---
name: "dvispc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/dvispc"
---

# dvispc(1)

Modify a DVI file to be page-independent in specials

## NAME

dvispc - Modify a DVI file to be page-independent in specials

## SYNOPSIS

**dvispc** \[**-c**\] \[**-bvz**\] *input\_dvi\_file* \[*output\_dvi\_file*\]

**dvispc -d** *input\_dvi\_file*

**dvispc -s** \[**-p..**\] *input\_dvi\_file* \[*output\_text\_file*\]

**dvispc -a** \[**-ltv**\] \[**-J..**\] \[**-p..**\] \[**-r..**\] *input\_dvi\_file* \[*output\_text\_file*\]

**dvispc -x\[..\]** \[**-ltv**\] \[**-r..**\] \[*input\_text\_file*\] *output\_dvi\_file*

## DESCRIPTION

**Dvispc** is a utility to modify/edit TeX DVI file with the following features:

    Mode option **-c** (default):\
         correct an input DVI to be page-independent in specials (default)

    Mode option **-d**:\
         dry run to check if an input DVI is page-independent in specials

    Mode option **-s**:\
         show all specials in the input DVI

    Mode option **-a**:\
         translate DVI into a Text (like **dv2dt** in dtl)

    Mode option **-x**:\
         translate Text into a DVI (like **dt2dv** in dtl)

(1) The *main* feature of **dvispc** is the first one, to make a page-independent DVI file.

A "pure" DVI file must be actually page-independent. However in recent years, DVI files with lots of \\special's (color, annotation etc.) are commonly used, and they are not always page-independent. In such case, for example, **dviselect** or **dvidvi** fails to preserve \\special's (e.g. page color might be lost).

The program **dvispc** corrects such page-"dependent" DVI files to be page-independent, which can be safely processed by **dviselect** or **dvidvi** and then properly converted to other formats such as PostScript and PDF.

(2) To know whether such a correction is needed or not, **dvispc -d** will suffice.

(3) The mode **-s** lists all specials found in the input DVI as-is, with a preceding number which denotes the page where it appears. For example,

\[1\]\
 {color push  Black}\
 {color pop}\
 {color push rgb 1 0 0}\
 {color pop}\
 \[2\]\
 {color push  Black}\
 {color pop}

This feature is equivalent to a program **dvispecials** in TeX-Guy package \<http://www-masu.ist.osaka-u.ac.jp/%7Ekakugawa/TeX-Guy/\> and **dvii -s** \<https://ctan.org/pkg/dvii\>.

(4) The mode **-a** and **-x** correspond to **dv2dt** and **dt2dv** in the dtl (= DVI Text Language) package respectively. By default **dvispc -a** formats the output text in its own style, but DTL-compatible format is available with **-t** option. Also, **dvispc -x** can accept DTL-compatible text input.

## SUPPORTED SPECIALS

Currently **dvispc** supports the followings:

    dvips-compatible specials\
         color push, color pop, background\
     dvipdfm(x) specials\
         pdf:bcolor, pdf:ecolor, pdf:bgcolor, pdf:bann, pdf:eann\
     tpic specials:\
         pn

Other specials might be supported in the future if needed.

## SEE ALSO

[dviselect(1)](/dviselect/1.md), [dvidvi(1)](/dvidvi/1.md), [dvips(1)](/dvips/1.md), [dvipdfmx(1)](/dvipdfmx/1.md)

## AUTHOR

The program **dvispc** is derived from the DVIOUT package (DVI previewer for Windows) by Toshio OSHIMA ("SHIMA"), Yoshiki OTOBE, and Kazunori ASAYAMA. Current version is maintained by Japanese TeX Development Community \<https://texjp.org\>.\
 For more information, please refer to dvispc-en.txt (in English) and dvispc-ja.txt (in Japanese) on our GitHub repository, \<https://github.com/texjporg/tex-jp-build\> (under source/texk/dviout-util directory).