Hi Branden,
I want to circle back to a point you raised...
On 9/21/20 4:15 PM, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> At 2020-09-21T09:49:11+0200, Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) wrote:
>> On Mon, 21 Sep 2020 at 09:32, Alejandro Colomar <colomar.6.4.3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Indentation of structure definitions, shell session logs, and so on
>>>
>>> When structure definitions, shell session logs, and so on are included
>>> in running text, indent them by 4 spaces (i.e., a block enclosed by
>>> .in +4n and .in), format them using the .EX and EE macros, and surround
>>> them with suitable paragraph markers (either .PP or .IP). For example:
>>>
>>> .PP
>>> .in +4n
>>> .EX
>>> int
>>> main(int argc, char *argv[])
>>> {
>>> return 0;
>>> }
>>> .EE
>>> .in
>>> .PP
>>>
>>>
>>> That could be simplified to the following, right?:
>>>
>>> .IP
>>> .EX
>>> int
>>> main(int argc, char *argv[])
>>> {
>>> return 0;
>>> }
>>> .EE
>>> .PP
>>>
>>> Or is there any difference?
>>
>> .IP indents by 8 spaces by default, I think.
>
> 7 "ens" on nroff devices (like terminals), 7.2n on troff devices.
>
> An "en" is a traditional typesetting unit of measure, the width of a
> letter "n" in the font being used. For monospaced fonts, including
> those used in character-cell terminals--barring the employment of CJK
> "fullwidth" code points--this is the same width as a space.
>
>> Also, .IP won't indent further, if we are already in an area of
>> indented paragraphs.
>
> This is true. In my maintenance work on groff's man pages I have
> devised an idiom of calling .RS twice, putting in the desired material,
> and then calling .RE twice.
If I understand what you are saying, then iif we are at an indented
level (.TP, .IP), then we can use your idiom:
.RS
.RS n
...
.RE
.RE
But, this idiom won't work if we're not at an indented level (?).
In other words, at .PP level we should not use .RS/.RS n/.RE/.RE,
right?
By contrast, ".in +n/.in" works regardless of whether we
are at an indented level, right? (I'm not saying this recommend
the use of .in; I just want to clarify my understanding.)
Thanks,
Michael
--
Michael Kerrisk
Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
Linux/UNIX System Programming Training: http://man7.org/training/
