GROFF_MS(7)                                                        GROFF_MS(7)



NAME
       groff_ms - groff ms macros

SYNOPSIS
       groff -ms [options...] [files...]

DESCRIPTION
       This manual page describes the GNU version of the ms macros, which is
       part of the groff document formatting system.  The groff ms macros are
       intended to be compatible with the documented behaviour of the 4.3 BSD
       Unix ms macros subject to the following limitations:

       o      the internals of groff ms are not similar to the internals of
              Unix ms and so documents that depend upon implementation details
              of Unix ms may well not work with groff ms;

       o      there is no support for typewriter-like devices;

       o      Berkeley localisms, in particular the TM and CT macros, are not
              implemented;

       o      groff ms does not provide cut marks;

       o      multiple line spacing is not allowed (use a larger vertical
              spacing instead);

       o      groff ms does not work in compatibility mode (eg with the -C
              option);

       o      the error-handling policy of groff ms is to detect and report
              errors, rather than silently to ignore them.

       The groff ms macros make use of many features of GNU troff and
       therefore cannot be used with any other troff.

       Bell Labs localisms are not implemented in either the BSD ms macros or
       in the groff ms macros.

       Some Unix ms documentation says that the CW and GW number registers can
       be used to control the column width and gutter width respectively.
       This is not the case.  These number registers are not used in groff ms.

       Macros that cause a reset set the indent.  Macros that change the
       indent do not increment or decrement the indent, but rather set it
       absolutely.  This can cause problems for documents that define
       additional macros of their own.  The solution is to use not the in
       request but instead the RS and RE macros.

       The number register GS is set to 1 by the groff ms macros, but is not
       used by the Unix ms macros.  It is intended that documents that need to
       determine whether they are being formatted with Unix ms or groff ms
       make use of this number register.

       Footnotes are implemented so that they can safely be used within keeps
       and displays.  Automatically numbered footnotes within floating keeps
       are not recommended.  It is safe to have another \** between a \** and
       the corresponding .FS; it is required only that each .FS occur after
       the corresponding \** and that the occurrences of .FS are in the same
       order as the corresponding occurrences of \**.

       The strings \*{ and \*} can be used to begin and end a superscript.

       Some Unix V10 ms features are implemented.  The B, I and BI macros can
       have an optional third argument which will be printed in the current
       font before the first argument.  There is a macro CW like B that
       changes to a constant-width font.

       The following strings can be redefined to adapt the groff ms macros to
       languages other than English:

       String    Default Value
       REFERENCES     References
       ABSTRACT  ABSTRACT
       TOC  Table of Contents
       MONTH1    January
       MONTH2    February
       MONTH3    March
       MONTH4    April
       MONTH5    May
       MONTH6    June
       MONTH7    July
       MONTH8    August
       MONTH9    September
       MONTH10   October
       MONTH11   November
       MONTH12   December

       The font family is reset from the string FAM; at initialization if this
       string is undefined it is set to the current font family.  The point
       size, vertical spacing, and inter-paragraph spacing for footnotes are
       taken from the number registers FPS, FVS, and FPD; at initialization
       these are set to \n(PS-2, \n[FPS]+2, and \n(PD/2 respectively; however,
       if any of these registers has been defined before initialization, it
       will not be set.  The hyphenation flags (as set by the .hy request) are
       set from the HY register; if this has not been defined at
       initialization, it will be set to 14.

       Right-aligned displays are available with .DS R and .RD.

       The following conventions are used for names of macros, strings and
       number registers.  External names available to documents that use the
       groff ms macros contain only uppercase letters and digits.  Internally
       the macros are divided into modules.  Names used only within one module
       are of the form module*name. Names used outside the module in which
       they are defined are of the form module@name. Names associated with a
       particular environment are of the form environment:name; these are used
       only within the par module, and name does not have a module prefix.
       Constructed names used to implement arrays are of the form array!index.
       Thus the groff ms macros reserve the following names:

       o      names containing *;

       o      names containing @;

       o      names containing:;

       o      names containing only uppercase letters and digits.

FILES
       /usr/local/share/tmac/tmac.s

SEE ALSO
       groff(1), troff(1), tbl(1), pic(1), eqn(1)
       ms(7)



Groff Version 1.15                                                9 April 2000
