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361 lines
11 KiB
Groff
361 lines
11 KiB
Groff
.\" @(#)boxes.1 1.2 10/19/12
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.\"
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.\" boxes.1.in
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.\" Thomas Jensen
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.\"
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.TH boxes 1 "March 16 2017"
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.UC 4
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.SH NAME
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boxes \- text mode box and comment drawing filter
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.B boxes
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[\-hlmrv] [\-a\ format] [\-d\ design] [\-f\ file] [\-i\ indent] [\-k\ bool]
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[\-p\ pad] [\-s\ size] [\-t\ tabopts] [infile [outfile]]
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.I Boxes
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is a text filter which can draw any kind of box around its input text. Box
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design choices range from simple boxes to complex ASCII art. A box can also
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be removed and repaired, even if it has been badly damaged by editing of the
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text inside. Since boxes may be open on any side,
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.I boxes
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can also be used to create regional comments in any programming language.
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New box designs of all sorts can easily be added and shared by appending to
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a free format configuration file.
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.br
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.I boxes
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was originally intended to be used with the
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.I vim(1)
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text editor, but it can be tied to any text editor which supports filters,
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as well as called from the command line as a standalone tool.
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH OPTIONS
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Options offered by
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.I boxes
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are the following:
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-a \fIstring\fP
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Alignment/positioning of text inside box. This option takes a format string
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argument which is read from left to right. The format string may not
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contain whitespace and must consist of one or more of the following
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components:
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.br
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.B h\fPx
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\- horizontal alignment of the input text block inside a potentially larger
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box. Possible values for
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.I x
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are
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.B l
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(ell, for left alignment),
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.B c
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(center), or
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.B r
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(right). This does not affect the justification of text lines within the
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input text block (use the
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.B j
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argument instead).
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.br
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.B v\fPx
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\- vertical alignment of the input text block inside a potentially larger
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box. Possible values for
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.I x
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are
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.B t
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(for top alignment),
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.B c
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(center), or
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.B b
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(bottom).
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.br
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.B j\fPx
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\- justification of lines within the input text block. Possible values for
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.I x
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are
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.B l
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(ell, for left justification),
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.B c
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(center), or
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.B r
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(right). This does not affect the alignment of the input text block itself
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within the box. Use the
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.B h
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and
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.B v
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arguments for input text block positioning.
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.br
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Short hand notations (can be combined with the above arguments):
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.br
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.B l
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(ell) \- short for
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.B h\fPl\fBv\fPc\fBj\fPl
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.br
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.B c
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\- short for
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.B h\fPc\fBv\fPc\fBj\fPc
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.br
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.B r
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\- short for
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.B h\fPr\fBv\fPc\fBj\fPr
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.br
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The factory default setting for
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.B \-a
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is
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.B h\fPl\fBv\fPt.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-c \fIstring\fP
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Command line design definition for simple cases. The argument of this
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option is the definition for the "west" (W) shape. The defined shape must
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consist of exactly one line, i.e. no multi\-line shapes are allowed. The
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.B \-c
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option is intended as a shortcut for those cases where simple regional
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comments are to be created, which only need a certain character or sequence
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of characters to be placed in front of every line. In such cases, it is
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much more convenient to simply specify
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.B \-c
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than to do a complete design definition in one's config file, where the
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only shape defined is the west shape.
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.br
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This option implies a
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.B \-d
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and does not access the config file.
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.B \-c
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may of course be used in conjunction with any of the other options. By default,
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.B \-c
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is not specified.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-d \fIstring\fP
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Design selection. The one argument of this option is the name of the design to
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use.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-f \fIstring\fP
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Use alternate config file. The one argument of this option is the name of a
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valid
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.I boxes
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config file, containing new and exciting designs!
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-h
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Print usage information.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-i \fIstring\fP
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Indentation mode. Possible arguments are "text" (indent text inside of
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box), "box" (indent box, not text inside of box), or "none" (throw away
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indentation). Arguments may be abbreviated. The default is to indent the
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box, but not the text.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-k \fIbool\fP
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Kill leading/trailing blank lines on removal. The value of
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.I bool
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can be specified as on, yes, true, 1, or t, all meaning yes, or off, no,
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false, 0, or f, which mean no. This is case\-insensitive. This option only
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takes effect in connection with
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.B \-r\fP.
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If set to yes, leading and trailing blank lines will be removed from the
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output. If set to no, the entire content of the former box is returned.
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The default is no, if both the top and the bottom part of the box are open,
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as is the case with most regional comments. If the box's design defines a
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top part or a bottom part, the default is yes.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-l
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(ell) List designs. Produces a listing of all available box designs in the
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config file, along with a sample box and information about it's creator.
