Provided by: librtf-writer-perl_1.11-5_all bug

NAME

       RTF::Writer - for generating documents in Rich Text Format

SYNOPSIS

         use RTF::Writer;
         my $rtf = RTF::Writer->new_to_file("greetings.rtf");
         $rtf->prolog( 'title' => "Greetings, hyoomon" );
         $rtf->number_pages;
         $rtf->paragraph(
           \'\fs40\b\i',  # 20pt, bold, italic
           "Hi there!"
         );
         $rtf->close;

DESCRIPTION

       This module is for generating documents in Rich Text Format.

       This module is a class; an object belonging to this class acts like an output filehandle, and calling
       methods on it causes RTF text to be written.

       Incidentally, this module also exports a few useful functions, upon request.

       The following documentation assumes some familiarity with the RTF Specification.  Users not already
       intimately familiar with RTF should look at RTF::Cookbook and/or my book RTF Pocket Guide from O'Reilly,
       <http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/rtfpg/>

METHODS

       $h = RTF::Writer->new_to_file($filename);
           This  creates a new RTF output stream object, such that sending text to this object will write to the
           filespec given.  This is basically a wrapper around new_to_handle.   If  opening  a  write-handle  to
           $filename fails (or if $filename is undef or zero-length), then a fatal error results.

       $h = RTF::Writer->new_to_handle(*FILEHANDLE);
           This  creates a new RTF output stream object, such that sending text to this object will write to the
           filehandle given.  The filehandle can be a glob (*FH) or a filehandle object (*FH{IO}  or  the  value
           from "IO::File->new(...)").

       $h = RTF::Writer->new_to_string(\$string);
           This creates a new RTF output stream object, such that sending text to this object will append to the
           string that you've passed a reference to.

       $h->print(...);
           This  is  the basic method for writing text to an RTF stream.  This takes a list of items.  Each item
           is either:

           a plain string, like "foo\n"
               In this case, the value is imputed to be a plaintext string, and an rtf-escaped version of it  is
               written.   For example "Stuff\n\t\tUmmm\n" causes 'Stuff\line \tab \tab Umm\line ' to be written.
               See rtfesc(x) for further details of escaping.

           a scalar-reference, like \'\ul'
               In this case, the value is imputed to be a reference to already escaped text.  This is the  basic
               way to emit RTF codes.  Text passed this way will be written without any additional escaping.

               Unless $RTF::Writer::AUTO_NL (normally on) has been turned off, the item written will be followed
               with  a  (presumably  harmless) newline character to delimit any code in there from any following
               text, if the last character of this string is a digit or a lowercase letter.   This  is  so  that
               "(\'\i',  "foo!")"  emits "\i[newline]foo!'" (which does what you expected), instead of '\ifoo!',
               which looks like an RTF command "ifoo" followed by a plaintext "!".

           an array-reference, like [ \'\ul', 'foo' ]
               This emits an open-brace "{", as RTF uses for opening  "groups"  (generally  for  delimiting  the
               effects  of  character-formatting  commands  like  '\ul',  or  a  few  formatting  commands  like
               '\footnote'); then it emits the items in the referred-to array; and then emits a closing "}".   I
               intend  this  to be useful is making sure that you don't emit more open-braces than close-braces,
               since that usually makes RTF readers immediately reject such a file.

               You can nest these array-references, like:

                    $h->print(
                      \'\col2',
                      [ \'\pard',
                        "It is now ",
                        [ \'\f1',
                          scalar(localtime), " local, or ",
                          scalar(gmtime), " GMT.",
                        ],
                        " -- if you're ",
                        [ \'\i',
                          "keeping track.",
                        ],
                      ],
                      \'\par\page',
                    );

           The return value of the print() method is currently always the value 1, although this may change.

       $h->prolog(...);
           This writes an RTF prolog to $h.  You are free to make your own prolog using just $h->print(\'...your
           own code...'), but I find in easier to automate this task, particularly with some sane defaults.

           Since emitting a prolog opens a "{"-group, calling $h->prolog(...) sets a flag in $h so that when you
           call $h->close(), a closing "}" will automatically be written before the stream  object  is  actually
           closed.

