Dear All, I try to use the correct abbreviation for the former Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, which is ČSSR (C + hacek, caron, wedge). The first attempt (enter Unicode 0x010C directly, leaving everything to preconv(1), did not work. Then I consulted groff_char(7) but there is no predefined \[vC], only \[vS] etc. for base letters s, S, z and Z. No C! I keep scratching my head.
None of the other suggested notations (like \[u0043_030C] work (see groff(7)) out of the box. The GNU groff online manual (https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/manual/groff.html) offers an escape route with the following request: .AM A Berkeley extension which enables extended accent marks. Strangely, *all* input methods begin to work, except for the undefined \[vC]. See attached sample document. For months, I thought this is a font setup question, and experimented with numerous fonts, to no avail. Only today I discovered the .AM request. It is contained in the online manual but I could not locate it in any of the groff man pages (perhaps a version issue? I currently run 1.22.4). Perhaps I searched the wrong man page? Neither groff(1), groff(7), groff_char(7) nor groff_font(5) mention the .AM request; groff(7) in its subsection "Unicode Characters" states
The extended escape u allows the inclusion of all available Unicode characters into a roff file.
It then mentions that the Unicode input conventions work for the -Tutf8 device:
The availability of the Unicode characters depends on the font used. For text mode, the device -Tutf8 is quite com‐ plete; for troff modes it might happen that some or many characters will not be displayed. Please check your fonts.
but that's not what I need. Astonishingly, .AM and the -Tutf8 device seem incompatible, so it is PDF: request .AM XOR -Tutf8 (but don't request .AM) Interesting. Have a nice weekend, Oliver.
.TL How to print C hacek? .AU Oliver Corff .SH First Variant: Various Notations, only one successful .R .TS tab(|) nospaces; lb lb | lb l l | l. Input description |Result | Comment Direkt input of char \fC0x010C\fP: |ČSSR | nothing, warning: can't find special character 'u0043_030C'. Unicode \fC\\[u010C]\fP: |\[u010C]SSR | dito, but no warning. Combining \fC\\[u0043_030C]\fP: |\[u0043_030C]SSR | dito, but no warning. Using \fC\\[vC]\fP notation: |\[vC]SSR | nothing, warning: can't find special character 'vC' | | (combination undefined; analogous to \\[vZ] etc., see groff_char(7).) Using Berkeley extension \fC\\*[v]\fP: |C\*[v]SSR | prints \fCC\fP only; not effective before \fB.AM\fP request. .TE .SH Second Variant: Berkeley extensions (\fB.AM\FP) activated .PP Miraculously, \fIall\fP notations (with the notable exception of the undefined \fC\\[vC]\fP) begin to work. .AM .char Č C\*[v] .TS tab(|) nospaces; l l. Direkt input: |ČSSR Unicode \fCu010C\fP: |\[u010C]SSR Combining \fC\\[u0043_030C]\fP: |\[u0043_030C]SSR Using \fC\\[vC]\fP notation: |\[vC]SSR Using Berkeley extension \fC\\*[v]\fP: |C\*[v]SSR .TE