groff: General ms Structure
4.3.2 General structure of an 'ms' document
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The 'ms' macro package expects a certain amount of structure, but not as
much as packages such as 'man' or 'mdoc'.
The simplest documents can begin with a paragraph macro (such as 'LP'
or 'PP'), and consist of text separated by paragraph macros or even
blank lines. Longer documents have a structure as follows:
*Document type*
If you invoke the 'RP' (report) macro on the first line of the
document, 'groff' prints the cover page information on its own
page; otherwise it prints the information on the first page with
your document text immediately following. Other document formats
found in AT&T 'troff' are specific to AT&T or Berkeley, and are not
supported in 'groff'.
*Format and layout*
By setting number registers, you can change your document's type
(font and size), margins, spacing, headers and footers, and
footnotes. ms Document Control Registers, for more
details.
*Cover page*
A cover page consists of a title, the author's name and
institution, an abstract, and the date.(1) (General ms
Structure-Footnote-1) ms Cover Page Macros, for more
details.
*Body*
Following the cover page is your document. You can use the 'ms'
macros to write reports, letters, books, and so forth. The package
is designed for structured documents, consisting of paragraphs
interspersed with headings and augmented by lists, footnotes,
tables, and other common constructs. ms Body Text, for
more details.
*Table of contents*
Longer documents usually include a table of contents, which you can
invoke by placing the 'TC' macro at the end of your document. The
'ms' macros have minimal indexing facilities, consisting of the
'IX' macro, which prints an entry on standard error. Printing the
table of contents at the end is necessary since 'groff' is a
single-pass text formatter, thus it cannot determine the page
number of each section until that section has actually been set and
printed. Since 'ms' output is intended for hardcopy, you can
manually relocate the pages containing the table of contents
between the cover page and the body text after printing.