rsml(5) File Formats Manual rsml(5)
NAME
rsml, sml - rsml and sml macro packages that support RSML-coded reference pages
SYNOPSIS
tbl file... | neqn | nroff -h [options] -man | ...
tbl file... | neqn | nroff -h [options] -man.page | ...
OPTIONS
The following descriptions of options contain information about *troff output. This is provided for completeness, only. Compaq does not
supply or support any *troff formatters. Uses output tabs during horizontal spacing to speed output and reduce output character count.
Tab settings are assumed to be every eight nominal character widths. Numbers the first generated page as N. Ignored by the *sml macros
for nroff output.
Ignored for *troff output unless -rpS is also specified. Turns on line double-spacing mode if N is greater than 0. Numbers the
first generated page as N. Page numbers always print on the outside end of the page footer.
Ignored by the *sml macros for nroff output. Sets the section number to S. Section numbers appear in output page footers as S-N
(chapter-page-number).
Page numbers always print on the outside end of the page footer. Starting page number defaults to ``1'' unless -nN or -rnN is also
specified.
Ignored by the *sml macros for nroff output. Prints crop marks. Only for use with *troff formatters.
DESCRIPTION
Reference pages that originate from the Open Software Foundation (OSF) and those created for Tru64 UNIX are coded using RSML (Reference
Semantic Markup Language). This markup is implemented through a combination of two macro packages, sml and rsml. In addition, certain
macros and requests supported for RSML coding are defined in the tmac.an (man) macro package.
To use RSML coding in a reference page, include the following as the first two lines of the reference page source file:
.so /usr/share/lib/tmac/sml .so /usr/share/lib/tmac/rsml
Make sure these lines are included in the order shown; some rsml macro definitions are intended to overwrite definitions in the sml and man
macro sets. You can format a reference page manually using the command line shown in the SYNOPSIS section; specify one of the following
options on your command line: To process the reference page for unpaginated viewing or for printing on ASCII printers To process the refer-
ence page for paginated ASCII output
Do not specify a entry in a reference page source file to include the tmac.an or tmac.an.page macros from the /usr/share/lib/tmac direc-
tory. The man and catman commands automatically specify the -man option to nroff when they process reference page source files; you should
follow the same convention when formatting reference pages directly with *roff commands.
The file argument in the command line is the name of the reference page source file.
Macros
This section describes the macros used to mark up reference pages in Reference Semantic Markup Language (RSML).
Note that some of the macro descriptions contain information about *troff output. This is provided for completeness, only. Compaq does
not supply or support any *troff formatters.
Any text, phrase, or title argument in the following macro descriptions can consist of more than one word. Use quotation marks (" ") to
enclose an argument containing more than a single word.
Note that the
macros are used in RSML markup but are implemented through the tmac.an (man) macro package. Starts a numbered list. Use the macro to
identify the list items. Use the macro to end the list. Ends a comment section. Begins a comment section. Text between a and a macro
does not appear in the output. Includes a subdocument containing RSML markup. Ends a type declaration section. Starts a type declaration
section. Use within a function definition section (.fS/.fE). Use the optional arg-type argument to specify the argument type. Place the
parameter name on a line between the and macros. Imbed the and macro pairs within an region. Defines a string. The argument string is one
or two characters. Use the *string construct to cause a single-character string to be replaced by the specified text in the output. Use
the *(string construct to cause a two-character string to be replaced by the specified text in the output. Sets phrase in the font
selected for emphasis, generally italics. The phrase is followed by text set in the normal font with no intervening space. Sets phrase in
the font selected for emphasis, generally italics. The phrase is preceded by text set in the normal font with no intervening space. Sets
the title argument as the caption for an equation. Includes an example subdocument. No troff commands in the subdocument are processed.
