[comp.text] TROFF Leaders inside fields.

henry%angel@Sun.COM (Henry McGilton -- Software Products) (01/07/90)

Calling all TROFF Wizards.  There seems to be a limitation
with what you can do with the leader character inside a
field.  I have a sequence something like:

	.ta  4.0i		\"  tab at four inches
	.fc  #  @		\"  field char is #, pad is @
	#string one \s6\s0#	\"  want the leader smaller size

I've tried every combination of mucking with font changes and size
changes around the leader character, but it always gives me the
same result -- the changes are ignored.

I can change the size and font of ordinary text inside the fields.

I can change the font and size of leaders in ordinary text, outside
of fields.

I tried putting text either side of the leader, with font and size
changes around the whole shebang, but that doesn't work either.

The problem occurs regardless of whether I use the control-A
sequence or whether I use the \a sequence.  Are fields scanned twice?

I tried looking at the code, but that's one of the
`abandon hope all ye who enter here' parts of the code.
Has anybody poked around in this stuff and can tackle this one?

	Thanks,
		.................. Henry
+-------------------+--------------------------+---------------------------+
| Henry McGilton    | Think of using TROFF as  |                           |
| Sun Microsystems  | writing microcode for a  | arpa: hmcgilton@sun.com   |
| 2550 Garcia       | typesetter, and you have | uucp: ...!sun!angel!henry |
| Mountain View, CA | the idea.                |                           |
+-------------------+--------------------------+---------------------------+

jaap+@andrew.cmu.edu (Jaap Akkerhuis) (01/09/90)

Excerpts from netnews.comp.text: 6-Jan-90 TROFF Leaders inside fields.
Henry -- S. Products@Sun (1546)

> Calling all TROFF Wizards.  There seems to be a limitation
> with what you can do with the leader character inside a
> field.  I have a sequence something like:

etc.
>  Are fields scanned twice?

Yep. It is not a great idea too use leaders inside fields, but if you
really have to, this works:

    .ta  4.0i           \"  tab at four inches
    .fc  #  @           \"  field char is #, pad is @
    .nf
    #string one \s6^A\s0#       \"  want the leader smaller size
    #string string two\s6^A#
    #\s0string three \s6^A#

(Replace the ^A with the actual leader character)

There are of course better ways to achieve the same effect. That is left
over as an excercise to the reader.

	jaap