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

6.1.2.5 Obsolete Command
........................

In AT&T 'troff' output, the writing of a single glyph is mostly done by
a very strange command that combines a horizontal move and a single
character giving the glyph name.  It doesn't have a command code, but is
represented by a 3-character argument consisting of exactly 2 digits and
a character.

DDG
     Move right DD (exactly two decimal digits) basic units 'u', then
     print glyph G (represented as a single character).

     In GNU 'troff', arbitrary syntactical space around and within this
     command is allowed.  Only when a preceding command on the same line
     ends with an argument of variable length is a separating space
     obligatory.  In AT&T 'troff', large clusters of these and other
     commands are used, mostly without spaces; this made such output
     almost unreadable.

   For modern high-resolution devices, this command does not make sense
because the width of the glyphs can become much larger than two decimal
digits.  In 'gtroff', this is only used for the devices 'X75', 'X75-12',
'X100', and 'X100-12'.  For other devices, the commands 't' and 'u'
provide a better functionality.