gs

NAME

       gs - Ghostscript version 2.6 interpreter/previewer

SYNOPSIS

       gs [ options ] [ files ] ...

DESCRIPTION

       Ghostscript  is  a  programming  language similar to Adobe
       Systems' PostScript (tm) language, which is in turn  simi-
       lar  to  Forth.   Gs  reads files in sequence and executes
       them as Ghostscript programs.  After doing this, it  reads
       further input from the standard input stream (normally the
       keyboard).  Each line is interpreted separately.  To  exit
       from  the  interpreter,  enter  the  `quit'  command.  The
       interpreter also exits gracefully if it encounters end-of-
       file.   Typing the interrupt character (e.g. Control-C) is
       also safe.

       The  interpreter  recognizes  several  switches  described
       below,  which  may appear anywhere in the command line and
       apply to all files thereafter.

       You can get a help message by  invoking  Ghostscript  with
       the  -h or -?  option.  This message also lists the avail-
       able devices.

       Ghostscript may be built  with  multiple  output  devices.
       Ghostscript  normally opens the first one and directs out-
       put to it.  To  use  device  xyz  as  the  initial  output
       device, include the switch
            -sDEVICE=xyz
       in  the  command line.  Note that this switch must precede
       the first .ps file, and only its first invocation has  any
       effect.   For example, for printer output in a normal con-
       figuration that includes  an  Epson  printer  driver,  you
       might use the shell command
            gs -sDEVICE=epson myfile.ps
       instead of just
            gs myfile.ps
       Alternatively, you can type
            (epson) selectdevice
            (myfile.ps) run
       All output then goes to the printer instead of the display
       until further notice.  You can switch devices at any  time
       by using the selectdevice procedure, e.g.,
            (vga) selectdevice
       or
            (epson) selectdevice
       As  yet a third alternative, you can define an environment
       variable GS_DEVICE as the  desired  default  device  name.
       The order of precedence for these alternatives, highest to
       lowest, is:
            selectdevice
            (command line)
            GS_DEVICE
            (first device in build list)

       To select the density on a printer, use
            gs -sDEVICE=<device> -r<xres>x<yres>
       For example, on a 9-pin Epson-compatible printer, you  can
       get the lowest-density (fastest) mode with
            gs -sDEVICE=epson -r60x72
       and the highest-density mode with
            gs -sDEVICE=epson -r240x72.

SVGAlib OPTIONS

       If  you  are  using  ghostscript to output directly to the
       screen (using SVGAlib extensions  under  Linux),  then  in
       addition  to  the  -sDEVICE=linux  flag, you may provide a
       resolution name or mode  number  with  the  -r<resolution>
       flag.  The default resolution is 1024x768x256.

VIDEO MODES

       These are the recognized video modes, (and mode numbers):

       320x200x16     (1),  640x200x16    (2),  640x350x16    (3),
       640x480x16     (4), 320x200x256    (5), 320x240x256    (6),
       320x400x256    (7), 360x480x256    (8), 640x480x2      (9),
       640x480x256   (10), 800x600x256   (11), 1024x768x256  (12),
       320x200x32K   (13), 320x200x64K   (14), 320x200x16M   (15),
       640x480x32K   (16), 640x480x64K   (17), 640x480x16M   (18),
       800x600x32K   (19), 800x600x64K   (20), 800x600x16M   (21),
       1024x768x32K  (22), 1024x768x64K  (23), 1024x768x16M  (24),
       1280x1024x256 (25), 1280x1024x32K (26), 1280x1024x64K (27),
       1280x1024x16M (28), 720x350x16    (29), 720x480x16    (30),

       In  addition to -r<resolution>, these flags also work with
       -sDEVICE=linux:

       -dMAGSTEP=<value>
              Change the image size. Values 0.0  <  value  <  1.0
              shrink  the  image  size, while values > 1.0 expand
              it. The default value is 1.0.

