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HTML rendering created 2024-06-26 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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Name | Description | Usage | Macros and arguments | |
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groff_hdtbl(7) Miscellaneous Information Manual groff_hdtbl(7)
groff_hdtbl - Heidelberger table macros for GNU roff
The hdtbl macros consist of four base and three optional macros,
controlled by about twenty arguments. The syntax is simple and
similar to the HTML table model and nearly as flexible: you can
write sequences of tokens (macro calls with their arguments and
content data), separated by blanks and beginning with a macro
call, into the same line to get compact and cleanly arrranged
input. An advantage of hdtbl is that the tables are constructed
without calling a preprocessor; this means that groff(7)'s full
macro capabilities are available. On the other hand, table
processing with hdtbl is much slower than using the tbl(1)
preprocessor. A further advantage is that the HTML-like syntax
of hdtbl will be easily converted to HTML; this is not
implemented yet.
In this and the next section, we present examples to help users
understand the basic workflow of hdtbl. First of all, you must
load the hdtbl.tmac file. As with nearly all other groff macro
packages, there are two possibilities to do so: Either add the
line
.mso hdtbl.tmac
to your roff file before using any macros of the hdtbl package,
or add the option
-m hdtbl
to the command line of groff (before the document file which
contains hdtbl macros). Then you can include on or more tables
in your document, where each one must be started and ended with
the .TBL and .ETB macros, respectively.
In this man page, we approximate the result of each example as
terminal output to be as generic as possible since hdtbl
currently only supports the ps and pdf output drivers.
The simplest well-formed table consists of just single calls to
the four base table macros in the right order. Here we construct
a table with only one cell.
.TBL
.TR
.TD
contents of the table cell
.ETB
A terminal representation is
+------------------------------------------------------+
| contents-of-the-table-cell |
+------------------------------------------------------+
Equivalent to the above is the following notation.
.TBL .TR .TD "contents of the table cell" .ETB
By default, the formatted table is inserted into the surrounding
text at the place of its definition. If the vertical space isn't
sufficient, it is placed at the top of the next page. Tables can
also be stored for later insertion.
Using ‘row-number*column-number’ as the data for the table cells,
a table with two rows and two columns can be written as
.TBL cols=2
. TR .TD 1*1 .TD 1*2
. TR .TD 2*1 .TD 2*2
.ETB
A terminal representation is
+--------------------------+---------------------------+
| 1*1 | 1*2 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+
| 2*1 | 2*2 |
+--------------------------+---------------------------+
Here we see a difference from HTML tables: The number of columns
must be explicitly specified using the ‘cols=m’ argument (or
indirectly via the ‘width’ argument, see below).
The contents of a table cell is arbitrary; for example, it can be
another table, without restriction to the nesting depth. A given
table layout can be either constructed with suitably nested
tables or with proper arguments to .TD and .TH, controlling
column and row spanning. Note, however, that this table
.TBL
. TR
. TD
. nop 1*1 1*2
. TR
. TD
. TBL cols=2 border=
. TR
. TD
. nop 2*1
. TD
. nop 2*2
. ETB
.ETB
and this table
.TBL cols=2
. TR
. TD colspan=2
. nop 1*1 1*2
. TR
. TD
. nop 2*1
. TD
. nop 2*2
.ETB
are similar but not identical (the use of .nop is purely cosmetic
to get proper indentation).
The first table looks like
+------------------------------------------------------+
| 1*1 1*2 |
+------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| 2*1 2*2 |
| |
+------------------------------------------------------+
and the second one like
+------------------------------------------------------+
| 1*1 1*2 |
+---------------------------+--------------------------+
| 2*1 | 2*2 |
+---------------------------+--------------------------+
Here is the latter table in a more compact form.
.TBL cols=2 .TR ".TD colspan=2" 1*1 1*2
. TR .TD 2*1 .TD 2*2 .ETB
If a macro has one or more arguments (see below), and it is not
starting a line, everything belonging to this macro including the
macro itself must be enclosed in double quotes.
The order of macro calls and other tokens follows the HTML model.
In the following list, valid predecessors and successors of all
hdtbl macros are given, together with the possible arguments.
Macro arguments are separated by blanks. The order of arguments
is arbitrary; they are of the form
key=value
or
key='value1 [value2 [...]]'
with the only exception of the optional argument of the macro
.ETB, which is the string ‘hold’. Another possible form is
"key=value1 [value2 [...]]"
However, this is limited to the case where the macro is the first
one in the line and not already enclosed in double quotes.
Argument values specified below as c are colors predefined by
groff or colors defined by the user with the .defcolor request.
Argument values d are decimal numbers with or without decimal
point. Argument values m are natural numbers. Argument values n
are numerical values with the usual groff scaling indicators.
Some of the arguments are specific to one or two macros, but most
of them can be specified with .TBL, .TR, .TD, and .TH. These
common arguments are explained in the next subsection.
Most of the argument default values can be changed by the user by
setting corresponding default registers or strings, as listed
below.
