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Manual Pages

In this chapter you will find short man pages for some of the programs that come with MiKTeX.

You will find more detailed information in `c:\texmf\doc'.

How to run TeX

The usual way to invoke TeX is as follows:

tex firstinputline

firstinputline, if supplied, specifies the first input line. It is normally the name of an input file.

For example, the command

tex story.tex

causes TeX to produce the DVI file `story.dvi' from the input file `story.tex'. You can specify the input file without the `.tex' extension:

tex story

You must specify the `.tex' extension if the filename contains more than one dot. For example, it does not work to say

tex foo.bar

You have to say

tex foo.bar.tex.

instead.

Please note: you cannot specify file names that contain space characters, even if the file system allows such names.

How to run LaTeX

The usual way to invoke LaTeX is as follows:

latex latexfile

latexfile is the name of a LaTeX document. See Info file `../latex/help/latex2e', node `Top', for more information on LaTeX.

dvips

[ This following paragraph is borrowed from the dvips manual. ]

The program dvips takes a DVI file produced by TeX (or by some other processor such as GFtoDVI) and converts it to PostScript, normally sending the result directly to the laserprinter. The DVI file may be specified without the `.dvi' extension. Fonts used may either be resident in the printer or defined as bitmaps in PK files, or a `virtual' combination of both. dvips will automatically invoke METAFONT to generate fonts that don't already exist.

For more information, see the manual `dvips.dvi' in the `doc\dvips' directory.

Command line options

[ This section is borrowed from the dvips manual. ]

The usual way to invoke dvips is as follows

dvips options dvifile

dvifile may be specified without the `.dvi' extension.

