mpost, pmpost, upmpost - MetaPost, a system for creating graphics r-mpost,
r-pmpost, r-upmpost - restricted MetaPost
mpost [
options] [
commands]
mpost --dvitomp dvifile[
.dvi]
[
mpxfile[
.mpx]]
MetaPost interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript (EPS) or
Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) pictures. The MetaPost language is similar to
Knuth's Metafont with additional features for including
tex(1) or
troff(1) commands and accessing features of PostScript not found in
Metafont.
MetaPost is normally used with a set of basic macros, and it will use its
executable name as the name of the preload file to use. For example, when
called as
mpost the
mpost.mp file is used, which simply reads
plain.mp. When the
--ini option is given, preloading does not
happen.
The
commands given on the command line to the MetaPost 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 MetaPost's favorite symbols, like semicolons, unless you quote
them.) The normal usage is to say
mpost figs to process the file
figs.mp. The basename of
figs becomes the ``jobname'', and is
used in forming output file names. If no file is named, the jobname becomes
mpout. The default extension,
.mp, can be overridden by
specifying an extension explicitly.
When the
--dvitomp option is given, MetaPost acts as DVI-to-MPX converter
only. See dvitomp (1) for details.
The
pmpost program is a variant with Japanese support, and
upmpost
has Unicode-enabled Japanese support, analogous to ptex and uptex.
All three variants are also installed with an `r-' prefix, that is,
r-mpost,
r-pmpost,
r-upmpost, which implicitly specify
the
--restricted option to make MetaPost safe to run on unknown input;
the tex, makempx, and editor commands are disabled.
This manual page is a mere skeleton. For a list of all command line options, run
--help.
The main documentation for this version of MetaPost can be found in the User
Manual that should have been installed along with the program and is also
available from
https://tug.org/metapost.
The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual assumes no
knowledge of Metafont. MetaPost does not have bitmap output commands or
Metafont's online display mechanism.
- plain.mp
- The standard preload file.
- mfplain.mp
- The Metafont-compatible preload file.
- $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/base/*.mp
- The standard MetaPost macros included in the original
distribution.
- $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/*
- Various tables for handling included tex and
troff.
- $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/trfonts.map
- Table of corresponding font names for troff and
PostScript.
- psfonts.map
- Table of corresponding font names for tex and
PostScript.
- $TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/*
- The MetaPost manual and tutorial source, also including
sample figures
Donald E. Knuth,
The Metafontbook (Volume C of
Computers and
Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13445-4.
TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).
dvitomp(1),
epstopdf(1),
mf(1),
mptopdf(1),
tex(1),
MetaPost home page ⟨URL:
https://tug.org/metapost/ ⟩.
MetaPost was created by John D. Hobby, incorporating algorithms from Metafont by
Donald E. Knuth. It was originally implemented on Unix, incorporating
system-dependent routines from
web2c, while not relying on it except
for the actual Web-to-C translator.
Ulrik Vieth adapted MetaPost to take advantage of the advanced path searching
features in more recent versions of
web2c and worked towards fully
integrating MetaPost into the canonical Unix TeX distribution.
The primary author of the current MetaPost was Taco Hoekwater, with assistance
from Hans Hagen and many others. It is currently maintained by Luigi Scarso.
The MetaPost home page is
https://tug.org/metapost.