---
name: "demandoc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "mandoc"
version: "1.14.6-5"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/demandoc"
---

# demandoc(1)

emit only text of UNIX manuals

## NAME

**demandoc** – emit only text of UNIX manuals

## SYNOPSIS

**demandoc** \[**-w**\] \[*file ...*\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **demandoc** utility emits only the text portions of well-formed [mdoc(7)](/mdoc/7.md) and [man(7)](/man/7.md) UNIX manual files.

By default, **demandoc** parses standard input and outputs only text nodes, preserving line and column position. Escape sequences are omitted from the output.

Its arguments are as follows:

- **-w**

  Output a word list. This outputs each word of text on its own line. A "word", in this case, refers to whitespace-delimited terms beginning with at least two letters and not consisting of any escape sequences. Words have their leading and trailing punctuation (double-quotes, sentence punctuation, etc.) stripped.

- *file ...*

  The input files.

If a document is not well-formed, it is skipped.

The **-i**, **-k**, **-m**, and **-p** flags are silently discarded for calling compatibility with the historical deroff.

## EXIT STATUS

The **demandoc** utility exits with one of the following values:

- 0

  No errors occurred.

- 6

  An operating system error occurred, for example memory exhaustion or an error accessing input files. Such errors cause **demandoc** to exit at once, possibly in the middle of parsing or formatting a file. The output databases are corrupt and should be removed .

## EXAMPLES

The traditional usage of **demandoc** is for spell-checking manuals on BSD. This is accomplished as follows (assuming British spelling):

```
$ demandoc -w file.1 | spell -b
```

## SEE ALSO

[mandoc(1)](/mandoc/1.md), [man(7)](/man/7.md), [mdoc(7)](/mdoc/7.md)

## HISTORY

**demandoc** replaces the historical deroff utility for handling modern [man(7)](/man/7.md) and [mdoc(7)](/mdoc/7.md) documents.

## AUTHORS

The **demandoc** utility was written by Kristaps Dzonsons ⟨*kristaps@bsd.lv*⟩.