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Questions tagged [groff]

The GNU enhanced re-implementation of Joe Osanna's 1975 `roff` text formatting mark-up language, macros, and its related programs (also known as `troff` and `nroff`). Used at the command line to format manual pages (`man` pages) on Unix-like operating systems.

roff is the general name for a set of text formatting programs, known under names like troff, nroff, ditroff, groff, etc. A roff system consists of an extensible text formatting language and a set of programs for printing and converting to other text formats. Unix-like operating systems distribute a roff system as a core package. The most common roff system today is the free software implementation GNU roff, groff. groff implements the look-and-feel and functional‐ ity of its ancestors, with many extensions. -- From the man roff manual page, copyright Free Software Foundation, Inc.

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Is troff/groff relevant anymore?

I've heard that troff/groff have largely been replaced by TeX. Is this true? The only thing that I know actually used troff nowadays is manpages. Is this also true? If not, what are some other uses?
strugee
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Are ∈ and ℝ symbols available in eqn/roff?

A set of commonly used symbols to represent that a variable belongs to a given real coordinate space are ∈ ("ELEMENT OF", Unicode U+2208) and ℝ ("DOUBLE-STRUCK CAPITAL R", Unicode U+211D). Are those two symbols available in eqn, troff, and/or groff?…
M.E.
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How do I generate manpages using escape codes for bold, etc.?

While inspecting the source code of less, I noticed that the included manpage (less.man) used terminal escape codes for showing bold text: ^[[1mNAME^[[0m less - opposite of more ^[[1mSYNOPSIS^[[0m ^[[1mless -?^[[0m ^[[1mless…
muru
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How to correctly display Polish diacritic symbols in groff?

I'm playing around with groff and I wanted to generate a pdf from the following test.ms .TL Tytuł .AU Imię Nazwisko .NH Wstęp .PP Pierwszy paragraf. Jakieś informacje, żeby były polskie znaki. .PP Drugi paragraf. Reszta…
atmostmediocre
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convert man output to ebook format

I can convert man output to PDF. First, man -t grep >grep.ps (grep is just an example; I am not looking for mobile version of grep man page). Then Adobe Distiller converts PostScript to PDF. However, PDF looks terrible on the tablet (can't re-size,…
Felix
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`man --html` and `man --gxditview` exit with errors?

Problem On my machine (Ubuntu 18.04), I am able to view man pages normally in the console. However, I cannot seem to get man --html (man -H) or man --gxditview (man -X) to work. Might anyone have any inklings as to what is wrong? Related…
Eric Cousineau
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What is the difference between the mdoc macro set for troff and the plain man macro set for making new manpages

I am trying to create man pages for a side project and I have never used troff before, and I am trying to figure out what exactly is the difference between the man macro set and the mdoc macro sets and which is more portable between POSIX OS'es and…
Zeno of Elea
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How do I convert a troff manpage with UTF-8 characters (czech to be precise) to PDF

I have a troff document (manpage) with UTF-8 characters and I am trying to convert it to a PDF. However, when using the -Tpdf option, the PDF generated does not show the correct characters. This is the command I am using: groff -k -Tutf-8 -pet -Tpdf…
magnusi
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Gnu nroff - output a line with dot at beginning of line

i tried to write a self-replicating program ("quine") in raw (no macros) GNU nroff. Admittedly, this is pointless and eccentric, but it doesn't seem to have been done before. I have failed to do so. I'm pretty sure that whoever succeeds in writing a…
user732
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How do I choose a groff macro package?

I want to try a classic groff macro package for structured technical documents as a replacement for the arguably more complex LaTeX and DocBook. I understand ms was the earliest macro package, and mm and me came later. How do I choose between ms, mm…
johntait.org
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How do I install gropdf?

I am a new user of groff and want to generate pdf files with it. I know that the basic syntax is as follows: groff -ms inputcode.ms -T pdf > outputfile.pdf But, when I try it, I get the following error message: groff: can't find DESC' file…
Daniel Bandeira
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Can't use different font families in groff -ms

I'm using groff with ms macros and outputting it to PostScript. On Linux Void. I want to have a different font and also output Unicode characters. I have converted my font as written in this question. As specified, it worked for me (with NO ms…
zoomer
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Displaying orbital node characters in groff ms macros

I'm trying to display the characters for ascending and descending orbital nodes (☊ and ☋) in groff, however when I export the document to postscript they simply don't show.
GeriatricJacob
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How to write romanian special characters with groff?

I've got myself into experimenting with groff and from the start I found out the romanian special characters I type in vim are all fine (I ran setxkbmap ro), but get messed up in the pdf export. Running groff -Tpdf -ms letext.ms >…
Silviu Barba Rosie
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Man displaying groff control characters

Man is displaying groff control characters after I compiled a later version of groff. For example, when I try to view groff's man page: GROFF(1) General Commands Manual GROFF(1) ESC[1mNAMEESC[0m groff -…
rake
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