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groff_rfc1345(7)                  Miscellaneous Information Manual                  groff_rfc1345(7)

Name
       groff_rfc1345 - special character names from RFC 1345 and Vim digraphs

Description
       The  file  rfc1345.tmac  defines special character escape sequences for groff(7) based on the
       glyph mnemonics specified in RFC 1345 and the digraph table of the text editor Vim.  Each es‐
       cape sequence translates to a Unicode code point, and will render correctly if the underlying
       font is a Unicode font that covers the code point.

       For example, “\[Rx]” is the “recipe” or “prescription take” symbol,  and  maps  to  the  code
       point U+211E.  groff lets you write it as “\[u211E]”, but “\[Rx]” is more mnemonic.

       For a list of the glyph names provided, please see the file rfc1345.tmac, which contains def‐
       initions of the form
              .char \[Rx] \[u211E]    \" PRESCRIPTION TAKE
       where  .char's  first  argument  defines  a  groff  special  character escape sequence with a
       mnemonic glyph name, its second argument is a special character escape sequence based on  the
       code point, and the comment describes the glyph defined.

       The  RFC  1345  glyph names cover a wide range of Unicode code points, including supplemental
       Latin, Greek, Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Hiragana, Katakana, and  Bopomofo  letters,  punctua‐
       tion,  math  notation,  currency symbols, industrial and entertainment icons, and box-drawing
       symbols.

       The Vim digraph table is practically a subset of RFC 1345  (being  limited  to  two-character
       mnemonics), but, as a newer implementation, adds four mnemonics not specified in the RFC (the
       horizontal  ellipsis,  the Euro sign, and two mappings for the rouble sign).  These have also
       been added to rfc1345.tmac.

       rfc1345.tmac contains a total of 1,696 glyph names.  It is not an error to load  rfc1345.tmac
       if  your  font does not have all the glyphs, as long as it contains the glyphs that you actu‐
       ally use in your document.

       The RFC 1345 mnemonics are not identical in every case to the mappings for special  character
       glyph  names that are built in to groff; for example, “\[<<]” means the “much less than” sign
       (U+226A) when rfc1345.tmac is not loaded and this special character is not otherwise  defined
       by  a document or macro package.  rfc1345.tmac redefines “\[<<]” to the “left-pointing double
       angle quotation mark” (U+00AB).  See groff_char(7) for the full list  of  predefined  special
       character escape sequences.

   Usage
       Load  the  rfc1345.tmac  file.  This can be done by either adding “.mso rfc1345.tmac” to your
       document before the first use of any of the glyph names the macro file defines, or  by  using
       the troff(1) option “-m rfc1345” from the shell.

   Bugs
       As  the  groff  Texinfo  manual  notes, “[o]nly the current font is checked for ligatures and
       kerns; neither special fonts nor entities defined with the char request  (and  its  siblings)
       are  taken  into account.”  Many of the characters defined in rfc1345.tmac are accented Latin
       letters, and will be affected by this deficiency, producing subpar typography.

Files
       /usr/share/groff/1.23.0/tmac/rfc1345.tmac
              implements the character mappings.

Authors
       rfc1345.tmac was contributed by Dorai Sitaram.

See also
       RFC 1345, by Keld Simonsen, June 1992.

       The Vim digraph table can be listed using the vim(1) command “:help digraph-table”.

       groff_char(7)

groff 1.23.0                                31 March 2024                           groff_rfc1345(7)