MANDOC_CHAR(7)

๐Ÿ“ฆ
version 1.14.6 ยท 4 versions
, in alpine 3.22, alpine 3.23, alpine 3.24, arch rolling, debian trixie, epel 10, epel 9, fedora 43, fedora 44, nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable, opensuse-leap 16.0, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

๐ŸŽ€ MANDOC_CHAR(7) ๐ŸŽ€

โœจ NAME โœจ

mandoc_char โ€” mandoc special characters ๐Ÿ’–

๐Ÿ’… DESCRIPTION ๐Ÿ’…

okay bestie, so this page is literally the guide to all the roff(7) escape sequences that mandoc(1) accepts to represent special characters in mdoc(7) and man(7) documents. no cap. โœจ

The rendering depends on the mandoc(1) output mode; you can inspect it by calling man(1) on the mandoc_char manual page with different -T arguments. In ASCII output, the rendering of some characters may be hard to interpret for the reader. Many are rendered as descriptive strings like "<integral>", "<degree>", or "<Gamma>", which may look ugly, and many are replaced by similar ASCII characters. In particular, accented characters are usually shown without the accent. For that reason, try to avoid using any of the special characters documented here except those discussed in the โ€œDESCRIPTIONโ€, unless they are essential for explaining the subject matter at hand, for example when documenting complicated mathematical functions. ๐Ÿ˜ญ

In particular, in English manual pages, do not use special-character escape sequences to represent national language characters in author names; instead, provide ASCII transcriptions of the names. periodt. ๐Ÿ’…

๐ŸŒˆ Dashes and Hyphens ๐ŸŒˆ

In typography there are different types of dashes of various width: the hyphen (โ€), the en-dash (โ€“), the em-dash (โ€”), and the mathematical minus sign (โˆ’). โœจ

Hyphens are used for adjectives; to separate the two parts of a compound word; or to separate a word across two successive lines of text. The hyphen does not need to be escaped:

blue-eyed
lorry-driver

The en-dash is used to separate the two elements of a range, or can be used the same way as an em-dash. It should be written as \(en:

pp. 95\(en97.
Go away \(en or else!

The em-dash can be used to show an interruption or can be used the same way as colons, semi-colons, or parentheses. It should be written as \(em:

Three things \(em apples, oranges, and bananas.
This is not that \(em rather, this is that.

In roff(7) documents, the minus sign is normally written as \-. In manual pages, some style guides recommend to also use \- if an ASCII 0x2d โ€œhyphen-minusโ€ output glyph that can be copied and pasted is desired in output modes supporting it, for example in -T utf8 and -T html. But currently, no practically relevant manual page formatter requires that subtlety, so in manual pages, it is sufficient to write plain - to represent hyphen, minus, and hyphen-minus. ๐Ÿซถ

If a word on a text input line contains a hyphen, a formatter may decide to insert an output line break after the hyphen if that helps filling the current output line, but the whole word would overflow the line. If it is important that the word is not broken across lines in this way, a zero-width space (\&) can be inserted before or after the hyphen. While mandoc(1) never breaks the output line after hyphens adjacent to a zero-width space, after any of the other dash- or hyphen-like characters represented by escape sequences, or after hyphens inside words in macro arguments, other software may not respect these rules and may break the line even in such cases. ๐Ÿ˜ญ

Some roff(7) implementations contains dictionaries allowing to break the line at syllable boundaries even inside words that contain no hyphens. Such automatic hyphenation is not supported by mandoc(1), which only breaks the line at whitespace, and inside words only after existing hyphens. ๐Ÿ’€

๐Ÿงš Spaces ๐Ÿงš

To separate words in normal text, for indenting and alignment in literal context, and when none of the following special cases apply, just use the normal space character ( ). ๐ŸŒธ

When filling text, output lines may be broken between words, i.e. at space characters. To prevent a line break between two particular words, use the unpaddable non-breaking space escape sequence (\ ) instead of the normal space character. For example, the input string โ€œnumber\ 1โ€ will be kept together as โ€œnumber 1โ€ on the same output line. โœจ

On request and macro lines, the normal space character serves as an argument delimiter. To include whitespace into arguments, quoting is usually the best choice; see the MACRO SYNTAX section in roff(7). In some cases, using the non-breaking space escape sequence (\ ) may be preferable.

