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groff: Escapes

 
 5.5.3 Escapes
 -------------
 
 Escapes may occur anywhere in the input to 'gtroff'.  They usually begin
 with a backslash and are followed by a single character, which indicates
 the function to be performed.  The escape character can be changed; see
 ⇒Character Translations.
 
    Escape sequences that require an identifier as a parameter accept
 three possible syntax forms.
 
    * The next single character is the identifier.
 
    * If this single character is an opening parenthesis, take the
      following two characters as the identifier.  Note that there is no
      closing parenthesis after the identifier.
 
    * If this single character is an opening bracket, take all characters
      until a closing bracket as the identifier.
 
 Examples:
 
      \fB
      \n(XX
      \*[TeX]
 
    Other escapes may require several arguments and/or some special
 format.  In such cases the argument is traditionally enclosed in single
 quotes (and quotes are always used in this manual for the definitions of
 escape sequences).  The enclosed text is then processed according to
 what that escape expects.  Example:
 
      \l'1.5i\(bu'
 
    Note that the quote character can be replaced with any other
 character that does not occur in the argument (even a newline or a space
 character) in the following escapes: '\o', '\b', and '\X'.  This makes
 e.g.
 
      A caf
      \o
      e\'
 
 
      in Paris
        => A café in Paris
 
 possible, but it is better not to use this feature to avoid confusion.
 
    The following escape sequences (which are handled similarly to
 characters since they don't take a parameter) are also allowed as
 delimiters: '\%', '\ ', '\|', '\^', '\{', '\}', '\'', '\`', '\-', '\_',
 '\!', '\?', '\)', '\/', '\,', '\&', '\:', '\~', '\0', '\a', '\c', '\d',
 '\e', '\E', '\p', '\r', '\t', and '\u'.  Again, don't use these if
 possible.
 
    No newline characters as delimiters are allowed in the following
 escapes: '\A', '\B', '\Z', '\C', and '\w'.
 
    Finally, the escapes '\D', '\h', '\H', '\l', '\L', '\N', '\R', '\s',
 '\S', '\v', and '\x' can't use the following characters as delimiters:
 
    * The digits '0'-'9'.
 
    * The (single-character) operators '+-/*%<>=&:().'.
 
    * The space, tab, and newline characters.
 
    * All escape sequences except '\%', '\:', '\{', '\}', '\'', '\`',
      '\-', '\_', '\!', '\/', '\c', '\e', and '\p'.
 
    To have a backslash (actually, the current escape character) appear
 in the output several escapes are defined: '\\', '\e' or '\E'.  These
 are very similar, and only differ with respect to being used in macros
 or diversions.  ⇒Character Translations, for an exact description
 of those escapes.
 
DONTPRINTYET     ⇒Implementation Differences, ⇒Copy-in Mode, and *noteDONTPRINTYET     ⇒Implementation Differences, ⇒Copy-in Mode, and ⇒
 Diversions, ⇒Identifiers, for more information.
 

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