GROFF_HDTBL(7)             OpenBSD Reference Manual             GROFF_HDTBL(7)



NAME
       groff_hdtbl - groff `hdtbl' macros for generation of tables

DESCRIPTION
       The hdtbl macros consist of four base and three optional macros,
       controlled by about twenty arguments.  The syntax is simple and similar
       to the HTML table model and nearly as flexible: You can write sequences
       of tokens (macro calls with their arguments and content data),
       separated by blanks and beginning with a macro call, into the same line
       to get compact and cleanly arrranged input.  An advantage of hdtbl is
       that the tables are constructed without calling a preprocessor; this
       means that groff's full macro capabilities are available.  On the other
       hand, table processing with hdtbl is much slower than using the tbl(1)
       preprocessor.  A further advantage is that the HTML-like syntax of
       hdtbl will be easily converted to HTML; this is not implemented yet.

USAGE
       The simplest well-formed table consists of just single calls to the
       four base table macros in the right order.  Here we construct a table
       with only one cell.

              .TBL
              .TR
              .TD
              contents of the table cell
              .ETB

       Equivalent to the above is the following notation.

              .TBL .TR .TD contents of the table cell .ETB

       By default, the formatted table is inserted into the surrounding text
       at the place of its definition.  If the vertical space isn't
       sufficient, it is placed at the top of the next page.  Tables can also
       be stored for later insertion.

       Using `row-number*column-number' as the data for the table cells, a
       table with two rows and two columns can be written as

              .TBL cols=2
              .  TR .TD 1*1 .TD 1*2
              .  TR .TD 2*1 .TD 2*2
              .ETB

       Here we see a difference to HTML tables: The number of columns must be
       explicitly specified using the `cols=m' argument (or indirectly via the
       `width' argument, see below).

       The contents of a table cell is arbitrary; for example, it can be
       another table, without restriction to the nesting depth.  A given table
       layout can be either constructed with suitably nested tables or with
       proper arguments to .TD and .TH, controlling column and row spanning.
       Note, however, that this table

              .TBL
              .  TR
              .    TD
              .      nop 1*1 1*2
              .  TR
              .    TD
              .      TBL cols=2 border=
              .        TR
              .          TD
              .            nop 2*1
              .          TD
              .            nop 2*2
              .      ETB
              .ETB

       and this table

              .TBL cols=2
              .  TR
              .    TD colspan=2
              .      nop 1*1 1*2
              .  TR
              .    TD
              .      nop 2*1
              .    TD
              .      nop 2*2
              .ETB

       are similar but not identical.

       Here the latter table in a more compact form.

              .TBL cols=2 .TR ".TD colspan=2" 1*1 1*2
              .            TR .TD 2*1 .TD 2*2 .ETB

       If a macro has one or more arguments, and it is not starting a line, it
       must be enclosed in double quotes.

MACROS AND ARGUMENTS
       The order of macro calls and other tokens follows the HTML model.  In
       the following list, valid predecessors and successors of all hdtbl
       macros are given, together with the possible arguments.

       Macro arguments are separated by blanks.  The order of arguments is
       arbitrary; they are of the form

              key=value

       or

              key='value1 [value2 [...]]'

       with the only exception of the optional argument of the macro .ETB,
       which is the string `hold'.  Another possible form is

              "key=value1 [value2 [...]]"

       However, this is limited to the case where the macro is the first one
       in the line and not already enclosed in double quotes.

       Argument values specified below as c are colors predefined by groff or
       colors defined by the user with the .defcolor request.  Argument
       values d are decimal numbers with or without decimal point.  Argument
       values m are natural numbers.  Argument values n are numerical values
       with the usual groff scaling indicators.  Some of the arguments are
       specific to one or two macros, but most of them can be specified with
       .TBL, .TR, .TD, and .TH.  These common arguments are explained in the
       next subsection.

       Most of the argument default values can be changed by the user by
       setting corresponding default registers or strings, as listed below.