To escape macro names and to protect whitespace at the end of input lines, the zero-width space (\&) is often useful. For example, in mdoc(7), a normal space character can be displayed in single quotes in either of the following ways:

.Sq " "
.Sq \ \&

๐ŸŽ€ Quotes ๐ŸŽ€

On request and macro lines, the double-quote character (") is handled specially to allow quoting. One way to prevent this special handling is by using the \(dq escape sequence. ๐Ÿ’…

Note that on text lines, literal double-quote characters can be used verbatim. All other quote-like characters can be used verbatim as well, even on request and macro lines. ๐Ÿฆ‹

๐Ÿ’– Accents ๐Ÿ’–

In output modes supporting such special output characters, for example -T pdf, and sometimes less consistently in -T utf8, some roff(7) formatters convert the following ASCII input characters to the following Unicode special output characters:

`       U+2018    left single quotation mark
'       U+2019    right single quotation mark
~       U+02DC    small tilde
^       U+02C6    modifier letter circumflex

In prose, this automatic substitution is often desirable; but when these characters have to be displayed as plain ASCII characters, for example in source code samples, they require escaping to render as follows:

\(ga    U+0060    grave accent
\(aq    U+0027    apostrophe
\(ti    U+007E    tilde
\(ha    U+005E    circumflex accent

โญ Periods โญ

The period (.) is handled specially at the beginning of an input line, where it introduces a roff(7) request or a macro, and when appearing alone as a macro argument in mdoc(7). In such situations, prepend a zero-width space (\&.) to make it behave like normal text. โœจ

Do not use the \. escape sequence. It does not prevent special handling of the period. ๐Ÿ’€

๐Ÿฆ‹ Backslashes ๐Ÿฆ‹

To include a literal backslash (\) into the output, use the (\e) escape sequence. ๐Ÿ’œ

Note that doubling it (\\) is not the right way to output a backslash. Because mandoc(1) does not implement full roff(7) functionality, it may work with mandoc(1), but it may have weird effects on complete roff(7) implementations. ๐Ÿ˜ญ

๐Ÿ”ฅ SPECIAL CHARACTERS ๐Ÿ”ฅ

Special characters are encoded as \X (for a one-character escape), \(XX (two-character), and \[N] (N-character). For details, see the Special Characters subsection of the roff(7) manual. โœจ

Spaces, non-breaking unless stated otherwise:

  • \ โ€” unpaddable space
  • \~ โ€” paddable space
  • \0 โ€” digit-width space
  • \| โ€” one-sixth \(em narrow space, zero width in nroff mode
  • \^ โ€” one-twelfth \(em half-narrow space, zero width in nroff
  • \& โ€” zero-width space
  • \) โ€” zero-width space transparent to end-of-sentence detection
  • \% โ€” zero-width space allowing hyphenation
  • \: โ€” zero-width space allowing line break

Lines:

  • \(ba โ†’ | โ€” bar
  • \(br โ†’ โ”‚ โ€” box rule
  • \(ul โ†’ _ โ€” underscore
  • \(ru โ†’ _ โ€” underscore (width 0.5m)
  • \(rn โ†’ โ€พ โ€” overline
  • \(bb โ†’ ยฆ โ€” broken bar
  • \(sl โ†’ / โ€” forward slash
  • \(rs โ†’ \ โ€” backward slash

Text markers:

  • \(ci โ†’ โ—‹ โ€” circle
  • \(bu โ†’ โ€ข โ€” bullet
  • \(dd โ†’ โ€ก โ€” double dagger
  • \(dg โ†’ โ€  โ€” dagger
  • \(lz โ†’ โ—Š โ€” lozenge
  • \(sq โ†’ โ–ก โ€” white square
  • \(ps โ†’ ยถ โ€” paragraph
  • \(sc โ†’ ยง โ€” section
  • \(lh โ†’ โ˜œ โ€” left hand
  • \(rh โ†’ โ˜ž โ€” right hand
  • \(at โ†’ @ โ€” at
  • \(sh โ†’ # โ€” hash (pound)
  • \(CR โ†’ โ†ต โ€” carriage return
  • \(OK โ†’ โœ“ โ€” check mark
  • \(CL โ†’ โ™ฃ โ€” club suit
  • \(SP โ†’ โ™  โ€” spade suit
  • \(HE โ†’ โ™ฅ โ€” heart suit
  • \(DI โ†’ โ™ฆ โ€” diamond suit
  • \(co โ†’ ยฉ โ€” copyright
  • \(rg โ†’ ยฎ โ€” registered
  • \(tm โ†’ โ„ข โ€” trademarked

