xenial (1) pic2graph.1.gz

NAME

       pic2graph - convert a PIC diagram into a cropped image

SYNOPSIS

       pic2graph [ -unsafe ] [ -format fmt ] [ -eqn delim ]

DESCRIPTION

       Reads  a  PIC  program  as input; produces an image file (by default in Portable Network Graphics format)
       suitable for the Web as output.  Also translates eqn(1) constructs, so it  can  be  used  for  generating
       images of mathematical formulae.

       PIC  is  a  rather  expressive graphics minilanguage suitable for producing box-and-arrow diagrams of the
       kind frequently used in technical papers and textbooks.  The language  is  sufficiently  flexible  to  be
       quite  useful  for  state  charts,  Petri-net  diagrams,  flow  charts, simple circuit schematics, jumper
       layouts, and other kinds of illustration involving repetitive uses of simple geometric forms and splines.
       Because PIC descriptions are procedural and object-based, they are both compact and easy to modify.

       The  PIC  language  is  fully documented in Making Pictures With GNU PIC, a document which is part of the
       groff(1) distribution.

       Your input PIC code should not be wrapped with the .PS and .PE  macros  that  normally  guard  it  within
       groff(1) macros.

       The  output  image  will  be  clipped  to  the smallest possible bounding box that contains all the black
       pixels.  Older versions of convert(1) will produce a black-on-white graphic; newer  ones  may  produce  a
       black-on-transparent graphic.  By specifying command-line options to be passed to convert(1) you can give
       it a border, force the background transparent, set the image's pixel density,  or  perform  other  useful
       transformations.

       This  program  uses  pic(1),  eqn(1),  groff(1),  gs(1),  and  the ImageMagick convert(1) program.  These
       programs must be installed on your system and accessible on your $PATH for pic2graph to work.

OPTIONS

       -unsafe
              Run pic(1) and groff(1) in the ‘unsafe’ mode enabling  the  PIC  macro  sh  to  execute  arbitrary
              commands.  The default is to forbid this.

       -format fmt
              Specify  an  output  format;  the  default  is  PNG  (Portable Network Graphics).  Any format that
              convert(1) can emit is supported.

       -eqn delim
              Change the fencepost characters that delimit eqn(1) directives ($ and $, by default).  This option
              requires an argument, but an empty string is accepted as a directive to disable eqn(1) processing.

       Command-line switches and arguments not listed above are passed to convert(1).

FILES

       /usr/share/groff/1.22.3/tmac/eqnrc  The eqn(1) initialization file.

ENVIRONMENT

       GROFF_TMPDIR
              The directory in which temporary files will be created.  If this is not set pic2graph searches the
              environment variables TMPDIR, TMP, and TEMP (in that order).  Otherwise, temporary files  will  be
              created in /tmp.

BUGS

       Due to changes in the behavior of ImageMagick convert(1) that are both forward and backward-incompatible,
       mismatches between your pic2graph and convert(1) versions may  produce  zero-sized  or  untrimmed  output
       images.   For  this  version  of  pic2graph you will need a version of convert(1) that supports the -trim
       option; older versions of pic2graph used -crop 0x0, which no longer has trimming behavior.

SEE ALSO

       eqn2graph(1), grap2graph(1), pic(1), eqn(1), groff(1), gs(1), convert(1).

COPYING

       This documentation is released to the public domain.

AUTHORS

       ⟨⟩esr@thyrsus.com Eric S. Raymond ⟨⟩, based on a recipe by W. Richard Stevens.