TBL(1) General Commands Manual TBL(1)
NAME
tbl - format tables for troff
SYNOPSIS
tbl [-Cv] [files ...]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page describes the GNU version of tbl, which is part of the groff document formatting system. tbl
compiles descriptions of tables embedded within troff input files into commands that are understood by troff.
Normally, it should be invoked using the -t option of groff. It is highly compatible with Unix tbl. The out‐
put generated by GNU tbl cannot be processed with Unix troff; it must be processed with GNU troff. If no
files are given on the command line or a filename of - is given, the standard input is read.
OPTIONS
-C Enable compatibility mode to recognize .TS and .TE even when followed by a character other than space
or newline. Leader characters (\a) are handled as interpreted.
-v Print the version number.
USAGE
tbl expects to find table descriptions wrapped in the .TS (table start) and .TE (table end) macros.
Global options
The line immediately following the .TS macro may contain any of the following global options (ignoring the
case of characters – Unix tbl only accepts options with all characters lowercase or all characters uppercase),
separated by spaces, tabs, or commas:
allbox Enclose each item of the table in a box.
box Enclose the table in a box.
center Center the table (default is left-justified). The alternative keyword name centre is also recognized
(this is a GNU tbl extension).
decimalpoint(c)
Set the character to be recognized as the decimal point in numeric columns (GNU tbl only).
delim(xy)
Use x and y as start and end delimiters for eqn(1).
doublebox
Enclose the table in a double box.
doubleframe
Same as doublebox (GNU tbl only).
expand Make the table as wide as the current line length (providing a column separation factor). Ignored if
one or more `x' column specifiers are used (see below).
In case the sum of the column widths is larger than the current line length, the column separation fac‐
tor is set to zero; such tables extend into the right margin, and there is no column separation at all.
frame Same as box (GNU tbl only).
linesize(n)
Set lines or rules (e.g. from box) in n-point type.
The global options must end with a semicolon. There might be whitespace between an option and its argument in
parentheses.
Table format specification
After global options come lines describing the format of each line of the table. Each such format line
describes one line of the table itself, except that the last format line (which you must end with a period)
describes all remaining lines of the table. A single-key character describes each column of each line of the
table. Key characters can be separated by spaces or tabs. You may run format specifications for multiple
lines together on the same line by separating them with commas.
You may follow each key character with specifiers that determine the font and point size of the corresponding
item, that determine column width, inter-column spacing, etc.
The longest format line defines the number of columns in the table; missing format descriptors at the end of
format lines are assumed to be L. Extra columns in the data (which have no corresponding format entry) are
ignored.
The available key characters are:
a,A Center longest line in this column and then left-justifies all other lines in this column with respect
to that centered line. The idea is to use such alphabetic subcolumns (hence the name of the key char‐
acter) in combination with L; they are called subcolumns because A items are indented by 1n relative to
L entries. Example:
.TS
tab(;);
ln,an.
item one;1
subitem two;2
subitem three;3
.T&
ln,an.
item eleven;11
subitem twentytwo;22
subitem thirtythree;33
.TE
Result:
item one 1
subitem two 2
subitem three 3
item eleven 11
subitem twentytwo 22
subitem thirtythree 33
c,C Center item within the column.
l,L Left-justify item within the column.
n,N Numerically justify item in the column: Units positions of numbers are aligned vertically. If there is
one or more dots adjacent to a digit, use the rightmost one for vertical alignment. If there is no
dot, use the rightmost digit for vertical alignment; otherwise, center the item within the column.
Alignment can be forced to a certain position using `\&'; if there is one or more instances of this
1
1.5
1.5.3
abcde
abcde
If numerical entries are combined with L or R entries – this can happen if the table format is changed
with .T& –, center the widest number (of the data entered under the N specifier regime) relative to the
widest L or R entry, preserving the alignment of all numerical entries. Contrary to A type entries,
there is no extra indentation.
Using equations (to be processed with eqn) within columns which use the N specifier is problematic in
most cases due to tbl's algorithm for finding the vertical alignment, as described above. Using the
global delim option, however, it is possible to make tbl ignore the data within eqn delimiters for that
purpose.
r,R Right-justify item within the column.
s,S Span previous item on the left into this column. Not allowed for the first column.
