
.FAMILY T
.FT R
.PT_SIZE 12
.LS 14
.JUSTIFY
.KERN
.SS 0
.IL \w'\0\0.'
.HI \w'\0\0.'
1.\0The most important point to be considered is whether the
answer to the meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything
really is 42. We have no-one's word on the subject except
Mr. Adams'.
.HI
2.\0If the answer to the meaning of Life, the Universe,
and Everything is indeed 42, what impact does this have on
the politics of representation? 42 is, after all not a
prime number. Are we to infer that prime numbers don't
deserve equal rights and equal access in the universe?
.HI
3.\0If 42 is deemed non-exclusionary, how do we present it
as the answer and, at the same time, forestall debate on its
exclusionary implications?
First, we invoke a left indent with a measure equal to the
width of 2 figures spaces plus a period (using the \w inline
escape). At this point, the left indent is active; text
afterwards would normally be indented. However, we invoke a
hanging indent of exactly the same width, which hangs the
first line (and first line only!) to the left of the indent by
the same distance (in this case, that means “out to the left
margin”). Because we begin the first line with a number, a
period, and a figure space, the actual text (The most impor‐
tant point...) starts at exactly the same spot as the indented
lines that follow.
Notice that subsequent invocations of .HI don't require a mea‐
sure to be given.
Paste the example above into a file and preview it with
pdfmom filename.mom | ps2pdf - filename.pdf
to see hanging indents in action.
.IB [ <left measure> <right measure> ]
Indent both — the optional argument requires a unit of measure
.IB allows you to set or invoke a left and a right indent at
the same time.
At its first invocation, you must supply a measure for both
indents; at subsequent invocations when you wish to supply a
measure, both must be given again. As with .IL and .IR, the
measures are added to the values previously passed to the
macro. Hence, if you wish to change just one of the values,
you must give an argument of zero to the other.
A word of advice: If you need to manipulate left and right
indents separately, use a combination of .IL and .IR instead
of .IB. You'll save yourself a lot of grief.
A minus sign may be prepended to the arguments to subtract
from their current values. The \w inline escape may be used
to specify text-dependent measures, in which case no unit of
measure is required. For example,
.IB \w'margarine' \w'jello'
left indents text by the width of the word margarine and right
indents by the width of jello.
Like .IL and .IR, .IB with no argument indents by its last
active values. See the brief explanation of how mom handles
indents for more details.
Note: Calling a tab (with .TAB <n>) automatically cancels any
active indents.
Additional note: Invoking .IB automatically turns off .IL and
.IR.
.IL [ <measure> ]
Indent left — the optional argument requires a unit of measure
.IL indents text from the left margin of the page, or if
you're in a tab, from the left edge of the tab Once IL is on,
the left indent is applied uniformly to every subsequent line
of text, even if you change the line length.
The first time you invoke .IL, you must give it a measure.
Subsequent invocations with a measure add to the previous mea‐
sure. A minus sign may be prepended to the argument to sub‐
tract from the current measure. The \w inline escape may be
used to specify a text-dependent measure, in which case no
unit of measure is required. For example,
.IL \w'margarine'
indents text by the width of the word margarine.
With no argument, .IL indents by its last active value. See
the brief explanation of how mom handles indents for more
details.
Note: Calling a tab (with .TAB <n>) automatically cancels any
active indents.
Additional note: Invoking .IL automatically turns off IB.
.IQ [ <measure> ]
IQ — quit any/all indents
IMPORTANT NOTE: The original macro for quitting all indents
was .IX. This usage has been deprecated in favour of IQ. .IX
will continue to behave as before, but mom will issue a warn‐
ing to stderr indicating that you should update your docu‐
ments.
As a consequence of this change, .ILX, .IRX and .IBX may now
also be invoked as .ILQ, .IRQ and .IBQ. Both forms are
acceptable.
Without an argument, the macros to quit indents merely restore
your original margins and line length. The measures stored in
the indent macros themselves are saved so you can call them
again without having to supply a measure.
