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Document processing with mom

Table of contents

Introduction to document processing

Document processing with mom uses markup tags to identify document elements such as headings, paragraphs, blockquotes, and so on. The tags are, of course, macros, but with sensible, readable names that make them easy to grasp and easy to remember. (And don’t forget: if you don’t like the “official” name of a tag — too long, cumbersome to type in, not “intuitive” enough — you can change it with the ALIAS macro.)

In addition to the tags themselves, mom has an extensive array of macros that control how they look and behave.

Setting up a mom doc is a simple, four-part procedure. You begin by entering metadata about the document itself (title, subtitle, author, etc.). Next, you tell mom what kind of document you’re creating (e.g., chapter, letter, abstract, etc...) and what kind of output you want (typeset, typewritten, draft-style, etc) — essentially, templates. Thirdly, you make as many or as few changes to the templates as you wish; in other words, create a style sheet. Lastly, you invoke the START macro. Voilà! You’re ready to write.

Document defaults

As is to be expected, mom has defaults for everything. If you want to know a particular default, read about it in the description of the pertinent tag.

I fear the following may not be adequately covered in the documentation, so just in case:

• the paper size is 8.5x11 inches
• the left and right margins are 1-inch
• the top and bottom margins for document text are plus/minus visually 1-inch
• pages are numbered; the number appears centred, at the bottom, surrounded by hyphens ( e.g., -6- )
• the first page of a document begins with a document header
• subsequent pages have page headers with a rule underneath

Vertical whitespace management

• Macro: SHIM
• Macro: NO_SHIM
• Macro: FLEX
• Macro: NO_FLEX

Mom takes evenly-aligned bottom margins in running text very seriously. Only under a very few, exceptional circumstances will she allow a bottom margin to “hang” (ie to fall short).

Mom offers two modes of operation for ensuring flush bottom margins: shimming and flex-spacing. Shimming means that mom nudges the next line after a significant break in running text back onto the baseline grid (e.g., after the insertion of a graphic). Flex-spacing means that any vertical whitespace remaining between the end of running text and the bottom margin is distributed equally at logical points on the page.

Mom uses the leading of running text (the “document leading”) that’s in effect at the start of running text on each page to establish the grid and space document elements such as heads or blockquotes so that they adhere to it. (Prior to invoking START, the document leading is set with the typesetting macro LS, afterwards with the document control macro DOC_LEAD.)

What this means is that documents whose paragraphs are not separated by whitepace and which do not contain graphics or pre-processor material will fill the page completely to the bottom margin. However, if your paragraphs are spaced, or if there are any leading changes on a page, or if graphics or pre-processor material are inserted, it’s very likely the bottom margins will hang unless shimming or flex-spacing is enabled.

Shimming vs. flex-spacing

Shimming is mom's default mode of operation. She applies it automatically before headings, around quotes and blockquotes, and beneath floats and pre-processor material. In addition, the SHIM macro can be inserted into a document to make sure that the text following falls on the baseline grid.

This mode of operation works well in documents whose paragraphs are not spaced. Deviations from the baseline grid, usually caused by floats or pre-processor material, are corrected immediately. If the shimming results in slightly unbalanced whitespace around them, it can easily be remedied by passing the ADJUST argument to the appropriate macro.

If you do not want mom shimming automatically, NO_SHIM turns shimming off globally and suppresses the SHIM macro. If you want to disable shimming only for a particular float or pre-processor, the NO_SHIM argument may be given to the appropriate macro.

Flex-spacing kicks in automatically whenever you turn shimming off. In other words, if you want a document flex-spaced, .NO_SHIM is how you achieve it. If, in addition to not shimming, you don’t want mom flex-spacing either, NO_FLEX lets you disable it, too.

Flex-spacing differs from shimming in that mom doesn’t correct deviations from the baseline grid. Rather, she distributes whitespace left at the bottom of the page equally in appropriate places. Like shimming, flex-spacing is automatically applied before heads, after floats and pre-processor material, and around quotes and blockquotes. Like shimming, flex-spacing can be disabled for individual floats or pre-processor material with the NO_FLEX flag.

In addition, you can use the FLEX macro to insert flex-spacing yourself into the document, which you will almost certainly want to do if your paragraphs are spaced. This is because paragraphs are not flex-spaced. Typographically, the ideal for spaced paragraphs is that the space between them remain constant. Paradoxically, the only way to achieve flush bottom margins, or to correct excessive flex-spacing before a heading, is by adding flex-space between paragraphs. This requires human judgment, and mom does not presume to decide for you.

Shimming and flex-spacing are mutually exclusive. If the one is active, the other isn’t unless you have disabled both. This means that you cannot use the FLEX macro when shimming is enabled, or the SHIM macro when flex-spacing is enabled. Mom will issue a warning if you do.

The choice of whether to use shimming or flex-spacing depends on whether or not your paragraphs are spaced. In a document with indented, non-spaced paragraphs, shimming and flex-spacing produce nearly the same result, with shimming winning by an aesthetic hair. In documents with spaced paragraphs, flex-spacing is the only way to achieve flush bottom margins.

When shimming is enabled, which it is by default, the SHIM macro allows you to nudge the line following it back onto the baseline grid. In documents with non-spaced paragraphs, this prevents the bottom margins from hanging.

Mom herself automatically applies shimming

• before headings
• around quotes and blockquotes
• after PDF images, tables, pic diagrams, equations, and floats

You may sometimes find the amount of space generated by SHIM looks too big, whether inserted manually into a document or as a result of automatic shimming. The situation occurs when the amount of shimming applied comes close to the leading currently in effect, making it seem as if there’s one linespace too much whitespace.

The solution is simply to add .SPACE -1v or .RLD 1v to the document immediately after .SHIM. (Both .SPACE -1v and .RLD 1v back up by one linespace.)

NO_SHIM, without an argument, disables automatic shimming, suppresses the SHIM macro, and enables flex-spacing.

NO_SHIM with any argument (e.g., OFF, QUIT, END, X, etc) re-enables shimming if it has been disabled and disables flex-spacing.

When flex-spacing is enabled, the FLEX macro inserts flexible vertical whitespace into a document. The amount of flex-space is determined from any extra whitespace at the bottom of a page divided by the number of flex points on the same page.

If flex-spacing is enabled, mom herself automatically applies flex-spacing

• before headings
• around quotes and blockquotes
• after PDF images, tables, pic diagrams, equations, and floats

Near the bottom of some pages, you may find that floated or pre-proccesor material, including images, or a single line of text afterward, is not flush with the bottom margin. This is a result of mom flex-spacing after such material but not before. The solution to is insert .FLEX immediately beforehand.

