MANDOC(1) | General Commands Manual | MANDOC(1) |
mandoc - format manual pages
mandoc [-ac] [-I os=name] [-K encoding] [-mdoc | -man] [-O options] [-T output] [-W level] [file ...]
The mandoc utility formats manual pages for display.
By default, mandoc reads mdoc(7) or man(7) text from stdin and produces -T locale output.
The options are as follows:
then input is interpreted according to encoding.
The special -T lint mode only parses the input and produces no output. It implies -W all and redirects parser messages, which usually appear on standard error output, to standard output.
The special option -W stop tells mandoc to exit after parsing a file that causes warnings or errors of at least the requested level. No formatted output will be produced from that file. If both a level and stop are requested, they can be joined with a comma, for example -W error,stop.
The options -fhklw are also supported and are documented in man(1). In -f and -k mode, mandoc also supports the options -CMmOSs described in the apropos(1) manual. The options -fkl are mutually exclusive and override each other.
Use -T ascii to force text output in 7-bit ASCII character encoding documented in the ascii(7) manual page, ignoring the locale(1) set in the environment.
Font styles are applied by using back-spaced encoding such that an underlined character ‘c’ is rendered as ‘_\[bs]c’, where ‘\[bs]’ is the back-space character number 8. Emboldened characters are rendered as ‘c\[bs]c’.
The special characters documented in mandoc_char(7) are rendered best-effort in an ASCII equivalent.
The following -O arguments are accepted:
Output produced by -T html conforms to HTML5 using optional self-closing tags. Default styles use only CSS1. Equations rendered from eqn(7) blocks use MathML.
The mandoc.css file documents style-sheet classes available for customising output. If a style-sheet is not specified with -O style, -T html defaults to simple output (via an embedded style-sheet) readable in any graphical or text-based web browser.
Non-ASCII characters are rendered as hexadecimal Unicode character references.
The following -O arguments are accepted:
By default, mandoc automatically selects UTF-8 or ASCII output according to the current locale(1). If any of the environment variables LC_ALL, LC_CTYPE, or LANG are set and the first one that is set selects the UTF-8 character encoding, it produces UTF-8 Output; otherwise, it falls back to ASCII Output. This output mode can also be selected explicitly with -T locale.
Use -T man to translate mdoc(7) input into man(7) output format. This is useful for distributing manual sources to legacy systems lacking mdoc(7) formatters.
If the input format of a file is man(7), the input is copied to the output, expanding any roff(7) so requests. The parser is also run, and as usual, the -W level controls which DIAGNOSTICS are displayed before copying the input to the output.
Use -T markdown to translate mdoc(7) input to the markdown format conforming to John Gruber's 2004 specification: http://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/syntax.text. The output also almost conforms to the CommonMark: http://commonmark.org/ specification.
The character set used for the markdown output is ASCII. Non-ASCII characters are encoded as HTML entities. Since that is not possible in literal font contexts, because these are rendered as code spans and code blocks in the markdown output, non-ASCII characters are transliterated to ASCII approximations in these contexts.
Markdown is a very weak markup language, so all semantic markup is lost, and even part of the presentational markup may be lost. Do not use this as an intermediate step in converting to HTML; instead, use -T html directly.
The man(7), tbl(7), and eqn(7) input languages are not supported by -T markdown output mode.
PDF-1.1 output may be generated by -T pdf. See PostScript Output for -O arguments and defaults.
PostScript "Adobe-3.0" Level-2 pages may be generated by -T ps. Output pages default to letter sized and are rendered in the Times font family, 11-point. Margins are calculated as 1/9 the page length and width. Line-height is 1.4m.
Special characters are rendered as in ASCII Output.
The following -O arguments are accepted:
Use -T utf8 to force text output in UTF-8 multi-byte character encoding, ignoring the locale(1) settings in the environment. See ASCII Output regarding font styles and -O arguments.
On operating systems lacking locale or wide character support, and on those where the internal character representation is not UCS-4, mandoc always falls back to ASCII Output.
Use -T tree to show a human readable representation of the syntax tree. It is useful for debugging the source code of manual pages. The exact format is subject to change, so don't write parsers for it.
The first paragraph shows meta data found in the mdoc(7) prologue, on the man(7) TH line, or the fallbacks used.
