Re: backslash in manpages ???
On Fri, Jan 25, 2002 at 09:57:32AM -0600, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 25, 2002 at 01:12:49PM +0100, Sven wrote:
> > Also i have the following :
> >
> > \wait{sec}
> >
> > which is rendered as
> >
> > 168,
> >
> > which makes me think that sec or wait has another meaning for man
> > pages.
>
> In *roff, \w'string', where ' is any character, gives you the width of
> string. groff sees \wait{sec}, assumes you're using the separator "a"
> and that you're missing the trailing separator, and outputs the width of
> "it{sec}", i.e. 168 "basic units". The definition of a basic unit is
> device-dependent.
mmm, yes, this makes things more understandable.
btw, would \w\ have woreked ?
> > Could someone help me out, and tell me either how to correctly escape
> > the \ in man pages or hint me on the correct documentation about it ?
>
> You've already got the answer (\e), but you can find a good reference
Yes, ..
> for the language in the groff(7) man page, which is part of the groff
> package.
\
Ah, yes, i only read the section 1 manpage and didn't find it very usefull.
Friendly,
Sven Luther
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