.TH TEX 1 "6 December 1997" "Web2C @VERSION@"
.\"=====================================================================
.if n .ds MF Metafont
.if t .ds MF M\s-2ETAFONT\s0
.if t .ds TX \fRT\\h'-0.1667m'\\v'0.20v'E\\v'-0.20v'\\h'-0.125m'X\fP
.if n .ds TX TeX
.ie t .ds OX \fIT\v'+0.25m'E\v'-0.25m'X\fP\" for troff
.el .ds OX TeX\" for nroff
.\" the same but obliqued
.\" BX definition must follow TX so BX can use TX
.if t .ds BX \fRB\s-2IB\s0\fP\*(TX
.if n .ds BX BibTeX
.\" LX definition must follow TX so LX can use TX
.if t .ds LX \fRL\\h'-0.36m'\\v'-0.15v'\s-2A\s0\\h'-0.15m'\\v'0.15v'\fP\*(TX
.if n .ds LX LaTeX
.if n .ds WB Web
.if t .ds WB W\s-2EB\s0
.\"=====================================================================
.SH NAME
tex, virtex, initex \- text formatting and typesetting
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B tex
.RI [ options ]
.RI [ commands ]
.\"=====================================================================
.SH DESCRIPTION
This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete
documentation for this version of \*(TX can be found in the info file
or manual
.IR "Web2C: A TeX implementation" .
.PP
\*(TX
formats the interspersed text and commands contained in the named
files
and outputs a typesetter independent file (called
.IR DVI ,
which is short for
.IR "DeVice Independent" ).
\*(TX's capabilities and language are described in
.IR "The \*(OXbook" .
\*(TX
is normally used with a large body of precompiled macros,
and there are several specific formatting systems, such as
\*(LX,
which require the support of several macro files.
.PP
This version of \*(TX looks at its command line to see what name it
was called under.  Both
.B initex
and
.B virtex
are symlinks to the
.B tex
executable.  When called as
.BR initex
(or when the
.B --ini
option is given) it can be used to precompile macros into a
.I .fmt
file.  When called as
.B virtex
it will use the
.I plain
format.  When called under any other name, \*(TX will use that name as
the name of the format to use.  For example, when called as
.B tex
the
.I tex
format is used, which is identical to the
.I plain
format.  The commands defined by the
.I plain
format are documented in
.IR "The \*(OXbook" .
Other formats that are often available include
.I latex
and
.IR amstex .
.PP
The
.I commands
given on the command line to the
\*(TX
program are passed to it as the first input line.  (But it is often
easier to type extended arguments as the first input line, since UNIX
shells tend to gobble up or misinterpret \*(TX's favorite symbols,
like backslashes, unless you quote them.)
As described in
.IR "The \*(OXbook" ,
that first line should begin with a filename, a
.IR \econtrolsequence ,
or a
.IR &formatname .
.PP
The normal usage is to say
.RS
.I tex paper
.RE
to start processing
.IR paper.tex .
The name
.I paper
will be the ``jobname'', and is used in forming
output filenames.
If \*(TX doesn't get a filename in the first line, the jobname is
.IR texput .
When looking for a file, \*(TX looks for the name with and without the
default extension
.RI ( .tex )
appended, unless the name already contains that extension.  If
.I paper
is the ``jobname'',
a log of error messages, with rather more detail than normally appears
on the screen, will appear in
.IR paper.log ,
and the output file will be in
.IR paper.dvi .
.PP
\*(TX will look in the first line of the file
.I paper.tex
to see if it begins with the magic sequence
.IR %& .
If the first line begins with
.I %&ini
then \*(TX will run in
.B initex
mode.  Otherwise, a
.I %&format
line names a format to be used.
.PP
The
.I e
response to \*(TX's error prompt causes the system default editor to
start up at the current line of the current file.  The environment
variable TEXEDIT can be used to change the editor used.  It may
contain a string with "%s" indicating where the filename goes and "%d"
indicating where the decimal line number (if any) goes.  For example,
a TEXEDIT string for
.B emacs
can be set with the
.B sh
command
.RS
\fITEXEDIT="emacs +%d %s"; export TEXEDIT\fP
.RE
.PP
A convenient file in the library is
.IR null.tex ,
containing nothing.
When \*(TX can't find a file it thinks you want to input, it keeps
asking you for another filename; responding `null' gets you out
of the loop if you don't want to input anything.  You can also type your
EOF character (usually control-D).
.PP
.\"=====================================================================
.SH OPTIONS
This version of \*(TX understands the following command line options.
.TP
.BI --fmt \ format
.rb
Use
.I format
as the name of the format to be used, instead of the name by which
\*(TX was called or a
.I %&
line.
