Name

Synopsis

Description

This program has the capability of showing the file shrunken by various (integer) factors, and also has a ``magnifying glass'' which allows one to see a small part of the unshrunk image momentarily.

Before displaying any page or part thereof, it checks to see if the dvi file has changed since the last time it was displayed. If this is the case, then xdvi will reinitialize itself for the new dvi file. For this reason, exposing parts of the xdvi window while TeX is running should be avoided. This feature allows you to preview many versions of the same file while running xdvi only once.

In addition to using keystrokes to move within the file, xdvi provides buttons on the right side of the window, which are synonymous with various sequences of keystrokes.

xdvi can show PostScript<tm> specials by any of three methods. It will try first to use Display PostScript<tm>, then NeWS, then it will try to use Ghostscript to render the images. All of these options depend on additional software to work properly; moreover, some of them may not be compiled into this copy of xdvi.

For performance reasons, xdvi does not render PostScript specials in the magnifying glass.

Options

+page

Specifies the first page to show. If + is given without a number, the last page is assumed; the first page is the default.

-allowshell

(.allowShell) This option enables the shell escape in PostScript specials. (For security reasons, shell escapes are usually disabled.) This option should be rarely used; in particular it should not be used just to uncompress files: that function is done automatically if the file name ends in .Z or .gz. Shell escapes are always turned off if the -safer option is used.

-altfont font

(.altFont) Declares a default font to use when the font in the dvi file cannot be found. This is useful, for example, with PostScript <tm> fonts.

-background color

(.background) Determines the color of the background. Same as -bg.

-bd color

(.borderColor) Determines the color of the window border.

-bg color

(.background) Determines the color of the background.

-bordercolor color

Same as -bd.

-borderwidth width

(.borderWidth) Specifies the width of the border of the window. Same as -bw.

-bw width

(.borderWidth) Specifies the width of the border of the window.

-copy

(.copy) Always use the copy operation when writing characters to the display. This option may be necessary for correct operation on a color display, but overstrike characters will be incorrect. If greyscale anti-aliasing is in use, the -copy operation will disable the use of colorplanes and make overstrikes come out incorrectly. See also -thorough.

-cr color

(.cursorColor) Determines the color of the cursor. The default is the color of the page border.

-debug bitmask

(.debugLevel) If nonzero, prints additional debugging information on standard output. The bitmask should be given as a decimal number. The values of the bits are defined in the source file xdvi.h.

-density density

(.densityPercent) Determines the density used when shrinking bitmaps for fonts. A higher value produces a lighter font. The default value is 40. Same as -S.

-display host:display

Specifies the host and screen to be used for displaying the dvi file. By default this is obtained from the environment variable DISPLAY.

-expert

(.expert) Prevent the buttons from appearing. See also the `x' keystroke.

-fg color

(.foreground) Determines the color of the text (foreground).

-foreground color

Same as -fg.

-font font

(*font) Sets the font for use in the buttons.

-gamma gamma

(.gamma) Controls the interpolation of colors in the greyscale anti-aliasing color palette. Default value is 1.0. For 0 < gamma < 1, the fonts will be lighter (more like the background), and for gamma > 1, the fonts will be darker (more like the foreground). Negative values behave the same way, but use a slightly different algorithm.

-geometry geometry

(*geometry) Specifies the initial geometry of the window.

-gspalette palette

(.palette) Specifies the palette to be used when using Ghostscript for rendering PostScript specials. Possible values are Color, Greyscale, and Monochrome. The default is Color.

-hl color

(.highlight) Determines the color of the page border. The default is the foreground color.

-hush

(.Hush) Causes xdvi to suppress all suppressible warnings.

-hushchars

(.hushLostChars) Causes xdvi to suppress warnings about references to characters which are not defined in the font.

-hushchecksums

(.hushChecksums) Causes xdvi to suppress warnings about checksum mismatches between the dvi file and the font file.

-hushspecials

(.hushSpecials) Causes xdvi to suppress warnings about \special strings that it cannot process.

-icongeometry geometry

(.iconGeometry) Specifies the initial position for the icon.

-iconic

(.iconic) Causes the xdvi window to start in the iconic state. The default is to start with the window open.

-interpreter filename

(.interpreter) Use filename as the Ghostscript interpreter. By default it uses gs.

-keep

(.keepPosition) Sets a flag to indicate that xdvi should not move to the home position when moving to a new page. See also the `k' keystroke.

-l

(.listFonts) Causes the names of the fonts used to be listed.

