Re: How to use refer macros-agnostic way?

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi Piotr,

Tadziu wrote:
> > I quess that groff -R automatically activates refer.tmac and all
> > registers like [F become available. Correct?
>
> No, -R only filters the input document through the "refer"
> preprocessor before processing it with the actual formatter "troff".

See groff(1)'s -V option to better understand what's happening.  In a
way, groff just obscures the workings for convenience, and I'm not sure
that's a good idea.  It may be better to avoid it and use the underlying
commands whilst you're learning.

    $ groff -V /dev/null
    troff -Tps /dev/null | grops
    $ groff -V -R /dev/null
    refer /dev/null | troff -Tps | grops

> For example, troff.org lists M. E. Lesk's "Some Applications of
> Inverted Indexes on the UNIX System" as providing a basic overview of
> how refer works.

https://troff.org/papers.html#refer

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.