PDFTEX(1)                                               PDFTEX(1)

NAME
       pdftex, pdfinitex, pdfvirtex - PDF output from TeX

SYNOPSIS
       pdftex [options] [commands]

DESCRIPTION
       This  manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The com-
       plete documentation for this version of TeX can  be  found
       in the info file or manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.

       pdfTeX  is  a  version of TeX that can create PDF files as
       well as DVI files.

       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.

       The pdfinitex and pdfvirtex  commands  are  pdfTeX's  ana-
       logues to the initex and virtex commands.  In this instal-
       lation, they are symlinks to the pdftex executable.

       pdfTeX's handling of its command-line arguments is similar
       to that of TeX.

       pdfTeX is beta software.

OPTIONS
       This  version  of pdfTeX understands the following command
       line options.

       --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.

       --help Print help message and exit.

       --ini  Be pdfinitex, for dumping formats; this is  implic-
              itly true if the program is called as pdfinitex.

       --interaction mode
              Sets  the interaction mode.  The mode can be one of
              batchmode, nonstopmode, scrollmode, and  errorstop-
              mode.   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 avail-
              able 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.

       --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 one  of  tex  or
              tfm.

       --no-maketex fmt
              Disable  mktexfmt,  where fmt must be one of tex or
              tfm.

       --output-comment string
              Use string for the DVI file comment instead of  the
              date.

       --progname name
              Pretend  to be program name.  This affects both the
              format used and the search paths.

       --shell-escape
              Enable the \write18{command} construct.   The  com-
              mand  can  be  any Bourne shell command.  This con-
              struct is normally disallowed for security reasons.

       --translate-file tcxname
              Use the tcxname translation table.

       --version
              Print version information and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path spec-
       ifications' node) for precise details of how the  environ-
       ment  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  cur-
              rent  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  tex  paper  and the current
              directory is not writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT  has  the
              value    /tmp,    pdfTeX    attempts    to   create
              /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.pdf, if  any  output
              is produced.)

       TEXINPUTS
              Search  path  for  \input  and \openin files.  This
              should probably start  with  ``.'',  so  that  user
              files are found before system files.

       TEXFONTS
              Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.

       TEXFORMATS
              Search path for format files.

       TEXPOOL
              search path for pdfinitex internal strings.

       TEXEDIT
              Command  template  for  switching  to  editor.  The
              default, usually vi, is set  when  pdfTeX  is  com-
              piled.

FILES
       The location of the files mentioned below varies from sys-
       tem to system.  Use the kpsewhich utility  to  find  their
       locations.

       pdftex.pool
              Encoded text of pdfTeX's messages.

       texfonts.map
              Filename mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for pdfTeX's fonts.

       *.fmt  Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.

BUGS
       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.

       pdfTeX  is beta software.  Subscribe to the pdftex mailing
       list pdftex@tug.org if you intend to use it.   This  is  a
       majordomo  list,  to  subscribe  send a message containing
       subscribe pdftex to majordomo@tug.org.

SEE ALSO
       tex(1), mf(1), undump(1).

AUTHORS
       The primary authors of pdfTeX  are  Han  The  Thanh,  Petr
       Sojka, and Jiri Zlatuska.

Web2C 7.3                 29 March 1999                         1