           The  options  to  the  prolog()  method  are passed as a list of keys and values, for controlling the
           contents of the prolog written.  The options are  listed  below,  roughly  with  the  most  important
           options first.

           (Be careful with the spelling of these options.  Some are rather odd, because they are (mostly) based
           on the name of the relevent RTF command, and a systematic naming scheme for commands is one thing you
           won't find in RTF!)

           'fonts' => [ "Courier New", "Georgia", "Whatever"...],
               This  value  is  for  the font table section of the prolog.  If the value is an arrayref, then it
               should be a reference to an array whose items should be either plain text  strings,  like  "Times
               Roman",  which  are the (unescaped) names of fonts; or the items in the array can be scalar-refs,
               for expressing RTF control words along with the (escaped) font name, as in "\'\froman  Times  New
               Roman'".   If  the  value  of  the  "fonts"  parameters is a scalar ref, then it is taken to be a
               reference to code of your own that expresses the whole font table.  If you don't specify a  value
               for the "font" option, then you get a font table with one entry, "Times New Roman".

               You  should  be sure to declare all fonts that you switch to in your document (as with \'\f3', to
               change the current font to what's declared in entry 3 (counting from 0) in the font table).

           'deff' => INTEGER,
               This is for expressing, in the prolog, the  font-table  number  of  the  default  font  for  this
               document.  The default is 0, which is an often useful value.

           'colors' => [ undef, [0,142,252], [200,32,0], ...],
               This  value  is for expressing the document's (generally optional) color table.  If you stipulate
               an arrayref value, then each item of the array should be either an RGB triplet  expressed  as  an
               arrayref  like [200,32,0], or undef, for a null color-entry.  If you stipulate a scalar-ref value
               for 'colors', then it is taken to be a reference to code of your own  that  expresses  the  whole
               font table.

               If  you  don't stipulate any value for 'colors', then you get a table consisting of three colors:
               null/default (undef), 100% red ([2550,0,0]), and 100% blue ([0,0,255]).

               You can freely ignore concerns of color tables if you don't  use  color-changing  codes  in  your
               document  (like  \'\cf2',  to  switch  the  text  foreground  color to what's declared at entry 2
               (starting from 0) in the color table).

           'stylesheet' => STRING,
           'filetbl' => STRING,
           'listtables' => STRING,
           'revtbl' => STRING,
               These are for expressing, in the prolog, code constituting the document's style sheet,  table-of-
               files,  table-of-lists, and table-of-revisions, respectively.  The default value of each of these
               is empty-string.  None of these are needed by a typical RTF document.

           'more_default' => STRING,
               This is for inserting any additional code just after the '\deffN' in the  start  of  the  prolog,
               before  the  font  table.   A common useful value here is \'\deflang1033', to express the default
               language (1033 = RTFese for US English) for the document, although my reading  of  the  RTF  spec
               leads  me  to believe that this doesn't need to be in the prolog here (where many writers put it,
               as apparently accepted by many RTF readers), but should (instead?) go just after the prolog, with
               other "document formatting" commands described in the "Document Formatting Properties" section of
               the RTF Specification.

           'doccomm' => STRING,
               This value is for the "document comment" metainformation item in the prolog, which appears as the
               "Comment" field in the "File Properties" panel in MSWord, or as the "Abstract" field in the "File
               Properties" window in WordPerfect.

               If no value is specified, then RTF::Writer puts a string noting the value of  $0  (typically  the
               filespec to the current Perl program), and the version of RTF::Writer used.

           'title' => STRING,
           'subject' => STRING,
           'author' => STRING,
           'manager' => STRING,
           'company' => STRING,
           'operator' => STRING,
           'category' => STRING,
           'keywords' => STRING,
           'hlinkbase' => STRING,
           'comment' => STRING,
               These  are  for  stipulating the string values of these various optional document metainformation
               items.  'operator' is for the name  of  the  person  who  last  made  changes  to  the  document;
               'hlinkbase'  is  which  is  the  URL  or  path  that  is  used for for resolving any all relative
               hyperlinks in the document; 'comment' is reportedly just ignored (cf.  the  'doccomm'  attribute,
               which is not ignored); and you can guess the rest.