.TBL [args]
Begin a new table.
predecessor: .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .CPTN, .TR
arguments:
border=[n]
Thickness of the surrounding box border.
‘border=’ (no value) means neither a
surrounding box border nor any horizontal or
vertical separator lines between the table
rows and cells. ‘border=0’ suppresses the
surrounding box border, but still allows
separator lines between cells and rows.
Default: ‘border=.1n’ (register ‘t*b’).
bc=c Border color.
Default: ‘bc=red4’ (string ‘t*bc’).
cols=m Number of table columns. This argument is
necessary if more than one column is in the
table and no ‘width’ arguments are present.
Default: ‘cols=1’ (register ‘t*cols’).
cpd=n Cell padding, i.e., the extra space between
the cell space border and the cell contents.
Default: ‘cpd=.5n’ (register ‘t*cpd’).
csp=n Cell spacing, i.e., the extra space between
the table border or vertical or horizontal
lines between cells and the cellspace.
Default: ‘csp=.5n’ (register ‘t*csp’).
tal=l|c|r
Horizontal alignment of the table, if it is
smaller than the line width. ‘tal=l’: left
alignment. ‘tal=c’: centered alignment.
‘tal=r’: right alignment.
Default: ‘tal=l’ (register ‘t*tal’).
width='w1 [w2 [...]]'
Widths of table cells. w1, w2, ... are
either numbers of type n or natural numbers
with the pseudo-scaling indicator ‘%’, with
the meaning “percent of the actual line
length (or column length for inner tables,
respectively)”. If there are less width
values than table columns, the last width
value is used for the remaining cells. The
argument
width='1.5i 10%'
for example indicates that the first column
is 1.5 inches wide; the remaining columns
take 1/10 of the column length each.
Default: The table width equals the outer
line length or column length; the columns
have equal widths.
height=n
Height of the table. If the table with its
contents is lower than n, the last row is
stretched to this value.
.CPTN [args]
Text of caption.
The (optionally numbered) table caption. .CPTN is
optional.
predecessor: .TBL
successor: .TR
arguments:
val=t|b
Vertical alignment of the table caption.
‘val=t’: The caption is placed above the
table. ‘val=b’: The caption is placed below
the table.
Default: ‘val=t’ (string ‘t*cptn’).
.TR [args]
Begin a new table row.
predecessor: .TBL, .CPTN, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .TD, .TH
arguments:
height=n
The height of the row. If a cell in the row
is higher than n, this value is ignored;
otherwise the row height is stretched to n.
.TD [args [cell contents]]
Begin a table data cell.
.TH [args [cell contents]]
Begin a table header cell.
Arguments and cell contents can be mixed. The macro .TH
is not really necessary and differs from .TD only in three
default settings, similar to the <TH> and <TD> HTML tags:
The contents of .TH is horizontally and vertically
centered and typeset in boldface.
predecessor: .TR, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .TD, .TH, .TR, .ETB, cell contents
arguments:
colspan=m
The width of this cell is the sum of the
widths of the m cells above and below this
row.
rowspan=m
The height of this cell is the sum of the
heights of the m cells left and right of
this column.
Remark: Overlapping of column and row
spanning, as in the following table fragment
(the overlapping happens in the second cell
in the second row), is invalid and causes
incorrect results.
.TR .TD 1*1 ".TD 1*2 rowspan=2" .TD 1*3
.TR ".TD 2*1 colspan=2" .TD 2*3
A working example for headers and cells with
colspan is
.TBL cols=3
. TR ".TH colspan=2" header1+2 .TH header3
. TR .TD 1*1 .TD 1*2 .TD 1*3
. TR .TD 2*1 ".TD colspan=2" 2*2+3
.ETB
This looks like
+------------------------------+---------------+
| header1+2 | header3 |
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
| 1*1 | 1*2 | 1*3 |
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
| 2*1 | 2*2+3 |
+--------------+-------------------------------+
A working example with rowspan is
.TBL cols=3
. TR
. TD 1*1
. TD rowspan=2 1+2*2
. TD 1*3
.
. TR
. TD 2*1
. TD 2*3
.ETB
which looks like
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
| 1*1 | 1+2*2 | 1*3 |
+--------------+ +---------------+
| 2*1 | | 2*3 |
+--------------+---------------+---------------+
.ETB [hold]
End of the table.
This macro finishes a table. It causes one of the
following actions.
• If the argument ‘hold’ is given, the table is held
until it is freed by calling the macro .t*free, which
in turn prints the table immediately, either at the
current position or at the top of the next page if its
height is larger than the remaining space on the page.
• Otherwise, if the table is higher than the remaining
space on the page, it is printed at the top of the next
page.
• If neither of the two above constraints hold, the table
is printed immediately at the place of its definition.
predecessor: .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
successor: .TBL, .TR, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
arguments:
hold Prevent the table from being printed until
it is freed by calling the macro .t*free.
This argument is ignored for inner (nested)
tables.
.t*free [n]
Free the next held table or n held tables. Call this
utility macro to print tables which are held by using the
‘hold’ argument of the .ETB macro.