       -dXO=<value>[units]
              Specify the origin from the left side of the  page.
              Legal  units  are inches (in), centimeters (cm), or
              percent of distance from left to right (0% - 100%).
              The  default  value  is  0,  and  default units are
              inches.

       -dXO=<value>[units]
              Specify the origin from the top of the page.  Legal
              units are inches (in), centimeters (cm), or percent
              of distance from top to bottom  (0%  -  100%).  The
              default  value  is  0,  and  the  default units are
              inches.

PRINTER OPTIONS

       If you select a printer as the output device,  Ghostscript
       also allows you to control where the device sends its out-
       put.  Normally, output goes directly to a scratch file  on
       Unix  systems.   To  send  the output to a series of files
       foo1.xyz, foo2.xyz, ..., use the switch
            -sOutputFile=foo%d.xyz
       The %d is a printf format specification; you can use other
       formats  like  %02d.   Each  file will receive one page of
       output.  Alternatively, to send the  output  to  a  single
       file  foo.xyz,  with  all  the pages concatenated, use the
       switch
            -sOutputFile=foo.xyz

       On Unix systems, you can send the  output  directly  to  a
       pipe.   For  example,  to  pipe  the output to the command
       `lpr' (which, on many Unix systems, is  the  command  that
       spools output for a printer), use the switch
            -sOutputFile=lpr
       You  can  also  send  output to stdout for piping with the
       switch
            -sOutputFile=-
       In this case you must also use the -q switch,  to  prevent
       Ghostscript from writing messages to stdout.

       To find out what devices are available, type
            devicenames ==
       after starting up Ghostscript.  Alternatively, you can use
       the -h or -? switch in the command line; the help  message
       also lists the available devices.

       When  looking  for the initialization files (gs_*.ps), the
       files related to fonts, or the file for the  `run'  opera-
       tor,  Ghostscript  first  tries  opening the file with the
       name as given (i.e., using the current  working  directory
       if  none  is specified).  If this fails, and the file name
       doesn't specify an  explicit  directory  or  drive  (i.e.,
       doesn't  begin with `/' on Unix systems), Ghostscript will
       try directories in the following order:

       1.     The directory/ies specified by the -I switch(es) in
              the command line (see below), if any;

       2.     The  directory/ies specified by the GS_LIB environ-
              ment variable, if any;

       3.     The directory/ies specified by  the  GS_LIB_DEFAULT
              macro  in  the Ghostscript makefile (which has been
              set                                              to
              "/usr/local/lib/ghostscript:/usr/local/lib/ghostscript/fonts").

       Each of these (GS_LIB_DEFAULT, GS_LIB, and  -I  parameter)
       may be either a single directory, or a list of directories
       separated by a `:'.

X RESOURCES

       Ghostscript looks for the following  resources  under  the
       program name `Ghostscript':

       borderWidth
              The border width in pixels (default = 1).

       borderColor
              The name of the border color (default = black).

       geometry
              The  window size and placement, WxH+X+Y (default is
              NULL).

       xResolution
              The number of x pixels per inch  (default  is  com-
              puted from WidthOfScreen and WidthMMOfScreen).

       yResolution
              The  number  of  y pixels per inch (default is com-
              puted from HeightOfScreen and HeightMMOfScreen).

       useBackingPixmap
              Determines whether backing store is to be used  for
              saving display window (default = true).

       See  the  file  `use.doc'  for  a  more  complete  list of
       resources.

       To set these resources,  put  them  in  a  file  (such  as
       ~/.Xresources) in the following form:

            Ghostscript*geometry:    612x792-0+0
            Ghostscript*xResolution: 72
            Ghostscript*yResolution: 72

       Then load the defaults into the X server:

            % xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

OPTIONS

       -- filename arg1 ...
              Takes  the  next  argument as a file name as usual,
              but takes all remaining  arguments  (even  if  they
              have  the  syntactic  form of switches) and defines
              the name ARGUMENTS in userdict (not systemdict)  as
              an array of those strings, before running the file.
              When Ghostscript finishes executing  the  file,  it
              exits back to the shell.

