GNU roff

groff

GNU troff — the GNU implementation of troff.

Runs as groff, groffer|macOS, Linux, Windows|www.gnu.org

Open form in Otty otty.toml

Command form

ai-draft · 2 tasks · 8 fields

Format man pages, mom or ms documents with groff for a chosen output device. The result goes to standard output, so redirect it to a file in the shell. Less common options are left out.

Opens the form; the finished command lands at your prompt, unrun

Run in Otty

otty gui groff

Format roff documentsExample values, fixed in this page — nothing here reaches a terminal

Basic

Input files*

file

Output device

utf8string

Macro package

manstring

Advanced

Run tbl (tables)

-t

TasksEach one presets the form for one job

Render a man page to text

filesdevicemacrostbl

Typeset to PDF

filesmacroseqnpictbl

ParametersOnly these flags are editable in the form

Input files

Leave empty to read standard input.
path · positional 0 · repeatable

Output device

string

-Tutf8asciipdfhtmlpsdvi

Macro package

Name of the macro package, for example man, mdoc, ms, me or mom (loaded as -m<name>).
string

-mmanmdocmsmemom

Run eqn (equations)

boolean

-e

Run pic (pictures)

boolean

-p

Run tbl (tables)

boolean

-t

Run preconv (input encoding)

boolean

-k

Skip postprocessing (raw troff output)

boolean

-Z

SourcesEvery flag above is checked against these

man

groff [-abcCeEgGijklNpRsStUVXzZ] [-d cs] [-m name] [-M dir] [-T dev] [-w name] [-W name] [file ...] -e Run eqn preprocessor. -k Run preconv preprocessor. -p Run pic preprocessor. -t Run tbl preprocessor. -T dev Direct troff to format the input for the output device dev. -m name Process name.tmac before input files. -Z Disable postprocessing. troff out…

manualmaster 2026-10-27 (escapes rendered)

git.savannah.gnu.org

Before it fills your prompt, Otty checks the installed groff against its version. A form that does not match your version is not offered.