'\" p
.TH \%soelim 1 "16 January 2026" "groff 1.23.0"
.SH Name
\%soelim \- recursively interpolate source requests in
.I roff
or other text files
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.\" Legal Terms
.\" ====================================================================
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.\" Copyright (C) 1989-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"
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.\"
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.\" instead of in the original English.
.
.
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.\" ====================================================================
.\" Definitions
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.\" ====================================================================
.SH Synopsis
.\" ====================================================================
.
.SY \%soelim
.RB [ \-Crt ]
.RB [ \-I
.IR dir ]
.RI [ input-file\~ .\|.\|.]
.YS
.
.
.SY \%soelim
.B \-\-help
.YS
.
.
.SY \%soelim
.B \-v
.
.SY \%soelim
.B \-\-version
.YS
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Description
.\" ====================================================================
.
GNU
.I soelim \" GNU
is a preprocessor for the
.MR groff 7
document formatting system.
.
.I \%soelim
works as a filter to eliminate source requests in
.MR roff 7
input files;
that is,
it replaces lines of the form
.RB \[lq] .so
.IR included-file \[rq]
within each text
.I input-file
with the contents of
.IR included-file ,
recursively.
.
By default,
it writes
.B lf
requests as well to record the name and line number of each
.I input-file
and
.IR included-file ,
so that any diagnostics produced by later processing can be accurately
traced to the original input.
.
Options allow this information to be suppressed
.RB ( \-r )
or supplied in \*[tx] comments instead
.RB ( \-t ).
.
In the absence of
.I input-file
arguments,
.I \%soelim
reads the standard input stream.
.
Output is written to the standard output stream.
.
.
.PP
If the name of a
.I macro-file
contains a backslash,
use
.B \[rs]\[rs]
or
.B \[rs]e
to embed it.
.
To embed a space,
write
.RB \[lq] \[rs]\~ \[rq]
(backslash followed by a space).
.
Any other escape sequence in
.IR macro-file ,
including
.RB \[lq] \[rs][rs] \[rq],
prevents
.I \%soelim
from replacing the source request.
.
.
.PP
The dot must be at the beginning of a line and must be followed by
.RB \[lq] so \[rq]
without intervening spaces or tabs for
.I \%soelim
to handle it.
.
This convention allows source requests to be \[lq]protected\[rq] from
processing by
.IR \%soelim ,
for instance as part of macro definitions or
.RB \[lq] if \[rq]
requests.
.
.
.PP
There must also be at least one space between
.RB \[lq] so \[rq]
and its
.I macro-file
argument.
.
The
.B \-C
option overrides this requirement.
.
.
.PP
The foregoing is the limit of
.IR \%soelim 's
understanding of the
.I roff
language;
it does not,
for example,
replace the input line
.
.RS
.EX
\&.if 1 .so otherfile
.EE
.RE
.
with the contents of
.IR otherfile .
.
With its
.B \-r
option,
therefore,
.I \%soelim
can be used to process text files in general,
to flatten a tree of input documents.
.
.
.PP
.I soelim \" generic
was designed to handle situations where the target of a
.I roff \" generic
source request requires a preprocessor such as
.MR \%eqn 1 ,
.MR \%pic 1 ,
.MR \%refer 1 ,
or
.MR \%tbl 1 .
.
The usual processing sequence of
.MR groff 1
is as follows.
.
.\" Does this groff installation use a command prefix?  In installed
.\" pages, this comparison will not look like it needs to be dynamically
.\" decided.
.\"
.\" This is done so that the box sizes (in the pic(1) diagram) and arrow
.\" alignments (in the text alternative) can remain fixed.
.if !'\%'\%' \{\
In the diagrams below,
the traditional names for
.I soelim
and
.I troff
are used;
on this system,
the GNU versions are installed as
.I \%soelim
and
.IR \%troff .
.\}
.
.
