TR2TEX(1) TR2TEX(1)
14 June 1991
NAME
tr2latex - convert a document from troff to LaTeX
SYNOPSIS
tr2latex [ -m ] [ -t ] [ -n ] [ -s style ] [ -o outfile ] filename...
DESCRIPTION
Tr2latex converts a document typeset in troff to a LaTeX format. It
is intended to do the first pass of the conversion. The user should
then finish up the rest of the conversion and customize the converted
manuscript to his/her liking. It can also serve as a tutor for those
who want to convert from troff to LaTeX.
Most of the converted document will be in LaTeX but some of it may be
in plain TeX. It will also use some macros in troffms.sty or
troffman.sty which are included in the package and must be available
to the document when processed with LaTeX.
If there is more than one input file, they will all be converted into
one LaTeX document.
Tr2latex understands most of the -ms and -man macros and eqn
preprocessor symbols. It also understands several plain troff
commands. Few tbl preprocessor commands are understood to help convert
very simple tables.
When converting manuals, use the -m flag. Otherwise tr2latex assumes
to translate a -me input file.
If a troff command cannot be converted, the line that contain that
command will be commented out.
NOTE: if you have eqn symbols, you must have the in-line mathematics
delimiter defined by delim in the file you are converting. If it is
defined in another setup file, that setup file has to be concatenated
with the file to be converted, otherwise tr2latex will regard the in-
line math as ordinary text.
OPTIONS
-m Convert manual pages. This makes tr2latex understand most
of the -man macros. It uses the style file troffman.sty.
-t Produce twoside page style.
-n Use a font size of npt. The default font size is 12pt for
-man and 11pt otherwise.
-s style Use the style file style instead of the default
article.sty.
- 1 - Formatted: December 16, 2025
TR2TEX(1) TR2TEX(1)
14 June 1991
-o outfile Write output to file outfile.
BUGS
Many of these bugs are harmless. Most of them cause local errors that
can be fixed in the converted manuscript.
- Some macros and macro arguments are not recognized.
- Commands that are not separated from their argument by a space are
not properly parsed (e.g .sp3i).
- When some operators (notably over, sub and sup) are renamed (via
define), then they are encountered in the text, tr2latex will treat
them as ordinary macros and will not apply their rules.
- rpile, lpile and cpile are treated the same as cpile.
- rcol, lcol are treated the same as ccol.
- Math-mode size, gsize, fat, and gfont are ignored.
- lineup and mark are ignored. The rules are so different.
- Some troff commands are translated to commands that require
delimiters that have to be explicitly put. Since they are sometimes
not put in troff, they can create problems. Example: .nf not closed
by .fi.
- When local motions are converted to \raise or \lower, an \hbox is
needed, which has to be put manually after the conversion.
- 'a sub i sub j' is converted to 'a_i_j' which TeX parses as
'a_i{}_j}' with a complaint that it is vague. 'a sub {i sub j}' is
parsed correctly and converted to 'a_{i_j}'.
- Line spacing is not changed within a paragraph in TeX (which is a
bad practice anyway). TeX uses the last line spacing in effect in
that paragraph.
TODO
Access registers via .nr command.
FILES
$(TEXLIB)/macros/troffman.sty
$(TEXLIB)/macros/troffms.sty
AUTHOR
Kamal Al-Yahya, Stanford University
Christian Engel, Aachen University of
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