               The meanings of all of these are explained in greater detail in the RTF spec.

           'revtim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,
               This  value  is  for  the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It signifies the last-
               modified time of the document.  EPOCH_NUMBER is the number of seconds since the  epoch,  such  as
               one  gets  from  "(stat($thing)[9])"  or  "time()";  or you may pass a reference a timelist, like
               [localtime($whatever)].

               If no defined value for revtime is stipulated in the call to prolog(...)  then the current  value
               of time() is used.  Explicitly pass a value of undef to suppress emitting any 'creatim' value.

           'creatim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,
               This  value  is  for  the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It signifies the last-
               modified time of the document.  If no defined value for 'creatim' is stipulated in  the  call  to
               prolog(...)   then  the  current  value  of  time() is used.  Explicitly pass a value of undef to
               suppress emitting any 'creatim' value.

           'printim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,
               This value is for the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It signifies the time when
               this document was last printed.  If you don't  stipulate  a  defined  value  here,  no  'printim'
               metainformation is written.

           'buptim' => EPOCH_NUMBER,
               This  value  is for the document metainformation section of the prolog.  It signifies the "backup
               time" of this document.  If you don't stipulate a defined value here, no 'buptim' metainformation
               is written.

           'version' => INTEGER,
           'vern' => INTEGER,
           'edmins' => INTEGER,
           'nofpages' => INTEGER,
           'nofwords' => INTEGER,
           'nofchars' => INTEGER,
           'nofcharsws' => INTEGER,
           'id' => INTEGER,
               These are for stipulating the integer values of these various optional (and not terribly  useful,
               for  most  purposes!) document metainformation items.  The meanings of all of these are explained
               in the RTF spec.

           'charset' => STRING,
               This is for expressing, in the prolog, RTF codename for the character  set  being  used  in  this
               document.   The default is "ansi", and don't stipulate anything else (like "mac", "pc", or "pca")
               unless you know what you're doing.

           'rtf_version' => INTEGER,
               This is for expressing, in the prolog, what major version of RTF is being used in this  document.
               The default is 1, and don't use anything else unless you really know what you're doing.

       $h->printf('format', ...items...);
           This is just short for $h->print(sprintf('format', ...items...)

       $h->printf(\'format', ...items...);
           In  this case, 'format' is assumed to contain already-escaped RTF code.  The items in ...items... are
           escaped as necessary, and then interpolated.  I.e., this is rather like: $h->print(\sprintf 'format',
           map rtfesc($_), ...items...)) except that numeric items don't get escaped (and  don't  need  to  be).
           Example:

               $h->printf(
                 \'{\i "%s"} was found in %2.2f percent of matches\par',
                 $word, 100 * $count / $total
               );

       $h->number_pages();
       $h->number_pages(...);
           This  is  just  a handy wrapper for some code that turns on page numbering.  If you call this method,
           you should call it right after you emit a prolog.

           The page numbering consists of just putting the page number at the top-right of each  page.   If  you
           provide items in the list (...), then that is pre-pended to the page number.  Example:

               $h->number_pages("Lexicon, p.");

           Or:

               $h->number_pages(\'\b\fs30\f2', "page ");

       $trdecl = RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl->new( ...options... )
           This  constructs  an  object  representing  a declaration for a table row.  You can have to use it in
           calls to $h->row($tabldecl,...), and can reuse it on subsequent calls.  This object is for  declaring
           the dimensions of table rows.

           The  work  that  a  declaration has to do, is best explained in this diagram of a bordered three-cell
           table (first cell containing "Foo ya!"), placed near a left margin (shown as  the  line  of  colons).
           The things in brackets are not on the page, but just for our reference:

             :    [..w1...]
             :            [......w2.......]
             :                            [...w3....]
             [.A..]     [.B.]           [.B.]
             :
             :    +-------+---------------+---------+
             :    |  Foo  |  Bar baz      |  Yee!   |
             :    |  ya!  |  quuxi quuxo  |         |
             :    |       |  quaqua.      |         |
             :    +-------+---------------+---------+
             :
             [.A..]     [.B.]           [.B.]
             [..r1........]
             [.....r2.....................]
             [........r3............................]

