dvips

Many of the parameterless options listed here can be turned off by immediately suffixing the option with a zero; for instance, to turn off page reversal if it is turned on by default, use -r0. The options that can be turned off in this way are a, f, k, i, m, q, r, s, E, F, K, M, N, U, and Z.

This is a handy summary of the options; it is printed out when you run dvips with no arguments.

     This is dvipsk VERSION Copyright 1986, 1993 Radical Eye Software
          Usage: dvips [options] filename[.dvi]
      a*  Conserve memory, not time      y # Multiply by dvi magnification
      b # Page copies, for posters e.g.  A   Print only odd (TeX) pages
      c # Uncollated copies              B   Print only even (TeX) pages
      d # Debugging                      C # Collated copies
      e # Maxdrift value                 D # Resolution
      f*  Run as filter                  E*  Try to create EPSF
      h f Add header file                F*  Send control-D at end
      i*  Separate file per section      K*  Pull comments from inclusions
      k*  Print crop marks               M*  Don't make fonts
      l # Last page                      N*  No structured comments
      m*  Manual feed                    O c Set/change paper offset
      n # Maximum number of pages        P s Load config.$s
      o f Output file                    R   Run securely
      p # First page                     S # Max section size in pages
      q*  Run quietly                    T c Specify desired page size
      r*  Reverse order of pages         U*  Disable string param trick
      s*  Enclose output in save/restore V*  Send downloadable PS fonts as PK
      t s Paper format                   X # Horizontal resolution
      x # Override dvi magnification     Y # Vertical resolution
                                         Z*  Compress bitmap fonts
      pp #-# First-last page
          # = number   f = file   s = string  * = suffix, `0' to turn off
          c = comma-separated dimension pair (e.g., 3.2in,-32.1cm)

-f

Run as a filter. Read the `dvi' file from standard input and write the PostScript to standard output. The standard input must be seekable, so it cannot be a pipe. If you must use a pipe, write a shell script that copies the pipe output to a temporary file and then points dvips at this file. This option also disables the automatic reading of the PRINTER environment variable; use -P$PRINTER after the -f to read it anyway. It also turns off the automatic sending of control D if it was turned on with the -F option or in the configuration file; use -F after the -f to send it anyway.

-l num

The last page printed will be the first one numbered num. Default is the last page in the document. If the num is prefixed by an equals sign, then it (and any argument to the -p option) is treated as a sequence number, rather than a value to compare with count0 values. Thus, using -l=9 will end with the ninth page of the document, no matter what the pages are actually numbered.

-n num

At most num pages will be printed. Default is 100000.

-o name

The output will be sent to file name. If no file name is given, the default name is file.ps where the dvi file was called file.dvi; if this option isn't given, any default in the configuration file is used. If the first character of the supplied output file name is ! or |, then the remainder will be used as an argument to popen; thus, specifying |lpr as the output file will automatically queue the file for printing as usual. This option also disables the automatic reading of the PRINTER environment variable, and turns off the automatic sending of control D. See the -f option for how to override this.

-p num

The first page printed will be the first one numbered num. Default is the first page in the document. If the num is prefixed by an equals sign, then it (and any argument to the -l option) is treated as a sequence number, rather than a value to compare with count0 values. Thus, using -p=3 will start with the third page of the document, no matter what the pages are actually numbered.

-pp first-last

Print pages first through last; equivalent to -p first -l last. The - range separator can also be a :.

-r

Stack pages in reverse order. Normally, page 1 will be printed first.

-t papertype

This sets the paper type to papertype. The papertype should be defined in one of the configuration files, along with the appropriate code to select it. See the documentation for in the configuration file option descriptions. You can also specify -t landscape, which rotates a document by 90 degrees. To rotate a document whose size is not letter, you can use the -t option twice, once for the page size, and once for landscape. The upper left corner of each page in the dvi file is placed one inch from the left and one inch from the top. Use of this option is highly dependent on the configuration file. Note that executing the letter or a4 or other PostScript operators cause the document to be nonconforming and can cause it not to print on certain printers, so the default paper size should not execute such an operator if at all possible.

-D num

Set the resolution in dpi (dots per inch) to num. This affects the choice of bitmap fonts that are loaded and also the positioning of letters in resident PostScript fonts. Must be between 10 and 10000. This affects both the horizontal and vertical resolution.

Sezione di Firenze

Roberto Cecchini
Commenti a: cecchini@fi.infn.it

Revised: June 18, 1996
URL: http://www.fi.infn.it/pub/tex/doc/html/latex_49.html