^ Span down entry from previous row in this column. Not allowed for the first row.
_,- Replace this entry with a horizontal line. Note that `_' and `-' can be used for table fields only,
not for column separator lines.
= Replace this entry with a double horizontal line. Note that `=' can be used for table fields only, not
for column separator lines.
| The corresponding column becomes a vertical rule (if two of these are adjacent, a double vertical
rule).
A vertical bar to the left of the first key letter or to the right of the last one produces a line at the edge
of the table.
To change the data format within a table, use the .T& command (at the start of a line). It is followed by
format and data lines (but no global options) similar to the .TS request.
Column specifiers
Here are the specifiers that can appear in suffixes to column key letters (in any order):
b,B Short form of fB (make affected entries bold).
d,D Start an item that vertically spans rows, using the `^' column specifier or `\^' data item, at the bot‐
tom of its range rather than vertically centering it (GNU tbl only). Example:
.TS
tab(;) allbox;
l l
l ld
r ^
l rd.
0000;foobar
T{
Result:
┌─────┬────────┐
│0000 │ foobar │
├─────┼────────┤
│1111 │ │
│2222 │ │
├─────┤ │
│ r │ foo │
├─────┼────────┤
│3333 │ │
│4444 │ bar │
└─────┴────────┘
e,E Make equally-spaced columns. All columns marked with this specifier get the same width; this happens
after the affected column widths have been computed (this means that the largest width value rules).
f,F Either of these specifiers may be followed by a font name (either one or two characters long), font
number (a single digit), or long name in parentheses (the last form is a GNU tbl extension). A one-
letter font name must be separated by one or more blanks from whatever follows.
i,I Short form of fI (make affected entries italic).
m,M This is a GNU tbl extension. Either of these specifiers may be followed by a macro name (either one or
two characters long), or long name in parentheses. A one-letter macro name must be separated by one or
more blanks from whatever follows. The macro which name can be specified here must be defined before
creating the table. It is called just before the table's cell text is output. As implemented cur‐
rently, this macro is only called if block input is used, that is, text between `T{' and `T}'. The
macro should contain only simple troff requests to change the text block formatting, like text adjust‐
ment, hyphenation, size, or font. The macro is called after other cell modifications like b, f or v
are output. Thus the macro can overwrite other modification specifiers.
p,P Followed by a number, this does a point size change for the affected fields. If signed, the current
point size is incremented or decremented (using a signed number instead of a signed digit is a GNU tbl
extension). A point size specifier followed by a column separation number must be separated by one or
more blanks.
t,T Start an item vertically spanning rows at the top of its range rather than vertically centering it.
u,U Move the corresponding column up one half-line.
v,V Followed by a number, this indicates the vertical line spacing to be used in a multi-line table entry.
If signed, the current vertical line spacing is incremented or decremented (using a signed number
instead of a signed digit is a GNU tbl extension). A vertical line spacing specifier followed by a
column separation number must be separated by one or more blanks. No effect if the corresponding table
entry isn't a text block.
w,W Minimum column width value. Must be followed either by a troff(1) width expression in parentheses or a
unitless integer. If no unit is given, en units are used. Also used as the default line length for
included text blocks. If used multiple times to specify the width for a particular column, the last
entry takes effect.
x,X An expanded column. After computing all column widths without an x specifier, use the remaining line
width for this column. If there is more than one expanded column, distribute the remaining horizontal
Table data
The format lines are followed by lines containing the actual data for the table, followed finally by .TE.
Within such data lines, items are normally separated by tab characters (or the character specified with the
tab option). Long input lines can be broken across multiple lines if the last character on the line is `\'
(which vanishes after concatenation).
Note that tbl computes the column widths line by line, applying \w on each entry which isn't a text block. As
a consequence, constructions like
.TS
c,l.
\s[20]MM
MMMM
.TE
fail; you must either say
.TS
cp20,lp20.
MM
MMMM
.TE
or
.TS
c,l.
\s[20]MM
\s[20]MMMM
.TE
A dot starting a line, followed by anything but a digit is handled as a troff command, passed through without
changes. The table position is unchanged in this case.
