--- name: "gxditview" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "groff" version: "1.24.2-1" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/gxditview" --- # gxditview(1) display troff output in X11 ## Name gxditview - display *troff* output in X11 ## Synopsis **gxditview** \[*X-toolkit-option* ...\] \[**-backingStore** *backing-store-type*\] \[**-filename** *file*\] \[**-page** *page-number*\] \[**-printCommand** *command*\] \[**-resolution** *resolution*\] *file* **gxditview** **-help** **gxditview** **--help** **gxditview** **-v** **gxditview** **-version** **gxditview** **--version** ## Description *gxditview* renders the output of GNU *troff* to an X11 display. It uses the standard X11 fonts, which are rendered by the X server. The output of [*troff*(1)](/troff/1.md) is in a page description language documented in [*groff\_out*(5)](/groff_out/5.md). Normally, users do not observe this output because the [*groff*(1)](/groff/1.md) wrapper automatically runs an output driver to interpret it; *groff*'s **-Z** option leaves it on the standard output stream instead. It can be viewed by explicitly calling “**gxditview** *file*”. If the *file* operand is “**-**”, *gxditview* will read the standard input stream; *file* cannot be omitted. GNU *troff*'s page description language is device-independent but not device-agnostic. *gxditview* can view it for all typesetter devices, but the quality is device-dependent. *gxditview* will not display output for terminal (*nroff*) devices. The best results are achieved with the **X**\* devices for *troff*'s **-T** option, of which there are four: **-TX75**, **-TX75-12**, **-TX100**, and **-TX100-12**. They differ by the X resolution (75 or 100 dots per inch) and the base point size (10 or 12 points). They are especially built for *gxditview*. When using one of these, *troff* generates output for this device and calls *gxditview* automatically for viewing. **-X** produces good results only with **-Tps**, **-TX75**, **-TX75-12**, **-TX100**, and **-TX100-12**. The default resolution for previewing **-Tps** output is 75dpi; this can be changed with the **-resolution** option. While *gxditview* is running, the left mouse button brings up a menu with several entries. - **Next Page** Display the next page. - **Previous Page** Display the previous page. - **Select Page** Collect a page number from a dialog box and render it. - **Print** Collect a command from a dialog box and use it to print *troff* output. The default command initially displayed is controlled by the **printCommand** application resource, and by the **-printCommand** option. - **Open** Collect a file name from a dialog box and render it. The named file should contain *troff* output. If the file name starts with a bar or pipe symbol, “**\|**” it will be interpreted as a command from which to read. - **Quit** Exit from **gxditview**. The menu entries correspond to actions with similar but not identical names, which can also be accessed with keyboard accelerators. The *n*, *Space*, *Return*, and *Next* (*PgDn*) keys are bound to the **NextPage** action. The *p*, *b*, *BackSpace*, *Delete*, and *Prior* (*PgUp*) keys are bound to the **PreviousPage** action. The *p* key with any modifier (Shift, Control, Alt, or Meta) is bound to the **Print** action. The *g* key is bound to the **SelectPage** action. The *o* key is bound to the **OpenFile** action. The *q* key is bound to the **Quit** action. The *r* key is bound to a **Rerasterize** action which rereads the current file, and redisplays the current page; if the current file is a command, the command will be re-executed. Vertical scrolling can be done with the *k* and *j* keys; horizontal scrolling is bound to the *h* and *l* keys. The arrow keys (*up*, *down*, *left*, and *right*) are also bound to the obvious scrolling actions. The **paperlength** and **paperwidth** commands in the *DESC* file describing a *groff* output device specify the length and width in basic units of the virtual page displayed by *gxditview*; see [*groff\_font*(5)](/groff_font/5.md). ### X defaults This program uses the *Dvi* widget from the X Toolkit. It understands all of the core resource names and classes as well as: - **width** (class **Width**) Specifies the width of the window. - **height** (class **Height**) Specifies the height of the window. - **foreground** (class **Foreground**) Specifies the default foreground color. - **font** (class **Font**) Specifies the font to be used for error messages. - **fontMap** (class **FontMap**) Specifies the mapping from *groff* font names to X font names. This must be a string containing a sequence of lines. Each line contains two whitespace-separated fields: the *groff* font name is first, and the XLFD (X Logical Font Description) second. The default is shown in subsection “Default font map” below. ### Default font map XLFDs are long and unwieldy, so some lines are shown broken and indented below. ``` TR -adobe-times-medium-r-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ TI -adobe-times-medium-i-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ TB -adobe-times-bold-r-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ TBI -adobe-times-bold-i-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ CR -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ CI -adobe-courier-medium-o-normal --*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ CB -adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ CBI -adobe-courier-bold-o-normal--*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ HR -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal --*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ HI -adobe-helvetica-medium-o-normal --*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ HB -adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal --*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ HBI -adobe-helvetica-bold-o-normal --*-100-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ NR -adobe-new century