Re: [groff] In text references: optional page numbers?

[Peter Schaffter]

Paul --

On Fri, Jun 14, 2019, Paul Swanson wrote:
> Using groff, refer and the ms macros, I can't figure out how to
> achieve in text references with optional page numbers.
> 
> Here's what I'd like to achieve.
> 
> Sometimes, I need to reference a given work in its entirety:
> 
> ... and thus all is foo bar (Smith 1984).
> 
> Other times, I need to quote the same author / source directly:
> 
> ... "and thus all is foo bar" (Smith 1984, p. 42).
> 
> I can't figure out how to create an in text reference that will
> behave like that.

Have a look at

  http://www.schaffter.ca/mom/momdoc/refer.html#parenthetical

for a discussion of parenthetical references in text.  It covers
what you want.  It's part of the mom macros' documentation but it's
not mom-specific, just refer usage explained more approachably
than the refer(1) manpage.

-- 
Peter Schaffter
http://www.schaffter.ca