hecht@hsi.UUCP (Alice Hecht) (04/07/89)
I am using troff with the ms macro package and would like to be able to use leading characters WITHIN tables. The problem is that the table macro .TS and .TE does not allow the specification of the .lc or .tc commands. Here is what I would like the output to resemble: -------------------------------- | | | Name________________________ | | ____________________________ | | Address_____________________ | | Code Number_________________ | | | |______________________________| It would even be nice to use a doublebox or some other table functions for my example. But the I cannot use the table command with the leading characters. Has anyone ever done this and if so how? Please e-mail all responses. Thanks. Alice -- Alice Hecht ...!uunet!hsi!hecht Health Systems International hecht@hsi.uu.net
kg@elan.UUCP (Ken Greer) (04/08/89)
From article <1108@hsi.UUCP>, by hecht@hsi.UUCP (Alice Hecht): > > I am using troff with the ms macro package and would like to > be able to use leading characters WITHIN tables. > Here is what I would like the output to resemble: > > -------------------------------- > | | > | Name________________________ | > | ____________________________ | > | Address_____________________ | > | Code Number_________________ | > | | > |______________________________| > Have you tried \a and set your leader character to underscore? Alternately, this should work: .de _ 'nr x_ \\w'\\$1\ 'u 'nr y_ \\$2-\\n(x_ \\$1\ \l'\\n(y_u'\\c .. .de __ \\h'\\n(x_u'\l'\\n(y_u' .. Then .nf ._ Name 4i .__ ._ Address 4i ._ "Code Number" 4i Ken Greer Elan Computer Group, Inc. {ames,uunet}!elan!kg 415-964-2200
lmui@ora.UUCP (Linda Mui) (04/15/89)
In response to a recent request for help in generating troff leader characters within tables: I don't recommend fiddling with .lc or .tc within tbl. Instead, use \l and specify the leader there. If the text you want within the table is: Name______________________ __________________________ Address___________________ Code Number_______________ Then if the width is meant to be 4 inches, do something like: Name\l'4i-\w'Name'u_' \l'4i_' Address\l'4i-\w'Address'u_' Code Number\l'4i-\w'Code Number'u_' If you're not familiar with these, "\l" draws a line of the specified length with the given character (if any -- underscore (_), in this case). "\w" captures the width of the specified string, to ensure that the lines will be justified. If these lines need to appear within an already existing table, .T& will have to be used to redefine the format line to span all columns but the first (e.g., "l s s."). This is hairy, but will pass through tbl unscathed. -- Val Quercia (617) 354-5800 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc., Publishers of Nutshell Handbooks 90 Sherman Street, Cambridge, MA 02140 UUCP: uunet!ora!val ARPA: val@ora.uu.net