.TH grotty 1 "4 May 2025" "groff 1.23.0"
.SH Name
grotty \-
.I groff
output driver for typewriter-like (terminal) devices
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Legal Terms
.\" ====================================================================
.\"
.\" Copyright (C) 1989-2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"
.\" Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this
.\" manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are
.\" preserved on all copies.
.\"
.\" Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of
.\" this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that
.\" the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of
.\" a permission notice identical to this one.
.\"
.\" Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this
.\" manual into another language, under the above conditions for
.\" modified versions, except that this permission notice may be
.\" included in translations approved by the Free Software Foundation
.\" instead of in the original English.
.
.
.\" Save and disable compatibility mode (for, e.g., Solaris 10/11).
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.
.\" Define fallback for groff 1.23's MR macro if the system lacks it.
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.if  \n(.g .if !d MR .nr do-fallback 1 \" older groff
.if !\n(.g           .nr do-fallback 1 \" non-groff *roff
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.\" ====================================================================
.SH Synopsis
.\" ====================================================================
.
.SY grotty
.RB [ \-dfho ]
.RB [ \-i | \-r ]
.RB [ \-F\~\c
.IR dir ]
.RI [ file\~ .\|.\|.]
.YS
.
.
.SY "grotty \-c"
.RB [ \-bBdfhouU ]
.RB [ \-F\~\c
.IR dir ]
.RI [ file\~ .\|.\|.]
.YS
.
.
.SY grotty
.B \-\-help
.YS
.
.
.SY grotty
.B \-v
.
.SY grotty
.B \-\-version
.YS
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Description
.\" ====================================================================
.
The GNU
.I roff
TTY
(\[lq]Teletype\[rq])
output driver translates the output of
.MR \%troff 1
into a form suitable for typewriter-like devices,
including terminal emulators.
.
Normally,
.I grotty
is invoked by
.MR groff 1
when the latter is given one of the
.RB \[lq] \-T\~ascii \[rq],
.RB \[lq] \-T\~latin1 \[rq],
.BR \-Tlatin1 ,
or
.RB \[lq] \-T\~utf8 \[rq]
options on systems using ISO character encoding standards,
or with
.RB \[lq] \-T\~cp1047 \[rq]
or
.RB \[lq] \-T\~utf8 \[rq]
on EBCDIC-based hosts.
.
(In this installation,
.B \%ps
is the default output device.)
.
Use
.IR groff 's
.B \-P
option to pass any options shown above to
.IR grotty .
.
If no
.I file
arguments are given,
or if
.I file
is \[lq]\-\[rq],
.I grotty
reads the standard input stream.
.
Output is written to the standard output stream.
.
.
.P
By default,
.I grotty
emits SGR escape sequences
(from ISO\~6429,
popularly called \[lq]ANSI escapes\[rq])
to change text attributes
(bold,
italic,
underline,
reverse video
.\" ECMA-48, 2nd edition (1979) calls it "negative image".
[\[lq]negative image\[rq]]
and colors).
.
Devices supporting the appropriate sequences can view
.I roff
documents using eight different background and foreground colors.
.
Following ISO\~6429,
the following colors are defined in
.IR tty.tmac :
black,
white,
red,
green,
blue,
yellow,
magenta,
and cyan.
.
Unrecognized colors are mapped to the default color,
which is dependent on the settings of the terminal.
.
OSC\~8 hyperlinks are produced for these devices.
.
.
.P
In keeping with long-standing practice and the rarity of terminals
(and emulators)
that support oblique or italic fonts,
italicized text is represented with underlining by default\[em]but see
the
.B \-i
option below.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "SGR and OSC support in pagers"
.\" ====================================================================
.
When paging
.IR grotty 's
output with
.MR less 1 ,
the latter program must be instructed to pass SGR and OSC sequences
through to the device;
its
.B \-R
option is one way to achieve this
.RI ( less
version 566 or later is required for OSC\~8 support).
.
