format [-c] [-t int] [-T format] [-r mapping] file[.sgml]
format translates an SGML file of the qwertz
document type into LaTeX and various forms of nroff/troff. The
".sgml" file name extension is optional. It first checks that the file
is a syntactically correct instance of the qwertz document type.
The default action is to write LaTeX to the standard output. To
print a qwertz file named foo.sgml, using LaTeX, just type
format foo | qtex | lpr
qtex is a front-end to LaTeX designed to be used as a filter
in this way. See qtex(1) for more information.
If you need more control over printing than is available using
lpr alone, you can first create a dvi file, and then
print the file using a dvi to PostScript converter, such as
dvips. For example, to print pages 3 to 10 of foo, you
could type
format foo | qtex -d > foo.dvi dvips -p 3 -n 8 foo | lpr
If there is a PostScript previewer available, such as
ghostview, from the GNU distribution, you can preview the
document by typing
format foo | qtex > foo.ps; ghostview foo.ps
Or, you may also preview the document using a dvi previewer
such as xdvi by typing
format foo | qtex -d > foo.dvi; xdvi foo
You can also use nroff to view the document on an ASCII
terminal:
format -T nroff foo | nroff -ms | more
Finally, nroff may also be suitable for sending the document to
someone by electronic mail:
format -T nroff foo | nroff -ms | mail thomas@gmdzi.gmd.de
In the following, it is assumed that the file to be formatted is
named foo.sgml, or simply foo.
-helpIf this is the only option, a short message listing all the options available, and their purpose, is printed to the standard out.
-c Just check the syntax of the document, to see that it is a
correct instance of the qwertz document type.
-T [latex | nroff | grops | man] Use -T to select the format in which to translate the
qwertz document. By default, LaTeX is used. nroff is
appropriate for ASCII devices. grops is a troff format for
groff, a reconstruction of troff from the Free Software
Foundation. grops uses groff's names for non-ASCII
characters and symbols. To use groff to generate an ASCII
version of the document, use the nroff format, as in:
format -T nroff foo | groff -ms -T ascii | more
Both the grops and nroff formats use the ms macro
package. Also, documents containing tables and formulas will need to
be preprocesed by tbl(1) and eqn(1), respectively.
The man format generates nroff using the man macro
package for Unix manual pages. Manual pages may also be formatted
using any of the other formats.
By default, format looks in the $FORMAT/rep
directory for the files controlling the translation of qwertz
documents into various formats. If you wish to customize the
appearance of your documents, or support additional formats, you may
create your own mappings. Just set the REPDIR shell variable to
the directory containing your formats. For each format, f, there
should be a subdirectory named f in the REPDIR directory.
Within this subdirectory, there must be three files, named:
mapping, general and math. The mapping file is a
simple table from SGML start and end tags into instructions or
commands for the goal formatting system. (The table must be in the
format first used by the Amsterdam SGML Parser.)
See $FORMAT/rep/qwertz/latex/mapping and
$FORMAT/rep/qwertz/grops/mapping for examples. The
general and math files are SGML files containing the
formatter specific definitions of general purpose characters and
mathematical symbols, respectively. Again, see the examples in
$FORMAT/rep/qwertz/latex. See also the -r option, below.
-r replacement fileThe REPDIR shell variable is used to set the default
directory for complete replacement files. The -r option is
used to override the replacements for some of the start and end
tags in a default replacement file. Only the start or end tags
which are to be formatted differently than specified in the default
file need to be included.
-t nformat always pipes the input document through expand
to replace tabs by spaces. By default, each tab is replaced by eight
spaces. You can change this by using this option.
qtex(1), nroff(1), tbl(1), eqn(1), groff(1), dvips(1), expand(1), sed(1), lpr(1), ghostview(1), xdvi(1)
SGML syntax errors are reported to standard out. Each error message mentions the line number containing the error.