The subdocument can contain backslash () characters and lines beginning with a period. The subdocument is treated as a display; line
breaks in the subdocument cause line breaks in the output document. Sets text in the font selected for emphasis, generally italics. Ends
a section containing one or more equations. Starts a section containing one or more equations. Sets the title argument as the caption for
an example. Sets the title argument as the caption for a figure. Ends a function definition section. Starts a function definition sec-
tion. Use the type declaration macros (.dS/.dE) within the function definition macros (.fS/.fE). Imbed the and macro pairs within an
region. Ends a user command input region. Starts a user command input region. When a section is designed to show user command input, use
the markup. This region is not a display. It continues to the next page, if needed. To ensure that a user command input region is not
continued over a page boundary, use the command to check for enough space on the current page. The default font for an region is *L. Cre-
ates an index entry. The primary entry is required; the flags and other entries are optional. The flags are as follows: Highlight an
entry as the main entry for this topic. Start a page range for this topic. End a page range for this topic. Specify use of See other-
entry-name instead of a page number. Specify use of See also other-entry-name instead of a page number.
If used, the flags : or ; must appear last. The flag ! may be used with [, :, or ; -- no other combination is meaningful. Sets
the key argument in the bold font and encloses it in angle brackets. The key name is followed by text set in the normal font with
no intervening space. Use this macro when you have ordinary text immediately following the keyboard key name. Sets the key argu-
ment in the bold font and encloses it in angle brackets. The key name is preceded by text set in the normal font with no interven-
ing space. Use this macro when you have ordinary text immediately preceding the keyboard key name. Sets the key argument in the
bold font and encloses it in angle brackets. Use this macro to display the name of a keyboard key. Ends a list started by Marks an
item in a list started by and following the macro. The macro starts a two-column list; place the left-column entry on the same line
as the macro, surrounded by double quotes (" "). Because the double quote character delimits the left-column entry, you must enter
four double quotes ("""") to print any double quote character that is part of the left-column entry. Place the right-column entry
starting on the line below the macro. Starts a marked list. Use the macro to identify the list items. Use the macro to end the
list. Starts a new page if fewer than x number of lines remain on the current page. Forces a line break. Forces a page break.
Ends a system output example region. Starts a system output example region. When a section is designed to show system output or a
file listing, use the markup. This region is not a display. It continues to the next page, if needed. To ensure that a system
output example region is not continued over a page boundary, use the command to check for enough space on the current page. The
default font for an region is *C. Ends a pic drawing. Starts a block paragraph. Sets the prevailing indent to .5i for nroff and
four picas for *troff text formatters. Starts a pic drawing; for use with *troff text formatters only. Returns to the kth relative
right shift indent level. (Restores the left margin to the position prior to the kth call). Specifying k=0 is equivalent to speci-
fying k=1. If k is omitted, restores the left margin to the most recent previous position. When k=1 or 0, the default indent incre-
ment is restored. Shifts the left margin to the right (relatively) the amount of i ens. The macro calls can be nested up to nine
levels. If i is not specified for the first call, the relative right shift increases .5 inch for nroff and four picas for *troff
text formatters. Nested calls increment the relative indent by i ens, or by .2 inch for nroff, or by 2 picas for *troff text for-
matters. Ends a synopsis definition. Creates a section header. Creates a subsection header. Starts a synopsis definition. When
coding function prototypes, imbed the and macro pairs within an region. If you use the macros to code a function prototype, imbed
the macros within the region. To code a command synopsis, start the synopsis with the macro, code the command line with *L, *V,
and *O text markup, and end the synopsis with the macro. Changes the format of columns within a table. Follow the table continue
request (.T&) with the new format line and then the column data. Sets the title for a table. Ends a table. Begins a new reference
page and sets the page title. Also sets up headers and footers for printed output pages and sets up all defaults and traps. The
title appears as a header on all pages of the formatted reference page. The n argument is the reference page name. The c argument
is the primary section number or letter. The s argument is the subsection, if any. The fc argument is optional and specifies the
text for the page foot center. The fl argument is optional and specifies the text for the page foot left. The hc argument is
optional and specifies the text for the page head center. The o argument is optional and can be used for ``origin'' information; for
example, ``Free Software Foundation'' or ``X11R5.'' The a argument is optional and can be used to specify the machine architecture,
for example ``Alpha AXP.''
Fields n, c, and s appear together at the top of each output page (see the top of this page for an example). These fields are dis-
played at both the top left and right of the screen, or printed page. Fields fc and fl are in effect only with the man.page macro
package, or when using a *troff formatter. Field hc appears at the top center of each output page. Field o, the ``origin'' label,
appears under the reference page name and section number, at the top left and right sides of the screen, or printed page. Field a
appears under the ``origin'' label, or under the reference page name and section number if there is no ``origin'' label, at the top
left and right sides of the screen, or printed page.