In the tree dump, each output line shows one syntax tree node. Child nodes are indented with respect to their parent node. The columns are:
The following -O argument is accepted:
The mandoc utility exits with one of the following values, controlled by the message level associated with the -W option:
Note that selecting -T lint output mode implies -W all.
To page manuals to the terminal:
To produce HTML manuals with mandoc.css as the style-sheet:
To check over a large set of manuals:
To produce a series of PostScript manuals for A4 paper:
Convert a modern mdoc(7) manual to the older man(7) format, for use on systems lacking an mdoc(7) parser:
Messages displayed by mandoc follow this format:
Line and column numbers start at 1. Both are omitted for messages referring to an input file as a whole. Macro names and arguments are omitted where meaningless. The os operating system specifier is omitted for messages that are relevant for all operating systems. Fatal messages about invalid command line arguments or operating system errors, for example when memory is exhausted, may also omit the file and level fields.
Message levels have the following meanings:
Messages of the base, style, warning, error, and unsupp levels except those about non-existent or unreadable input files are hidden unless their level, or a lower level, is requested using a -W option or -T lint output mode.
As indicated below, all base and some style checks are only performed if a specific operating system name occurs in the arguments of the -W command line option, of the Os macro, of the -Ios command line option, or, if neither are present, in the return value of the uname(3) function.
Mdocdate found
(mdoc, NetBSD) The Dd macro uses CVS Mdocdate keyword
substitution, which is not supported by the NetBSD base system. Consider
using the conventional “Month dd, yyyy” format instead.
Mdocdate missing
(mdoc, OpenBSD) The Dd macro does not use CVS Mdocdate
keyword substitution, but using it is conventionally expected in the OpenBSD
base system.
unknown architecture
(mdoc, OpenBSD, NetBSD) The third argument of the Dt
macro does not match any of the architectures this operating system is
running on.
operating system explicitly specified
(mdoc, OpenBSD, NetBSD) The Os macro has an argument. In
the base system, it is conventionally left blank.
RCS id missing
(OpenBSD, NetBSD) The manual page lacks the comment line with the RCS
identifier generated by CVS OpenBSD or NetBSD keyword
substitution as conventionally used in these operating systems.
referenced manual not found
(mdoc) An Xr macro references a manual page that is not found in the
base system. The path to look for base system manuals is configurable at
compile time and defaults to /usr/share/man:
/usr/X11R6/man.
legacy man(7) date format
(mdoc) The Dd macro uses the legacy man(7) date format
“yyyy-dd-mm”. Consider using the conventional mdoc(7) date
format “Month dd, yyyy” instead.
normalizing date format to: ...
(mdoc, man) The Dd or TH macro provides an abbreviated month
name or a day number with a leading zero. In the formatted output, the month
name is written out in full and the leading zero is omitted.
lower case character in document title
(mdoc, man) The title is still used as given in the Dt or TH
macro.
duplicate RCS id
A single manual page contains two copies of the RCS identifier for the same
operating system. Consider deleting the later instance and moving the first
one up to the top of the page.
possible typo in section name
(mdoc) Fuzzy string matching revealed that the argument of an Sh macro
is similar, but not identical to a standard section name.
unterminated quoted argument
(roff) Macro arguments can be enclosed in double quote characters such that
space characters and macro names contained in the quoted argument need not
be escaped. The closing quote of the last argument of a macro can be
omitted. However, omitting it is not recommended because it makes the code
harder to read.
useless macro
(mdoc) A Bt, Tn, or Ud macro was found. Simply delete it:
it serves no useful purpose.
consider using OS macro
(mdoc) A string was found in plain text or in a Bx macro that could be
represented using Ox, Nx, Fx, or Dx.
errnos out of order
(mdoc, NetBSD) The Er items in a Bl list are not in
alphabetical order.
duplicate errno
(mdoc, NetBSD) A Bl list contains two consecutive It
entries describing the same Er number.
trailing delimiter
(mdoc) The last argument of an Ex, Fo, Nd, Nm,
Os, Sh, Ss, St, or Sx macro ends with a
trailing delimiter. This is usually bad style and often indicates typos.
