deroff(1)                    (Spell Utilities)                    deroff(1)


   NAME
         deroff - remove nroff/troff, tbl, and eqn constructs

   SYNOPSIS
         deroff [ -m x ] [ -w ] [ files ]

   DESCRIPTION
         deroff reads each of the files in sequence and removes all troff(1)
         requests, macro calls, backslash constructs, eqn(1) constructs
         (between .EQ and .EN lines, and between delimiters), and tbl(1)
         descriptions, perhaps replacing them with white space (blanks and
         blank lines), and writes the remainder of the file on the standard
         output.  deroff follows chains of included files (.so and .nx troff
         commands); if a file has already been included, a .so naming that
         file is ignored and a .nx naming that file terminates execution.  If
         no input file is given, deroff reads the standard input.

         The -m option may be followed by an m, s, or l.  The -mm option
         causes the macros to be interpreted so that only running text is
         output (i.e., no text from macro lines.)  The -ml option forces the
         -mm option and also causes deletion of lists associated with the mm
         macros.

         If the -w option is given, the output is a word list, one ``word''
         per line, with all other characters deleted.  Otherwise, the output
         follows the original, with the deletions mentioned above.  In text, a
         ``word'' is any string that contains at least two letters and is
         composed of letters, digits, ampersands (&), and apostrophes ('); in
         a macro call, however, a ``word'' is a string that begins with at
         least two letters and contains a total of at least three letters.
         Delimiters are any characters other than letters, digits,
         apostrophes, and ampersands.  Trailing apostrophes and ampersands are
         removed from ``words.''

   SEE ALSO
         eqn(1), nroff(1), tbl(1), troff(1) in the DOCUMENTER'S WORKBENCH
         Software Technical Discussion and Reference Manual.

   NOTES
         deroff is not a complete troff interpreter, so it can be confused by
         subtle constructs.  Most such errors result in too much rather than
         too little output.

         The -ml option does not handle nested lists correctly.









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