3.2.1 Paragraphs

Paragraphs can be formatted in various ways. Some indent their first line. Block paragraphs like the following example omit this indentation, and must be separated with vertical space for readability. Separation can be configured for other paragraph types as well.

  ⇒ Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious rev-
  ⇒ erence,  and  deem  them like the ark of the covenant,
  ⇒ too sacred to be touched.

We also frequently encounter tagged paragraphs, which begin with a label, or tag, at the left margin, and indent the remaining text.

  ⇒ one  This is a tagged paragraph.  Notice how the first
  ⇒      line of the resulting paragraph lines up with the
  ⇒      other lines in the paragraph.

If the tag is too wide for the indentation amount, the line is broken.

  ⇒ longlabel
  ⇒      The  long  tag  does  not  align  with subsequent
  ⇒      lines, but those lines align with each other.

A variation of the tagged paragraph is the itemized or enumerated paragraph, which might use punctuation or a digit for a tag, respectively. These are frequently used to construct lists.

  ⇒ *    This list item starts with a bullet.  If a bullet
  ⇒      glyph  is unavailable, groff produces an asterisk
  ⇒      instead.

Often, use of the same macro without a tag continues such a discussion.

  ⇒ -xyz  This option is recognized but ignored.
  ⇒
  ⇒       It had a security hole that we don’t discuss.