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.