Most likely, the delimiter can be removed.
no blank before trailing delimiter
(mdoc) The last argument of a macro that supports trailing delimiter arguments
is longer than one byte and ends with a trailing delimiter. Consider
inserting a blank such that the delimiter becomes a separate argument, thus
moving it out of the scope of the macro.
fill mode already enabled, skipping
(man) A fi request occurs even though the document is still in fill
mode, or already switched back to fill mode. It has no effect.
fill mode already disabled, skipping
(man) An nf request occurs even though the document already switched to
no-fill mode and did not switch back to fill mode yet. It has no effect.
verbatim "--", maybe consider using \(em
(mdoc) Even though the ASCII output device renders an em-dash as
"--", that is not a good way to write it in an input file because
it renders poorly on all other output devices.
function name without markup
(mdoc) A word followed by an empty pair of parentheses occurs on a text line.
Consider using an Fn or Xr macro.
whitespace at end of input line
(mdoc, man, roff) Whitespace at the end of input lines is almost never
semantically significant — but in the odd case where it might be, it
is extremely confusing when reviewing and maintaining documents.
bad comment style
(roff) Comment lines start with a dot, a backslash, and a double-quote
character. The mandoc utility treats the line as a comment line even
without the backslash, but leaving out the backslash might not be
portable.
missing manual title, using UNTITLED
(mdoc) A Dt macro has no arguments, or there is no Dt macro
before the first non-prologue macro.
missing manual title, using ""
(man) There is no TH macro, or it has no arguments.
missing manual section, using ""
(mdoc, man) A Dt or TH macro lacks the mandatory section
argument.
unknown manual section
(mdoc) The section number in a Dt line is invalid, but still used.
missing date, using today's date
(mdoc, man) The document was parsed as mdoc(7) and it has no Dd macro,
or the Dd macro has no arguments or only empty arguments; or the
document was parsed as man(7) and it has no TH macro, or the
TH macro has less than three arguments or its third argument is
empty.
cannot parse date, using it verbatim
(mdoc, man) The date given in a Dd or TH macro does not follow
the conventional format.
date in the future, using it anyway
(mdoc, man) The date given in a Dd or TH macro is more than a
day ahead of the current system time(3).
missing Os macro, using ""
(mdoc) The default or current system is not shown in this case.
late prologue macro
(mdoc) A Dd or Os macro occurs after some non-prologue macro,
but still takes effect.
prologue macros out of order
(mdoc) The prologue macros are not given in the conventional order Dd,
Dt, Os. All three macros are used even when given in another
order.
.so is fragile, better use ln(1)
(roff) Including files only works when the parser program runs with the
correct current working directory.
no document body
(mdoc, man) The document body contains neither text nor macros. An empty
document is shown, consisting only of a header and a footer line.
content before first section header
(mdoc, man) Some macros or text precede the first Sh or SH
section header. The offending macros and text are parsed and added to the
top level of the syntax tree, outside any section block.
first section is not NAME
(mdoc) The argument of the first Sh macro is not ‘NAME’.
This may confuse makewhatis(8) and apropos(1).
NAME section without Nm before Nd
(mdoc) The NAME section does not contain any Nm child macro before the
first Nd macro.
NAME section without description
(mdoc) The NAME section lacks the mandatory Nd child macro.
description not at the end of NAME
(mdoc) The NAME section does contain an Nd child macro, but other
content follows it.
bad NAME section content
(mdoc) The NAME section contains plain text or macros other than Nm and
Nd.
missing comma before name
(mdoc) The NAME section contains an Nm macro that is neither the first
one nor preceded by a comma.
missing description line, using ""
(mdoc) The Nd macro lacks the required argument. The title line of the
manual will end after the dash.
description line outside NAME section
(mdoc) An Nd macro appears outside the NAME section. The arguments are
printed anyway and the following text is used for apropos(1), but none of
that behaviour is portable.
sections out of conventional order
(mdoc) A standard section occurs after another section it usually precedes.
All section titles are used as given, and the order of sections is not
changed.
duplicate section title
(mdoc) The same standard section title occurs more than once.
unexpected section
(mdoc) A standard section header occurs in a section of the manual where it
normally isn't useful.
cross reference to self
(mdoc) An Xr macro refers to a name and section matching the section of
the present manual page and a name mentioned in an Nm macro in the
NAME or SYNOPSIS section, or in an Fn or Fo macro in the
SYNOPSIS. Consider using Nm or Fn instead of Xr.
unusual Xr order
(mdoc) In the SEE ALSO section, an Xr macro with a lower section number
follows one with a higher number, or two Xr macros referring to the
same section are out of alphabetical order.
unusual Xr punctuation
(mdoc) In the SEE ALSO section, punctuation between two Xr macros
differs from a single comma, or there is trailing punctuation after the last
Xr macro.
