mf
Metafont, a language for font and logo design
see also :
mf-nowin - inimf - gftopk - gftodvi - gftype - mft - pltotf - tftopl
Synopsis
mf
[options] [commands]
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
no example yet ...
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description
Metafont reads
the program in the specified files and outputs font rasters
(in gf format) and font metrics (in tfm
format). The Metafont language is described in The
Metafontbook.
Like TeX,
Metafont is normally used with a large body of precompiled
macros, and font generation in particular requires the
support of several macro files. This version of Metafont
looks at its command line to see what name it was called
under. Both inimf and virmf are symlinks to
the mf executable. When called as inimf (or
when the -ini option is given) it can be used to
precompile macros into a .base file. When called as
virmf it will use the plain base. When called
under any other name, Metafont will use that name as the
name of the base to use. For example, when called as
mf the mf base is used, which is identical to
the plain base. Other bases than plain are
rarely used.
The
commands given on the command line to the Metafont
program are passed to it as the first input line. (But it is
often easier to type extended arguments as the first input
line, since UNIX shells tend to gobble up or misinterpret
Metafont’s favorite symbols, like semicolons, unless
you quote them.) As described in The Metafontbook,
that first line should begin with a filename, a
\controlsequence, or a &basename.
The normal
usage is to say
mf
’\mode=<printengine>;
[mag=magstep(n);]’ input font
to start
processing font.mf. The single quotes are the best
way of keeping the Unix shell from misinterpreting the
semicolons and from removing the \ character, which is
needed here to keep Metafont from thinking that you want to
produce a font called mode. (Or you can just say
mf and give the other stuff on the next line, without
quotes.) Other control sequences, such as batchmode
(for silent operation) can also appear. The name font
will be the ’’jobname’’, and is used
in forming output file names. If Metafont doesn’t get
a file name in the first line, the jobname is mfput.
The default extension, .mf, can be overridden by
specifying an extension explicitly.
A log of error
messages goes into the file
jobname.log. The output files are
jobname.tfm and
jobname.<number>gf, where
<number> depends on the resolution and magnification
of the font. The mode in this example is shown
generically as <printengine>, a symbolic term for
which the name of an actual device or, most commonly, the
name localfont (see below) must be substituted. If
the mode is not specified or is not valid for your site,
Metafont will default to proof mode which produces
large character images for use in font design and
refinement. Proof mode can be recognized by the suffix
.2602gf after the jobname. Examples of proof mode
output can be found in Computer Modern Typefaces
(Volume E of Computers and Typesetting). The system
of magsteps is identical to the system used by TeX,
with values generally in the range 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0
and 5.0. A listing of gf numbers for 118-dpi, 240-dpi
and 300-dpi fonts is shown below.
Magnification
can also be specified not as a magstep but as an arbitrary
value, such as 1.315, to create special character sizes.
Before font
production can begin, it is necessary to set up the
appropriate base files. The minimum set of components for
font production for a given print-engine is the
plain.mf macro file and the local mode_def
file. The macros in plain.mf can be studied in an
appendix to the Metafontbook; they were developed by
Donald E. Knuth, and this file should never be altered
except when it is officially upgraded. Each mode_def
specification helps adapt fonts to a particular
print-engine. There is a regular discussion of
mode_defs in TUGboat, the journal of the TeX
Users Group. The local ones in use on this computer should
be in modes.mf.
The e
response to Metafont’s error-recovery mode invokes the
system default editor at the erroneous line of the source
file. There is an environment variable, MFEDIT, that
overrides the default editor. It should contain a string
with "%s" indicating where the filename goes and
"%d" indicating where the decimal linenumber (if
any) goes. For example, an MFEDIT string for the vi
editor can be set with the csh command
setenv MFEDIT "vi +%d
%s"
A convenient
file in the library is null.mf, containing nothing.
When mf can’t find the file it thinks you want
to input, it keeps asking you for another file name;
responding ’null’ gets you out of the loop if
you don’t want to input anything.
options
This version of
Metafont understands the following command line options.
-base base
Use base as the name of
the base to be used, instead of the name by which Metafont
was called or a %& line.
-file-line-error
Print error messages in the
form file:line:error which is similar to the way many
compilers format them.
-no-file-line-error
Disable printing error messages
in the file:line:error style.
-file-line-error-style
This is the old name of the
-file-line-error option.
-halt-on-error
Exit with an error code when an
error is encountered during processing.
-help
Print help message and exit.
-ini
Be inimf, for dumping bases; this is implicitly
true if the program is called as inimf.
