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.TH TEX 1 "23 January 1994"
.\"=====================================================================
.if n .ds MF Metafont
.if t .ds MF M\s-2ETAFONT\s0
.if t .ds TX \fRT\\h'-0.1667m'\\v'0.20v'E\\v'-0.20v'\\h'-0.125m'X\fP
.if n .ds TX TeX
.ie t .ds OX \fIT\v'+0.25m'E\v'-0.25m'X\fP\" for troff
.el .ds OX TeX\" for nroff
.\" the same but obliqued
.\" BX definition must follow TX so BX can use TX
.if t .ds BX \fRB\s-2IB\s0\fP\*(TX
.if n .ds BX BibTeX
.\" LX definition must follow TX so LX can use TX
.if t .ds LX \fRL\\h'-0.36m'\\v'-0.15v'\s-2A\s0\\h'-0.15m'\\v'0.15v'\fP\*(TX
.if n .ds LX LaTeX
.if n .ds WB Web
.if t .ds WB W\s-2EB\s0
.\"=====================================================================
.SH NAME
tex, virtex \- text formatting and typesetting
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B tex
[ first line ]
.PP
.B virtex
[ first line ]
.\"=====================================================================
.SH DESCRIPTION
\*(TX
formats the interspersed text and commands contained in the named
files
and outputs a typesetter independent file (called
.IR DVI ,
which is short for
.IR "DeVice Independent" ).
\*(TX
capabilities and language are described in
.IR "The \*(OXbook" .
.PP
\*(TX
is normally used with a large body of precompiled macros,
and there are several specific formatting systems, such as
\*(LX,
which require the support of several macro files. The basic
programs as compiled are called
.B initex
and
.BR virtex ,
and are distinguished by the fact that
.B initex
can be used to precompile macros into a
.I .fmt
file,
which is used by
.IR virtex .
On the other hand,
.B virtex
starts more quickly and can read a precompiled
.I .fmt
file, but it cannot create one. It is the version of
\*(TX
which is usually invoked in production, as opposed to installation.
.PP
Any arguments given on the command line to the
\*(TX
programs are passed to them 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 \*(TX's favorite symbols, like backslashes,
unless you quote them.)
As described in
.IR "The \*(OXbook" ,
that first line should begin with a filename
or a \\controlsequence.
The normal usage is to say
.RS
.I tex paper
.RE
to start processing
.I paper.tex.
The name
.I paper
will be the ``jobname'', and is used in forming
output filenames.
If \*(TX doesn't get a filename in the first line, the jobname is
.IR texput .
The default extension,
.IR .tex ,
can be overridden by specifying an extension explicitly.
.PP
If there is no
.I paper.tex
in the current directory, \*(TX will
look through a search path of directories to try to find it.
If
.I paper
is the ``jobname'',
a log of error messages, with rather more detail than
normally appears on the screen, will appear in
.I paper.log,
and the output file will be in
.I paper.dvi.
The system library directory
.I "@TEXINPUTDIR@"
contains the basic macro package
.I plain.tex,
described in
.IR "The \*(OXbook" ,
as well as several others.
Except when
.I .fmt
files are being prepared
it is unnecessary to
.IR "\einput plain" ,
since almost all instances of \*(TX begin by loading
.IR plain.fmt .
This means that all of the control sequences discussed in
.I "The \*(OXbook"
are known when you invoke
.BR tex .
For a discussion of
.I .fmt
files, see below.
.PP
The
.I e
response to \*(TX'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 can contain a string with "%s" indicating where the
filename goes and "%d" indicating where the decimal line number (if any) goes.
For example, a TEXEDIT string for
.B vi
can be set with the
.B csh
command
.RS
\fIsetenv TEXEDIT "/usr/ucb/vi +%d %s"\fP
.RE
A convenient file in the library is
.IR null.tex ,
containing nothing.
When \*(TX 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).
.PP
The
.B initex
and
.BR virtex
programs
can be used to create fast-loading versions of \*(TX
based on macro source files.
The
.B initex
program is used to create a
.I "format (.\|fmt)"
file that permits fast loading of fonts and macro packages.
After processing the fonts and definitions desired, a
.I \edump
command will create the format file.
The format file is used by
.BR virtex .
It needs to be given a format filename as the first thing it reads.
A format filename is preceded by an &, which needs to be escaped with
\\\|, or quoted, to prevent misinterpretation by the Unix shell
if given on the command line.
.PP
Fortunately, it is no longer necessary to make explicit references
to the format file. The present version of \*(TX, when compiled
from this distribution, looks at its own command line to determine
what name it was called under. It then uses that name, with the
.I .\|fmt
suffix appended, to search for the appropriate format file.
During installation, one format file with the name
.I tex.fmt,
with only the
.I plain.tex
macros defined, should have been created.
This will be your format file when
you invoke
.B virtex
with the name
.BR tex .
You can also create a file
.I mytex.fmt
using
.BR initex ,
so that this will be loaded when you invoke
.B virtex
with the name
.BR mytex .