Consequently,
programs like
.MR man 1
that page
.I roff
documents with
.I less
must call it with an appropriate option.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Legacy output format"
.\" ====================================================================
.
The
.B \-c
option tells
.I grotty
to use an output format compatible with paper terminals,
like the Teletype machines for which
.I roff
and
.I nroff
were first developed but which are no longer in wide use.
.
SGR escape sequences are not emitted;
bold,
italic,
and underlining character attributes are thus not manipulated.
.
Instead,
.I grotty
overstrikes,
representing a bold character
.I c
with the sequence
.RI \[lq] c\~\c
BACKSPACE\~\c
.IR c \[rq],
an italic character
.I c
with the sequence
.RB \[lq] _\~\c
BACKSPACE\~\c
.IR c \[rq],
and bold italics with
.RB \[lq] _\~\c
BACKSPACE\~\c
.I c
BACKSPACE\~\c
.IR c \[rq].
.
This rendering is inherently ambiguous when the character
.I c
is itself the underscore.
.
.
.P
The legacy output format can be rendered on a video terminal
(or emulator)
by piping
.IR grotty 's
output through
.MR ul 1 ,
.\" from bsdmainutils 11.1.2+b1 (on Debian Buster)
which may render bold italics as reverse video.
.
.\" 'more' from util-linux 2.33.1 (on Debian Buster) neither renders
.\" double-struck characters as bold nor supports -b, but does render
.\" SGR sequences (including color) with no flags required.
Some implementations of
.MR more 1
are also able to display these sequences;
you may wish to experiment with that command's
.B \-b
option.
.
.\" Version 487 of...
.I less
renders legacy bold and italics without requiring options.
.
In contrast to the terminal output drivers of some other
.I roff
implementations,
.I grotty
never outputs reverse line feeds.
.
There is therefore no need to filter its output through
.MR col 1 .
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Device control commands"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.I grotty
understands one device control function produced by the
.I roff
.B \[rs]X
escape sequence in a document.
.
.
.TP
.BR "\[rs]X\[aq]tty: link " [\c
.IR uri \~[ key\c
.BI = value\c
] \|.\|.\|.\|]\c
.B \[aq]
.
Embed a hyperlink using the OSC 8 terminal escape sequence.
.
Specifying
.I uri
starts hyperlinked text,
and omitting it ends the hyperlink.
.
When
.I uri
is present,
any number of additional key/value pairs can be specified;
their interpretation is the responsibility of the pager or terminal.
.
Spaces or tabs cannot appear literally in
.IR uri ,
.IR key ,
or
.IR value ;
they must be represented in an alternate form.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS "Device description files"
.\" ====================================================================
.
If the
.I DESC
file for the character encoding contains the
.RB \[lq] unicode \[rq]
directive,
.I grotty
emits Unicode characters in UTF-8 encoding.
.
Otherwise,
it emits characters in a single-byte encoding depending on the data in
the font description files.
.
See
.MR groff_font 5 .
.
.
.P
A font description file may contain a directive
.RB \[lq] internalname\~\c
.IR n \[rq]
where
.I n
is a decimal integer.
.
If the 01 bit in
.I n
is set,
then the font is treated as an italic font;
if the 02 bit is set,
then it is treated as a bold font.
.
.\" The following seems to say nothing that is not true of font
.\" description files in general; if so, it belongs in groff_font(5).
.\"The code field in the font description field gives the code which is
.\"used to output the character.
.\".
.\"This code can also be used in the
.\".I groff
.\".B \[rs]N
.\"escape sequence in a document.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SS Typefaces
.\" ====================================================================
.
.I grotty
supports the standard four styles:
.B R
(roman),
.B I
.RI ( italic ),
.B B
.RB ( bold ),
and
.B BI
(\f[BI]bold-italic\f[]).
.
Because the output driver operates in
.I nroff
mode,
attempts to set or change the font family or type size are ignored.
.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Options
.\" ====================================================================
.
