STYLE.MDOC(5)             FreeBSD File Formats Manual            STYLE.MDOC(5)

NAME

     style.mdoc - FreeBSD manual page style guide

DESCRIPTION

     This file specifies the preferred style for manual pages in the FreeBSD
     source tree.

NAME Section

     - Do not quote the document description provided to the .Nd macro.

Code Examples

     - Use literal formatting for examples and literal shell commands, e.g.:

             Then run
             .Ql make install clean .

       which renders as:

             Then run `make install clean'.

       The incorrect way would be to use macros like Nm to stylize the command
       invocation:

             Then run
             .Ql Nm make Cm install Cm clean .

       which renders as:

             Then run `make install clean'.

       This pollutes the whatis(1) database, causing `whatis clean' to
       incorrectly show the page it was written in.

Copyright Header

     Refer to style(9).

HARDWARE Section

     Driver manuals in section four should have a HARDWARE section describing
     hardware known to work with the driver.  This section is drawn verbatim
     into the Release Hardware Notes, therefore there are several things to
     note:

     - The introductory sentence should be in the form:

             The
             .Nm
             driver supports the following $device_class:

       Followed by the list of supported hardware.

       This defines what driver the subsection is referring to, and allows the
       reader to search through the Hardware Notes not only for the device
       models they have, but also for the device type they are looking to
       acquire.

     - The supported hardware should be listed as a bullet list, or if
       complexity requires, a column list.  These two list types create very
       neat subsections with clean starting and stopping points.

EXAMPLES Section

     - Format the EXAMPLES section in the following way:

             .Bl -tag -width 0n
             .It Sy Example 1\&: Doing Something
             .Pp
             The following command does something.
             .Bd -literal -offset 2n
             .Ic # make -VLEGAL
             .Ed
             .It Sy Example 2\&: Doing Something Different
             .Pp
             The following command does something different.
             .Bd -literal -offset 2n
             .Ic # bectl list
             .Ed
             .Pp
             It is good to know this command.
             .El

       which renders as:

       Example 1: Doing Something

         The following command does something.

           # make -VLEGAL

       Example 2: Doing Something Different

         The following command does something different.

           # bectl list

         It is good to know this command.

Lists

     - The -width argument to the .Bl macro should match the length of the
       longest rendered item in the list, e.g.:

             .Bl -tag -width "-a address"
             .It Fl a Ar address
             Set the address.
             .It Fl v
             Print the version.
             .El

       In case the longest item is too long and hurts readability, the
       recommendation is to set the -width argument to `indent', e.g.:

             .Bl -tag -width "indent"
             .It Cm build
             Build the port.
             .It Cm install
             Install the port.
             .It Fl install-missing-packages
             Install the missing packages.
             .El

Quoting

     - Use the Dq ("") macro for quoting.  Use the Sq (`') macro for quoting
       inside quotes.  The use of the Qq ("") macro is usually not necessary.

Variables

     - Use Va instead of Dv for sysctl(8) variables like kdb.enter.panic.

     - Use the angle brackets Aq ("<>") macro for arguments (Ar) when they are
       mixed with similarly stylized macros like Pa or Va, e.g.:

             .Va critical_filesystems_ Ns Aq Ar type

       which renders as:

             critical_filesystems_<type>

       instead of:

             .Va critical_filesystems_ Ns Ar type

       that would be rendered as:

             critical_filesystems_type

FILES

     /usr/share/examples/mdoc/     Examples for writing manual pages.

SEE ALSO

     man(1), mandoc(1), mdoc(7), roff(7), style(9)

HISTORY

     This manual page first appeared in FreeBSD 13.0.

AUTHORS

     Mateusz Piotrowski <0mp@FreeBSD.org>

FreeBSD 15.1-STABLE-HBSD         June 13, 2026                   STYLE.MDOC(5)