1PDFTEX(1)                   General Commands Manual                  PDFTEX(1)
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NAME

6       pdftex - PDF output from TeX
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SYNOPSIS

9       pdftex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]
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DESCRIPTION

12       Run  the  pdfTeX typesetter on file, usually creating file.pdf.  If the
13       file argument has no extension, ".tex" will be appended to it.  Instead
14       of  a  filename,  a  set  of pdfTeX commands can be given, the first of
15       which must start with a backslash.  With a &format argument pdfTeX uses
16       a different set of precompiled commands, contained in format.fmt; it is
17       usually better to use the -fmt format option instead.
18
19       pdfTeX is a version of TeX, with the e-TeX extensions, that can  create
20       PDF files as well as DVI files.
21
22       In  DVI  mode, pdfTeX can be used as a complete replacement for the TeX
23       engine.
24
25       The typical use of pdfTeX is with a pregenerated formats for which  PDF
26       output has been enabled.  The pdftex command uses the equivalent of the
27       plain TeX format, and the pdflatex command uses the equivalent  of  the
28       LaTeX format.  To generate formats, use the -ini switch.
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30       The pdfinitex and pdfvirtex commands are pdfTeX's analogues to the ini‐
31       tex and virtex commands.  In this installation,  if  the  links  exist,
32       they are symbolic links to the pdftex executable.
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34       In  PDF  mode,  pdfTeX can natively handle the PDF, JPG, JBIG2, and PNG
35       graphics formats.  pdfTeX cannot  include  PostScript  or  Encapsulated
36       PostScript (EPS) graphics files; first convert them to PDF using epsto‐
37       pdf(1).  pdfTeX's handling of its command-line arguments is similar  to
38       that of of the other TeX programs in the web2c implementation.
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40       Starting  with  version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX extensions,
41       and pdfeTeX is just a copy of pdfTeX.  See etex(1).
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OPTIONS

44       This version of pdfTeX understands the following command line options.
45
46       -cnf-line string
47              Parse string as a texmf.cnf configuration line.  See the  Kpath‐
48              sea manual.
49
50       -draftmode
51              Sets  \pdfdraftmode  so  pdfTeX  doesn't write a PDF and doesn't
52              read any included images, thus speeding up execution.
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54       -enc   Enable the encTeX extensions.  This option is only effective  in
55              combination  with  -ini.  For documentation of the encTeX exten‐
56              sions see http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.
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58       -etex  Enable the e-TeX extensions.  This option is only  effective  in
59              combination with -ini.  See etex(1).
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61       -file-line-error
62              Print  error messages in the form file:line:error which is simi‐
63              lar to the way many compilers format them.
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65       -no-file-line-error
66              Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.
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68       -file-line-error-style
69              This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.
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71       -fmt format
72              Use format as the name of the format to be used, instead of  the
73              name by which pdfTeX was called or a %& line.
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75       -halt-on-error
76              Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during pro‐
77              cessing.
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79       -help  Print help message and exit.
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81       -ini   Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats.  The INI  mode
82              can be used for typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and ba‐
83              sic initializations like setting catcodes may be required.
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85       -interaction mode
86              Sets the interaction mode.  The mode can  be  either  batchmode,
87              nonstopmode,  scrollmode,  and  errorstopmode.   The  meaning of
88              these modes is the same as that of the corresponding \commands.
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90       -ipc   Send DVI or PDF output to a socket as well as the  usual  output
91              file.  Whether this option is available is the choice of the in‐
92              staller.
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94       -ipc-start
95              As -ipc, and starts  the  server  at  the  other  end  as  well.
96              Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.
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98       -jobname name
99              Use  name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name
100              of the input file.
101
102       -kpathsea-debug bitmask
103              Sets path searching debugging flags according  to  the  bitmask.
104              See the Kpathsea manual for details.
105
106       -mktex fmt
107              Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.
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109       -mltex Enable  MLTeX  extensions.   Only  effective in combination with
110              -ini.
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112       -no-mktex fmt
113              Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.
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115       -output-comment string
116              In DVI mode, use string for the DVI file comment instead of  the
117              date. This option is ignored in PDF mode.
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119       -output-directory directory
120              Write  output  files  in directory instead of the current direc‐
121              tory.  Look up input files in directory  first,  the  along  the
122              normal search path.
123
124       -output-format format
125              Set  the  output format mode, where format must be either pdf or
126              dvi.  This also influences the set of  graphics  formats  under‐
127              stood by pdfTeX.
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129       -parse-first-line
130              If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it
131              to look for a dump name or a -translate-file option.
132
133       -no-parse-first-line
134              Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.
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136       -progname name
137              Pretend to be program name.  This affects both the  format  used
138              and the search paths.
139
140       -recorder
141              Enable  the filename recorder.  This leaves a trace of the files
142              opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.
143
144       -shell-escape
145              Enable the \write18{command} construct.  The command can be  any
146              shell  command.  This construct is normally disallowed for secu‐
147              rity reasons.
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149       -no-shell-escape
150              Disable the \write18{command} construct, even if it  is  enabled
151              in the texmf.cnf file.
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153       -shell-restricted
154              Enable  restricted  \write18{},  as explained in the ``Shell es‐
155              capes'' section of the Web2c Texinfo manual.
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157       -src-specials
158              In DVI mode, insert source specials into the DVI file. This  op‐
159              tion is ignored in PDF mode.
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161       -src-specials where
162              In DVI mode, insert source specials in certain places of the DVI
163              file. The where argument is a comma-separated  value  list:  cr,
164              display,  hbox,  math, par, parent, or vbox.  This option is ig‐
165              nored in PDF mode.
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167       -synctex NUMBER
168              generate SyncTeX data for previewers according to bits  of  NUM‐
169              BER. See the synctex manual page for details.
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171       -translate-file tcxname
172              Use  the  tcxname  translation table to set the mapping of input
173              characters and re-mapping of output characters.
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175       -default-translate-file tcxname
176              Like -translate-file except that a %&  line  can  overrule  this
177              setting.
178
179       -version
180              Print version information and exit.
181
182       -8bit  make all characters printable by default.
183

