TEX(1)                      General Commands Manual                     TEX(1)



NAME
       tex, virtex, initex - text formatting and typesetting

SYNOPSIS
       tex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]

DESCRIPTION
       Run the TeX typesetter on file, usually creating file.dvi.  If the file
       argument has no extension, ".tex" will be appended to it.  Instead of a
       filename,  a  set of TeX commands can be given, the first of which must
       start with a backslash.  With a &format argument TeX uses  a  different
       set  of  precompiled  commands,  contained in format.fmt; it is usually
       better to use the -fmt format option instead.

       TeX formats the interspersed text and commands contained in  the  named
       files  and  outputs a typesetter independent file (called DVI, which is
       short for DeVice Independent).  TeX's  capabilities  and  language  are
       described  in  The TeX book.  TeX is normally used with a large body of
       precompiled macros, and there are several specific formatting  systems,
       such as LaTeX, which require the support of several macro files.

       This  version  of TeX looks at its command line to see what name it was
       called under.  If they exist, then both initex and virtex are  symbolic
       links  to  the tex executable.  When called as initex (or when the -ini
       option is given) it can be used to precompile macros into a .fmt  file.
       When  called as virtex it will use the plain format.  When called under
       any other name, TeX will use that name as the name  of  the  format  to
       use.   For example, when called as tex the tex format is used, which is
       identical to the plain format.  The commands defined by the plain  for-
       mat  are  documented  in  The  TeX  book.  Other formats that are often
       available include latex and amstex.

       The non-option command line arguments to the TeX 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  TeX's  favorite symbols, like backslashes, unless you
       quote them.)  As described in The TeX  book,  that  first  line  should
       begin with a filename, a \controlsequence, or a &formatname.

       The normal usage is to say
       tex paper
       to start processing paper.tex.  The name paper will be the ``jobname'',
       and is used in forming output filenames.  If TeX doesn't get a filename
       in the first line, the jobname is texput.  When looking for a file, TeX
       looks for the name  with  and  without  the  default  extension  (.tex)
       appended, unless the name already contains that extension.  If paper is
       the ``jobname'', a log of error messages, with rather more detail  than
       normally  appears on the screen, will appear in paper.log, and the out-
       put file will be in paper.dvi.

       This version of TeX can look in the first line of the file paper.tex to
       see  if it begins with the magic sequence %&.  If the first line begins
       with %&format -translate-file tcxname then TeX will use the named  for-
       mat  and  translation table tcxname to process the source file.  Either
       the format name or the -translate-file specification  may  be  omitted,
       but not both.  This overrides the format selection based on the name by
       which the program is invoked.   The  -parse-first-line  option  or  the
       parse_first_line configuration variable controls whether this behaviour
       is enabled.

       The e response to TeX's error prompt causes the system  default  editor
       to  start  up at the current line of the current file.  The environment
       variable TEXEDIT can be used to change the editor used.  It may contain
       a string with "%s" indicating where the filename goes and "%d" indicat-
       ing where the decimal line  number  (if  any)  goes.   For  example,  a
       TEXEDIT string for emacs can be set with the sh command
       TEXEDIT="emacs +%d %s"; export TEXEDIT

       A convenient file in the library is null.tex, containing nothing.  When
       TeX can't find a file it thinks you want to input, it keeps asking  you
       for another filename; responding `null' gets you out of the loop if you
       don't want to input anything.  You can also  type  your  EOF  character
       (usually control-D).

OPTIONS
       This version of TeX understands the following command line options.

       -enc   Enable  the encTeX extensions.  This option is only effective in
              combination with -ini.  For documentation of the  encTeX  exten-
              sions see http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.

       -file-line-error
              Print  error messages in the form file:line:error which is simi-
              lar to the way many compilers format them.

       -no-file-line-error
              Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.

       -file-line-error-style
              This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.

       -fmt format
              Use format as the name of the format to be used, instead of  the
              name by which TeX was called or a %& line.

       -halt-on-error
              Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during pro-
              cessing.

       -help  Print help message and exit.

       -ini   Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats.  The INI  mode
              can  be  used  for  typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and
              basic initializations like setting catcodes may be required.

       -interaction mode
              Sets the interaction mode.  The mode can  be  either  batchmode,
              nonstopmode,  scrollmode,  and  errorstopmode.   The  meaning of
              these modes is the same as that of the corresponding \commands.

       -ipc   Send DVI output to a socket as well as the  usual  output  file.
              Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.

       -ipc-start
              As  -ipc,  and  starts  the  server  at  the  other end as well.
              Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.

       -jobname name
              Use name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the  name
              of the input file.

       -kpathsea-debug bitmask
              Sets  path  searching  debugging flags according to the bitmask.
              See the Kpathsea manual for details.

       -mktex fmt
              Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -mltex Enable MLTeX extensions.  Only  effective  in  combination  with
              -ini.

       -no-mktex fmt
              Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -output-comment string
              Use string for the DVI file comment instead of the date.