.B \-\-help
displays a usage message,
while
.B \-v
and
.B \-\-version
show version information;
all exit afterward.
.
.
.TP
.B \-b
Suppress the use of overstriking for bold characters in legacy output
format.
.
.
.TP
.B \-B
Use only overstriking for bold-italic characters in legacy output
format.
.
.
.TP
.B \-c
Use
.IR grotty 's
legacy output format
(see subsection \[lq]Legacy output format\[rq] above).
.
SGR and OSC escape sequences are not emitted.
.
.
.TP
.B \-d
Ignore all
.B \[rs]D
drawing escape sequences in the input.
.
By default,
.I grotty
renders
.BR \[rs]D\[aq]l \|.\|.\|.\& \[aq]
escape sequences that have at least one zero argument
(and so are either horizontal or vertical)
using Unicode box drawing characters
(for the
.B utf8
device)
or the
.BR \- ,
.BR | ,
and
.B +
characters
(for all other devices).
.
.I grotty
handles
.BR \[rs]D\[aq]p \|.\|.\|.\& \[aq]
escape sequences that consist entirely of horizontal and vertical
lines similarly.
.
.
.TP
.B \-f
Emit a form feed at the end of each page having no output on its last
line.
.
.
.TP
.BI \-F\~ dir
Prepend directory
.RI dir /dev name
to the search path for font and device description files;
.I name
describes the output device's character encoding,
one of
.BR ascii ,
.BR latin1 ,
.BR utf8 ,
or
.BR cp1047 .
.
.
.TP
.B \-h
Use literal horizontal tab characters in the output.
.
Tabs are assumed to be set every 8 columns.
.
.
.TP
.B \-i
Render oblique-styled fonts
.RB ( I
and
.BR BI )
with the SGR attribute for italic text
rather than underlined text.
.
Many terminals don't support this attribute;
however,
.MR xterm 1 ,
since patch\~#314 (2014-12-28),
does.
.
Ignored if
.B \-c
is also specified.
.
.
.TP
.B \-o
Suppress overstriking
(other than for bold and/or underlined characters when the legacy output
format is in use).
.
.
.TP
.B \-r
Render oblique-styled fonts
.RB ( I
and
.BR BI )
with the SGR attribute for reverse video text
rather than underlined text.
.
Ignored if
.B \-c
or
.B \-i
is also specified.
.
.
.TP
.B \-u
Suppress the use of underlining for italic characters in legacy output
format.
.
.
.TP
.B \-U
Use only underlining for bold-italic characters in legacy output format.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Environment
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.I GROFF_FONT_PATH
A list of directories in which to seek the selected output device's
directory of device and font description files.
.
See
.MR \%troff 1
and
.MR groff_font 5 .
.
.
.TP
.I GROFF_NO_SGR
If set,
.IR grotty 's
legacy output format is used just as if the
.B \-c
option were specified;
see subsection \[lq]Legacy output format\[rq] above.
.
.
.br
.ne 3v \" Keep section heading and paragraph tag together.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Files
.\" ====================================================================
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devascii/\:DESC
describes the
.B ascii
output device.
.
.
.TP
.IR /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devascii/ F
describes the font known
.RI as\~ F
on device
.BR ascii .
.
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devcp1047/\:DESC
describes the
.B cp1047
output device.
.
.
.TP
.IR /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devcp1047/ F
describes the font known
.RI as\~ F
on device
.BR cp1047 .
.
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devlatin1/\:DESC
describes the
.B latin1
output device.
.
.
.TP
.IR /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devlatin1/ F
describes the font known
.RI as\~ F
on device
.BR latin1 .
.
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devutf8/\:DESC
describes the
.B utf8
output device.
.
.
.TP
.IR /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%font/\:\%devutf8/ F
describes the font known
.RI as\~ F
on device
.BR utf8 .
.
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%tmac/\:tty\:.tmac
defines macros for use with the
.BR ascii ,
.BR cp1047 ,
.BR latin1 ,
and
.B utf8
output devices.
