Provided by: netpbm_10.0-15.3_amd64 bug

NAME

       pbmtext - render text into a bitmap

SYNOPSIS

       pbmtext [-font fontfile] [-builtin fontname] [-space pixels] [-lspace pixels] [text]

DESCRIPTION

       Takes  the  specified  text,  either a single line from the command line or multiple lines
       from standard input, and renders it into a bitmap.

       In the bitmap, each line of input is a line of  output.   Formatting  characters  such  as
       newline  have  no effect on the formatting; like any unprintable character, they turn into
       spaces.

       The bitmap is just wide enough for the longest line of text, plus margins, and  just  high
       enough  to  contain the lines of text, plus margins.  The left and right margins are twice
       the width of the widest character in the font; the top and bottom margins are  the  height
       of  the  tallest character in the font.  But if the text is only one line, all the margins
       are half of this.

OPTIONS

       -font,-builtin
              By default, pbmtext uses a built-in font called bdf (about a 10  point  Times-Roman
              font).  You can use a fixed width font by specifying -builtin fixed.

              You  can  also specify your own font with the -font flag.  The fontfile is either a
              BDF file from the X window system or a PBM file.

              If the fontfile is a PBM file, it is created in  a  very  specific  way.   In  your
              window  system  of  choice, display the following text in the desired (fixed-width)
              font:

                  M ",/^_[`jpqy| M

                  /  !"#$%&'()*+ /
                  < ,-./01234567 <
                  > 89:;<=>?@ABC >
                  @ DEFGHIJKLMNO @
                  _ PQRSTUVWXYZ[ _
                  { \]^_`abcdefg {
                  } hijklmnopqrs }
                  ~ tuvwxyz{|}~  ~

                  M ",/^_[`jpqy| M

              Do a screen grab or window dump of that text, using for instance xwd,  xgrabsc,  or
              screendump.   Convert  the  result  into  a  pbm file.  If necessary, use pnmcut to
              remove everything except the text.  Finally, run it through pnmcrop  to  make  sure
              the  edges  are  right  up  against the text.  pbmtext can figure out the sizes and
              spacings from that.

       -space pixels
              Add pixels pixels of space between characters.  This is  in  addition  to  whatever
              space  surrounding  characters  is  built into the font, which is usually enough to
              produce a reasonable string of text.

              pixels may be negative to crowd text together, but the  author  has  not  put  much
              thought  or  testing  into how this works in every possible case, so it might cause
              disastrous results.

       -B -lspace pixels
              Add pixels pixels of space between lines. This is in  addition  to  whatever  space
              above  and  below  characters  is  built  into the font, which is usually enough to
              produce a reasonable line spacing.

              pixels must be a whole number.

              pixels may be negative to crowd lines together, but the author  has  not  put  much
              thought  or  testing  into how this works in every possible case, so it might cause
              disastrous results.

USAGE

       Often, you want to place text over another image.  One way to do this  is  with  ppmlabel.
       ppmlabel does not give you the font options that pbmtext does, though.

       Another  way is to use pbmtext to create an image containing the text, then use pnmcomp to
       overlay the text image onto your base image.  To make only the text (and  not  the  entire
       rectangle  containing  it) cover the base image, you will need to give pnmcomp a mask, via
       its -alpha option.  You can just use the text image itself as the mask,  as  long  as  you
       also specify the -invert option to pnmcomp.

       If  you  want  to  overlay colored text instead of black, just use ppmchange to change all
       black pixels to the color of your choice before overlaying the text image.  But still  use
       the original black and white image for the alpha mask.

       If  you want the text at an angle, use pnmrotate on the text image (and alpha mask) before
       overlaying.

SEE ALSO

       pnmcut(1), pnmcrop(1), pnmcomp(1), ppmchange(1), pnmrotate(1), pbmtextps(1),  ppmlabel(1),
       pbm(5)

AUTHOR

       Copyright (C) 1993 by Jef Poskanzer and George Phillips

                                         28 January 2001                               pbmtext(1)