{
    "mode": "info",
    "parameter": "mf",
    "section": "",
    "url": "https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/info/mf/json",
    "generated": "2026-11-11T09:41:10Z",
    "sections": {
        "File: web2c.info,  Node: mf invocation,  Next: Initial Metafont,  Up: Metafont": {
            "content": "",
            "subsections": [
                {
                    "name": "6.1 'mf' invocation",
                    "content": ""
                }
            ]
        },
        "Metafont (usually invoked as 'mf') reads character definitions specified": {
            "content": "in the Metafont programming language, and outputs the corresponding\nfont.  This section merely describes the options available in the Web2c\nimplementation.  For a complete description of the Metafont language,\nsee 'The Metafontbook' (*note References::).\n\nMetafont processes its command line and determines its memory dump\n(base) file in a way exactly analogous to MetaPost and TeX (*note tex\ninvocation::, and *note Memory dumps::).  Synopses:\n\nmf [OPTION]... [MFNAME[.mf]] [MF-COMMANDS]\nmf [OPTION]... \\FIRST-LINE\nmf [OPTION]... &BASE ARGS\n\nMost commonly, a Metafont invocation looks like this:\nmf '\\mode:=MODE; mag:=MAGNIFICATION; input MFNAME'\n(The single quotes avoid unwanted interpretation by the shell.)\n\nMetafont searches the usual places for the main input file MFNAME\n(*note (kpathsea)Supported file formats::), extending MFNAME with '.mf'\nif necessary.  To see all the relevant paths, set the environment\nvariable 'KPATHSEADEBUG' to '-1' before running the program.  By\ndefault, Metafont runs an external program named 'mktexmf' to create any\nnonexistent Metafont source files you input.  You can disable this at\nconfigure-time or runtime (*note (kpathsea)mktex configuration::).  This\nis mostly for the sake of the EC fonts, which can be generated at any\nsize.\n\nMetafont writes the main GF output to the file 'BASEMFNAME.NNNgf',\nwhere NNN is the font resolution in pixels per inch, and BASEMFNAME is\nthe basename of MFNAME, or 'mfput' if no input file was specified.  A GF\nfile contains bitmaps of the actual character shapes.  Usually GF files\nare converted immediately to PK files with GFtoPK (*note gftopk\ninvocation::), since PK files contain equivalent information, but are\nmore compact.  (Metafont output in GF format rather than PK for only\nhistorical reasons.)\n\nMetafont also usually writes a metric file in TFM format to\n'BASEMFNAME.tfm'.  A TFM file contains character dimensions, kerns, and\nligatures, and spacing parameters.  TeX reads only this .tfm file, not\nthe GF file.\n\nThe MODE in the example command above is a name referring to a device\ndefinition (*note Modes::); for example, 'localfont' or 'ljfour'.  These\ndevice definitions must generally be precompiled into the base file.  If\nyou leave this out, the default is 'proof' mode, as stated in 'The",
            "subsections": []
        },
        "Metafontbook', in which Metafont outputs at a resolution of 2602dpi;": {
            "content": "this is usually not what you want.  The remedy is simply to assign a\ndifferent mode--'localfont', for example.\n\nThe MAGNIFICATION assignment in the example command above is a\nmagnification factor; for example, if the device is 600dpi and you\nspecify 'mag:=2', Metafont will produce output at 1200dpi.  Very often,\nthe MAGNIFICATION is an expression such as 'magstep(.5)', corresponding\nto a TeX \"magstep\", which are factors of 1.2 * sqrt(2).\n\nAfter running Metafont, you can use the font in a TeX document as\nusual.  For example:\n\\font\\myfont = newfont\n\\myfont Now I am typesetting in my new font (minimum hamburgers).\n\nThe program accepts the following options, as well as the standard\n'-help' and '-version' (*note Common options::):\n'-[no]-file-line-error'\n'-fmt=FMTNAME'\n'-halt-on-error'\n'-ini'\n'-interaction=STRING'\n'-jobname=STRING'\n'-kpathsea-debug=NUMBER'\n'-[no]parse-first-line'\n'-output-directory'\n'-progname=STRING'\n'-recorder'\n'-translate-file=TCXFILE'\n'-8bit'\nThese options are common to TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost.  *Note\nCommon options::.\n\n'-mktex=FILETYPE'\n'-no-mktex=FILETYPE'\nTurn on or off the 'mktex' script associated with FILETYPE.  The\nonly value that makes sense for FILETYPE is 'mf'.\n",
            "subsections": []
        }
    },
    "flags": [],
    "examples": [],
    "see_also": []
}