Ubuntu Manpage: plotfont - produce character maps of fonts supported by the plotting utilities

NAME

       plotfont - produce character maps of fonts supported by the plotting utilities

SYNOPSIS

       plotfont [ options ] fonts

DESCRIPTION

plotfont produces a character map for any font that is supported by the plotting
utilities, which include graph(1), plot(1), pic2plot(1), tek2plot(1), and the GNU libplot
2-D graphics export library (see plot(3)). Which fonts are supported depends on the
output format, which is specified by the -T option. A listing of the fonts available in
any specified output format may be obtained with the --help-fonts option (see below).

The character map, or maps, will be written to standard output in the specified format.
For example, the Times-Roman font is available when producing Postscript output. The
command plotfont -T ps Times-Roman > charmap.ps will yield a character map of the Times-
Roman font, in a Postscript format that can be viewed or edited with the idraw(1) drawing
editor. The Times-Roman font is also available when producing Fig output, which can be
viewed or edited with the xfig(1) drawing editor. The command plotfont -T fig Times-Roman
> charmap.fig will yield the same character map, but in Fig format rather than in
Postscript format.

As another example, the Univers font is available when producing PCL 5 output. The
command plotfont -T pcl Univers > charmap.pcl will produce a character map of the Univers
font, in PCL 5 format.

When producing output for the X Window System, i.e., for a popped-up window, any scalable
X Window System font that has an XLFD (i.e., X Logical Font Description) name is
supported. For example, the command plotfont -T X utopia-medium-r-normal will pop up a
window, and draw a character map of the Utopia-Regular font. "utopia-medium-r-normal" is
a truncated version of the Utopia-Regular font's XLFD name. The Utopia-Regular font is
available on most X Window System displays.

OPTIONS

General Options
-T type
--output-format type
Select type as the output format. It may be "X", "png", "pnm", "gif", "svg", "ai",
"ps", "cgm", "fig", "pcl", "hpgl", "regis", "tek", or "meta" (the default). These
refer respectively to the X Window System, PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format,
portable anymap format (PBM/PGM/PPM), a pseudo-GIF format that does not use LZW
encoding, the new XML-based Scalable Vector Graphics format, the format used by
Adobe Illustrator, Postscript or Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) that can be edited
with idraw(1), CGM format (by default, confirming to the WebCGM profile), the
format used by the xfig(1) drawing editor, the Hewlett-Packard PCL 5 printer
language, the Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, ReGIS graphics format (which can
be displayed by the dxterm(1) terminal emulator or by a VT330 or VT340 terminal),
Tektronix format (which can be displayed by the xterm(1) terminal emulator), and
device-independent GNU metafile format itself. Unless type is "X", an output file
is produced and written to standard output.

Files in PNG, PNM, pseudo-GIF, AI, or Fig format contain only a single page of
graphics. So if the -T png option, the -T pnm option, the -T gif option, the -T ai
option, or the -T fig option is used, the output file will contain a character map
for only the first-specified font.

A listing of the fonts available in any specified output format may be obtained
with the --help-fonts option (see below). If a requested font is unavailable, a
default font will be substituted. The default font is "Helvetica" for "X", "svg",
"ai", "ps", "cgm", and "fig", "Univers" for "pcl", and "HersheySerif" for "png",
"pnm", "gif", "hpgl", "regis", "tek", and "meta".

-1
--lower-half
Generate a character map for the lower half of each specified font. This is the
default.

-2
--upper-half
Generate a character map for the upper half of each specified font.

-o
--octal
Number the characters in octal rather than in decimal (the default).

-x
--hexadecimal
Number the characters in hexadecimal rather than in decimal (the default).

--box Surround each character with a box, showing its extent to left and right. The
default is not to do this.

