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NAME

       pdftex - PDF output from TeX

SYNOPSIS

       pdftex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]

DESCRIPTION

       Run the pdfTeX typesetter on file, usually creating file.pdf.  If the file argument has no
       extension, ".tex" will be appended to it.  Instead of a filename, a set of pdfTeX commands
       can  be  given,  the  first of which must start with a backslash.  With a &format argument
       pdfTeX uses a different set of  precompiled  commands,  contained  in  format.fmt;  it  is
       usually better to use the -fmt format option instead.

       pdfTeX  is  a version of TeX, with the e-TeX extensions, that can create PDF files as well
       as DVI files.

       In DVI mode, pdfTeX can be used as a complete replacement for the TeX engine.

       The typical use of pdfTeX is with a pregenerated formats for which  PDF  output  has  been
       enabled.  The pdftex command uses the equivalent of the plain TeX format, and the pdflatex
       command uses the equivalent of the LaTeX  format.   To  generate  formats,  use  the  -ini
       switch.

       The  pdfinitex  and  pdfvirtex  commands  are  pdfTeX's analogues to the initex and virtex
       commands.  In this installation, if the links exist, they are symbolic links to the pdftex
       executable.

       In  PDF  mode,  pdfTeX  can natively handle the PDF, JPG, JBIG2, and PNG graphics formats.
       pdfTeX cannot include PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript (EPS)  graphics  files;  first
       convert them to PDF using epstopdf(1).  pdfTeX's handling of its command-line arguments is
       similar to that of of the other TeX programs in the web2c implementation.

       Starting with version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX extensions, and pdfeTeX is  just
       a copy of pdfTeX.  See etex(1).

OPTIONS

       This version of pdfTeX understands the following command line options.

       -cnf-line string
              Parse string as a texmf.cnf configuration line.  See the Kpathsea manual.

       -draftmode
              Sets  \pdfdraftmode  so  pdfTeX  doesn't  write a PDF and doesn't read any included
              images, thus speeding up execution.

       -enc   Enable the encTeX extensions.  This option is only effective  in  combination  with
              -ini.       For      documentation     of     the     encTeX     extensions     see
              http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.

       -etex  Enable the e-TeX extensions.  This option is only  effective  in  combination  with
              -ini.  See etex(1).

       -file-line-error
              Print  error  messages in the form file:line:error which is similar to the way many
              compilers format them.

       -no-file-line-error
              Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.

       -file-line-error-style
              This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.

       -fmt format
              Use format as the name of the format to be used,  instead  of  the  name  by  which
              pdfTeX was called or a %& line.

       -halt-on-error
              Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during processing.

       -help  Print help message and exit.

       -ini   Start  in  INI  mode,  which is used to dump formats.  The INI mode can be used for
              typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and  basic  initializations  like  setting
              catcodes may be required.

       -interaction mode
              Sets  the  interaction  mode.   The  mode  can  be  either  batchmode, nonstopmode,
              scrollmode, and errorstopmode.  The meaning of these modes is the same as  that  of
              the corresponding \commands.

       -ipc   Send  DVI or PDF output to a socket as well as the usual output file.  Whether this
              option is available is the choice of the installer.

       -ipc-start
              As -ipc, and starts the server at the other end as well.  Whether  this  option  is
              available is the choice of the installer.

       -jobname name
              Use name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name of the input file.

       -kpathsea-debug bitmask
              Sets  path  searching  debugging  flags according to the bitmask.  See the Kpathsea
              manual for details.

       -mktex fmt
              Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -mltex Enable MLTeX extensions.  Only effective in combination with -ini.

       -no-mktex fmt
              Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -output-comment string
              In DVI mode, use string for the DVI file comment instead of the date.  This  option
              is ignored in PDF mode.

       -output-directory directory
              Write  output  files  in directory instead of the current directory.  Look up input
              files in directory first, the along the normal search path.

       -output-format format
              Set the output format mode, where format must be either  pdf  or  dvi.   This  also
              influences the set of graphics formats understood by pdfTeX.

       -parse-first-line
              If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it to look for a dump
              name or a -translate-file option.

       -no-parse-first-line
              Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.

       -progname name
              Pretend to be program name.  This affects both  the  format  used  and  the  search
              paths.

       -recorder
              Enable  the  filename  recorder.  This leaves a trace of the files opened for input
              and output in a file with extension .fls.

       -shell-escape
              Enable the \write18{command} construct.  The command  can  be  any  shell  command.
              This construct is normally disallowed for security reasons.

       -no-shell-escape
              Disable  the  \write18{command}  construct,  even if it is enabled in the texmf.cnf
              file.