       .TBL [args]
              Begin a new table.

              predecessor: .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
              successor: .CPTN, .TR
              arguments:
                     border=[n]
                            Thickness of the surrounding box border.
                            `border=' (no value) means neither a surrounding
                            box border nor any horizontal or vertical
                            separator lines between the table rows and cells.
                            `border=0' suppresses the surrounding box border,
                            but still allows separator lines between cells and
                            rows.
                            Default: `border=.1n' (register `t*b').
                     bc=c   Border color.
                            Default: `bc=red4' (string `t*bc').
                     cols=m Number of table columns.  This argument is
                            necessary if more than one column is in the table
                            and no `width' arguments are present.
                            Default: `cols=1' (register `t*cols').
                     cpd=n  Cell padding, i.e., the extra space between the
                            cell space border and the cell contents.
                            Default: `cpd=.5n' (register `t*cpd').
                     csp=n  Cell spacing, i.e., the extra space between the
                            table border or vertical or horizontal lines
                            between cells and the cellspace.
                            Default: `csp=.5n' (register `t*csp').
                     tal=l|c|r
                            Horizontal alignment of the table, if it is
                            smaller than the line width.  `tal=l': left
                            alignment.  `tal=c': centered alignment.  `tal=r':
                            right alignment.
                            Default: `tal=l' (register `t*tal').
                     width='w1 [w2 [...]]'
                            Widths of table cells.  w1, w2, ... are either
                            numbers of type n or natural numbers with the
                            pseudo-scaling indicator `%', with the meaning
                            "percent of the actual line length (or column
                            length for inner tables, respectively)".  If there
                            are less width values than table columns, the last
                            width value is used for the remaining cells.  The
                            argument

                                   width='1.5i 10%'

                            for example indicates that the first column is
                            1.5inches wide; the remaining columns take 1/10 of
                            the column length each.
                            Default: The table width equals the outer line
                            length or column length; the columns have equal
                            widths.
                     height=n
                            Height of the table.  If the table with its
                            contents is lower than n, the last row is
                            stretched to this value.

       .CPTN [args]
              Text of caption.

              The (optionally numbered) table caption.  .CPTN is optional.

              predecessor: .TBL
              successor: .TR
              arguments:
                     val=t|b
                            Vertical alignment of the table caption.  `val=t':
                            The caption is placed above the table.  `val=b':
                            The caption is placed below the table.
                            Default: `val=t' (string `t*cptn').

       .TR [args]
              Begin a new table row.

              predecessor: .TBL, .CPTN, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
              successor: .TD, .TH
              arguments:
                     height=n
                            The height of the row.  If a cell in the row is
                            higher than n this value is ignored; otherwise the
                            row height is stretched to n.

       .TD [args [cell contents]]
              Begin a table data cell.
       .TH [args [cell contents]]
              Begin a table header cell.

              Arguments and cell contents can be mixed.  The macro .TH is not
              really necessary and differs from .TD only in three default
              settings, similar to the <TH> and <TD> HTML tags: The contents
              of .TH is horizontally and vertically centered and typeset in
              boldface.

              predecessor: .TR, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
              successor: .TD, .TH, .TR, .ETB, cell contents
              arguments:
                     colspan=m
                            The width of this cell is the sum of the widths of
                            the m cells above and below this row.
                     rowspan=m
                            The height of this cell is the sum of the heights
                            of the m cells left and right of this column.

                            Remark: Overlapping of column and row spanning, as
                            in the following table fragment (the overlapping
                            happens in the second cell in the second row), is
                            invalid and causes incorrect results.

                                   .TR .TD 1*1 ".TD 1*2 rowspan=2" .TD 1*3
                                   .TR ".TD 2*1 colspan=2"         .TD 2*3

       .ETB [hold]
              End of the table.

              This macro finishes a table.  It causes one of the following
              actions.

              o  If the argument `hold' is given, the table is held until it
                 is freed by calling the macro .t*free, which in turn prints
                 the table immediately, either at the current position or at
                 the top of the next page if its height is larger than the
                 remaining space on the page.

              o  Otherwise, if the table is higher than the remaining space on
                 the page, it is printed at the top of the next page.

              o  If none of the two above constraints hold, the table is
                 printed immediately at the place of its definition.

              predecessor: .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
              successor: .TBL, .TR, .TD, .TH, .ETB, cell contents
              arguments:
                     hold   Prevent the table from being printed until it is
                            freed by calling the macro .t*free.  This argument
                            is ignored for inner (nested) tables.

       .t*free [n]
              Free the next held table or n held tables.  Call this utility
              macro to print tables which are held by using the `hold'
              argument of the .ETB macro.

