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<h3 class="section" id="Conventions-Used-in-This-Manual-1">1.8 Conventions Used in This Manual</h3>
<p>We apply the term “groff” 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.
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<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'> ¶</a></span></dt>
<dd><p>The register ‘<samp class="samp">example</samp>’ is one that that <code class="code">groff</code> <em class="emph">doesn’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’t understand yet.
</p>
<p>We use Texinfo’s “result” (⇒) and error→ 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 "Twelve o'clock and" | groff -Tascii | sed '/^$/d'
⇒ Twelve o'clock and
$ echo '.tm all is well.' | groff > /dev/null
error→ all is well.
</pre></div></div>
<p>Sometimes we use ⇒ 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 ‘<samp class="samp">$</samp>’
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>’s behavior. Our examples frequently need to
direct the formatter to set a line length (with ‘<samp class="samp">.ll</samp>’) 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>
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