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1 | =head1 NAME |
2 | |
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3 | perlpod - plain old documentation |
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4 | |
5 | =head1 DESCRIPTION |
6 | |
7 | A pod-to-whatever translator reads a pod file paragraph by paragraph, |
8 | and translates it to the appropriate output format. There are |
9 | three kinds of paragraphs: |
10 | |
11 | =over 4 |
12 | |
13 | =item * |
14 | |
15 | A verbatim paragraph, distinguished by being indented (that is, |
16 | it starts with space or tab). It should be reproduced exactly, |
17 | with tabs assumed to be on 8-column boundaries. There are no |
18 | special formatting escapes, so you can't italicize or anything |
19 | like that. A \ means \, and nothing else. |
20 | |
21 | =item * |
22 | |
23 | A command. All command paragraphs start with "=", followed by an |
24 | identifier, followed by arbitrary text that the command can |
25 | use however it pleases. Currently recognized commands are |
26 | |
27 | =head1 heading |
28 | =head2 heading |
29 | =item text |
30 | =over N |
31 | =back |
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32 | =cut |
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33 | =pod |
34 | |
35 | The "=pod" directive does nothing beyond telling the compiler to lay |
36 | off of through the next "=cut". It's useful for adding another |
37 | paragraph to the doc if you're mixing up code and pod a lot. |
38 | |
39 | Head1 and head2 produce first and second level headings, with the text on |
40 | the same paragraph as "=headn" forming the heading description. |
41 | |
42 | Item, over, and back require a little more explanation: Over starts a |
43 | section specifically for the generation of a list using =item commands. At |
44 | the end of your list, use =back to end it. You will probably want to give |
45 | "4" as the number to =over, as some formatters will use this for indention. |
46 | This should probably be a default. Note also that there are some basic rules |
47 | to using =item: don't use them outside of an =over/=back block, use at least |
48 | one inside an =over/=back block, you don't _have_ to include the =back if |
49 | the list just runs off the document, and perhaps most importantly, keep the |
50 | items consistent: either use "=item *" for all of them, to produce bullets, |
51 | or use "=item 1.", "=item 2.", etc., to produce numbered lists, or use |
52 | "=item foo", "=item bar", etc., i.e., things that looks nothing like bullets |
53 | or numbers. If you start with bullets or numbers, stick with them, as many |
54 | formatters you the first =item type to decide how to format the list. |
55 | |
56 | And don't forget, when using any command, that that command lasts up until |
57 | the end of the B<paragraph>, not the line. Hence in the examples below, you |
58 | can see the blank lines after each command to end it's paragraph. |
59 | |
60 | Some examples of lists include: |
61 | |
62 | =over 4 |
63 | |
64 | =item * |
65 | |
66 | First item |
67 | |
68 | =item * |
69 | |
70 | Second item |
71 | |
72 | =back |
73 | |
74 | =over 4 |
75 | |
76 | =item Foo() |
77 | |
78 | Description of Foo function |
79 | |
80 | =item Bar() |
81 | |
82 | Description of Bar function |
83 | |
84 | =back |
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85 | |
86 | =item * |
87 | |
88 | An ordinary block of text. It will be filled, and maybe even |
89 | justified. Certain interior sequences are recognized both |
90 | here and in commands: |
91 | |
92 | I<text> italicize text, used for emphasis or variables |
93 | B<text> embolden text, used for switches and programs |
94 | S<text> text contains non-breaking spaces |
95 | C<code> literal code |
96 | L<name> A link (cross reference) to name |
97 | L<name> manpage |
98 | L<name/ident> item in manpage |
99 | L<name/"sec"> section in other manpage |
100 | L<"sec"> section in this manpage |
101 | (the quotes are optional) |
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102 | L</"sec"> ditto |
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103 | F<file> Used for filenames |
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104 | X<index> An index entry |
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105 | Z<> A zero-width character |
106 | |
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107 | =back |
108 | |
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109 | That's it. The intent is simplicity, not power. I wanted paragraphs |
110 | to look like paragraphs (block format), so that they stand out |
111 | visually, and so that I could run them through fmt easily to reformat |
112 | them (that's F7 in my version of B<vi>). I wanted the translator (and not |
113 | me) to worry about whether " or ' is a left quote or a right quote |
114 | within filled text, and I wanted it to leave the quotes alone dammit in |
115 | verbatim mode, so I could slurp in a working program, shift it over 4 |
116 | spaces, and have it print out, er, verbatim. And presumably in a |
117 | constant width font. |
118 | |
119 | In particular, you can leave things like this verbatim in your text: |
120 | |
121 | Perl |
122 | FILEHANDLE |
123 | $variable |
124 | function() |
125 | manpage(3r) |
126 | |
127 | Doubtless a few other commands or sequences will need to be added along |
128 | the way, but I've gotten along surprisingly well with just these. |
129 | |
130 | Note that I'm not at all claiming this to be sufficient for producing a |
131 | book. I'm just trying to make an idiot-proof common source for nroff, |
132 | TeX, and other markup languages, as used for online documentation. |
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133 | Translators exist for B<pod2man> (that's for nroff(1) and troff(1)), |
134 | B<pod2html>, B<pod2latex>, and B<pod2fm>. |
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135 | |
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136 | =head1 Embedding Pods in Perl Modules |
137 | |
138 | You can embed pod documentation in your Perl scripts. Start your |
139 | documentation with a =head1 command at the beg, and end it with |
140 | an =cut command. Perl will ignore the pod text. See any of the |
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141 | supplied library modules for examples. If you're going to put |
142 | your pods at the end of the file, and you're using an __END__ |
143 | or __DATA__ cut mark, make sure to put a blank line there before |
144 | the first pod directive. |
145 | |
146 | __END__ |
147 | |
148 | =head1 NAME |
149 | |
150 | modern - I am a modern module |
151 | |
152 | If you had not had that blank line there, then the translators wouldn't |
153 | have seen it. |
154 | |
155 | =head1 SEE ALSO |
156 | |
157 | L<pod2man> and L<perlsyn/"PODs: Embedded Documentation"> |
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158 | |
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159 | =head1 AUTHOR |
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160 | |
161 | Larry Wall |
162 | |