-interaction mode
Sets the interaction mode. The
mode can be one of batchmode, nonstopmode,
scrollmode, and errorstopmode. The meaning of
these modes is the same as that of the corresponding
commands.
-jobname name
Use name for the job
name, instead of deriving it from the name of the input
file.
-kpathsea-debug bitmask
Sets path searching debugging
flags according to the bitmask. See the Kpathsea
manual for details.
-maketex fmt
Enable mktexfmt, where
fmt must be mf.
-no-maketex fmt
Disable mktexfmt, where
fmt must be mf.
-output-directory directory
Write output files in
directory instead of the current directory. Look up
input files in directory first, the along the normal
search path.
-parse-first-line
If the first line of the main
input file begins with %& parse it to look for a
dump name or a -translate-file option.
-no-parse-first-line
Disable parsing of the first
line of the main input file.
-progname name
Pretend to be program
name. This affects both the format used and the
search paths.
-recorder
Enable the filename recorder.
This leaves a trace of the files opened for input and output
in a file with extension .fls.
-translate-file tcxname
Use the tcxname
translation table.
-version
Print version information and
exit.
comments
Warning: ’’Type design can be hazardous to your other interests.
Once you get hooked, you will develop intense feelings about
letterforms; the medium will intrude on the messages that you
read. And you will perpetually be thinking of improvements to the
fonts that you see everywhere, especially those of your own
design.’’
environment
See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the ’Path
specifications’ node) for the details of how the environment
variables are use when searching. The kpsewhich utility
can be used to query the values of the variables.
If the environment variable TEXMFOUTPUT is set, Metafont
attempts to put its output files in it, if they cannot be put in
the current directory. Again, see tex(1).
MFINPUTS
Search path for input and openin files.
MFEDIT
Command template for switching to editor.
MFTERM
Determines the online graphics display. If MFTERM is not set, and
DISPLAY is set, the Metafont window support for X is used.
(DISPLAY must be set to a valid X server specification, as
usual.) If neither MFTERM nor DISPLAY is set, TERM is used to
guess the window support to use.
files
mf.pool
Encoded text of Metafont’s messages.
*.base
Predigested Metafont base files.
$TEXMFMAIN/metafont/base/plain.mf
The standard base.
$TEXMFMAIN/metafont/misc/modes.mf
The file of mode_defs for your site’s various printers
font utilities
A number of utility programs are available. The following is a
partial list of available utilities and their purpose. Consult
your local Metafont guru for details.
gftopk
Takes a gf file and produces a more tightly packed
pk font file.
gftodvi
Produces proof sheets for fonts.
gftype
Displays the contents of a gf file in mnemonics and/or
images.
pktype
Mnemonically displays the contents of a pk file.
mft
Formats a source file as shown in Computer Modern
Typefaces.
notes
This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete
documentation for this version of Metafont can be found in the
info manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.
online graphics output
Metafont can use most modern displays, so you can see its output
without printing. Chapter 23 of The Metafontbook describes
what you can do. This implementation of Metafont uses environment
variables to determine which display device you want to use.
First it looks for a variable MFTERM, and then for TERM. If it
can’t find either, you get no online output. Otherwise, the value
of the variable determines the device to use: hp2627,
sun (for old SunView), tek, uniterm (for an
Atari ST Tek 4014 emulator), xterm (for either X10 or
X11). Some of these devices may not be supported in all Metafont
executables; the choice is made at compilation time.
On some systems, there are two Metafont binaries, mf and
mf-nowin. On those systems the mf binary supports
graphics, while the mf-nowin binary does not. The
mf-nowin binary is used by scripts like mktexpk
where graphics support is a nuisance rather than something
helpful.
suggested reading
Donald E. Knuth, The Metafontbook (Volume C of
Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN
0-201-13445-4.
Donald E. Knuth, Metafont: The Program (Volume D of
Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN
0-201-13438-1.
Donald E. Knuth, Computer Modern Typefaces (Volume E of
Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN
0-201-13446-2.
TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).
bugs
On January 4,
1986 the ’’final’’ bug in Metafont
was discovered and removed. If an error still lurks in the
code, Donald E. Knuth promises to pay a finder’s fee
which doubles every year to the first person who finds it.
Happy hunting.
see also
gftopk ,
gftodvi , gftype , mft ,
pltotf , tftopl .
authors
Metafont was
designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his
Web system for Pascal programs. It was originally ported to
Unix by Paul Richards at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. This page was mostly written by Pierre
MacKay.