gbranden pushed a commit to branch master
in repository groff.
commit 30116fb2a93e6d7b9cce7821ca191011f08470a7
Author: G. Branden Robinson <[email protected]>
AuthorDate: Sat Jun 21 11:30:44 2025 -0500
doc/groff.texi.in: Clarify non-deprecation of \".
A contributor to Vim interpreted our Texinfo manual's statement "GNU
troff introduced this extension [`\#`] to avoid the problems described
above" as establishing a preference for `\#` over `\"`--but this is not
so, as all groff maintainers from James Clark forward have used `\"`
freely when composing macro files and documents. Elaborate the example
and present a pitfall of using `\#` robotically.
See <https://github.com/vim/vim/pull/17516>.
---
doc/groff.texi.in | 27 ++++++++++++++++++++++-----
1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/groff.texi.in b/doc/groff.texi.in
index 0f31f62ac..53e3cda29 100644
--- a/doc/groff.texi.in
+++ b/doc/groff.texi.in
@@ -7645,18 +7645,35 @@ undefined macro (namely @samp{''}).
@Defesc {\\#, , , }
Start a whole-line comment; read everything up to and including the next
-newline in copy mode (@pxref{Copy Mode}) and discard it. GNU
-@command{troff} introduced this extension to avoid the problems
-described above.
+newline in copy mode (@pxref{Copy Mode}) and discard it.
+GNU
+@command{troff}
+introduced this extension to avoid the problems described above.
+(@code{\"}
+is still widely seen,
+and remains useful for partial-line comments on control lines.)
@cindex @code{\#}, interpretation in copy mode
@code{\#} is interpreted even in copy mode.
@Example
-apples bananas
+.nr in-indonesia 1
+apples bananas \" common favorites
\# cantaloupes
-durians
+.ie \n[in-indonesia] durians \" Borneo, Sumatra
+.el elderberries \" England, France
@result{} apples bananas durians
@endExample
+
+If we change the comment escape sequence from
+@code{\"}
+to
+@code{\#}
+on the line with the @code{ie} request,
+we get the following undesired output.
+
+@Example
+ @result{} apples bananas durians .el elderberries
+@endExample
@endDefesc
@Defreq {ig, [@Var{end}]}
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