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PDFTEX(1)                   General Commands Manual                  PDFTEX(1)

NAME
       pdftex - PDF output from TeX

SYNOPSIS
       pdftex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]

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 ini-
       tex 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 epsto-
       pdf(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).

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

       -cnf-line string
              Parse string as a texmf.cnf configuration line.  See the  Kpath-
              sea 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 exten-
              sions 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 simi-
              lar 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 pro-
              cessing.

       -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 ba-
              sic 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 in-
              staller.

       -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 direc-
              tory.  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  under-
              stood 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 secu-
              rity 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 es-
              capes'' section of the Web2c Texinfo manual.

       -src-specials
              In DVI mode, insert source specials into the DVI file. This  op-
              tion 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 ig-
              nored in PDF mode.

       -synctex NUMBER
              generate SyncTeX data for previewers according to bits  of  NUM-
              BER. 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.

ENVIRONMENT
       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 TEXMFOUT-
              PUT.  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 pro-
              duced.)  TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input files, as TeX of-
              ten generates files that need to be subsequently read;  for  in-
              put,  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 vi-
              able alternative.
              pdfTeX also  has  several  primitives  to  support  reproducible
              builds,  which are preferable to setting these environment vari-
              ables; see the main manual.

       Many, many more environment variables may be consulted related to  path
       searching.  See the Kpathsea manual.

FILES
       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.

NOTES
BUGS
       This version of pdfTeX fails to trap arithmetic  overflow  when  dimen-
       sions  are  added or subtracted.  Cases where this occurs are rare, but
       when it does the generated DVI or PDF file will be invalid.

AVAILABILITY
       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.

SEE ALSO
       This  manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documen-
       tation for this version of pdfTeX can be found in the pdfTeX user  man-
       ual  and the Texinfo manuals Kpathsea library, Web2C: A TeX implementa-
       tion.  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), mp-
       topdf(1), tex(1), mf(1).

AUTHORS
       The primary authors of pdfTeX are Han The Thanh, Petr Sojka, Jiri  Zla-
       tuska, 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 of-
       fered 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.

Web2C 2022                       6 August 2019                       PDFTEX(1)

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