If you pass these macros the optional argument CLEAR, they not
only restore your original left margin and line length, but
also clear any values associated with a particular indent
style. The next time you need an indent of the same style,
you have to supply a measure again.
.IQ CLEAR, as you'd suspect, quits and clears the values for
all indent styles at once.
.IR [ <measure> ]
Indent right — the optional argument requires a unit of mea‐
sure
.IR indents text from the right margin of the page, or if
you're in a tab, from the end of the tab.
The first time you invoke .IR, you must give it a measure.
Subsequent invocations with a measure add to the previous
indent measure. A minus sign may be prepended to the argument
to subtract from the current indent measure. The \w inline
escape may be used to specify a text-dependent measure, in
which case no unit of measure is required. For example,
.IR \w'jello'
indents text by the width of the word jello.
With no argument, .IR indents by its last active value. See
the brief explanation of how mom handles indents for more
details.
Note: Calling a tab (with .TAB <n>) automatically cancels any
active indents.
Additional note: Invoking .IR automatically turns off IB.
.L_MARGIN <left margin>
Left Margin
L_MARGIN establishes the distance from the left edge of the
printer sheet at which you want your type to start. It may be
used any time, and remains in effect until you enter a new
value.
Left indents and tabs are calculated from the value you pass
to .L_MARGIN, hence it's always a good idea to invoke it
before starting any serious typesetting. A unit of measure is
required. Decimal fractions are allowed. Therefore, to set
the left margin at 3 picas (1/2 inch), you'd enter either
.L_MARGIN 3P
or
.L_MARGIN .5i
If you use the macros .PAGE, .PAGEWIDTH or .PAPER without
invoking .L_MARGIN (either before or afterwards), mom automat‐
ically sets .L_MARGIN to 1 inch.
Note: .L_MARGIN behaves in a special way when you're using the
document processing macros.
.MCO Begin multi-column setting.
.MCO (Multi-Column On) is the macro you use to begin multi-
column setting. It marks the current baseline as the top of
your columns, for use later with .MCR. See the introduction
to columns for an explanation of multi-columns and some sample
input.
Note: Do not confuse .MCO with the .COLUMNS macro in the docu‐
ment processing macros.
.MCR Once you've turned multi-columns on (with .MCO), .MCR, at any
time, returns you to the top of your columns.
.MCX [ <distance to advance below longest column> ]
Optional argument requires a unit of measure.
.MCX takes you out of any tab you were in (by silently invok‐
ing .TQ) and advances to the bottom of the longest column.
Without an argument, .MCX advances 1 linespace below the long‐
est column.
Linespace, in this instance, is the leading in effect at the
moment .MCX is invoked.
If you pass the <distance> argument to .MCX, it advances 1
linespace below the longest column (see above) PLUS the dis‐
tance specified by the argument. The argument requires a unit
of measure; therefore, to advance an extra 6 points below
where .MCX would normally place you, you'd enter
.MCX 6p
Note: If you wish to advance a precise distance below the
baseline of the longest column, use .MCX with an argument of 0
(zero; no unit of measure required) in conjunction with the
.ALD macro, like this:
.MCX 0
.ALD 24p
The above advances to precisely 24 points below the baseline
of the longest column.
.NEWPAGE
Whenever you want to start a new page, use .NEWPAGE, by itself
with no argument. Mom will finish up processing the current
page and move you to the top of a new one (subject to the top
margin set with .T_MARGIN).
.PAGE <width> [ <length> [ <lm> [ <rm> [ <tm> [ <bm> ] ] ] ] ]
All arguments require a unit of measure
IMPORTANT: If you're using the document processing macros,
.PAGE must come after .START. Otherwise, it should go at the
top of a document, prior to any text. And remember, when
you're using the document processing macros, top margin and
bottom margin mean something slightly different than when
you're using just the typesetting macros (see Top and bottom
margins in document processing).
.PAGE lets you establish paper dimensions and page margins
with a single macro. The only required argument is page
width. The rest are optional, but they must appear in order
and you can't skip over any. <lm>, <rm>, <tm> and <bm> refer
to the left, right, top and bottom margins respectively.
