HTMLROFF(6) HTMLROFF(6)
NAME
htmlroff - HTML formatting and typesetting
DESCRIPTION
Htmlroff(1) accepts troff input with a few extensions and
changes. This manual describes the changes to the input
language, assuming a working knowledge of troff itself.
Name lengths
Request, macro, string, and number names can be longer than
two letters, as in:
.html c <center>
.de footnote
Footnote here.
..
.footnote
.ds string "hello
\*[string]
.nr number 1
\n[number]
HTML output
Two new requests:
.html id [ <html> ]
.ihtml id [ <ihtml> ]
.html and .ihtml insert HTML into the output. The requests
are only for opening new HTML tags. To close previously-
opened tags, repeat the request with the same id. For exam-
ple, the input:
.html t <table><tr>
.html td <td>Cell 1
.html td <td>Cell 2
.html td
.html t
produces this output:
<table><tr><td>Cell 1</td><td>Cell 2</td></tr></table>
The .html request is intended for block-level HTML con-
structs (those that can contain <p>) and maintains the HTML
tag stack automatically. Intermediate tags need not be
explicitly closed: removing the final .html t line in the
example above would produce the same output. The special id
`-' closes the HTML tags immediately after printing them.
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HTMLROFF(6) HTMLROFF(6)
The .ihtml request is similar to .html but is intended for
inline HTML constructs such as <b> or <i> (those that can be
contained within <p>). Unlike .html, .ihtml treats the open
HTML tags as a set rather than a stack: each must be explic-
itly closed. Although it treats the tags as a set, .ihtml
treats nesting properly in the output, closing and reopening
tags as necessary. For example, the input:
.ihtml style <b>
.ihtml link <a href="link.html">
Bold
.ihtml style <i>
and italic, still linked.
.ihtml link <a>
Unlinked.
.ihtml style
produces this output:
<b><a href="link.html">Bold</a></b>
<i><a href="link.html">and italic, still linked.</i></a>
<i>Unlinked.</i>
Outside of .html and .ihtml requests, the characters `<',
`>', and `&' are treated as normal characters, not HTML
markers, and are translated to `<', `>', and `&'
on output. To embed the raw HTML markers, use `\<', `\>',
and `\@' [sic].
Font changes
Htmlroff interprets the usual \f, .ft, \s, and .ps requests
to change the font and point size. After applying each such
change to its internal registers, htmlroff invokes the .font
macro to emit corresponding HTML. The default definition of
.font is:
.de font
.ihtml f1
.ihtml f
.ihtml f <span style=
.if \n(.f==2 .ihtml f1 <i>
.if \n(.f==3 .ihtml f1 <b>
.if \n(.f==4 .ihtml f1 <b><i>
.if \n(.f==5 .ihtml f1 <tt>
.if \n(.f==6 .ihtml f1 <tt><i>
..
Input files can redefine .font like any other request or
macro.
Paragraphs
Htmlroff implements line height, text adjustment, and
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HTMLROFF(6) HTMLROFF(6)
margins by wrapping all output text in <p style="..."> tags.
This behavior can be disabled by setting the .paragraph num-
ber register to zero. Setting the .margin register to zero
eliminates only the margin annotations.
Subscripts and superscripts
Htmlroff interprets the \u, \d, and \v requests to move ver-
tically during output. It emits output vertically offset up
the page inside <sup> tags and output vertically offset down
the page inside <sub> tags. This heuristic handles simple
equations formatted by eqn(1).
Conditional input
To make it easier to write input files that can be formatted
by both troff and htmlroff, htmlroff adds a new condition h
which evaluates true in .if and .ie requests. The t condi-
tion continues to evaluate true, to accomodate input files
trying to distinguish between troff and nroff. To write a
conditional matching troff alone, use `.if !h .if t'.
Htmlroff 's handling of conditional input does not match
troff's exactly. For example,
.if 0 \{\
.de xx
..
.\}
redefines the xx macro in troff but not in htmlroff. Do not
write files depending on this behavior, as this bug may be
fixed in the future. Htmlroff also mishandles \} in some
cases. To work around them, use .\} on a line by itself, as
in the last example.
Diversions
Diversions in htmlroff use the alignment in effect at the
time of the diversion when output. In particular,
.di xx
Line here.
.di
.nf
.ce
.xx
produces a centered line in troff but not in htmlroff. The
solution is to center inside the diversion, as in
.di xx
.if h .ce 999
Line here
.di
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HTMLROFF(6) HTMLROFF(6)
Traps
Htmlroff implements traps at vertical position 0, which run
when the first character is about to be printed. Other
position traps are ignored. Input traps are implemented.
Input pipes
Htmlroff adds a new request .inputpipe stop cmd that redi-
rects htmlroff's input into a pipe to cmd. The redirection
stops on encountering the line stop, optionally followed by
white space and extra text. This is a dangerous and clumsy
request, as htmlroff stops interpreting its input during the
redirection, so stop must be found in the input itself, not
in a macro that the input might appear to call. Although
clumsy, .inputpipe allows input files to invoke troff to
handle complicated input. For example, tmac.html redefines
the PS macro that marks the beginning of a pic(1) picture:
.nr png -1 1
.de PS
.ds pngbase "\\*[basename]
.if '\\*[pngbase]'' .ds pngbase \\n(.B
.ds pngfile \\*[pngbase]\\n+[png].png
.html - <center><img src="\\*[pngfile]"></center>
.inputpipe .PE troff2png >\\*[pngfile]
..
This macro invokes the shell script troff2png to run troff
and convert the Postscript output to a PNG image file.
Before starting the program, the macro creates a new file
name for the image and prints HTML referring to it. The .B
register holds the final path element (the base name) of the
current input file.
Unimplemented
Tabs are set every eight spaces and cannot be changed.
Some requests, such as .tl, are unimplemented for lack of a
good implementation. Workarounds can be defined as neces-
sary in input files.
SEE ALSO
htmlroff(1), mhtml(6)
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