There are some instances where mom inhibits flex-spacing, notably after outputting deferred floats and pre-processor material. Introducing FLEX by itself in these instances—say, before a head or paragraph—will not have any effect; you must pass FLEX the FORCE argument.

NO_FLEX, without an argument, disables automatic flex-spacing and suppresses the FLEX macro. If, in addition to NO_FLEX, NO_SHIM has also been given, your document will be neither flex-spaced nor shimmed.

NO_FLEX with any argument (e.g., OFF, QUIT, END, X, etc) re-enables flex-spacing if it has been disabled.

Preliminary document setup

The reference macros (metadata)

The reference macros give mom the metadata she needs to generate docheaders, page headers, and covers. They must go at the top of any file that uses mom’s document processing macros.

• Arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

The title string can be caps or caps/lower-case; it’s up to you. In PRINTSTYLE TYPESET, the title will appear in the docheader exactly as you typed it. However, mom converts the title to all caps in page headers unless you turn that feature off (see HEADER_<POSITION>_CAPS). In PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, the title always gets converted to caps.

TITLE accepts multiple arguments, each surrounded by double-quotes. Each argument is printed on a separate line, permitting you to create multi-line titles in your docheaders.

• Arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

When you’re creating a single document, say, an essay or a short story, you have no need of this macro. TITLE takes care of all your title needs.

However if you’re collating a bunch of documents together, say, to print out a report containing many articles with different titles, or a book of short stories with different authors, you need DOCTITLE.

DOCTITLE tells mom the title of the complete document (as opposed to the title of each article or entitled section), and appears

1. as the window title in PDF viewers (e.g., Okular or Evince)
2. in the initial rightmost position of page headers in the document

Moreover, DOCTITLE does not appear in the PDF outline, as its presence in window title would make it redundant.

The doctitle string can be caps or caps/lower-case; it’s up to you. In PRINTSTYLE TYPESET, by default, the doctitle in page headers is all in caps, unless you turn that feature off (see HEADER_<POSITION>_CAPS). In PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, the doctitle always gets converted to caps.

DOCTITLE accepts multiple arguments, each surrounded by double-quotes. Each argument is printed on a separate line, permitting you to create multi-line document titles for use on Covers and/or Doc covers.

• String arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

The subtitle string can be caps or caps/lower-case. I recommend caps/lower case.

SUBTITLE accepts multiple arguments, each surrounded by double-quotes. Each argument is printed on a separate line, permitting you to create multi-line subtitles.

If the optional argument, COVER or DOC_COVER, is given to SUBTITLE, the remaining string arguments represent the subtitle that will appear on cover or document cover pages (see the Introduction to cover pages for a description of the difference between “document covers” and “covers”). Thus, it is possible to have differing subtitles appear on the document cover, the cover (“title”) page, and in the document header. An extreme example would be:
.SUBTITLE "The Docheader Subtitle" .SUBTITLE DOC_COVER "The Document Cover Subtitle" .SUBTITLE COVER "The Cover Subtitle" The first invocation of .SUBTITLE establishes the subtitle that appears in the docheader at the top of the first page of a document. The second invocation establishes the subtitle that appears on the document cover; the third establishes the subtitle that appears on the cover (“title”) page.

If you don’t require differing subtitles for doc cover and cover pages, .SUBTITLE, without the optional first argument, is sufficient, provided you give the word, SUBTITLE, as an argument to the macro DOC_COVER or COVER

Alias: EDITOR

• String arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

Each author string can hold as many names as you like, e.g.,
.AUTHOR "Joe Blow" or
.AUTHOR "Joe Blow, Jane Doe" "John Hancock" Mom prints each string that’s enclosed in double-quotes on a separate line in the docheader, however only the first string appears in page headers. If you want mom to put something else in the author part of page headers (say, just the last names of a document’s two authors), redefine the appropriate part of the header (see header/footer control).

The strings can be caps or caps/lower-case. I recommend caps/lower case.

If the optional argument, COVER or DOC_COVER, is given to AUTHOR, the remaining string arguments represent the author(s) that will appear on cover or document cover pages (see the Introduction to cover pages for a description of the difference between “document covers” and “covers”). Thus, it is possible to have differing authors on the document cover, the cover (“title”) page, in the document first-page header and subsequent page headers/footers. An example might be:
.AUTHOR "Joe Blow" .EDITOR DOC_COVER "John Smith" "and" "Jane Doe" \" EDITOR is an alias for AUTHOR .AUTHOR COVER "Joe Blow" "(assisted by Jane Doe)" The first invocation of .AUTHOR establishes the author that appears in the docheader at the top of the first page of a document and in subsequent page headers/footers. The second invocation establishes the authors (editors, in this instance) that appear on the document cover; the third establishes the author(s) that appear(s) on the cover (“title”) page.

If you don’t require differing authors for doc cover and cover pages, .AUTHOR, without the optional first argument, is sufficient, provided you give the word, AUTHOR as an argument to the macro DOC_COVER or COVER

The chapter number can be in any form you like—a digit, a roman numeral, a word. If you choose DOCTYPE CHAPTER, mom prints whatever argument you pass CHAPTER beside the word, “Chapter”, as a single line docheader. She also puts the same thing in the middle of page headers.

Please note that if your argument to CHAPTER runs to more than one word, you must enclose the argument in double-quotes.

If you’re not using DOCTYPE CHAPTER, the macro can be used to identify any document as a chapter for the purpose of prepending a chapter number to numbered head elements, provided you pass it a numeric argument. See PREFIX_CHAPTER_NUMBER.

Chapter string

If you’re not writing in English, you can ask mom to use the word for “chapter” in your own language by telling her what it is with the CHAPTER_STRING macro, like this:
.CHAPTER_STRING "Chapître"

If you would like a blank chapter string, ie you’d like the chapter number to appear without “Chapter” beforehand, enter .CHAPTER_STRING "\&".

• Arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

If, either in addition to or instead of “Chapter <n>” appearing at the top of chapters, you want your chapter to have a title, use CHAPTER_TITLE, with your title enclosed in double-quotes, like this:
.CHAPTER_TITLE "The DMCA Nazis"

CHAPTER_TITLE accepts multiple arguments, each surrounded by double-quotes. Each argument is printed on a separate line, permitting you to create multi-line chapter titles in your docheaders.

If you’ve used CHAPTER to give the chapter a number, both “Chapter <n>” and the chapter title will appear at the top of the chapter, like this:
Chapter 1 The DMCA Nazis In such a case, by default, only the chapter’s title will appear in the page headers, not “Chapter <n>”.

