Linux deroff command

Updated: 11/06/2021 by Computer Hope
deroff command

On Unix-like operating systems, the deroff command removes nroff, troff, tbl, and eqn constructs.

Description

deroff reads each of the file names in sequence and removes all troff requests, macro calls, backslash constructs, eqn constructs (between .EQ and .EN lines, and between delimiters), and tbl descriptions, 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.

Syntax

deroff [ -m [m | s | l ] ] [ -w ] [ -i ] [ file name ... ]

Options

-m [ m | s | l ] 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 (that is, no text from macro lines.) The -ml option forces the -mm option and also causes deletion of lists associated with the mm macros.
-w 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."
-i The -i option causes deroff to ignore .so and .nx commands.

Examples

deroff myfile.txt

Remove constructs in the file myfile.txt.

eqn — Language processor for describing equations.
nroff — Format documents for terminal display or line-printer.
tbl — Preprocessor which formats tables for nroff or troff.
troff — Typeset or format documents for terminal display or line-printer.