TEX(1)                                                     TEX(1)

NAME
       tex, virtex, initex - text formatting and typesetting

SYNOPSIS
       tex [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.

       TeX  formats  the interspersed text and commands contained
       in the named files and outputs  a  typesetter  independent
       file  (called DVI, which is short for DeVice Independent).
       TeX's capabilities and language are described in The  TeX-
       book.   TeX  is normally used with a large body of precom-
       piled macros, and there are  several  specific  formatting
       systems,  such as LaTeX, which require the support of sev-
       eral macro files.

       This version of TeX looks at its command line to see  what
       name it was called under.  Both initex and virtex are sym-
       links to the tex executable.  When called  as  initex  (or
       when  the --ini option is given) it can be used to precom-
       pile macros into a .fmt file.  When called  as  virtex  it
       will  use  the  plain format.  When called under any other
       name, TeX will use that name as the name of the format  to
       use.   For  example,  when called as tex the tex format is
       used, which is identical to the plain  format.   The  com-
       mands  defined  by  the plain format are documented in The
       TeXbook.  Other formats that are often  available  include
       latex and amstex.

       The  commands given on the command line to the TeX 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
       TeX's favorite symbols, like backslashes, unless you quote
       them.)  As described  in  The  TeXbook,  that  first  line
       should  begin  with  a  filename, a \controlsequence, or a
       &formatname.

       The normal usage is to say
              tex paper
       to start processing paper.tex.  The name paper will be the
       ``jobname'',  and is used in forming output filenames.  If
       TeX doesn't get a filename in the first line, the  jobname
       is  texput.   When  looking  for a file, TeX looks for the
       name  with  and  without  the  default  extension   (.tex)
       appended, unless the name already contains that extension.
       If paper is the ``jobname'', a log of error messages, with
       rather  more  detail  than normally appears on the screen,
       will appear in paper.log, and the output file will  be  in
       paper.dvi.

       TeX  will  look in the first line of the file paper.tex to
       see if it begins with the magic sequence %&.  If the first
       line  begins  with  %&format --translate-file tcxname then
       TeX will use the named format and transation table tcxname
       to process the source file.  Either the format name or the
       --translate-file specification may  be  omitted,  but  not
       both.

       The  e  response  to  TeX's error prompt causes the system
       default editor to start up at the current line of the cur-
       rent  file.   The environment variable TEXEDIT can be used
       to change the editor used.  It may contain a  string  with
       "%s"  indicating where the filename goes and "%d" indicat-
       ing where the decimal line  number  (if  any)  goes.   For
       example, a TEXEDIT string for emacs can be set with the sh
       command
              TEXEDIT="emacs +%d %s"; export TEXEDIT

       A convenient file in the library is  null.tex,  containing
       nothing.  When TeX can't find a file it thinks you want to
       input, it keeps asking you for another filename;  respond-
       ing  `null'  gets you out of the loop if you don't want to
       input anything.  You can  also  type  your  EOF  character
       (usually control-D).

OPTIONS
       This version of TeX 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 TeX was called or a %&
              line.

       --help Print help message and exit.

       --ini  Be initex, for dumping formats; this is  implicitly
              true if the program is called as initex.

       --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 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.

       --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.

       --mltex
              Enable MLTeX extensions.

       --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 TeX formats, you cannot  use  ~  in  a
       filename  you give directly to TeX, 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, TeX puts its output files in the  current
              directory.   If  any  output  file cannot be opened
              there, it tries to open it in the directory  speci-
              fied   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,  TeX attempts to create /tmp/paper.log
              (and /tmp/paper.dvi, 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.

       TEXEDIT
              Command template  for  switching  to  editor.   The
              default, usually vi, is set when TeX is compiled.

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

       tex.pool
              Encoded text of TeX's messages.

       texfonts.map
              Filename mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for TeX's fonts.

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

       $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
              The basic macro package described in the TeXbook.

BUGS
       This version of TeX 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.

SEE ALSO
       mf(1), undump(1),
       Donald E. Knuth, The TeXbook, Addison-Wesley,  1986,  ISBN
       0-201-13447-0.
       Leslie  Lamport,  LaTeX  -  A Document Preparation System,
       Addison-Wesley, 1985, ISBN 0-201-15790-X.
       K.     Berry,     Eplain:     Expanded     plain      TeX,
       ftp://ftp.cs.umb.edu/pub/tex/eplain/doc.
       Michael  Spivak, The Joy of TeX, 2nd edition, Addison-Wes-
       ley, 1990, ISBN 0-8218-2997-1.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).

TRIVIA
       TeX, pronounced properly, rhymes with  ``blecchhh.''   The
       proper  spelling  in  typewriter-like fonts is ``TeX'' and
       not ``TEX'' or ``tex.''

AUTHORS
       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 Mor-
       gan.

Web2C 7.3                 29 March 1999                         1