{ "content": [ { "type": "text", "text": "# tbl (man)\n\n## NAME\n\ntbl - format tables for troff\n\n## SYNOPSIS\n\ntbl [-Cv] [file ...]\n\n## DESCRIPTION\n\nThis manual page describes the GNU version of tbl, which is part of the groff document for‐\nmatting system. tbl compiles descriptions of tables embedded within troff input files into\ncommands that are understood by troff. Normally, it should be invoked using the -t option of\ngroff. It is highly compatible with Unix tbl. The output generated by GNU tbl cannot be\nprocessed with Unix troff; it must be processed with GNU troff. If no files are given on the\ncommand line or a filename of - is given, the standard input is read.\n\n## TLDR\n\n> Table preprocessor for the groff (GNU Troff) document formatting system.\n\n- Process input with tables, saving the output for future typesetting with groff to PostScript:\n `tbl {{path/to/input_file}} > {{path/to/output.roff}}`\n- Typeset input with tables to PDF using the [me] macro package:\n `tbl -T {{pdf}} {{path/to/input.tbl}} | groff -{{me}} -T {{pdf}} > {{path/to/output.pdf}}`\n\n*Source: tldr-pages*\n\n## Sections\n\n- **NAME**\n- **SYNOPSIS**\n- **DESCRIPTION**\n- **OPTIONS** (2 subsections)\n- **LANGUAGE OVERVIEW**\n- **SIMPLE EXAMPLES**\n- **USAGE** (9 subsections)\n- **INTERACTION WITH EQN**\n- **GNU TBL ENHANCEMENTS**\n- **GNU TBL WITHIN MACROS**\n- **BUGS**\n- **REFERENCE**\n- **SEE ALSO**\n\nUse structuredContent.sections for detailed options, examples, and full documentation.\n" } ], "structuredContent": { "command": "tbl", "section": "", "mode": "man", "summary": "tbl - format tables for troff", "synopsis": "tbl [-Cv] [file ...]", "tldr_summary": "Table preprocessor for the groff (GNU Troff) document formatting system.", "tldr_examples": [ { "description": "Process input with tables, saving the output for future typesetting with groff to PostScript", "command": "tbl {{path/to/input_file}} > {{path/to/output.roff}}" }, { "description": "Typeset input with tables to PDF using the [me] macro package", "command": "tbl -T {{pdf}} {{path/to/input.tbl}} | groff -{{me}} -T {{pdf}} > {{path/to/output.pdf}}" } ], "tldr_source": "official", "flags": [ { "flag": "-C", "long": null, "arg": null, "description": "other than space or newline. Leader characters (\\a) are handled as interpreted." }, { "flag": "-v", "long": null, "arg": null, "description": "" } ], "examples": [], "see_also": [ { "name": "groff", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/groff/1/json" }, { "name": "troff", "section": "1", "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/troff/1/json" } ], "section_outline": [ { "name": "NAME", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SYNOPSIS", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "DESCRIPTION", "lines": 7, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "OPTIONS", "lines": 1, "subsections": [ { "name": "-C", "lines": 2, "flag": "-C" }, { "name": "-v", "lines": 1, "flag": "-v" } ] }, { "name": "LANGUAGE OVERVIEW", "lines": 18, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SIMPLE EXAMPLES", "lines": 40, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "USAGE", "lines": 1, "subsections": [ { "name": "Global options", "lines": 18 }, { "name": "doublebox", "lines": 2 }, { "name": "doubleframe", "lines": 19 }, { "name": "nospaces", "lines": 9 }, { "name": "Table format specification", "lines": 103 }, { "name": "Column specifiers", "lines": 103 }, { "name": "Table data", "lines": 45 }, { "name": "Text blocks", "lines": 17 }, { "name": "Miscellaneous", "lines": 9 } ] }, { "name": "INTERACTION WITH EQN", "lines": 3, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "GNU TBL ENHANCEMENTS", "lines": 11, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "GNU TBL WITHIN MACROS", "lines": 22, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "BUGS", "lines": 54, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "REFERENCE", "lines": 3, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SEE ALSO", "lines": 5, "subsections": [] } ], "sections": { "NAME": { "content": "tbl - format tables for troff\n", "subsections": [] }, "SYNOPSIS": { "content": "tbl [-Cv] [file ...]\n", "subsections": [] }, "DESCRIPTION": { "content": "This manual page describes the GNU version of tbl, which is part of the groff document for‐\nmatting system. tbl compiles descriptions of tables embedded within troff input files into\ncommands that are understood by troff. Normally, it should be invoked using the -t option of\ngroff. It is highly compatible with Unix tbl. The output generated by GNU tbl cannot be\nprocessed with Unix troff; it must be processed with GNU troff. If no files are given on the\ncommand line or a filename of - is given, the standard input is read.