.TP
.B --help
.rb
Print help message and exit.
.TP
.B --ini
.rb
Be
.BR initex ,
for dumping formats; this is implicitly true if the program is called
as
.BR initex .
.TP
.BI --interaction \ mode
.rb
Sets the interaction mode.  The mode can be one of
.IR batchmode ,
.IR nonstopmode ,
.IR scrollmode ,
and
.IR errorstopmode .
The meaning of these modes is the same as that of the corresponding
\ecommands.
.TP
.B --ipc
.rb
Send DVI output to a socket as well as the usual output file.  Whether
this option is available is the choice of the installer.
.TP
.B --ipc-start
.rb
As
.BR --ipc ,
and starts the server at the other end as well.  Whether this option
is available is the choice of the installer.
.TP
.BI --kpathsea-debug \ bitmask
.rb
Sets path searching debugging flags according to the bitmask.  See the
.I Kpathsea
manual for details.
.TP
.BI --maketex \ fmt
.rb
Enable
.RI mktex fmt ,
where
.I fmt
must be one of
.I tex
or
.IR tfm .
.TP
.B --mltex
.rb
Enable ML\*(TX extensions.
.TP
.BI --no-maketex \ fmt
.rb
Disable
.RI mktex fmt ,
where
.I fmt
must be one of
.I tex
or
.IR tfm .
.TP
.BI --output-comment \ string
.rb
Use
.I string
for the DVI file comment instead of the date.
.TP
.BI --progname \ name
.rb
Pretend to be program
.IR name .
This affects both the format used and the search paths.
.TP
.B --shell-escape
.rb
Enable the
.BI \ewrite18{ command }
construct.  The
.I command
can be any Bourne shell command.  This construct is normally
disallowed for security reasons.
.TP
.B --version
.rb
Print version information and exit.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH ENVIRONMENT
See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications'
node) for precise details of how the environment variables are used.
The
.B kpsewhich
utility can be used to query the values of the variables.
.PP
One caveat: In most \*(TX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you
give directly to \*(TX, because ~ is an active character, and hence is
expanded, not taken as part of the filename.  Other programs, such as
\*(MF, do not have this problem.
.PP
.TP
TEXMFOUTPUT
Normally, \*(TX 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 TEXMFOUTPUT.
There is no default value for that variable.  For example, if you say
.I tex paper
and the current directory is not writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has
the value
.IR /tmp ,
\*(TX attempts to create
.I /tmp/paper.log
(and
.IR /tmp/paper.dvi ,
if any output is produced.)
.TP
TEXINPUTS
Search path for
.I \einput
and
.I \eopenin
files.
This should probably start with ``.'', so
that user files are found before system files.
.TP
TEXEDIT
Command template for switching to editor.  The default, usually
.BR vi ,
is set when \*(TX is compiled.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH FILES
The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to
system.  Use the
.B kpsewhich
utility to find their locations.
.TP
.I tex.pool
Encoded text of \*(TX's messages.
.TP
.I texfonts.map
Filename mapping definitions.
.TP
.I *.tfm
Metric files for \*(TX's fonts.
.TP
.I *.fmt
Predigested \*(TX format (.\|fmt) files.
.TP
.I $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
The basic macro package described in the \*(OXbook.
.br
.\"=====================================================================
.SH BUGS
This version of \*(TX fails to trap arithmetic overflow when
dimensions are added or subtracted.  Cases where this occurs are rare,
but when it does the generated
.I DVI
file will be invalid.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR mf (1),
.BR undump (1),
.br
Donald E. Knuth,
.IR "The \*(OXbook" ,
Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13447-0.
.br
Leslie Lamport,
.IR "\*(LX \- A Document Preparation System" ,
Addison-Wesley, 1985, ISBN 0-201-15790-X.
.br
K. Berry,
.IR "Eplain: Expanded plain \*(TX" ,
ftp://ftp.cs.umb.edu/pub/tex/eplain/doc.
.br
Michael Spivak,
.IR "The Joy of \*(OX" ,
2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-8218-2997-1.
.br
.I TUGboat
(the journal of the \*(TX Users Group).
.\"=====================================================================
.SH TRIVIA
\*(TX, pronounced properly, rhymes with ``blecchhh.''  The proper
spelling in typewriter-like fonts is ``TeX'' and not ``TEX'' or ``tex.''
.\"=====================================================================
.SH AUTHORS
\*(TX was designed by Donald E. Knuth,
who implemented it using his \*(WB system for Pascal programs.
It was ported to Unix at Stanford by Howard Trickey, and
at Cornell by Pavel Curtis.
The version now offered with the Unix \*(TX distribution is that
generated by the \*(WB to C system
.RB ( web2c ),
originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.