Options

`-a'
Conserve memory by making three passes over the `.dvi' file instead of two and only loading those characters actually used. Generally only useful on machines with a very limited amount of memory, like some PCs.
`-A'
Print only odd pages (TeX pages, not sequence pages).
`-b num'
Generate num copies of each page, but duplicating the page body rather than using the #numcopies option. This can be useful in conjunction with a header file setting char92bop-hook to do color separations or other neat tricks.
`-B'
Print only even pages (TeX pages, not sequence pages).
`-c num'
Generate num copies of every page. Default is 1. (For collated copies, see the `-C' option below.)
`-C num'
Create num copies, but collated (by replicating the data in the PostScript file). Slower than the `-c' option, but easier on the hands, and faster than resubmitting the same PostScript file multiple times.
`-D num'
Set the resolution in dpi (dots per inch) to num. This affects the choice of bitmap fonts that are loaded and also the positioning of letters in resident PostScript fonts. Must be between 10 and 10000. This affects both the horizontal and vertical resolution. If a high resolution (something greater than 400 dpi, say) is selected, the `-Z' flag should probably also be used.
`-e num'
Make sure that each character is placed at most this many pixels from its `true' resolution-independent position on the page. The default value of this parameter is resolution dependent. Allowing individual characters to `drift' from their correctly rounded positions by a few pixels, while regaining the true position at the beginning of each new word, improves the spacing of letters in words.
`-E'
Makes dvips attempt to generate an EPSF file with a tight bounding box. This only works on one-page files, and it only looks at marks made by characters and rules, not by any included graphics. In addition, it gets the glyph metrics from the tfm file, so characters that lie outside their enclosing tfm box may confuse it. In addition, the bounding box might be a bit too loose if the character glyph has significant left or right side bearings. Nonetheless, this option works well for creating small EPSF files for equations or tables or the like. (Note, of course, that dvips output is resolution dependent and thus does not make very good EPSF files, especially if the images are to be scaled; use these EPSF files with a great deal of care.)
`-f'
Read the `.dvi' file from standard input and write the PostScript to standard output. The standard input must be seekable, so it cannot be a pipe. If you must use a pipe, write a shell script that copies the pipe output to a temporary file and then points dvips at this file. This option also disables the automatic reading of the `PRINTER' environment variable, and turns off the automatic sending of control D if it was turned on with the `-F' option or in the configuration file; use `-F' after this option if you want both.
`-h name'
Prepend file name as an additional header file. (However, if the name is simply `-' suppress all header files from the output.) This header file gets added to the PostScript `userdict'.
`-i'
Make each section be a separate file. Under certain circumstances, dvips will split the document up into `sections' to be processed independently; this is most often done for memory reasons. Using this option tells dvips to place each section into a separate file; the new file names are created replacing the suffix of the supplied output file name by a three-digit sequence number. This option is most often used in conjunction with the `-S' option which sets the maximum section length in pages. For instance, some phototypesetters cannot print more than ten or so consecutive pages before running out of steam; these options can be used to automatically split a book into ten-page sections, each to its own file.
`-k'
Print crop marks. This option increases the paper size (which should be specified, either with a paper size special or with the `-T' option) by a half inch in each dimension. It translates each page by a quarter inch and draws cross-style crop marks. It is mostly useful with typesetters that can set the page size automatically.
`-K'
This option causes comments in included PostScript graphics, font files, and headers to be removed. This is sometimes necessary to get around bugs in spoolers or PostScript post-processing programs. Specifically, the `%%Page' comments, when left in, often cause difficulties. Use of this flag can cause some included graphics to fail, since the PostScript header macros from some software packages read portions of the input stream line by line, searching for a particular comment. This option has been turned off by default because PostScript previewers and spoolers have been getting better.
`-l num'
The last page printed will be the first one numbered num Default is the last page in the document. If the num is prefixed by an equals sign, then it (and any argument to the `-p' option) is treated as a sequence number, rather than a value to compare with char92 count0 values. Thus, using `-l =9' will end with the ninth page of the document, no matter what the pages are actually numbered.
`-m'
Specify manual feed for printer.
`-M'
Turns off the automatic font generation facility. If any fonts are missing, commands to generate the fonts are appended to the file `missfont.log' in the current directory; this file can then be executed and deleted to create the missing fonts.
`-n num'
At most num pages will be printed. Default is 100000.
`-N'
Turns off structured comments; this might be necessary on some systems that try to interpret PostScript comments in weird ways, or on some PostScript printers. Old versions of TranScript in particular cannot handle modern Encapsulated PostScript.
`-o name'
The output will be sent to file name If no file name is given, the default name is `file.ps' where the `.dvi' file was called `file.dvi'; if this option isn't given, any default in the configuration file is used. If the first character of the supplied output file name is an exclamation mark, then the remainder will be used as an argument to popen; thus, specifying `!lpr' as the output file will automatically queue the file for printing. This option also disables the automatic reading of the `PRINTER' environment variable, and turns off the automatic sending of control D if it was turned on with the `-F' option or in the configuration file; use `-F' after this option if you want both.
`-O offset'
Move the origin by a certain amount. The offset is a comma-separated pair of dimensions, such as `.1in,-.3cm' (in the same syntax used in the `papersize' special). The origin of the page is shifted from the default position (of one inch down, one inch to the right from the upper left corner of the paper) by this amount.
`-p num'
The first page printed will be the first one numbered num. Default is the first page in the document. If the num is prefixed by an equals sign, then it (and any argument to the `-l' option) is treated as a sequence number, rather than a value to compare with char92 count0 values. Thus, using `-p =3' will start with the third page of the document, no matter what the pages are actually numbered.
`-pp pagelist'
A comma-separated list of pages and ranges (a-b) may be given, which will be interpreted as char92 count0 values. Pages not specified will not be printed. Multiple `-pp' options may be specified or all pages and page ranges can be specified with one `-pp' option.
`-P printername'
Sets up the output for the appropriate printer. This is implemented by reading in `config.printername', which can then set the output pipe (as in, `!lpr -Pprintername' as well as the font paths and any other `config.ps' defaults for that printer only. Note that `config.ps' is read before `config.printername' In addition, another file called `~/.dvipsrc' is searched for immediately after `config.ps'; this file is intended for user defaults. If no `-P' command is given, the environment variable `PRINTER' is checked. If that variable exists, and a corresponding configuration file exists, that configuration file is read in.
`-q'
Run in quiet mode. Don't chatter about pages converted, etc.; report nothing but errors to standard error.
`-r'
Stack pages in reverse order. Normally, page 1 will be printed first.
`-s'
Causes the entire global output to be enclosed in a save/restore pair. This causes the file to not be truly conformant, and is thus not recommended, but is useful if you are driving the printer directly and don't care too much about the portability of the output.
`-S num'
Set the maximum number of pages in each `section'. This option is most commonly used with the `-i' option; see that documentation above for more information.
`-t papertype'
This sets the paper type to papertype. The papertype should be defined in one of the configuration files, along with the appropriate code to select it. (Currently known types include `letter', `legal', `ledger', `a4', `a3'). You can also specify `-t landscape', which rotates a document by 90 degrees. To rotate a document whose size is not letter, you can use the `-t' option twice, once for the page size, and once for landscape. The upper left corner of each page in the `.dvi' file is placed one inch from the left and one inch from the top. Use of this option is highly dependent on the configuration file. Note that executing the `letter' or `a4' or other PostScript operators cause the document to be nonconforming and can cause it not to print on certain printers, so the paper size should not execute such an operator if at all possible.
`-T `offset''
Set the paper size to the given pair of dimensions. This option takes its arguments in the same style as `-O.' It overrides any paper size special in the dvi file.
`-U'
Disable a PostScript virtual memory saving optimization that stores the character metric information in the same string that is used to store the bitmap information. This is only necessary when driving the Xerox 4045 PostScript interpreter. It is caused by a bug in that interpreter that results in `garbage' on the bottom of each character. Not recommended unless you must drive this printer.
`-x num'
Set the magnification ratio to num/1000. Overrides the magnification specified in the `.dvi' file. Must be between 10 and 100000.
`-X num'
Set the horizontal resolution in dots per inch to num.
`-Y num'
Set the vertical resolution in dots per inch to num.
`-Z'
Causes bitmapped fonts to be compressed before they are downloaded, thereby reducing the size of the PostScript font-downloading information. Especially useful at high resolutions or when very large fonts are used. Will slow down printing somewhat, especially on early 68000-based PostScript printers.