           Here  the horizontal dimensions of the three-celled table are expressed in terms of:  A, the distance
           from the current left margin; B, the minimum distance between the content of the cells  (or  you  can
           think  of  this  as  twice the internal left or right borders in each cell); and then EITHER [w1, w2,
           w3], expressing the width of each cell, OR [r1, r2, r3], expressing each cell's right end's  distance
           from the current left margin.  All distances are, of course, in twips.

           Options to RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl->new( ...options... ) are:

           left_start => TWIPS,
               This declares the distance between the left margin, and the left end of the table.  Default is 0.

           inbetween => TWIPS,
               This  declares the distance labelled "B", above.  Default is 120, which is 6 points, 1/12th-inch,
               about 2mm.

           widths => [TWIPS, TWIPS, TWIPS, ... ],
               This expresses the widths of each of the cells in this row, starting from the leftmost.

           reaches => [TWIPS, TWIPS, TWIPS, ... ],
               This expresses the rightmost extreme of each of the cells in this row.

           align => alignmentspecs,
               This is explained in detail in the section "Cell Alignment Syntax", below.

           borders => borderspecs,
               This is explained in detail in the section "Cell Border Syntax", below.

       $h->paragraph(...);
           This makes the items in the list (...) into a paragraph.  Basically just a  wrapper  for  $h->print([
           \'{\par', ..., \'\pard}', ])

       $h->row($trdecl, ...items...);
           This  emits  a  table  row, with dimensions as stipulated by the $trdecl object, and with row content
           from the items given.

           You must provide a value for $trdecl, or a fatal error results.

           If you provide fewer items than $trdecl declares cells, then you get empty cells to fill out the row.
           If you provide more items than $trdecl declares cells, then the width of the  last  declared  row  is
           used in figuring the width of the additional cells for this row.

           Example:

               my $decl = RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl->new('widths' => [1500,1900]);
               $h->row($decl, "Stuff", "Hmmm");
               $h->row($decl, [\'\ul', 'Foo'], 'Bar', \'\bullet');
               $h->row($decl, "Hooboy.");

           This creates a table resembing:

               +-------------+-------------------+
               | Stuff       | Hmm               |
               +-------------+-------------------+-------------------+
               | _Foo_       | Bar               | *                 |
               +-------------+-------------------+-------------------+
               | "Hooboy."   |                   |
               +-------------+-------------------+

           Note that you MUST NOT use '\par' commands in any items you emit in row cells!

           The  $h->row(...)  method  is  a  wrapper for producing elementary tables in RTF, with the minimum of
           parameters; the myriad other options that tables can have (for example,  changing  borders)  are  not
           supported.   If you really need to generate tables fancier than what $h->row(...)  can produce, start
           off reading the RTF spec, reading the source for row() (and the RTF::Writer::TableRowDecl class), and
           progress from there.  Note that MSWord has been known to crash when given malformed RTF table code.

       $h->table($trdecl, [...row1 items...], [...row2 items...], ... );
       $h->table([...row1 items...], [...row2 items...], ... );
           This is a wrapper around $h->row.  It  takes  a  list  of  arrayrefs,  which  are  fed  to  calls  to
           h->row($tr_decl,  @$each_arrayref).   You  should  provide  a  $trdecl, but if you don't, then one is
           crudely guessed at, based on the maximum number of columns in all rows.

       $h->image( image_parameters )
           This returns a scalar-reference to RTF-code representing the given image with given parameters.   For
           example:

             $h->paragraph(
               "See here: ",
               $h->image( 'filename' => "foo.png", ),
             );

           The legal options are explained below:

           filename => FILENAME,
               This  should be the path to a readable filename.  You have to specify this.  If you don't specify
               this, or if the value isn't a readable file, then a fatal error results.  Currently,  only  JPEGs
               and PNGs are allowed; specifying any other kind of file causes a fatal error.