-margins dimen

(.Margin) Specifies the size of both the top margin and side margin. This should be a decimal number optionally followed by ``cm'', e.g., 1.5 or 3cm, giving a measurement in inches or centimeters. It determines the ``home'' position of the page within the window as follows. If the entire page fits in the window, then the margin settings are ignored. If, even after removing the margins from the left, right, top, and bottom, the page still cannot fit in the window, then the page is put in the window such that the top and left margins are hidden, and presumably the upper left-hand corner of the text on the page will be in the upper left-hand corner of the window. Otherwise, the text is centered in the window. See also -sidemargin, -topmargin, and the keystroke `M.'

-mfmode mode-def

(.mfMode) Specifies a mode-def string, which can be used in searching for fonts (see ENVIRONMENT, below). It is also passed to metafont during automatic creation of fonts.

-mgs size

Same as -mgs1.

-mgs[n] size

(.magnifierSize[n]) Specifies the size of the window to be used for the ``magnifying glass'' for Button n. The size may be given as an integer (indicating that the magnifying glass is to be square), or it may be given in the form widthxheight. See the MOUSE ACTIONS section. Defaults are 200x150, 400x250, 700x500, 1000x800, and 1200x1200.

-noghostscript

(.ghostscript) Inhibits the use of Ghostscript for displaying PostScript<tm> specials. (For this option, the logic of the corresponding resource is reversed: -noghostscript corresponds to ghostscript:off; +noghostscript to ghostscript:on.)

-nogrey

(.grey) Turns off the use of greyscale anti-aliasing when printing shrunken bitmaps. (For this option, the logic of the corresponding resource is reversed: -nogrey corresponds to grey:off; +nogrey to grey:on.) See also the `G' keystroke.

-nogssafer

(.gsSafer) Normally, if Ghostscript is used to render PostScript specials, the Ghostscript interpreter is run with the option -dSAFER. The -nogssafer option runs Ghostscript without -dSAFER. The -dSAFER option in Ghostscript disables PostScript operators such as deletefile, to prevent possibly malicious PostScript programs from having any effect. If the -safer option is specified, then this option has no effect; in that case Ghostscript is always run with -dSAFER. (For the -nogssafer option, the logic of the corresponding resource is reversed: -nogssafer corresponds to gsSafer:off; +nogssafer to gsSafer:on.)

-nomakepk

(.makePk) Turns off automatic generation of font files that cannot be found by other means. (For this option, the logic of the corresponding resource is reversed: -nomakepk corresponds to makePk:off; +nomakepk to makePK:on.)

-nopostscript

(.postscript) Turns off rendering of PostScript<tm> specials. Bounding boxes, if known, will be displayed instead. This option can also be toggled with the `v' keystroke. (For this option, the logic of the corresponding resource is reversed: -nopostscript corresponds to postscript:off; +postscript to postscript:on.)

-noscan

(.prescan) Normally, when PostScript<tm> is turned on, xdvi will do a preliminary scan of the dvi file, in order to send any necessary header files before sending the PostScript code that requires them. This option turns off such prescanning. (It will be automatically be turned back on if xdvi detects any specials that require headers.) (For the -noscan option, the logic of the corresponding resource is reversed: -noscan corresponds to prescan:off; +noscan to prescan:on.)

-offsets dimen

(.Offset) Specifies the size of both the horizontal and vertical offsets of the output on the page. This should be a decimal number optionally followed by ``cm'', e.g., 1.5 or 3cm, giving a measurement in inches or centimeters. By decree of the Stanford TeX Project, the default TeX page origin is always 1 inch over and down from the top-left page corner, even when non-American paper sizes are used. Therefore, the default offsets are 1.0 inch. See also -xoffset and -yoffset.

-p pixels

(.pixelsPerInch) Defines the size of the fonts to use, in pixels per inch. The default value is 300.

-paper papertype

(.paper) Specifies the size of the printed page. This may be of the form widthxheight (or widthxheightcm), where width is the width in inches (or cm) and height is the height in inches (or cm), respectively. There are also synonyms which may be used: us (8.5x11), usr (11x8.5), legal (8.5x14), foolscap (13.5x17), as well as the ISO sizes a1-a7, b1-b7, c1-c7, a1r-a7r (a1-a7 rotated), etc. The default size is 8.5 x 11 inches.

-rv

(.reverseVideo) Causes the page to be displayed with white characters on a black background, instead of vice versa.

-s shrink

(.shrinkFactor) Defines the initial shrink factor. The default value is 3.

-S density

(.densityPercent) Determines the density used when shrinking bitmaps for fonts. A higher value produces a lighter font. The default value is 40. Same as -density.

-safer

(.safer) This option turns on all available security options; it is designed for use when xdvi is called by a browser that obtains a dvi or TeX file from another site. In the present case, this option selects +nogssafer and +allowshell.

-sidemargin dimen

(.sideMargin) Specifies the side margin (see -margins).