Punctuation:

  • \(em โ†’ โ€” โ€” em-dash
  • \(en โ†’ โ€“ โ€” en-dash
  • \(hy โ†’ โ€ โ€” hyphen
  • \e โ†’ \ โ€” back-slash
  • \. โ†’ . โ€” period
  • \(r! โ†’ ยก โ€” upside-down exclamation
  • \(r? โ†’ ยฟ โ€” upside-down question

Quotes:

  • \(Bq โ†’ โ€ž โ€” right low double-quote
  • \(bq โ†’ โ€š โ€” right low single-quote
  • \(lq โ†’ โ€œ โ€” left double-quote
  • \(rq โ†’ โ€ โ€” right double-quote
  • \(oq โ†’ โ€˜ โ€” left single-quote
  • \(cq โ†’ โ€™ โ€” right single-quote
  • \(aq โ†’ ' โ€” apostrophe quote (ASCII character)
  • \(dq โ†’ " โ€” double quote (ASCII character)
  • \(Fo โ†’ ยซ โ€” left guillemet
  • \(Fc โ†’ ยป โ€” right guillemet
  • \(fo โ†’ โ€น โ€” left single guillemet
  • \(fc โ†’ โ€บ โ€” right single guillemet

Brackets ๐Ÿ’…

okay so brackets, braces, and angle things โ€” here's the full roster, bestie. Input, rendered, description. No cap.

  • \(lB โ†’ [ โ€” left bracket
  • \(rB โ†’ ] โ€” right bracket
  • \(lC โ†’ { โ€” left brace
  • \(rC โ†’ } โ€” right brace
  • \(la โ†’ โŸจ โ€” left angle
  • \(ra โ†’ โŸฉ โ€” right angle
  • \(bv โ†’ โŽช โ€” brace extension (special font)
  • \[braceex] โ†’ โŽช โ€” brace extension
  • \[bracketlefttp] โ†’ โŽก โ€” top-left hooked bracket
  • \[bracketleftbt] โ†’ โŽฃ โ€” bottom-left hooked bracket
  • \[bracketleftex] โ†’ โŽข โ€” left hooked bracket extension
  • \[bracketrighttp] โ†’ โŽค โ€” top-right hooked bracket
  • \[bracketrightbt] โ†’ โŽฆ โ€” bottom-right hooked bracket
  • \[bracketrightex] โ†’ โŽฅ โ€” right hooked bracket extension
  • \(lt โ†’ โŽง โ€” top-left hooked brace
  • \[bracelefttp] โ†’ โŽง โ€” top-left hooked brace
  • \(lk โ†’ โŽจ โ€” mid-left hooked brace
  • \[braceleftmid] โ†’ โŽจ โ€” mid-left hooked brace
  • \(lb โ†’ โŽฉ โ€” bottom-left hooked brace
  • \[braceleftbt] โ†’ โŽฉ โ€” bottom-left hooked brace
  • \[braceleftex] โ†’ โŽช โ€” left hooked brace extension
  • \(rt โ†’ โŽซ โ€” top-left hooked brace
  • \[bracerighttp] โ†’ โŽซ โ€” top-right hooked brace
  • \(rk โ†’ โŽฌ โ€” mid-right hooked brace
  • \[bracerightmid] โ†’ โŽฌ โ€” mid-right hooked brace
  • \(rb โ†’ โŽญ โ€” bottom-right hooked brace
  • \[bracerightbt] โ†’ โŽญ โ€” bottom-right hooked brace
  • \[bracerightex] โ†’ โŽช โ€” right hooked brace extension
  • \[parenlefttp] โ†’ โŽ› โ€” top-left hooked parenthesis
  • \[parenleftbt] โ†’ โŽ โ€” bottom-left hooked parenthesis
  • \[parenleftex] โ†’ โŽœ โ€” left hooked parenthesis extension
  • \[parenrighttp] โ†’ โŽž โ€” top-right hooked parenthesis
  • \[parenrightbt] โ†’ โŽ  โ€” bottom-right hooked parenthesis
  • \[parenrightex] โ†’ โŽŸ โ€” right hooked parenthesis extension

Arrows ๐Ÿน

direction is everything, periodt.