If you omit CHAPTER when setting up your reference macros, only the title will appear, both at the top of page one and in subsequent page headers.

The style of the chapter title can be altered by control macros, e.g., CHAPTER_TITLE_FAMILY, CHAPTER_TITLE_FONT, etc. The default family, font and point size are Times Roman, Bold Italic, 4 points larger than running text.

DRAFT only gets used with COPYSTYLE DRAFT. If the COPYSTYLE is FINAL (the default), mom ignores DRAFT. DRAFT accepts both alphabetic and numeric arguments, hence it’s possible to do either
.DRAFT 2 or .DRAFT Two

Mom prints the argument to .DRAFT (ie the draft number) beside the word “Draft” in the middle part of page headers.

You may, if you wish, invoke .DRAFT without an argument, in which case, no draft number will be printed beside “Draft” in headers or footers.

The draft string

If you’re not writing in English, you can ask mom to use the word for “draft” in your own language by telling her what it is with the DRAFT_STRING macro, like this:
.DRAFT_STRING "Jet"

Equally, DRAFT_STRING can be used to roll your own solution to something other than the word “Draft.” For example, you might want “Trial run alpha-three” to appear in the headers of a draft version. You’d accomplish this by doing
.DRAFT alpha-three .DRAFT_STRING "Trial run"

If you wanted only “Trial run” to appear, entering .DRAFT without an argument as well as .DRAFT_STRING "Trial run" is how you’d do it.

REVISION only gets used with COPYSTYLE DRAFT. If the COPYSTYLE is FINAL (the default), mom ignores the REVISION macro. REVISION accepts both alphabetic and numeric arguments, hence it’s possible to do either
.REVISION 2 or .REVISION Two

Mom prints the revision number beside the shortform “Rev.” in the middle part of page headers.

You may, if you wish, invoke .REVISION without an argument, in which case, no revision number will be printed beside “Rev.” in headers or footers.

The revision string

If you’re not writing in English, you can ask mom to use the word for “revision,” or a shortform thereof, in your own language by telling her what it is with the REVISION_STRING macro, like this:
.REVISION_STRING "Rév."

Additionally, you may sometimes want to make use of mom’s COPYSTYLE DRAFT but not actually require any draft information. For example, you might like mom to indicate only the revision number of your document. The way to do that is to define an empty .DRAFT and .DRAFT_STRING in addition to .REVISION, like this:
.DRAFT .DRAFT_STRING .REVISION 2

Equally, if you want to roll your own solution to what revision information appears in headers, you could do something like this:
.DRAFT .DRAFT_STRING .REVISION "two-twenty-two" .REVISION_STRING "Revision"

The above, naturally, has no draft information. If you want to roll your own .DRAFT and/or .DRAFT_STRING as well, simply supply arguments to either or both.

• Argument must be enclosed in double-quotes

The argument passed to COPYRIGHT is only used on cover or doc cover pages, and then only if the argument COPYRIGHT is passed to COVER or DOC_COVER. Do not include the copyright symbol in the argument passed to COPYRIGHT; mom puts it in for you.

If the optional argument, COVER or DOC_COVER, is given to COPYRIGHT, the string argument represents the copyright information that will appear on cover or document cover pages (see the Introduction to cover pages for a description of the difference between “document covers” and “covers”). Thus, it is possible to have differing copyright information on the document cover and on the cover (“title”) page. An example might be:
.COPYRIGHT DOC_COVER "2010 John Smith and Jane Doe" .COPYRIGHT COVER "2008 Joe Blow" The first invocation of .COPYRIGHT establishes the copyright information that appears on the document cover; the second establishes the copyright information that appears on the cover (“title”) page.

If you don’t require differing copyright information for doc cover and cover pages, .COPYRIGHT, without the optional first argument, is sufficient, provided you give the word, COPYRIGHT, as an argument to the macro DOC_COVER or COVER

Style parameters for the copyright line may be entered as individual macros or grouped, e.g.,
.COPYRIGHT_FAMILY H .COPYRIGHT_FONT R .COPYRIGHT_SIZE -2 or
.COPYRIGHT_STYLE \ FAMILY H \ FONT R \ SIZE -2 The vertical position of the copyright line may be raised (-) or lowered (+) with the macro COPYRIGHT_V_ADJUST. For example, to raise the copyright line by 3 points, you’d do
.COPYRIGHT_V_ADJUST -3p Alternatively, the COPYRIGHT_STYLE macro may be used with the argument V_ADJUST: .COPYRIGHT_STYLE \ FAMILY H \ FONT R \ SIZE -2 \ V_ADJUST -3p

• String arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

The argument(s) passed to MISC are only used on cover or doc cover pages, and then only if the argument MISC is passed to COVER or DOC_COVER. MISC can contain any information you like. Each argument appears on a separate line at the bottom of the cover or doc cover page.

For example, if you’re submitting an essay where the prof has requested that you include the course number, his name and the date, you could do
.MISC "Music History 101" "Professor Hasbeen" "Dec. 24, 2010" and the information would appear on the essay’s cover page.

If the optional argument, COVER or DOC_COVER, is given to MISC, the string arguments represent the miscellaneous information that will appear on cover or document cover pages (see the Introduction to cover pages for a description of the difference between “document covers” and “covers”). Thus, it is possible to have differing miscellaneous information on the document cover and on the cover (“title”) page. An example might be:
.MISC DOC_COVER "Music History 101" "Professor Hasbeen" .MISC COVER "Spring Term Paper"

The first invocation of .MISC establishes the miscellaneous information that appears on the document cover; the second establishes the miscellaneous information that appears on the cover (“title”) page.

If you don’t require differing miscellaneous information for doc cover and cover pages, .MISC, without the optional first argument, is sufficient, provided you give the word “MISC” as an argument to the macro DOC_COVER or COVER

• Arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

• Arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

The arguments passed to COVERTITLE or DOC_COVERTITLE are only used on cover or doc cover pages, and then only if the argument COVERTITLE or DOC_COVERTITLE is passed to COVER or DOC_COVER.

The only time you require a COVERTITLE or DOC_COVERTITLE is when none of the required first arguments to COVER or DOC_COVER fits your needs for the title you want to appear on cover (or doc cover) pages.

COVERTITLE and DOC_COVERTITLE accept multiple arguments, each surrounded by double-quotes. Each argument is printed on a separate line, permitting you to create multi-line titles on your cover and/or doc cover pages.