       -shell-restricted
              Enable restricted \write18{}, as explained in the ``Shell escapes'' section of  the
              Web2c Texinfo manual.

       -src-specials
              In  DVI  mode,  insert source specials into the DVI file. This option is ignored in
              PDF mode.

       -src-specials where
              In DVI mode, insert source specials in certain places of the DVI  file.  The  where
              argument  is a comma-separated value list: cr, display, hbox, math, par, parent, or
              vbox.  This option is ignored in PDF mode.

       -synctex NUMBER
              generate SyncTeX data for previewers according to bits of NUMBER. See  the  synctex
              manual page for details.

       -translate-file tcxname
              Use  the  tcxname  translation table to set the mapping of input characters and re-
              mapping of output characters.

       -default-translate-file tcxname
              Like -translate-file except that a %& line can overrule this setting.

       -version
              Print version information and exit.

       -8bit  make all characters printable by default.

ENVIRONMENT

       See the Kpathsea library documentation (e.g., the `Path specifications' node) for  precise
       details  of  how the environment variables are used.  The kpsewhich utility can be used to
       query the values of the variables.

       One caveat: In most pdfTeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you  give  directly  to
       pdfTeX,  because ~ is an active character in TeX, and hence is expanded, not taken as part
       of the filename. Other programs, such as Metafont, do not have this problem.

       TEXMFOUTPUT
              Normally, pdfTeX 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 pdftex paper and the current directory is not writable and
              TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp,  pdfTeX  attempts  to  create  /tmp/paper.log  (and
              /tmp/paper.pdf,  if any output is produced.)  TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input
              files, as TeX often generates files that need to be subsequently read;  for  input,
              no  suffixes  (such  as  ``.tex'')  are  added by default, the input name is simply
              checked as given.

       TEXINPUTS
              Search path for \input and \openin files.  This normally starts with ``.'', so that
              user files are found before system files.  An empty path component will be replaced
              with the paths defined in the  texmf.cnf  file.   For  example,  set  TEXINPUTS  to
              ".:/home/user/tex:"  to prepend the current directory and ``/home/user/tex'' to the
              standard search path.

       TEXFORMATS
              Search path for format files.

       TEXEDIT
              Command template for switching to editor.  The default, usually  vi,  is  set  when
              pdfTeX is compiled.

       TFMFONTS
              Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.

       SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH
              If set, its value, taken to be in epoch-seconds, will be used for the timestamps in
              the PDF output, such as the CreationDate and ModDate  keys.   This  is  useful  for
              making reproducible builds.

       FORCE_SOURCE_DATE
              If  set  to  the  value  "1", the time-related TeX primitives (\year, \month, \day,
              \time) are also initialized from the  value  of  SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH.   This  is  not
              recommended if there is any viable alternative.
              pdfTeX  also  has  several  primitives  to  support  reproducible builds, which are
              preferable to setting these environment variables; see the main manual.

       Many, many more environment variables may be consulted related to path searching.  See the
       Kpathsea manual.

FILES

       The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system.  Use the kpsewhich
       utility to find their locations.

       pdftex.map
              Font name mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for pdfTeX's fonts.

       *.fmt  Predigested pdfTeX format (.fmt) files.

NOTES

BUGS

       This version of pdfTeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow  when  dimensions  are  added  or
       subtracted.   Cases  where this occurs are rare, but when it does the generated DVI or PDF
       file will be invalid.

AVAILABILITY

       pdfTeX is available for a large variety of machine architectures  and  operating  systems.
       pdfTeX is part of all major TeX distributions.
       The pdfTeX home page: http://www.pdftex.org.
       pdfTeX on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/pdftex.
       pdfTeX mailing list for all discussion: https://lists.tug.org/pdftex.

SEE ALSO

       This  manual  page  is  not  meant  to be exhaustive.  The complete documentation for this
       version of pdfTeX can be found in the pdfTeX user manual and the Texinfo manuals  Kpathsea
       library,  Web2C:  A TeX implementation.  These manuals, and more, can be accessed from the
       pdfTeX or CTAN web pages given above.

       Some related programs: epstopdf(1),  etex(1),  latex(1),  luatex(1),  mptopdf(1),  tex(1),
       mf(1).

AUTHORS

       The  primary  authors  of  pdfTeX  are Han The Thanh, Petr Sojka, Jiri Zlatuska, and Peter
       Breitenlohner (eTeX).

       TeX was designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web  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 TeX distribution is that generated  by  the
       Web  to  C system (web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.  The encTeX
       extensions were written by Petr Olsak.