schoolbook-medium-r-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ NI -adobe-new century schoolbook-medium-i-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ NB -adobe-new century schoolbook-bold-r-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ NBI -adobe-new century schoolbook-bold-i-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-iso8859-1\n\ S -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-adobe-fontspecific\n\ SS -adobe-symbol-medium-r-normal--*-100 -*-*-*-*-adobe-fontspecific\n\ ``` ## Options **-help** and **--help** display a usage message, while **-v**, **-version**, and **--version** show version information; all exit afterward. *gxditview* accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command-line options along with the additional options listed below. - **-page** This option specifies the page number of the document to be displayed. - **-backingStore** *backing-store-type* Because redisplay of the rendered *troff* output can take a perceiptible amount of time, this option causes the server to save the window contents so that when it is scrolled around the viewport, the window is painted from contents saved in backing store. *backing-store-type* can be one of **Always**, **WhenMapped** or **NotUseful**. - **-printCommand** *command* The default command displayed in the dialog box for the **Print** menu entry will be *command*. - **-resolution** *res* *troff* output file will be displayed at a resolution of *res* dots per inch, unless the *DESC* file contains the **X11** directive, in which case the device resolution will be used. This corresponds to the *Dvi* widget's **resolution** resource. The default is **75**. - **-filename** *string* The default file name displayed in the dialog box for the **Open** menu entry will be *string*. This can be either a file name, or a command starting with “**\|**”. The following standard X Toolkit command-line arguments are commonly used with *gxditview*. - **-bg** *color* This option specifies the color to use for the background of the window. The default is “**white**”. - **-bd** *color* This option specifies the color to use for the border of the window. The default is “**black**”. - **-bw** *number* This option specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding the window. - **-fg** *color* This option specifies the color to use for displaying text. The default is “**black**”. - **-fn** *font* This option specifies the font to be used for displaying widget text. The default is “**fixed**”. - **-rv** This option indicates that reverse video should be simulated by swapping the foreground and background colors. - **-geometry** *geometry* This option specifies the preferred size and position of the window. - **-display** *host***:***display* This option specifies the X server to contact. - **-xrm** *resourcestring* This option specifies a resource string to be used. ## Exit status *gxditview* exits with status **0** on successful operation, and status **2** if the program cannot interpret its command-line arguments. ## Environment - *GROFF\_FONT\_PATH* A list of directories in which to seek the selected output device's directory of device and font description files. See [*troff*(1)](/troff/1.md) and [*groff\_font*(5)](/groff_font/5.md).\ ## Files - */usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/GXditview* */usr/lib/X11/app-defaults/GXditview-color* define X application defaults for *gxditview*. Users can override these values in the *.Xdefaults* file, normally located in the user's home directory. See [*appres*(1)](/appres/1.md) and [*xrdb*(1)](/xrdb/1.md). - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX100/DESC* describes the **X100** output device. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX100/*F describes the font known as *F* on device **X100**. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX100-12/DESC* describes the **X100-12** output device. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX100-12/*F describes the font known as *F* on device **X100-12**. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX75/DESC* describes the **X75** output device. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX75/*F describes the font known as *F* on device **X75**. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX75-12/DESC* describes the **X75-12** output device. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/font/devX75-12/*F describes the font known as *F* on device **X75-12**. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/tmac/X.tmac* defines macros for use with the **X100**, **X100-12**, **X75**, and **X75-12** output devices. It is automatically loaded by *troffrc* when any of those output devices is selected. - */usr/share/groff/1.24.2/tmac/Xps.tmac* sets up *troff* to use *gxditview* as a previewer for device-independent output targeting the **ps** output device. It is automatically loaded by *troffrc* when *troff* is given the options **-X** and **-Tps**. ## Examples The following command views this man page with a base point size of 12. ``` groff -TX100-12 -man gxditview.1 ``` The quality of the result depends mainly on the chosen point size and display resolution; for rapid previewing, however, something like ``` groff -X -P-resolution -P100 document ``` yields acceptable results. ## Authors *gxditview* and its predecessor *xditview* were written by Keith Packard (MIT X Consortium), Richard L. Hyde (Purdue), David Slattengren (Berkeley), Malcolm Slaney (Schlumberger Palo Alto Research), Mark Moraes (University of Toronto), and James Clark. This program is derived from *xditview*; portions of *xditview* originated in *xtroff*, which was derived from *suntroff*. ## See also “X Logical Font Description Conventions” ⟨https://\\:www\\:.x\\:.org/\\:releases/\\:X11R7.6/\\:doc/\\:xorg\\-docs/\\:specs/\\:XLFD/xlfd\\:.html⟩, by Jim Flowers and Stephen Gildea. [*X*(7)](/X/7.md), [*xrdb*(1)](/xrdb/1.md), [*xditview*(1)](/xditview/1.md), [*groff*(1)](/groff/1.md), [*groff\_out*(5)](/groff_out/5.md)