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Usage

Overview

This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for this version of TeX can be found in the info file or manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.

pdfeTeX is a version of e-TeX that can create PDF files as well as DVI files.

In DVI mode, pdfeTeX can be used as a complete replacement of the e-TeX engine.

The typical use of pdfeTeX is with a pregenerated formats for which PDF output has been enabled. The pdfetex command uses the equivalent of the plain e-TeX format, and the pdfelatex command uses the equivalent of the e-LaTeX format. To generate formats, use the -ini switch.

The pdfeinitex and pdfevirtex commands are pdfeTeX's analogues to the einitex and evirtex commands. In this installation, they are symbolic links to the pdfetex executable. These symbolic links may not exist at all.

In PDF mode, pdfeTeX can natively handle the PDF, JPG, and PNG graphics formats. pdfeTeX's handling of its command-line arguments is similar to that of of the other TeX programs in the web2c implementation.

Options

This version of pdfeTeX understands the following command line options.

-fmt format

Use format as the name of the format to be used, instead of the name by which pdfeTeX was called or a %& line.

-enc

Enable the encTeX extensions. This option is only effective in combination with -ini. For documentation of the encTeX extensions see http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.

-file-line-error

Print error messages in the form file:line:error which is similar to the way many compilers format them.

-no-file-line-error

Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.

-file-line-error-style

This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.

-halt-on-error

Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during processing.

-help

Print help message and exit.

-ini

Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats. The INI mode can be used for typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and basic initializations like setting catcodes may be required.

-interaction mode

Sets the interaction mode. The mode can be either batchmode, nonstopmode, scrollmode, and errorstopmode. The meaning of these modes is the same as that of the corresponding \commands.

-ipc

Send DVI or PDF output to a socket as well as the usual output file. Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.

-ipc-start

As -ipc, and starts the server at the other end as well. Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.

-jobname name

Use name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name of the input file.

-kpathsea-debug bitmask

Sets path searching debugging flags according to the bitmask. See the Kpathsea manual for details.

-mktex fmt

Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

-mltex

Enable MLTeX extensions. Only effective in combination with -ini.

-no-mktex fmt

Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

-output-comment string

In DVI mode, use string for the DVI file comment instead of the date. This option is ignored in PDF mode.

-output-directory directory

directory instead of the current directory. Look up input files in directory first, the along the normal search path.

-output-format format

Set the output format mode, where format must be either pdf or dvi. This also influences the set of graphics formats understood by pdfeTeX.

-parse-first-line

If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it to look for a dump name or a -translate-file option.

-no-parse-first-line

Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.

-progname name

Pretend to be program name. This affects both the format used and the search paths.

-recorder

Enable the filename recorder. This leaves a trace of the files opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.

-shell-escape

Enable the \write18{command} construct. The command can be any shell command. This construct is normally disallowed for security reasons.

-no-shell-escape

Disable the \write18{command} construct, even if it is enabled in the texmf.cnf file.

-src-specials

In DVI mode, insert source specials into the DVI file. This option is ignored in PDF mode.

-src-specials where

In DVI mode, insert source specials in certain placed of the DVI file. where is a comma-separated value list: cr, display, hbox, math, par, parent, or vbox. This option is ignored in PDF mode.

-translate-file tcxname

Use the tcxname translation table to set the mapping of input characters and re-mapping of output characters.

-default-translate-file tcxname

Like -translate-file except that a %& line can overrule this setting.

-version

Print version information and exit.

Environment

See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications' node) for precise details of how the environment variables are used. The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the variables.

One caveat: In most pdfeTeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you give directly to pdfeTeX, because ~ is an active character, and hence is expanded, not taken as part of the filename. Other programs, such as Metafont, do not have this problem.

TEXMFOUTPUT

Normally, pdfeTeX puts its output files in the current directory. If any output file cannot be opened there, it tries to open it in the directory specified in the environment variable TEXMFOUTPUT. There is no default value for that variable. For example, if you say pdfetex paper and the current directory is not writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, pdfeTeX attempts to create /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.pdf, if any output is produced.)

TEXINPUTS

Search path for \input and \openin files. This should probably start with ``.'', so that user files are found before system files. An empty path component will be replaced with the paths defined in the texmf.cnf file. For example, set TEXINPUTS to ".:/home/usr/tex:" to prepend the current direcory and ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.

TEXFORMATS

Search path for format files.

TEXPOOL

search path for pdfetex internal strings.

TEXEDIT

Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually vi, is set when pdfeTeX is compiled.

TFMFONTS

Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.

Files

The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system. Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.

pdfetex.pool

Text file containing pdfeTeX's internal strings.

pdftex.map

Filename mapping definitions.

*.tfm

Metric files for pdfeTeX's fonts.

*.fmt

Predigested pdfeTeX format (.fmt) files.