CAWF(1) General Commands Manual CAWF(1)
NAME
cawf, nroff - C version of the nroff-like, Amazingly Workable (text) Formatter
SYNOPSIS
cawf [ -cconfig ] [ -ddevice ] [ -e ] [ -ffont ] [ -h ] [ -macros ] [ file ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Cawf formats the text from the input file(s) (standard input if none) in an approximation of nroff. It comes closest to duplicating
nroff's man or ms macro package styles. It has some limited support for nroff's me macros.
OPTIONS
Options must precede file names.
-cconfig
defines an alternate path to the device configuration file. Normally the device configuration file is found in device.cf in the
cawf library (see the FILES section).
The device configuration file contains device character strings for selecting fonts and the bold or italic type faces. See the
DEVICES section for more information.
-ddevice
specifies the name of the output device. There are three built-in devices - ANSI, NONE and NORMAL - and other devices may be
defined in the device configuration file. See the DEVICES section for more information.
The NORMAL device is the default.
-e directs cawf to issue an eject (FF or ^L) after the last page.
-ffont specifies the one font for the device, declared with the -ddevice option, that is to be used for the entire document. Font must
match a font associated with the device's stanza in the device configuration file. See the DEVICES section for more information.
No font may be specified for the built-in devices ANSI, NONE or NORMAL.
-h requests a help display.
-macro specifies the macro file to be used. The standard cawf distribution supplies macro files to support ``-man'', ``-me'' or ``-ms''.
Cawf finds a macro file by constructing its name from `m', acro and .mac - e. g., -man is converted to man.mac. The default direc-
tory for macro files is defined when cawf is compiled; it's C:SYSLIBCAWF in the MS-DOS environment; /usr/lib/cawf in the UNIX
environment.
file ...
are the names of files containing nroff source text.
NROFF COMPATIBILITY
Cawf accepts the following raw nroff requests:
." .ad .bp .br .ce .de .di .ds .el .fi .fl .ft .i0 .ie .if .in .it .lg .li .ll .ls .na .ne .nf
.nr .ns .pl .po .ps .rm .rn .rr .rs .so .sp .ta .ti .tm .tr
and the following in-text codes:
$ \% * " c f h k
s w
plus the full list of nroff/troff special characters in the original V7 troff manual.
Many restrictions are present; the behavior in general is a subset of nroff's. Of particular note are the following:
o The fully supported nroff request control character is the period. There is limited support for the non-break, acute accent control
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character. Point sizes do not exist; .ps is ignored. Special vertical spacing - the .vs request included - is ignored. Conditionals
cover only the numeric comparisons >, =, <, >= and <= on
(.$; string comparisons between a macro parameter and a literal; n (always
true); and t (always false). Only single line input is accepted from conditionals; multi-line input - e.g., (anything) - is not sup-
CAWF(1) General Commands Manual CAWF(1)
ported. The handling of strings is generally primitive.
o Horizontal motion via h must be supplied with a number register interpolation and must be positive - e. g., w
(NN, where the value in
NN is >= 0.
o The k function is reliable only after TAB characters, so it is useful only for measuring table positions.
o The .di request only turns output on and off - any macro name is ignored.
o Expressions - e. g., .sp - are reasonably general, but the |, &, and : operators do not exist, there must be white space between the end
of the nroff function and the beginning of the expression, and w requires that quote (') be used as the delimiters. w counts the char-
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acters inside the quotes and scales the result in ens, so that, for example, w'(bu' equals 4n, and w'(bu'/1n equals 4. The only
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acceptable count for the .it request is one, and it is effective only with man, me or ms macros. The default scaling factor is `v' for
the .ne, .sp, and .pl raw nroff requests; it is `u' for .nr; and `n' for .in, .ll, .ls, .po, .ta and .ti. (A different scaling factor
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may be specified with a trailing character.) Some obsolete or meaningless requests - .i0, .lg and .li - are silently ignored.
White space at the beginning of lines, and embedded white space within lines is dealt with properly. Sentence terminators at ends of lines
are understood to imply extra space afterward in filled lines. Tabs are implemented crudely and not exactly, although usually they work as
expected. Hyphenation is done only at explicit hyphens, em-dashes, and nroff discretionary hyphens. By default bold and italic characters
are emulated with backspacing and overprinting, but the -d and -f options, combined with the contents of the device configuration file, may
be used to generate special codes for bold and italic characters. (See the DEVICES section for more information.)
MAN MACROS
The man macro set replicates the full V7 manual macros, plus a few semi-random oddballs. The full list is:
.AT .B .BI .BR .BY .DE .DS .DT .HP .I
.IB .IP .IR .IX .LP .NB .P .PD .PP .RB
.RE .RI .RS .SH .SM .SS .TH .TP .UC
.BY and .NB each take a single string argument (respectively, an indication of authorship and a note about the status of the manual
page) and arrange to place it in the page footer. .AT and .IX do nothing.
