--- name: "elatex" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "tetex-bin" version: "2.0.2-30sarge5" release: "Debian 3.1 (Sarge)" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/etex" --- # elatex(1) extended TeX Part of [etex(1)](/etex/1.md). ## NAME etex, einitex, evirtex - extended TeX ## SYNOPSIS **etex** \[*options*\] \[*commands*\] ## DESCRIPTION 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*. e-TeX is the first concrete result of an international research & development project, the NTS Project, which was established under the aegis of DANTE e.V. during 1992. The aims of the project are to perpetuate and develop the spirit and philosophy of TeX, whilst respecting Knuth's wish that TeX should remain frozen. e-TeX can be used in two different modes: in *compatibility mode* it is supposed to be completely interchangable with standard TeX. In *extended mode* several new primitives are added that facilitate (among other things) bidirectional typesetting. An extended mode format is generated by prefixing the name of the source file for the format with an asterisk (\*). Such formats are often prefixed with an \`e', hence **etex** as the extended version of **tex** and **elatex** as the extended version of **latex**. However, **eplain** is an exception to this rule. The **einitex** and **evirtex** commands are e-TeX's analogues to the **initex** and **virtex** commands. In this installation, they are symlinks to the **etex** executable. e-TeX's handling of its command-line arguments is similar to that of TeX. ## OPTIONS This version of e-TeX understands the following command line options. - **--efmt** *format* Use *format* as the name of the format to be used, instead of the name by which e-TeX was called or a *%&* line. - **--file-line-error-style** Print error messages in the form *file:line:error* which is similar to the way many compilers format them. - **--help** Print help message and exit. - **--ini** Be **einitex**, for dumping formats; this is implicitly true if the program is called as **einitex**. - **--interaction** *mode* Sets the interaction mode. The mode can be one of *batchmode*, *nonstopmode*, *scrollmode*, and *errorstopmode*. The meaning of these modes is the same as that of the corresponding \\commands. - **--ipc** Send DVI 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. - **--maketex** *fmt* Enable mktex*fmt*, where *fmt* must be one of *tex* or *tfm*. - **--mltex** Enable MLTeX extensions. - **--no-maketex** *fmt* Disable mktex*fmt*, where *fmt* must be one of *tex* or *tfm*. - **--output-comment** *string* Use *string* for the DVI file comment instead of the date. - **--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. - **--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 Bourne shell command. This construct is normally disallowed for security reasons. - **--translate-file** *tcxname* Use the *tcxname* translation table. - **--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 e-TeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you give directly to e-TeX, 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, e-TeX 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 *tex paper* and the current directory is not writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has the value */tmp*, e-TeX attempts to create */tmp/paper.log* (and */tmp/paper.dvi*, 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. - TEXFONTS Search path for font metric (*.tfm*) files. - TEXFORMATS Search path for format files. - TEXPOOL search path for **einitex** internal strings. - TEXEDIT Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually **vi**, is set when e-TeX is compiled. ## FILES The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system. Use the **kpsewhich** utility to find their locations. - *etex.pool* Encoded text of e-TeX's messages. - *texfonts.map* Filename mapping definitions. - *\*.tfm* Metric files for e-TeX's fonts. - *\*.efmt* Predigested e-TeX format (.efmt) files.\ ## BUGS This version of e-TeX implements a number of optional extensions. In fact, many of these extensions conflict to a greater or lesser extent with the definition of e-TeX. When such extensions are enabled, the banner printed when e-TeX starts is changed to print **e-TeXk** instead of **e-TeX**. This version of e-TeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow when dimensions are added or subtracted. Cases where this occurs are rare, but when it does the generated *DVI* file will be invalid. ## SEE ALSO [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md), [**mf**(1)](/mf/1.md).