aft(1)							      General Commands Manual							    aft(1)

NAME

       aft - "free form" document preparation system

SYNOPSIS

       aft [--verbose] [--autonumber] [--output=file | --output=-] [--type=output-type] infile ..

DESCRIPTION

       AFT  is a nearly free format documentation system which can be typed in using any editor or wordprocessor that supports tabs or hard spaces
       (column-based spaces whose number doesn't shrink or grow based on formatting). By using AFT, you are no longer constrained to one  wordpro-
       cessing	file  standard (such as Microsoft Word), nor do you have to enter a plethora of weird syntactical incantations of an embedded mark
       up language (such as LaTeX or HTML).

       Unlike other mark up languages, AFT is designed to parse and recognize patterns rather than formal commands. That is why there is no single
       escape or command sequence that tells AFT what to do. In this regard, AFT will process almost anything you throw at it.

       An  AFT	document is easily converted into such popular formats as HTML, RTF and LaTeX. Because there are few commands, learning to write a
       document in AFT requires little effort. This doesn't mean that AFT is not powerful. In fact, this very document was conceived  and  written
       using AFT.

USAGE

       Running AFT is as simple as typing:

       aft NAME_OF_YOUR_FILE.aft

OPTIONS

       --verbose
	      Generate	a  lot of commentary. By default, AFT will just silently process files (unless errors occur). Using this option causes AFT
	      to keep you informed about what it is doing.

       --autonumber
	      This switch tells AFT to automatically number your sections.--output=file |

       --output=-
	      This tells AFT where to send its processed output. You can supply a filename (file) or - which tells AFT to write to  your  standard
	      output (your display or stdout).

       --type=output_type
	      This tells AFT what type of output to do. For example HTML output is used for html and DocBook output is used for docbook. As a side
	      effect, this will also specify the file name extension for the output file if the --output option isn't specified.

       infile ..
	      One or more AFT documents to be processed.

Almost Free Text						  22. April 2003							    aft(1)