DPOST(1)

NAME
dpost - troff postprocessor for PostScript printers

SYNOPSIS
dpost [ options []] [ files []]

DESCRIPTION
dpost translates files created by troff(1) into PostScript and writes the results on the standard output. If no files are specified, or if [-] is one of the input files, the standard input is read. The following options are understood:

[-c num]
Print
    num copies of each page. By default only one copy is printed.

    [-m num]
Magnify each logical page by the factor
    num (default is 1.0). Pages are scaled uniformly about the origin, which is located near the upper left corner of each page.

    [-n num]
Print
    num logical pages on each piece of paper, where num can be any positive integer. By default, num is set to 1.

    [-o list]
Print pages whose numbers are given in the comma-separated
    list. The list contains single numbers N and ranges N1-N2. A missing N1 means the lowest numbered page, a missing N2 means the highest.

    [-p mode]
Print
    files in either portrait or landscape mode. Only the first character of mode is significant. The default mode is portrait.

    [-w num]
Set the line width used to implement
    troff graphics commands to num points, where a point is approximately 1/72 of an inch. By default num is set to 0.3 points.

    [-x num]
Translate the origin
    num inches along the positive x axis. The default coordinate system has the origin fixed near the upper left corner of the page, with positive x to the right and positive y down the page. Positive num moves everything right. The default offset is 0 inches.

    [-y num]
Translate the origin
    num inches along the positive y axis. Positive num moves text down the page. The default offset is 0.

    [-B]
Include
    comments in the output file. Should only be used when the comments are needed for picture inclusion. Output is forced onto an 8.5×11-inch page.

    [-E name]
Set the character encoding for text fonts to
    name. Requesting name means include file A nonexistent encoding file is silently ignored. There is no default.

    [-F dir]
Use dir as the font directory. The default dir is /usr/lib/font(,) and dpost reads ASCII font files from directory /usr/lib/font/devpost(.)

    [-H dir]
Use dir as the host-resident font directory. A file in dir that matches the name of the troff font is assumed to be a host resident font program and is included in dpost output. There is no default.

    [-L file]
Use file as the PostScript prologue. The default is /usr/lib/postscript/dpost.ps(.)

    [-T name]
Use font files for device
    name as the best description of available PostScript fonts. By default, name is post and dpost reads ASCII files from /usr/lib/font/devpost(.)

Three options allow insertion of arbitrary PostScript at controlled points in the translation process:

[-C file]
Copy
    file to the output file; file must contain legitimate PostScript.

    [-P string]
Include
    string in the output file; string must be legitimate PostScript.

    [-R action]
Requests special
    action (e.g., manualfeed()) on a per page or global basis. The action string can be given as request, or If page is omitted or given as 0 the request applies to all pages. If file is omitted the request lookup is done in /usr/lib/postscript/ps.requests(.)

All files should be prepared by troff for the same device. Device tables that describe real PostScript fonts that can be used by dpost should include
    PDL PostScript
in their DESC file. Tables that depend on a non-standard character set encoding indicate that fact by an entry in their DESC file. For example,
    Encoding Latin1
means include file /usr/lib/postscript/Latin1.enc(.) The [-E] option overrides the DESC setting.

EXAMPLES

A typical command line might be:
    pic  files | tbl | eqn | troff -mm | dpost

DIAGNOSTICS
A 0 exit status is returned if files were successfully translated, while 2 often indicates a syntax error in the input files.

WARNINGS

dpost output does not usually conform to Adobe's file-structuring conventions. Send the output through postreverse to produce a minimally conforming PostScript file.

Emulation is expensive and does not always produce satisfactory results. No attempt has been made to implement the character sets or fonts available on all devices supported by troff. Missing characters are replaced by white space, and unrecognized fonts default to one of the Times fonts (e.g., R(,) I(,) B(,) or BI().)

FILES

SEE ALSO
buildtables(1), postio(1), postprint(1), postreverse(1), psencoding(1), troff(1), font(5), troff(5)