-j row
--jis-row row
Generate a character map for row row of a Japanese font arranged according to JIS
[Japanese Industrial Standard] X0208. The only such font currently available is
the HersheyEUC [Extended Unix Code] font. If used, this option overrides the -1
and -2 options. The valid rows are 1...94. In the JIS X0208 standard, Roman
characters are located in row 3, and Japanese syllabic characters (Hiragana and
Katakana) are located in rows 4 and 5. Greek and Cyrillic characters are located
in rows 6 and 7. Japanese ideographic characters (Kanji) are located in rows
16...84.

--bg-color name
Set the color used for the background to be name. This is relevant only to
plotfont -T X, plotfont -T png, plotfont -T pnm, plotfont -T gif, plotfont -T svg,
plotfont -T cgm, and plotfont -T regis. An unrecognized name sets the color to the
default, which is "white". The environment variable BG_COLOR can equally well be
used to specify the background color.

If the -T png or -T gif option is used, a transparent PNG file or a transparent
pseudo-GIF, respectively, may be produced by setting the TRANSPARENT_COLOR
environment variable to the name of the background color. If the -T svg or -T cgm
option is used, an output file without a background may be produced by setting the
background color to "none".

--bitmap-size bitmap_size
Set the size of the graphics display in which the character map(s) will be drawn,
in terms of pixels, to be bitmap_size. The default is "570x570". This is relevant
only to plotfont -T X, plotfont -T png, plotfont -T pnm, and plotfont -T gif, all
of which produce bitmaps. If you choose a rectangular (non-square) window size,
the fonts in the character map(s) will be scaled anisotropically, i.e., by
different factors in the horizontal and vertical directions. For plotfont -T X,
this requires an X11R6 display. Any font that cannot be scaled in this way will be
replaced by a default scalable font, such as the vector font "HersheySerif".

The environment variable BITMAPSIZE can equally well be used to specify the window
size. For backward compatibility, the X resource Xplot.geometry may be used
instead.

--emulate-color option
If option is yes, replace each color in the output by an appropriate shade of gray.
This is seldom useful, except when using plotfont -T pcl to prepare output for a
PCL 5 device. (Many monochrome PCL 5 devices, such as monochrome LaserJets, do a
poor job of emulating color on their own.) You may equally well request color
emulation by setting the environment variable EMULATE_COLOR to "yes".

--numbering-font name
Set the font used for the numbering of the characters in the character map(s) to be
name, rather than the default.

--page-size pagesize
Set the size of size of the page on which the character map(s) will be positioned.
This is relevant only to plotfont -T svg, plotfont -T ai, plotfont -T ps, plotfont
-T cgm, plotfont -T fig, plotfont -T pcl, and plotfont -T hpgl. The default is
"letter", which means an 8.5 inch by 11 inch page. Any ISO page size in the range
"a0"..."a4" or ANSI page size in the range "a"..."e" may be specified ("letter" is
an alias for "a" and "tabloid" is an alias for "b"). "legal" and "ledger" are
recognized page sizes also. The environment variable PAGESIZE can equally well be
used to specify the page size.

The graphics display in which each character map is drawn will be a square region
that would occupy nearly the full width of the specified page. An alternative size
for the graphics display can be specified. For example, the page size could be
specified as "letter,xsize=4in,ysize=6in", or "a4,xsize=5.0cm,ysize=100mm". For
all of the above except plotfont -T hpgl, the graphics display will, by default, be
centered on the page. For all of the above except plotfont -T svg and plotfont -T
cgm, the graphics display may be repositioned manually, by specifying the location
of its lower left corner, relative to the lower left corner of the page. For
example, the page size could be specified as "letter,xorigin=2in,yorigin=3in", or
"a4,xorigin=0.5cm,yorigin=0.5cm". It is also possible to specify an offset vector.
For example, the page size could be specified as "letter,xoffset=1in", or
"letter,xoffset=1in,yoffset=1.2in", or "a4,yoffset=-1cm". In SVG format and WebCGM
format it is possible to specify the size of the graphics display, but not its
position.

