NAME

       dviselect - extract pages from DVI files

SYNOPSIS

       dviselect [ -s ] [ -i infile ] [ -o outfile ] list of pages [ infile [ outfile ] ]

DESCRIPTION

       Dviselect selects pages from a DVI file produced by TeX, creating a new DVI file usable by any of the TeX
       conversion programs, or even by dviselect itself.

       A  range  is a string of the form even, odd, or first:last where both first and last are optional numeric
       strings, with negative numbers indicated by a leading underscore character ``_''.  If both first and last
       are omitted, the colon may also be omitted, or may be replaced with an asterisk ``*''.  A page range is a
       list of ranges separated by periods.  A list of pages is described by a set of page ranges  separated  by
       commas and/or white space.

       Dviselect  actually looks at the ten count variables that TeX writes; the first of these (\count0) is the
       page number, with \count1 through \count9 having varied uses depending on which  macro  packages  are  in
       use.  (Typically \count1 might be a chapter or section number.)  A page is included in dviselect's output
       if  all  its  \count  values  match  any  one of the ranges listed on the command line.  For example, the
       command ``dviselect *.1,35:'' might select everything  in  chapter  1,  as  well  as  pages  35  and  up.
       ``dviselect  10:30''  would  select  pages 10 through 30 (inclusive).  ``:43'' means everything up to and
       including page 43 (including negative-numbered pages).  To get all even-numbered pages, use ``even'';  to
       get  all odd-numbered pages, use ``odd''.  If a Table of Contents has negative page numbers, ``:_1'' will
       select it.  Note that ``*'' must be quoted from the shell; the empty string is more convenient to use, if
       harder to read.

       Instead of \count values, dviselect can also select by ``absolute page number'', where the first page  is
       page  1,  the  second  page 2, and so forth.  Absolute page numbers are indicated by a leading equal sign
       ``=''.  Ranges of absolute pages are also allowed: ``dviselect =3:7''  will  extract  the  third  through
       seventh  pages.  Dot separators are not legal in absolute ranges, and there are no negative absolute page
       numbers.  Even/odd specifiers, however, are legal; ``dviselect =even'' selects every other page, starting
       with the second.

       More precisely, an asterisk or an empty string implies no limit; an equal sign means absolute page number
       rather than \counts; a leading colon means everything up to and including  the  given  page;  a  trailing
       colon  means  everything  from  the  given  page  on;  the  word ``even'' means only even values shall be
       accepted; the word ``odd'' means only odd values shall be accepted; and a period indicates that the  next
       \count  should  be  examined.   If  fewer  than  10  ranges are specified, the remaining \counts are left
       unrestricted (that is, ``1:5'' and ``1:5.*'' are equivalent).  A single number n is treated as if it were
       the range n:n.  An arbitrary number of page selectors may be given, separated by commas or whitespace;  a
       page is selected if any of the selectors matches its \counts or absolute page number.

       Dviselect normally prints the page numbers of the pages selected; the -s option suppresses this.

AUTHOR

       Chris Torek, University of Maryland

SEE ALSO

       dviconcat(1), latex(1), tex(1)
       MC-TeX User's Guide
       The TeXbook

BUGS

       A  leading  ``-''  ought  to  be  allowed for negative numbers, but it is currently used as a synonym for
       ``:'', for backwards compatibility.

       Section or subsection selection will sometimes fail, for the DVI file lists only the \count  values  that
       were  active  when  the  page  ended.   Clever  macro  packages can alleviate this by making use of other
       ``free'' \count registers.  Chapters normally begin on new pages, and do not suffer from this  particular
       problem.

       The  heuristic  that  decides which arguments are page selectors and which are file names is often wrong.
       Using shell redirection or the -i and -o options is safest.

       Dviselect does not adjust the parameters in the postamble; however, since these values are normally  used
       only  to  size  certain structures in the output conversion programs, and the parameters never need to be
       adjusted upward, this has not proven to be a problem.

                                                                                                    DVISELECT(1)