Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my .if command not work?

Even without looking, I'm sure you're trying something like .if $(var) = Xyz. Well, this won't work. Xhtmlpp is lazy, and sends all its .if commands to Perl to evaluate. Perl thinks that '=' is an assignment, not a comparison. Which always works, or perhaps never does, but certainly will not change depending on the value of $(var). To cut a long story short, use 'eq' and buy the Camel Book.

Why does my .if command still not work?

Well, maybe you made a mistake. For example, this is wrong:

.if $(TITLE) eq "first second"

You have to enclose both arguments in quotes, like this:

.if "$(TITLE)" eq "first second"

Why does my .macro command not work?

One thing that may trip you up with macros is that if it's a long macro, and you're continuing it over more than one line, with the '-' at the end of the line... check if there's a blank after the '-'. The blank will mess up the continuation, but you won't be able to see it at a casual glance.

How do I change the .html extension to .htm?

Redefine the $(EXT) variable.

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