If a data line consists of only `_' or `=', a single or double line, respectively, is drawn across the table
at that point; if a single item in a data line consists of only `_' or `=', then that item is replaced by a
single or double line, joining its neighbours. If a data item consists only of `\_' or `\=', a single or dou‐
ble line, respectively, is drawn across the field at that point which does not join its neighbours.
A data item consisting only of `\Rx' (`x' any character) is replaced by repetitions of character `x' as wide
as the column (not joining its neighbours).
A data item consisting only of `\^' indicates that the field immediately above spans downward over this row.
Text blocks
A text block can be used to enter data as a single entry which would be too long as a simple string between
tabs. It is started with `T{' and closed with `T}'. The former must end a line, and the latter must start a
line, probably followed by other data columns (separated with tabs or the character given with the tab global
option).
By default, the text block is formatted with the settings which were active before entering the table, possi‐
bly overridden by the m, v, and w tbl specifiers. For example, to make all text blocks ragged-right, insert
.na right before the starting .TS (and .ad after the table).
tbl also defines a macro .T# which produces the bottom and side lines of a boxed table. While tbl does call
this macro itself at the end of the table, it can be used by macro packages to create boxes for multi-page
tables by calling it within the page footer. An example of this is shown by the -ms macros which provide this
functionality if a table starts with .TS H instead of the standard call to the .TS macro.
INTERACTION WITH EQN
tbl(1) should always be called before eqn(1) (groff(1) automatically takes care of the correct order of pre‐
processors).
GNU TBL ENHANCEMENTS
There is no limit on the number of columns in a table, nor any limit on the number of text blocks. All the
lines of a table are considered in deciding column widths, not just the first 200. Table continuation (.T&)
lines are not restricted to the first 200 lines.
Numeric and alphabetic items may appear in the same column.
Numeric and alphabetic items may span horizontally.
tbl uses register, string, macro and diversion names beginning with the digit 3. When using tbl you should
avoid using any names beginning with a 3.
GNU TBL WITHIN MACROS
Since tbl defines its own macros (right before each table) it is necessary to use an `end-of-macro' macro.
Additionally, the escape character has to be switched off. Here an example.
.eo
.de ATABLE ..
.TS
allbox tab(;);
cl.
\$1;\$2
.TE
...
.ec
.ATABLE A table
.ATABLE Another table
.ATABLE And "another one"
Note, however, that not all features of tbl can be wrapped into a macro because tbl sees the input earlier
than troff. For example, number formatting with vertically aligned decimal points fails if those numbers are
passed on as macro parameters because decimal point alignment is handled by tbl itself: It only sees `\$1',
`\$2', etc., and therefore can't recognize the decimal point.
BUGS
You should use .TS H/.TH in conjunction with a supporting macro package for all multi-page boxed tables. If
there is no header that you wish to appear at the top of each page of the table, place the .TH line immedi‐
ately after the format section. Do not enclose a multi-page table within keep/release macros, or divert it in
any other way.
A text block within a table must be able to fit on one page.
The bp request cannot be used to force a page-break in a multi-page table. Instead, define BP as follows
.de BP
tab(;);
lw(1i) l.
A\*a;B
.TE
A leading and/or trailing `|' in a format line, such as
|l r|.
gives output which has a 1n space between the resulting bordering vertical rule and the content of the adja‐
cent column, as in
.TS
tab(#);
|l r|.
left column#right column
.TE
If it is desired to have zero space (so that the rule touches the content), this can be achieved by introduc‐
ing extra “dummy” columns, with no content and zero separation, before and/or after, as in
.TS
tab(#);
r0|l r0|l.
#left column#right column#
.TE
The resulting “dummy” columns are invisible and have zero width; note that such columns usually don't work
with TTY devices.
REFERENCE
Lesk, M.E.: "TBL – A Program to Format Tables". For copyright reasons it cannot be included in the groff dis‐
tribution, but copies can be found with a title search on the World Wide Web.
SEE ALSO
groff(1), troff(1)
Groff Version 1.22.2 7 February 2013 TBL(1)
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