• Arguments must be enclosed in double-quotes

Except for DOCTITLE, mom does not, by default, provide PDF viewers with a document title. You may set one, if you like, with PDF_TITLE.

The docstyle macros

The docstyle macros tell mom what type of document you’re writing, whether you want the output typeset or “typewritten, double-spaced”, and whether you want a draft copy (with draft and revision information in the headers) or a final copy.

The arguments DEFAULT, CHAPTER and NAMED tell mom what to put in the docheader and page headers. LETTER and SLIDES tells her you want to write a letter or create slides.

Mom’s default DOCTYPE is DEFAULT. If that’s what you want, you don’t have to give a DOCTYPE command.

DEFAULT prints a docheader containing the title, subtitle and author information given to the reference macros, and page headers with the author and title. (See Default specs for headers for how mom outputs each part of the page header.)

CHAPTER prints “Chapter <n>” in place of a docheader (<n> is what you gave to the reference macro, CHAPTER). If you give the chapter a title with CHAPTER_TITLE, mom prints “Chapter <n>” and the title underneath. If you omit the CHAPTER reference macro but supply a CHAPTER_TITLE, mom prints only the chapter title.

The page headers in DOCTYPE CHAPTER contain the author, the title of the book (which you gave with TITLE), and “Chapter <n>” (or the chapter title). See Default Specs for Headers for mom’s default type parameters for each part of the page header.

NAMED takes an additional argument: a name for this particular kind of document (e.g., outline, synopsis, abstract, memorandum), enclosed in double-quotes. NAMED is identical to DEFAULT except that mom prints the argument to NAMED beneath the docheader, as well as in page headers. (See Default specs for headers for how mom outputs each part of the page header.)

LETTER tells mom you’re writing a letter. See the section Writing Letters for instructions on using mom to format letters.

Slides

PDF slides are a special kind of mom document, formatted for viewing in a PDF reader’s presentation mode. In most respects, they behave identically to the other document types. Key differences are:

• headers, footers, and pagination are disabled by default
• type is set QUAD CENTER by default
• flex-spacing and shimming are disabled by default; shimming may be re-enabled (with NO_SHIM OFF), but not flex-spacing
• there’s no need for PRINTSTYLE

DOCTYPE SLIDES takes up to five optional arguments, which come immediately after SLIDES. They may be entered in any order.
DOCTYPE SLIDES \ ASPECT 4:3 | 16:9 \ HEADER "left" "centre" "right" \ FOOTER "left" "centre" "right" \ TRANSITION "<slide transition effect>" (mode + parameters) \ PAUSE "<text reveal effect>" (mode + parameters) For convenience, you many want to enter each argument on a single line as shown above; all but the last must be terminated by a backslash.

Aspect

Slides can be formatted for one of two aspect ratios common to monitors and screens: 4:3 and 16:9. The default is 16:9. 4:3 16:9 media size: 11" x 8.25" media size: 11" x 8.1875" left/right margins: 36 points left/right margins: 36 points top margin: 90 points top margin: 80 points bottom margin: 84 points bottom margin: 72 points base text size: 16 points base text size: 14 points autoleading: 6 points, adjusted autoleading: 4 points, adjusted (header/footer size: -3 points) (header/footer size: -2 points) Note that both media sizes fit on either A4 or US LETTER papersizes.

Headers, footers, and pagination

If you want a header, footer, or both for your slides, pass SLIDES the HEADER and/or FOOTER argument(s). Both take three additional string arguments, which must be enclosed in double-quotes, defining the left, centre, and right parts of the header/footer. Any parts you want left blank should be entered as two double-quotes. For example, HEADER "" "My slide presentation" "" will result in a header with only the centre part.

Normal pagination is disabled for slides. If you want your slides numbered, the slide number must be given to one of the header/footer parts with the inline escape
\*[SLIDE#]. For example: HEADER "" "My slide presentation" "" \ FOOTER "" "" "\*[SLIDE#]" will give you a centred header with numbering at the bottom right of the slide.

The overall family, size, and colour of headers may be set with HEADER_FAMILY, HEADER_SIZE, and HEADER_COLOR. If you request FOOTERS, you may use the FOOTER_ equivalent of these macros. If you request both headers and footers, use one or the other but not both. For example, in a header/footer situation, HEADER_FAMILY would determine the family for both headers and footers, but if you attempted to do this .HEADER_FAMILY T .FOOTER_FAMILY H FOOTER_FAMILY would take precedence, and your header family would be “H”.

All other formatting of individual header/footer parts must be entered as inline escapes inside the double-quotes. If you want, say, your headers to be red but your footer page numbering to be black and two points larger, this is how you’d do it: .HEADER_COLOR red .DOCTYPE SLIDES \ HEADER "" "My slide presentation" "" \ FOOTER "" "" "\*[black]\*S[+2]\*[SLIDE#]\*S[-2]"

Transition

“Transition” refers to how new slides appear during a presentation. The official PDF specification lists a number of modes, each with a choice of configurable parameters. Modes include Box, Blinds, Wipe, Fade, and several others. Parameters include things like duration, dimension, and direction. There are a total of twelve modes; for each one there are from one to six configurable parameters. Consult man gropdf(1) for a complete listing of modes and parameters.

If you pass SLIDES the TRANSTION argument, you must at a minimum follow it with a mode. Afterwards, you may give as many or as few parameters as you wish. Parameters are, in order, 1. duration 2. dimension 3. motion 4. direction 5. scale 6. bool You don't have to fill them all out. If you only need the first three, that's all you need to input. If you need the first and third, enter the second as a period (dot), which is used any time you want to leave a parameter at its current default or when it isn’t applicable. For example, if you want a Box transition that lasts 1 second, filling the screen from the centre outwards, you'd enter TRANSITION "Box 1 . O" because Box does not take a “dimension” parameter but it does take a motion parameter.

Notice that the entire string (mode+parameters) must be enclosed in double-quotes.

Pause

A “pause” occurs when material on a slide is halted (see PAUSE), awaiting a mouse click, PgDown, Next, or the spacebar to reveal subsequent material. All the same modes and parameters as TRANSITION may be used. The manner of entering them is is identical, including that the entire mode+parameter string must be enclosed in double-quotes.

Unless you want material from one slide to flow onto the next, you need to tell mom when to start a new slide with the macro NEWSLIDE. Without any arguments, the new slide will appear with the default TRANSTION you gave to DOCTYPE SLIDES.

