tbl.man revision 75584
1.ig \"-*- nroff -*- 2Copyright (C) 1989-1995 Free Software Foundation, Inc. 3 4Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of 5this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice 6are preserved on all copies. 7 8Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this 9manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the 10entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a 11permission notice identical to this one. 12 13Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this 14manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified 15versions, except that this permission notice may be included in 16translations approved by the Free Software Foundation instead of in 17the original English. 18.. 19.TH @G@TBL @MAN1EXT@ "@MDATE@" "Groff Version @VERSION@" 20.SH NAME 21@g@tbl \- format tables for troff 22.SH SYNOPSIS 23.B @g@tbl 24[ 25.B \-Cv 26] 27[ 28.IR files \|.\|.\|. 29] 30.SH DESCRIPTION 31This manual page describes the GNU version of 32.BR tbl , 33which is part of the groff document formatting system. 34.B tbl 35compiles descriptions of tables embedded within 36.B troff 37input files into commands that are understood by 38.BR troff . 39Normally, it should be invoked using the 40.B \-t 41option of 42.B groff. 43It is highly compatible with Unix 44.BR tbl . 45The output generated by GNU 46.B tbl 47cannot be processed with Unix 48.BR troff ; 49it must be processed with GNU 50.BR troff . 51If no files are given on the command line, the standard input 52will be read. 53A filename of 54.B \- 55will cause the standard input to be read. 56.SH OPTIONS 57.TP 58.B \-C 59Recognize 60.B .TS 61and 62.B .TE 63even when followed by a character other than space or newline. 64.TP 65.B \-v 66Print the version number. 67.SH USAGE 68Only the differences between GNU 69.B tbl 70and Unix 71.B tbl 72are described here. 73.LP 74Normally 75.B tbl 76attempts to prevent undesirable breaks in the table by using diversions. 77This can sometimes interact badly with macro packages' own use of diversions, 78when footnotes, for example, are used. 79The 80.B nokeep 81option tells 82.B tbl 83not to try and prevent breaks in this way. 84.LP 85The 86.B decimalpoint 87option specifies the character to be recognized as the decimal 88point character in place of the default period. 89It takes an argument in parentheses, which must be a single 90character, as for the 91.B tab 92option. 93.LP 94The 95.B f 96format modifier can be followed by an arbitrary length 97font name in parentheses. 98.LP 99There is a 100.B d 101format modifier which means that a vertically spanning entry 102should be aligned at the bottom of its range. 103.LP 104There is no limit on the number of columns in a table, nor any limit 105on the number of text blocks. 106All the lines of a table are considered in deciding column 107widths, not just the first 200. 108Table continuation 109.RB ( .T& ) 110lines are not restricted to the first 200 lines. 111.LP 112Numeric and alphabetic items may appear in the same column. 113.LP 114Numeric and alphabetic items may span horizontally. 115.LP 116.B tbl 117uses register, string, macro and diversion names beginning with 118.BR 3 . 119When using 120.B tbl 121you should avoid using any names beginning with a 122.BR 3 . 123.SH BUGS 124You should use 125.BR .TS\ H / .TH 126in conjunction with a supporting macro package for 127.I all 128multi-page boxed tables. 129If there is no header that you wish to appear at the top of each page 130of the table, place the 131.B .TH 132line immediately after the format section. 133Do not enclose a multi-page table within keep/release macros, 134or divert it in any other way. 135.LP 136A text block within a table must be able to fit on one page. 137.LP 138The 139.B bp 140request cannot be used to force a page-break in a multi-page table. 141Instead, define 142.B BP 143as follows 144.IP 145.B .de BP 146.br 147.B .ie '\e\en(.z'' .bp \e\e$1 148.br 149.B .el \e!.BP \e\e$1 150.br 151.B .. 152.br 153.LP 154and use 155.B BP 156instead of 157.BR bp . 158.LP 159Using \ea directly in a table to get leaders will not work. 160This is correct behaviour: \ea is a 161.B uninterpreted 162leader. 163To get leaders use a real leader, either by using a control A or like 164this: 165.IP 166.nf 167.ft B 168\&.ds a \ea 169\&.TS 170tab(;); 171lw(1i) l. 172A\e*a;B 173\&.TE 174.ft 175.fi 176.SH "SEE ALSO" 177.BR groff (@MAN1EXT@), 178.BR @g@troff (@MAN1EXT@) 179