  • \(<- โ†’ โ† โ€” left arrow
  • \(-> โ†’ โ†’ โ€” right arrow
  • \(<> โ†’ โ†” โ€” left-right arrow
  • \(da โ†’ โ†“ โ€” down arrow
  • \(ua โ†’ โ†‘ โ€” up arrow
  • \(va โ†’ โ†• โ€” up-down arrow
  • \(lA โ†’ โ‡ โ€” left double-arrow
  • \(rA โ†’ โ‡’ โ€” right double-arrow
  • \(hA โ†’ โ‡” โ€” left-right double-arrow
  • \(uA โ†’ โ‡‘ โ€” up double-arrow
  • \(dA โ†’ โ‡“ โ€” down double-arrow
  • \(vA โ†’ โ‡• โ€” up-down double-arrow
  • \(an โ†’ โŽฏ โ€” horizontal arrow extension

Logical ๐Ÿง 

logic but make it typography, iykyk.

  • \(AN โ†’ โˆง โ€” logical and
  • \(OR โ†’ โˆจ โ€” logical or
  • \[tno] โ†’ ยฌ โ€” logical not (text font)
  • \(no โ†’ ยฌ โ€” logical not (special font)
  • \(te โ†’ โˆƒ โ€” existential quantifier
  • \(fa โ†’ โˆ€ โ€” universal quantifier
  • \(st โ†’ โˆ‹ โ€” such that
  • \(tf โ†’ โˆด โ€” therefore
  • \(3d โ†’ โˆด โ€” therefore
  • \(or โ†’ | โ€” bitwise or

Mathematical โž—

math girlies, this one's for you. all the operators, sets, and fancy fractions. slay.

  • \- โ†’ - โ€” minus (text font)
  • \(mi โ†’ โˆ’ โ€” minus (special font)
  • + โ†’ + โ€” plus (text font)
  • \(pl โ†’ + โ€” plus (special font)
  • \(-+ โ†’ โˆ“ โ€” minus-plus
  • \[t+-] โ†’ ยฑ โ€” plus-minus (text font)
  • \(+- โ†’ ยฑ โ€” plus-minus (special font)
  • \(pc โ†’ ยท โ€” center-dot
  • \[tmu] โ†’ ร— โ€” multiply (text font)
  • \(mu โ†’ ร— โ€” multiply (special font)
  • \(c* โ†’ โŠ— โ€” circle-multiply
  • \(c+ โ†’ โŠ• โ€” circle-plus
  • \[tdi] โ†’ รท โ€” divide (text font)
  • \(di โ†’ รท โ€” divide (special font)
  • \(f/ โ†’ โ„ โ€” fraction
  • \(** โ†’ โˆ— โ€” asterisk
  • \(<= โ†’ โ‰ค โ€” less-than-equal
  • \(>= โ†’ โ‰ฅ โ€” greater-than-equal
  • \(<< โ†’ โ‰ช โ€” much less
  • \(>> โ†’ โ‰ซ โ€” much greater
  • \(eq โ†’ = โ€” equal
  • \(!= โ†’ โ‰  โ€” not equal
  • \(== โ†’ โ‰ก โ€” equivalent
  • \(ne โ†’ โ‰ข โ€” not equivalent
  • \(ap โ†’ โˆผ โ€” tilde operator
  • \(|= โ†’ โ‰ƒ โ€” asymptotically equal
  • \(=~ โ†’ โ‰… โ€” approximately equal
  • \(~~ โ†’ โ‰ˆ โ€” almost equal
  • \(~= โ†’ โ‰ˆ โ€” almost equal
  • \(pt โ†’ โˆ โ€” proportionate
  • \(es โ†’ โˆ… โ€” empty set
  • \(mo โ†’ โˆˆ โ€” element
  • \(nm โ†’ โˆ‰ โ€” not element
  • \(sb โ†’ โŠ‚ โ€” proper subset
  • \(nb โ†’ โŠ„ โ€” not subset
  • \(sp โ†’ โŠƒ โ€” proper superset
  • \(nc โ†’ โŠ… โ€” not superset
  • \(ib โ†’ โŠ† โ€” reflexive subset
  • \(ip โ†’ โŠ‡ โ€” reflexive superset
  • \(ca โ†’ โˆฉ โ€” intersection
  • \(cu โ†’ โˆช โ€” union
  • \(/_ โ†’ โˆ  โ€” angle
  • \(pp โ†’ โŠฅ โ€” perpendicular
  • \(is โ†’ โˆซ โ€” integral
  • \[integral] โ†’ โˆซ โ€” integral
  • \[sum] โ†’ โˆ‘ โ€” summation
  • \[product] โ†’ โˆ โ€” product
  • \[coproduct] โ†’ โˆ โ€” coproduct
  • \(gr โ†’ โˆ‡ โ€” gradient
  • \(sr โ†’ โˆš โ€” square root
  • \[sqrt] โ†’ โˆš โ€” square root
  • \(lc โ†’ โŒˆ โ€” left-ceiling
  • \(rc โ†’ โŒ‰ โ€” right-ceiling
  • \(lf โ†’ โŒŠ โ€” left-floor
  • \(rf โ†’ โŒ‹ โ€” right-floor
  • \(if โ†’ โˆž โ€” infinity
  • \(Ah โ†’ โ„ต โ€” aleph
  • \(Im โ†’ โ„‘ โ€” imaginary
  • \(Re โ†’ โ„œ โ€” real
  • \(wp โ†’ โ„˜ โ€” Weierstrass p
  • \(pd โ†’ โˆ‚ โ€” partial differential
  • \(-h โ†’ โ„ โ€” Planck constant over 2ฯ€
  • \[hbar] โ†’ โ„ โ€” Planck constant over 2ฯ€
  • \(12 โ†’ ยฝ โ€” one-half
  • \(14 โ†’ ยผ โ€” one-fourth
  • \(34 โ†’ ยพ โ€” three-fourths
  • \(18 โ†’ โ…› โ€” one-eighth
  • \(38 โ†’ โ…œ โ€” three-eighths
  • \(58 โ†’ โ… โ€” five-eighths
  • \(78 โ†’ โ…ž โ€” seven-eighths
  • \(S1 โ†’ ยน โ€” superscript 1
  • \(S2 โ†’ ยฒ โ€” superscript 2
  • \(S3 โ†’ ยณ โ€” superscript 3