MakeIndex

MakeIndex is a program for making an index in a document generated with LaTeX. See `doc\makeindex\makeindex.dvi' for more information.

MakeIndex command line options

[ This section is borrowed from the MakeIndex manual. ]

The usual way to invoke MakeIndex is as follows:

makeindex options [idx0 idx1 idx2...]

Options

`-c'
Compress intermediate blanks (ignoring leading and trailing blanks and tabs). By default, blanks in the index key are retained.
`-g'
Employ German word ordering in the index, in accord with rules set forth in DIN 5007. By default, makeindex employs a word ordering in which precedence is: symbols, numbers, uppercase letters, lowercase letters. The sequence in German word ordering is: symbols, lowercase letters, uppercase letters, numbers. Addition- ally, this option enables makeindex to recognize the German TeX-commands {"a, "o, "u and "s} as {ae, oe, ue and ss} during the sorting of the entries. The quote character must be redefined in a style file (for example, redefine quote as '+'). If the quote character is not redefined, makeindex will produce an error message and abort.
`-i'
Take input from stdin. When this option is specified and `-o' is not, output is written to stdout.
`-l'
Letter ordering; by default, word ordering is used (see the ORDERING section).
`-o ind'
Employ ind as the output index file. By default, the file name is created by appending the extension `.ind' to the base name of the first input file (idx0).
`-p num'
Set the starting page number of the output index file to be num (useful when the index file is to be formatted separately). The argument num may be numerical or one of the following:
`any'
The starting page is the last source page number plus 1.
`odd'
The starting page is the first odd page following the last source page number.
`even'
The starting page is the first even page following the last source page number.
The last source page is obtained by searching backward in the log file for the first instance of a number included within paired square brackets ([...]). If a page number is missing or the log file is not found, no attempt will be made to set the starting page number. The source log file name is determined by appending the extension `.log' to the base name of the first input file (idx0).
`-q'
Quiet mode; send no messages to stderr. By default, progress and error messages are sent to stderr as well as to the transcript file.
`-r'
Disable implicit page range formation; page ranges must be created by using explicit range operators; see SPECIAL EFFECTS below. By default, three or more successive pages are automatically abbreviated as a range (e.g. 1-5).
`-s sty'
Employ sty as the style file (no default). The environment variable `INDEXSTYLE' defines the path where the style file should be found.
`-t log'
Employ log as the transcript file. By default, the file name is created by appending the extension `.ilg' to the base name of the first input file (idx0).

BiBTeX

You use BibTeX in conjunction with LaTeX to compose bibliographies. MiKTeX comes with two BibTeX implementations: an `traditional' BibTeX 0.99c implementation called `bibtex.exe' and an 8-bit-enhanced implementation called `bibtex8.exe'. I recommend using the enhanced version since it has a larger processing capacity.

Documentation for the enhanced BiBTeX is in `c:\texmf\doc\bibtex8'.

How to run BibTeX

The usual way to invoke the traditional BibTeX is as follows:

bibtex inputfilename

inputfilename must be specified without the extension.

BibTeX databases and style files

`.bst' (BibTeX style files) are located in the directory `c:\texmf\bibtex\bst'.

`.bib' (BibTeX databases) are located in the directory `c:\texmf\bibtex\bib'.

Yet Another Previewer

YAP is a DVI previewer, i.e. it allows you to view your TeXed documents before you send them to the printer.

The usual way to invoke YAP is as follows:

yap `document.dvi'

This opens the file `document.dvi' and displays its first page. Note that you cannot omit the `.dvi' extension from the filename.

Generating missing fonts

YAP automatically creates missing fonts if the corresponding font source files are available.

Printing using YAP

You can use YAP to send the whole document (or individual pages) to the printer. Before you can do this, you have to tell YAP some facts about your printer:

  1. Select `Options...' from the `View' menu.
  2. Open the `Printer' page.
  3. Choose the correct mode for your printer. The file `c:\texmf\metafont\misc\modes.mf' contains an annotated list of valid mode names. You should consult this file if you don't know the the mode for your printer.
  4. Enter the correct resolution for your printer.


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