1PDFTEX(1) Web2C 7.5.6 PDFTEX(1)
2
6 pdftex, pdfinitex, pdfvirtex - PDF output from TeX
7
9 pdftex [options] [& format ] [ file | \ commands ]
10
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 pdfTeX is a version of TeX, with the e-TeX extensions, that can create
20 PDF files as well as DVI files.
21 In DVI mode, pdfTeX can be used as a complete replacement for the TeX
23 engine.
24 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.
29 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.
33 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
37 epstopdf(1). pdfTeX's handling of its command-line arguments is simi‐
38 lar to that of of the other TeX programs in the web2c implementation.
39
41 This version of pdfTeX understands the following command line options.
42 -draftmode
44 Sets \pdfdraftmode so pdfTeX doesn't write a PDF and doesn't
45 read any included images, thus speeding up execution.
46 -enc Enable the encTeX extensions. This option is only effective in
48 combination with -ini. For documentation of the encTeX exten‐
49 sions see http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.
50 -etex Enable the e-TeX extensions. This option is only effective in
52 combination with -ini. See etex(1).
53 -file-line-error
55 Print error messages in the form file:line:error which is simi‐
56 lar to the way many compilers format them.
57 -no-file-line-error
59 Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.
60 -file-line-error-style
62 This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.
63 -fmt format
65 Use format as the name of the format to be used, instead of the
66 name by which pdfTeX was called or a %& line.
67 -halt-on-error
69 Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during pro‐
70 cessing.
71 -help Print help message and exit.
73 -ini Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats. The INI mode
75 can be used for typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and
76 basic initializations like setting catcodes may be required.
77 -interaction mode
79 Sets the interaction mode. The mode can be either batchmode,
80 nonstopmode, scrollmode, and errorstopmode. The meaning of
81 these modes is the same as that of the corresponding \commands.
82 -ipc Send DVI or PDF output to a socket as well as the usual output
84 file. Whether this option is available is the choice of the in‐
85 staller.
86 -ipc-start
88 As -ipc, and starts the server at the other end as well.
89 Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.
90 -jobname name
92 Use name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name
93 of the input file.
94 -kpathsea-debug bitmask
96 Sets path searching debugging flags according to the bitmask.
97 See the Kpathsea manual for details.
98 -mktex fmt
100 Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.
101 -mltex Enable MLTeX extensions. Only effective in combination with
103 -ini.
104 -no-mktex fmt
106 Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.
107 -output-comment string
109 In DVI mode, use string for the DVI file comment instead of the
110 date. This option is ignored in PDF mode.
111 -output-directory directory
113 directory instead of the current directory. Look up input files
114 in directory first, the along the normal search path.
115 -output-format format
117 Set the output format mode, where format must be either pdf or
118 dvi. This also influences the set of graphics formats under‐
119 stood by pdfTeX.
120 -parse-first-line
122 If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it
123 to look for a dump name or a -translate-file option.
124 -no-parse-first-line
126 Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.
127 -progname name
129 Pretend to be program name. This affects both the format used
130 and the search paths.
131 -recorder
133 Enable the filename recorder. This leaves a trace of the files
134 opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.
135 -shell-escape
137 Enable the \write18{command} construct. The command can be any
138 shell command. This construct is normally disallowed for secu‐
139 rity reasons.
140 -no-shell-escape
142 Disable the \write18{command} construct, even if it is enabled
143 in the texmf.cnf file.
144 -src-specials
146 In DVI mode, insert source specials into the DVI file. This
147 option is ignored in PDF mode.
148 -src-specials where
150 In DVI mode, insert source specials in certain placed of the DVI
151 file. where is a comma-separated value list: cr, display, hbox,
152 math, par, parent, or vbox. This option is ignored in PDF mode.
153 -translate-file tcxname
155 Use the tcxname translation table to set the mapping of input
156 characters and re-mapping of output characters.
157 -default-translate-file tcxname
159 Like -translate-file except that a %& line can overrule this
160 setting.
161 -version
163 Print version information and exit.
164
166 See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications'
167 node) for precise details of how the environment variables are used.
168 The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the variables.
169 One caveat: In most pdfTeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you
171 give directly to pdfTeX, because ~ is an active character, and hence is
172 expanded, not taken as part of the filename. Other programs, such as
173 Metafont, do not have this problem.
174 TEXMFOUTPUT
176 Normally, pdfTeX puts its output files in the current directory.
177 If any output file cannot be opened there, it tries to open it
178 in the directory specified in the environment variable TEXMFOUT‐
179 PUT. There is no default value for that variable. For example,
180 if you say pdftex paper and the current directory is not
181 writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, pdfTeX attempts to
182 create /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.pdf, if any output is pro‐
183 duced.)
184 TEXINPUTS
186 Search path for \input and \openin files. This should probably
187 start with ``.'', so that user files are found before system
188 files. An empty path component will be replaced with the paths
189 defined in the texmf.cnf file. For example, set TEXINPUTS to
190 ".:/home/usr/tex:" to prepend the current direcory and
191 ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.
192 TEXFORMATS
194 Search path for format files.
195 TEXPOOL
197 search path for pdftex internal strings.
198 TEXEDIT
200 Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually
201 vi, is set when pdfTeX is compiled.
202 TFMFONTS
204 Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.
205
207 The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system.
208 Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.
209 pdftex.pool
211 Text file containing pdfTeX's internal strings.
212 pdftex.map
214 Filename mapping definitions.
215 *.tfm Metric files for pdfTeX's fonts.
217 *.fmt Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.
219
221 Starting with version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX extensions,
222 and pdfeTeX is just a copy of pdfTeX. See etex(1). This manual page
223 is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for this
224 version of pdfTeX can be found in the pdfTeX manual and the info manual
225 Web2C: A TeX implementation.
226
228 This version of pdfTeX implements a number of optional extensions. In
229 fact, many of these extensions conflict to a greater or lesser extent
230 with the definition of pdfTeX. When such extensions are enabled, the
231 banner printed when pdfTeX starts is changed to print pdfTeXk instead
232 of pdfTeX.
233 This version of pdfTeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow when dimen‐
235 sions are added or subtracted. Cases where this occurs are rare, but
236 when it does the generated DVI file will be invalid. Whether a gener‐
237 ated PDF file would be usable is unknown.
238
240 pdfTeX is available for a large variety of machine architectures and
241 operation systems. pdfTeX is part of all major TeX distributions.
242 Information on how to get pdfTeX and related information is available
244 at the http://www.pdftex.org pdfTeX website.
245 The following pdfeTeX related mailing list is available: pdf‐
247 tex@tug.org. This is a mailman list; to subscribe send a message con‐
248 taining subscribe to pdftex-request@tug.org. More about the list can
249 be found at the http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/pdftex mailing list
250 website.
251
253 epstopdf(1), etex(1), latex(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1), texexec(1), mf(1).
254
256 The primary authors of pdfTeX are Han The Thanh, Petr Sojka, Jiri Zla‐
257 tuska, and Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX).
258 TeX was designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his sys‐
260 tem for Pascal programs. It was ported to Unix at Stanford by Howard
261 Trickey, and at Cornell by Pavel Curtis. The version now offered with
262 the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the to C system
263 (web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.
264 The encTeX extensions were written by Petr Olsak.
266pdftex 1.40 8 January 2007 PDFTEX(1)