1GS(1) Ghostscript GS(1)
2
6 gs - Ghostscript (PostScript and PDF language interpreter and pre‐
7 viewer)
8
10 gs [ options ] [ files ] ... (Unix, VMS)
11 gswin32c [ options ] [ files ] ... (MS Windows)
12 gswin32 [ options ] [ files ] ... (MS Windows 3.1)
13 gsos2 [ options ] [ files ] ... (OS/2)
14
16 The gs (gswin32c, gswin32, gsos2) command invokes Ghostscript, an
17 interpreter of Adobe Systems' PostScript(tm) and Portable Document For‐
18 mat (PDF) languages. gs reads "files" in sequence and executes them as
19 Ghostscript programs. After doing this, it reads further input from the
20 standard input stream (normally the keyboard), interpreting each line
21 separately. The interpreter exits gracefully when it encounters the
22 "quit" command (either in a file or from the keyboard), at end-of-file,
23 or at an interrupt signal (such as Control-C at the keyboard).
24 The interpreter recognizes many option switches, some of which are
26 described below. Please see the usage documenation for complete infor‐
27 mation. Switches may appear anywhere in the command line and apply to
28 all files thereafter. Invoking Ghostscript with the -h or -? switch
29 produces a message which shows several useful switches, all the devices
30 known to that executable, and the search path for fonts; on Unix it
31 also shows the location of detailed documentation.
32 Ghostscript may be built to use many different output devices. To see
34 which devices your executable includes, run "gs -h". Unless you spec‐
35 ify a particular device, Ghostscript normally opens the first one of
36 those and directs output to it, so if the first one in the list is the
37 one you want to use, just issue the command
38 gs myfile.ps
40 You can also check the set of available devices from within Ghost‐
42 script: invoke Ghostscript and type
43 devicenames ==
45 but the first device on the resulting list may not be the default
47 device you determine with "gs -h". To specify "AbcXyz" as the initial
48 output device, include the switch
49 -sDEVICE=AbcXyz
51 For example, for output to an Epson printer you might use the command
53 gs -sDEVICE=epson myfile.ps
55 The "-sDEVICE=" switch must precede the first mention of a file to
57 print, and only the switch's first use has any effect.
58 Finally, you can specify a default device in the environment variable
60 GS_DEVICE. The order of precedence for these alternatives from highest
61 to lowest (Ghostscript uses the device defined highest in the list) is:
62 Some devices can support different resolutions (densities). To specify
64 the resolution on such a printer, use the "-r" switch:
65 gs -sDEVICE=<device> -r<xres>x<yres>
67 For example, on a 9-pin Epson-compatible printer, you get the lowest-
69 density (fastest) mode with
70 gs -sDEVICE=epson -r60x72
72 and the highest-density (best output quality) mode with
74 gs -sDEVICE=epson -r240x72.
76 If you select a printer as the output device, Ghostscript also allows
78 you to choose where Ghostscript sends the output -- on Unix systems,
79 usually to a temporary file. To send the output to a file "foo.xyz",
80 use the switch
81 -sOutputFile=foo.xyz
83 You might want to print each page separately. To do this, send the
85 output to a series of files "foo1.xyz, foo2.xyz, ..." using the "-sOut‐
86 putFile=" switch with "%d" in a filename template:
87 -sOutputFile=foo%d.xyz
89 Each resulting file receives one page of output, and the files are num‐
91 bered in sequence. "%d" is a printf format specification; you can also
92 use a variant like "%02d".
93 On Unix and MS Windows systems you can also send output to a pipe. For
95 example, to pipe output to the "lpr" command (which, on many Unix sys‐
96 tems, directs it to a printer), use the option
97 -sOutputFile=%pipe%lpr
99 Note that the '%' characters need to be doubled on MS Windows to avoid
101 mangling by the command interpreter.
102 You can also send output to standard output:
104 -sOutputFile=-
106 or
107 -sOutputFile=%stdout%
108 In this case you must also use the -q switch, to prevent Ghostscript
110 from writing messages to standard output.