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Also checks syntax of the entire config file. If used in connection with
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.B \-d\fP,
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displays detailed information about the specified design.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-m
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Mend box. This removes a (potentially broken) box as with
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.B \-r\fP,
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and redraws it afterwards. The mended box is drawn according to the
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options given. This may be important to know when it comes to restoring
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padding, indentation, etc. for the mended box. Implies
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.B \-k
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false.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-p \fIstring\fP
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Padding. Specify padding in spaces around the input text block for all
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sides of the box. The argument string may not contain whitespace and must
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consist of a combination of the following characters, each followed by a
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number indicating the padding in spaces:
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.br
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.B a
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\- (all) give padding for all sides at once
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.br
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.B h
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\- (horiz) give padding for both horizontal sides
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.br
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.B v
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\- (vertical) give padding for both vertical sides
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.br
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.B b
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\- (bottom) give padding for bottom (south) side
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.br
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.B l
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\- (left) give padding for left (west) side
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.br
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.B t
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\- (top) give padding for top (north) side
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.br
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.B r
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\- (right) give padding for right (east) side
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.br
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Example:
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.B \-p a\fP4\fBt\fP2
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would define the padding to be 4 characters on all sides, except for the
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top of the box, where the input text block will be only 2 lines away from
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the box.
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.br
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By default, unless specified otherwise in the config file, no padding is
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used.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-r
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Remove box. Removes an existing box instead of drawing it. Which design to
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use is detected automatically. In order to save time or in case the
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detection does not decide correctly, combine with
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.B \-d
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to specify the design. The default is to draw a new box.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-s \fIwidth\fBx\fPheight\fP
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Box size. This option specifies the desired box size in units of columns
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(for width) and lines (for height).
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If only a single number is given as argument, this number specifies the
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desired box width. A single number prefixed by 'x' specifies only the box
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height. The actual resulting box size may vary depending on the individual
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shape sizes of the chosen design. Also, other command line options may
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influence the box size (such as
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.B \-p\fP).
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.br
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By default, the smallest possible box is created around the text.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-t \fIstring\fP
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Tab handling. This option controls how tab characters in the input text are
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handled. The option string must always begin with a
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.I uint
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number indicating the distance between tab stops. It is important that this
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value be set correctly, or tabulator characters will upset your input text.
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The correct tab distance value depends on the settings used for the text
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you are processing. A common value is 8.
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.br
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Immediately following the tab distance, an optional character can be appended,
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telling
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.I boxes
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how to treat the leading tabs. The following options are available:
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.br
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.B e
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\- expand tabs into spaces
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.br
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.B k
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\- keep tabs as close to what they were as possible
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.br
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.B u
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\- unexpand tabs. This makes
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.I boxes
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turn as many spaces as possible into tabs.
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.br
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In order to maintain backwards compatibility, the
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.B \-t
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.I string
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can be just a number. In that case,
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.B e
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is assumed for tab handling, which removes all tabs and replaces them with
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spaces. The factory default for the
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.B \-t
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option is simply 8, which is just such a case.
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.br
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For example, you could specify
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.B \-t \fP4u
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in order to have your leading tabs unexpanded. In the box content, tabs are
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always converted into spaces. The tab distance in this example is 4.
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.\" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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.TP 0.6i
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.B \-v
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Print out current version number.
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH CONFIGURATION FILES
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.I Boxes
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will use the configuration file specified on the command line (using
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.B \-f\fP).
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If no config file is specified on the command line,
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.I boxes
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will check for the BOXES environment variable, which may contain a filename
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to use. If BOXES is not set,
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.I boxes
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will try to read $HOME/.boxes and use it as a config file. Failing that,
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.I boxes
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will try to read the system\-wide config file (see FILES).
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.PP
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The syntax of
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.I boxes
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config files is described on the website (see below). They are quite
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self\-explanatory, though.
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH AVAILABILITY
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.I Boxes
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is available from its website at
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<URL:http://boxes.thomasjensen.com/>. The website also features a number
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of examples illustrating this manual page as well as more in\-depth
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documentation.
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.PP
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Check out
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.I vim(1)
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at <URL:http://www.vim.org/>!
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH AUTHOR
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.I Boxes
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was made by Thomas Jensen <boxes@thomasjensen.com>.
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.br
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Please see the
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.I boxes
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website for a current email address.
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH VERSION
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This is
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.I boxes
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version --BVERSION--.
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH BUGS
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Although it is doing fine in most cases, imho the design autodetector
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needs some more work.
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.br
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Should you notice any other unspecified behavior, please tell the author!
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH ENVIRONMENT
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.I Boxes
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recognizes the following environment variables:
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.TP 1.0i
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HOME
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The user's home directory.
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.TP 1.0i
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BOXES
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Name of
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.I boxes
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configuration file, if different from ~/.boxes.
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH FILES
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.TP 1.0i
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$HOME/.boxes
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.I boxes
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configuration file
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.TP 1.0i
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--GLOBALCONF--
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system\-wide configuration file
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.\" =======================================================================
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.SH "SEE ALSO"
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.I tal(1)
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,
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.I vim(1)
|