If you would like a different transition, you may pass NEWSLIDE a new mode and associated parameters, following the same rules as the TRANSITION argument to DOCTYPE. Note that the new effect becomes the default. If you wish to return to the original transition, you must give it explicitly to the appropriate NEWSLIDE.

Pauses in slides are accomplished by entering the macro PAUSE at desired locations in your input file. Subsequent material will be revealed using the pause mode given to DOCTYPE SLIDES.

If you would like a different mode, you may pass PAUSE a new mode and associated parameters, following the same rules as the PAUSE argument to DOCTYPE.

If for some reason you have material that flows from one slide to the next and you want the next slide to have a transition different from the current one, you can tell mom about the new transition with the macro TRANSITION anywhere prior to the break to the next slide.

Printing slides

If you want to print slides as handouts, you have to tell pdfmom or gropdf, otherwise printing will stop at the first pause. Simply precede pdfmom or gropdf with GROPDF_NOSLIDE=1, like this:
GROPDF_NOSLIDE=1 pdfmom <options> slidefile.mom > slidefile.pdf

• Required for document processing, except in the case of slides
Must come before any changes to default document style

PRINTSTYLE tells mom whether to typeset a document, or to print it out “typewritten, doubled-spaced”.

TYPESET, as the argument implies, typesets documents (by default in Times Roman; see TYPESET defaults). You have full access to all the typesetting macros as well as the style control macros of document processing.

With TYPEWRITE, mom does her best to reproduce the look and feel of typewritten, double-spaced copy (see TYPEWRITE defaults). Control macros and typesetting macros that alter family, font, point size, and leading are (mostly) ignored. An important exception is HEADER_SIZE (and, by extension, FOOTER_SIZE), which allows you to reduce the point size of headers/footers should they become too crowded. Most of mom’s inlines affecting the appearance of type are also ignored (\*S[<size>] is an exception; there may be a few others).

In short, TYPEWRITE never produces effects other than those available on a typewriter. Don’t be fooled by how brainless this sounds; mom is remarkably sophisticated when it comes to conveying the typographic sense of a document within the confines of TYPEWRITE.

The primary uses of TYPEWRITE are: outputting hard copy drafts of your work (for editing) and producing documents for submission to publishers and agents who (wisely) insist on typewritten, double-spaced copy. To get a nicely typeset version of work that’s in the submission phase of its life (say, to show fellow writers for critiquing), simply change TYPEWRITE to TYPESET and print out a copy.

If, for some reason, you would prefer the output of TYPEWRITE single-spaced, pass PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE the optional argument, SINGLESPACE.

Mom’s default COPYSTYLE is FINAL, so you don’t have to use this macro unless you want to.

COPYSTYLE DRAFT exhibits the following behaviour:

1. Documents start on page 1, whether or not you request a different starting page number with PAGENUMBER.
2. Page numbers are set in lower case roman numerals.
3. The draft number supplied by DRAFT and a revision number, if supplied with REVISION (see reference macros), appear in the centre part of page headers (or footers, depending on which you’ve selected) along with any other information that normally appears there.

COPYSTYLE FINAL differs from DRAFT in that:

1. It respects the starting page number you give the document.
2. Page numbers are set in normal (Arabic) digits.
3. No draft or revision number appears in the page headers.

Initiate document processing

In order to use mom’s document element macros (tags), you have to tell her you want them. The macro to do this is START.

START collects the information you gave mom in the setup section at the top of your file (see Tutorial – Setting up a mom document), merges it with her defaults, sets up headers and page numbering, and prepares mom to process your document using the document element tags. No document processing takes place until you invoke .START.

• Required for document processing

START takes no arguments. It simply instructs mom to begin document processing. If you don’t want document processing (ie you only want the typesetting macros), don’t use START.

At a barest minimum before START, you must enter a PRINTSTYLE command.

Establishing typestyle and formatting parameters before START

In the third (optional) part of setting up a document (the stylesheet; see Tutorial – Setting up a mom document), you can use the typesetting macros to change mom’s document-wide defaults for margins, line length, family, base point size, leading, and justification style.

Two additional style concerns have to be addressed here (ie in macros before START): changes to the docheader, and whether you want you want the document’s nominal leading adjusted to fill pages fully to the bottom margin.

Behaviour of the typesetting macros before START

From time to time (or maybe frequently), you’ll want the overall look of a document to differ from mom’s defaults. Perhaps you’d like her to use a different family, or a different overall leading, or have different left and/or right page margins.

To accomplish such alterations, use the appropriate typesetting macros (listed below) after PRINTSTYLE and before START.

More than one user has, quite understandably, not fully grasped the significance of the preceding sentence. The part they’ve missed is after PRINTSTYLE.

Changes to any aspect of the default look and/or formatting of a mom document must come after PRINTSTYLE. For example, it might seem natural to set up page margins at the very top of a document with
.L_MARGIN 1i .R_MARGIN 1.5i However, when you invoke .PRINTSTYLE, those margins will be overridden. The correct place to set margins—and all other changes to the look of a document—is after PRINTSTYLE.

Other macros that deal with type style, or refinements thereof (KERN, LIGATURES, HY, WS, SS, etc.), behave normally. It is not recommended that you set up tabs or indents prior to START.

If you want to change any of the basic parameters (above) after START and have them affect a document globally (as if you’d entered them before START), you must use the macros listed in Changing document-wide style parameters after START.

Special note on LEFT, RIGHT and CENTER prior to START

In a word, these three macros have no effect on document processing when invoked prior to START.

All mom’s document element tags (PP, HEAD, BLOCKQUOTE, FOOTNOTE, etc.) except QUOTE set a fill mode as soon as they’re invoked. If you wish to turn fill mode off for the duration of any tag (with LEFT, RIGHT or CENTER) you must do so immediately after invoking the tag. Furthermore, the change affects only the current invocation of the tag. Subsequent invocations of the same tag for which you want the same change require that you invoke .LEFT, .RIGHT or .CENTER immediately after every invocation of the tag.

Including (sourcing) style sheets and files

If you routinely make the same changes to mom’s defaults in order to create similar documents in a similar style—in other words, you need a template— you can create style-sheet files and include, or "source", them into your mom documents with the macro INCLUDE. The right place for such style sheets is after PRINTSTYLE and before START.

Say, for example, in a particular kind of document, you always want main heads set in Helvetica Bold Italic, flush left, with no underscore. You’d create a file, let’s call it head-template, in which you’d place the pertinent HEAD control macros.
.HEADING_STYLE 1 \ FAMILY H \ FONT BI \ QUAD L \ NO_UNDERSCORE Then, in the preliminary document set-up section of your main file, you’d include the style sheet, or template, like this:
.TITLE "Sample Document .AUTHOR "Joe Blow .PRINTSTYLE TYPESET \# .INCLUDE head-template \# .START The blank comment lines ( \# ) aren’t required, but they do make your file(s) easier to read.