\n", "subsections": [] }, "OPTIONS": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "-C", "content": "other than space or newline. Leader characters (\\a) are handled as interpreted.\n", "flag": "-C" }, { "name": "-v", "content": "", "flag": "-v" } ] }, "LANGUAGE OVERVIEW": { "content": "tbl expects to find table descriptions wrapped in the .TS (table start) and .TE (table end)\nmacros. Within each such table sections, another table can be defined by using the request\n.T& before the final command .TE. Each table definition has the following structure:\n\nGlobal options\nThis is optional. This table part can use several of these options distributed in 1\nor more lines. The global option part must always be finished by a semi-colon ; .\n\nTable format specification\nThis part must be given, it is not optional. It determines the number of columns\n(cells) of the table. Moreover each cell is classified by being central, left ad‐\njusted, or numerical, etc. This specification can have several lines, but must be\nfinished by a dot . at the end of the last line. After each cell definition, column\nspecifiers can be appended, but that's optional.\n\nCells are separated by a tab character by default. That can be changed by the global option\ntab(c), where c is an arbitrary character.\n", "subsections": [] }, "SIMPLE EXAMPLES": { "content": "The easiest table definition is.\n.TS\nc c c .\nThis is centered\nWell, this also\n.TE\nBy using c c c, each cell in the whole table will be centered. The separating character is\nhere the default tab.\n\nThe result is\n\nThis is centered\nWell, this also\n\nThis definition is identical to\n.TS\ntab(@);\nccc.\nThis@is@centered\nWell,@this@also\n.TE\nHere, the separating tab character is changed to the letter @.\n\nMoreover a title can be added and the centering directions can be changed to many other for‐\nmats:\n.TS\ntab(@);\nc s s\nl c n .\nTitle\nleft@centers@123\nanother@number@75\n.TE\nThe result is\n\nTitle\nleft centers 123\nanother number 75\nHere l means left-justified, and n means numerical, which is here right-justified.\n", "subsections": [] }, "USAGE": { "content": "", "subsections": [ { "name": "Global options", "content": "The line immediately following the .TS macro may contain any of the following global options\n(ignoring the case of characters – Unix tbl only accepts options with all characters lower‐\ncase or all characters uppercase), separated by spaces, tabs, or commas:\n\nallbox Enclose each item of the table in a box.\n\nbox Enclose the table in a box.\n\ncenter Center the table (default is left-justified). The alternative keyword name centre is\nalso recognized (this is a GNU tbl extension).\n\ndecimalpoint(c)\nSet the character to be recognized as the decimal point in numeric columns (GNU tbl\nonly).\n\ndelim(xy)\nUse x and y as start and end delimiters for eqn(1).\n" }, { "name": "doublebox", "content": "Enclose the table in a double box.\n" }, { "name": "doubleframe", "content": "Same as doublebox (GNU tbl only).\n\nexpand Make the table as wide as the current line length (providing a column separation fac‐\ntor). Ignored if one or more ‘x’ column specifiers are used (see below).\n\nIn case the sum of the column widths is larger than the current line length, the col‐\numn separation factor is set to zero; such tables extend into the right margin, and\nthere is no column separation at all.\n\nframe Same as box (GNU tbl only).\n\nlinesize(n)\nSet lines or rules (e.g. from box) in n-point type.\n\nnokeep Don't use diversions to prevent page breaks (GNU tbl only). Normally tbl attempts to\nprevent undesirable breaks in boxed tables by using diversions. This can sometimes\ninteract badly with macro packages' own use of diversions—when footnotes, for example,\nare used.\n" }, { "name": "nospaces", "content": "Ignore leading and trailing spaces in data items (GNU tbl only).\n\nnowarn Turn off warnings related to tables exceeding the current line width (GNU tbl only).\n\ntab(x) Use the character x instead of a tab to separate items in a line of input data.\n\nThe global options must end with a semicolon. There might be whitespace between an option\nand its argument in parentheses.\n" }, { "name": "Table format specification", "content": "After global options come lines describing the format of each line of the table. Each such\nformat line describes one line of the table itself, except that the last format line (which\nyou must end with a period) describes all remaining lines of the table. A single-key charac‐\nter describes each column of each line of the table. Key characters can be separated by spa‐\nces or tabs. You may run format specifications for multiple lines together on the same line\nby separating them with commas.\n\nYou may follow each key character with specifiers that determine the font and point size of\nthe corresponding item, that determine column width, inter-column spacing, etc.