Hi Walter, walter harms wrote on Thu, Jul 04, 2019 at 07:20:54PM +0200:
> the groff_man page is listing some useful macros i did not notice sofar. > .EE/.EX When you wonder about portability, you can always check https://man.openbsd.org/man.7 Here is what it says about .EX and .EE: https://man.openbsd.org/man.7#EE EE This is a non-standard GNU extension. In mandoc(1), it does the same as the roff(7) fi request (switch to fill mode). EX This is a non-standard GNU extension. In mandoc(1), it does the same as the roff(7) nf request (switch to no-fill mode). > and \*(lq,\*(rq Those are not macros but predefined strings. In general, using predefined strings is a bad idea. There is never a need and portability is dubious. https://man.openbsd.org/mandoc_char.7#PREDEFINED_STRINGS Use \(lq instead of \*(lq and \(rq instead of \*(rq. > Are these save to use or are they a groff special ? Using them is not safe. They are GNU extensions and make your manual pages non-portable. By the way, overriding their definition in your own manual page is even worse style than using them without doing so because for best portability and style, manual pages ought to refrain from using low-level roff. If you do not care about portability, you can use them. If you do care, don't override their definitions, just write your manual page cleanly without using GNU extensions. Yours, Ingo
