Re: [Groff] [mom] switching to 2 colums mode

[Peter Schaffter]

Bertrand --

On Wed, Dec 19, 2012, Bertrand Garrigues wrote:
> I would like to switch to 2 colums mode at the end of a document.
> More precisely, I'm trying to write a simple style file for
> makeindex to generate an index. Previously with ms package I used
> .2C.
> 
> But with mom it seems that using the COLUMS macro is only possible
> if you want to apply it to the whole document, as it must be defined
> before .START.
> 
> How can I switch in 2 colums mode after the .START macro ?

.\" end of doc
.EL
.COLLATE
.COLUMNS <column specs>
.START
.\" start of index

COLLATE glues major sections of a document together, eg chapters.
Its use is hidden when you create common divisions such as TOCs
or endnotes, but any time you need to tack something onto a doc that
requires significant changes in formatting (eg an index in two
columns), you have to invoke COLLATE explicitly, which itself must
be followed by START.  Between the two, you can put any of the
pre-START macros, including COLUMNS.  It's also the place to take
care of things like the new section's title (ie "Index"), headers,
page numbering style, and so on.

The EL before COLLATE is cautionary.  It prevents the accidental
output of a blank page between collated sections of a document, a
situation that sometimes arises when the last line of output text
coincides with the bottom margin.

-- 
Peter Schaffter

Author of The Binbrook Caucus
http://www.schaffter.ca