xpdf(1x)

NAME

xpdf - Portable Document Format (PDF) file viewer for X (version 0.7a)

SYNOPSIS

xpdf [options] [PDF-file [page]]

DESCRIPTION

Xpdf is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files. (These are also sometimes also called ´Acrobat' files, from the name of Adobe's PDF software.) Xpdf runs under the X Window System on UNIX, VMS, and OS/2.

To run xpdf, simply type:

xpdf file.pdf

where file.pdf is your PDF file. The file name can be followed by a number specifying the page which should be displayed first, e.g.:

xpdf file.pdf 18

You can also start xpdf without opening any files:

xpdf

OPTIONS

X resources are listed in square brackets with the corresponding option.

-err: Send error messages to /dev/tty instead of stderr (useful if xpdf is started from another application, e.g., netscape which otherwise pops up an annoying little window for every error).

-z number: Set the initial zoom factor (-5 .. 5). [xpdf.initialZoom]

-g geometry: Set the initial window geometry. (-geometry is equivalent.) [xpdf.geometry]

-remote name: Start/contact xpdf remote server with specified name (see the REMOTE SERVER MODE section below).

-raise: Raise xpdf remote server window (with -remote only).

-quit: Kill xpdf remote server (with -remote only).

-cmap: Install a private colormap. This is ignored on TrueColor visuals. [xpdf.installCmap]

-rgb number: Set the size of largest RGB cube xpdf will try to allocate. The default is 5 (for a 5x5x5 cube); set to a smaller number to conserve color table entries. This is ignored with private colormaps and on TrueColor visuals.

-ps PS-file: Set the default file name for PostScript output. This can also be of the form ´|command' to pipe the PostScript through a command. [xpdf.psFile]

-level1: Generate Level 1 PostScript. The resulting PostScript files will be significantly larger (if they contain images), but will print on Level 1 printers. This also converts all images to black and white. [xpdf.psLevel1]

-cmd: Print commands as they're executed (useful for debugging).

-h: Print usage information. (-help is equivalent.)

Several other standard X options and resources will work as expected:

-display display: [xpdf.display]

-fg color: (-foreground is equivalent.) [xpdf.foreground]

-bg color: (-background is equivalent.) [xpdf.background]

-font font: (-fn is equivalent.) [xpdf.font]

The color and font options only affect the user interface elements, not the PDF display (the ´paper').

The following X resources do not have command line option equivalents:

xpdf.urlCommand: Set the command executed when you click on a URL link. See the WEB BROWSERS section below for details.

CONTROLS

On-screen controls, at the bottom of the xpdf window

left/right arrow buttons: Move to the previous/next page.

double left/right arrow buttons: Move backward or forward by ten pages.

´Page' entry box: Move to a specific page number. Click in the box to activate it, type the page number, then hit return.

magnifying glass buttons: Increase and decrease the resolution, i.e., zoom in and zoom out.

binoculars button: Find a text string.

print button: Bring up a dialog for generating a PostScript file. The dialog has options to set the pages to be printed and the PostScript file name. The file name can be ´-' for stdout or ´|command' to pipe the PostScript through a command, e.g., ´|lpr'.

´?' button: Bring up the ´about xpdf' window.

link info: The space between the ´?' and ´Quit' buttons is used to show the URL or external file name when the mouse is over a link.

´Quit' button: Quit xpdf.

Text selection

Dragging the mouse with the left button held down will highlight an arbitrary rectangle. Any text inside this rectangle will be copied to the X selection buffer.

Links

Clicking on a hyperlink will jump to the link's destination. A link to another PDF document will make xpdf load that document. A ´launch' link to an executable program will display a dialog, and if you click ´ok', execute the program. URL links call an external command (see the WEB BROWSERS section below).

Panning

Dragging the mouse with the middle button held down pans the window.

Key bindings

o: Open a new PDF file via a file requester.

f: Find a text string.

n: Move to the next page.

p: Move to the previous page.

<Space> or <PageDown> or <Next>: Scroll down on the current page; if already at bottom, move to next page.

<Backspace> or <Delete> or <PageUp> or <Previous>: Scroll up on the current page; if already at top, move to previous page.

<Home>: Scroll to top of current page.

<End>: Scroll to bottom of current page.

arrows: Scroll the current page.

control-L: Redraw the current page.

q: Quit xpdf.

WEB BROWSERS

If you want to run xpdf automatically from netscape or mosaic (and probably other browsers) when you click on a link to a PDF file, you need to edit (or create) the files .mime.types and .mailcap in your home directory. In .mime.types add the line:

application/pdf pdf

In .mailcap add the lines:

# Use xpdf to view PDF files.

application/pdf; xpdf -err %s

Make sure that xpdf is on your executable search path.

When you click on a URL link in a PDF file, xpdf will execute the command specified by the xpdf.urlCommand resource, replacing an occurrence of ´%s' with the URL. For example, to call netscape with the URL, use this resource setting:

xpdf.urlCommand: netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'

REMOTE SERVER MODE

Xpdf can be started in remote server mode by specifying a server name (in addition to the file name and page number). For example:

xpdf -remote myServer file.pdf

If there is currently no xpdf running in server mode with the name ´myServer', a new xpdf window will be opened. If another command:

xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 9

is issued, a new copy of xpdf will not be started. Instead, the first xpdf (the server) will load another.pdf and display page nine. If the file name is the same:

xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 4

the xpdf server will simply display the specified page.

The -raise option tells the server to raise its window; it can be specified with or without a file name and page number.

The -quit option tells the server to close its window and exit.

CONFIGURATION FILE

Xpdf will read a file called .xpdfrc from your home directory (if it exists). This file can contain two types of entries.

fontpath directory: Look for Type 1 fonts in directory. Xpdf uses this only to get the font encoding. For display, the font must also be mapped with a fontmap entry.

fontmap PDF-font X-font: Map PDF-font (as referenced in a PDF file) to X-font, which should be a standard X font descriptor with ´%s' in the pixel size position.

For example, use:

fontmap TimesCE-Roman -*-times-medium-r-*-*-%s-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-2

to map the Central European (Latin-2) version of the Times-Roman font. This assumes that you've installed the appropriate X fonts (see mkfontdir(1)). Xpdf knows about the ISO8859-2 encoding, so you don't need a fontpath entry for these fonts. To use the Bakoma Type 1 fonts, do this:

fontpath /home/derekn/fonts/bakoma
fontmap cmb10 -bakoma-cmb10-medium-r-normal--%s-*-*-*-p-*-adobe-fontspecific
fontmap cmbsy10 -bakoma-cmbsy10-medium-r-normal--%s-*-*-*-p-*-adobe-fontspecific
etc...

This assumes that the Type 1 font files are available in the directory /home/derekn/fonts/bakoma.

BUGS

This is a beta release of xpdf, and there are still a bunch of PDF features which I have yet to implement.

At this point, the biggest problem is that embedded fonts are not handled properly.