RE: [Groff] Macro arguments question

[Ted Harding]

On 13-Nov-05 Clarke Echols wrote:
> One thing I *really* like about groff vs troff/ditroff is the
> expansion of macro and other entity names beyond two characters.
> Nice job!
> 
> I am considering using macros to solve a problem that would be better
> if handled in a database, but I don't want to write the software to
> do it.  However, it would be nice if I could string some multi-line
> text together as a single argument to a macro.  However, it is not
> obvious to me that it can or cannot be done the way I'm thinking.  I
> have been considering something on this order:
> 
> .macro \{
> "text line 1, blah blah blah
> text line 2, blah blah blah
> text line 3, more here"\}
> 
> I would like to have the text processed as a single argument to
> the macro just as groff would handle:
> 
> .macro "argument number one"
> 
> and then wrapped and adjusted as with normal text from a
> typical input file.

Hi Clarke,
Maybe I'm missing something, but would the following be something
you do not want to do, for some reason?

.macro \
"text line 1, blah blah blah \
text line 2, blah blah blah \
text line 3, more here"



>     1.  Will this work?

Your example above perhaps does not work as (seems to be) intended,
i.e. if I define

.de temp
\\$1
..
.temp \{
"text line 1, blah blah blah
text line 2, blah blah blah
text line 3, more here"\}

then I get

"text line 1, blah blah blah text line 2, ... line 3, more here"

as one line (presumably as intended), but with the quotes as well,
which I suspect you don't want. But this is a consequence of
wrapping it in \{...\}, so if you just remove the quotes from
your argument it comes out right.

> 
>     2.  If not, is there a different, quick-and-easy/dirty way
>         to do it?
> 
> Any opinions out there?>

Maybe see above ... ?

Best wishes,
Ted.


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Date: 13-Nov-05                                       Time: 22:34:02
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