>>> what takes me wonder is the question what went wrong with \$_ ? >> >> I don't know where the "\$_" comes from. It's not in the tbl >> manpage, nor in the original tbl paper from Bell Labs. > > I got it from UTP page 487. This is my basic source.
Obviously a bunch of typos. For groff tbl, the primary documentation is $(Q#|(B you guess it $(Q#|(B its man page: If a data line consists of only `_' or `=', a single or double line, respectively, is drawn across the table at that point; if a single item in a data line consists of only `_' or `=', then that item is replaced by a single or double line, joining its neighbours. If a data item consists only of `\_' or `\=', a single or double line, respectively, is drawn across the field at that point which does not join its neighbours. > I read it this way: > |\_| will result in | -------- | No, this is `_'. > |\$_| will result in |------------| No, this is `\_'. Larry, you've something to fix :-) Werner