AUTHORS section without An macro
(mdoc) An AUTHORS sections contains no An macros, or only empty ones.
Probably, there are author names lacking markup.
obsolete macro
(mdoc) See the mdoc(7) manual for replacements.
macro neither callable nor escaped
(mdoc) The name of a macro that is not callable appears on a macro line. It is
printed verbatim. If the intention is to call it, move it to its own input
line; otherwise, escape it by prepending ‘\&’.
skipping paragraph macro
In mdoc(7) documents, this happens
In man(7) documents, it happens
moving paragraph macro out of list
(mdoc) A list item in a Bl list contains a trailing paragraph macro.
The paragraph macro is moved after the end of the list.
skipping no-space macro
(mdoc) An input line begins with an Ns macro, or the next argument
after an Ns macro is an isolated closing delimiter. The macro is
ignored.
blocks badly nested
(mdoc) If two blocks intersect, one should completely contain the other.
Otherwise, rendered output is likely to look strange in any output format,
and rendering in SGML-based output formats is likely to be outright wrong
because such languages do not support badly nested blocks at all. Typical
examples of badly nested blocks are "Ao Bo Ac Bc" and
"Ao Bq Ac". In these examples, Ac breaks Bo
and Bq, respectively.
nested displays are not portable
(mdoc) A Bd, D1, or Dl display occurs nested inside
another Bd display. This works with mandoc, but fails with
most other implementations.
moving content out of list
(mdoc) A Bl list block contains text or macros before the first
It macro. The offending children are moved before the beginning of
the list.
first macro on line
Inside a Bl -column list, a Ta macro occurs as the first
macro on a line, which is not portable.
line scope broken
(man) While parsing the next-line scope of the previous macro, another macro
is found that prematurely terminates the previous one. The previous,
interrupted macro is deleted from the parse tree.
skipping empty request
(roff, eqn) The macro name is missing from a macro definition request, or an
eqn(7) control statement or operation keyword lacks its required
argument.
conditional request controls empty scope
(roff) A conditional request is only useful if any of the following follows it
on the same logical input line:
Here, a conditional request is followed by trailing whitespace only, and there is no other content on its logical input line. Note that it doesn't matter whether the logical input line is split across multiple physical input lines using ‘\’ line continuation characters. This is one of the rare cases where trailing whitespace is syntactically significant. The conditional request controls a scope containing whitespace only, so it is unlikely to have a significant effect, except that it may control a following el clause.
skipping empty macro
(mdoc) The indicated macro has no arguments and hence no effect.
empty block
(mdoc, man) A Bd, Bk, Bl, D1, Dl,
MT, RS, or UR block contains nothing in its body and
will produce no output.
empty argument, using 0n
(mdoc) The required width is missing after Bd or Bl
-offset or -width.
missing display type, using -ragged
(mdoc) The Bd macro is invoked without the required display type.
list type is not the first argument
(mdoc) In a Bl macro, at least one other argument precedes the type
argument. The mandoc utility copes with any argument order, but some
other mdoc(7) implementations do not.
missing -width in -tag list, using 8n
(mdoc) Every Bl macro having the -tag argument requires
-width, too.
missing utility name, using ""
(mdoc) The Ex -std macro is called without an argument before
Nm has first been called with an argument.
missing function name, using ""
(mdoc) The Fo macro is called without an argument. No function name is
printed.
empty head in list item
(mdoc) In a Bl -diag, -hang, -inset,
-ohang, or -tag list, an It macro lacks the required
argument. The item head is left empty.
empty list item
(mdoc) In a Bl -bullet, -dash, -enum, or
-hyphen list, an It block is empty. An empty list item is
shown.
missing argument, using next line
(mdoc) An It macro in a Bd -column list has no arguments.
