🚀 go-pugleaf

i caught the: \(br\|line-eater\|\(br\l'|0\(rn'\l'|0\(ul'!

abstract: how can items be sorted in troff(nroff)?

explanation: given the definition of the list-begin, list-item,
	and list-end macros, how can i generate a sorted list of
	the first arguments to the list-item macros?

	e.g., given the following pseudo-troff input:

list-begin
list-item arg1
list-item arg1
list-item arg1
list-end
list-sort	\" i.e. produce a sorted list of all arg1s

	what should list-item and list-sort do?

	my problem is best stated as a troff example. the following
	can be run unchanged with troff(nroff):

.\" ---------- begin troff source  ----------
.de lH	\" list header
\&\\$1
..
.de lB	\" list begin
.in +2i
..
.de lI	\" list item
.br
.\"	the next line causes $1 to be a hanging mark
\h'|-1i'\&\\$1\h'|0'\c
..
.de lE	\" list end
.br
.in -2i
..
.de lS	\" output sorted list
.\" what goes here?
..
.lH "this is the header for the following list"
.lB	\" list start
.lI ".ti"
this is some text that i don't care about.
this is even more text that doesn't matter.
.lI ".in"
this is some text that i don't care about.
this is even more text that doesn't matter.
.lI ".br"
this is some text that i don't care about.
this is even more text that doesn't matter.
.lI ".bp"
this is some text that i don't care about.
this is even more text that doesn't matter.
.lE	\" list end
this is some text (after the list) that i don't care about.
this is even more (after the list) text that doesn't matter.
.lS
.\" ---------- end of troff source ----------

finally: I can't (read: i don't want to) call a sub-shell.
	I also can't (read: i really can't) call a pre-
	processor, unfortunately.

	any help, pointers to documentation, people etc.
	would be greatly appreciated.

ADVthanksANCE,
-- 
"Stoneware - prehistoric computers"
Mike "Trust Me" Roberson               UUCP: {ihnp4,cbosgd,akgua}!cord!miker