NAME

       mpost,  pmpost,  upmpost  -  MetaPost,  a  system  for  creating  graphics r-mpost, r-pmpost, r-upmpost -
       restricted MetaPost

SYNOPSIS

       mpost [options] [commands]

       mpost --dvitomp dvifile[.dvi] [mpxfile[.mpx]]

DESCRIPTION

       MetaPost interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript (EPS) or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
       pictures.   The  MetaPost  language is similar to Knuth's Metafont with additional features for including
       tex(1) or troff(1) commands and accessing features of PostScript not found in Metafont.

       MetaPost is normally used with a set of basic macros, and it will use its executable name as the name  of
       the  preload  file  to  use.    For example, when called as mpost the mpost.mp file is used, which simply
       reads plain.mp.  When the --ini option is given, preloading does not happen.

       The commands given on the command line to the MetaPost 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 MetaPost's favorite symbols, like  semicolons,  unless  you  quote  them.)  The
       normal  usage  is  to  say  mpost  figs  to  process  the file figs.mp.  The basename of figs becomes the
       ``jobname'', and is used in forming output file names.  If no file is named, the jobname  becomes  mpout.
       The default extension, .mp, can be overridden by specifying an extension explicitly.

       When  the  --dvitomp  option  is  given, MetaPost acts as DVI-to-MPX converter only.  See dvitomp (1) for
       details.

       The pmpost program is a variant with Japanese support, and upmpost has Unicode-enabled Japanese  support,
       analogous to ptex and uptex.

       All  three  variants are also installed with an `r-' prefix, that is, r-mpost, r-pmpost, r-upmpost, which
       implicitly specify the --restricted option to make MetaPost safe  to  run  on  unknown  input;  the  tex,
       makempx, and editor commands are disabled.

       This manual page is a mere skeleton.  For a list of all command line options, run --help.

       The main documentation for this version of MetaPost can be found in the User Manual that should have been
       installed along with the program and is also available from https://tug.org/metapost.

       The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual assumes no knowledge of Metafont.   MetaPost
       does not have bitmap output commands or Metafont's online display mechanism.

FILES

       plain.mp
              The standard preload file.

       mfplain.mp
              The Metafont-compatible preload file.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/base/*.mp
              The standard MetaPost macros included in the original distribution.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/*
              Various tables for handling included tex and troff.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/trfonts.map
              Table of corresponding font names for troff and PostScript.

       psfonts.map
              Table of corresponding font names for tex and PostScript.

       $TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/*
              The MetaPost manual and tutorial source, also including sample figures

SUGGESTED READING

       Donald  E.  Knuth,  The  Metafontbook (Volume C of Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN
       0-201-13445-4.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).

SEE ALSO

       dvitomp(1), epstopdf(1), mf(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1),
       MetaPost home page ⟨https://tug.org/metapost/⟩.

AUTHORS

       MetaPost was created by John D. Hobby, incorporating algorithms from Metafont by Donald E. Knuth.  It was
       originally  implemented on Unix, incorporating system-dependent routines from web2c, while not relying on
       it except for the actual Web-to-C translator.

       Ulrik Vieth adapted MetaPost to take advantage of the advanced path searching  features  in  more  recent
       versions of web2c and worked towards fully integrating MetaPost into the canonical Unix TeX distribution.

       The  primary  author of the current MetaPost was Taco Hoekwater, with assistance from Hans Hagen and many
       others.  It is currently maintained by Luigi Scarso.

BUGS

       The MetaPost home page is https://tug.org/metapost.