File: groff.info,  Node: Formatter Instructions,  Next: Registers,  Prev: Identifiers,  Up: GNU troff Reference

5.6 Formatter Instructions
==========================

To support documents that require more than filling, automatic line
breaking and hyphenation, adjustment, and supplemental inter-sentence
space, the 'roff' language offers two means of embedding instructions to
the formatter.

   One is a "request", which begins with a control character and takes
up the remainder of the input line.  Requests often perform relatively
large-scale operations such as setting the page length, breaking the
line, or starting a new page.  They also conduct internal operations
like defining macros.

   The other is an "escape sequence", which begins with the escape
character and can be embedded anywhere in the input, even in arguments
to requests and other escape sequences.  Escape sequences interpolate
special characters, strings, or registers, and handle comparatively
minor formatting tasks like sub- and superscripting.

   Some operations, such as font selection and type size alteration, are
available via both requests and escape sequences.

* Menu:

* Control Characters::
* Invoking Requests::
* Calling Macros::
* Using Escape Sequences::
* Delimiters::