Troffs

Troffs refers to the troff family of Unix text-formatting programs used for producing high-quality typeset material. The name troff stands for typesetter roff, part of the roff family that also includes nroff and roff itself. These tools were developed in the 1970s at Bell Labs as successors to the RUNOFF program, providing a programmable macro language and device-oriented output.

Troff processes plain text interspersed with formatting commands and macro calls. Lines beginning with a dot denote macros, and the system uses macro packages such as ms, mm, and man to express structure like titles, sections, lists, and bibliographic data. It can also utilize device drivers to target output devices such as phototypesetters or printers. The approach emphasizes precise control over typography, spacing, and page layout.

Output can be directed to various devices; in modern practice, groff, the GNU reimplementation, provides troff-compatible input and can emit PostScript, PDF, HTML, and other formats via appropriate options and macro packages. Groff acts as the primary contemporary implementation of the roff family on many systems.

Historically, troff was widely used for Unix manual pages and scholarly documents. Today groff remains part of many Unix-like environments for maintaining documentation and academic papers. Although word processors and modern typesetting systems have supplanted troff for everyday use, its macro facilities and precise typographic control influenced later tools and continue to support niche workflows.