pdftex - PDF output from TeX
pdftex [
options] [
&format]
[
file|
\commands]
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.
Starting with version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX extensions, and
pdfeTeX is just a copy of pdfTeX. See
etex(1).
This version of pdfTeX understands the following command line options.
-
-cnf-line string
- Parse string as a texmf.cnf configuration
line. See the Kpathsea manual.
- -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.
- -shell-restricted
- Enable restricted \write18{}, as explained in the ``Shell
escapes'' section of the Web2c Texinfo manual.
- -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 places of
the DVI file. The where argument is a comma-separated value list:
cr, display, hbox, math, par,
parent, or vbox. This option is ignored in PDF mode.
-
-synctex NUMBER
- generate SyncTeX data for previewers according to bits of
NUMBER. See the synctex manual page for details.
-
-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.
- -8bit
- make all characters printable by default.
See the Kpathsea library documentation (e.g., 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 in TeX, 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 normally starts 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.
- 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.
- SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
- If set, its value, taken to be in epoch-seconds, will be
used for the timestamps in the PDF output, such as the CreationDate and
ModDate keys. This is useful for making reproducible builds.
- FORCE_SOURCE_DATE
- If set to the value "1", the time-related TeX
primitives (\year, \month, \day, \time) are
also initialized from the value of SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH. This is not
recommended if there is any viable alternative.
pdfTeX also has several primitives to support reproducible builds, which are
preferable to setting these environment variables; see the main
manual.
Many, many more environment variables may be consulted related to path
searching. See the Kpathsea manual.
The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system. Use the
kpsewhich utility to find their locations.
- pdftex.map
- Font name mapping definitions.
- *.tfm
- Metric files for pdfTeX's fonts.
- *.fmt
- Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.
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 or PDF file will be invalid.
pdfTeX is available for a large variety of machine architectures and operating
systems. pdfTeX is part of all major TeX distributions.
The pdfTeX home page:
http://www.pdftex.org.
pdfTeX on CTAN:
https://ctan.org/pkg/pdftex.
pdfTeX mailing list for all discussion:
https://lists.tug.org/pdftex.
This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for
this version of pdfTeX can be found in the
pdfTeX user manual and the
Texinfo manuals
Kpathsea library,
Web2C: A TeX implementation.
These manuals, and more, can be accessed from the pdfTeX or CTAN web pages
given above.
Some related programs:
epstopdf(1),
etex(1),
latex(1),
luatex(1),
mptopdf(1),
tex(1),
mf(1).
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.