               (The "filename" option above is required, but the following options are all generally optional --
               altho  some RTF processors may be finicky if you set some of the following but not others, for no
               apparent reason.  When in doubt, test.)

           wgoal => TWIPS,
               The desired width of the image

           hgoal => TWIPS,
               The desired height of the image

           scalex => PERCENT,
           scaley => PERCENT,
               Respectively, the horizontal (X) or vertical (Y) scaling  value.   The  argument  is  an  integer
               representing a percentage. (The default is 100 percent)

           cropt => TWIPS,
           cropb => TWIPS,
           cropl => TWIPS,
           cropr => TWIPS,
               These  specify  the  top, bottom, left, and right cropping values.  A positive value crops toward
               the center of the image.  A negative value crops away from the center,  adding  a  padding  space
               around the image.

               (The default is to do neither, as you'd get from a cropping value of 0.)

           picspecs => \SCALARVALUE,
               This  overrides  generation  of the normal image values based the image and the above parameters,
               and instead uses whatever value you pass a reference to.  You  normally  shouldn't  need  to  use
               this.

       $h->image_paragraph( image_parameters );
           This  take  the same options as "$h->image(...)", but has three differences:  First, it is a shortcut
           for this:

              $h->paragraph( \'\qc',
                $h->image( ...params...),
              );

           Secondly,   whereas   "$h->image(...)"   returns   the   image   data   (as   an   RTF    scalarref),
           "$h->image_paragraph(...)" doesn't return much of anything.

           Thirdly, "$h->image_paragraph(...)" is often much more memory-efficient, since it can write the image
           data to a file as it's RTF-ified, instead of building it all up in memory.

       $h->close();
           This  completes  writing  to  the  stream denoted by the object in $h; this generally (assuming you'd
           called $h->prolog) involves just writing a  final  close-brace  to  $h,  and  then  closing  whatever
           filehandle or file $h writes to (unless we're writing to a string, in which case we just discard $h's
           reference to it).  After you call "$h->close", you should not call any other methods with $h!

           Note  that  you don't have to explicitly call "$h->close" -- when an unclosed RTF::Writer object goes
           out of scope (or, more precisely speaking, when if its refcount hits zero), then something equivalent
           to calling "$h->close" is done automatically for you.

AUTOMETHODS

       In addition to any of the above methods, you can use any RTF command (and optional integer arguments)  as
       a valid method name, by just capitalizing its first letter, as shown below:

       $h->Foo();
           The same as $h->print( \'\foo' );

           For example, $h->Page() is the same as $h->print(\'\page')

       $h->Foo(...);
           (Where "..." is a non-empty list.)

           The same as $h->print( [ \'\foo', ... ] );

           For example: "$h->I('stuff')" is the same as $h->print([\'\i', 'stuff'])

       $h->Foo123();
           The same as $h->print( \'\foo123' ).  I.e., command word "\foo" with an integer argument of 123.

           For example: $h->Cols2() is the same as $h->print(\'\cols2')

       $h->Foo123(...);
           (Where "..." is a non-empty list.)

           The same as $h->print( [ \'\foo123', ... ] );

           For example: $h->F2('stuff') is the same as $h->print([\'\f2', 'stuff']).

       $h->Foo_123();
           The same as $h->print( \'\foo-123' );, i.e., command word "\foo" with an integer argument of negative
           123.  (You can't have a "-" in a method name, so I use an underscore instead.)

           For example: $h->Li_1440() is the same as $h->print([\'\li-1440', 'stuff'])

       $h->Foo_123(...);
           (Where "..." is a non-empty list.)

