pdflatex
pdftex, pdfinitex, pdfvirtex - PDF output from TeX
see also :
etex - latex - mptopdf - tex - mf
Synopsis
pdftex
[options] [&format]
[file|\commands]
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
source
pdflatex support
pdflatex budget
pdflatex cover
pdflatex cv
pdflatex research
pdflatex citations
pdflatex rrf
description
Run the pdfTeX
typesetter on file, usually creating file.pdf.
If the file argument has no extension, ".tex" will
be appended to it. Instead of a filename, a set of pdfTeX
commands can be given, the first of which must start with a
backslash. With a &format argument pdfTeX
uses a different set of precompiled commands, contained in
format.fmt; it is usually better to use the
-fmt format option instead.
pdfTeX is a
version of TeX, with the e-TeX extensions, that can create
PDF files as well as DVI files.
In DVI
mode, pdfTeX can be used as a complete replacement for the
TeX engine.
The typical use
of pdfTeX is with a pregenerated formats for which PDF
output has been enabled. The pdftex command uses the
equivalent of the plain TeX format, and the pdflatex
command uses the equivalent of the LaTeX format. To generate
formats, use the -ini switch.
The
pdfinitex and pdfvirtex commands are
pdfTeX’s analogues to the initex and
virtex commands. In this installation, if the links
exist, they are symbolic links to the pdftex
executable.
In PDF
mode, pdfTeX can natively handle the PDF, JPG,
JBIG2, and PNG graphics formats. pdfTeX cannot
include PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) graphics
files; first convert them to PDF using epstopdf(1).
pdfTeX’s handling of its command-line arguments is
similar to that of of the other TeX programs in the
web2c implementation.
options
This version of
pdfTeX understands the following command line options.
-draftmode
Sets \pdfdraftmode so pdfTeX
doesn’t write a PDF and doesn’t read any
included images, thus speeding up execution.
-enc
Enable the encTeX extensions. This option is only
effective in combination with -ini. For documentation
of the encTeX extensions see
http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.
-etex
Enable the e-TeX extensions. This option is only
effective in combination with -ini. See
etex(1).
-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.
-fmt format
Use format as the name
of the format to be used, instead of the name by which
pdfTeX was called or a %& line.
-halt-on-error
Exit with an error code when an
error is encountered during processing.
-help
Print help message and exit.
-ini
Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats.
The INI mode can be used for typesetting, but no
format is preloaded, and basic initializations like setting
catcodes may be required.
-interaction mode
Sets the interaction mode. The
mode can be either batchmode, nonstopmode,
scrollmode, and errorstopmode. The meaning of
these modes is the same as that of the corresponding
\commands.
-ipc
Send DVI or PDF output to a socket as well as the usual
output file. Whether this option is available is the choice
of the installer.
-ipc-start
As -ipc, and starts the
server at the other end as well. Whether this option is
available is the choice of the installer.
-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.
-mktex fmt
Enable mktexfmt, where
fmt must be either tex or tfm.
-mltex
Enable MLTeX extensions. Only effective in combination
with -ini.
-no-mktex fmt
Disable mktexfmt, where
fmt must be either tex or tfm.
-output-comment string
In DVI mode, use
string for the DVI file comment instead of the
date. This option is ignored in PDF mode.
-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.
-output-format format
Set the output format mode,
where format must be either pdf or dvi.
This also influences the set of graphics formats understood
by pdfTeX.
-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.
-shell-escape
Enable the
\write18{command} construct. The
command can be any shell command. This construct is
normally disallowed for security reasons.
-no-shell-escape
Disable the
\write18{command} construct, even if it
is enabled in the texmf.cnf file.
-src-specials
In DVI mode, insert
source specials into the DVI file. This option is
ignored in PDF mode.
-src-specials where
In DVI mode, insert
source specials in certain placed of the DVI file.
where is a comma-separated value list: cr,
display, hbox, math, par,
parent, or vbox. This option is ignored in
PDF mode.
-translate-file tcxname
Use the tcxname
translation table to set the mapping of input characters and
re-mapping of output characters.
-default-translate-file tcxname
Like -translate-file
except that a %& line can overrule this
setting.
-version
Print version information and
exit.
availability
pdfTeX is available for a large variety of machine architectures
and operation systems. pdfTeX is part of all major TeX
distributions.
Information on how to get pdfTeX and related information is
available at the http://www.pdftex.org pdfTeX web
site.
The following pdfeTeX related mailing list is available:
pdftex[:at:]tug[:dot:]org. This is a mailman list; to
subscribe send a message containing subscribe to
pdftex-request[:at:]tug[:dot:]org. A web interface and
list archives can be found at the
http://lists.tug.org/pdftex mailing list web site.
environment
See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the ’Path
specifications’ node) for precise details of how the environment
variables are used. The kpsewhich utility can be used to
query the values of the variables.
One caveat: In most pdfTeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a
filename you give directly to pdfTeX, because ~ is an active
character, and hence is expanded, not taken as part of the
filename. Other programs, such as Metafont, do not have this
problem.
TEXMFOUTPUT
Normally, pdfTeX puts its output files in the current directory.
If any output file cannot be opened there, it tries to open it in
the directory specified in the environment variable TEXMFOUTPUT.
There is no default value for that variable. For example, if you
say pdftex paper and the current directory is not writable
and TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, pdfTeX attempts to
create /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.pdf, if any
output is produced.) TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input files,
as TeX often generates files that need to be subsequently read;
for input, no suffixes (such as ’’.tex’’) are added by default,
the input name is simply checked as given.
TEXINPUTS
Search path for \input and \openin files. This
should start with ’’.’’, so that user files are found before
system files. An empty path component will be replaced with the
paths defined in the texmf.cnf file. For example, set
TEXINPUTS to ".:/home/user/tex:" to prepend the current directory
and ’’/home/user/tex’’ to the standard search path.
TEXFORMATS
Search path for format files.
TEXPOOL
search path for pdftex internal strings.
TEXEDIT
Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually
vi, is set when pdfTeX is compiled.
TFMFONTS
Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.
files
The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to
system. Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.
pdftex.pool
Text file containing pdfTeX’s internal strings.
pdftex.map
Filename mapping definitions.
*.tfm
Metric files for pdfTeX’s fonts.
*.fmt
Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.
notes
Starting with version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX
extensions, and pdfeTeX is just a copy of pdfTeX. See
etex(1). This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.
The complete documentation for this version of pdfTeX can be
found in the pdfTeX manual and the info manual Web2C: A
TeX implementation.
bugs
This version of
pdfTeX implements a number of optional extensions. In fact,
many of these extensions conflict to a greater or lesser
extent with the definition of pdfTeX. When such extensions
are enabled, the banner printed when pdfTeX starts is
changed to print pdfTeXk instead of
pdfTeX.
This version of
pdfTeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow when dimensions are
added or subtracted. Cases where this occurs are rare, but
when it does the generated DVI file will be invalid.
Whether a generated PDF file would be usable is
unknown.
see also
epstopdf,
etex , latex , mptopdf ,
tex , mf .
http://tug.org/applications/pdftex,
http://tug.org/web2c.
authors
The primary
authors of pdfTeX are Han The Thanh, Petr Sojka, Jiri
Zlatuska, and Peter Breitenlohner (eTeX).
TeX was
designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his
Web system for Pascal programs. It was ported to Unix at
Stanford by Howard Trickey, and at Cornell by Pavel Curtis.
The version now offered with the Unix TeX distribution is
that generated by the Web to C system (web2c),
originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.
The encTeX
extensions were written by Petr Olsak.