Ligatures โœจ

when two letters are so close they become one, it's giving soulmates.

  • \(ff โ†’ ff โ€” ff ligature
  • \(fi โ†’ fi โ€” fi ligature
  • \(fl โ†’ fl โ€” fl ligature
  • \(Fi โ†’ ffi โ€” ffi ligature
  • \(Fl โ†’ ffl โ€” ffl ligature
  • \(AE โ†’ ร† โ€” AE
  • \(ae โ†’ รฆ โ€” ae
  • \(OE โ†’ ล’ โ€” OE
  • \(oe โ†’ ล“ โ€” oe
  • \(ss โ†’ รŸ โ€” German eszett
  • \(IJ โ†’ ฤฒ โ€” IJ ligature
  • \(ij โ†’ ฤณ โ€” ij ligature

Accents ๐ŸŽ€

accents, for when you want to put a little hat on your letters.

  • \(a" โ†’ ห โ€” Hungarian umlaut
  • \(a- โ†’ ยฏ โ€” macron
  • \(a. โ†’ ห™ โ€” dotted
  • \(a^ โ†’ ^ โ€” circumflex
  • \(aa โ†’ ยด โ€” acute
  • \' โ†’ ยด โ€” acute
  • \(ga โ†’ ` โ€” grave
  • ** `\ ** โ†’ ` `` โ€” grave
  • \(ab โ†’ ห˜ โ€” breve
  • \(ac โ†’ ยธ โ€” cedilla
  • \(ad โ†’ ยจ โ€” dieresis
  • \(ah โ†’ ห‡ โ€” caron
  • \(ao โ†’ หš โ€” ring
  • \(a~ โ†’ ~ โ€” tilde
  • \(ho โ†’ ห› โ€” ogonek
  • \(ha โ†’ ^ โ€” hat (ASCII character)
  • \(ti โ†’ ~ โ€” tilde (ASCII character)

๐Ÿ’– Accented letters ๐Ÿ’–

okay bestie, these are the accented-letter escapes, and we're listing every single one because half a list is not the vibe ๐Ÿ’…

