Chapter 17. troff Preprocessors

17.1.1. Options

-me

Prepend the me macros to the front of files.

-mm

Prepend the mm macros to the front of files.

-ms

Prepend the ms macros to the front of files.

-TX

Produce output using only full vertical line motions. This is useful when formatting with nroff or when printing to a device that does not support fractional line motion. (This option is not on Solaris tbl.)

17.1.2. General Coding Scheme

In a text file, coding for tbl might look like this:

.TS H
options;
format1
format2.
Column Titles
.TH
Item1	Item2	Item3
Item1	Item2	Item3 ...
.TE

Successful processing of a table by tbl depends largely on the header lines, which consist of one line listing the options and one or more format lines. Each field of the table input must be separated by a tab or the designated tab symbol, with each row typed entirely on a single line unless a field is enclosed by the text block symbols T{ and T}.

17.1.4. Options

Options affect the entire table. Options can be separated by commas or spaces, but the line must end with a semicolon.

center	Center with current margins.
expand	Flush with current right and left margins.
(leave blank)	Flush with current left margin (the default).
box	Enclose table in a box.
doublebox	Enclose table in two boxes.
allbox	Enclose each table entry in a box.
tab(x)	Define the tab symbol to be x instead of a tab.
linesize n	Set type size of lines or rules (e.g., from box) to n points.
delim xy	Recognize x and y as the eqn delimiters.

17.1.6. Data

The data portion includes both the heading and text of the table. Each table entry must be separated by a tab character. In the description below, tab represents the tab character.

.xx	troff requests may be used (such as .sp n, .na, etc.).
\	As last character in a line, combine following line with current line (hide newline).
\^	Span table entry that is above this row, bringing it down to be vertically centered.
_ or =	As the only character in a line, extend a single or double horizontal line the full width of the table.
\$_ or \$=	Extend a single or double horizontal line the full width of the column.
\_	Extend a single horizontal line the width of the column's contents.
\Rx	Print xs as wide as the column's contents.
...tabT{	Start text block as a table entry. Must end a line. Necessary when a line of text is input over more than one line, or it will span more than one line of output.
T}tab...	End text block. Must begin a line.