The commands serve a variety of purposes:
@code{sample-code}Indicate text that is a literal example of a piece of a program.
See @code{sample-code}.
@kbd{keyboard-characters}Indicate keyboard input. See @kbd{keyboard-characters}.
@key{key-name}Indicate the conventional name for a key on a keyboard.
See @key{key-name}.
@samp{text}Indicate text that is a literal example of a sequence of characters.
See @samp{text}.
@verb{text}Write a verbatim sequence of characters.
See @verb{chartextchar}.
@var{metasyntactic-variable}Indicate a metasyntactic variable. See @var{metasyntactic-variable}.
@env{environment-variable}Indicate an environment variable. See @env{environment-variable}.
@file{file-name}Indicate the name of a file. See @file{file-name}.
@command{command-name}Indicate the name of a command.
See @command{command-name}.
@option{option}Indicate a command-line option.
See @option{option-name}.
@dfn{term}Indicate the introductory or defining use of a term.
See @dfn{term}.
@cite{reference}Indicate the name of a book. See @cite{reference}.
@abbr{abbreviation}Indicate an abbreviation, such as ‘Comput.’.
@acronym{acronym}Indicate an acronym. See @acronym{acronym[, meaning]}.
@indicateurl{uniform-resource-locator}Indicate an example (that is, nonfunctional) uniform resource locator.
See @indicateurl{uniform-resource-locator}. (Use @url (see @url, @uref{url[, text][, replacement]}) for
live urls.)
@email{email-address[, displayed-text]}Indicate an electronic mail address. See @email{email-address[, displayed-text]}.