  • \('A โ†’ ร โ€” acute A
  • \('E โ†’ ร‰ โ€” acute E
  • \('I โ†’ ร โ€” acute I
  • \('O โ†’ ร“ โ€” acute O
  • \('U โ†’ รš โ€” acute U
  • \('Y โ†’ ร โ€” acute Y
  • \('a โ†’ รก โ€” acute a
  • \('e โ†’ รฉ โ€” acute e
  • \('i โ†’ รญ โ€” acute i
  • \('o โ†’ รณ โ€” acute o
  • \('u โ†’ รบ โ€” acute u
  • \('y โ†’ รฝ โ€” acute y
  • \(`A โ†’ ร€ โ€” grave A
  • \(`E โ†’ รˆ โ€” grave E
  • \(`I โ†’ รŒ โ€” grave I
  • \(`O โ†’ ร’ โ€” grave O
  • \(`U โ†’ ร™ โ€” grave U
  • \(`a โ†’ ร  โ€” grave a
  • \(`e โ†’ รจ โ€” grave e
  • \(`i โ†’ รฌ โ€” grave i
  • \(`o โ†’ รฌ โ€” grave o
  • \(`u โ†’ รน โ€” grave u
  • \(~A โ†’ รƒ โ€” tilde A
  • \(~N โ†’ ร‘ โ€” tilde N
  • \(~O โ†’ ร• โ€” tilde O
  • \(~a โ†’ รฃ โ€” tilde a
  • \(~n โ†’ รฑ โ€” tilde n
  • \(~o โ†’ รต โ€” tilde o
  • \(:A โ†’ ร„ โ€” dieresis A
  • \(:E โ†’ ร‹ โ€” dieresis E
  • \(:I โ†’ ร โ€” dieresis I
  • \(:O โ†’ ร– โ€” dieresis O
  • \(:U โ†’ รœ โ€” dieresis U
  • \(:a โ†’ รค โ€” dieresis a
  • \(:e โ†’ รซ โ€” dieresis e
  • \(:i โ†’ รฏ โ€” dieresis i
  • \(:o โ†’ รถ โ€” dieresis o
  • \(:u โ†’ รผ โ€” dieresis u
  • \(:y โ†’ รฟ โ€” dieresis y
  • \(^A โ†’ ร‚ โ€” circumflex A
  • \(^E โ†’ รŠ โ€” circumflex E
  • \(^I โ†’ รŽ โ€” circumflex I
  • \(^O โ†’ ร” โ€” circumflex O
  • \(^U โ†’ ร› โ€” circumflex U
  • \(^a โ†’ รข โ€” circumflex a
  • \(^e โ†’ รช โ€” circumflex e
  • \(^i โ†’ รฎ โ€” circumflex i
  • \(^o โ†’ รด โ€” circumflex o
  • \(^u โ†’ รป โ€” circumflex u
  • \(,C โ†’ ร‡ โ€” cedilla C
  • \(,c โ†’ รง โ€” cedilla c
  • \(/L โ†’ ล โ€” stroke L
  • \(/l โ†’ ล‚ โ€” stroke l
  • \(/O โ†’ ร˜ โ€” stroke O
  • \(/o โ†’ รธ โ€” stroke o
  • \(oA โ†’ ร… โ€” ring A
  • \(oa โ†’ รฅ โ€” ring a

๐ŸŒธ Special letters ๐ŸŒธ

these are the little letter besties that aren't just accent remixes, okay? ๐Ÿฆ‹

  • \(-D โ†’ ร โ€” Eth
  • \(Sd โ†’ รฐ โ€” eth
  • \(TP โ†’ รž โ€” Thorn
  • \(Tp โ†’ รพ โ€” thorn
  • \(.i โ†’ ฤฑ โ€” dotless i
  • \(.j โ†’ ศท โ€” dotless j

๐ŸŽ€ Currency ๐ŸŽ€

money moves only, bestie ๐Ÿ’ธโœจ

  • \(Do โ†’ $ โ€” dollar
  • \(ct โ†’ ยข โ€” cent
  • \(Eu โ†’ โ‚ฌ โ€” Euro symbol
  • \(eu โ†’ โ‚ฌ โ€” Euro symbol
  • \(Ye โ†’ ยฅ โ€” yen
  • \(Po โ†’ ยฃ โ€” pound
  • \(Cs โ†’ ยค โ€” Scandinavian
  • \(Fn โ†’ ฦ’ โ€” florin

