awf(1)									awf(1)

NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     awf - amazingly workable (text) formatter

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     awf -macros [ file	] ...

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     Awf formats the text from the input file(s) (standard input if none) in
     an	imitation of The -macro	option is mandatory and	must be	`-man' or
     `-ms'.

     Awf implements the	following raw  requests:

	  .\"  .ce  .fi	 .in  .ne  .pl	.sp
	  .ad  .de  .ft	 .it  .nf  .po	.ta
	  .bp  .ds  .ie	 .ll  .nr  .ps	.ti
	  .br  .el  .if	 .na  .ns  .rs	.tm

     and the following in-text codes:

     \$	  \%   \*   \c	 \f   \n   \s

     plus the full list	of /troff special characters in	the original V7	troff
     manual.

     Many restrictions are present; the	behavior in general is a subset	of Of
     particular	note are the following:

     o Point sizes do not exist; .ps and \s are	ignored.

     o Conditionals implement only numeric comparisons on \n(.$, string
       comparisons between a macro parameter and a literal, and	n (always
       true) and t (always false).

     o The implementation of strings is	generally primitive.

     o Expressions in (e.g.) .sp are fairly general, but the |,	&, and :
       operators do not	exist, and the implementation of \w requires that
       quote (') be used as the	delimiter and simply counts the	characters
       inside (so that,	e.g., \w'\(bu' equals 4).

     White space at the	beginning of lines, and	imbedded white space within
     lines, is dealt with properly.  Sentence terminators at ends of lines are
     understood	to imply extra space afterward in filled lines.	 Tabs are
     implemented crudely and not quite correctly, although in most cases they
     work as expected.	Hyphenation is done only at explicit hyphens, emdashes,
 and discretionary hyphens.

MAN MACROS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The -man macro set	implements the full V7 manual macros, plus a few
     semi-random oddballs.  The	full list is:




									Page 1






awf(1)									awf(1)



     .B	  .DT  .IP  .P	 .RE  .SM
     .BI  .HP  .IR  .PD	 .RI  .TH
     .BR  .I   .LP  .PP	 .RS  .TP
     .BY  .IB  .NB  .RB	 .SH  .UC

     .BY and .NB each take a single string argument (respectively, an
     indication	of authorship and a note about the status of the manual	page)
     and arrange to place it in	the page footer.

MS MACROS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The -ms macro set is a substantial	subset of the V7 manuscript macros.
     The implemented macros are:

     .AB  .CD  .ID  .ND	 .QP  .RS  .UL
     .AE  .DA  .IP  .NH	 .QS  .SH  .UX
     .AI  .DE  .LD  .NL	 .R   .SM
     .AU  .DS  .LG  .PP	 .RE  .TL
     .B	  .I   .LP  .QE	 .RP  .TP

     Size changes are recognized but ignored, as are .RP and .ND.  .UL just
     prints its	argument in italics.  .DS/.DE does not do a keep, nor do any
     of	the other macros that normally imply keeps.

     Assignments to the	header/footer string variables are recognized and
     implemented, but there is otherwise no control over header/footer
     formatting.  The DY string	variable is available.	The PD,	PI, and	LL
     number registers exist and	can be changed.

OUTPUT    [Toc]    [Back]

     The only output format supported by awf, in its distributed form, is that
     appropriate to a dumb terminal, using overprinting	for italics (via
     underlining) and bold.  The  special characters are printed as some vague
     approximation (it's sometimes very	vague) to their	correct	appearance.

     Awf's knowledge of	the output device is established by a device file,
     which is read before the user's input.  It	is sought in awf's library
     directory,	first as dev.term (where term is the value of the TERM
     environment variable) and,	failing	that, as dev.dumb.  The	device file
     uses special internal commands to set up resolution, special characters,
     fonts, etc., and more normal  commands to set up page length etc.

FILES    [Toc]    [Back]

     All in /usr/lib/awf (this can be overridden by the	AWFLIB environment
     variable):

     common	common device-independent initialization
     dev.*	device-specific	initialization
     mac.m*	macro packages
     pass1	macro substituter
     pass2.base	central	formatter
     pass2.m*	macro-package-specific bits of formatter
     pass3	line and page composer



									Page 2






awf(1)									awf(1)

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     awk(1), nroff(1), man(5), ms(5).

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     Unlike nroff, awf complains whenever it sees unknown commands and macros.
     All diagnostics (these and	some internal ones) appear on standard error
     at	the end	of the run.

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     Written at	University of Toronto by Henry Spencer,	more or	less as	a
     supplement	to the C News project.

     =>	None of	the above really want to admit it.  <=

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     There are plenty, but what	do you expect for a text formatter written
     entirely in (old) awk?

     The -ms stuff has not been	checked	out very thoroughly.


									PPPPaaaaggggeeee 3333