.
It is automatically loaded by
.I troffrc
when any of those output devices is selected.
.
.
.TP
.I /usr/\:\%share/\:\%groff/\:\%1.23.0/\:\%tmac/\:tty\-char\:.tmac
defines fallback characters for use with
.I grotty.
.
See
.MR nroff 1 .
.
.
.\" XXX: The following no longer seems to be true; an inspection of the
.\" font/*/dev*.am files suggests no evidence of it, at any rate.
.\".P
.\"Note that on EBCDIC hosts,
.\"only files for the
.\".B cp1047
.\"device are installed.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Limitations
.\" ====================================================================
.
.I grotty
is intended only for simple documents.
.
.
.IP \[bu] 2n
There is no support for fractional horizontal or vertical motions.
.
.
.IP \[bu]
.I roff
.B \[rs]D
escape sequences producing anything other than horizontal and vertical
lines are not supported.
.
.
.IP \[bu]
Characters above the first line
(that is,
with a vertical drawing position of\~0)
cannot be rendered.
.
.
.IP \[bu]
Color handling differs from other output drivers.
.
The
.I groff
requests and escape sequences that set the stroke and fill colors
instead set the foreground and background character cell colors,
respectively.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Examples
.\" ====================================================================
.
The following
.I groff
document exercises several features for which output device support
varies:
(1)\~bold style;
(2)\~italic (underline) style;
(3)\~bold-italic style;
(4)\~character composition by overstriking (\[lq]co\[:o]perate\[rq]);
(5)\~foreground color;
(6)\~background color;
and
(7)\~horizontal and vertical line-drawing.
.
.
.P
.RS
.EX
You might see \ef[B]bold\ef[] and \ef[I]italic\ef[].
Some people see \ef[BI]both\ef[].
If the output device does (not) co\ez\e[ad]operate,
you might see \em[red]red\em[].
Black on cyan can have a \eM[cyan]\em[black]prominent\em[]\eM[]
\eD\[aq]l 1i 0\[aq]\eD\[aq]l 0 2i\[aq]\eD\[aq]l 1i 0\[aq] look.
\&.\e" If in nroff mode, end page now.
\&.if n .pl \en[nl]u
.EE
.RE
.
.
.P
Given the foregoing input,
compare and contrast the output of the following.
.
.
.P
.RS
.EX
$ \c
.B groff \-T ascii \c
.I file
$ \c
.B groff \-T utf8 \-P \-i \c
.I file
$ \c
.B groff \-T utf8 \-P \-c \c
.I file \c
.B | ul
.EE
.RE
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "See also"
.\" ====================================================================
.
\[lq]Control Functions for Coded Character Sets\[rq]
(ECMA-48)
5th\~edition,
Ecma International,
June\~1991.
.
A gratis version of ISO\~6429,
this document includes a normative description of SGR escape sequences.
.
Available at
.UR http://\:www\:.ecma\-international\:.org/\:publications/\:files/\:\
ECMA\-ST/\:Ecma\-048\:.pdf
.UE .
.
.
.P
.UR https://\:gist\:.github\:.com/\:egmontkob/\:\
eb114294efbcd5ad\:b1944c9f3cb5feda
\[lq]Hyperlinks in Terminal Emulators\[rq]
.UE ,
Egmont Koblinger.
.
.
.P
.MR groff 1 ,
.MR \%troff 1 ,
.MR groff_out 5 ,
.MR groff_font 5 ,
.MR groff_char 7 ,
.MR ul 1 ,
.MR more 1 ,
.MR less 1 ,
.MR man 1
.
.
.\" Restore compatibility mode (for, e.g., Solaris 10/11).
.cp \n[*groff_grotty_1_man_C]
.do rr *groff_grotty_1_man_C
.
.
.\" Local Variables:
.\" fill-column: 72
.\" mode: nroff
.\" End:
.\" vim: set filetype=groff textwidth=72: