NAME

       mpost - MetaPost, a system for creating graphics

SYNOPSIS

       mpost [options] [commands]

       mpost --dvitomp dvifile[.dvi] [mpxfile[.mpx]]

DESCRIPTION

       MetaPost interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript (EPS) or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
       pictures.   The  MetaPost  language is similar to Knuth's Metafont with additional features for including
       tex(1) or troff(1) commands and accessing features of PostScript not found in Metafont.

       MetaPost is normally used with some preloaded macros, and it will use its executable name as the name  of
       the  preload  file  to  use.    For  example,  when  called  as mpost the mpost.mp file is used, which is
       identical to plain.mp.  When the --ini option is given, preloading does not happen.

       The commands given on the command line to the MetaPost 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 MetaPost's favorite symbols, like  semicolons,  unless  you  quote  them.)  The
       normal  usage  is  to  say  mpost  figs  to  process  the file figs.mp.  The basename of figs becomes the
       ``jobname'', and is used in forming output file names.  If no file is named, the jobname  becomes  mpout.
       The default extension, .mp, can be overridden by specifying an extension explicitly.

       When  the  --dvitomp  option  is  given, MetaPost acts as DVI-to-MPX converter only.  See dvitomp (1) for
       details.

       This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documentation for this version of  MetaPost
       can  be  found  in  the  User  Manual  that should have been installed along with the program and is also
       available from http://tug.org/metapost.  See the FILES section below.

       The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual assumes no knowledge of Metafont.   MetaPost
       does not have bitmap output commands or Metafont's online display mechanism.

FILES

       plain.mp
              The standard preload file.

       mfplain.mp
              The Metafont-compatible preload file.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/base/*.mp
              The standard MetaPost macros included in the original distribution.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/*
              Various tables for handling included tex and troff.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/trfonts.map
              Table of corresponding font names for troff and PostScript.

       psfonts.map
              Table of corresponding font names for tex and PostScript.

       $TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/*
              The MetaPost manual and tutorial source, also including sample figures

SUGGESTED READING

       Donald  E.  Knuth,  The  Metafontbook (Volume C of Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN
       0-201-13445-4.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).

SEE ALSO

       dvitomp(1), epstopdf(1), mf(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1),

       MetaPost source code ⟨http://foundry.supelec.fr/gf/project/metapost/⟩.
       MetaPost home page ⟨http://tug.org/metapost/⟩.

AUTHORS

       MetaPost was designed by John D. Hobby, incorporating algorithms from Metafont by Donald  E.  Knuth.   It
       was originally implemented on Unix, incorporating system-dependent routines from web2c, while not relying
       on it except for the actual Web-to-C translator.

       The  primary  author of the current MetaPost was Taco Hoekwater, with assistance from Hans Hagen and many
       others.  It is currently maintained by Luigi Scarso.

       Ulrik Vieth adapted MetaPost to take advantage of the advanced path searching  features  in  more  recent
       versions of web2c and worked towards fully integrating MetaPost into the canonical Unix TeX distribution.

BUGS

       The MetaPost home page is http://tug.org/metapost.

Web2C 2015                                        27 April 2015                                         MPOST(1)