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<div class="subsubsection-level-extent" id="Simple-Commands">
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<p>
Next: <a href="Graphics-Commands.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Graphics Commands</a>, Previous: <a href="Comment-Command.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Comment Command</a>, Up: <a href="Command-Reference.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Command Reference</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>
<h4 class="subsubsection" id="Simple-Commands-1">6.1.2.2 Simple Commands</h4>

<p>The commands in this subsection have a command code consisting of a
single character, taking a fixed number of arguments.  Most of them are
commands for positioning and text writing.  These commands are tolerant
of whitespace.  Optionally, syntactical space can be inserted before,
after, and between the command letter and its arguments.  All of these
commands are stackable; i.e., they can be preceded by other simple
commands or followed by arbitrary other commands on the same line.  A
separating syntactical space is necessary only when two integer
arguments would clash or if the preceding argument ends with a string
argument.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><code class="code">C <var class="var">id</var>&lsaquo;<span class="r">whitespace</span>&rsaquo;</code></dt>
<dd><p>Typeset the glyph of the special character <var class="var">id</var>.  Trailing
syntactical space is necessary to allow special character names of
arbitrary length.  The drawing position is not advanced.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">c <var class="var">g</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Typeset the glyph of the ordinary character&nbsp;<var class="var">c</var>.  The drawing
position is not advanced.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">f <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Select the font mounted at position&nbsp;<var class="var">n</var>.  <var class="var">n</var>&nbsp;cannot
be negative.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">H <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Horizontally move the drawing position to <var class="var">n</var>&nbsp;basic units from
the left edge of the page.  <var class="var">n</var>&nbsp;cannot be negative.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">h <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Move the drawing position right <var class="var">n</var> basic units.  <abbr class="acronym">AT&amp;T</abbr>
<code class="code">troff</code> allowed negative <var class="var">n</var>; GNU <code class="code">troff</code> does not produce
such values, but <code class="code">groff</code>&rsquo;s output driver library handles them.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">m <var class="var">color-scheme</var> <span class="r">[</span><var class="var">component</var> &hellip;<span class="r">]</span></code></dt>
<dd><p>Select the stroke color using the <var class="var">component</var>s in the color space
<var class="var">scheme</var>.  Each <var class="var">component</var> is an integer between 0 and 65535.
The quantity of components and their meanings vary with each
<var class="var">scheme</var>.  This command is a <code class="code">groff</code> extension.
</p>
<dl class="table">
<dt><code class="code">mc <var class="var">cyan</var> <var class="var">magenta</var> <var class="var">yellow</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Use the CMY color scheme with components cyan, magenta, and yellow.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">md</code></dt>
<dd><p>Use the default color (no components; black in most cases).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">mg <var class="var">gray</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Use a grayscale color scheme with a component ranging between 0 (black)
and 65535 (white).
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">mk <var class="var">cyan</var> <var class="var">magenta</var> <var class="var">yellow</var> <var class="var">black</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Use the CMYK color scheme with components cyan, magenta, yellow, and
black.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">mr <var class="var">red</var> <var class="var">green</var> <var class="var">blue</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Use the RGB color scheme with components red, green, and blue.
</p></dd>
</dl>