111 To select a specific paper size, use the command line switch
113 -sPAPERSIZE=<paper_size>
115 for instance
117 -sPAPERSIZE=a4
119 or
120 -sPAPERSIZE=legal
121 Most ISO and US paper sizes are recognized. See the usage documenata‐
123 tion for a full list, or the definitions in the initialization file
124 "gs_statd.ps".
125 Ghostscript can do many things other than print or view PostScript and
127 PDF files. For example, if you want to know the bounding box of a
128 PostScript (or EPS) file, Ghostscript provides a special "device" that
129 just prints out this information.
130 For example, using one of the example files distributed with Ghost‐
132 script,
133 gs -sDEVICE=bbox golfer.ps
135 prints out
137 %%BoundingBox: 0 25 583 732
139 %%HiResBoundingBox: 0.808497 25.009496 582.994503 731.809445
140
142 -- filename arg1 ...
143 Takes the next argument as a file name as usual, but takes all
144 remaining arguments (even if they have the syntactic form of
145 switches) and defines the name "ARGUMENTS" in "userdict" (not
146 "systemdict") as an array of those strings, before running the
147 file. When Ghostscript finishes executing the file, it exits
148 back to the shell.
149 -Dname=token
151 -dname=token
152 Define a name in "systemdict" with the given definition. The
153 token must be exactly one token (as defined by the "token" oper‐
154 ator) and may contain no whitespace.
155 -Dname
157 -dname Define a name in "systemdict" with value=null.
158 -Sname=string
160 -sname=string
161 Define a name in "systemdict" with a given string as value.
162 This is different from -d. For example, -dname=35 is equivalent
163 to the program fragment
164 /name 35 def
165 whereas -sname=35 is equivalent to
166 /name (35) def
167 -q Quiet startup: suppress normal startup messages, and also do the
169 equivalent of -dQUIET.
170 -gnumber1xnumber2
172 Equivalent to -dDEVICEWIDTH=number1 and -dDEVICEHEIGHT=number2.
173 This is for the benefit of devices (such as X11 windows) that
174 require (or allow) width and height to be specified.
175 -rnumber
177 -rnumber1xnumber2
178 Equivalent to -dDEVICEXRESOLUTION=number1 and -dDEVICEYRESOLU‐
179 TION=number2. This is for the benefit of devices such as print‐
180 ers that support multiple X and Y resolutions. If only one num‐
181 ber is given, it is used for both X and Y resolutions.
182 -Idirectories
184 Adds the designated list of directories at the head of the
185 search path for library files.
186 - This is not really a switch, but indicates to Ghostscript that
188 standard input is coming from a file or a pipe and not interac‐
189 tively from the command line. Ghostscript reads from standard
190 input until it reaches end-of-file, executing it like any other
191 file, and then continues with processing the command line. When
192 the command line has been entirely processed, Ghostscript exits
193 rather than going into its interactive mode.
194 Note that the normal initialization file "gs_init.ps" makes "system‐
196 dict" read-only, so the values of names defined with -D, -d, -S, or -s
197 cannot be changed (although, of course, they can be superseded by defi‐
198 nitions in "userdict" or other dictionaries.)
199
201 -dDISKFONTS
202 Causes individual character outlines to be loaded from the disk
203 the first time they are encountered. (Normally Ghostscript
204 loads all the character outlines when it loads a font.) This
205 may allow loading more fonts into RAM, at the expense of slower
206 rendering.
207 -dNOCACHE
209 Disables character caching. Useful only for debugging.
210 -dNOBIND
212 Disables the "bind" operator. Useful only for debugging.
213 -dNODISPLAY
215 Suppresses the normal initialization of the output device. This
216 may be useful when debugging.
217 -dNOPAUSE
219 Disables the prompt and pause at the end of each page. This may
220 be desirable for applications where another program is driving
221 Ghostscript.
222 -dNOPLATFONTS
224 Disables the use of fonts supplied by the underlying platform
225 (for instance X Windows). This may be needed if the platform
226 fonts look undesirably different from the scalable fonts.