       -output-directory directory
              Write  output  files  in directory instead of the current direc-
              tory.  Look up input files in directory first,  then  along  the
              normal  search  path.   See  also description of the TEXMFOUTPUT
              environment variable.

       -parse-first-line
              If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it
              to look for a dump name or a -translate-file option.

       -no-parse-first-line
              Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.

       -progname name
              Pretend  to  be program name.  This affects both the format used
              and the search paths.

       -recorder
              Enable the filename recorder.  This leaves a trace of the  files
              opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.

       -shell-escape
              Enable  the \write18{command} construct.  The command can be any
              shell command.  This construct is normally disallowed for  secu-
              rity reasons.

       -no-shell-escape
              Disable  the  \write18{command} construct, even if it is enabled
              in the texmf.cnf file.

       -src-specials
              Insert source specials into the DVI file.

       -src-specials where
              Insert source specials in certain places of the DVI file.  where
              is  a  comma-separated value list: cr, display, hbox, math, par,
              parent, or vbox.

       -translate-file tcxname
              Use the tcxname translation table to set the  mapping  of  input
              characters and re-mapping of output characters.

       -default-translate-file tcxname
              Like  -translate-file  except  that  a %& line can overrule this
              setting.

       -version
              Print version information and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       See the Kpathsearch library documentation  (the  `Path  specifications'
       node)  for  precise  details of how the environment variables are used.
       The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the variables.

       One caveat: In most TeX formats, you cannot use ~  in  a  filename  you
       give  directly  to  TeX, because ~ is an active character, and hence is
       expanded, not taken as part of the filename.  Other programs,  such  as
       Metafont, do not have this problem.

       TEXMFOUTPUT
              Normally,  TeX  puts  its output files in the current directory.
              If any output file cannot be opened there, it tries to  open  it
              in the directory specified in the environment variable TEXMFOUT-
              PUT.  There is no default value for that variable.  For example,
              if  you say tex paper and the current directory is not writable,
              if TEXMFOUTPUT has  the  value  /tmp,  TeX  attempts  to  create
              /tmp/paper.log  (and /tmp/paper.dvi, if any output is produced.)
              TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input files, as TeX often gener-
              ates files that need to be subsequently read; for input, no suf-
              fixes (such as ``.tex'') are added by default, the input name is
              simply checked as given.

       TEXINPUTS
              Search  path  for \input and \openin files.  This probably start
              with ``.'', so that user files are found  before  system  files.
              An  empty path component will be replaced with the paths defined
              in  the  texmf.cnf  file.   For  example,   set   TEXINPUTS   to
              ".:/home/user/tex:"   to   prepend  the  current  directory  and
              ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.

       TEXFORMATS
              Search path for format files.

       TEXPOOL
              search path for tex internal strings.

       TEXEDIT
              Command template for switching to editor.  The default,  usually
              vi, is set when TeX is compiled.

       TFMFONTS
              Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.

FILES
       The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system.
       Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.

       texmf.cnf
              Configuration file.  This contains definitions of  search  paths
              as well as other configuration parameters like parse_first_line.

       tex.pool
              Text file containing TeX's internal strings.

       texfonts.map
              Filename mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for TeX's fonts.

       *.fmt  Predigested TeX format (.fmt) files.

       $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
              The basic macro package described in the TeX book.

NOTES
       This  manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documen-
       tation for this version of TeX can be found in the info manual Web2C: A
       TeX implementation.

BUGS
       This  version  of  TeX  implements a number of optional extensions.  In
       fact, many of these extensions conflict to a greater or  lesser  extent
       with the definition of TeX.  When such extensions are enabled, the ban-
       ner printed when TeX starts is changed to print TeXk instead of TeX.

       This version of TeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow  when  dimensions
       are added or subtracted.  Cases where this occurs are rare, but when it
       does the generated DVI file will be invalid.

SEE ALSO
       mf(1),
       Donald  E.  Knuth,   The   TeX   book,   Addison-Wesley,   1986,   ISBN
       0-201-13447-0.
       Leslie  Lamport, LaTeX - A Document Preparation System, Addison-Wesley,
       1985, ISBN 0-201-15790-X.
       K.       Berry,        Eplain:        Expanded        plain        TeX,
       ftp://ftp.cs.umb.edu/pub/tex/eplain/doc.
       Michael  Spivak,  The  Joy  of TeX , 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990,
       ISBN 0-8218-2997-1.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).

TRIVIA
       TeX, pronounced properly, rhymes with ``blecchhh.''  The proper  spell-
       ing in typewriter-like fonts is ``TeX'' and not ``TEX'' or ``tex.''

AUTHORS
       TeX  was  designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web
       system for Pascal programs.  It was  ported  to  Unix  at  Stanford  by
       Howard  Trickey,  and  at  Cornell  by  Pavel  Curtis.  The version now
       offered with the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the Web  to
       C system (web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.

       The encTeX extensions were written by Petr Olsak.



Web2C 2015/dev                   1 March 2011                           TEX(1)