Assuming your page dimensions are 11 inches by 17 inches, and
that's all you want to set, enter
.PAGE 11i 17i
If you want to set the left margin as well, say, at 1 inch,
PAGE would look like this:
.PAGE 11i 17i 1i
Now suppose you also want to set the top margin, say, at 1–1/2
inches. <tm> comes after <rm> in the optional arguments, but
you can't skip over any arguments, therefore to set the top
margin, you must also give a right margin. The .PAGE macro
would look like this:
.PAGE 11i 17i 1i 1i 1.5i
| |
required right---+ +---top margin
margin
Clearly, .PAGE is best used when you want a convenient way to
tell mom just the dimensions of your printer sheet (width and
length), or when you want to tell her everything about the
page (dimensions and all the margins), for example
.PAGE 8.5i 11i 45p 45p 45p 45p
This sets up an 8½ by 11 inch page with margins of 45 points
(5/8-inch) all around.
Additionally, if you invoke .PAGE with a top margin argument,
any macros you invoke after .PAGE will almost certainly move
the baseline of the first line of text down by one linespace.
To compensate, do
.RLD 1v
immediately before entering any text, or, if it's feasible,
make .PAGE the last macro you invoke prior to entering text.
Please read the Important note on page dimensions and paper‐
size for information on ensuring groff respects your .PAGE
dimensions and margins.
.PAGELENGTH <length of printer sheet>
tells mom how long your printer sheet is. It works just like
.PAGEWIDTH.
Therefore, to tell mom your printer sheet is 11 inches long,
you enter
.PAGELENGTH 11i
Please read the important note on page dimensions and paper‐
size for information on ensuring groff respects your PAGE‐
LENGTH.
.PAGEWIDTH <width of printer sheet>
The argument to .PAGEWIDTH is the width of your printer sheet.
.PAGEWIDTH requires a unit of measure. Decimal fractions are
allowed. Hence, to tell mom that the width of your printer
sheet is 8½ inches, you enter
.PAGEWIDTH 8.5i
Please read the Important note on page dimensions and paper‐
size for information on ensuring groff respects your
PAGEWIDTH.
.PAPER <paper type>
provides a convenient way to set the page dimensions for some
common printer sheet sizes. The argument <paper type> can be
one of: LETTER, LEGAL, STATEMENT, TABLOID, LEDGER, FOLIO,
QUARTO, EXECUTIVE, 10x14, A3, A4, A5, B4, B5.
.PRINTSTYLE
.PT_SIZE <size of type in points>
Point size of type, does not require a unit of measure.
.PT_SIZE (Point Size) takes one argument: the size of type in
points. Unlike most other macros that establish the size or
measure of something, .PT_SIZE does not require that you sup‐
ply a unit of measure since it's a near universal convention
that type size is measured in points. Therefore, to change
the type size to, say, 11 points, enter
.PT_SIZE 11
Point sizes may be fractional (e.g. 10.25 or 12.5).
You can prepend a plus or a minus sign to the argument to
.PT_SIZE, in which case the point size will be changed by + or
- the original value. For example, if the point size is 12 ,
and you want 14 , you can do
.PT_SIZE +2
then later reset it to 12 with
.PT_SIZE -2
The size of type can also be changed inline.
Note: It is unfortunate that the pic preprocessor has already
taken the name, PS, and thus mom's macro for setting point
sizes can't use it. However, if you aren't using pic, you
might want to alias .PT_SIZE as .PS, since there'd be no con‐
flict. For example
.ALIAS PS PT_SIZE
would allow you to set point sizes with .PS.
.R_MARGIN <right margin>
Right Margin
Requires a unit of measure.
IMPORTANT: .R_MARGIN, if used, must come after .PAPER,
.PAGEWIDTH, .L_MARGIN, and/or .PAGE (if a right margin isn't
given to PAGE). The reason is that .R_MARGIN calculates line
length from the overall page dimensions and the left margin.
Obviously, it can't make the calculation if it doesn't know
the page width and the left margin.
