1pdftops(1) General Commands Manual pdftops(1)
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6 pdftops - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (ver‐
7 sion 3.00)
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10 pdftops [options] [PDF-file [PS-file]]
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13 Pdftops converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files to PostScript so
14 they can be printed.
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16 Pdftops reads the PDF file, PDF-file, and writes a PostScript file, PS-
17 file. If PS-file is not specified, pdftops converts file.pdf to
18 file.ps (or file.eps with the -eps option). If PS-file is ´-', the
19 PostScript is sent to stdout.
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22 Pdftops reads a configuration file at startup. It first tries to find
23 the user's private config file, ~/.xpdfrc. If that doesn't exist, it
24 looks for a system-wide config file, /etc/xpdf/xpdfrc. See the
25 xpdfrc(5) man page for details.
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28 Many of the following options can be set with configuration file com‐
29 mands. These are listed in square brackets with the description of the
30 corresponding command line option.
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32 -f number
33 Specifies the first page to print.
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35 -l number
36 Specifies the last page to print.
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38 -level1
39 Generate Level 1 PostScript. The resulting PostScript files
40 will be significantly larger (if they contain images), but will
41 print on Level 1 printers. This also converts all images to
42 black and white. No more than one of the PostScript level
43 options (-level1, -level1sep, -level2, -level2sep, -level3,
44 -level3Sep) may be given. [config file: psLevel]
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46 -level1sep
47 Generate Level 1 separable PostScript. All colors are converted
48 to CMYK. Images are written with separate stream data for the
49 four components. [config file: psLevel]
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51 -level2
52 Generate Level 2 PostScript. Level 2 supports color images and
53 image compression. This is the default setting. [config file:
54 psLevel]
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56 -level2sep
57 Generate Level 2 separable PostScript. All colors are converted
58 to CMYK. The PostScript separation convention operators are
59 used to handle custom (spot) colors. [config file: psLevel]
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61 -level3
62 Generate Level 3 PostScript. This enables all Level 2 features
63 plus CID font embedding. [config file: psLevel]
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65 -level3Sep
66 Generate Level 3 separable PostScript. The separation handling
67 is the same as for -level2Sep. [config file: psLevel]
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69 -eps Generate an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file. An EPS file
70 contains a single image, so if you use this option with a multi-
71 page PDF file, you must use -f and -l to specify a single page.
72 No more than one of the mode options (-eps, -form) may be given.
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74 -form Generate a PostScript form which can be imported by software
75 that understands forms. A form contains a single page, so if
76 you use this option with a multi-page PDF file, you must use -f
77 and -l to specify a single page. The -level1 option cannot be
78 used with -form.
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80 -opi Generate OPI comments for all images and forms which have OPI
81 information. (This option is only available if pdftops was com‐
82 piled with OPI support.) [config file: psOPI]
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84 -noembt1
85 By default, any Type 1 fonts which are embedded in the PDF file
86 are copied into the PostScript file. This option causes pdftops
87 to substitute base fonts instead. Embedded fonts make Post‐
88 Script files larger, but may be necessary for readable output.
89 [config file: psEmbedType1Fonts]
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91 -noembtt
92 By default, any TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF
93 file are copied into the PostScript file. This option causes
94 pdftops to substitute base fonts instead. Embedded fonts make
95 PostScript files larger, but may be necessary for readable out‐
96 put. Also, some PostScript interpreters do not have TrueType
97 rasterizers. [config file: psEmbedTrueTypeFonts]
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99 -noembcidps
100 By default, any CID PostScript fonts which are embedded in the
101 PDF file are copied into the PostScript file. This option dis‐
102 ables that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-
103 embedded CID PostScript fonts. [config file: psEmbedCID‐
104 PostScriptFonts]
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106 -noembcidtt
107 By default, any CID TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF
108 file are copied into the PostScript file. This option disables
109 that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-embed‐
110 ded CID TrueType fonts. [config file: psEmbedCIDTrueTypeFonts]
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112 -paper size
113 Set the paper size to one of "letter", "legal", "A4", or "A3".
114 This can also be set to "match", which will set the paper size
115 to match the size specified in the PDF file. [config file:
116 psPaperSize]
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118 -paperw size
119 Set the paper width, in points. [config file: psPaperSize]
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121 -paperh size
122 Set the paper height, in points. [config file: psPaperSize]
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124 -nocrop
125 By default, output is cropped to the CropBox specified in the
126 PDF file. This option disables cropping. [config file: psCrop]
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128 -expand
129 Expand PDF pages smaller than the paper to fill the paper. By
130 default, these pages are not scaled. [config file: psExpandS‐
131 maller]
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133 -noshrink
134 Don't scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper. By
135 default, pages larger than the paper are shrunk to fit. [config
136 file: psShrinkLarger]
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138 -nocenter
139 By default, PDF pages smaller than the paper (after any scaling)
140 are centered on the paper. This option causes them to be
141 aligned to the lower-left corner of the paper instead. [config
142 file: psCenter]
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144 -duplex
145 Set the Duplex pagedevice entry in the PostScript file. This
146 tells duplex-capable printers to enable duplexing. [config
147 file: psDuplex]
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149 -opw password
150 Specify the owner password for the PDF file. Providing this
151 will bypass all security restrictions.
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153 -upw password
154 Specify the user password for the PDF file.
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156 -q Don't print any messages or errors. [config file: errQuiet]
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158 -cfg config-file
159 Read config-file in place of ~/.xpdfrc or the system-wide config
160 file.
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162 -v Print copyright and version information.
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164 -h Print usage information. (-help and --help are equivalent.)
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167 The Xpdf tools use the following exit codes:
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169 0 No error.
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171 1 Error opening a PDF file.
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173 2 Error opening an output file.
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175 3 Error related to PDF permissions.
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177 99 Other error.
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180 The pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996-2004 Glyph &
181 Cog, LLC.
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184 xpdf(1), pdftotext(1), pdfinfo(1), pdffonts(1), pdftoppm(1), pdfim‐
185 ages(1), xpdfrc(5)
186 http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/
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190 22 January 2004 pdftops(1)