</dd>
<dt><code class="code">N <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Typeset the glyph with index&nbsp;<var class="var">n</var> in the current font.
<var class="var">n</var>&nbsp;is normally a non-negative integer.  The drawing position
is not advanced.  The <code class="code">html</code> and <code class="code">xhtml</code> devices use this
command with negative&nbsp;<var class="var">n</var> to produce unbreakable space; the
absolute value of <var class="var">n</var> is taken and interpreted in basic units.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">n <var class="var">b</var> <var class="var">a</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Indicate a break.  No action is performed; the command is present to
make the output more easily parsed.  The integers <var class="var">b</var>
and&nbsp;<var class="var">a</var> describe the vertical space amounts before and after
the break, respectively.  GNU <code class="code">troff</code> issues this command but
<code class="code">groff</code>&rsquo;s output driver library ignores it.  See <code class="code">v</code> and
<code class="code">V</code> below.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">p <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Begin a new page, setting its number to&nbsp;<var class="var">n</var>.  Each page is
independent, even from those using the same number.  The vertical
drawing position is set to&nbsp;0.  All positioning, writing, and
drawing commands are interpreted in the context of a page, so a
<code class="code">p</code>&nbsp;command must precede them.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">s <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Set type size to <var class="var">n</var> scaled points (unit&nbsp;<code class="code">z</code> in GNU
<code class="code">troff</code>.
<abbr class="acronym">AT&amp;T</abbr> <code class="code">troff</code> used unscaled points <code class="code">p</code> instead;
see <a class="ref" href="Output-Language-Compatibility.html">Output Language Compatibility</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">t <var class="var">xyz</var>&lsaquo;<span class="r">whitespace</span>&rsaquo;</code></dt>
<dt><code class="code">t <var class="var">xyz</var> <var class="var">dummy-arg</var>&lsaquo;<span class="r">whitespace</span>&rsaquo;</code></dt>
<dd><p>Typeset a word <var class="var">xyz</var>; that is, set a sequence of ordinary glyphs
named <var class="var">x</var>, <var class="var">y</var>, <var class="var">z</var>, &hellip;, terminated by a space
character or a line break; an optional second integer argument is
ignored (this allows the formatter to generate an even number of
arguments). Each glyph is set at the current drawing position, and the position is
then advanced horizontally by the glyph&rsquo;s width.  A glyph&rsquo;s width is
read from its metrics in the font description file, scaled to the
current type size, and rounded to a multiple of the horizontal motion
quantum.  Use the <code class="code">C</code> command to emplace glyphs of special
characters.  The <code class="code">t</code>&nbsp;command is a <code class="code">groff</code> extension and
is output only for devices whose <samp class="file">DESC</samp> file contains the
<code class="code">tcommand</code> directive; see <a class="ref" href="DESC-File-Format.html"><samp class="file">DESC</samp> File Format</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">u <var class="var">n</var> <var class="var">xyz</var>&lsaquo;<span class="r">whitespace</span>&rsaquo;</code></dt>
<dd><p>Typeset word <var class="var">xyz</var> with track kerning.  As <code class="code">t</code>, but after
placing each glyph, the drawing position is further advanced
horizontally by&nbsp;<var class="var">n</var> basic units (<code class="code">u</code>).  The
<code class="code">u</code>&nbsp;command is a <code class="code">groff</code> extension and is output only for
devices whose <samp class="file">DESC</samp> file contains the <code class="code">tcommand</code> directive;
see <a class="ref" href="DESC-File-Format.html"><samp class="file">DESC</samp> File Format</a>.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">V <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Vertically move the drawing position to <var class="var">n</var>&nbsp;basic units from
the top edge of the page.  <var class="var">n</var>&nbsp;cannot be negative.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">v <var class="var">n</var></code></dt>
<dd><p>Move the drawing position down <var class="var">n</var> basic units.  <abbr class="acronym">AT&amp;T</abbr>
<code class="code">troff</code> allowed negative <var class="var">n</var>; GNU <code class="code">troff</code> does not produce
such values, but <code class="code">groff</code>&rsquo;s output driver library handles them.
</p>
</dd>
<dt><code class="code">w</code></dt>
<dd><p>Indicate an inter-word space.  No action is performed; the command is
present to make the output more easily parsed.  Only adjustable,
breakable inter-word spaces are thus described; those resulting from
<code class="code">\~</code> or horizontal motion escape sequences are not.  GNU
<code class="code">troff</code> issues this command but <code class="code">groff</code>&rsquo;s output driver
library ignores it.  See <code class="code">h</code> and <code class="code">H</code> above.
</p></dd>
</dl>

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