227 -dSAFER
229 Disables the "deletefile" and "renamefile" operators and the
230 ability to open files in any mode other than read-only. This
231 strongly recommended for spoolers, conversion scripts or other
232 sensitive environments where a badly written or malicious Post‐
233 Script program code must be prevented from changing important
234 files.
235 -dWRITESYSTEMDICT
237 Leaves "systemdict" writable. This is necessary when running
238 special utility programs such as font2c and pcharstr, which must
239 bypass normal PostScript access protection.
240 -sDEVICE=device
242 Selects an alternate initial output device, as described above.
243 -sOutputFile=filename
245 Selects an alternate output file (or pipe) for the initial out‐
246 put device, as described above.
247
249 The locations of many Ghostscript run-time files are compiled into the
250 executable when it is built. On Unix these are typically based in
251 /usr/local, but this may be different on your system. Under DOS they
252 are typically based in C:\GS, but may be elsewhere, especially if you
253 install Ghostscript with GSview. Run "gs -h" to find the location of
254 Ghostscript documentation on your system, from which you can get more
255 details.
256 /usr/local/share/ghostscript/#.##/*
258 Startup files, utilities, and basic font definitions
259 /usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts/*
261 More font definitions
262 /usr/local/share/ghostscript/#.##/examples/*
264 Ghostscript demonstration files
265 /usr/local/share/ghostscript/#.##/doc/*
267 Diverse document files
268
270 When looking for the initialization files "gs_*.ps", the files related
271 to fonts, or the file for the "run" operator, Ghostscript first tries
272 to open the file with the name as given, using the current working
273 directory if no directory is specified. If this fails, and the file
274 name doesn't specify an explicit directory or drive (for instance,
275 doesn't contain "/" on Unix systems or "\" on MS Windows systems),
276 Ghostscript tries directories in this order:
277 1. the directories specified by the -I switches in the command line
279 (see below), if any;
280 2. the directories specified by the GS_LIB environment variable, if
282 any;
283 3. the directories specified by the GS_LIB_DEFAULT macro in the Ghost‐
285 script makefile when the executable was built. When gs is built on
286 Unix, GS_LIB_DEFAULT is usually "/usr/local/share/ghost‐
287 script/#.##:/usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts" where "#.##" repre‐
288 sents the Ghostscript version number.
289 Each of these (GS_LIB_DEFAULT, GS_LIB, and -I parameter) may be either
291 a single directory or a list of directories separated by ":".
292
294 GS_OPTIONS
295 String of options to be processed before the command line
296 options
297 GS_DEVICE
299 Used to specify an output device
300 GS_FONTPATH
302 Path names used to search for fonts
303 GS_LIB Path names for initialization files and fonts
305 TEMP Where temporary files are made
307
309 Ghostscript, or more properly the X11 display device, looks for the
310 following resources under the program name "Ghostscript":
311 borderWidth
313 The border width in pixels (default = 1).
314 borderColor
316 The name of the border color (default = black).
317 geometry
319 The window size and placement, WxH+X+Y (default is NULL).
320 xResolution
322 The number of x pixels per inch (default is computed from
323 WidthOfScreen and WidthMMOfScreen).
324 yResolution
326 The number of y pixels per inch (default is computed from
327 HeightOfScreen and HeightMMOfScreen).
328 useBackingPixmap
330 Determines whether backing store is to be used for saving dis‐
331 play window (default = true).
332 See the usage document for a more complete list of resources. To set
334 these resources on Unix, put them in a file such as "~/.Xresources" in
335 the following form:
336 Ghostscript*geometry: 612x792-0+0
338 Ghostscript*xResolution: 72
339 Ghostscript*yResolution: 72
340 Then merge these resources into the X server's resource database:
342 % xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources
344
346 The various Ghostscript document files (above), especially Use.htm.
347
349 See the Usenet news group comp.lang.postscript.
350
352 This document was last revised for Ghostscript version 8.15.
353
355 artofcode LLC and Artifex Software, bug-gs at ghostscript.com, are the
356 primary maintainers of Ghostscript. Russell J. Lang, gsview at ghost‐
357 gum.com.au, is the author of most of the MS Windows code in Ghost‐
358 script.
3598.15 22 September 2004 GS(1)