-thorough

(.thorough) xdvi will usually try to ensure that overstrike characters (e.g., \notin) are printed correctly. On monochrome displays, this is always possible with one logical operation, either and or or. On color displays, however, this may take two operations, one to set the appropriate bits and one to clear other bits. If this is the case, then by default xdvi will instead use the copy operation, which does not handle overstriking correctly. The -thorough option chooses the slower but more correct choice. See also -copy.

-topmargin dimen

(.topMargin) Specifies the top and bottom margins (see -margins).

-version

Print information on the version of xdvi.

-xoffset dimen

(.xOffset) Specifies the size of the horizontal offset of the output on the page. See -offsets.

-yoffset dimen

(.yOffset) Specifies the size of the vertical offset of the output on the page. See -offsets.

Keystrokes

q

Quits the program. Control-C and control-D will do this, too.

n

Moves to the next page (or to the nth next page if a number is given). Synonyms are `f', Space, Return, and Line Feed.

p

Moves to the previous page (or back n pages). Synonyms are `b', control-H, and Delete.

g

Moves to the page with the given number. Initially, the first page is assumed to be page number 1, but this can be changed with the `P' keystroke, below. If no page number is given, then it goes to the last page.

P

``This is page number n.'' This can be used to make the `g' keystroke refer to actual page numbers instead of absolute page numbers.

Control-L

Redisplays the current page.

^

Move to the ``home'' position of the page. This is normally the upper left-hand corner of the page, depending on the margins as described in the -margins option, above.

u

Moves up two thirds of a window-full.

d

Moves down two thirds of a window-full.

l

Moves left two thirds of a window-full.

r

Moves right two thirds of a window-full.

c

Moves the page so that the point currently beneath the cursor is moved to the middle of the window. It also (gasp!) warps the cursor to the same place.

M

Sets the margins so that the point currently under the cursor is the upper left-hand corner of the text in the page. Note that this command itself does not move the image at all. For details on how the margins are used, see the -margins option.

s

Changes the shrink factor to the given number. If no number is given, the smallest factor that makes the entire page fit in the window will be used. (Margins are ignored in this computation.)

S

Sets the density factor to be used when shrinking bitmaps. This should be a number between 0 and 100; higher numbers produce lighter characters. If greyscaling mode is in effect, this changes the value of gamma instead. The new value of gamma is the given number divided by 100; negative values are allowed.

R

Forces the dvi file to be reread. This allows you to preview many versions of the same file while running xdvi only once.

k

Normally when xdvi switches pages, it moves to the home position as well. The `k' keystroke toggles a `keep-position' flag which, when set, will keep the same position when moving between pages. Also `0k' and `1k' clear and set this flag, respectively. See also the -keep option.

x

Toggles expert mode (in which the buttons do not appear). Also `0x' and `1x' clear and reset this mode, respectively. See also the -expert option.

G

This key toggles the use of greyscale anti-aliasing for displaying shrunken bitmaps. In addition, the key sequences `0G' and `1G' clear and set this flag, respectively. See also the -nogrey option.

v

This key toggles the rendering of PostScript<tm> specials. If rendering is turned off, then bounding boxes are displayed when available. In addition the key sequences `0v' and `1v' clear and set this flag, respectively. See also the -nopostscript option.

Mouse Actions

Also, the scrollbars (if present) behave in the standard way: pushing Button 2 in a scrollbar moves the top or left edge of the scrollbar to that point and optionally drags it; pushing Button 1 moves the image up or right by an amount equal to the distance from the button press to the upper left-hand corner of the window; pushing Button 3 moves the image down or left by the same amount.

Environment

The environment variable XDVIFONTS determines the path(s) searched for fonts in the following manner. The string consists of one or more strings separated by colons. In each such string, the substring %f is changed to the font name; %d is changed to the magnification; and %p is changed to the font file format (``pk'' or ``gf''). If no %f appears in the string, then the string ``/%f.%d%p'' is added on the end. For example, if the string is ``/usr/local/tex/fonts'' and the font is cmr10 at 300 dots per inch, then it searches for /usr/local/tex/fonts/cmr10.300pk and /usr/local/tex/fonts/cmr10.300gf, in that order. An extra colon anywhere in XDVIFONTS causes the system default paths to be tried at that point. If the font is not found in the desired size, then xdvi will invoke Metafont to create the font in the correct size. Failing that, it will try to find the nearest size. If the font cannot be found at all, then xdvi will try to vary the point size of the font (within a certain range), and if this fails, then it will use the font specified as the alternate font (cf. -altfont).

In addition, a %F specifier is available; it is a synonym for %f, but it does not inhibit putting the string ``/%f.%d%p'' at the end. A %b specifier is available; it is converted to the current resolution being used (i.e., the value of the -p parameter or the .pixelsperinch resource). And finally, the string %m will be changed to the mode-def specified in the -mfmode argument or the .mfMode resource.

