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+<div class="section-level-extent" id="Conventions-Used-in-This-Manual">
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+<p>
+Next: <a href="Credits.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Credits</a>, Previous: <a href="Installation.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Installation</a>, Up: <a href="Introduction.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Introduction</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Request-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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+<hr>
+<h3 class="section" id="Conventions-Used-in-This-Manual-1">1.8 Conventions Used in This Manual</h3>
+
+<p>We apply the term &ldquo;groff&rdquo; to the language documented here, the GNU
+implementation of the overall system, the project that develops that
+system, and the command of that name. In the first sense, <code class="code">groff</code>
+is an extended dialect of the <code class="code">roff</code> language, for which many
+similar implementations exist.
+</p>
+<p>The <code class="code">roff</code> language features several major categories for which
+many items are predefined. Presentations of these items feature the
+form in which the item is most commonly used on the left, and, aligned
+to the right margin, the name of the category in brackets.
+</p>
+<dl class="first-deffn">
+<dt class="deffn" id="index-_005cn_005bexample_005d"><span class="category-def">Register: </span><span><strong class="def-name">\n[example]</strong><a class="copiable-link" href='#index-_005cn_005bexample_005d'> &para;</a></span></dt>
+<dd><p>The register &lsquo;<samp class="samp">example</samp>&rsquo; is one that that <code class="code">groff</code> <em class="emph">doesn&rsquo;t</em>
+predefine. You can create it yourself, though; see <a class="ref" href="Setting-Registers.html">Setting Registers</a>.
+</p></dd></dl>
+
+<p>To make this document useful as a reference and not merely amiable
+bedtime reading, we tend to present these syntax items in exhaustive
+detail when they arise. References to topics discussed later in the
+text are frequent; skip material you don&rsquo;t understand yet.
+</p>
+<p>We use Texinfo&rsquo;s &ldquo;result&rdquo; (&rArr;) and error&rarr; notations to
+present output written to the standard output and standard error
+streams, respectively. Diagnostic messages from the GNU <code class="code">troff</code>
+formatter and other programs are examples of the latter, but the
+formatter can also be directed to write user-specified messages to the
+standard error stream. The notation then serves to identify the
+output stream and does not necessarily mean that an error has
+occurred.<a class="footnote" id="DOCF2" href="groff.html_fot.html#FOOT2"><sup>2</sup></a>
+</p>
+<div class="example">
+<div class="group"><pre class="example-preformatted">$ echo &quot;Twelve o'clock and&quot; | groff -Tascii | sed '/^$/d'
+ &rArr; Twelve o'clock and
+$ echo '.tm all is well.' | groff &gt; /dev/null
+ error&rarr; all is well.
+</pre></div></div>
+
+<p>Sometimes we use &rArr; somewhat abstractly to represent formatted
+text that you will need to use a PostScript or PDF viewer program (or a
+printer) to observe. While arguably an abuse of notation, we think this
+preferable to requiring the reader to understand the syntax of these
+page description languages.
+</p>
+<p>We also present diagnostic messages in an abbreviated form, often
+omitting the name of the program issuing them, the input file name, and
+line number or other positional information when such data do not serve
+to illuminate the topic under discussion.
+</p>
+<p>Most examples are of <code class="code">roff</code> language input that would be placed in
+a text file. Occasionally, we start an example with a &lsquo;<samp class="samp">$</samp>&rsquo;
+character to indicate a shell prompt, as seen above.
+</p>
+<p>You are encouraged to try the examples yourself, and to alter them to
+better learn <code class="code">groff</code>&rsquo;s behavior. Our examples frequently need to
+direct the formatter to set a line length (with &lsquo;<samp class="samp">.ll</samp>&rsquo;) that will
+fit within the page margins of this manual. We mention this so that you
+know why it is there before we discuss the <code class="code">ll</code> request
+formally.<a class="footnote" id="DOCF3" href="groff.html_fot.html#FOOT3"><sup>3</sup></a>
+</p>
+
+
+</div>
+<hr>
+<div class="nav-panel">
+<p>
+Next: <a href="Credits.html">Credits</a>, Previous: <a href="Installation.html">Installation</a>, Up: <a href="Introduction.html">Introduction</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Request-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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