# phpman > man > ALEPH(1) [ALEPH(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ALEPH/1/markdown) General Commands Manual [ALEPH(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ALEPH/1/markdown) ## NAME aleph - extended Unicode TeX ## SYNOPSIS **aleph** [_options_] [**&**_format_] [_file_|**\**_commands_] ## DESCRIPTION Run the Aleph typesetter on _file_, usually creating _file.dvi_. If the file argument has no ex‐ tension, ".tex" will be appended to it. Instead of a filename, a set of Aleph commands can be given, the first of which must start with a backslash. With a **&**_format_ argument Aleph uses a different set of precompiled commands, contained in _format_**.fmt**; it is usually better to use the **-fmt** _format_ option instead. Aleph is a version of the TeX program modified for multilingual typesetting. It uses Uni‐ code, and has additional primitives for (among other things) bidirectional typesetting. Aleph's command line options are similar to those of TeX. Aleph is no longer being actively developed; see LuaTeX for current activity. ## OPTIONS Run aleph --help to see the complete list of options; this is not exhaustive. ### -cnf-line Parse _string_ as a _texmf.cnf_ configuration line. See the Kpathsea manual. **--fmt** _format_ Use _format_ as the name of the format to be used, instead of the name by which Aleph was called or a _%&_ line. ### --halt-on-error Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during processing. **--help** Print help message and exit. **--ini** Be `initial' Aleph for dumping formats; this is implicitly true if the program is called as **inialeph**. **--interaction** _mode_ Sets the interaction mode. The mode can be one of _batchmode_, _nonstopmode_, _scrollmode_, and _errorstopmode_. The meaning of these modes is the same as that of the correspond‐ ing \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. **--kpathsea-debug** _bitmask_ Sets path searching debugging flags according to the bitmask. See the _Kpathsea_ manual for details. **--maketex** _fmt_ Enable mktex_fmt_, where _fmt_ must be one of _tex_ or _tfm_. **--no-maketex** _fmt_ Disable mktex_fmt_, where _fmt_ must be one of _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. **--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 _.ofl_. (This option is always on.) ### --shell-escape Enable the **\write18{**_command_**}** construct. The _command_ can be any Bourne shell command. By default, this construct is enabled in a restricted mode, for security reasons. ### --version Print version information and exit. ## ENVIRONMENT See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications' node) for precise de‐ tails of how the environment variables are used. The **kpsewhich** utility can be used to query the values of the variables. One caveat: In most Aleph formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you give directly to Aleph, 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, Aleph 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 environ‐ ment variable TEXMFOUTPUT. There is no default value for that variable. For example, if you say _tex_ _paper_ and the current directory is not writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has the value _/tmp_, Aleph 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 directory and ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path. **TEXEDIT** Command template for switching to editor. The default, usually **vi**, is set when Aleph is compiled. ## NOTES This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for this version of Aleph can be found in the info manual _Web2C:_ _A_ _TeX_ _implementation_. See . ## BUGS This version of Aleph implements a number of optional extensions. In fact, many of these ex‐ tensions conflict to a greater or lesser extent with the definition of Aleph. When such ex‐ tensions are enabled, the banner printed when Aleph starts is changed to print **Alephk** instead of **Aleph**. This version of Aleph fails to trap arithmetic overflow when dimensions are added or sub‐ tracted. Cases where this occurs are rare, but when it does the generated _DVI_ file will be invalid. ## SEE ALSO [**tex**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/tex/1/markdown), [**mf**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/mf/1/markdown) ## AUTHORS The primary authors of Aleph are John Plaice and Yannis Haralambous. Web2C 2022/dev 6 August 2019 [ALEPH(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/ALEPH/1/markdown)