           The same as $h->print( [ \'\foo-123', ... ] );

FUNCTIONS

       None of these functions are exported by default, but they can be exported on request, as in:

         use RTF::Writer qw(inches cm rtfesc);

       inch($x), inches($x), in($x)
           These  synonymous functions all construe the numeric value in $x as inches, and return the equivalent
           number of twips.  For example, "inches(1.5)" returns 2160, because an inch and a half is exactly 2160
           twips.  The return value of these functions is always an integer, as fractions of twips are not  used
           in RTF.

       point($x), points($x), pt($x)
           These  synonymous functions all construe the numeric value in $x as points, and return the equivalent
           number of twips.  For example, "points(54)" returns 1080, because fifty-four points is  exactly  1080
           twips.   The return value of these functions is always an integer, as fractions of twips are not used
           in RTF.

       cm(x)
           This function construes the numeric value in $x as centimeters, and returns the equivalent number  of
           twips.  For example, "cm(1.5)" returns 850, because 1.5cm is approximately 850 twips (i.e., it's 850,
           when  rounded  to the nearest whole number).  Since twips and points are both are defined in terms of
           inches (1440 twips = 72 points = 1 inch), conversion between cm and these other units is approximate.

           The return value of "cm($x)" is always an integer, as fractions of twips are not used in RTF.

       rtfesc($text); # void context
       rtfesc($x, $y); # void context
       rtfesc(@z); # void context
       $escaped = rtfesc($x);
       @escaped = rtfesc($x, $y, ...);
           This escapes some plaintext so  it's  good  RTF.   E.g.,  it  turns  "Foo\nBar\\"  into  "Foo\n\\line
           Bar\\'5c" (since a plaintext backslash needs to be escaped in RTF, and a "\n"'s RTF equivalent is the
           '\line' command).

           In  void context (i.e., where you aren't capturing the return value), this in-place alters the values
           you pass it.

           In scalar or list context, doesn't alter the original(s), but returns an escaped  copy  of  what  you
           pass in.

   Cell Alignment Syntax
       To  control  alignment  of  cells,  specify  "align  =>  "direction  direction direction..."", where each
       direction is one of these alphametic strings for the given directions (based on the  abbreviated  English
       names for map directions and canvas directions):

           NW  N  NE        TL  T  TR
             \ | /            \ | /
           W - C - E        L - C - R
             / | \            / | \
           SW  S  SE        BL  B  BR

       For  example,  "align  =>  "nw c"" means that the first cell will be aligned to the northwest (a.k.a. the
       top-left), and that the second cell (and any cells thereafter) will be aligned to the center.

       An acceptable alternate syntax is to "align => ['nw', 'c']" -- i.e., to pass a reference to an  array  of
       'direction' items, instead of just passing a single scalar of whitespace-padded directions.

       (Note  that alignment syntax and cell border syntax, may look a bit alike, but are really very different;
       try not to mix them up.)

   Cell Border Syntax
       To specify what borders occur on cells, use one of the following syntaxes:

       "borders => 1," or "borders => 'all'," to turn on a simple border for all sides of all cells. This is the
       default -- so if you don't specify a "borders => something" option, it will be as if you specified
       "borders => 1".
       "borders => 0," or "borders => 'none'," to turn off all borders for all cells.  In previous versions of
       RTF::Writer, this was the default.

       or use this complex syntax for finer control:

       "borders => [ cellborders, cellborders, ... ],"

       ...where each "cellborders" is a string in the form "border border border", where, in turn,  each  border
       is  a  substring  in  the  form  "direction-thickness-type",  "direction-type"  "direction-thickness", or
       "direction".  Alternately, "cellborders" can be one of these shorter values:

       the value "none" -- meaning no borders in any direction
       an integer between 2 and 75 -- meaning a simple border that's that many twips thick, on all sides.  (So
       specifying "22" is synonymous with "all-22-s" in the longer syntax.)
       empty-string or undef -- meaning a simple border of the default thickness on all sides.  (So specifying
       "" is synonymous with "all", which is in turn synonymous with "nsew-15-s".)

       direction is either "all", or a combination of some of the uppercase or lowercase letters N, S, E, W,  T,
       B, R, L. (Of course, the first four are synonymous with the other four, respectively.)

       thickness  (by  default,  15)  is an integer between 1 and 75, specifying the thickness of the border, in
       twips.

