---
name: "mdoc"
section: "7"
platform: "linux"
package: "manpages"
version: "4.16-2"
release: "Debian 10 (Buster)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd", "openbsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/mdoc/7"
---

# mdoc(7)

quick reference guide for the -mdoc macro package

## NAME

**mdoc** – quick reference guide for the **-mdoc** macro package

## SYNOPSIS

**groff** **-m***doc* *files* *...*

## DESCRIPTION

The **-mdoc** package is a set of content-based and domain-based macros used to format the BSD man pages. The macro names and their meanings are listed below for quick reference; for a detailed explanation on using the package, see [groff\_mdoc(7)](/groff_mdoc/7.md) and the tutorial sampler [mdoc.samples(7)](/mdoc.samples/7.md).

Note that this is not the usual macro package for Linux documentation, although it is used for documentation of several widely used programs; see [man(7)](/man/7.md).

The macros are described in two groups, the first includes the structural and physical page layout macros. The second contains the manual and general text domain macros which differentiate the **-mdoc** package from other troff formatting packages.

## PAGE STRUCTURE DOMAIN

### Title Macros

To create a valid manual page, these three macros, in this order, are required:

- .Dd *Month day, year*

  Document date.

- .Dt *DOCUMENT\_TITLE \[section\] \[volume\]*

  Title, in uppercase.

- .Os *OPERATING\_SYSTEM \[version/release\]*

  Operating system (BSD).

### Page Layout Macros

Section headers, paragraph breaks, lists and displays.

- .Sh

  Section Headers. Valid headers, in the order of presentation:

  - *NAME*

    Name section, should include the ‘.Nm’ or ‘.Fn’ and the ‘.Nd’ macros.

  - *SYNOPSIS*

    Usage.

  - *DESCRIPTION*

    General description, should include options and parameters.

  - *RETURN* *VALUE*

    Sections two and three function calls.

  - *ENVIRONMENT*

    Describe environment variables.

  - *FILES*

    Files associated with the subject.

  - *EXAMPLES*

    Examples and suggestions.

  - *DIAGNOSTICS*

    Normally used for section four device interface diagnostics.

  - *ERRORS*

    Sections two and three error and signal handling.

  - *SEE* *ALSO*

    Cross references and citations.

  - *CONFORMING* *TO*

    Conformance to standards if applicable.

  - *HISTORY*

    If a standard is not applicable, the history of the subject should be given.

  - *BUGS*

    Gotchas and caveats.

  - *other*

    Customized headers may be added at the authors discretion.

- .Ss

  Subsection Headers.

- .Pp

  Paragraph Break. Vertical space (one line).

- .D1

  (D-one) Display-one Indent and display one text line.

- .Dl

  (D-ell) Display-one literal. Indent and display one line of literal text.

- .Bd

  Begin-display block. Display options:

  - **-ragged**

    Unjustified (ragged edges).

  - **-filled**

    Justified.

  - **-literal**

    Literal text or code.

  - **-file** *name*

    Read in named *file* and display.

  - **-offset** *string*

    Offset display. Acceptable *string* values:

    - *left*

      Align block on left (default).

    - *center*

      Approximate center margin.

    - *indent*

      Six constant width spaces (a tab).

    - *indent-two*

      Two tabs.

    - *right*

      Left aligns block 2 inches from right.

    - *xx***n**

      Where *xx* is a number from 4**n** to 99**n**.

    - *Aa*

      Where *Aa* is a callable macro name.

    - *string*

      The width of *string* is used.

- .Ed

  End-display (matches .Bd).

- .Bl

  Begin-list. Create lists or columns. Options:

  - *List-types*

    | | |
    | --- | --- |
    | **-bullet** | Bullet Item List |
    | **-item** | Unlabeled List |
    | **-enum** | Enumerated List |
    | **-tag** | Tag Labeled List |
    | **-diag** | Diagnostic List |
    | **-hang** | Hanging Labeled List |
    | **-ohang** | Overhanging Labeled List |
    | **-inset** | Inset or Run-on Labeled List |

  - List-parameters

    - **-offset**

      (All lists.) See ‘.Bd’ begin-display above.

    - **-width**

      (**-tag** and **-hang** lists only.) See ‘.Bd’.

    - **-compact**

      (All lists.) Suppresses blank lines.

- .El

  End-list.

- .It

  List item.

## MANUAL AND GENERAL TEXT DOMAIN MACROS

The manual and general text domain macros are special in that most of them are parsed for callable macros for example:

- .Op Fl s Ar file

  Produces \[**-s** *file*\]

In this example, the option enclosure macro ‘.Op’ is parsed, and calls the callable content macro ‘Fl’ which operates on the argument ‘s’ and then calls the callable content macro ‘Ar’ which operates on the argument ‘file’. Some macros may be callable, but are not parsed and vice versa. These macros are indicated in the *parsed* and *callable* columns below.

Unless stated, manual domain macros share a common syntax:

```
.Va argument [ . , ; : ( ) [ ] argument ... ]
```

**Note**: Opening and closing punctuation characters are recognized as such only if they are presented one at a time. The string ‘),’ is not recognized as punctuation and will be output with a leading white space and in what ever font the calling macro uses. The argument list ‘\] ) ,’ is recognized as three sequential closing punctuation characters and a leading white space is not output between the characters and the previous argument (if any). The special meaning of a punctuation character may be escaped with the string ‘\\&’. For example the following string,

- .Ar file1 , file2 , file3 ) .

  Produces *file1*, *file2*, *file3*).