--rotation angle
Rotate the graphics display by angle degrees. Recognized values are "0", "90",
"180", and "270". "no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respectively.
The environment variable ROTATION can also be used to specify a rotation angle.

--pen-color name
Set the pen color to be name. An unrecognized name sets the pen color to the
default, which is "black".

Options for Metafile Output
The following option is relevant only if the -T option is omitted or if -T meta is used.
In this case the output of plotfont will be in GNU graphics metafile format. It may be
translated to other formats by invoking plot(1).

-O
--portable-output
Output the portable (human-readable) version of GNU metafile format, rather than
the binary version (the default). The format of the binary version is machine-
dependent.

Informational Options
--help Print a list of command-line options, and exit.

--help-fonts
Print a table of available fonts, and exit. The table will depend on which output
format is specified with the -T option. plotfont -T X, plotfont -T svg, plotfont
-T ai, plotfont -T ps, plotfont -T cgm, and plotfont -T fig each support the 35
standard Postscript fonts. plotfont -T svg, plotfont -T pcl, and plotfont -T hpgl
support the 45 standard PCL 5 fonts, and the latter two support a number of
Hewlett-Packard vector fonts. All seven support a set of 22 Hershey vector fonts,
as do plotfont -T png, plotfont -T pnm, plotfont -T gif, plotfont -T regis, and
plotfont -T tek. plotfont without a -T option in principle supports any of these
fonts, since its output must be translated to other formats by invoking plot(1).

--list-fonts
Like --help-fonts, but lists the fonts in a single column to facilitate piping to
other programs. If no output format is specified with the -T option, the full set
of supported fonts is listed.

--version
Print the version number of plotfont and the plotting utilities package, and exit.

ENVIRONMENT

The environment variables BITMAPSIZE, PAGESIZE, BG_COLOR, EMULATE_COLOR, and ROTATION
serve as backups for the options --bitmap-size, --page-size, --bg-color, --emulate-color,
and --rotation, respectively. The remaining environment variables are specific to
individual output formats.

plotfont -T X, which pops up a window on an X Window System display for each character
map, checks the DISPLAY environment variable. Its value determines the display that will
be used.

plotfont -T png and plotfont -T gif, which produce output in PNG format and pseudo-GIF
format respectively, are affected by the INTERLACE environment variable. If its value is
"yes", the output will be interlaced. Also, if the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable
is set to the name of a color, that color will be treated as transparent in the output.

plotfont -T pnm, which produces output in portable anymap (PBM/PGM/PPM) format, is
affected by the PNM_PORTABLE environment variable. If its value is "yes", the output will
be in a human-readable format rather than binary (the default).

plotfont -T cgm, which produces output in CGM (Computer Graphics Metafile) format, is
affected by the CGM_MAX_VERSION and CGM_ENCODING environment variables. By default, it
produces a binary-encoded version of CGM version 3 format. For backward compatibility,
the version number may be reduced by setting CGM_MAX_VERSION to "2" or "1". Irrespective
of version, the output CGM file will use the human-readable clear text encoding if
CGM_ENCODING is set to "clear_text". However, only binary-encoded CGM files conform to
the WebCGM profile.

plotfont -T pcl, which produces PCL 5 output for Hewlett-Packard printers and plotters, is
affected by the environment variable PCL_ASSIGN_COLORS. It should be set to "yes" when
producing PCL 5 output for a color printer or other color device. This will ensure
accurate color reproduction by giving the output device complete freedom in assigning
colors, internally, to its "logical pens". If it is "no" then the device will use a fixed
set of colored pens, and will emulate other colors by shading. The default is "no"
because monochrome PCL 5 devices, which are much more common than colored ones, must use
shading to emulate color.

plotfont -T hpgl, which produces Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language output, is affected by
several environment variables. The most important is HPGL_VERSION, which may be set to
"1", "1.5", or "2" (the default). "1" means that the output should be generic HP-GL,
"1.5" means that the output should be suitable for the HP7550A graphics plotter and the
HP758x, HP7595A and HP7596A drafting plotters (HP-GL with some HP-GL/2 extensions), and
"2" means that the output should be modern HP-GL/2. If the version is "1" or "1.5" then
the only available fonts will be vector fonts, and all lines will be drawn with a default
width. Additionally, if the version is "1" then the filling of arbitrary curves with
solid color will not be supported (circles and rectangles aligned with the coordinate axes
may be filled, though).

