Info Catalog groff: Line Control groff: gtroff Reference groff: Page Control

groff: Page Layout

 
 5.15 Page Layout
 ================
 
 'gtroff' provides some very primitive operations for controlling page
 layout.
 
  -- Request: .pl [length]
  -- Request: .pl +length
  -- Request: .pl -length
  -- Register: \n[.p]
      Set the "page length" to LENGTH (or increment or decrement the
      current value by LENGTH).  This is the length of the physical
      output page.  The default scaling indicator is 'v'.
 
      The current setting can be found in the read-only number register
      '.p'.
 
      Note that this only specifies the size of the page, not the top and
      bottom margins.  Those are not set by 'gtroff' directly.  ⇒
      Traps, for further information on how to do this.
 
      Negative 'pl' values are possible also, but not very useful: No
      trap is sprung, and each line is output on a single page (thus
      suppressing all vertical spacing).
 
      If no argument or an invalid argument is given, 'pl' sets the page
      length to 11i.
 
    'gtroff' provides several operations that help in setting up top and
 bottom titles (or headers and footers).
 
  -- Request: .tl 'left'center'right'
      Print a "title line".  It consists of three parts: a left justified
      portion, a centered portion, and a right justified portion.  The
      argument separator ''' can be replaced with any character not
      occurring in the title line.  The '%' character is replaced with
      the current page number.  This character can be changed with the
      'pc' request (see below).
 
      Without argument, 'tl' is ignored.
 
      Some notes:
 
         * The line length set by the 'll' request is not honoured by
           'tl'; use the 'lt' request (described below) instead, to
           control line length for text set by 'tl'.
 
         * A title line is not restricted to the top or bottom of a page.
 
         * 'tl' prints the title line immediately, ignoring a partially
           filled line (which stays untouched).
 
         * It is not an error to omit closing delimiters.  For example,
           '.tl /foo' is equivalent to '.tl /foo///': It prints a title
           line with the left justified word 'foo'; the centered and
           right justified parts are empty.
 
         * 'tl' accepts the same parameter delimiting characters as the
           '\A' escape; see ⇒Escapes.
 
  -- Request: .lt [length]
  -- Request: .lt +length
  -- Request: .lt -length
  -- Register: \n[.lt]
      The title line is printed using its own line length, which is
      specified (or incremented or decremented) with the 'lt' request.
      Initially, the title line length is set to 6.5i.  If a negative
      line length is specified (which is not allowed), 'gtroff' emits a
      warning of type 'range' and sets the title line length to zero.
      The default scaling indicator is 'm'.  If 'lt' is called without an
      argument, the title length is reset to the previous value before
      the last call to 'lt'.
 
      The current setting of this is available in the '.lt' read-only
      number register; it is associated with the current environment
      (⇒Environments).
 
  -- Request: .pn page
  -- Request: .pn +page
  -- Request: .pn -page
  -- Register: \n[.pn]
      Change (increase or decrease) the page number of the _next_ page.
      The only argument is the page number; the request is ignored
      without a parameter.
 
      The read-only number register '.pn' contains the number of the next
      page: either the value set by a 'pn' request, or the number of the
      current page plus 1.
 
  -- Request: .pc [char]
      Change the page number character (used by the 'tl' request) to a
      different character.  With no argument, this mechanism is disabled.
      Note that this doesn't affect the number register '%'.
 
    ⇒Traps.
 

Info Catalog groff: Line Control groff: gtroff Reference groff: Page Control