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

# pltotf(1)

convert a property list (pl) file to TeX font metric (tfm) format

## NAME

pltotf - convert a property list (pl) file to TeX font metric (tfm) format

## SYNOPSIS

**pltotf** \[**-verbose**\] *pl\_file*\[***.pl***\] \[*tfm\_file*\[***.tfm***\]\]

## DESCRIPTION

The **pltotf** program translates a (plain text) property list file to a (binary) TeX font metric file. Thus, after editing the property list file, a revised tfm file can be generated for use with, for example, [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md).

The *pl\_file* is extended with ".pl" if it lacks a suffix. No path searching is done.

If no *tfm\_file* is given, the basename of *pl\_file* with suffix ".tfm" is used; otherwise, *tfm\_file* is extended with ".tfm" if it lacks a suffix.

## OPTIONS

See [**tex**(1)](/tex/1.md) for details of command-line parsing.

By default, **pltotf** operates silently. With the **-v** (a.k.a. **-verbose**) option, some reports are printed on stdout.

The standard **-help** and **-version** options are also supported.

## SEE ALSO

[**tftopl**(1)](/tftopl/1.md).\
 Donald E. Knuth, *TeXware*.

Font utility topic on CTAN: https://ctan.org/topic/font-util\
 Package page on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/pltotf\
 Section in the Web2c manual: https://tug.org/texinfohtml/web2c.html#pltotf-invocation\
 Typeset source code, including the PL file format description: https://ctan.org/pkg/knuth-pdf

## AUTHORS

Donald E. Knuth wrote the program. It was published as part of the *TeXware* technical report from Stanford. Howard Trickey, Pavel Curtis, and Richard Furuta originally ported it to Unix.

Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/tex-k