ME MACROS
The me macro subset has been derived from the cawf ms macros by Chet Creider <creider@csd.uwo.ca>. It includes:
.(l .(q .)l .)q .b .bu .i .ip .lp .np
.pp .r .sh .sm .u .uh
The .(l C and .(l L options are supported. In addition, the .AB, .AE, .AI, .AU, .DA, .ND, .TL and .UX macros have been retained from
the ms set, and the .XP macro has been borrowed from the Berkeley additions to the ms macro set.
MS MACROS
The ms macro set is a substantial subset of the V7 manuscript macros. The macros are:
.AB .AE .AI .AU .B .CD .DA .DE .DS .I
.ID .IP .LD .LG .LP .ND .NH .NL .PP .QE
.QP .QS .R .RE .RP .RS .SH .SM .TL .TP
.UL .UX
Size changes are recognized but ignored, as are .RP and .ND. .UL just prints its argument in italics. .DS/.DE does not do a keep,
nor do any of the other macros that normally imply keeps.
The DY string variable is available. The PD, PI, and LL number registers exist and can be changed.
HEADERS AND FOOTERS
Cawf allows the placement of text into the five line header and footer sections from the LH, CH, RF, LF, CF, and RF string variables, via
the control of the .^b request:
.^b fh 1 enables header string placement on the first page
.^b fh 0 disables header string placement on the first page
.^b HF 1 enables header/footer string placement
.^b HF 0 disables header/footer string placement
There are appropriate .^b requests in the distribution man, me and ms macro files. (The me and ms macro files use another .^b request, .^b
NH, to enable numbered header processing.)
OUTPUT
The default output format supported by cawf, in its distributed form, is that appropriate to a dumb terminal, using overprinting for ital-
ics (via underlining) and bold. The nroff special characters are printed as some vague approximation (it's sometimes extremely vague) to
their correct appearance.
One part of cawf's knowledge of the output device, related to the formation of characters, is established by a device file, which is read
before the user's input. The search for it begins in cawf's library directory, under the name term.dev (where term is the value of the
TERM environment variable). Failing to find that, cawf searches for dumb.dev. (See the FILES section for a description of the path to
cawf's library directory.) The device file uses special internal requests to set up resolution, special characters and more normal nroff
functions to set up page length, etc.
Cawf has limited support for fonts special forms of bold and italic characters. It is provided through the -c config, -ddevice and -ffont
options. See the DEVICES section for more information.
Note the distinction between the device and the output device configuration files. The device file typically defines characters and con-
stant output parameters. The output device configuration file defines font and type face codes. It is usually not necessary to define a
separate device file for each device represented in the output device configuration file - the dumb.dev device file will suffice for almost
all representations.
DEVICES
Cawf supports primitive output device configuration for font and type face control. One font may be selected for the entire document by
directing cawf to issue a font selection control character string at the beginning of the document, and control character strings may be
selected for switching between the bold, italic and Roman type faces.
The -c config, -ddevice and -ffont options direct the font and type face selections.
The -ddevice option specifies the name of the device. Cawf has three built-in devices - ANSI, NONE and NORMAL. When the ANSI device is
selected, cawf issues the ANSI shadow mode control codes, ``ESC [ 7 m'', to represent the bold face; the ANSI underscore control codes,
``ESC [ 4 m'', to represent the italic face; and the ANSI control codes, ``ESC [ 0 m'', to represent the ROMAN face. No -ffont specifica-
tion is permitted with the ANSI device.
When the NONE device is selected, cawf uses no special output codes to represent the type faces. No -ffont specification is permitted with
the ANSI device.
The NORMAL output device is the default. When it's selected, cawf overprints each bold character two times, using three issuances of each
bold character, separated by backspace characters; it issues an underscore and backspace before each italic character. No -ffont specifi-
cation is permitted with the ANSI device. The bsfilt(1) filter may be used to further process the backspace codes output for a NORMAL
device.
All other devices named in the -ddevice option must be represented by a stanza in the device configuration file. The device configuration
file is usually contained in device.cf in cawf's library directory (see the FILES section for more information). An alternate device con-
figuration file path may be specified with the -cconfig option.
The DEVICE CONFIGURATION FILE section describes the organization of the device configuration file. It is easy to add devices to the
device.cf supplied in the cawf distribution.
The -ffont option may be used with the -ddevice option, when the appropriate stanza in the device configuration file contains an entry for
the named font. The DEVICE CONFIGURATION FILE section describes how fonts are defined in device configuration file stanzas.
DEVICE CONFIGURATION FILE
The device configuration file defines the special character codes necessary to direct output devices to select fonts and to produce bold,
italic and Roman type faces.
The configuration file is usually found in device.cf in cawf's library directory (see the FILES section for more information). It is orga-
nized into two main parts - comments and device stanzas. Comments are any lines that begin with the pound sign (`#') character. They are
informational only and cawf ignores them. Cawf also ignores empty lines, so they may be used as vertical white space.
Stanzas name devices and define their font and type face control strings. A stanza begins with the name of the device, starting at the
beginning of a line and occupying the entire line. The body of the stanza, defining fonts and type faces, is formed of lines beginning
with white space (a TAB or space characters) that directly follow the device name.
