Maybe you can look at the . ss request Which sets interword spacing as first argument and the second argument as sentence space
Kind regards Wim Stockman Op za 19 dec. 2020 13:36 schreef Oliver Corff <oliver.co...@email.de>: > Hi Dorai, > > the point behind the end-of-source-line rule is simple, and is hidden in > many introductory chapters of textbooks on troff and groff: You are not > forced (and even less encouraged) to preempt any formatting in your > input text. None of your efforts with regard to line length, intended > line breaks etc. you try to express in self-imposed "pretty-typing" will > spill over to the groff formatter. The formatting engine will only, I > repeat: only obey to explicit commands. Hitting <CR> after a sentence > period is such an explicit command and is as economical in terms of > keystroke counts as it can be. Leave the formatting effort to groff > (which does a better job than a human trying to mimick ascii formatting) > and concentrate on the semantics of what you type, and you'll see that > this is much easier than to remember and verify if all of your > end-of-sentence full stops were followed by two spaces instead of one, > which is actually not a good idea at all because the formatter (and > associated macro packages) might have a different idea how an > end-of-sentence--new-sentence distance should look like, e.g. in > languages other than English. It might be a space only, a space and a > half, always assuming that a space is some kind of fixed length. French > is a good example of punctuation mark rules which look weird to > non-French readers but which visually "make sense" in fine examples of > French typography. German doesn't have a "two spaces is new sentence" > concept either. > > troff, from the very onset of its conception, is a fine example of why > we have division of labour, and if the designer and the user of a tool > share this understanding, the tool can be put to better use. > > Please accept my apologies if I sounded rant-ish, this was not my > intent. The question simply scratched me at a sensitive point. I once > organized a collaborative effort to reproduce a text which featured > around 250,000 words in eight (yes: 8) formatting variants (due to the > number of languages represented). When planning the project, the sheer > magnitude of these numbers made me analyze and identify potential error > sources in the clerical work involved, and the number of keystrokes (and > their impact on the effort to achieve a well-formed and valid source > text) every colleague would require to finish the task was by far not a > minor concern. In this context, using two spaces where one <CR> would > have produced the desired result rather than with two spaces producing a > faint lookalike which misguides the formatting engine was one of the > no-go areas identified. > > Oliver. > > > On 19/12/2020 11:57, Damian McGuckin wrote: > > > > On Sat, 19 Dec 2020, Ulrich Lauther wrote: > > > >> On Sat, Dec 19, 2020 at 10:27:01AM +0000, Dorai Sitaram wrote: > >>> groff pretty much forces one to use two spaces after sentence-ending > >>> punctuation, unless it's at the end of a source line. > >> > >> In my opinion it is good style to start every sentence on a new > >> source line. > > > > We use this as a rule and have for decades. > > > > Regards - Damian > > > > Pacific Engineering Systems International, 277-279 Broadway, Glebe NSW > > 2037 > > Ph:+61-2-8571-0847 .. Fx:+61-2-9692-9623 | unsolicited email not > > wanted here > > Views & opinions here are mine and not those of any past or present > > employer > > > >
