1PDFTEX(1) General Commands Manual PDFTEX(1)
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6 pdftex - PDF output from TeX
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9 pdftex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]
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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.
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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 Write output files in directory instead of the current direc‐
114 tory. Look up input files in directory first, the along the
115 normal search path.
116 -output-format format
118 Set the output format mode, where format must be either pdf or
119 dvi. This also influences the set of graphics formats under‐
120 stood by pdfTeX.
121 -parse-first-line
123 If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it
124 to look for a dump name or a -translate-file option.
125 -no-parse-first-line
127 Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.
128 -progname name
130 Pretend to be program name. This affects both the format used
131 and the search paths.
132 -recorder
134 Enable the filename recorder. This leaves a trace of the files
135 opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.
136 -shell-escape
138 Enable the \write18{command} construct. The command can be any
139 shell command. This construct is normally disallowed for secu‐
140 rity reasons.
141 -no-shell-escape
143 Disable the \write18{command} construct, even if it is enabled
144 in the texmf.cnf file.
145 -src-specials
147 In DVI mode, insert source specials into the DVI file. This
148 option is ignored in PDF mode.
149 -src-specials where
151 In DVI mode, insert source specials in certain placed of the DVI
152 file. where is a comma-separated value list: cr, display, hbox,
153 math, par, parent, or vbox. This option is ignored in PDF mode.
154 -translate-file tcxname
156 Use the tcxname translation table to set the mapping of input
157 characters and re-mapping of output characters.
158 -default-translate-file tcxname
160 Like -translate-file except that a %& line can overrule this
161 setting.
162 -version
164 Print version information and exit.
165
167 See the Kpathsea library documentation (e.g., the `Path specifications'
168 node) for precise details of how the environment variables are used.
169 The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the variables.
170 One caveat: In most pdfTeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you
172 give directly to pdfTeX, because ~ is an active character, and hence is
173 expanded, not taken as part of the filename. Other programs, such as
174 Metafont, do not have this problem.
175 TEXMFOUTPUT
177 Normally, pdfTeX puts its output files in the current directory.
178 If any output file cannot be opened there, it tries to open it
179 in the directory specified in the environment variable TEXMFOUT‐
180 PUT. There is no default value for that variable. For example,
181 if you say pdftex paper and the current directory is not
182 writable and TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, pdfTeX attempts to
183 create /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.pdf, if any output is pro‐
184 duced.) TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input files, as TeX
185 often generates files that need to be subsequently read; for
186 input, no suffixes (such as ``.tex'') are added by default, the
187 input name is simply checked as given.
188 TEXINPUTS
190 Search path for \input and \openin files. This should start
191 with ``.'', so that user files are found before system files.
192 An empty path component will be replaced with the paths defined
193 in the texmf.cnf file. For example, set TEXINPUTS to
194 ".:/home/user/tex:" to prepend the current directory and
195 ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.
196 TEXFORMATS
198 Search path for format files.
199 TEXEDIT
201 Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually
202 vi, is set when pdfTeX is compiled.
203 TFMFONTS
205 Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.
206 SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
208 If set, its value, taken to be in epoch-seconds, will be used
209 for the timestamps in the PDF output, such as the CreationDate
210 and ModDate keys. This is useful for making reproducible
211 builds.
212 FORCE_SOURCE_DATE
214 If set to the value "1", the time-related TeX primitives (\year,
215 \month, \day, \time) are also initialized from the value of
216 SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. This is not recommended if there is any
217 viable alternative.
218 pdfTeX also has several primitives to support reproducible
219 builds, which are preferable to setting these environment vari‐
220 ables; see the main manual.
221 Many, many more environment variables may be consulted related to path
223 searching. See the Kpathsea manual.
224
226 The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system.
227 Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.
228 pdftex.map
230 Font name mapping definitions.
231 *.tfm Metric files for pdfTeX's fonts.
233 *.fmt Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.
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237 Starting with version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX extensions,
238 and pdfeTeX is just a copy of pdfTeX. See etex(1). This manual page
239 is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for this
240 version of pdfTeX can be found in the pdfTeX manual and the info manual
241 Web2C: A TeX implementation.
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244 This version of pdfTeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow when dimen‐
245 sions are added or subtracted. Cases where this occurs are rare, but
246 when it does the generated DVI file will be invalid. Whether a gener‐
247 ated PDF file would be usable is unknown.
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250 pdfTeX is available for a large variety of machine architectures and
251 operating systems. pdfTeX is part of all major TeX distributions.
252 The pdfTeX home page: http://www.pdftex.org.
253 pdfTeX on CTAN: http://www.ctan.org/pkg/pdftex.
254 pdfTeX mailing list for all discussion: http://lists.tug.org/pdftex.
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257 The full pdfTeX manual can be accessed from the home page or CTAN page.
258 Same for the Web2C, Kpathsea, and other manuals. Some related pro‐
259 grams: epstopdf(1), etex(1), latex(1), luatex(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1),
260 mf(1).
261
263 The primary authors of pdfTeX are Han The Thanh, Petr Sojka, Jiri Zla‐
264 tuska, and Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX).
265 TeX was designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web
267 system for Pascal programs. It was ported to Unix at Stanford by
268 Howard Trickey, and at Cornell by Pavel Curtis. The version now
269 offered with the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the Web to
270 C system (web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.
271 The encTeX extensions were written by Petr Olsak.
273Web2C 2018 4 May 2016 PDFTEX(1)