NAME

nroff − format text

SYNOPSIS

nroff [ options ] file ... 

DESCRIPTION

Nroff formats text contained in file (standard input by default) for printing on typewriter-like devices and line printers.  Its capabilities are described in the NROFF/TROFF User’s Manual cited below. 

Nroff is best not used directly, but rather via macro packages such as mm, which provides a high-level interface to document processing, as opposed to the very low level one provided directly in nroff.

An argument consisting of a minus (−) is taken to be a file name corresponding to the standard input.  The options, which may appear in any order but must appear before the file, are:

−olist Print only pages whose page numbers appear in the list of numbers and ranges, separated by commas.  A range N−M means pages N through M; an initial −N means from the beginning to page N; and a final N− means from N to the end.  (See WARNINGS below.) 

−nN Number first generated page N.

−sN Stop every N pages.  Nroff will halt after every N pages (default N=1) to allow paper loading or changing, and will resume upon receipt of a line-feed or new-line (new-lines do not work in pipelines, for example, with mm(1)). When nroff halts between pages, an ASCII BEL is sent to the terminal. 

−raN Set register a (which must have a one-character name) to N.

−i Read standard input after files are exhausted. 

−q Invoke the simultaneous input-output mode of the .rd request. 

−z Print only messages generated by .tm (terminal message) requests. 

−mname Precede the input files with the non-compacted (ASCII text) macro file /usr/lib/tmac/tmac.name.

−cname Precede the input

files with the compacted macro files /usr/lib/macros/cmp.[nt]. [dt].name and /usr/lib/macros/ucmp.[nt].name.

−kname Compact the macros used in this invocation of nroff, placing the output in files [dt].name in the current directory (see the May 1979 Addendum to the NROFF/TROFF User’s Manual for details of compacting macro files). 

−Tname Prepare output for specified terminal.  Known names are 37 for the (default) TELETYPE® Model 37 terminal, tn300 for the GE TermiNet 300 (or any terminal without half-line capability), 300s for the DASI 300s, 300 for the DASI 300, 450 for the DASI 450, lp for a (generic) ASCII line printer, 382 for the DTC-382, 4000A for the Trendata 4000A, 832 for the Anderson Jacobson 832, X for a (generic) EBCDIC printer, 2631 for the Hewlett Packard 2631 line printer, and klp for a (generic) 16-bit character printer having ratio of 2 to 3 in 8-bit and 16-bit character width. 

−e Produce equally-spaced words in adjusted lines, using the full resolution of the particular terminal. 

−h Use output tabs during horizontal spacing to speed output and reduce output character count.  Tab settings are assumed to be every 8 nominal character widths. 

−un Set the emboldening factor (number of character overstrikes) for the third font position (bold) to n, or to zero if n is missing. 

EXAMPLES

The following command prints the first five pages of the document whose nroff source file is filename:

nroff -o-5 filename

Note that there should not be a space between the o and the − or the − and the 5. 

To print only pages 1, 3, and 4 type:

nroff -o1,3,4 filename

WARNINGS

When nroff is used with the −olist option inside a pipeline, it may cause a harmless "broken pipe" diagnostic if the last page of the document is not specified in list.

DEPENDENCIES

Series 500:
The −c and −k options are not currently supported. 

FILES

/usr/lib/macros/∗standard macro files

/usr/lib/term/∗terminal driving tables for nroff

/usr/lib/suftabsuffix hyphenation tables

/tmp/ta$#temporary file

/usr/lib/tmac/tmac.∗standard macro files and pointers

SEE ALSO

mm(1). 

NROFF/TROFF User’s Manual in HP-UX Concepts and Tutorials. 

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

8- and 16-bit data, 8-bit file names, messages. 

Hewlett-Packard Company  —  Version B.1,  May 11, 2021