File: groff.info,  Node: Device Control Commands,  Next: Obsolete Command,  Prev: Graphics Commands,  Up: Command Reference

6.1.2.4 Device Control Commands
...............................

Each device control command starts with the letter 'x', followed by a
space character (optional or arbitrary space or tab in 'gtroff') and a
subcommand letter or word; each argument (if any) must be preceded by a
syntactical space.  All 'x' commands are terminated by a syntactical
line break; no device control command can be followed by another command
on the same line (except a comment).

   The subcommand is basically a single letter, but to increase
readability, it can be written as a word, i.e., an arbitrary sequence of
characters terminated by the next tab, space, or newline character.  All
characters of the subcommand word but the first are simply ignored.  For
example, 'gtroff' outputs the initialization command 'x i' as 'x init'
and the resolution command 'x r' as 'x res'.

   In the following, the syntax element  means a syntactical
line break (*note Separation::).

'xF NAME'
     The 'F' stands for FILENAME.

     Use NAME as the intended name for the current file in error
     reports.  This is useful for remembering the original file name
     when 'gtroff' uses an internal piping mechanism.  The input file is
     not changed by this command.  This command is a 'gtroff' extension.

'xf N S'
     The 'f' stands for FONT.

     Mount font position N (a non-negative integer) with font named S (a
     text word).  *Note Font Positions::.

'xH N'
     The 'H' stands for HEIGHT.

     Set glyph height to N (a positive integer in scaled points 'z').
     AT&T 'troff' uses the unit points ('p') instead.  *Note Output
     Language Compatibility::.

'xi'
     The 'i' stands for INIT.

     Initialize device.  This is the third command of the prologue.

'xp'
     The 'p' stands for PAUSE.

     Parsed but ignored.  The AT&T 'troff' manual documents this command
     as

          pause device, can be restarted

     but GNU 'troff' output drivers do nothing with this command.

'xr N H V'
     The 'r' stands for RESOLUTION.

     Resolution is N, while H is the minimal horizontal motion, and V
     the minimal vertical motion possible with this device; all
     arguments are positive integers in basic units 'u' per inch.  This
     is the second command of the prologue.

'xS N'
     The 'S' stands for SLANT.

     Set slant to N (an integer in basic units 'u').

'xs'
     The 's' stands for STOP.

     Terminates the processing of the current file; issued as the last
     command of any intermediate 'troff' output.

'xt'
     The 't' stands for TRAILER.

     Generate trailer information, if any.  In GNU 'troff', this is
     ignored.

'xT XXX'
     The 'T' stands for TYPESETTER.

     Set the name of the output driver to XXX, a sequence of
     non-whitespace characters terminated by whitespace.  The possible
     names correspond to those of 'groff''s '-T' option.  This is the
     first command of the prologue.

'xu N'
     The 'u' stands for UNDERLINE.

     Configure underlining of spaces.  If N is 1, start underlining of
     spaces; if N is 0, stop underlining of spaces.  This is needed for
     the 'cu' request in 'nroff' mode and is ignored otherwise.  This
     command is a 'gtroff' extension.

'xX ANYTHING'
     The 'x' stands for X-ESCAPE.

     Send string ANYTHING uninterpreted to the device.  If the line
     following this command starts with a '+' character this line is
     interpreted as a continuation line in the following sense.  The '+'
     is ignored, but a newline character is sent instead to the device,
     the rest of the line is sent uninterpreted.  The same applies to
     all following lines until the first character of a line is not a
     '+' character.  This command is generated by the 'gtroff' escape
     sequence '\X'.  The line-continuing feature is a 'gtroff'
     extension.