---
name: "pbmmask"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "netpbm"
version: "10.86.51-2"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/pbmmask"
---

# pbmmask(1)

create a mask bitmap from a regular bitmap

## NAME

pbmmask - create a mask bitmap from a regular bitmap

## SYNOPSIS

**pbmmask** \[**-expand**\] \[*pbmfile*\]

## DESCRIPTION

This program is part of **Netpbm**(1) .

**pbmmask** reads a PBM image as input and generates a corresponding mask of the foreground areas as another PBM image.

This is probably obsoleted by **pambackground**.

The color to be interpreted as "background" is determined automatically. Regardless of which color is background, the mask will be white where the background is and black where the figure is.

This lets you do a masked paste like this, for objects with a black background:

```
    pbmmask obj > objmask
    pnmpaste < dest -and objmask <x> <y> | pnmpaste -or obj <x> <y>
```

For objects with a white background, you can either invert them or add a step:

```
    pbmmask obj > objmask
    pnminvert objmask | pnmpaste -and obj 0 0 > blackback
    pnmpaste < dest -and objmask <x> <y> | pnmpaste -or blackback <x> <y>
```

Note that this three-step version works for objects with black backgrounds too, if you don't care about the wasted time.

You can also use masks with grayscale and color images, using the *pnmarith* tool.  For instance:

```
    ppmtopgm obj.ppm | pamditherbw -threshold | pbmmask > objmask.pbm
    pnmarith -multiply dest.ppm objmask.pbm > t1.ppm
    pnminvert objmask.pbm | pnmarith -multiply obj.ppm - > t2.ppm
    pnmarith -add t1.ppm t2.ppm
```

An interesting variation on this is to pipe the mask through *pnmsmooth* before using it.  This makes the boundary between the two images less sharp.

## OPTIONS

In addition to the options common to all programs based on libnetpbm (most notably **-quiet**, see \
  Common Options ⟨index.html#commonoptions⟩ ), **pbmmask** recognizes the following command line option:

- **-expand**

  Expands the mask by one pixel out from the image.  This is useful if you want a little white border around your image.  (A better solution might be to turn the **pbmlife** program into a general cellular automaton tool...)

## SEE ALSO

[**pambackground**(1)](/pambackground/1.md) [**ppmcolormask**(1)](/ppmcolormask/1.md) , [**pnmpaste**(1)](/pnmpaste/1.md) , [**pnminvert**(1)](/pnminvert/1.md) , [**pnmarith**(1)](/pnmarith/1.md) , [**pnmsmooth**(1)](/pnmsmooth/1.md) **pbm**(1) ,

## AUTHOR

Copyright (C) 1988 by Jef Poskanzer.

## HISTORY

**pbmmask** is one of the oldest programs in Netpbm.  In September 2021,\
   the date on this manual was August 8, 1989 (being the date of the last\
   substantial update).  We updated the page  then just to add this historical\
   information and recommend **pambackground**.

It is likely that when Bryan wrote **pambackground** in 2006, he was\
   unaware **pbmmask** existed.  Otherwise, he would presumably have\
   replaced **pbmmask** with a wrapper around **pambackground**.

## DOCUMENT SOURCE

This manual page was generated by the Netpbm tool 'makeman' from HTML source.  The master documentation is at

-

  **http://netpbm.sourceforge.net/doc/pbmmask.html**