\n\nThe longest format line defines the number of columns in the table; missing format descrip‐\ntors at the end of format lines are assumed to be L. Extra columns in the data (which have\nno corresponding format entry) are ignored.\n\nThe available key characters are:\n\na,A Center longest line in this column and then left-justifies all other lines in this\ncolumn with respect to that centered line. The idea is to use such alphabetic sub‐\ncolumns (hence the name of the key character) in combination with L; they are called\nsubcolumns because A items are indented by 1n relative to L entries. Example:\n\n.TS\ntab(;);\nln,an.\nitem one;1\nsubitem two;2\nsubitem three;3\n.T&\nln,an.\nitem eleven;11\nsubitem twentytwo;22\nsubitem thirtythree;33\n.TE\n\nResult:\n\nitem one 1\nsubitem two 2\nsubitem three 3\nitem eleven 11\nsubitem twentytwo 22\nsubitem thirtythree 33\n\nc,C Center item within the column.\n\nl,L Left-justify item within the column.\n\nn,N Numerically justify item in the column: Units positions of numbers are aligned verti‐\ncally. If there is one or more dots adjacent to a digit, use the rightmost one for\nvertical alignment. If there is no dot, use the rightmost digit for vertical align‐\nment; otherwise, center the item within the column. Alignment can be forced to a cer‐\ntain position using ‘\\&’; if there is one or more instances of this special (non-\nprinting) character present within the data, use the leftmost one for alignment. Ex‐\nample:\n\n.TS\nn.\n1\n1.5\n1.5.3\nabcde\na\\&bcde\n.TE\n\nResult:\n\n1\n1.5\n1.5.3\nabcde\nabcde\n\nIf numerical entries are combined with L or R entries – this can happen if the table\nformat is changed with .T& – center the widest number (of the data entered under the\nN specifier regime) relative to the widest L or R entry, preserving the alignment of\nall numerical entries. Contrary to A type entries, there is no extra indentation.\n\nUsing equations (to be processed with eqn) within columns which use the N specifier is\nproblematic in most cases due to tbl's algorithm for finding the vertical alignment,\nas described above. Using the global delim option, however, it is possible to make\ntbl ignore the data within eqn delimiters for that purpose.\n\nr,R Right-justify item within the column.\n\ns,S Span previous item on the left into this column. Not allowed for the first column.\n\n^ Span down entry from previous row in this column. Not allowed for the first row.\n\n,- Replace this entry with a horizontal line. Note that ‘’ and ‘-’ can be used for ta‐\nble fields only, not for column separator lines.\n\n= Replace this entry with a double horizontal line. Note that ‘=’ can be used for table\nfields only, not for column separator lines.\n\n| The corresponding column becomes a vertical rule (if two of these are adjacent, a dou‐\nble vertical rule).\n\nA vertical bar to the left of the first key letter or to the right of the last one produces a\nline at the edge of the table.\n\nTo change the data format within a table, use the .T& command (at the start of a line). It\nis followed by format and data lines (but no global options) similar to the .TS request.\n" }, { "name": "Column specifiers", "content": "Here are the specifiers that can appear in suffixes to column key letters (in any order):\n\nb,B Short form of fB (make affected entries bold).\n\nd,D Start an item that vertically spans rows, using the ‘^’ column specifier or ‘\\^’ data\nitem, at the bottom of its range rather than vertically centering it (GNU tbl only).\nExample:\n\n.TS\ntab(;) allbox;\nl l\nl ld\nr ^\nl rd.\n0000;foobar\nT{\n1111\n.br\n2222\nT};foo\nr;\nT{\n3333\n.br\n4444\nT};bar\n\\^;\\^\n.TE\n\nResult:\n\n┌─────┬────────┐\n│0000 │ foobar │\n├─────┼────────┤\n│1111 │ │\n│2222 │ │\n├─────┤ │\n│ r │ foo │\n├─────┼────────┤\n│3333 │ │\n│4444 │ bar │\n└─────┴────────┘\ne,E Make equally-spaced columns. All columns marked with this specifier get the same\nwidth; this happens after the affected column widths have been computed (this means\nthat the largest width value rules).\n\nf,F Either of these specifiers may be followed by a font name (either one or two charac‐\nters long), font number (a single digit), or long name in parentheses (the last form\nis a GNU tbl extension). A one-letter font name must be separated by one or more\nblanks from whatever follows.\n\ni,I Short form of fI (make affected entries italic).