pooh@oddjob.UChicago.EDU (Pooh) (02/17/89)
I am looking for a quick and dirty way to construct a British
pound sign (as in the currency) in troff. I have access only
to the -ms macros and they don't list one in their special
characters.
Thanks!
Pooh
pooh@oddjob.uchicago.eduhecht@hsi.UUCP (Alice Hecht) (02/23/89)
In article <15201@oddjob.UChicago.EDU>, pooh@oddjob.UChicago.EDU (Pooh) writes: > > I am looking for a quick and dirty way to construct a British > pound sign (as in the currency) in troff. I have access only > to the -ms macros and they don't list one in their special > characters. > > Thanks! > > Pooh > pooh@oddjob.uchicago.edu To include the British pound sign using the -ms macro, just type \(po or \(ps The \(po is defined as the pound sign as well as the \(ps. Don't ask me why there are two ways to do the same thing but there they are. Alice -- Alice Hecht ...!uunet!hsi!hecht Health Systems International hecht@hsi.uu.net
wnp@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Wolf Paul) (02/24/89)
In article <1087@hsi.UUCP> hecht@hsi.UUCP (Alice Hecht) writes: >In article <15201@oddjob.UChicago.EDU>, pooh@oddjob.UChicago.EDU (Pooh) writes: >> I am looking for a quick and dirty way to construct a British >> pound sign (as in the currency) in troff. I have access only >> to the -ms macros and they don't list one in their special >> characters. >To include the British pound sign using the -ms macro, just type > \(po or \(ps > The \(po is defined as the pound sign as well as the \(ps. >Don't ask me why there are two ways to do the same thing but there they >are. I am afraid that is not necessarily going to work on Pooh's machine. \(po and \(ps are SPECIAL CHARACTERS. If available, they are defined in /usr/lib/font/devXXX/DESC, and must be present in the physical character set of the output device. As such, they have NOTHING to do with the macros you use -- if your device supports a character, and it is defined in DESC, you can use it, regardless of the macros you use. If your device does not support a character, or it is not listed in the DESC file, then you can't use it, even if you use the same macros as someone else at a different installation who can use that character. It is true that some of the macro packages (i.e. me and ms) provide STRING DEFINITIONS for some accented characters and special symbols; they have names like \*(xx (note the asterisk) and are constructed by overstriking other, existing characters. Thus, a German Umlaut-A can be constructed by printing an A, moving up and left, printing a period, moving right a bit, printing another period, and then moving back down where you started. A pound sign can be simulated in this manner, by printing an L, and superimposing a dash, or minus, on it. A good way to find out what special characters are supported on your output device, is to look at the DESC file in the /usr/lib/font/devXXX (where XXX is some abbreviation for your output device, which also forms the argument to the troff -T option), and construct a file which prints all of the special characters named there in, say, 12pt. Roman. Then run it through troff, and voila, you have a reference chart for your character set. Here is the beginnings of such a test file: (don't use a macro package for this test file) .sp |.5i \" needed for HP LJ .po .5i .ll 25P .vs 14p .nf .ta 2P 4P 6P 8P 10P 12P 14P 16P 18P 20P ...\" Everything below this line is separated by SINGLE TABS .ps 12 \(bu \(sq \(dg \(dd \(ct \(lq \(rq \(LF \(RF \(uk .ps 10 bu sq dg dd ct lq rg LF RF uk .sp .5v ... etc ... The 12pt line prints the actual characters, 2 picas apart; the 10pt line prints the character names underneath. Then we leave some space, and repeat the whole shebang. Of course you need to substitute the names from your DESC file for \(bu, \(sq, etc. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: wnp@killer.dallas.tx.us TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD
guy@auspex.UUCP (Guy Harris) (02/25/89)
>\(po and \(ps are SPECIAL CHARACTERS. If available, they are defined in >/usr/lib/font/devXXX/DESC, Assuming you have a sufficiently modern version of "troff" (i.e., the "device-independent" one); if you don't have that, said characters are, quite likely, unavailable.