---
name: "hintview"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "hintview"
version: "2.1.0-1"
release: "Debian 13 (Trixie)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/hintview"
---

# hintview(1)

## NAME

hintview- displaying HINT files

## SYNOPSIS

**hintview** \[*options*\] \[*file*\]

## DESCRIPTION

**Hintview** displays a binary **HINT** file, usually with the **.hnt** extension.

The binary **HINT** file format is designed for on-screen reading of documents. Using hintview to display a **HINT** file, its content will dynamically adapt to the available display area. For complete information on the **HINT** file format and programs to view **HINT** files, see **https://hint.userweb.mwn.de**.

## OPTIONS

This version of **hintview** understands the following command line options:

- **-a**

  Start in autoreload mode. If in autoreload mode, the viewer will check  the modification time of the displayed **HINT** file each time the cursor enters the window. If the modification time has changed, the file is reloaded. The viewer attempts to position the new file at about the same position as the old file. This attempt might fail if large scale changes have been made to the file.

  See also the  **Ctrl-A** and the **Ctrl-R** key.

- **-h**

  Open the document on the "home" page. The home page is a location specified by the document author as a good starting point for reading the document.

  See also the  **Ctrl-H** key.

- **--help**

  Print help message and exit.

- **-n**

  Start the viewer in "night" mode. In this mode the viewer will display the document using a dark background and light foreground color to reduce eye strain in a surrounding with dim lighting.

  See also the  **Ctrl-N** key.

- **-o**

  Show a clickable outline of the content. NOT YET IMPLEMENTED.

  See also the  **Ctrl-O** key.

- **--version**

  Print version information and exit.

- **-z**

  Zoom to 100%. The **HINT** viewer can display a document using a given zoom factor to make characters appear larger or smaller to either improve readability or increase the amount of text that can be displayed in a given window. This option resets the zoom factor so that a 10pt font will appear on screen at the same size as it would appear in a  printed book.

  See also the  **Ctrl-Z** key.

## KEYSTROKES

**Hintview** recognizes the following keystrokes when typed in its window.

- **Ctrl-A**

  Toggle autoreload mode. See also the **-a** option and the **Ctrl-R** key.

- **Ctrl-S**

  Open the **Search** dialog. NOT YET IMPLEMENTED.

- **Ctrl-F**

  Open the **File** dialog. Requires GTK+ 2.0 or GTK+ 3.0.

- **Home**, **Ctrl-H**

  Move to the "home" page. The home page is a location specified by the  document author as a good starting point for reading the document.

- **Ctrl-N**

  Toggle between night and day mode. See also the **-n** option.

- **Ctrl-O**

  Show a clickable outline of the content. NOT YET IMPLEMENTED.

- **Page-Down**

  Move to the next page.

- **Page-Up**

  Move to the previous page.

- **Ctrl-R**

  Reload the content. The file is reloaded and the viewer attempts to position the new file at about the same position as the old file. This attempt might fail if large scale changes have been made to the file. See also the **Ctrl-A** key and the **-a** option.

- **Ctrl-Z**

  Zoom to 100%. See also the **-z** option.

## MOUSE ACTIONS

The following actions are executed using the  **left mouse button**.

- **Click**

  If the mouse is positioned on a link, move to the link target. Links are displayed in blue color.

- **Drag**

  Dragging from the top-left to the bottom-right increases the zoom factor. Dragging in the opposite direction decreases the zoom factor. See also the **Ctrl-Z** key and the **-z** option.

## NOTES

This is a simple, bare-bone implementation of a program to render  **HINT** files. Other programs to display  **HINT** files are available on the  **HINT** project home page at  **https://hint.userweb.mwn.de/** where you find viewers for the Windows and Android operating systems.

Currently the best way to produce **HINT** files is the use of  **hitex**, a version of TeX that produces  **HINT** files as its output. The  **HINT** file format is described in  *HINT: The file format* which is available as a book or in electronic form from the  **HINT** project home page. The  **HINT** file format is independent of TeX and allows the implementation of generators for all kind of word-processors. The  **hintview** program however uses parts of Donald E. Knuth's implementation of TeX, notably its line breaking routine, to produce good quality rendering of documents.

## AVAILABILITY

**hintview** is tested on the Linux platform but should compile on a large variety of machine architectures and operating systems. It is part of the TeX Live distribution.

## SEE ALSO

[**hitex**(1)](/hitex/1.md), [**histretch**(1)](/histretch/1.md), [**hishrink**(1)](/hishrink/1.md).

## AUTHORS

Martin Ruckert