The last five fields are optional. To skip a field, specify a pair of quotation marks ("") in the field to be skipped. Starts a
table. Starts a two-column list. Specify the indent for the list in i inches, c centimeters, or in m ems. Follow the macro with
the list item (.LI) macro. Place the left-column entry on the same line as the macro, surrounded by double quotes (" "). If the
left-column entry is a phrase, code a backslash before each space to prevent the formatter from using the spaces when it calculates
the justification for the first line. If the left-column entry is longer than the specified indent, code the macro on the line fol-
lowing the macro to force the right-column entry onto a new line. Place the right-column entry starting on the line below the macro,
or on the line below the macro, if used.
Meaningful Text Markup
The following describes the text markup that can be used in a source file to change the font for conveying the semantic meaning of the
text.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Markup Semantic Meaning Examples Font Produced
----------------------------------------------------------------
*L Literal text User command Bold
input, command
names, glossary
term in text
*V Variable text User-supplied Italic
term
*O Ordinary text Returns the font Roman font
to normal; use
after a font
change
*C Computer output System output, Constant width
file listing
*E Emphasized text Book title, Italic
emphasized term
*A Alphabetic con- Error constant Constant width
stant
*N Numeric constant Error constant Constant width
----------------------------------------------------------------
Macros That Need Text Lines
The following macros affect the following line of text if they are specified in the input without arguments:
.SH .SS
Defaults
For a list of defaults, see the man(5) reference page.
RESTRICTIONS
Using man macros not described in this reference page in the same source file with macros that are described in this reference page can
give undesirable results.
For a list of predefined registers, reserved registers, predefined strings, and reserved strings and macros for the man and man.page macro
packages, see the man(5) reference page.
In addition, the following sections describe the RSML reserved registers, reserved strings, internal macros, and macro names reserved for
future use.
RSML Reserved Registers
The following registers are reserved for internal use by the macro packages for RSML:
%n #n Ll $A $M $U
|A |B |Q !x !+ !%
Predefined Strings
The following strings are predefined for RSML markup and should not be changed: "if nroff, `` if *troff " if nroff, '' if *troff
RSML Reserved Strings and Macros
The following string and macro names are reserved for internal use by the macro packages that implement RSML:
%n #n .e: .e; .e, .P# .SP .!~ .)F
The following string names are reserved for RSML users:
A C E L N O U V
RSML Macro Names Reserved for Future Use
The following macro names are reserved for future use by RSML users:
.aE .aS .lE .lS .P! .pI .pM .tH .wH
.TH Macro Restrictions
Section numbers should only be those listed in the man(1) reference page as recognized by the man(1) command.
Sections 5, 6, and the single-letter sections listed in the man(1) reference page normally do not have subsections, so none should be spec-
ified.
Subsections ``.z'' and ``.Z'' are not valid and should never be used.
For nroff output, keep the size of the reference page name, including its section and subsection, to a maximum of 38 characters to prevent
overprinting in the reference page header. Similarly, restrict the size of the o and a fields to a maximum of 38 characters. If the hc
field is used, reduce the size of the name, section, and subsection fields by the size of the hc field + 1.
The maximum sizes for the reference page name, o and a fields, are much shorter if the reference page is formatted with a *troff formatter.
The NAME Section
The catman command assumes the NAME section of a reference page has the following format:
name[, name, name ...] - explanatory text
There should be at least one space after any comma and only one space following the ``hyphen'' (-). A ``backslash hyphen'' (-) may also
be used to produce a longer dash. Avoid using Return characters, macros, or markup other than *L and *O to code information in the NAME
section entry. The explanatory text in this entry should be brief. The catman command combines information in the NAME section with parame-
ters of the
() ()
macro to create an entry in a database searched by the apropos, man -k, and whatis commands. Unrecognized markup, use of the wildcard char-
acter (*), or unexpected Return characters in the NAME section cause errors or incorrect results when the whatis database is created or
searched.
FILES
RSML macros SML macros man macros for unpaginated output man macros for paginated output
SEE ALSO
Commands: checkeq(1), man(1), neqn(1), nroff(1), tbl(1), catman(8)
Files: man(5)
()