While mandoc uses the text or macros of the following line, if any,
for the cell, other formatters may misformat the list.
missing font type, using \fR
(mdoc) A Bf macro has no argument. It switches to the default font.
unknown font type, using \fR
(mdoc) The Bf argument is invalid. The default font is used
instead.
nothing follows prefix
(mdoc) A Pf macro has no argument, or only one argument and no macro
follows on the same input line. This defeats its purpose; in particular,
spacing is not suppressed before the text or macros following on the next
input line.
empty reference block
(mdoc) An Rs macro is immediately followed by an Re macro on the
next input line. Such an empty block does not produce any output.
missing section argument
(mdoc) An Xr macro lacks its second, section number argument. The first
argument, i.e. the name, is printed, but without subsequent parentheses.
missing -std argument, adding it
(mdoc) An Ex or Rv macro lacks the required -std
argument. The mandoc utility assumes -std even when it is not
specified, but other implementations may not.
missing option string, using ""
(man) The OP macro is invoked without any argument. An empty pair of
square brackets is shown.
missing resource identifier, using ""
(man) The MT or UR macro is invoked without any argument. An
empty pair of angle brackets is shown.
missing eqn box, using ""
(eqn) A diacritic mark or a binary operator is found, but there is nothing to
the left of it. An empty box is inserted.
duplicate argument
(mdoc) A Bd or Bl macro has more than one -compact, more
than one -offset, or more than one -width argument. All but
the last instances of these arguments are ignored.
skipping duplicate argument
(mdoc) An An macro has more than one -split or -nosplit
argument. All but the first of these arguments are ignored.
skipping duplicate display type
(mdoc) A Bd macro has more than one type argument; the first one is
used.
skipping duplicate list type
(mdoc) A Bl macro has more than one type argument; the first one is
used.
skipping -width argument
(mdoc) A Bl -column, -diag, -ohang, -inset,
or -item list has a -width argument. That has no effect.
wrong number of cells
In a line of a Bl -column list, the number of tabs or Ta
macros is less than the number expected from the list header line or exceeds
the expected number by more than one. Missing cells remain empty, and all
cells exceeding the number of columns are joined into one single cell.
unknown AT&T UNIX version
(mdoc) An At macro has an invalid argument. It is used verbatim, with
"AT&T UNIX " prefixed to it.
comma in function argument
(mdoc) An argument of an Fa or Fn macro contains a comma; it
should probably be split into two arguments.
parenthesis in function name
(mdoc) The first argument of an Fc or Fn macro contains an
opening or closing parenthesis; that's probably wrong, parentheses are added
automatically.
unknown library name
(mdoc, not on OpenBSD) An Lb macro has an unknown name argument
and will be rendered as "library “name”".
invalid content in Rs block
(mdoc) An Rs block contains plain text or non-% macros. The bogus
content is left in the syntax tree. Formatting may be poor.
invalid Boolean argument
(mdoc) An Sm macro has an argument other than on or off.
The invalid argument is moved out of the macro, which leaves the macro
empty, causing it to toggle the spacing mode.
unknown font, skipping request
(man, tbl) A roff(7) ft request or a tbl(7) f layout modifier
has an unknown font argument.
odd number of characters in request
(roff) A tr request contains an odd number of characters. The last
character is mapped to the blank character.
blank line in fill mode, using .sp
(mdoc) The meaning of blank input lines is only well-defined in non-fill mode:
In fill mode, line breaks of text input lines are not supposed to be
significant. However, for compatibility with groff, blank lines in fill mode
are replaced with sp requests.
tab in filled text
(mdoc, man) The meaning of tab characters is only well-defined in non-fill
mode: In fill mode, whitespace is not supposed to be significant on text
input lines. As an implementation dependent choice, tab characters on text
lines are passed through to the formatters in any case. Given that the text
before the tab character will be filled, it is hard to predict which tab
stop position the tab will advance to.
new sentence, new line
(mdoc) A new sentence starts in the middle of a text line. Start it on a new
input line to help formatters produce correct spacing.
invalid escape sequence
(roff) An escape sequence has an invalid opening argument delimiter, lacks the
closing argument delimiter, or the argument has too few characters. If the
argument is incomplete, \* and \n expand to an empty string,
\B to the digit ‘0’, and \w to the length of the
incomplete argument. All other invalid escape sequences are ignored.
undefined string, using ""
(roff) If a string is used without being defined before, its value is
implicitly set to the empty string. However, defining strings explicitly
before use keeps the code more readable.
tbl line starts with span
(tbl) The first cell in a table layout line is a horizontal span
(‘s’). Data provided for this cell is ignored, and
nothing is printed in the cell.
tbl column starts with span
(tbl) The first line of a table layout specification requests a vertical span
(‘^’). Data provided for this cell is ignored, and
nothing is printed in the cell.
skipping vertical bar in tbl layout
(tbl) A table layout specification contains more than two consecutive vertical
bars. A double bar is printed, all additional bars are discarded.