ENVIRONMENT

185       See the Kpathsea library documentation (e.g., the `Path specifications'
186       node) for precise details of how the environment  variables  are  used.
187       The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the variables.
188
189       One  caveat: In most pdfTeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you
190       give directly to pdfTeX, because ~ is an active character in  TeX,  and
191       hence  is  expanded, not taken as part of the filename. Other programs,
192       such as Metafont, do not have this problem.
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194       TEXMFOUTPUT
195              Normally, pdfTeX puts its output files in the current directory.
196              If  any  output file cannot be opened there, it tries to open it
197              in the directory specified in the environment variable TEXMFOUT‐
198              PUT.  There is no default value for that variable.  For example,
199              if you say  pdftex  paper  and  the  current  directory  is  not
200              writable  and TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, pdfTeX attempts to
201              create /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.pdf, if any output is pro‐
202              duced.)  TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input files, as TeX of‐
203              ten generates files that need to be subsequently read;  for  in‐
204              put,  no  suffixes  (such as ``.tex'') are added by default, the
205              input name is simply checked as given.
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207       TEXINPUTS
208              Search path for \input and \openin files.  This normally  starts
209              with  ``.'',  so  that user files are found before system files.
210              An empty path component will be replaced with the paths  defined
211              in   the   texmf.cnf   file.   For  example,  set  TEXINPUTS  to
212              ".:/home/user/tex:"  to  prepend  the  current   directory   and
213              ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.
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215       TEXFORMATS
216              Search path for format files.
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218       TEXEDIT
219              Command  template for switching to editor.  The default, usually
220              vi, is set when pdfTeX is compiled.
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222       TFMFONTS
223              Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.
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225       SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
226              If set, its value, taken to be in epoch-seconds,  will  be  used
227              for  the  timestamps in the PDF output, such as the CreationDate
228              and ModDate  keys.   This  is  useful  for  making  reproducible
229              builds.
230
231       FORCE_SOURCE_DATE
232              If set to the value "1", the time-related TeX primitives (\year,
233              \month, \day, \time) are also  initialized  from  the  value  of
234              SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH.   This is not recommended if there is any vi‐
235              able alternative.
236              pdfTeX also  has  several  primitives  to  support  reproducible
237              builds,  which are preferable to setting these environment vari‐
238              ables; see the main manual.
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240       Many, many more environment variables may be consulted related to  path
241       searching.  See the Kpathsea manual.
242

FILES

244       The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system.
245       Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.
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247       pdftex.map
248              Font name mapping definitions.
249
250       *.tfm  Metric files for pdfTeX's fonts.
251
252       *.fmt  Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.
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NOTES

BUGS

256       This version of pdfTeX fails to trap arithmetic  overflow  when  dimen‐
257       sions  are  added or subtracted.  Cases where this occurs are rare, but
258       when it does the generated DVI or PDF file will be invalid.
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AVAILABILITY

261       pdfTeX is available for a large variety of  machine  architectures  and
262       operating systems.  pdfTeX is part of all major TeX distributions.
263       The pdfTeX home page: http://www.pdftex.org.
264       pdfTeX on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/pdftex.
265       pdfTeX mailing list for all discussion: https://lists.tug.org/pdftex.
266

SEE ALSO

268       This  manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documen‐
269       tation for this version of pdfTeX can be found in the pdfTeX user  man‐
270       ual  and the Texinfo manuals Kpathsea library, Web2C: A TeX implementa‐
271       tion.  These manuals, and more, can be accessed from the pdfTeX or CTAN
272       web pages given above.
273
274       Some  related  programs: epstopdf(1), etex(1), latex(1), luatex(1), mp‐
275       topdf(1), tex(1), mf(1).
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AUTHORS

278       The primary authors of pdfTeX are Han The Thanh, Petr Sojka, Jiri  Zla‐
279       tuska, and Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX).
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281       TeX  was  designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web
282       system for Pascal programs.  It was  ported  to  Unix  at  Stanford  by
283       Howard  Trickey,  and  at Cornell by Pavel Curtis.  The version now of‐
284       fered with the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the Web to  C
285       system  (web2c),  originally  written  by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.
286       The encTeX extensions were written by Petr Olsak.
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290Web2C 2023                       6 August 2019                       PDFTEX(1)
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