Individual lines of the stanza body contain a key character, followed by a equal sign, followed by the font name (if a font key) and the
output device control codes. Cawf issues the font control codes once, at the beginning of output, so only one font may be selected. The
type face control codes are issued at each change of type face.
The key characters are: b for bold f for font definition i for italic r for Roman The `b', `i' and `r'
key codes are followed by an equal sign (`=') and their control code definition. The `f' key code is followed by an equal sign (`='), the
font name, another equal sign and the font control code definition.
Control code definitions may contain any printable ASCII characters. Non-printable characters may be encoded in octal notation with the
`
nn' form or in hexadecimal with the `xnn' form. The special code, `E' (or `e') represents the ESC control character ( 33 or x1b).
Here's a sample showing the definition for the HP LaserJet III. The stanza name is ``lj3''. All its non-printable characters are ESCs;
the first is coded in octal form; the second with 'E'; the rest, in hexadecimal form. TAB is used as the leading white space character
for the stanza body lines. # HP LaserJet III
lj3
b= 33(s7B
i=E(s1S
r=x1b(s0Bx1b(s0S
f=c10=b&l0Ob(8Ub(s0p12h10v0s0b3T
f=c12ibm=b&l0Ob(10Ub(s0p10.00h12.0v0s0b3T
f=lg12=b&l0Ob(8Ub(s12h12v0s0b6T
The distribution device.cf file defines the following devices and fonts.
epson dot matrix printer in Epson FX-86e/FX-800 mode
Bold: Double-strike
Fonts: none
ibmppds IBM Personal Printer Data Stream (PPDS) protocol
Bold: Double-strike
Italic: Underline
Fonts: none
kxp1124 Panasonic KX-P1124 dot matrix printer in PGM mode
Bold: Emphasized
Fonts: c10 10 Characters Per Inch (CPI) Courier
c12 12 CPI Courier
bps10 10 CPI Bold PS
bps12 12 CPI Bold PS
p10 10 CPI Prestige
p12 12 CPI Prestige
s10 10 CPI Script
s12 12 CPI Script
ss10 10 CPI Sans Serif
ss12 12 CPI Sans Serif
kxp1180 Panasonic KX-P1180 dot matrix printer in PGM mode
Bold: Emphasized
Fonts: c10 10 Characters Per Inch (CPI) Courier
c12 12 CPI Courier
bps10 10 CPI Bold PS
bps12 12 CPI Bold PS
p10 10 CPI Prestige
p12 12 CPI Prestige
ss10 10 CPI Sans Serif
ss12 12 CPI Sans Serif
lj3 HP LaserJet III
Fonts: c10 10 point, 12 Characters Per Inch (CPI)
Courier
c12ibm 12 point, 10 CPI Courier, IBM-PC
Symbol Set
lg12 12 point, 12 CPI Letter Gothic
vgamono VGA monochrome monitor for MS-DOS
(ANSI.SYS driver required for MS-DOS)
Italic: Reverse-video
Fonts: none
FILES
Cawf resource files are located in the cawf library directory - C:SYSLIBCAWF, the MS-DOS environment default; or /usr/lib/cawf, the
UNIX environment default. These defaults can be overridden by the CAWFLIB environment variable, or changed in the cawflib.h header file.
common common device-independent initialization
device.cf output device configurations
*.dev device-specific initialization
m*.mac macro package files
DIAGNOSTICS
Unlike nroff, cawf complains whenever it sees unknown requests. All diagnostics appear on the standard error file.
HISTORY
Vic Abell of Purdue University <abe@cc.purdue.edu> derived cawf from awf, ``the Amazingly Workable (text) Formatter,'' written by Henry
Spencer of the University of Toronto. The Toronto work was a supplement to the C News project. The Purdue effort was aimed at producing a
C language version that would run on small systems, particularly MS-DOS ones. The adaptation of the me macros was done by Chet Creider
<creider@csd.uwo.ca>. Chet also contributed ideas for device, font and type face support.
The MS-DOS version of cawf has been compiled with version 2.5 of Microsoft's Quick-C compiler. It runs under the Mortis Kern Systems Tool-
kit KornShell, ksh(1), and COMMAND.COM.
BUGS
Nroff and troff mavens will have many complaints. Some may even represent bugs and not deliberate omissions.
Watch out for scaling factors - especially on requests like w.
The overprinting required to create bold and italicized characters is tiresome on a slow printer. The bsfilt(1) post-filter from this dis-
tribution may be used to alleviate that nuisance by managing the backspacing codes from cawf's NORMAL device output.
The printing of bold and italic characters is sometimes better handled by special printer codes. Use cawf's -c config, -ddevice and -ffont
options to produce special font and device output control codes.
Cawf has a small amount of built-in code for the man, me and ms macro packages, but none for any others.
The stacking for the .so request is limited.
SEE ALSO
bsfilt(1), colcrt(1), man(7), me(7), ms(7) and nroff(1).
November, 1992 CAWF(1)