Try this: .\" Minimal footer .de footer . sp |\\n[.p]u-.75i . ce 1 \\n[%] . if \\n[defer]=1 \c ' bp ..
(You need the no-break version of bp, otherwise the line will be flushed by the break that occurs before bp is invoked, and then no partial line will exist during bp processing.) End-of-input handling must be the most bizarre aspect of troff ever.