man > initex(1)

TEX(1)                                 General Commands Manual                                TEX(1)

NAME
       tex, initex - text formatting and typesetting

SYNOPSIS
       tex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]

DESCRIPTION
       Run  the  TeX 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 TeX commands can  be
       given,  the  first  of which must start with a backslash.  With a &format argument TeX uses a
       different set of precompiled commands, contained in format.fmt; it is usually better  to  use
       the -fmt format option instead.

       TeX  formats  the  interspersed  text and commands contained in the named files and outputs a
       typesetter independent file (called DVI, which is short for DeVice Independent).  TeX's capa‐
       bilities and language are described in The TeXbook.  TeX is normally used with a  large  body
       of  precompiled  macros,  and  there  are several specific formatting systems, such as LaTeX,
       which require the support of several macro files.

       This version of TeX looks at its command line to see what name it was called under.  If  they
       exist,  then both initex and virtex are symbolic links to the tex executable.  When called as
       initex (or when the -ini option is given) it can be used to precompile  macros  into  a  .fmt
       file.  When called as virtex it will use the plain format.  When called under any other name,
       TeX will use that name as the name of the format to use.  For example, when called as tex the
       tex  format  is  used,  which  is identical to the plain format.  The commands defined by the
       plain format are documented in The TeXbook.  Other formats that are often  available  include
       latex and amstex.

       The  non-option command line arguments to the TeX program are passed to it 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 TeX's favorite symbols, like backslashes, unless you
       quote them.)  As described in The TeXbook, that first line should begin with  a  filename,  a
       \controlsequence, or a &formatname.

       The normal usage is to say
       tex paper
       to  start processing paper.tex.  The name paper will be the ``jobname'', and is used in form‐
       ing output filenames.  If TeX doesn't get a filename in the first line, the jobname  is  tex‐
       put.   When looking for a file, TeX looks for the name with and without the default extension
       (.tex) appended, unless the name already contains that extension.  If  paper  is  the  ``job‐
       name'', a log of error messages, with rather more detail than normally appears on the screen,
       will appear in paper.log, and the output file will be in paper.dvi.

       This version of TeX can look in the first line of the file paper.tex to see if it begins with
       the  magic  sequence %&.  If the first line begins with %&format -translate-file tcxname then
       TeX will use the named format and translation table tcxname to process the source file.   Ei‐
       ther the format name or the -translate-file specification may be omitted, but not both.  This
       overrides  the  format  selection  based  on  the  name by which the program is invoked.  The
       -parse-first-line option or the parse_first_line configuration variable controls whether this
       behaviour is enabled.

       The e response to TeX's error prompt causes the system default editor to start up at the cur‐
       rent line of the current file.  The environment variable TEXEDIT can be used  to  change  the
       editor  used.   It may 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
       emacs can be set with the sh command
       TEXEDIT="emacs +%d %s"; export TEXEDIT

       A convenient file in the library is null.tex, containing nothing.  When TeX 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 charac‐
       ter (usually control-D).

OPTIONS
       This version of TeX understands the following command line options.

       -cnf-line string
              Parse string as a texmf.cnf configuration line.  See the Kpathsea manual.

       -enc   Enable the encTeX extensions.  This option is only effective in combination with -ini.
              For documentation of the encTeX extensions see http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.

       -file-line-error
              Print error messages in the form file:line:error which is similar to the way many com‐
              pilers format them.

       -no-file-line-error
              Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.

       -file-line-error-style
              This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.

       -fmt format
              Use format as the name of the format to be used, instead of the name by which TeX  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   Start  in INI mode, which is used to dump formats.  The INI mode can be used for type‐
              setting, but no format is preloaded, and basic initializations like  setting  catcodes
              may be required.

       -interaction mode
              Sets the interaction mode.  The mode can be either 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.

       -jobname name
              Use name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name of the input file.

       -kpathsea-debug bitmask
              Sets path searching debugging flags according to the bitmask.  See the Kpathsea manual
              for details.

