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GSGS(1) User Commands GS(1) NAME
gs - Aladdin Ghostscript version 3.0 interpreter/previewer
SYNOPSIS
gs [ options ] [ files ] ...
DESCRIPTION
Ghostscript is a programming language similar to Adobe Sys-
tems' PostScript (tm) language, which is in turn similar 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 key-
board). 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 available dev-
ices.
Ghostscript may be built with multiple output devices.
Ghostscript normally opens the first one and directs output
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 confi-
guration 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
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GS(1) User Commands GS(1)
(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.
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 out-
put. 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.
To select a different paper size, use the command line
switch
-sPAPERSIZE=a_known_paper_size
e.g.,
-sPAPERSIZE=a4
or
-sPAPERSIZE=legal
INITIALIZATION FILES
When looking for the initialization files (gs_*.ps), the
files related to fonts, or the file for the `run' operator,
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GS(1) User Commands GS(1)
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 environment
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 pro-
gram 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 computed
from WidthOfScreen and WidthMMOfScreen).
yResolution
The number of y pixels per inch (default is computed
from HeightOfScreen and HeightMMOfScreen).
useBackingPixmap
Determines whether backing store is to be used for sav-
ing 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:
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GS(1) User Commands GS(1)
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 ARGU-
MENTS 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 definition.
The token must be exactly one token (as defined by the
`token' operator) and must not contain 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 -
dDEVICEHEIGHT=number2. This is for the benefit of dev-
ices (such as X11 windows) that require (or allow)
width and height to be specified.
-rnumber
-rnumber1xnumber2
Equivalent to - dDEVICEXRESOLUTION=number1 and -
dDEVICEYRESOLUTION=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
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GS(1) User Commands GS(1)
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 command line. At the
end of the command line, Ghostscript exits rather than
going into its interactive 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 definitions
in userdict or other dictionaries.)
SPECIAL NAMES
-dDISKFONTS
Causes individual character outlines to be loaded from
the disk the first time they are encountered. (Nor-
mally Ghostscript loads all the character outlines when
it loads a font.) This may allow loading more fonts
into RAM, at the expense of slower rendering.
-dNOCACHE
Disables character caching. Only useful for debugging.
-dNOBIND
Disables the `bind' operator. Only useful for debug-
ging.
-dNODISPLAY
Suppresses the normal initialization of the output dev-
ice. 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 underlying
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-
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GS(1) User Commands GS(1)
only. This may be desirable for spoolers or other sen-
sitive 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 ini-
tial output device, as described above.
FILES
/usr/local/lib/ghostscript/*
Startup-files, utilities, and basic font definitions.
/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 `comp.lang.postscript'.
Last change: 28 July 1994 6
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