1PIC2GRAPH(1) General Commands Manual PIC2GRAPH(1)
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6 pic2graph - convert a PIC diagram into a cropped image
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9 pic2graph [ -unsafe ] [ -format fmt ] [ -eqn delim ]
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12 Reads a PIC program as input; produces an image file (by default in
13 Portable Network Graphics format) suitable for the Web as output. Also
14 translates eqn(1) constructs, so it can be used for generating images
15 of mathematical formulae.
16 PIC is a rather expressive graphics minilanguage suitable for producing
18 box-and-arrow diagrams of the kind frequently used in technical papers
19 and textbooks. The language is sufficiently flexible to be quite use‐
20 ful for state charts, Petri-net diagrams, flow charts, simple circuit
21 schematics, jumper layouts, and other kinds of illustration involving
22 repetitive uses of simple geometric forms and splines. Because PIC
23 descriptions are procedural and object-based, they are both compact and
24 easy to modify.
25 The PIC language is fully documented in "Making Pictures With GNU PIC",
27 a document which is part of the groff(1) distribution.
28 Your input PIC code should not be wrapped with the .PS and .PE macros
30 that normally guard it within groff(1) macros.
31 The output image will be a black-on-white graphic clipped to the small‐
33 est possible bounding box that contains all the black pixels. By spec‐
34 ifying command-line options to be passed to convert(1) you can give it
35 a border, set the background transparent, set the image's pixel den‐
36 sity, or perform other useful transformations.
37 This program uses pic(1), eqn(1), groff(1), gs(1), and the ImageMagick
39 convert(1) program. These programs must be installed on your system
40 and accessible on your $PATH for pic2graph to work.
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43 -unsafe
44 Run pic(1) and groff(1) in the `unsafe' mode enabling the PIC
45 macro sh to execute arbitrary commands. The default is to for‐
46 bid this.
47 -format fmt
49 Specify an output format; the default is PNG (Portable Network
50 Graphics). Any format that convert(1) can emit is supported.
51 -eqn delim
53 Change the fencepost characters that delimit eqn(1) directives
54 ($ and $, by default). This option requires an argument, but an
55 empty string is accepted as a directive to disable eqn(1) pro‐
56 cessing.
57 Command-line switches and arguments not listed above are passed to con‐
59 vert(1).
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62 /usr/share/groff/1.18.1.4/tmac/eqnrc The eqn(1) initialization file.
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65 eqn2graph(1), pic(1), eqn(1), groff(1), gs(1), convert(1).
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68 Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>, based on a recipe by W. Richard
69 Stevens.
70Groff Version 1.18.1.4 17 July 2002 PIC2GRAPH(1)