\n\nm,M This is a GNU tbl extension. Either of these specifiers may be followed by a macro\nname (either one or two characters long), or long name in parentheses. A one-letter\nmacro name must be separated by one or more blanks from whatever follows. The macro\nwhich name can be specified here must be defined before creating the table. It is\ncalled just before the table's cell text is output. As implemented currently, this\nmacro is only called if block input is used, that is, text between ‘T{’ and ‘T}’. The\nmacro should contain only simple troff requests to change the text block formatting,\nlike text adjustment, hyphenation, size, or font. The macro is called after other\ncell modifications like b, f or v are output. Thus the macro can overwrite other mod‐\nification specifiers.\n\np,P Followed by a number, this does a point size change for the affected fields. If\nsigned, the current point size is incremented or decremented (using a signed number\ninstead of a signed digit is a GNU tbl extension). A point size specifier followed by\na column separation number must be separated by one or more blanks.\n\nt,T Start an item vertically spanning rows at the top of its range rather than vertically\ncentering it.\n\nu,U Move the corresponding column up one half-line.\n\nv,V Followed by a number, this indicates the vertical line spacing to be used in a multi-\nline table entry. If signed, the current vertical line spacing is incremented or\ndecremented (using a signed number instead of a signed digit is a GNU tbl extension).\nA vertical line spacing specifier followed by a column separation number must be sepa‐\nrated by one or more blanks. No effect if the corresponding table entry isn't a text\nblock.\n\nw,W Minimum column width value. Must be followed either by a troff(1) width expression in\nparentheses or a unitless integer. If no unit is given, en units are used. Also used\nas the default line length for included text blocks. If used multiple times to spec‐\nify the width for a particular column, the last entry takes effect.\n\nx,X An expanded column. After computing all column widths without an x specifier, use the\nremaining line width for this column. If there is more than one expanded column, dis‐\ntribute the remaining horizontal space evenly among the affected columns (this is a\nGNU extension). This feature has the same effect as specifying a minimum column\nwidth.\n\nz,Z Ignore the corresponding column for width-calculation purposes, this is, don't use the\nfields but only the specifiers of this column to compute its width.\n\nA number suffix on a key character is interpreted as a column separation in en units (multi‐\nplied in proportion if the expand option is on – in case of overfull tables this might be\nzero). Default separation is 3n.\n\nThe column specifier x is mutually exclusive with e and w (but e is not mutually exclusive\nwith w); if specified multiple times for a particular column, the last entry takes effect:\nx unsets both e and w, while either e or w overrides x.\n" }, { "name": "Table data", "content": "The format lines are followed by lines containing the actual data for the table, followed fi‐\nnally by .TE. Within such data lines, items are normally separated by tab characters (or the\ncharacter specified with the tab option). Long input lines can be broken across multiple\nlines if the last character on the line is ‘\\’ (which vanishes after concatenation).\n\nNote that tbl computes the column widths line by line, applying \\w on each entry which isn't\na text block. As a consequence, constructions like\n\n.TS\nc,l.\n\\s[20]MM\nMMMM\n.TE\n\nfail; you must either say\n\n.TS\ncp20,lp20.\nMM\nMMMM\n.TE\n\nor\n\n.TS\nc,l.\n\\s[20]MM\n\\s[20]MMMM\n.TE\n\nA dot starting a line, followed by anything but a digit is handled as a troff command, passed\nthrough without changes. The table position is unchanged in this case.\n\nIf a data line consists of only ‘’ or ‘=’, a single or double line, respectively, is drawn\nacross the table at that point; if a single item in a data line consists of only ‘’ or ‘=’,\nthen that item is replaced by a single or double line, joining its neighbours. If a data\nitem consists only of ‘\\’ or ‘\\=’, a single or double line, respectively, is drawn across\nthe field at that point which does not join its neighbours.\n\nA data item consisting only of ‘\\Rx’ (‘x’ any character) is replaced by repetitions of char‐\nacter ‘x’ as wide as the column (not joining its neighbours).\n\nA data item consisting only of ‘\\^’ indicates that the field immediately above spans downward\nover this row.\n" }, { "name": "Text blocks", "content": "A text block can be used to enter data as a single entry which would be too long as a simple\nstring between tabs. It is started with ‘T{’ and closed with ‘T}’. The former must end a\nline, and the latter must start a line, probably followed by other data columns (separated\nwith tabs or the character given with the tab global option).\n\nBy default, the text block is formatted with the settings which were active before entering\nthe table, possibly overridden by the m, v, and w tbl specifiers. For example, to make all\ntext blocks ragged-right, insert .na right before the starting .TS (and .ad after the table).