๐Ÿงš Units ๐Ÿงš

for when you need to measure the vibe precisely ๐Ÿ“

  • \(de โ†’ ยฐ โ€” degree
  • \(%0 โ†’ โ€ฐ โ€” per-thousand
  • \(fm โ†’ โ€ฒ โ€” minute
  • \(sd โ†’ โ€ณ โ€” second
  • \(mc โ†’ ยต โ€” micro
  • \(Of โ†’ ยช โ€” Spanish female ordinal
  • \(Om โ†’ ยบ โ€” Spanish masculine ordinal

๐Ÿ”ฅ Greek letters ๐Ÿ”ฅ

the classics, the icons, the alphabet that ate ๐Ÿ‘‘

  • \(*A โ†’ ฮ‘ โ€” Alpha
  • \(*B โ†’ ฮ’ โ€” Beta
  • \(*G โ†’ ฮ“ โ€” Gamma
  • \(*D โ†’ ฮ” โ€” Delta
  • \(*E โ†’ ฮ• โ€” Epsilon
  • \(*Z โ†’ ฮ– โ€” Zeta
  • \(*Y โ†’ ฮ— โ€” Eta
  • \(*H โ†’ ฮ˜ โ€” Theta
  • \(*I โ†’ ฮ™ โ€” Iota
  • \(*K โ†’ ฮš โ€” Kappa
  • \(*L โ†’ ฮ› โ€” Lambda
  • \(*M โ†’ ฮœ โ€” Mu
  • \(*N โ†’ ฮ โ€” Nu
  • \(*C โ†’ ฮž โ€” Xi
  • \(*O โ†’ ฮŸ โ€” Omicron
  • \(*P โ†’ ฮ  โ€” Pi
  • \(*R โ†’ ฮก โ€” Rho
  • \(*S โ†’ ฮฃ โ€” Sigma
  • \(*T โ†’ ฮค โ€” Tau
  • \(*U โ†’ ฮฅ โ€” Upsilon
  • \(*F โ†’ ฮฆ โ€” Phi
  • \(*X โ†’ ฮง โ€” Chi
  • \(*Q โ†’ ฮจ โ€” Psi
  • \(*W โ†’ ฮฉ โ€” Omega
  • \(*a โ†’ ฮฑ โ€” alpha
  • \(*b โ†’ ฮฒ โ€” beta
  • \(*g โ†’ ฮณ โ€” gamma
  • \(*d โ†’ ฮด โ€” delta
  • \(*e โ†’ ฮต โ€” epsilon
  • \(*z โ†’ ฮถ โ€” zeta
  • \(*y โ†’ ฮท โ€” eta
  • \(*h โ†’ ฮธ โ€” theta
  • \(*i โ†’ ฮน โ€” iota
  • \(*k โ†’ ฮบ โ€” kappa
  • \(*l โ†’ ฮป โ€” lambda
  • \(*m โ†’ ฮผ โ€” mu
  • \(*n โ†’ ฮฝ โ€” nu
  • \(*c โ†’ ฮพ โ€” xi
  • \(*o โ†’ ฮฟ โ€” omicron
  • \(*p โ†’ ฯ€ โ€” pi
  • \(*r โ†’ ฯ โ€” rho
  • \(*s โ†’ ฯƒ โ€” sigma
  • \(*t โ†’ ฯ„ โ€” tau
  • \(*u โ†’ ฯ… โ€” upsilon
  • \(*f โ†’ ฯ• โ€” phi
  • \(*x โ†’ ฯ‡ โ€” chi
  • \(*q โ†’ ฯˆ โ€” psi
  • \(*w โ†’ ฯ‰ โ€” omega
  • \(+h โ†’ ฯ‘ โ€” theta variant
  • \(+f โ†’ ฯ† โ€” phi variant
  • \(+p โ†’ ฯ– โ€” pi variant
  • \(+e โ†’ ฯต โ€” epsilon variant
  • \(ts โ†’ ฯ‚ โ€” sigma terminal

๐Ÿ’œ PREDEFINED STRINGS ๐Ÿ’œ

Predefined strings are inherited from the macro packages of historical troff implementations. They are not recommended for use, as they differ across implementations. Manuals using these predefined strings are almost certainly not portable ๐Ÿ˜ญ

Their syntax is similar to special characters, using \*X (for a one-character escape), \*(XX (two-character), and \*[N] (N-character).

