Ubuntu Manpage: atp - Convert an ASCII or a text file to PostScript format for printing

NAME

       atp - Convert an ASCII or a text file to PostScript format for printing

SYNOPSIS

       atp  [ -BCghlNoprRsvVW ] [ -c columns ] [ -t tabsize ] [ -f font ] [ -F headingsFont ] [ -cf commentsFont
       ] [ -title Title ] [ -date Date ] [ -M Tm,Bm,Lm,Rm [cm|in] ] [ -T papersize ] [ -wm string [font] ] [  -#
       copies ] [ -fonts ] [ -level1 ] [ -postscript ] [ file...  ]

DESCRIPTION

atp reads in text files and converts them to PostScript format. By default, it formats the output in two
columns landscape mode in either an A4 or letter-size page, whichever was chosen by your system admin,
with a 'fancy' header and using a 7 points Courier font. Fonts, paper sizes, headings and formatting
options may be specified.

The PostScript output is by default directed to standard output; if the -o option is set the output is
written in the file filename.ps. If no input file is given, the input is read from the standard input.

When working with C or C++ source files, as specified by the -C option, atp applies different styles to
different areas of code: the comments are printed using a different font (Courier-BoldItalic, by
default), the preprocessor instructions are italicized and the the function definitions headers are
highlighted.

atp understands the nroff's bold and italic backspace conventions, and formats consequently his output.

Formfeed (control-L) characters in the input file causes a new page or column to be started.

PostScript files in input are transcribed on standard output, without translation, unless the -postscript
option is set.

For example:
atp -Co source.c
writes a two columns landscape listing of the file source.c in the file source.c.ps, highlighting
comments and function's headers.

atp -p file.txt | lpr
prints a copy of the file file.txt, in portrait mode, on the default printer used by lpr.

The fonts may be modified (scaled, rotated and sheared) by means of a transformation matrix. Font
specifications have three parts:

-a font name, as known to PostScript (e.g.: Times-Roman, Courier-Bold)
-a point size (1 point = 1/72 inch); a valid font size is any floating point value comprised between 5
and 50 points.
-an (optional) transformation matrix, that consists of four floating point values, separated by a comma
and preceded by a colon.

For example, valid font specifications are:
Courier-Bold9:1,0,0.25,1
Helvetica10.5
AvantGarde-Demi7.34:1.75,0,-0.4,.8

A PostScript transformation Matrix is stored as a vector of 6 elements: [a b c d e f]

The matrix produces the transformation:
x' = a x + c y + e
y' = b x + d y + f

Since the translation of the font characters is no use, only the first four values must be specified,
whereas e and f are kept to 0.

The default values of the matrix [a,b,c,d] are [1,0,0,1].

The widths of the characters is expanded if a>1 and reduced if a<1; the characters height is expanded if
d>1 and reduced if d<1. Modifying the values of b and c causes a rotation of the font. Keeping b=0 and
modifying c causes a font shearing.

Tabs in the input stream are expanded (by default) to eight character positions.

OPTIONS

-o Direct the output to file filename.ps

-p Print the output in portrait mode (the default is the landscape mode).

-C Assume that the input file is a C or a C++ source, recognizes and highlights the comments and the
function definition's headers.

-c columns
Specify the number of the columns in which each page is subdivided.

-B Turn off page headings.

-title Title
Print the text specified by Title as the title on each page, rather than the filename.

-date Date
Print the text specified by Date as the date on each page, rather than the current. Only the first
12 characters of Date are used.

-f font
Set the font to be used for the body of each page. The default is Courier7 in landscape mode,
Courier10 in portrait mode, and Courier7:.83,0,0,1 if the -C option is set.

-F headingFont
Set the font to be used for the page headings. Defaults to Helvetica-Bold16.

-cf commentFont
Set the font to be used for emphasize the comments in a C source (when the -C option is
specified). Defaults to Courier-BoldItalic7.

-M Tm,Bm,Lm,Rm [cm|in]
Set Top,Bottom,Left,Right margins. Their length is specified in points (1 point = 1/72 inch),
unless the suffix cm or in are used.

-g Disable the 'gaudy mode': don't paint the shaded frames in the headings.

-s Turn off the shading of the headings

-T papersize
Set the output paper type as per the argument. The following paper sizes are recognized by atp:
A3, A4, A5, B4, B5, Executive, Folio, Ledger, Legal, Letter, Quarto, Statement, Tabloid, 10x14.

-N Precede each line with it's line number relative to the start of the file.

-t tabsize
Sets the number of columns to which tabs are expanded. The default is eight columns.

-h Print usage message.

-v or -V
Display information identifying the version of atp. Nothing will be printed regardless of the
other arguments.

-r or -R
Wrap the text on the space character preceding the right margin.

-W Truncate lines which are wide for the page.

-l Simulate a line printer: make pages 66 lines long and omit headers. (Useful to print manual
pages).

-wm string [Font]
Print the watermark string on each page, using the font Font or Times-BoldItalic, by default.

-# copies
Print each page copies times.

-fonts List the fonts recognized by atp.

-level1 (or -l1)
Generate a PostScript output suitable for a PostScript level 1 printer. With this option, the
text file must contain only 7-bit characters. By default, atp recognizes 8-bit characters and
produces a level 2 PostScript program.

-postscript
Do not pass through PostScript files.

BUGS

       If a font is specified that is not available on the printer, the result is undetermined.

       No checking is performed on the input file to detect accidental printing of garbage files.

AUTHOR