File: groff.info,  Node: Simple Commands,  Next: Graphics Commands,  Prev: Comment Command,  Up: Command Reference

6.1.2.2 Simple Commands
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The commands in this subsection have a command code consisting of a
single character, taking a fixed number of arguments.  Most of them are
commands for positioning and text writing.  These commands are tolerant
of whitespace.  Optionally, syntactical space can be inserted before,
after, and between the command letter and its arguments.  All of these
commands are stackable; i.e., they can be preceded by other simple
commands or followed by arbitrary other commands on the same line.  A
separating syntactical space is necessary only when two integer
arguments would clash or if the preceding argument ends with a string
argument.

'C ID'
     Typeset the glyph of the special character ID.  Trailing
     syntactical space is necessary to allow special character names of
     arbitrary length.  The drawing position is not advanced.

'c G'
     Typeset the glyph of the ordinary character C.  The drawing
     position is not advanced.

'f N'
     Select the font mounted at position N.  N cannot be negative.

'H N'
     Horizontally move the drawing position to N basic units from the
     left edge of the page.  N cannot be negative.

'h N'
     Move the drawing position right N basic units.  AT&T 'troff'
     allowed negative N; GNU 'troff' does not produce such values, but
     'groff''s output driver library handles them.

'm COLOR-SCHEME [COMPONENT ...]'
     Select the stroke color using the COMPONENTs in the color space
     SCHEME.  Each COMPONENT is an integer between 0 and 65535.  The
     quantity of components and their meanings vary with each SCHEME.
     This command is a 'groff' extension.

     'mc CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW'
          Use the CMY color scheme with components cyan, magenta, and
          yellow.

     'md'
          Use the default color (no components; black in most cases).

     'mg GRAY'
          Use a grayscale color scheme with a component ranging between
          0 (black) and 65535 (white).

     'mk CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK'
          Use the CMYK color scheme with components cyan, magenta,
          yellow, and black.

     'mr RED GREEN BLUE'
          Use the RGB color scheme with components red, green, and blue.

'N N'
     Typeset the glyph with index N in the current font.  N is normally
     a non-negative integer.  The drawing position is not advanced.  The
     'html' and 'xhtml' devices use this command with negative N to
     produce unbreakable space; the absolute value of N is taken and
     interpreted in basic units.

'n B A'
     Indicate a break.  No action is performed; the command is present
     to make the output more easily parsed.  The integers B and A
     describe the vertical space amounts before and after the break,
     respectively.  GNU 'troff' issues this command but 'groff''s output
     driver library ignores it.  See 'v' and 'V' below.

'p N'
     Begin a new page, setting its number to N.  Each page is
     independent, even from those using the same number.  The vertical
     drawing position is set to 0.  All positioning, writing, and
     drawing commands are interpreted in the context of a page, so a
     'p' command must precede them.

's N'
     Set type size to N scaled points (unit 'z' in GNU 'troff'.  AT&T
     'troff' used unscaled points 'p' instead; see *note Output Language
     Compatibility::.

't XYZ'
't XYZ DUMMY-ARG'
     Typeset a word XYZ; that is, set a sequence of ordinary glyphs
     named X, Y, Z, ..., terminated by a space character or a line
     break; an optional second integer argument is ignored (this allows
     the formatter to generate an even number of arguments).  Each glyph
     is set at the current drawing position, and the position is then
     advanced horizontally by the glyph's width.  A glyph's width is
     read from its metrics in the font description file, scaled to the
     current type size, and rounded to a multiple of the horizontal
     motion quantum.  Use the 'C' command to emplace glyphs of special
     characters.  The 't' command is a 'groff' extension and is output
     only for devices whose 'DESC' file contains the 'tcommand'
     directive; see *note DESC File Format::.

'u N XYZ'
     Typeset word XYZ with track kerning.  As 't', but after placing
     each glyph, the drawing position is further advanced horizontally
     by N basic units ('u').  The 'u' command is a 'groff' extension and
     is output only for devices whose 'DESC' file contains the
     'tcommand' directive; see *note DESC File Format::.

'V N'
     Vertically move the drawing position to N basic units from the top
     edge of the page.  N cannot be negative.

'v N'
     Move the drawing position down N basic units.  AT&T 'troff' allowed
     negative N; GNU 'troff' does not produce such values, but 'groff''s
     output driver library handles them.

'w'
     Indicate an inter-word space.  No action is performed; the command
     is present to make the output more easily parsed.  Only adjustable,
     breakable inter-word spaces are thus described; those resulting
     from '\~' or horizontal motion escape sequences are not.  GNU
     'troff' issues this command but 'groff''s output driver library
     ignores it.  See 'h' and 'H' above.