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NAME

       tex, initex - text formatting and typesetting

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

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

       TeX  formats the interspersed text and commands contained in the named files and outputs a
       typesetter independent file (called DVI, which is short for  DeVice  Independent).   TeX's
       capabilities and language are described in The TeXbook.  TeX is normally used with a large
       body of precompiled macros, and there are several specific  formatting  systems,  such  as
       LaTeX, which require the support of several macro files.

       This  version  of  TeX looks at its command line to see what name it was called under.  If
       they exist, then both initex and virtex are symbolic links to the  tex  executable.   When
       called  as  initex  (or when the -ini option is given) it can be used to precompile macros
       into a .fmt file.  When called as virtex it will use the plain format.  When called  under
       any  other  name,  TeX  will use that name as the name of the format to use.  For example,
       when called as tex the tex format is used, which is identical to the  plain  format.   The
       commands  defined  by  the plain format are documented in The TeXbook.  Other formats that
       are often available include latex and amstex.

       The non-option command line arguments to the TeX 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  TeX's  favorite  symbols,  like
       backslashes,  unless you quote them.)  As described in The TeXbook, that first line should
       begin with a filename, a \controlsequence, or a &formatname.

       The normal usage is to say
       tex paper
       to start processing paper.tex.  The name paper will be the ``jobname'',  and  is  used  in
       forming output filenames.  If TeX doesn't get a filename in the first line, the jobname is
       texput.  When looking for a file, TeX looks for the name  with  and  without  the  default
       extension  (.tex)  appended, unless the name already contains that extension.  If paper is
       the ``jobname'', a log of error messages, with rather more detail than normally appears on
       the screen, will appear in paper.log, and the output file will be in paper.dvi.

       This  version  of TeX can look in the first line of the file paper.tex to see if it begins
       with the  magic  sequence  %&.   If  the  first  line  begins  with  %&format  -translate-
       file tcxname  then  TeX will use the named format and translation table tcxname to process
       the source file.  Either the format name  or  the  -translate-file  specification  may  be
       omitted, but not both.  This overrides the format selection based on the name by which the
       program is invoked.  The -parse-first-line option or  the  parse_first_line  configuration
       variable controls whether this behaviour is enabled.

       The  e  response to TeX'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 emacs can be set with the sh command
       TEXEDIT="emacs +%d %s"; export TEXEDIT

       A  convenient  file in the library is null.tex, containing nothing.  When TeX 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).

OPTIONS

       This version of TeX understands the following command line options.

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

       -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.

       -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 TeX
              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 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
              Use string for the DVI file comment instead of the date.

       -output-directory directory
              Write  output  files  in directory instead of the current directory.  Look up input
              files in directory first, then along the normal search path.  See also  description
              of the TEXMFOUTPUT environment variable.

       -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.

       -src-specials
              Insert source specials into the DVI file.

       -src-specials where
              Insert source specials in certain places of  the  DVI  file.   where  is  a  comma-
              separated value list: cr, display, hbox, math, par, parent, or vbox.

       -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.

ENVIRONMENT

       See the Kpathsearch library documentation (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 TeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you give directly to  TeX,
       because  ~  is  an  active  character,  and  hence  is  expanded, not taken as part of the
       filename.  Other programs, such as Metafont, do not have this problem.

       TEXMFOUTPUT
              Normally, TeX 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 tex paper and the current directory is not writable, if
              TEXMFOUTPUT has  the  value  /tmp,  TeX  attempts  to  create  /tmp/paper.log  (and
              /tmp/paper.dvi,  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 should probably start  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.

       TEXPOOL
              search path for tex internal strings.

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

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

       Notes for Debian developers: please keep in mind, that this version of the TeX interpreter
       ignores the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH variable. Instead the current timestamp is written into  the
       DVI  file.  If  you need a reproducible time stamp, please use any engine based on pdfTeX,
       e.g., etex, pdftex, latex, pdflatex.

FILES

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

       texmf.cnf
              Configuration  file.   This  contains  definitions of search paths as well as other
              configuration parameters like parse_first_line.

       tex.pool
              Text file containing TeX's internal strings.

       texfonts.map
              Filename mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for TeX's fonts.

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

       $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
              The basic macro package described in the TeXbook.

NOTES

       This manual page is not meant to be  exhaustive.   The  complete  documentation  for  this
       version of TeX can be found in the info manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.

BUGS

       This  version  of  TeX implements a number of optional extensions.  In fact, many of these
       extensions conflict to a greater or lesser extent with the definition of TeX.   When  such
       extensions  are  enabled,  the  banner  printed  when  TeX starts is changed to print TeXk
       instead of TeX.

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

SEE ALSO

       mf(1),
       Donald E. Knuth, The TeXbook, Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13447-0.
       Leslie Lamport,  LaTeX  -  A  Document  Preparation  System,  Addison-Wesley,  1985,  ISBN
       0-201-15790-X.
       K. Berry, Eplain: Expanded plain TeX, https://tug.org/eplain
       Michael Spivak, The Joy of TeX, 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-8218-2997-1.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).  https://tug.org/TUGboat

TRIVIA

       TeX,  pronounced  properly,  rhymes with ``blecchhh.''  The proper spelling in typewriter-
       like fonts is ``TeX'' and not ``TEX'' or ``tex.''

AUTHORS

       TeX was created 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.