If the file to be included is in the same directory as the file you’re working, you simply enter the filename after .INCLUDE. If the file’s in another directory, you must provide a full path name to it. For example, if you’re working in a directory called /home/joe/stories and your style-sheet is in /home/joe/style-sheets, the above example would have to look like this:
.TITLE "Sample Document .AUTHOR "Joe Blow .PRINTSTYLE TYPESET \# .INCLUDE /home/joe/style-sheets/head-template \# .START

INCLUDE is not restricted to style sheets or templates. You can include any file at any point into a document, provided the file contains only text and valid groff or mom formatting commands. Neither is INCLUDE restricted to use with mom’s document processing macros. You can use it in plain typeset documents as well.

Initializing colours

Although it doesn’t really matter where you define/initialize colours for use in document processing (see NEWCOLOR and XCOLOR in the section Coloured text), I recommend doing so before you begin document processing with START.

The macro COLOR and the inline escape, \*[<colorname>] can be used at any time during document processing for occasional colour effects. However, consistent and reliable colourizing of various document elements (the docheader, heads, linebreaks, footnotes, pagenumbers, and so on) must be managed through the use of the document element control macros.

• Must come after LS or AUTOLEAD and before START

DOC_LEAD_ADJUST is a special macro to adjust document leading so that bottom margins fall precisely where you expect.

When you invoke .DOC_LEAD_ADJUST, mom takes the number of lines that fit on the page at your requested leading, then incrementally adds machine units to the leading until the maximum number of lines at the new leading that fit on the page coincides perfectly with the bottom margin of running text.

In most instances, the difference between the requested lead and the adjusted lead is unnoticeable, and since in almost all cases adjusted leading is what you want, it’s mom’s default and you don't have to invoke it explicitly.

However, should you not want adjusted document leading, you must turn it off manually, like this:
.DOC_LEAD_ADJUST OFF

If you set the document leading prior to START with LS or AUTOLEAD, DOC_LEAD_ADJUST OFF must come afterwards, like this:
.LS 12 .DOC_LEAD_ADJUST OFF In this scenario, the maximum number of lines that fit on a page at a leading of 12 points determine where mom ends a page. The effect will be that last lines usually fall (slightly) short of the “official” bottom margin.

In PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, the leading is always adjusted and can’t be turned off.

• Must come before START; distance requires a unit of measure

By default, mom prints a docheader on the first page of any document (see below for a description of the docheader). If you don’t want a docheader, turn it off with
.DOCHEADER OFF DOCHEADER is a toggle macro, so the argument doesn’t have to be OFF; it can be anything you like.

If you turn the docheader off, mom, by default, starts the running text of your document on the same top baseline as all subsequent pages. If you’d like her to start at a different vertical position, give her the distance you’d like as a second argument.
.DOCHEADER OFF 1.5i This starts the document 1.5 inches from the top of the page PLUS whatever spacing adjustment mom has to make in order to ensure that the first baseline of running text falls on a “valid” baseline (ie one that ensures that the bottom margin of the first page falls where it should). The distance is measured from the top edge of the paper to the baseline of the first line of type.

With DOCHEADER OFF, it is possible to create your own custom docheaders (after START) using mom’s typesetting macros. It is recommended that if you do create a custom docheader, you make .SHIM the last macro before the first item of your document (for example, PP or HEADING 1.

Docheader control: How to change the look of docheaders

In PRINTSTYLE TYPEWRITE, the look of docheaders is carved in stone. In PRINTSTYLE TYPESET, however, you can make a lot of changes. Macros that alter docheaders must come before START.

Docheader description

A typeset docheader has the following characteristics:

Or, if the DOCTYPE is CHAPTER,

The family is the prevailing family of the whole document. Title, subtitle, author and document type are what you supply with the reference macros. Any you leave out will not appear; mom will compensate:

1. Changes to the whole docheader

Change the starting position of the docheader

By default, a docheader starts on the same baseline as running text. If you’d like it to start somewhere else, use the macro DOCHEADER_ADVANCE and give it the distance you want (measured from the top edge of the paper to the first baseline of the docheader), like this:
.DOCHEADER_ADVANCE 4P A unit of measure is required.

Change the quad direction of the docheader

By default, mom centres the docheader. If you’d prefer to have your docheaders set flush left or right, or need to restore the default centreing, invoke .DOCHEADER_QUAD with the quad direction you want, either LEFT (or L), RIGHT (or R) or CENTER (or C).

Change the family of the entire docheader

By default, mom sets the docheader in the same family used for running text. If you’d prefer to have your docheaders set in a different family, invoke .DOCHEADER_FAMILY with the family you want. The argument to DOCHEADER_FAMILY is the same as for FAMILY.

For example, mom’s default family for running text is Times Roman. If you’d like to keep that default, but have the docheaders set entirely in Helvetica,
.DOCHEADER_FAMILY H is how you’d do it.

Please note that if you use DOCHEADER_FAMILY, you can still alter the family of individual parts of the docheader.

Change the color of the entire docheader

The default color for docheaders is black, as you’d expect. If you wish to change it, use .DOCHEADER_COLOR <color>, where  <color> is a color pre-initialized with XCOLOR or NEWCOLOR.

Change the leading of the entire docheader

By default, mom uses the leading in effect for running text for docheaders. If you want to increase or decrease the overall docheader leading, use .DOCHEADER_LEAD +|-<amount>, where <amount> is the number of points by which to make the adjustment.

2. Part by part changes

Whenever you want to change the style parameters for any part of the docheader, simply join the name of the part to the parameter you wish to change using an underscore, then supply any necessary arguments. The subitle double-underlined? No problem.
.SUBTITLE_UNDERLINE DOUBLE Author in red?
.AUTHOR_COLOR red Title in smallcaps? .TITLE_SMALLCAPS

List of parameters with arguments

_FAMILY

Takes the same argument as FAMILY.

_FONT

Takes the same argument as FT.

_SIZE

Takes a + or - value relative to the size of running text.

_COLOR

Takes the same argument as COLOR. Colors should be pre-initialized with XCOLOR or NEWCOLOR.

_LEAD

Takes an absolute leading value, i.e. not relative to the overall leading of the docheader. The leading applies to multiple lines of type within the same docheader part, e.g. several authors or a long title that must be split over two lines. No unit of measure is required; points is assumed.