To make the whole thing work, it is necessary to link
.B virtex
to all
the names of format files that you have prepared. Hard links will do
for system-wide equivalences and Unix systems which do
not use symbolic links. Symbolic links can be used for access
to formats for individual projects. For example:
.B virtex
can be hard linked to
.B tex
in the
general system directory for executable programs, but
an individual version of \*(TX will more likely be
linked to a private version by a symbolic link:
.RS
.I "ln \-s @BINDIR@/virtex $HOME/bin/mytex"
.RE
.PP
Another approach is to
set up an alias using, for example,
.BR csh (1):
.RS
.I "alias mytex virtex \e&myfmt"
.RE
Besides being more cumbersome, however, this approach is
not available to systems which do not accept aliases.
Finally, there is a program known as
.BR undump (1)
which takes the headers from an
.I a.out
file (e.g.,
.BR virtex )
and applies them to a core image which has been dumped
by the Unix quit signal. This is very system-dependent,
and produces extremely large files when used with a large-memory
version of \*(TX. This can produce executables which load faster, but
the executables also consume more disk space.
.PP
When looking for a font
.IR f ,
\*(TX (and its companion programs) first look for a file starting with
.I f
in the various font directories (see the next section). If no such file
is found, it then looks for a file
.I texfonts.map
in each of the font directories in turn. Each non-blank non-comment
line of
.I texfonts.map
specifies mappings from one name to another. (Comments start with % and
continue to the end of the line.) The target name is the first word
(words are separated by spaces or tabs) and the source name is the
second. (Subsequent words are ignored, so that information intended for
other programs can be given there.) Thus, going back to
.I f
for a moment, if \*(TX reads a
.I texfonts.map
entry that looks like
.I g f
it will then search for a font file starting with
.IR g .
.\"=====================================================================
.SH ENVIRONMENT
See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications'
node) for precise details of how the environment variables are used.
.PP
One caveat: In most \*(TX formats, you cannot use ~ in a
filename you give directly to \*(TX, because ~ is an active character,
and hence is expanded, not taken as part of the filename. Other
programs, such as \*(MF, do not have this problem.
.PP
All the programs in the
.B web2c
distribution (as well as some others) use this same search method.
.PP
Normally, \*(TX 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
.I tex paper
and the current directory is not writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has
the value
.IR /tmp ,
\*(TX attempts to create
.I /tmp/paper.log
(and
.IR /tmp/paper.dvi ,
if any output is produced.)
.TP \w'USE_MAKETEXTEX'u+2n
TEXINPUTS
Search path for
.I \einput
and
.I \eopenin
files.
This should probably start with ``.'', so
that user files are found before system files.
Default:
.I @DEFAULT_TEX_PATH@
.TP
TEXFONTS
Search path for font metric
.RI ( .tfm )
files.
Default:
.I @DEFAULT_TFM_PATH@
.TP
TEXFORMATS
Search path for format files. Default:
.I @DEFAULT_FMT_PATH@
.TP
TEXPOOL
search path for
.B initex
internal strings. Default:
.I @DEFAULT_TEXPOOL_PATH@
.TP
TEXEDIT
Command template for switching to editor. Default:
.I "@EDITOR@"
.TP
MAKETEXTEX
Arguments to pass to the
.I MakeTeXTeX
script before the filename to create. None by default. (If set, also
implies invoking
.IR MakeTeXTeX .)
.TP
USE_MAKETEXTEX
If set, a program
.I MakeTeXTeX
is invoked when \*(TX cannot find an input file (before it complains
about ``can't find file''). If neither MAKETEXTEX nor USE_MAKETEXTEX are
set, whether
.I MakeTeXTeX
is invoked is the choice of installer.
.TP
MAKETEXTFM
Analogous.
.TP
USE_MAKETEXTFM
Analogous.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH FILES
.TP \w'@TEXMF@'u+2n
.I @TEXPOOLDIR@/tex.pool
Encoded text of \*(TX's messages.
.TP
.I @FONTDIR@/texfonts.map
Filename mapping definitions.
.TP
.I @FONTDIR@//*.tfm
Metric files for \*(TX's fonts.
.TP
.I @FONTDIR@//*.\fInnn\fP{gf,pk}
Character bitmaps for various devices. These files are not used by \*(TX.
.TP
.I @FMTDIR@/*.fmt
Predigest \*(TX format (.\|fmt) files.
.TP
.I @plain@
The basic macro package described in the \*(OXbook.
.br
.\"=====================================================================
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR mf (1),
.BR undump (1),
.br
Donald E. Knuth,
.IR "The \*(OXbook" ,
Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13447-0.
.br
Leslie Lamport,
.IR "\*(LX \- A Document Preparation System" ,
Addison-Wesley, 1985, ISBN 0-201-15790-X.
.br
Michael Spivak,
.IR "The Joy of \*(OX" ,
2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-8218-2997-1.
.br
.I TUGboat
(the journal of the \*(TX Users Group).
.\"=====================================================================
.SH TRIVIA
\*(TX, pronounced properly, rhymes with ``blecchhh.'' The proper
spelling in typewriter-like fonts is ``TeX'' and not ``TEX'' or ``tex.''
.\"=====================================================================
.SH AUTHORS
\*(TX was designed by Donald E. Knuth,
who implemented it using his \*(WB 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 \*(TX distribution is that
generated by the \*(WB to C system
.RB ( web2c ),
originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.
These are the contents of the former NiCE NeXT User Group NeXTSTEP/OpenStep software archive, currently hosted by Netfuture.ch.