etex
extended (plain) TeX
see also :
pdftex - tex - mf
Synopsis
etex
[options] [&format]
[file|\commands]
add an example, a script, a trick and tips
examples
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description
Run the e-TeX
typesetter on file, by default creating
file.dvi. If the file argument has no extension,
".tex" will be appended to it. Instead of a
filename, a set of e-TeX commands can be given, the first of
which must start with a backslash. With a
&format argument e-TeX uses a different
set of precompiled commands, contained in
format.fmt; it is usually better to use the
-fmt format option instead.
e-TeX is the
first concrete result of an international research &
development project, the NTS Project, which was established
under the aegis of DANTE e.V. during 1992. The aims of the
project are to perpetuate and develop the spirit and
philosophy of TeX, whilst respecting Knuth’s wish that
TeX should remain frozen.
e-TeX can be
used in two different modes: in compatibility mode it
is supposed to be completely interchangable with standard
TeX. In extended mode several new primitives are
added that facilitate (among other things) bidirectional
typesetting.
An extended
mode format is generated by prefixing the name of the source
file for the format with an asterisk (*).
e-TeX’s
handling of its command-line arguments is similar to that of
the other TeX programs in the web2c
implementation.
options
This version of
e-TeX understands the following command line options.
-fmt format
Use format as the name
of the format to be used, instead of the name by which e-TeX
was called or a %& line.
-enc
Enable the encTeX extensions. This option is only
effective in combination with -ini. For documentation
of the encTeX extensions see
http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.
-etex
Enable the e-TeX extensions. This option is only
effective in combination with -ini.
-file-line-error
Print error messages in the
form file:line:error which is similar 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.
-halt-on-error
Exit with an error code when an
error is encountered during processing.
-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 directory. Look up
input files in directory first, the along the normal
search path.
-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 security 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 placed 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 e-TeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename
you give directly to e-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, e-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 TEXMFOUTPUT.
There is no default value for that variable. For example, if you
say etex paper and the current directory is not writable,
if TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, e-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 generates files that need to be subsequently read;
for input, no suffixes (such as ’’.tex’’) are added by default,
the input name is simply checked as given.
TEXINPUTS
Search path for \input and \openin files. This
should 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 direcory
and ’’/home/user/tex’’ to the standard search path.
TEXFORMATS
Search path for format files.
TEXPOOL
search path for etex internal strings.
TEXEDIT
Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually
vi, is set when e-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.
etex.pool
Text file containing e-TeX’s internal strings.
texfonts.map
Filename mapping definitions.
*.tfm
Metric files for e-TeX’s fonts.
*.fmt
Predigested e-TeX format (.fmt) files.
notes
Starting with version 1.40, pdfTeX incorporates the e-TeX
extensions, so in this installation eTeX may be just a symbolic
link to pdfTeX. See pdftex(1). This manual page is not
meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for this
version of e-TeX can be found in the info manual Web2C: A TeX
implementation.
bugs
This version of
e-TeX implements a number of optional extensions. In fact,
many of these extensions conflict to a greater or lesser
extent with the definition of e-TeX. When such extensions
are enabled, the banner printed when e-TeX starts is changed
to print e-TeXk instead of e-TeX.
This version of
e-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
pdftex ,
tex , mf .
authors
e-TeX was
developed by Peter Breitenlohner and the NTS team; Peter
later continued its development outside of the team.
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.