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1982-09-01
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August 28, 1982 /* Modified for IBM PC by MSZachmann */
May 7, 1981
ROFF
This version of ROFF, based on the formatter in Kernighan
and Plauger's book SOFTWARE TOOLS, is written in BDS C, and employs
the directed i/o functions that go along with that package. Well,
half of the directed I/O anyway - it doesn't use redirected input
because I wanted to be able to format more than one file at a run.
Please ignore any "odd" comments to myself in ROFF1.C and ROFF2.C;
I tried to find them all but there may be a few extra silly remarks
around.
For more details on the directed I/O (NDIO in our version)
see NDIO.C
Sample calls:
A> roff filename
This will send the formatted output to the Console (display)
A> roff >filename2 filename
This will send the formatted output to filename2
A> roff >PRN: filename
This will send the formatted output to the printer.
Using ROFF, you can make nice printouts of a file, with as
little or as much help from the program as you want, depending on the
commands. There are default values for all parameters, so if you
don't put any commands in at all, your file will come out with filled,
right-justified lines. The default line-length is 80 characters;
the default page-length is 66 lines per page. "Filled lines" means
that as many input words as possible are packed onto a line before it
is printed; "non-filled" lines go through the formatter w/o
rearrangement. "Right-justified" simply means that spaces are added
between words to make all the right margins line up nicely.
To set a parameter, use the appropriate commands below. All
commands have the form of a period followed by two letters. A command
line should have nothing on it but the command and its arguments (if
any); any text would be lost.
A command argument can be either ABSOLUTE or RELATIVE :
.in 5 sets the indent value to 5 spaces
.in +5 sets the indent value to the CURRENT value plus 5
.ls -1 sets the line spacing value to the current value
minus one
Also, all commands have a minimum and maximum value that will
weed out any odd command settings (like setting the line spacing to
zero, for example. It won't let you do that, but it could be changed
if you REALLY have a burning desire to do so).
Some commands cause a "break", which is noted in the table
below. Before such a command goes into effect, the current line of
text is put out, whether it is completely filled or not. (this is
what happens at the end of a paragraph, for example.) A line
beginning with spaces or a tab will cause a break, and will be
indented by that many spaces (or tabs) regardless of the indent value
at that time (this is a "temporary indent", which can also be set
explicitly). An all blank line also causes a break. If you find that
seem to have some lines that are indented strangely, and it's not
obvious WHY, look at which commands are causing a break, and which
aren't. For instance:
.fi
.ti 0
this is a line of text
.in 8
<- blank line
more text for the machine to play with
At first glance it seems obvious that the line "this is a line of text"
will be indented zero spaces, but it won't - it will be indented 8.
The indent command does NOT cause a break (although the .ti does)
so it will not cause the line to be put out before setting the indent
value to 8. Then, when the blank line is encountered, it will cause
a break - and "this is a line of text" will be indented incorrectly.
*********************** Table of Commands *****************************
Command Break? Default Function
------- ------ ------- ---------
.bp n yes n = +1 begin page numbered n
.br yes cause a break
.ce n yes n = 1 center next n lines
.fi yes start filling lines
.fo string no empty sets footer to string
.he string no empty sets header to string
.in n no n = 0 sets indent value to n
.ls n no n = 1 sets line spacing to n
.m1 no n = 2 sets topmost margin to n
.m2 no n = 2 sets 2nd top margin to n lines
.m3 no n = 2 1st bottom margin to n lines
.m4 no n = 2 bottom-most margin to n lines
.nf yes stop filling lines
.pl n no n = 66 sets page length to n
.rm n no n = 80 sets right margin to n
.sp n yes n = 1 space down n lines
.ti n yes n = 0 sets temporary indent of n
.ul n no n = 1 underline next n lines
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here's what the page parameters look like:
_ _________________________________________________
| | top margin - (includes header) |
| |-----------------------------------------------|
| | top margin 2 |
| |-----------------------------------------------|
P | : : |
A | :<-indent : |
G | : : |
E | :lots and lots of silly text and: |
L | :other garbage. Get the picture?: |
E | :This is a temp. indentation: |
N | : : |
G | : right margin -> : |
T | : : |
H | : : |
| |-----------------------------------------------|
| | margin 3 |
| |-----------------------------------------------|
| | margin 4 - (includes footer) |
- -------------------------------------------------
To change the default for any parameter, simply alter ROFFGLOB
recompile ROFF1.c and ROFF2.c, and re-clink them with NDIO.CRL
(you can use DIO.CRL, but it doesn't have all the features of
NDIO )
************************************************************
A Few Extra Comments on Some of the Commands:
************************************************************
If you want to center lots of lines, but don't
want to count them, do something like this:
.ce 1000
lots and
lots of words to
be centered
.ce 0
--------------------------------------
To underline a few words on a line:
.fi
.ul
Some
of the words in
.ul
this
sentence are
.ul
underlined
.nf
WOULD PRODUCE:
Some of the words in this sentence are underlined.
---- ---- -----------
(obviously you don't have to turn the fill on and off if it's
already on )
------------------------------------
A new paragrah may be caused by using the temporary indent
command, like
.ti +5
or by simply beginning the paragraph with a tab, as you would if
you were just typing.
------------------------------------
Headers and Footers.
A page number can be incorporated into any header or
footer by putting a "#" in the title where you want the number
to go:
.he This is a witty header title for page #
Each time this is printed at the top of a page, the current
page number will be substituted for the "#".
------------------------------------
If you want to send the output to a file, and don't want the page
breaks in there ( that's what I did for this ) set margins 1-4 to
zero.