Arguments common to .TBL, .TR, .TD, and .TH
The arguments described in this section can be specified with the
.TBL and .TR macros, but they are eventually passed on to the
table cells. If omitted, the defaults take place, which the user
can change by setting the corresponding default registers or
strings, as documented below. Setting an argument with the .TBL
macro has the same effect as setting it for all rows in the
table. Setting an argument with a .TR macro has the same effect
as setting it for all the .TH or .TD macro in this row.
bgc=[c]
The background color of the table cells. This includes
the area specified with the ‘csp’ argument. The argument
‘bgc=’ (no value) suppresses a background color; this
makes the background transparent.
Default: ‘bgc=bisque’ (string ‘t*bgc’).
fgc=c The foreground color of the cell contents.
Default: ‘fgc=red4’ (string ‘t*fgc’).
ff=name
The font family for the table. name is a groff font
family identifier, such as A for Avant Garde or HN for
Helvetica Narrow.
Default: The font family found before the table (string
‘t*ff’).
fst=style
The font style for the table. One of R, B, I, or BI for
roman, bold, italic, or bold italic, respectively. As
with roff's .ft request, the ‘fst’ argument can be used to
specify the font family and font style together, for
example ‘fst=HNBI’ instead of ‘ff=HN’ and ‘fst=BI’.
Default: The font style in use right before the table
(string ‘t*fst’).
fsz='d1 [d2]'
A decimal or fractional factor d1, by which the point size
for the table is changed, and d2, by which the vertical
line spacing is changed. If d2 is omitted, value d1 is
taken for both.
Default: ‘fsz='1.0 1.0'’ (string ‘t*fsz’).
hal=l|c|b|r
Horizontal alignment of the cell contents in the table.
‘hal=l’: left alignment. ‘hal=c’: centered alignment.
‘hal=b’: both (left and right) alignment. ‘hal=r’: right
alignment.
Default: ‘hal=b’ (string ‘t*hal’).
val=t|m|b
Vertical alignment of the cell contents in the table for
cells lower than the current row. ‘val=t’: alignment
below the top of the cell. ‘val=m’: alignment in the
middle of the cell. ‘val=b’: alignment above the cell
bottom.
Default: ‘val=t’ (string ‘t*val’).
hl=[s|d]
Horizontal line between the rows. If specified with .TD
or .TH this is a separator line to the cell below. ‘hl=’
(no value): no separator line. ‘hl=s’: a single separator
line between the rows. ‘hl=d’: a double separator line.
The thickness of the separator lines is the half of the
border thickness, but at least 0.1 inches. The distance
between the double lines is equal to the line thickness.
Remark: Together with ‘border=0’ for proper formatting the
value of ‘csp’ must be at least .05 inches for single
separator lines and .15 inches for double separator lines.
Default: ‘hl=s’ (string ‘t*hl’).
vl=[s|d]
Vertical separator line between the cells. If specified
with .TD or .TH this is a separator line to the cell on
the right. ‘vl=s’: a single separator line between the
cells. ‘vl=d’: a double separator line. ‘vl=’ (no
value): no vertical cell separator lines. For more
information see the documentation of the ‘hl’ argument
above.
Default: ‘vl=s’ (string ‘t*vl’).
Before creating the first table, you should configure default
values to minimize the markup needed in each table. The
following example sets up defaults suitable for typical papers:
.ds t*bgc white\" background color
.ds t*fgc black\" foreground color
.ds t*bc black\" border color
.nr t*cpd 0.1n\" cell padding
The file /usr/local/share/doc/groff-1.23.0/examples/hdtbl/common
.roff provides another example setup in the “minimal Page setup”
section.
A table which does not fit on a partially filled page is printed
automatically on the top of the next page if you append the
little utility macro t*hm to the page header macro of your
document's main macro package. For example, say
.am pg@top
. t*hm
..
if you use the ms macro package.
The macro t*EM checks for held or kept tables, and for missing
ETB macros (table not closed). You can call this macro by
appending it the to end-of-input macro of the main, or “full-
service”, macro package your document uses. For example, try
.am pg@end-text
. t*EM
..
if you use the ms package.
Please send your comments to the groff mailing list ⟨groff@gnu
.org⟩ or directly to the author.
The hdtbl macro package was written by Joachim Walsdorff ⟨Joachim
[email protected]⟩.
groff(1)
provides an overview of GNU roff and details how to invoke
groff at the command line.
groff(7)
summarizes the roff language and GNU extensions to it.
tbl(1) describes the traditional roff preprocessor for tables.
This page is part of the groff (GNU troff) project. Information
about the project can be found at
⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see ⟨http://www.gnu.org/software/groff/⟩.
This page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/groff.git⟩ on 2024-06-14. (At
that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
the repository was 2024-06-10.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there
is a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
[email protected]
groff 1.23.0.453-330f9-d... 22 December 2023 groff_hdtbl(7)
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HTML rendering created 2024-06-26 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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