groff_hdtbl(7) — Linux manual page

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groff_hdtbl(7)      Miscellaneous Information Manual      groff_hdtbl(7)

Name         top

       groff_hdtbl - Heidelberger table macros for GNU roff

Description         top

       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.

Usage         top

       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.

Macros and arguments         top

       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’).

hdtbl customization

       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.

Bugs and suggestions         top

       Please send your comments to the groff mailing list ⟨groff@gnu
       .org⟩ or directly to the author.

Authors         top

       The hdtbl macro package was written by Joachim Walsdorff ⟨Joachim
       .Walsdorff@urz.uni-heidelberg.de⟩.

See also         top

       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.

COLOPHON         top

       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 2023-12-22.  (At
       that time, the date of the most recent commit that was found in
       the repository was 2023-12-08.)  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
       man-pages@man7.org

groff 1.23.0.453-330f9-d... 22 December 2023              groff_hdtbl(7)