       -mktex fmt
              Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -mltex Enable MLTeX extensions.  Only effective in combination with -ini.

       -no-mktex fmt
              Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either 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, then along the normal search path.  See also  description  of  the
              TEXMFOUTPUT environment variable.

       -parse-first-line
              If  the  first  line of the main input file begins with %& parse it to look for a dump
              name or a -translate-file option.

       -no-parse-first-line
              Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.

       -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 .fls.

       -shell-escape
              Enable  the  \write18{command} construct.  The command can be any shell command.  This
              construct is normally disallowed for security reasons.

       -no-shell-escape
              Disable the \write18{command} construct, even if it is enabled in the texmf.cnf file.

       -src-specials
              Insert source specials into the DVI file.

       -src-specials where
              Insert source specials in certain places of the DVI file.  where is a  comma-separated
              value list: cr, display, hbox, math, par, parent, or vbox.

       -translate-file tcxname
              Use  the  tcxname translation table to set the mapping of input characters and re-map‐
              ping of output characters.

       -default-translate-file tcxname
              Like -translate-file except that a %& line can overrule this setting.

       -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 TeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you give directly to TeX, be‐
       cause ~ 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, TeX puts its output files in the current directory.  If any output file can‐
              not 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 tex paper and the current directory is not writable, if  TEXMFOUTPUT  has  the
              value  /tmp,  TeX 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 probably start with ``.'', so
              that user files are found before system files.  An empty path component  will  be  re‐
              placed  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.

       TEXFORMATS
              Search path for format files.

       TEXPOOL
              search path for tex internal strings.

       TEXEDIT
              Command template for switching to editor.  The default, usually vi, is set when TeX is
              compiled.

       TFMFONTS
              Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.

       Notes  for  Debian  developers: please keep in mind, that this version of the TeX interpreter
       ignores the SOURCE_DATE_EPOCH variable. Instead the current timestamp is written into the DVI
       file. If you need a reproducible time stamp, please use any engine  based  on  pdfTeX,  e.g.,
       etex, pdftex, latex, pdflatex.

FILES
       The  location  of  the files mentioned below varies from system to system.  Use the kpsewhich
       utility to find their locations.

       texmf.cnf
              Configuration file.  This contains definitions of search paths as well as  other  con‐
              figuration parameters like parse_first_line.

       tex.pool
              Text file containing TeX's internal strings.

       texfonts.map
              Filename mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for TeX's fonts.

       *.fmt  Predigested TeX format (.fmt) files.

       $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
              The basic macro package described in the TeXbook.

NOTES
       This  manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete documentation for this version
       of TeX can be found in the info manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.

BUGS
       This version of TeX implements a number of optional extensions.  In fact, many of  these  ex‐
       tensions conflict to a greater or lesser extent with the definition of TeX.  When such exten‐
       sions  are  enabled,  the  banner printed when TeX starts is changed to print TeXk instead of
       TeX.

       This version of TeX 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
       mf(1),
       Donald E. Knuth, The TeXbook, Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13447-0.
       Leslie  Lamport,  LaTeX  -  A  Document  Preparation  System,  Addison-Wesley,   1985,   ISBN
       0-201-15790-X.
       K. Berry, Eplain: Expanded plain TeX, https://tug.org/eplain
       Michael Spivak, The Joy of TeX, 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN 0-8218-2997-1.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).  https://tug.org/TUGboat

TRIVIA
       TeX,  pronounced  properly, rhymes with ``blecchhh.''  The proper spelling in typewriter-like
       fonts is ``TeX'' and not ``TEX'' or ``tex.''

AUTHORS
       TeX was created by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web system for  Pascal  pro‐
       grams.   It was ported to Unix at Stanford by Howard Trickey, and at Cornell by Pavel Curtis.
       The version now offered with the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the Web to C sys‐
       tem (web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.

       The encTeX extensions were written by Petr Olsak.

Web2C 2023                                  6 August 2019                                     TEX(1)