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4.3.5.7 Displays and keeps

Use displays to show text-based examples or figures (such as code listings).

Displays turn off filling, so lines of code are displayed as-is without inserting br requests in between each line. Displays can be kept on a single page, or allowed to break across pages.

— Macro: .DS L
— Macro: .LD
— Macro: .DE

Left-justified display. The ‘.DS L’ call generates a page break, if necessary, to keep the entire display on one page. The LD macro allows the display to break across pages. The DE macro ends the display.

— Macro: .DS I
— Macro: .ID
— Macro: .DE

Indents the display as defined by the DI register. The ‘.DS I’ call generates a page break, if necessary, to keep the entire display on one page. The ID macro allows the display to break across pages. The DE macro ends the display.

— Macro: .DS B
— Macro: .BD
— Macro: .DE

Sets a block-centered display: the entire display is left-justified, but indented so that the longest line in the display is centered on the page. The ‘.DS B’ call generates a page break, if necessary, to keep the entire display on one page. The BD macro allows the display to break across pages. The DE macro ends the display.

— Macro: .DS C
— Macro: .CD
— Macro: .DE

Sets a centered display: each line in the display is centered. The ‘.DS C’ call generates a page break, if necessary, to keep the entire display on one page. The CD macro allows the display to break across pages. The DE macro ends the display.

— Macro: .DS R
— Macro: .RD
— Macro: .DE

Right-justifies each line in the display. The ‘.DS R’ call generates a page break, if necessary, to keep the entire display on one page. The RD macro allows the display to break across pages. The DE macro ends the display.

— Macro: .Ds
— Macro: .De

These two macros were formerly provided as aliases for DS and DE, respectively. They have been removed, and should no longer be used. The original implementations of DS and DE are retained, and should be used instead. X11 documents which actually use Ds and De always load a specific macro file from the X11 distribution (macros.t) which provides proper definitions for the two macros.

On occasion, you may want to keep other text together on a page. For example, you may want to keep two paragraphs together, or a paragraph that refers to a table (or list, or other item) immediately following. The ms macros provide the KS and KE macros for this purpose.

— Macro: .KS
— Macro: .KE

The KS macro begins a block of text to be kept on a single page, and the KE macro ends the block.

— Macro: .KF
— Macro: .KE

Specifies a floating keep; if the keep cannot fit on the current page, groff holds the contents of the keep and allows text following the keep (in the source file) to fill in the remainder of the current page. When the page breaks, whether by an explicit bp request or by reaching the end of the page, groff prints the floating keep at the top of the new page. This is useful for printing large graphics or tables that do not need to appear exactly where specified.

You can also use the ne request to force a page break if there is not enough vertical space remaining on the page.

Use the following macros to draw a box around a section of text (such as a display).

— Macro: .B1
— Macro: .B2

Marks the beginning and ending of text that is to have a box drawn around it. The B1 macro begins the box; the B2 macro ends it. Text in the box is automatically placed in a diversion (keep).