       -Dname=token
       -dname=token
              Define  a name in systemdict with the given defini-
              tion.  The token must  be  exactly  one  token  (as
              defined  by the `token' operator) and must not con-
              tain any whitespace.

       -Dname
       -dname Define a name in systemdict with value=null.

       -Sname=string
       -sname=string
              Define a name in systemdict with a given string  as
              value.   This  is  different from -d.  For example,
              -dname=35 is equivalent to the program fragment
                             /name 35 def
              whereas -s name=35 is equivalent to
                             /name (35) def

       -q     Quiet startup - suppress normal  startup  messages,
              and also do the equivalent of -dQUIET.

       -gnumber1xnumber2
              Equivalent  to  -dDEVICEWIDTH=number1 and -dDEVICE-
              HEIGHT=number2.  This is for the benefit of devices
              (such as X11 windows) that require (or allow) width
              and height to be specified.

       -rnumber
       -rnumber1xnumber2
              Equivalent to -dDEVICEXRESOLUTION=number1 and -dDE-
              VICEYRESOLUTION=number2.   This  is for the benefit
              of devices (such as printers) that support multiple
              X and Y resolutions.  (If only one number is given,
              it is used for both X and Y resolutions.)

       -Idirectories
              Adds the designated list of directories at the head
              of the search path for library files.

       -      This  is  not  really  a  switch.   It indicates to
              Ghostscript that the standard input is coming  from
              a  file  or  a  pipe.  Ghostscript reads from stdin
              until reaching end-of-file, executing it  like  any
              other  file, and then continues processing the com-
              mand  line.   At  the  end  of  the  command  line,
              Ghostscript exits rather than going into its inter-
              active mode.

       Note that gs_init.ps makes systemdict  read-only,  so  the
       values  of  names  defined with -D/d/S/s cannot be changed
       (although, of course, they can be  superseded  by  defini-
       tions in userdict or other dictionaries.)

SPECIAL NAMES

       -dDISKFONTS
              Causes  individual  character outlines to be loaded
              from the disk the first time they are  encountered.
              (Normally  Ghostscript loads all the character out-
              lines when it loads a font.)  This may allow  load-
              ing  more  fonts into RAM, at the expense of slower
              rendering.

       -dNOCACHE
              Disables character caching.  Only useful for debug-
              ging.

       -dNOBIND
              Disables  the  `bind'  operator.   Only  useful for
              debugging.

       -dNODISPLAY
              Suppresses the normal initialization of the  output
              device.  This may be useful when debugging.

       -dNOPAUSE
              Disables  the  prompt  and pause at the end of each
              page.  This may be desirable for applications where
              another program is `driving' Ghostscript.

       -dNOPLATFONTS
              Disables  the use of fonts supplied by the underly-
              ing platform (e.g. X Windows).  This may be  needed
              if  the  platform  fonts look undesirably different
              from the scalable fonts.

       -dSAFER
              Disables the deletefile and  renamefile  operators,
              and  the  ability  to  open files in any mode other
              than read-only.  This may be desirable for spoolers
              or other sensitive environments.

       -dWRITESYSTEMDICT
              Leaves systemdict writable.  This is necessary when
              running special utility programs such as font2c and
              pcharstr,   which  must  bypass  normal  PostScript
              access protection.

       -sDEVICE=device
              Selects an  alternate  initial  output  device,  as
              described above.

       -sOutputFile=filename
              Selects  an alternate output file (or pipe) for the
              initial output device, as described above.

FILES

       /usr/local/lib/ghostscript/*
              Startup-files, utilities, and  basic  font  defini-
              tions.


       /usr/local/lib/ghostscript/fonts/*
              Additional font definitions.

       /usr/local/lib/ghostscript/examples/*
              Demo Ghostscript files.

       /usr/local/lib/doc/ghostscript/doc/*
              Assorted document files.

SEE ALSO

       The various Ghostscript document files (above).

BUGS

       See the network news group `gnu.ghostscript.bug'.