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5.1.5 Implicit Line Breaks

An important concept in gtroff is the break. When a break occurs, gtroff outputs the partially filled line (unjustified), and resumes collecting and filling text on the next output line.

There are several ways to cause a break in gtroff. A blank line not only causes a break, but it also outputs a one-line vertical space (effectively a blank line). Note that this behaviour can be modified with the blank line macro request blm. See Blank Line Traps.

A line that begins with a space causes a break and the space is output at the beginning of the next line. Note that this space isn’t adjusted, even in fill mode; however, the behaviour can be modified with the leading spaces macro request lsm. See Leading Spaces Traps.

The end of file also causes a break – otherwise the last line of the document may vanish!

Certain requests also cause breaks, implicitly or explicitly. This is discussed in Manipulating Filling and Adjusting.