\n\nIf either ‘w’ or ‘x’ specifiers are not given for all columns of a text block span, the de‐\nfault length of the text block (to be more precise, the line length used to process the text\nblock diversion) is computed as L×C/(N+1), where ‘L’ is the current line length, ‘C’ the num‐\nber of columns spanned by the text block, and ‘N’ the total number of columns in the table.\nNote, however, that the actual diversion width as returned in register \\n[dl] is used eventu‐\nally as the text block width. If necessary, you can also control the text block width with a\ndirect insertion of a .ll request right after ‘T{’.\n" }, { "name": "Miscellaneous", "content": "The number register \\n[TW] holds the table width; it can't be used within the table itself\nbut is defined right before calling .TE so that this macro can make use of it.\n\ntbl also defines a macro .T# which produces the bottom and side lines of a boxed table.\nWhile tbl does call this macro itself at the end of the table, it can be used by macro pack‐\nages to create boxes for multi-page tables by calling it within the page footer. An example\nof this is shown by the -ms macros which provide this functionality if a table starts with\n.TS H instead of the standard call to the .TS macro.\n" } ] }, "INTERACTION WITH EQN": { "content": "tbl(1) should always be called before eqn(1) (groff(1) automatically takes care of the cor‐\nrect order of preprocessors).\n", "subsections": [] }, "GNU TBL ENHANCEMENTS": { "content": "There is no limit on the number of columns in a table, nor any limit on the number of text\nblocks. All the lines of a table are considered in deciding column widths, not just the\nfirst 200. Table continuation (.T&) lines are not restricted to the first 200 lines.\n\nNumeric and alphabetic items may appear in the same column.\n\nNumeric and alphabetic items may span horizontally.\n\ntbl uses register, string, macro and diversion names beginning with the digit 3. When using\ntbl you should avoid using any names beginning with a 3.\n", "subsections": [] }, "GNU TBL WITHIN MACROS": { "content": "Since tbl defines its own macros (right before each table) it is necessary to use an ‘end-of-\nmacro’ macro. Additionally, the escape character has to be switched off. Here an example.\n\n.eo\n.de ATABLE ..\n.TS\nallbox tab(;);\ncl.\n\\$1;\\$2\n.TE\n...\n.ec\n.ATABLE A table\n.ATABLE Another table\n.ATABLE And \"another one\"\n\nNote, however, that not all features of tbl can be wrapped into a macro because tbl sees the\ninput earlier than troff. For example, number formatting with vertically aligned decimal\npoints fails if those numbers are passed on as macro parameters because decimal point align‐\nment is handled by tbl itself: It only sees ‘\\$1’, ‘\\$2’, etc., and therefore can't recognize\nthe decimal point.\n", "subsections": [] }, "BUGS": { "content": "You should use .TS H/.TH in conjunction with a supporting macro package for all multi-page\nboxed tables. If there is no header that you wish to appear at the top of each page of the\ntable, place the .TH line immediately after the format section. Do not enclose a multi-page\ntable within keep/release macros, or divert it in any other way.\n\nA text block within a table must be able to fit on one page.\n\nThe bp request cannot be used to force a page-break in a multi-page table. Instead, define\nBP as follows\n\n.de BP\n. ie '\\\\n(.z'' .bp \\\\$1\n. el \\!.BP \\\\$1\n..\n\nand use BP instead of bp.\n\nUsing \\a directly in a table to get leaders does not work (except in compatibility mode).\nThis is correct behaviour: \\a is an uninterpreted leader. To get leaders use a real leader,\neither by using a control A or like this:\n\n.ds a \\a\n.TS\ntab(;);\nlw(1i) l.\nA\\*a;B\n.TE\n\nA leading and/or trailing ‘|’ in a format line, such as\n\n|l r|.\n\ngives output which has a 1n space between the resulting bordering vertical rule and the con‐\ntent of the adjacent column, as in\n\n.TS\ntab(#);\n|l r|.\nleft column#right column\n.TE\n\nIf it is desired to have zero space (so that the rule touches the content), this can be\nachieved by introducing extra “dummy” columns, with no content and zero separation, before\nand/or after, as in\n\n.TS\ntab(#);\nr0|l r0|l.\n#left column#right column#\n.TE\n\nThe resulting “dummy” columns are invisible and have zero width; note that such columns usu‐\nally don't work with TTY devices.\n", "subsections": [] }, "REFERENCE": { "content": "Lesk, M.E.: \"TBL – A Program to Format Tables\". For copyright reasons it cannot be included\nin the groff distribution, but copies can be found with a title search on the World Wide Web.\n", "subsections": [] }, "SEE ALSO": { "content": "groff(1), troff(1)\n\n\n\ngroff 1.22.4 23 March 2022 TBL(1)", "subsections": [] } } } }