.R_MARGIN establishes the amount of space you want between the
end of typeset lines and the right hand edge of the printer
sheet. In other words, it sets the line length. .R_MARGIN
requires a unit of measure. Decimal fractions are allowed.
The line length macro (LL) can be used in place of .R_MARGIN.
In either case, the last one invoked sets the line length.
The choice of which to use is up to you. In some instances,
you may find it easier to think of a section of type as having
a right margin. In others, giving a line length may make more
sense.
For example, if you're setting a page of type you know should
have 6-pica margins left and right, it makes sense to enter a
left and right margin, like this:
.L_MARGIN 6P
.R_MARGIN 6P
That way, you don't have to worry about calculating the line
length. On the other hand, if you know the line length for a
patch of type should be 17 picas and 3 points, entering the
line length with LL is much easier than calculating the right
margin, e.g.
.LL 17P+3p
If you use the macros .PAGE, .PAGEWIDTH or PAPER without
invoking .R_MARGIN afterwards, mom automatically sets .R_MAR‐
GIN to 1 inch. If you set a line length after these macros
(with .LL), the line length calculated by .R_MARGIN is, of
course, overridden.
Note: .R_MARGIN behaves in a special way when you're using the
document processing macros.
.ST <tab number> L | R | C | J [ QUAD ]
After string tabs have been marked off on an input line (see
\*[ST]...\*[STX]), you need to set them by giving them a di‐
rection and, optionally, the QUAD argument.
In this respect, .ST is like .TAB_SET except that you don't
have to give .ST an indent or a line length (that's already
taken care of, inline, by \*[ST]...\*[STX]).
If you want string tab 1 to be left, enter
.ST 1 L
If you want it to be left and filled, enter
.ST 1 L QUAD
If you want it to be justified, enter
.ST 1 J
.TAB <tab number>
After tabs have been defined (either with .TAB_SET or .ST),
.TAB moves to whatever tab number you pass it as an argument.
For example,
.TAB 3
moves you to tab 3.
Note: .TAB breaks the line preceding it and advances 1 line‐
space. Hence,
.TAB 1
A line of text in tab 1.
.TAB 2
A line of text in tab 2.
produces, on output
A line of text in tab 1.
A line of text in tab 2.
If you want the tabs to line up, use .TN (Tab Next) or, more
conveniently, the inline escape \*[TB+]:
.TAB 1
A line of text in tab 1.\*[TB+]
A line of text in tab 2.
which produces
A line of text in tab 1. A line of text in tab 2.
If the text in your tabs runs to several lines, and you want
the first lines of each tab to align, you must use the multi-
column macros.
Additional note: Any indents in effect prior to calling a tab
are automatically turned off by TAB. If you were happily zip‐
ping down the page with a left indent of 2 picas turned on,
and you call a tab whose indent from the left margin is 6
picas, your new distance from the left margin will be 6 picas,
not I 6 picas plus the 2 pica indent.
Tabs are not by nature columnar, which is to say that if the
text inside a tab runs to several lines, calling another tab
does not automatically move to the baseline of the first line
in the previous tab. To demonstrate:
TAB 1
Carrots
Potatoes
Broccoli
.TAB 2
$1.99/5 lbs
$0.25/lb
$0.99/bunch
produces, on output
Carrots
Potatoes
Broccoli
$1.99/5 lbs
$0.25/lb
$0.99/bunch
.TB <tab number>
Alias to .TAB
.TI [ <measure> ]
Temporary left indent — the optional argument requires a unit
of measure
A temporary indent is one that applies only to the first line
of text that comes after it. Its chief use is indenting the
first line of paragraphs. (Mom's .PP macro, for example, uses
a temporary indent.)
The first time you invoke .TI, you must give it a measure. If
you want to indent the first line of a paragraph by, say, 2
ems, do
.TI 2m
Subsequent invocations of .TI do not require you to supply a
measure; mom keeps track of the last measure you gave it.
Because temporary indents are temporary, there's no need to
turn them off.