   Arguments common to .TBL, .TR, .TD, and .TH
       The arguments described in this section can be specified with the .TBL
       and .TR macros, but they are eventually passed on to the table cells.
       If omitted, the defaults take place, which the user can change by
       setting the corresponding default registers or strings, as documented
       below.  Setting an argument with the .TBL macro has the same effect as
       setting it for all rows in the table.  Setting an argument with a .TR
       macro has the same effect as setting it for all the .TH or .TD macro in
       this row.

       bgc=[c]
              The background color of the table cells.  This includes the area
              specified with the `csp' argument.  The argument `bgc=' (no
              value) suppresses a background color; this makes the background
              transparent.
              Default: `bgc=bisque' (string `t*bgc').
       fgc=c  The foreground color of the cell contents.
              Default: `fgc=red4' (string `t*fgc').
       ff=name
              The font family for the table.  name is one of the groff font
              families, for example A for the AvantGarde fonts or HN for
              Helvetica-Narrow.
              Default: The font family found before the table (string `t*ff').
       fst=style
              The font style for the table.  One of R, I, B, or BI for roman,
              bold, italic, or bold italic, respectively.  As with roff's .ft
              request the `fst' argument can be used to specify the font
              family and font style together, for example `fst=HNBI' instead
              of `ff=HN' and `fst=BI'.
              Default: The font style in use right before the table (string
              `t*fst').
       fsz='d1 [d2]'
              A decimal or fractional factor d1, by which the point size for
              the table is changed, and d2, by which the vertical line spacing
              is changed.  If d2 is omitted, value d1 is taken for both.
              Default: `fsz='1.0 1.0'' (string `t*fsz').
       hal=l|c|b|r
              Horizontal alignment of the cell contents in the table.
              `hal=l': left alignment.  `hal=c': centered alignment.  `hal=b':
              both (left and right) alignment.  `hal=r': right alignment.
              Default: `hal=b' (string `t*hal').
       val=t|m|b
              Vertical alignment of the cell contents in the table for cells
              lower than the current row.  `val=t': alignment below the top of
              the cell.  `val=m': alignment in the middle of the cell.
              `val=b': alignment above the cell bottom.
              Default: `val=t' (string `t*val').
       hl=[s|d]
              Horizontal line between the rows.  If specified with .TD or .TH
              this is a separator line to the cell below.  `hl=' (no value):
              no separator line.  `hl=s': a single separator line between the
              rows.  `hl=d': a double separator line.

              The thickness of the separator lines is the half of the border
              thickness, but at least 0.1inches.  The distance between the
              double lines is equal to the line thickness.

              Remark: Together with `border=0' for proper formatting the value
              of `csp' must be at least .05inches for single separator lines
              and .15inches for double separator lines.
              Default: `hl=s' (string `t*hl').
       vl=[s|d]
              Vertical separator line between the cells.  If specified with
              .TD or .TH this is a separator line to the cell on the right.
              `vl=s': a single separator line between the cells.  `vl=d': a
              double separator line.  `vl=' (no value): no vertical cell
              separator lines.  For more information see the documentation of
              the `hl' argument above.
              Default: `vl=s' (string `t*vl').

HDTBL CUSTOMIZATION
       Before creating the first table, you should configure default values to
       minimize the markup needed in each table.  The following example sets
       up defaults suitable for typical papers:

              .ds t*bgc white\" background color
              .ds t*fgc black\" foreground color
              .ds t*bc black\"  border color
              .nr t*cpd 0.1n\"  cell padding

       The file examples/common.roff provides another example setup in the
       ``minimal Page setup'' section.

       A table which does not fit on a partially filled page is printed
       automatically on the top of the next page if you append the little
       utility macro t*hm to the page header macro of your document's main
       macro package.  For example, say

              .am pg@top
              .  t*hm
              ..

       if you use the ms macro package.

       The macro t*EM checks for held or kept tables, and for missing ETB
       macros (table not closed).  You can append this macro to the ``end''
       macro of your document's main macro package.  For example:

              .am pg@end-text
              .  t*EM
              ..

       If you use the ms macro package.

AUTHOR
       Joachim Walsdorff <Joachim.Walsdorff@urz.uni-heidelberg.de>

BUGS AND SUGGESTIONS
       Please send your commments to the groff mailing list <groff@gnu.org> or
       directly to the author.



Groff Version 1.21             31 December 2010                 GROFF_HDTBL(7)
