From fe1ab0bcc9a99c02c558d919445cd0772535ae18 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Michael Kerrisk Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2021 12:08:33 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] man-pages.7: Note some rationale for the use of real minus signs See: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/20210121061158.5ul7226fgbrmodbt@localhost.localdomain/ From: "G. Branden Robinson" Cc: linux-man , groff@gnu.org Subject: Re: Escaping hyphens ("real" minus signs in groff) Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2021 17:12:00 +1100 and also groff_char(7). Signed-off-by: Michael Kerrisk --- man7/man-pages.7 | 10 ++++++++++ 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+) diff --git a/man7/man-pages.7 b/man7/man-pages.7 index b7fbdb7d6..0e7082714 100644 --- a/man7/man-pages.7 +++ b/man7/man-pages.7 @@ -920,6 +920,16 @@ use the following form in the man page source: .PP This guideline applies also to code examples. .PP +The use of real minus signs serves the following purposes: +.\" https://lore.kernel.org/linux-man/20210121061158.5ul7226fgbrmodbt@localhost.localdomain/ +.IP * 3 +To provide better renderings on various targets other than +ASCII terminals, +notably in PDF and on Unicode/UTF\-8-capable terminals. +.IP * +To generate glyphs that when copied from rendered pages will +produce real minus signs when pasted into a terminal. +.PP To produce unslanted single quotes that render well in ASCII, UTF-8, and PDF, use "\e(aq" ("apostrophe quote"); for example .PP