For compatibility with TeX, you may also use TEXFONTS in place of XDVIFONTS, although in that case the variable should not include any ``%'' specifiers. The reason for recognizing TEXFONTS is that certain versions of TeX also support the convention regarding an extra colon in the font path; therefore, users who create their own fonts can put both their .tfm and raster files in the same directory and do ``setenv TEXFONTS :MFdir'' or ``setenv TEXFONTS MFdir:'' in order to get both TeX and xdvi to search their directory in addition to the system standard directories. The XDVIFONTS variable overrides the TEXFONTS variable, so that on those sites where TEXFONTS must be set explicitly, and therefore this feature is not useful, the XDVIFONTS variable may be set to an empty string (i.e., ``setenv XDVIFONTS'') to cause xdvi to ignore TEXFONTS.

xdvi also recognizes the PKFONTS and TEXPKS variables, which are checked after XDVIFONTS but before TEXFONTS.

The script used to create fonts may be controlled by the environment variable XDVIMAKEPK. Usually this variable would be set to the name of the script. In that case the script is called with the following options: (1) the font name, (2) the requested resolution in dots per inch, (3) the base resolution in dots per inch, and (4) a (possibly more accurate) indication of the magnification using magsteps (if possible). Optionally, the variable may include specifiers ``%n,'' ``%d,'' ``%b,'' and ``%m'' to indicate each of the above arguments, respectively. It is possible to specify the mode-def that Metafont is to use when creating the fonts. This is specified by the -mfmode argument on the command line, or the mfMode resource. If a ``%o'' specifier appears in the XDVIMAKEPK string, it will be changed to the given mode-def name, or to the string default if no mode-def was given. If no ``%o'' specifier appears and a mode-def was given, then the mode will be appended to the end of the string. This is compatible with the font creation mechanism used in dvips(1) . By default, XDVIMAKEPK equals MakeTeXPK.

The XDVISIZES variable may be set to indicate which sizes of fonts are available. It should consist of a list of numbers separated by colons. If the list begins with a colon, the system default sizes are used, as well. Sizes are expressed in dots per inch and must be integers. The current default set of sizes is 300 : 329 : 360 : 432 : 518 : 622 : 746. xdvi will also try the actual size of the font before trying any of the given sizes.

Virtual fonts are also supported, although xdvi does not have any built-in fonts to which they can refer. The search path for .vf files can be specified with the environment variable XDVIVFS in a similar manner to that for the XDVIFONTS variable. xdvi will also check the VFFONTS variable if the XDVIFONTS variable is not set. Virtual fonts are searched for immediately after looking for the font as a normal font in the exact size specified.

The XDVIFIGS and XDVIHEADERS variables determine the search strategy for PostScript figure files and header files, respectively. First xdvi will look in the directory containing the dvi file. If no file is found, then it will look in the directories given by the XDVIFIGS or XDVIHEADERS environment variable, for PostScript figure files and header files, respectively. These variables should contain lists of directories separated by colons. As usual, an extra colon anywhere in either of these paths causes the default compiled-in list to be checked at that point in the path list. Customarily, XDVIFIGS will be the same as the TeX input directory. If XDVIFIGS or XDVIHEADERS is not set, then xdvi will also check the TEXINPUTS or HEADERPATH environment variables; this is for compatibility with dvips(1) .

There are two exceptions to the above strategy. First, if the file name begins with a slash (/), then the file name is treated as an absolute path, and is searched for as given, without using the above strategy. Or, if the file name begins with a backtick (`), then the following characters give a shell command (often zcat) which is executed; its standard output is then sent to be interpreted as PostScript. Note that there is some potential for security problems here; see the -allowshell command-line option. It is better to use compressed files directly (see below).

If a file name is given (as opposed to a shell command), if that file name ends in .Z or .gz, and if the first two bytes of the file indicate that it was compressed with compress(1) or gzip(1) , respectively, then the file is first uncompressed with uncompress -c or gunzip -c, respectively. This is preferred over using a backtick to call the command directly, since you do not have to specify -allowshell and since it allows for path searching.

Limitations

LaTeX2e color and rotation specials are not currently supported.

Files

/usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/pk

/usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/pk

/tmp/pk

Font pixel files.

/usr/local/share/texmf/fonts/vf

Virtual font files.

/usr/local/tex/inputs

Directories containing PostScript figures.

/usr/local/tex/ps

Directories containing PostScript header files.

See Also

Authors

Table of Contents

• Name
• Synopsis
• Description
• Options
• Keystrokes
• Mouse Actions
• Environment
• Limitations
• Files
• See Also
• Authors