The position of the plotfont -T hpgl graphics display on the page can be rotated 90
degrees counterclockwise by setting the HPGL_ROTATE environment variable to "yes". This
is not the same as the rotation obtained with the --rotation option, since it both rotates
the graphics display and repositions its lower left corner toward another corner of the
page. Besides "no" and "yes", recognized values for HPGL_ROTATE are "0", "90", "180", and
"270". "no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respectively. "180" and "270" are
supported only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" (the default).

By default, plotfont -T hpgl will draw with a fixed set of pens. Which pens are present
may be specified by setting the HPGL_PENS environment variable. If HPGL_VERSION is "1",
the default value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black"; if HPGL_VERSION is "1.5" or "2", the default
value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black:2=red:3=green:4=yellow:5=blue:6=magenta:7=cyan". The
format should be self-explanatory. By setting HPGL_PENS you may specify a color for any
pen in the range #1...#31. All color names recognized by the X Window System may be used.
Pen #1 must always be present, though it need not be black. Any other pen in the range
#1...#31 may be omitted.

If HPGL_VERSION is "2" then plotfont -T hpgl will also be affected by the environment
variable HPGL_ASSIGN_COLORS. If its value is "yes", then plotfont -T hpgl will not be
restricted to the palette specified in HPGL_PENS: it will assign colors to "logical pens"
in the range #1...#31, as needed. The default value is "no" because other than color
LaserJet printers and DesignJet plotters, not many HP-GL/2 devices allow the assignment of
colors to logical pens.

Opaque filling and the drawing of visible white lines are supported only if HPGL_VERSION
is "2" and the environment variable HPGL_OPAQUE_MODE is "yes" (the default). If its value
is "no" then white lines (if any), which are normally drawn with pen #0, will not be
drawn. This feature is to accommodate older HP-GL/2 devices. HP-GL/2 pen plotters, for
example, do not support opacity or the use of pen #0 to draw visible white lines. Some
older HP-GL/2 devices may, in fact, malfunction if asked to draw opaque objects.

plotfont -T tek, which produces output for a Tektronix terminal or emulator, checks the
TERM environment variable. If the value of TERM is a string beginning with "xterm",
"nxterm", or "kterm", it is taken as a sign that plotfont is running in an X Window System
VT100 terminal emulator: a copy of xterm(1), nxterm(1), or kterm(1). Before drawing
graphics, plotfont -T tek will emit an escape sequence that causes the terminal emulator's
auxiliary Tektronix window, which is normally hidden, to pop up. After the graphics are
drawn, an escape sequence that returns control to the original VT100 window will be
emitted. The Tektronix window will remain on the screen.

If the value of TERM is a string beginning with "kermit", "ansi.sys", or "nansi.sys", it
is taken as a sign that plotfont is running in the VT100 terminal emulator provided by the
MS-DOS version of kermit(1). Before drawing graphics, plotfont -T tek will emit an escape
sequence that switches the terminal emulator to Tektronix mode. Also, some of the
Tektronix control codes emitted by plotfont -T tek will be kermit-specific. There will be
a limited amount of color support, which is not normally the case (the 16 `ansi.sys'
colors will be supported). After drawing graphics, plotfont -T tek will emit an escape
sequence that returns the emulator to VT100 mode. The key sequence `ALT minus' can be
employed manually within kermit to switch between the two modes.

AUTHORS

       plotfont was written by Robert S. Maier (rsm@math.arizona.edu).

BUGS

       Email bug reports to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.