Groff Cheatsheet

The helpful GNU troff cheatsheet along with examples.

---

Index

• General
• Text Formatting
• Paragraph Formatting
• Headings
• Pre Processing
• Custom Macros
• Graphics
• Configuring Paper Size
• Examples
  • Headings
  • Table of Contents
  • Custom Macros
  • Single Column Writeup
  • Research Paper Samples
  • Preprocessors
    • Tables
    • Inserting Photos
    • Citations
    • Equations

---

General

Command	Functionality
.RP [no]	Prints cover page on its own. Can be avoided with .RP no
.TL	Title of the document
.AU	Author Name
.AI	Author Institution
.AB [no] and .AE block	Abstract beginning and end blocks. .AB no ensures the abstract keyword is silenced
.DA [XXX]	Current date on title page and footers
.ND [XXX]	Current date only on the title page
.1C	1 columned layout
.2C	2 columned layout
.MC [WIDTH[GUTTER]]	Multiple column layout (by default 2 with no args)
.XS page_num and .XE	Table of contents block
.XA page_num	Entry in the table of contents block
.PX	Print a manually-generated table of contents without resetting the page number.

---

Text Formatting

Command	Functionality
.B	Bold
.I	Italics
.BI	Bold and Italics
.P1	Prints the header on page 1. The default is to suppress the header.
.BX	Box
.UL	Underline
.LG	Prints all text following in larger type (2 points larger than the current point size)
.SM	Prints all text following in smaller type (2 points smaller than the current point size)
.NL	Prints all text following in the normal point size
.R	Sets its first argument in roman (or regular) type. It operates similarly to the B macro otherwise.
.CW	Sets its first argument in italic type. It operates similarly to the B macro otherwise.

---

Paragraph Formatting

Command	Functionality
.PP	Standard paragraph
.QP	Quoted paragraph
.XP	The XP macro produces an exdented paragraph. The first line of the paragraph begins at the left margin, and subsequent lines are indented (the opposite of PP).
.RS and .RE	Start and end a section of indented text, respectively. The PI register controls the amount of indent.
.IP	List points. Use .IP \(bu [width] for bullet points with given width. Use .IP [number] for numbered points.
.TA	Tabbing

---

Headings

Command	Functionality
.NH xxx	Numbered heading where numbers specify levels of depth
.SH xxx	Section heading (un-numbered)
.LH	Left header
.CH	Center header
.RH	Right header
.LF	Left footer
.CF	Center footer
.RF	Right footer
.OH	Headers for odd pages. eg: .OH 'left'center'right'
.EH	Headers for even pages.

---

Pre Processing

Command	Functionality
.TS [H] and .TE	Denotes a table, to be processed by the tbl preprocessor. The optional H argument instructs groff to create a running header with the information up to the TH macro.
.PS and .PE	Denotes a graphic, to be processed by the pic preprocessor. You can create a pic file by hand, using the AT&T pic manual available on the Web as a reference, or by using a graphics program such as xfig.
.EQ [align] and .EN	Denotes an equation, to be processed by the eqn preprocessor. The optional align argument can be C, L, or I to center (the default), left-justify, or indent the equation.
.[ and .]	References and citations block, to be processed by the refer preprocessor.

---

Custom Macros

Command	Functionality
.de and ..	You can define macros between this block. They can then be sourced by the same file as well as other files
.so filename	Source macros from filename

---

Graphics

Command	Functionality
.PSPIC -[L/R/C/I n] [width[Height]] filename.eps	Insert a post script image into groff.
.PDFPIC -[L/R/C/I n] [width[Height]] filename.eps	Insert a PDF image into groff.

---

Configuring Paper Size

You can configure your virtual paper size using groff postprocessor that is built in. -P is used to pass in arguments to the posst processor:

groff -Tpdf -P-pa4 -P-l -ms file.ms > file.pdf

The command above takes an A4 sized virtual paper in landscape mode. Other valid formats are A, B, D sized papers along with letters, statements, ledgers and tabloids. Full reference is available in the DESC section of the groff_font man page.