textps.1

Administration Guide : Command-line manual pages

TEXTPS(1) manual page
Name
textps - Text to PostScript translator
Synopsis
/usr/etc/appletalk/textps [options]
Description
The textps filter converts text to Postscript. It accepts ASCII text on standard input and sends PostScript language to standard output. The textps filter passes PostScript through without changing it.
The textps filter allows page layout specification, but does not cause the text within a page to be rearranged. Text extending beyond the maximum image area, however, is truncated. The output defaults to the Courier typeface.
K-Spool usually uses textps in the pipeline of the input filter of a printer, usually spooldir /psif-printername .
Options

Default page layout and rows/columns are overriden by entries from the /etc/printcap file (when the -printer option is given). The Imageable Area (which, by implication, resets the default margins) is read from SETUP.PPD in the current working directory. The following options will override those settings.

-col [e]n

Set the minimum number of columns per page to n. When used with the e option, the number of columns is set to (exactly) n. Defaults to a minimum of 80.

-l [e]n

Set the minimum number of lines per page to n. When used with the e option, the number of lines is set to (exactly) n. Defaults to a minimum of 66. This option is often passed from lpr, which gets it from the pl field in /etc/printcap.

-length n

Set the length of the physical page to n inches. Defaults to 8.5 inches.

-w[e] n

Sets the number of columns in the physical page to n. Defaults to 80. Often passed from lpr, which gets it from the pw field.

-width n

Set the width of the page to n inches. Defaults to 11 inches.

-m [tblr]n

Set all of the margins to n inches. When used with the t option, only the top margin is set to n. When used with the b option, only the bottom margin is set to n. When used with the l option, only the left margin is set to n. When used with the r option, only the right margin is set to n. Defaults to .25 inches for all margins.

-t n

Set tab stops to every n columns. Defaults to tab stops every 8 columns.

-p n

Set the number of pages printed on each piece of printer paper. Only the values 1 and 2 are accepted. Defaults to 1 page per printer page.

-i n

Set the indent level (left shift of printout) to n columns. Defaults to 0.

-W

Set wide margin width (this is .25 inches beyond the regular margin).

-c

Encapsulate the file, even if it is already PostScript. Normally, PostScript files are passed through unmodified. This allows printing of PostScript source. It is usually passed from lpr when the -l option is specified.

-d

Exclude the PostScript dictionary used by textps from the output stream.

-B

Print underlined text and overstrike characters in boldface.

-C

Print control characters in a readable format.

-I

Turn OFF using ISOLatin1Encoding in the postscript font.

-P

Print in portrait page layout. This is the default.

-L

Print in landscape page layout.

-n user

get the imageable area from the SETUP.PPD for the specified user.

-J jobname

Set the document Title in the PostScript header to jobname.

-V

Set verbose mode. Print information about the page format on standard error. Includes Postscript commands in the output stream to time the print job.

-printer name

Read page layout parameters from the /etc/printcap file entry for printer name. The parameters affected by this are: layout orientation, number of virtual pages per printed page, exact lines per virtual page, and exact columns per virtual page. Specifying this option only resets the default parameters, which will be overriden with other command line arguments.

-help

Print the list of options to standard error.

-f font-name

Set the name of the regular font typeface. Defaults to Courier. See CAVEATS, below.

-F font-name

Set the name of the Bold font typeface. Defaults to Courier-Bold. See CAVEATS, below.

Paper Sizes
If you are using paper other than letter, you will need to adjust the width and length options to correspond to the new size. The following table gives the values for some common types of paper.
letter    legal      A4 
width 8.5       8.5       8.25 
length   11.0      14.0      11.66 
 
Examples

To print the file 'somefile' with wide margins.
cat somefile | textps -W | lpr

To print the file 'somefile' on legal sized paper in landscape layout:

cat somefile | textps -w 8.5 -l 14.0 -m 0.75 -L | lpr

Diagnostics
Diagnostics and error conditions are sent to standard error.
Caveats
The textps filter only works with fixed width fonts. The -f and -F options will not function correctly when a non-fixed width font is specified. The existence of a font is not verified until the output is executed by a PostScript device. The font selection options are not listed by the - - option.
See Also
psf(8)