       And type (by default, "s") is one of these, as specified in the RTF spec:

                  s : Single-thickness border
                 th : Double-thickness border
                 sh : Shadowed border
                 db : Double border
                dot : Dotted border
               hair : Hairline border

               dash : Dashed border
              inset : Inset border
             dashsm : Dashed border (small)
              dashd : Dot-dashed border
             dashdd : Dot-dot-dashed border
             outset : Outset border
             triple : Triple border
             tnthsg : Thick-thin border (small)
             thtnsg : Thin-thick border (small)
           tnthtnsg : Thin-thick thin border (small)
             tnthmg : Thick-thin border (medium)
             thtnmg : Thin-thick border (medium)
           tnthtnmg : Thin-thick thin border (medium)
             tnthlg : Thick-thin border (large)
             thtnlg : Thin-thick border (large)
           tnthtnlg : Thin-thick-thin border (large)
               wavy : Wavy border
             wavydb : Double wavy border
         dashdotstr : Striped border
             emboss : Embossed border
            engrave : Engraved border
              frame : Border resembles a "frame"

       Not all of the above are supported by all RTF readers.  If you're concerned about  portability,  consider
       sticking to the core set of just the first six listed above.

       Also,  the  syntax  "borders  => cellspec" is accepted as a synonym for "borders => [cellspec]", for when
       you're specifying just a single cellspec, for use the the first and all subsequent cells.

       Cell border syntax is best shown by example:

         borders=> [ "ns-30-db w-25", "all-10-wavy", "none", 13 ],

       That means to that the first cell should have a 30-twip-thick double border on the top and bottom  (north
       and  south)  and  a  25-twip-thick single border on the west (and no border on the east side); the second
       cell should have a 10-twip-thick wavy border on all sides; the third cell should have no borders  on  any
       sides; and the fourth (and any additional) cells should have a 13-twip-thick single border on all sides.

       Incidentally,  when a particular cellspec contains apparently contradictory declarations, the last one is
       the one that has an effect.  For example, consider "all-20-db w-10-s" -- the first part turns on  20-twip
       double  borders  on  all  sides,  and  the second part turns on a 10-twip single border on the west side.
       Since the second part is last, that's the one that has an effect -- so just the north,  south,  and  east
       sides actually get a 20-twip double border, and the west side gets the 10-twip single border.

       (This  means  that  if you say "w-10-s all-20-db", the first part will have no effect, because the second
       part will override the west-side declaration.)

   Cell Border Syntax, Formally
       If you'd prefer a more formal grammar for this all, this should help:

           borderdec :=
              'borders' =>  '0'    # no borders at all
                          | '1'    # same as ["all-15-s"]
                          | [ cellspec, cellspec, ... ]
                          | cellspec   # default for one-cell form of the above

           cellspec :=  "" | undef    # same as "all-15-s"
                        | int         # same as "all-INT-s" (note: 2 <= int <= 75)
                        | "none"      # no borders on this cell
                        | (border ( ', ' . border )* )
                             # a list of border expressions separated by
                             # a comma (and/or whitespace, in fact)

           border    := direction-thickness-type # For example, "nse-15-s"
                        | direction-type         #  same as "DIR-15-TYPE"
                        | direction-thickness    #  same as "DIR-THICK-s"
                        | direction              #  same as "DIR-15-s"

           direction := "all" | qr/^[nsewtblrNSEWTBLR]+$/
              # Note that "nw" doesn't mean the direction northwest, but
              # simultaneously the north and west sides.

           thickness := integer in the range 1 - 75

           type  :=  "s" | "th" | "sh" | "db" | "dot" | "hair" | (etc)

SEE ALSO

       RTF::Cookbook

       The book RTF Pocket Guide from O'Reilly.  <http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/rtfpg/>

COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER

       Copyright 2001,2,3 Sean M. Burke.

       This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under  the  same  terms  as  Perl
       itself.

       This  program  is  distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even
       the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

       The author of this document is not affiliated with the Microsoft corporation.

       Product and company names mentioned in this document may be the trademarks  or  service  marks  of  their
       respective  owners.  Trademarks and service marks are not identified, although this must not be construed
       as the author's expression of validity or invalidity of each trademark or service mark.

AUTHOR

       Sean M. Burke, <sburke@cpan.org>

perl v5.36.0                                       2022-11-19                                   RTF::Writer(3pm)