On 14.03.25 00:25, G. Branden Robinson wrote: > At 2025-03-14T04:52:59+0000, dvalin--- via GNU roff typesetting system > discussion wrote:
> > The attached "sample.groff" does not flow together lines, following a > > .PP, expected to compile a paragraph. Yet going the whole .RP trip, > > for conformity's sake, in groff_primer.ms, *does* spuriously flow > > together successive \n terminated lines *without* a .PP or .LP, and > > that's even more useless, really. The spurious proliferation of bold > > isn't much help either. > > Why are you indenting the lines of your body text by one space? By > doing so you are telling the formatter to interrupt filling, break the > line, and indent it. Ah, well, that was initially for wrapping after the .I line, then it was Vim's autoindent. I provided the space needed after the trailing comma, to separate words ... erroneously as you're so succinctly illuminating. Missing whitespace is easy to find, extra less so, especially when the consequences are unanticipated. I had read that a blank line breaks, but sensitivity to a space in a text line is a significant surprise. Yes, at "4.6.5.3 Paragraphs" I read "Alternatively, a blank input line breaks the output line and vertically spaces by one vee." There was no hint that a space in a text line could do the same. As it modifies paragraph wrapping, I submit that it is functionally a paragraph attribute, highly worthy of an additional clause in the "blank line" sentence. > ---snip--- > 5.1.4 Breaking > -------------- > ... > A line that begins with one or more spaces causes a break. The > spaces are output at the beginning of the next line without being > _adjusted_ (see below); however, this behavior can be modified (*note > Leading Space Traps::). Again, macro packages may provide other methods > of producing indented paragraphs. Trailing spaces on text lines are > discarded.(1) (*note Breaking-Footnote-1::) > ---end snip--- I'll read that now, and add the worst gotchas to the nascent groff section of my 460 pages of *nix & embedded systems software development notes, long essential for survival despite manpages. Grateful thanks for taking the time to analyse the problem, and discern the solution. It is dawning that I must tread *very* carefully with input, adding only a bit at the time, lest another bunch of unforeseen effects be triggered. That's just like writing postscript, so eminently doable. Thanks again, Branden. Erik