non-alphabetic character in tbl options
(tbl) The table options line contains a character other than a letter, blank,
or comma where the beginning of an option name is expected. The character is
ignored.
skipping unknown tbl option
(tbl) The table options line contains a string of letters that does not match
any known option name. The word is ignored.
missing tbl option argument
(tbl) A table option that requires an argument is not followed by an opening
parenthesis, or the opening parenthesis is immediately followed by a closing
parenthesis. The option is ignored.
wrong tbl option argument size
(tbl) A table option argument contains an invalid number of characters. Both
the option and the argument are ignored.
empty tbl layout
(tbl) A table layout specification is completely empty, specifying zero lines
and zero columns. As a fallback, a single left-justified column is used.
invalid character in tbl layout
(tbl) A table layout specification contains a character that can neither be
interpreted as a layout key character nor as a layout modifier, or a
modifier precedes the first key. The invalid character is discarded.
unmatched parenthesis in tbl layout
(tbl) A table layout specification contains an opening parenthesis, but no
matching closing parenthesis. The rest of the input line, starting from the
parenthesis, has no effect.
tbl without any data cells
(tbl) A table does not contain any data cells. It will probably produce no
output.
ignoring data in spanned tbl cell
(tbl) A table cell is marked as a horizontal span (‘s’)
or vertical span (‘^’) in the table layout, but it
contains data. The data is ignored.
ignoring extra tbl data cells
(tbl) A data line contains more cells than the corresponding layout line. The
data in the extra cells is ignored.
data block open at end of tbl
(tbl) A data block is opened with T{, but never closed with a matching
T}. The remaining data lines of the table are all put into one cell,
and any remaining cells stay empty.
duplicate prologue macro
(mdoc) One of the prologue macros occurs more than once. The last instance
overrides all previous ones.
skipping late title macro
(mdoc) The Dt macro appears after the first non-prologue macro.
Traditional formatters cannot handle this because they write the page header
before parsing the document body. Even though this technical restriction
does not apply to mandoc, traditional semantics is preserved. The
late macro is discarded including its arguments.
input stack limit exceeded, infinite loop?
(roff) Explicit recursion limits are implemented for the following features,
in order to prevent infinite loops:
When a limit is hit, the output is incorrect, typically losing some content, but the parser can continue.
skipping bad character
(mdoc, man, roff) The input file contains a byte that is not a printable
ascii(7) character. The message mentions the character number. The offending
byte is replaced with a question mark (‘?’). Consider editing
the input file to replace the byte with an ASCII transliteration of the
intended character.
skipping unknown macro
(mdoc, man, roff) The first identifier on a request or macro line is neither
recognized as a roff(7) request, nor as a user-defined macro, nor,
respectively, as an mdoc(7) or man(7) macro. It may be mistyped or
unsupported. The request or macro is discarded including its arguments.
skipping insecure request
(roff) An input file attempted to run a shell command or to read or write an
external file. Such attempts are denied for security reasons.
skipping item outside list
(mdoc, eqn) An It macro occurs outside any Bl list, or an eqn(7)
above delimiter occurs outside any pile. It is discarded including
its arguments.
skipping column outside column list
(mdoc) A Ta macro occurs outside any Bl -column block. It
is discarded including its arguments.
skipping end of block that is not open
(mdoc, man, eqn, tbl, roff) Various syntax elements can only be used to
explicitly close blocks that have previously been opened. An mdoc(7) block
closing macro, a man(7) ME, RE or UE macro, an eqn(7)
right delimiter or closing brace, or the end of an equation, table, or
roff(7) conditional request is encountered but no matching block is open.
The offending request or macro is discarded.
fewer RS blocks open, skipping
(man) The RE macro is invoked with an argument, but less than the
specified number of RS blocks is open. The RE macro is
discarded.
inserting missing end of block
(mdoc, tbl) Various mdoc(7) macros as well as tables require explicit closing
by dedicated macros. A block that doesn't support bad nesting ends before
all of its children are properly closed. The open child nodes are closed
implicitly.
appending missing end of block
(mdoc, man, eqn, tbl, roff) At the end of the document, an explicit mdoc(7)
block, a man(7) next-line scope or MT, RS or UR block,
an equation, table, or roff(7) conditional or ignore block is still open.