_SPACE

Takes a numeric value with a unit of measure appended to it. The value may be negative. This allows you to adjust the whitespace before a docheader part, for example if you want more whitespace between the title and the author. Note that TITLE does not have a _SPACE parameter; use DOCHEADER_ADVANCE to move the title further down on the page.

_CAPS

Capitalizes the entire docheader part. No argument is required.

_NO_CAPS

Only used if you need to reverse the sense of _CAPS, as can sometimes happen when collating documents that have differing docheader style requirements.

_SMALLCAPS

Set the entire docheader part in smallcaps. No argument is required.

_NO_SMALLCAPS

Only used if you need to reverse the sense of _SMALLCAPS, as can sometimes happen when collating documents that have differing docheader style requirements.

_UNDERSCORE

With no argument, underscores the docheader part. With a single, possibly decimal numeric argument, sets the weight of the underscore. A second numeric argument to which a unit of measure is appended (most likely p) sets the distance between the baseline and the underscore. If the argument DOUBLE is given, double underscores the docheader part. With a single, possibly decimal numeric argument afterwards, sets the weight of the underscore rules. A third numeric argument to which a unit of measure is appended (most likely p) sets the distance between the baseline and the first underscore rule. A fourth numeric argument to which a unit of measure is appended sets the distance between the two underscore rules. You may give _UNDERLINE as the parameter instead of _UNDERSCORE if you prefer.

NO_UNDERSCORE

Only used if you need to reverse the sense of _UNDERSCORE, as can sometimes happen when collating documents that have differing docheader style requirements.

Grouping part/parameter changes

If you want to change several parameters for a particular docheader part, you may group the changes together in a single macro by joining the name of the part to STYLE with an underscore, for example TITLE_STYLE or AUTHOR_STYLE. The following demonstrates: .CHAPTER_TITLE_STYLE \ FAMILY T \ SIZE +4 \ UNDERSCORE 2 \ SMALLCAPS Notice the use of the backslash character, which is required after the macro name and all parameters except the last. Grouping reduces clutter and the finger fatigue caused by entering .CHAPTER_TITLE_FAMILY T .CHAPTER_TITLE_SIZE +4 .CHAPTER_TITLE_UNDERSCORE 2 .CHAPTER_TITLE_SMALLCAPS

3. Changing or removing the attribution string (“by”)

If you’re not writing in English, you can change what mom prints where “by” appears in docheaders. For example,
.ATTRIBUTE_STRING "par" changes “by” to “par”. ATTRIBUTE_STRING can also be used, for example, to make the attribution read “Edited by”.

If you don’t want an attribution string at all, simply pass ATTRIBUTE_STRING an empty argument, like this:
.ATTRIBUTE_STRING "" Mom will deposit a blank line where the attribution string normally appears.

If the optional argument, COVER or DOC_COVER, is given to ATTRIBUTE_STRING, the string argument represents the attribution string that will appear on cover or document cover pages (see the Introduction to cover pages for a description of the difference between “document covers” and “covers”). Thus, it is possible to have different attribution strings on the document cover page, the cover (“title”) page, and in the first-page docheader. An extreme example would be:
.ATTRIBUTE_STRING "" .ATTRIBUTE_STRING DOC_COVER "Edited by" .ATTRIBUTE_STRING COVER "by" The first invocation of .ATTRIBUTE_STRING establishes a blank attribution string that will be incorporated in the first-page docheader. The second will print “Edited by” on the document cover; the third will print “by” on the cover (“title”) page.

If you don’t require differing attribute strings for doc cover pages, cover pages, or the first-page docheader, .ATTRIBUTE_STRING, without either of the optional first arguments, is sufficient.

Setting documents in columns

Setting documents in columns is easy with mom. All you have to do is is say how many columns you want and how much space you want between them (the gutters). That’s it. Mom takes care of everything else, from soup to nuts.

Some words of advice

If you want your type to achieve a pleasing justification or rag in columns, reduce the point size of type (and probably the leading as well). Mom’s default document point size is 12.5, which works well across her default 39 pica full page line length, but with even just two columns on a page, the default point size is awkward to work with.

Furthermore, you’ll absolutely need to reduce the indents for epigraphs, quotes, and blockquotes (and probably the paragraph first-line indent as well).

• Should be the last macro before START
The second argument requires a unit of measure

COLUMNS takes two arguments: the number of columns you want on document pages, and the width of the gutter between them. For example, to set up a page with two columns separated by an 18 point gutter, you’d do
.COLUMNS 2 18p Nothing to it, really. However, as noted above, COLUMNS should always be the last document setup macro prior to START.

Marking the first page column start position

If you insert or remove space after the docheader, i.e. immediately after START in your input file, mom needs to know where your first column begins in order to align subsequent columns on the first page.

COL_MARK tells mom where the first column after the docheader begins, in order for the top of subsequent columns on the first page to be aligned. Note that if you do not manually add or remove space after the docheader, there is no need to invoke COL_MARK.

Using tabs when COLUMNS are enabled

Mom’s tabs (both typesetting tabs and string tabs) behave as you’d expect during document processing, even when COLUMNS are enabled. Tab structures set up during document processing carry over from page to page and column to column.

Breaking columns manually

Mom takes care of breaking columns when they reach the bottom margin of a page. However, there may be times you want to break the columns yourself. There are two macros for breaking columns manually: COL_NEXT and COL_BREAK.

.COL_NEXT breaks the line just before it, quads it left (assuming the type is justified or quad left), and moves over to the top of the next column. If the column happens to be the last (rightmost) one on the page, mom starts a new page at the “column 1” position. This is the macro to use when you want to start a new column after the end of a paragraph.

.COL_BREAK is almost the same as .COL_NEXT, except that instead of breaking and quadding the line preceding it, mom breaks and spreads it (see SPREAD). Use this macro whenever you need to start a new column in the middle of a paragraph.

Changing basic type and formatting parameters after START

• Behaviour of the typesetting macros during document processing
  • Effect of specific typesetting macros
• Top and bottom margins in document processing
• Inserting space at the top of a new page
  • ADD_SPACE

Behaviour of the typesetting macros during document processing

During document processing, most of the typesetting macros affect type in the document globally. For example, if you turn kerning off, pairwise kerning is disabled not only in paragraphs, but also in headers, footers, quotes, and so on.

Typesetting macros that alter margins and line lengths affect running text globally (or at least try to), but leave headers/footers and footnotes alone. (To indent footnotes, see the full explanation of the FOOTNOTE macro.)