  • \*(Ba โ†’ | โ€” vertical bar
  • \*(Ne โ†’ โ‰  โ€” not equal
  • \*(Ge โ†’ โ‰ฅ โ€” greater-than-equal
  • \*(Le โ†’ โ‰ค โ€” less-than-equal
  • \*(Gt โ†’ > โ€” greater-than
  • \*(Lt โ†’ < โ€” less-than
  • \*(Pm โ†’ ยฑ โ€” plus-minus
  • \*(If โ†’ โˆž โ€” infinity
  • \*(Pi โ†’ ฯ€ โ€” pi
  • \*(Na โ†’ NaN โ€” NaN
  • \*(Am โ†’ & โ€” ampersand
  • \*R โ†’ (blank) โ€” restricted mark
  • \*(Tm โ†’ (blank) โ€” trade mark
  • \*q โ†’ " โ€” double-quote
  • \*(Rq โ†’ โ€ โ€” right-double-quote
  • \*(Lq โ†’ โ€œ โ€” left-double-quote
  • \*(lp โ†’ ( โ€” right-parenthesis
  • \*(rp โ†’ ) โ€” left-parenthesis
  • \*(lq โ†’ (blank) โ€” left double-quote
  • \*(rq โ†’ (blank) โ€” right double-quote
  • \*(ua โ†’ โ†‘ โ€” up arrow
  • \*(va โ†’ (blank) โ€” up-down arrow
  • \*(<= โ†’ โ‰ค โ€” less-than-equal
  • \*(>= โ†’ โ‰ฅ โ€” greater-than-equal
  • \*(aa โ†’ ยด โ€” acute
  • \*(ga โ†’ ` โ€” grave
  • \*(Px โ†’ POSIX โ€” POSIX standard name
  • \*(Ai โ†’ ANSI โ€” ANSI standard name

๐Ÿฆ‹ UNICODE CHARACTERS ๐Ÿฆ‹

The escape sequences

\[uXXXX] and \C'uXXXX'

are interpreted as Unicode codepoints. The codepoint must be in the range above U+0080 and less than U+10FFFF. For compatibility, the hexadecimal digits โ€˜Aโ€™ to โ€˜Fโ€™ must be given as uppercase characters, and points must be zero-padded to four characters; if greater than four characters, no zero padding is allowed. Unicode surrogates are not allowed.

๐Ÿ”ฅ NUMBERED CHARACTERS ๐Ÿ”ฅ

For backward compatibility with existing manuals, mandoc(1) also supports the

\N'number' and \[charnumber]

escape sequences, inserting the character number from the current character set into the output. Of course, this is inherently non-portable and is already marked as deprecated in the Heirloom roff manual; on top of that, the second form is a GNU extension. For example, do not use \N'34' or \[char34], use \(dq, or even the plain โ€˜"โ€™ character where possible.

๐ŸŒˆ COMPATIBILITY ๐ŸŒˆ

This section documents compatibility between mandoc and other troff implementations, at this time limited to GNU troff ("groff").

  • The \N'' escape sequence is limited to printable characters; in groff, it accepts arbitrary character numbers.
  • In -Tascii, the \(ss, \(nm, \(nb, \(nc, \(ib, \(ip, \(pp, \[sum], \[product], \[coproduct], \(gr, \(-h, and \(a. special characters render differently between mandoc and groff.
  • In -Thtml, the \(~=, \(nb, and \(nc special characters render differently between mandoc and groff.
  • The -Tps and -Tpdf modes format like -Tascii instead of rendering glyphs as in groff.
  • The \[radicalex], \[sqrtex], and \(ru special characters have been omitted from mandoc either because they are poorly documented or they have no known representation.

๐Ÿ‘‘ SEE ALSO ๐Ÿ‘‘

mandoc(1), man(7), mdoc(7), roff(7)

๐Ÿ’œ AUTHORS ๐Ÿ’œ

The mandoc_char manual page was written by Kristaps Dzonsons <kristaps@bsd.lv>.

๐ŸŽ€ CAVEATS ๐ŸŽ€

The predefined string โ€˜\*(Baโ€™ mimics the behaviour of the โ€˜|โ€™ character in mdoc(7); thus, if you wish to render a vertical bar with no side effects, use the โ€˜\(baโ€™ escape.

and that's the whole vibe check, bestie ๐Ÿ’… this page came from Debian, dated October 31, 2020, and it's literally MANDOC_CHAR(7) ๐Ÿฆ‹โœจ

๐Ÿ“ฆ where this page comes from