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From: daw@houxs.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Need help with the .! troff request
Message-ID: <501@houxs.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 18-Aug-87 13:41:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: houxs.501
Posted: Tue Aug 18 13:41:26 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 21-Aug-87 04:35:31 EDT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel
Lines: 39


I am unable to get the .! request to function successfully under 
troff, although it works under nroff.  My system is a VAX 8600 running 
UNIX SVR2 (there are no attached text-processing processors).  The system 
administrator of this machine has been unable to track down the problem.

The problem is that the .! request appears to be ignored when processed
by troff, while nroff correctly implements it.

As a test case, the following file:

	This is a test of the .! troff capability.
	.! echo "This is only a test."

prints under troff:

	This is a test of the .! troff capability.

but prints under nroff:

	This is a test of the .! troff capability.  This is only a test.

(the outputs are simulated here, and yes, the original input didn't have
tabs at the beginning of the lines).

On a related note, my documentation states that the format for this request is

	.! cmd args	The UNIX command cmd is executed and its output
			is interpolated at this point.  The standard input
			for cmd is closed.

which implies to me that I can't (for instance) use this request to set up
a pipeline.  Am I being mislead by my documentation?  (I ordered the newest
release of the documentation 2 months ago, but still no sign of it :-( ).

All suggestions, hints, etc., gratefully received.

David Wolverton
..!ihnp4!houxs!daw