The open block is closed implicitly.
escaped character not allowed in a name
(roff) Macro, string and register identifiers consist of printable,
non-whitespace ASCII characters. Escape sequences and characters and strings
expressed in terms of them cannot form part of a name. The first argument of
an am, as, de, ds, nr, or rr
request, or any argument of an rm request, or the name of a request
or user defined macro being called, is terminated by an escape sequence. In
the cases of as, ds, and nr, the request has no effect
at all. In the cases of am, de, rr, and rm, what
was parsed up to this point is used as the arguments to the request, and the
rest of the input line is discarded including the escape sequence. When
parsing for a request or a user-defined macro name to be called, only the
escape sequence is discarded. The characters preceding it are used as the
request or macro name, the characters following it are used as the arguments
to the request or macro.
NOT IMPLEMENTED: Bd -file
(mdoc) For security reasons, the Bd macro does not support the
-file argument. By requesting the inclusion of a sensitive file, a
malicious document might otherwise trick a privileged user into
inadvertently displaying the file on the screen, revealing the file content
to bystanders. The argument is ignored including the file name following
it.
skipping display without arguments
(mdoc) A Bd block macro does not have any arguments. The block is
discarded, and the block content is displayed in whatever mode was active
before the block.
missing list type, using -item
(mdoc) A Bl macro fails to specify the list type.
argument is not numeric, using 1
(roff) The argument of a ce request is not a number.
missing manual name, using ""
(mdoc) The first call to Nm, or any call in the NAME section, lacks the
required argument.
uname(3) system call failed, using UNKNOWN
(mdoc) The Os macro is called without arguments, and the uname(3)
system call failed. As a workaround, mandoc can be compiled with
-DOSNAME="\"string\"".
unknown standard specifier
(mdoc) An St macro has an unknown argument and is discarded.
skipping request without numeric argument
(roff, eqn) An it request or an eqn(7) size or gsize
statement has a non-numeric or negative argument or no argument at all. The
invalid request or statement is ignored.
NOT IMPLEMENTED: .so with absolute path or
".."
(roff) For security reasons, mandoc allows so file inclusion
requests only with relative paths and only without ascending to any parent
directory. By requesting the inclusion of a sensitive file, a malicious
document might otherwise trick a privileged user into inadvertently
displaying the file on the screen, revealing the file content to bystanders.
mandoc only shows the path as it appears behind so.
.so request failed
(roff) Servicing a so request requires reading an external file, but
the file could not be opened. mandoc only shows the path as it
appears behind so.
skipping all arguments
(mdoc, man, eqn, roff) An mdoc(7) Bt, Ed, Ef, Ek,
El, Lp, Pp, Re, Rs, or Ud macro,
an It macro in a list that don't support item heads, a man(7)
LP, P, or PP macro, an eqn(7) EQ or EN
macro, or a roff(7) br, fi, or nf request or
‘..’ block closing request is invoked with at least one
argument. All arguments are ignored.
skipping excess arguments
(mdoc, man, roff) A macro or request is invoked with too many arguments:
input too large
(mdoc, man) Currently, mandoc cannot handle input files larger than its
arbitrary size limit of 2^31 bytes (2 Gigabytes). Since useful manuals are
always small, this is not a problem in practice. Parsing is aborted as soon
as the condition is detected.
unsupported control character
(roff) An ASCII control character supported by other roff(7) implementations
but not by mandoc was found in an input file. It is replaced by a
question mark.
unsupported roff request
(roff) An input file contains a roff(7) request supported by GNU troff or
Heirloom troff but not by mandoc, and it is likely that this will
cause information loss or considerable misformatting.
eqn delim option in tbl
(eqn, tbl) The options line of a table defines equation delimiters. Any
equation source code contained in the table will be printed unformatted.
unsupported table layout modifier
(tbl) A table layout specification contains an ‘m’
modifier. The modifier is discarded.
ignoring macro in table
(tbl, mdoc, man) A table contains an invocation of an mdoc(7) or man(7) macro
or of an undefined macro. The macro is ignored, and its arguments are
handled as if they were a text line.
apropos(1), man(1), eqn(7), man(7), mandoc_char(7), mdoc(7), roff(7), tbl(7)
The mandoc utility first appeared in OpenBSD 4.8. The option -I appeared in OpenBSD 5.2, and -aCcfhKklMSsw in OpenBSD 5.7.
The mandoc utility was written by Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv> and is maintained by Ingo Schwarze <schwarze@openbsd.org>.
July 28, 2018 | Debian |