If I may be permitted an observation.
On 4/12/24 08:08, onf wrote:
On Tue Dec 3, 2024 at 9:40 PM CET, onf wrote:
There are several approaches that come to mind.
The OP is attempting to shoehorn groff into doing something it was
designed expressly *not* to do in order to avoid using well known
programming that is designed to do precisely what he wants.
As I understand it (and Doug and others will correct me if I am wrong)
groff was designed not to be interactive. It took, and continues to this
day to take, an input file which it then processes without any
intervention by the user. Of course, during the decades of its existence
there have been huge developments in the syntax and structure of the
input file and the arguments and options to groff itself, with the
result that groff is arguably the most powerful typesetting program on
the planet.
IMNSHO the OP should be looking to introduce interoperability into the
creation of the input file in order to ensure that when it is fed into
groff it will produce, without further ado, the output he desires.
That's how I produced my invoices. And, I suspect, that's how everyone
else of this list does too.
Robert Thorsby