Mom’s tabs (both typesetting tabs and string tabs) behave as expected in running text during document processing. Tab structures that do not exceed the line length of running text are preserved sensibly from page to page, and, if COLUMNS are enabled, from column to column.

Some typesetting macros, however, when used during document processing, behave in special ways. These are the macros that deal with the basic parameters of type style: horizontal and vertical margins, line length, family, font, point size, leading, and quad.

Mom assumes that any changes to these parameters stem from a temporary need to set type in a style different from that provided by mom’s document element tags. In other words, you need to do a bit of creative typesetting in the middle of a document.

The following lists those typesetting macros whose behaviour during document processing requires some explanation. (Please refer to Top and bottom margins in document processing for information on how mom interprets T_MARGIN and B_MARGIN in document processing. Additionally, see ADD_SPACE if you encounter the problem of trying to get mom to put space at the tops of pages after the first.)

Top and bottom margins in document processing

Normally, mom establishes the top and bottom margins of running text in documents from the values of HEADER_MARGIN + HEADER_GAP and FOOTER_MARGIN + FOOTER_GAP respectively. However, if you invoke T_MARGIN or B_MARGIN either before or after START, they set the top and bottom margins of running text irrespective of HEADER_GAP and FOOTER_GAP.

Put another way, in document processing, T_MARGIN and B_MARGIN set the top and bottom margins of running text, but have no effect on the placement of headers, footers, or page numbers.

Inserting space at the top of a new page

Occasionally, you may want to insert space before the start of running text on pages after the first.

You might have tried using ALD or SPACE and found it did nothing. This is because mom normally inhibits any extra space before the start of running text on pages after the first.

If you need the space, you must use the macro ADD_SPACE in conjunction with NEWPAGE.

• Requires a unit of measure

If your DOCTYPE is DEFAULT, CHAPTER, NAMED, or LETTER, ADD_SPACE takes as its single argument the distance you want mom to advance from the normal baseline position at the top of any page after the first (ie the one on which the docheader is normally printed). A unit of measure is required.

For example, say you wanted to insert 2 inches of space before the start of running text on a page other than the first. You’d accomplish it with
.NEWPAGE .ADD_SPACE 2i which would terminate your current page, break to a new page, print the header (assuming headers are on) and insert 2 inches of space before the start of running text.

Since adding space in this way is almost sure to disrupt mom’s ability to guarantee perfectly flush bottom margins, I highly recommend using the SHIM or FLEX macro immediately after ADD_SPACE, which will add the space plus whatever correction is required by the vertical whitespace management strategy in effect.

If your DOCTYPE is SLIDES, ADD_SPACE may be used on any slide including the first to introduce additional white space at the top.

RESTORE_SPACE

You may sometimes find that mom refuses to respect SP, ALD/RLD, SHIM, or FLEX after the first element (line of text, floated material) output at the top of a page. Should this happen, insert the macro RESTORE_SPACE before issuing the spacing command.

Changing document-wide style parameters after START

In the normal course of things, you establish the basic type style parameters of a document prior to invoking START, using the typesetting macros (L_MARGIN, FAMILY, PT_SIZE, LS, etc). After START, you must use the following macros if you wish to make global changes to the basic type style parameters, for example changing the overall leading or the justification style.

• Requires a unit of measure

Arguments and behaviour

• the argument is the same as for L_MARGIN
• changes all left margins, including headers, footers, and page numbers to the new value
• any document elements that use a left indent calculate the indent from the new value
• the line length remains the same (ie the right margin shifts when you change the left margin)

• Requires a unit of measure

Arguments and behaviour

• the argument is the same as for R_MARGIN
• changes all right margins, including headers, footers, and page numbers to the new value;
• any document elements that use a right indent calculate the indent from the new value

• Requires a unit of measure

Arguments and behaviour

• the argument is the same as for LL
• exactly equivalent to changing the right margin with DOC_RIGHT_MARGIN (see above);

Arguments and behaviour

• the argument is the same as for FAMILY
• globally changes the type family for
  • the docheader
  • all document element tags, including footnotes
  • headers and/or footers
  • line numbering
  • page numbering
• does not change the family of
  • document cover pages
  • cover pages
  • endnotes pages
  • table of contents
• any page elements (e.g., headers page numbers, footnotes) whose families you wish to remain at their old values must be reset with the appropriate control macros

• Does not require a unit of measure; points is assumed

Arguments and behaviour

• the argument is the same as for PT_SIZE, and refers to the point size of type in paragraphs
• all automatic point size changes (heads, quotes, footnotes, headers, etc.) are affected by the new size; anything you do not want affected must be reset to its former value (see the Control Macros section of the pertinent document element for instructions on how to do this)
• if AUTOLEAD was invoked before START; the value of AUTOLEAD will be used to update the leading of all document element tags except FOOTNOTE and EPIGRAPH

• Does not require a unit of measure; points is assumed

Arguments and behaviour

• the argument is the same as for LS, and refers to the leading of paragraphs
• because paragraphs will have a new leading, the leading and spacing of most running text is influenced by the new value
• epigraphs and footnotes remain unaffected; if you wish to change their leading, use EPIGRAPH_AUTOLEAD and FOOTNOTE_AUTOLEAD.
• the optional argument ADJUST performs leading adjustment as explained in DOC_LEAD_ADJUST
• if AUTOLEAD was invoked before START; the value of that AUTOLEAD will be cancelled

Arguments and behaviour

• the arguments are the same as for QUAD
• affects paragraphs, epigraphs and footnotes; does not affect blockquotes

Terminating a document

You need do nothing special to terminate a document. When groff finishes processing the last input line of a file, the page is ejected, subject to whatever routines are needed to complete it (e.g., printing footnotes or adding the page number).

It happens sometimes, however, that a last line of running text, falling on or very near the bottom of the page, tricks groff into breaking to a new page before terminating. The result is a blank page at the end of the formatted document.

The situation is rare, generally occurring only when some additional macro is required after the input text, e.g., to exit a list or terminate a quote. To prevent it from ever happening, I recommend getting into the habit of following the final input line of all your mom files with .EL. Depending on the fill mode in effect, you may also have to append the “join line” escape, \c, to the final line.

Thus, for normal text at the end of a paragraph, which is in fill mode,
and they all lived happily ever after. .EL or for ending a LIST (also in fill mode) .ITEM peaches, pears, plums .EL .LIST OFF whereas, at the end of a QUOTE (which is in nofill mode), Shall be lifted\[em]nevermore!\c .EL .QUOTE OFF Notice that the .EL comes after the last line of input text, not any macros following.

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