File: groff.info, Node: Filling, Next: Sentences, Prev: Text.php">Text, Up: Text.php">Text 5.1.1 Filling ------------- When GNU 'troff' starts up, it obtains information about the device for which it is preparing output.(1) (*note Filling-Footnote-1::) An essential property is the length of the output line, such as "6.5 inches". GNU 'troff' interprets plain text files employing the Unix line-ending convention. It reads input a character at a time, collecting words as it goes, and fits as many words together on an output line as it can--this is known as "filling". To GNU 'troff', a "word" is any sequence of one or more characters that aren't spaces or newlines. The exceptions separate words.(2) (*note Filling-Footnote-2::) To disable filling, see *note Manipulating Filling and Adjustment::. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. => It is a truth universally acknowledged that a => single man in possession of a good fortune must => be in want of a wife.