### Manual Domain Macros

| | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *Name* | Parsed | Callable | Description |
| Ad | Yes | Yes | Address. (This macro may be deprecated.) |
| An | Yes | Yes | Author name. |
| Ar | Yes | Yes | Command-line argument. |
| Cd | No | No | Configuration declaration (section four only). |
| Cm | Yes | Yes | Command-line argument modifier. |
| Dv | Yes | Yes | Defined variable (source code). |
| Er | Yes | Yes | Error number (source code). |
| Ev | Yes | Yes | Environment variable. |
| Fa | Yes | Yes | Function argument. |
| Fd | Yes | Yes | Function declaration. |
| Fn | Yes | Yes | Function call (also .Fo and .Fc). |
| Ic | Yes | Yes | Interactive command. |
| Li | Yes | Yes | Literal text. |
| Nm | Yes | Yes | Command name. |
| Op | Yes | Yes | Option (also .Oo and .Oc). |
| Ot | Yes | Yes | Old style function type (Fortran only). |
| Pa | Yes | Yes | Pathname or filename. |
| St | Yes | Yes | Standards (-p1003.2, -p1003.1 or -ansiC) |
| Va | Yes | Yes | Variable name. |
| Vt | Yes | Yes | Variable type (Fortran only). |
| Xr | Yes | Yes | Manual Page Cross Reference. |

### General Text Domain Macros

| | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| *Name* | Parsed | Callable | Description |
| %A | Yes | No | Reference author. |
| %B | Yes | Yes | Reference book title. |
| %C | No | No | Reference place of publishing (city). |
| %D | No | No | Reference date. |
| %J | Yes | Yes | Reference journal title. |
| %N | No | No | Reference issue number. |
| %O | No | No | Reference optional information. |
| %P | No | No | Reference page number(s). |
| %R | No | No | Reference report Name. |
| %T | Yes | Yes | Reference article title. |
| %V | No | No | Reference volume. |
| Ac | Yes | Yes | Angle close quote. |
| Ao | Yes | Yes | Angle open quote. |
| Ap | Yes | Yes | Apostrophe. |
| Aq | Yes | Yes | Angle quote. |
| At | No | No | AT&T UNIX |
| Bc | Yes | Yes | Bracket close quote. |
| Bf | No | No | Begin font mode. |
| Bo | Yes | Yes | Bracket open quote. |
| Bq | Yes | Yes | Bracket quote. |
| Bx | Yes | Yes | BSD. |
| Db | No | No | Debug (default is off) |
| Dc | Yes | Yes | Double close quote. |
| Do | Yes | Yes | Double open quote. |
| Dq | Yes | Yes | Double quote. |
| Ec | Yes | Yes | Enclose string close quote. |
| Ef | No | No | End font mode. |
| Em | Yes | Yes | Emphasis (traditional English). |
| Eo | Yes | Yes | Enclose string open quote. |
| Fx | No | No | FreeBSD operating system |
| No | Yes | Yes | Normal text (no-op). |
| Ns | Yes | Yes | No space. |
| Pc | Yes | Yes | Parenthesis close quote. |
| Pf | Yes | No | Prefix string. |
| Po | Yes | Yes | Parenthesis open quote. |
| Pq | Yes | Yes | Parentheses quote. |
| Qc | Yes | Yes | Straight Double close quote. |
| Ql | Yes | Yes | Quoted literal. |
| Qo | Yes | Yes | Straight Double open quote. |
| Qq | Yes | Yes | Straight Double quote. |
| Re | No | No | Reference end. |
| Rs | No | No | Reference start. |
| Rv | No | No | Return values (sections two and three only). |
| Sc | Yes | Yes | Single close quote. |
| So | Yes | Yes | Single open quote. |
| Sq | Yes | Yes | Single quote. |
| Sm | No | No | Space mode (default is \\\*qon\\\*q) |
| Sx | Yes | Yes | Section Cross Reference. |
| Sy | Yes | Yes | Symbolic (traditional English). |
| Tn | Yes | Yes | Trade or type name (small Caps). |
| Ux | Yes | Yes | UNIX |
| Xc | Yes | Yes | Extend argument list close. |
| Xo | Yes | Yes | Extend argument list open. |

Macro names ending in ‘q’ quote remaining items on the argument list. Macro names ending in ‘o’ begin a quote which may span more than one line of input and are close quoted with the matching macro name ending in ‘c’. Enclosure macros may be nested and are limited to eight arguments.

Note: the extended argument list macros (‘.Xo’, ‘.Xc’) and the function enclosure macros (‘.Fo’, ‘.Fc’) are irregular. The extended list macros are used when the number of macro arguments would exceed the troff limitation of nine arguments.

The macros UR (starting a URI/URL hypertext reference), UE (ending one), and UN (identifying a target for a reference) are also available. See [man(7)](/man/7.md) for more information on these macros.

## FILES

- *doc.tmac*

  Manual and general text domain macros.

- *tmac/doc-common*

  Common structural macros and definitions.

- *tmac/doc-nroff*

  Site dependent nroff style file.

- *tmac/doc-ditroff*

  Site dependent troff style file.

- *tmac/doc-syms*

  Special defines (such as the standards macro).

## SEE ALSO

[groff\_mdoc(7)](/groff_mdoc/7.md), [man(7)](/man/7.md), [man-pages(7)](/man-pages/7.md), [mdoc.samples(7)](/mdoc.samples/7.md)

## COLOPHON

This page is part of release 4.16 of the Linux *man-pages* project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.