---
name: "groff_mwww"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "groff"
version: "1.17.2-15.woody.1"
release: "Debian 3.0 (Woody)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/groff_mwww"
---

# groff\_mwww(7)

groff macros for authoring web pages

## NAME

groff\_mwww - groff macros for authoring web pages

## SYNOPSIS

**groff -mwww** \[ options \] file ...

## DESCRIPTION

This manual page describes the GNU -mwww macros, which is part of the groff document formatting system. The manual page is very a basic guide, and the html device driver (**grohtml**) has been completely rewritten but still remains as in an alpha state. It has been included into the distribution so that a lot of people have a chance to test it. Note that this macro file will be automatically called (via the `troffrc` file) if you use `-Thtml`.

To see the hyperlinks in action, please format this man page with the **grohtml** device.

Here is a summary of the functions found in this macro set.

## SYNPOSIS

.HTMLINDEX	determine automatic link cut off\
\
 	point for sections/headers\
 .BODYCOLOR	specify colours on a web page\
 .BACKGROUND	specify background image\
 .URL	create a url using two parameters\
 .MAILTO	create a html email address\
 .FTP	create an ftp reference\
 .IMAGE	include an image file\
 .HTML	pass an html raw request to the\
\
 	device driver\
 .TAG	generate an html name tag from $1\
 .LINE	create a full width horizontal rule\

Output of the *pic*, *eqn*, *refer*, and *tbl* preprocessors is acceptable as input.

## REQUESTS

- **HTMLINDEX**

  determines the cut off point for automatic link generation to headings. By default all headings found in a troff document have links created to them at the top of the html web page. It maybe that many of the lower heading levels do not require links. Alternatively some web pages may not need any heading links at all, in which case:

  ```
  .HTMLINDEX 0
  ```

  will tell **grohtml** not to generate links. An `HTMLINDEX` of 2 will mean that a heading

  **1.1.1 Some Title**

  will not be included in the links either as it is said to have a heading level of three. Another method for switching automatic headings is via the command line switch `-P-l`.

- **BODYCOLOR**

  takes five parameters: foreground, background, active hypertext link, hypertext link not yet visited, and visited hypertext link colour.

- **BACKGROUND**

  the only parameter to this macro is the background image file.

- **URL**

  generates a URL using either two or three arguments. $1 is the name of the link, $2 is the actual URL, and $3 is optional stuff to be printed immediately after $2. Hyphenation is disabled while printing the actual URL; explicit breakpoints should be inserted with the **\\:** escape. Here is how to encode

  ```
  .URL "homepage for groff" http://\:groff.\:ffii.\:org/ :
  ```

  If this is processed by a device other than `-Thtml` it appears as: homepage for groff ⟨http://groff.ffii.org⟩. The URL macro can be of any type; for example we can reference by:

  ```
  .URL "Eric Raymond's pic guide" pic.html
  ```

- **MAILTO**

  generates an email html reference. The first argument is mandatory as the email address. The optional second argument is the text you see in your browser, and an optional third argument is stuff printed immediately after the second argument. Hyphenation is disabled while printing the actual email address. For example, the groff maintainers are and This is achieved by the following macros:

  ```
  .MAILTO wl@gnu.org "Werner Lemberg"
  .MAILTO Ted.Harding@nessie.mcc.ac.uk "Ted Harding" .
  ```

  Note that all the urls actually are treated as consuming no textual space in groff. This could be considered as a bug since it causes some problems. To circumvent this, `www.tmac` inserts a zero-width character which expands to a harmless space (only if run with -Thtml).

- **FTP**

  indicates that data can be obtained via ftp. The first argument is the browser text and the second is the url. A third argument, similar to the macros above, is intended for stuff printed immediately after the second argument. The second and the third parameter are optional. Hyphenation is disabled while printing the actual URL. As an example, here the location of the The macro example above was specified by:

  ```
  .FTP "current groff development distribution" \
  ftp://ftp.ffii.org/\:pub/\:groff/\:devel/\:groff-current.tar.gz .
  ```

- **IMAGE**

  allows the document to include pictures. The first argument is the image file. The second optional argument gives the horizontal location; **l** puts the image to the left border, **r** to the right. Any other value centers the image. The next two arguments are optional also: Argument three is the width in pixels (default is 400 pixels if absent). The fourth argument is the height in pixels (default is the width value if absent).

- **HTML**

  all text after this macro is treated as raw html. If the document is processed *without* `-Thtml` then the macro is ignored. This macro is a building block for other higher level macros.

  For example, the `BACKGROUND` macro is defined as:

  ```
  .de BACKGROUND
  .   HTML <body background=\$1>
  ..
  ```

- **TAG**

  generates an html name tag from its argument. This can then be referenced using the macro. As you can see, you must precede the tag name with \``#`' since it is a local reference. This link was achieved via placing a TAG in the URL description above; the source looks like this:

  ```
  .TP
  .B URL
  generates
  .TAG URL
  a URL using either two or three
  arguments.
  $1 is the name of the link, $2 is the actual URL.
  ```

- **LINE**

  generates a full width horizontal rule. Example:

  ```
  .LINE
  ```

- **LINKS**

  requests that grohtml place the automatically generated links at this position. For example:

## SECTION HEADING LINKS

By default **grohtml** generates links to all section headings and places these at the top of the html document. (See for details of how to switch this off or alter the position.

## LIMITATIONS OF GROHTML

Tbl information is currently rendered as a png image.

## FILES

/usr/share/groff/1.17.2/tmac/mwww.tmac (a wrapper for www.tmac)\
 /usr/share/groff/1.17.2/tmac/www.tmac

## SEE ALSO

[**groff**(1)](/groff/1.md), [**troff**(1)](/troff/1.md) [**grohtml**(1)](/grohtml/1.md),

## AUTHOR

**Grohtml** was written by

## BUGS

Report bugs to the Include a complete, self-contained example that will allow the bug to be reproduced, and say which version of groff you are using.
