File: groff.info,  Node: Font Families,  Next: Font Positions,  Prev: Selecting Fonts,  Up: Using Fonts

5.19.2 Font Families
--------------------

To accommodate the wide variety of fonts available, GNU 'troff'
distinguishes "font families" and "font styles".  A resolved font name
is the catenation of a font family and a style.  Selecting an abstract
style causes GNU 'troff' to combine it with the default font family.

   You can thus compose a document using abstract styles exclusively for
its body or running text, selecting a specific family only for titles or
examples, for instance, and change the default family on the command
line (recall *note Groff Options::).

   Fonts for the devices 'ps', 'pdf', 'dvi', 'lj4', 'lbp', and the X11
devices support this mechanism.  By default, GNU 'troff' uses the Times
family with the four styles 'R', 'I', 'B', and 'BI'.

 -- Request: .fam [family]
 -- Register: \n[.fam]
 -- Escape sequence: \Ff
 -- Escape sequence: \F(fm
 -- Escape sequence: \F[family]
     Set the default font family, used in combination with abstract
     styles to construct a resolved font name, to FAMILY (one-character
     name F, two-character name FM).  If no argument is given, GNU
     'troff' selects the previous font family; if there none, is it
     falls back to the device's default(1) (*note Font
     Families-Footnote-1::) or its own ('T').

     The '\F' escape sequence works similarly.  In disanalogy to '\f',
     '\FP' makes 'P' the default family.  Use '\F[]' to select the
     previous default family.  The default font family is available in
     the read-only string-valued register '.fam'; it is associated with
     the environment (*note Environments::).

          spam,     \" startup defaults are T (Times) R (roman)
          .fam H    \" make Helvetica the default family
          spam,     \" family H + style R = HR
          .ft B     \" family H + style B = HB
          spam,
          .ft CR    \" Courier roman (default family not changed)
          spam,
          .ft       \" back to Helvetica bold
          spam,
          .fam T    \" make Times the default family
          spam,     \" family T + style B = TB
          .ft AR    \" font AR (not a style)
          baked beans,
          .ft R     \" family T + style R = TR
          and spam.

     '\F' doesn't produce an input token in GNU 'troff'.  As a
     consequence, it can be used in requests like 'mc' (which expects a
     single character as an argument) to change the font family on the
     fly.

          .mc \F[P]x\F[]

 -- Request: .sty n style
 -- Register: \n[.sty]
     Associate an abstract style STYLE with mounting position N, which
     must be a non-negative integer.  If the requests 'cs', 'bd', 'tkf',
     'uf', or 'fspecial' are applied to an abstract style, they are
     instead applied to the member of the current family corresponding
     to that style.

     The default family can be set with the '-f' option (*note Groff
     Options::).  The 'styles' command in the 'DESC' file controls which
     font positions (if any) are initially associated with abstract
     styles rather than fonts.

     *Caution:* The STYLE argument is not validated.  Errors may occur
     later, when the formatter attempts to construct a resolved font
     name, or format a character for output.

          .nr BarPos \n[.fp]
          .sty \n[.fp] Bar
          .fam Foo
          .ft \n[BarPos]
          .tm .f=\n[.f]
          A
              error-> error: no font family named 'Foo' exists
              error-> .f=41
              error-> error: cannot format glyph: no current font

     When an abstract style has been selected, the read-only
     string-valued register '.sty' interpolates its name; this datum is
     associated with the environment (*note Environments::).  Otherwise,
     '.sty' interpolates nothing.