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)