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The fundamental operation of the GNU troff
formatter is the
translation of the groff
input language into a device-independent
form primarily concerned with what has to be written or drawn at
specific positions on the output device. This language is simple and
imperative. In the following discussion, the term command always
refers to this device-independent output language, and never to the
groff
language intended for direct use by document authors.
Device-independent output commands comprise several categories: glyph
output; font, color, and text size selection; motion of the printing
position; page advancement; drawing of geometric objects; and device
control commands, a catch-all for operations not easily classified as
any of the foregoing, such as directives to start and stop output,
identify the intended output device, or place URL hyperlinks in
supported output formats.
• Separation | ||
• Argument Units | ||
• Document Parts |