IMPORTANT: Unlike .IL, .IR and IB, measures given to .TI are
NOT additive. In the following example, the second ".TI 2P"
is exactly 2 picas.
.TI 1P
The beginning of a paragraph...
.TI 2P
The beginning of another paragraph...
.TN Tab Next
Inline escape \*[TB+]
TN moves over to the next tab in numeric sequence (tab n+1)
without advancing on the page. See the NOTE in the descrip‐
tion of the .TAB macro for an example of how TN works.
In tabs that aren't given the QUAD argument when they're set
up with .TAB_SET or ST, you must terminate the line preceding
.TN with the \c inline escape. Conversely, if you did give a
QUAD argument to .TAB_SET or ST, the \c must not be used.
If you find remembering whether to put in the \c bothersome,
you may prefer to use the inline escape alternative to .TN,
\*[TB+], which works consistently regardless of the fill mode.
Note: You must put text in the input line immediately after
.TN. Stacking of .TN's is not allowed. In other words, you
cannot do
.TAB 1
Some text\c
.TN
Some more text\c
.TN
.TN
Yet more text
The above example, assuming tabs numbered from 1 to 4, should
be entered
.TAB 1
Some text\c
.TN
Some more text\c
.TN
\&\c
.TN
Yet more text
\& is a zero-width, non-printing character that groff recog‐
nizes as valid input, hence meets the requirement for input
text following .TN.
.TQ TQ takes you out of whatever tab you were in, advances 1 line‐
space, and restores the left margin, line length, quad direc‐
tion and fill mode that were in effect prior to invoking any
tabs.
.T_MARGIN <top margin>
Top margin
Requires a unit of measure
.T_MARGIN establishes the distance from the top of the printer
sheet at which you want your type to start. It requires a
unit of measure, and decimal fractions are allowed. To set a
top margin of 2½ centimetres, you'd enter
.T_MARGIN 2.5c
.T_MARGIN calculates the vertical position of the first line
of type on a page by treating the top edge of the printer
sheet as a baseline. Therefore,
.T_MARGIN 1.5i
puts the baseline of the first line of type 1½ inches beneath
the top of the page.
Note: .T_MARGIN means something slightly different when you're
using the document processing macros. See Top and bottom mar‐
gins in document processing for an explanation.
IMPORTANT: .T_MARGIN does two things: it establishes the top
margin for pages that come after it and it moves to that posi‐
tion on the current page. Therefore, .T_MARGIN should only be
used at the top of a file (prior to entering text) or after
NEWPAGE, like this:
.NEWPAGE
.T_MARGIN 6P
<text>
groff(1), groff_mom(7),
/usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.22.3/html/mom/toc.html
– entry point to the HTML documentation
⟨http://www.schaffter.ca/mom/momdoc/toc.html⟩
– HTML documentation online
⟨http://www.schaffter.ca/mom/⟩
– the mom macros homepage
Please send bug reports to the groff-bug mailing list ⟨bug-
groff@gnu.org⟩ or directly to the authors.
Copyright © 2002-2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This file is part of groff, a free software project.
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 3 of the License, or (at your option) any
later version.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with groff, see the files COPYING and LICENSE in the top
directory of the groff Text source package.
Or read the manpage gpl(1). You can also visit
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
mom was written by Peter Schaffter ⟨peter@schaffter.ca⟩ and revised
by Werner Lemberg ⟨wl@gnu.org⟩.
PDF support was provided by Deri James ⟨deri@chuzzlewit.demon.co.uk⟩.
The alphabetical documentation of macros and escape seqauences in
this man-page were written by the mom team.
This page is part of the groff (GNU troff) project. Information
about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩. If you have a bug report for
this manual page, see ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩. This
page was obtained from the tarball groff-1.22.3.tar.gz fetched from
⟨ftp://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/groff/⟩ on 2017-07-05. If you discover any
rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe
there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
Groff Version 1.22.3 4 November 2014 GROFF_MOM(7)
Pages that refer to this page: groff(1), grog(1), groff_tmac(5), groff_mom(7)