.PP
.ie t \{\
.PS
.ps 10
.vs 12
box invisible width 0.5 height 0.4 "input" "file";
move to last box .bottom;
down;
arrow 0.3;
box invisible width 0.8 height 0.2 "preprocessor";
move to last box .right
right;
arrow 0.3;
A: box invisible width 0.35 height 0.2 "troff";
move to last box .top;
up;
move 0.3;
box invisible width 0.6 height 0.4 "sourced" "file";
line <- up 0.3 from A.top;
move to A.right;
right;
arrow 0.3;
box invisible width 0.85 height 0.2 "postprocessor";
move to last box .bottom;
down;
arrow 0.3;
box invisible width 0.5 height 0.4 "output" "file"
.ps
.vs
.PE
.\}
.el \{\
.EX
          input        sourced
          file          file
            \[bv]             \[bv]
            \[da]             \[da]
        preprocessor \[an]\[->] troff \[an]\[->] postprocessor
                                      \[bv]
                                      \[da]
                                   output
                                    file
.EE
.\}
.PP
That is,
files sourced with
.RB \[lq] so \[rq]
are normally read
.I only
by the formatter,
.IR \%troff .
.
.I \%soelim
is
.I not
required for
.I \%troff
to source files.
.
.
.PP
If a file to be sourced should also be preprocessed,
it must already be read
.I before
the input file passes through the preprocessor.
.
.IR \%soelim ,
normally invoked via
.IR groff 's
.B \-s
option,
handles this.
.
.
.PP
.ie t \{\
.PS
.ps 10
.vs 12
box invisible width 0.5 height 0.4 "input" "file";
move to last box .bottom;
down;
arrow 0.3;
A: box invisible width 0.5 height 0.2 "soelim";
line <- 0.3;
box invisible width 0.5 height 0.4 "sourced" "file";
move to A.right;
right;
arrow 0.3;
box invisible width 0.8 height 0.2 "preprocessor";
arrow 0.3;
box invisible width 0.35 height 0.2 "troff";
arrow 0.3
box invisible width 0.85 height 0.2 "postprocessor";
move to last box .bottom;
down;
arrow 0.3;
box invisible width 0.5 height 0.4 "output" "file"
.ps
.vs
.PE
.\}
.el \{\
.EX
          input
          file
            \[bv]
            \[da]
          soelim \[an]\[->] preprocessor \[an]\[->] troff \[an]\[->] \
postprocessor
            \[ua]                                     \[bv]
            \[bv]                                     \[da]
         sourced                               output
          file                                  file
.EE
.\}
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH Options
.\" ====================================================================
.
.B \-\-help
displays a usage message,
while
.B \-v
and
.B \-\-version
show version information;
all exit afterward.
.
.
.TP
.B \-C
Recognize an input line starting with
.B .so
even if a character other than a space or newline follows.
.
.TP
.BI \-I\~ dir
Search the directory
.I dir
path for
.I input-
and
.I included-files.
.
.B \-I
may be specified more than once;
each
.I dir
is searched in the given order.
.
To search the current working directory before others,
add
.RB \[lq] "\-I .\&" \[rq]
at the desired place;
it is otherwise searched last.
.
.
.TP
.B \-r
Write files \[lq]raw\[rq];
do not add
.B lf
requests.
.
.
.TP
.B \-t
Emit \*[tx] comment lines starting with
.RB \[lq] % \[rq]
indicating the current file and line number,
rather than
.B lf
requests for the same purpose.
.
.
.PP
If both
.B \-r
and
.B \-t
are given,
the last one specified controls.
.
.
.\" ====================================================================
.SH "See also"
.\" ====================================================================
.
.MR groff 1
.
.
.\" Clean up.
.rm tx
.
.\" Restore compatibility mode (for, e.g., Solaris 10/11).
.cp \n[*groff_soelim_1_man_C]
.do rr *groff_soelim_1_man_C
.
.
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