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MPOST(1) General Commands Manual MPOST(1)
NAME
mpost, pmpost, upmpost - MetaPost, a system for creating graphics r-mpost, r-pmpost, r-
upmpost - restricted MetaPost
SYNOPSIS
mpost [options] [commands]
mpost --dvitomp dvifile[.dvi] [mpxfile[.mpx]]
DESCRIPTION
MetaPost interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript (EPS) or Scalable Vector
Graphics (SVG) pictures. The MetaPost language is similar to Knuth's Metafont with addi-
tional features for including tex(1) or troff(1) commands and accessing features of Post-
Script not found in Metafont.
MetaPost is normally used with a set of basic macros, and it will use its executable name
as the name of the preload file to use. For example, when called as mpost the mpost.mp
file is used, which simply reads plain.mp. When the --ini option is given, preloading
does not happen.
The commands given on the command line to the MetaPost 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 MetaPost's favorite symbols,
like semicolons, unless you quote them.) The normal usage is to say mpost figs to process
the file figs.mp. The basename of figs becomes the ``jobname'', and is used in forming
output file names. If no file is named, the jobname becomes mpout. The default exten-
sion, .mp, can be overridden by specifying an extension explicitly.
When the --dvitomp option is given, MetaPost acts as DVI-to-MPX converter only. See dvit-
omp (1) for details.
The pmpost program is a variant with Japanese support, and upmpost has Unicode-enabled Ja-
panese support, analogous to ptex and uptex.
All three variants are also installed with an `r-' prefix, that is, r-mpost, r-pmpost, r-
upmpost, which implicitly specify the --restricted option to make MetaPost safe to run on
unknown input; the tex, makempx, and editor commands are disabled.
This manual page is a mere skeleton. For a list of all command line options, run --help.
The main documentation for this version of MetaPost can be found in the User Manual that
should have been installed along with the program and is also available from
https://tug.org/metapost.
The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual assumes no knowledge of Meta-
font. MetaPost does not have bitmap output commands or Metafont's online display mecha-
nism.
FILES
plain.mp
The standard preload file.
mfplain.mp
The Metafont-compatible preload file.
$TEXMFMAIN/metapost/base/*.mp
The standard MetaPost macros included in the original distribution.
$TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/*
Various tables for handling included tex and troff.
$TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/trfonts.map
Table of corresponding font names for troff and PostScript.
psfonts.map
Table of corresponding font names for tex and PostScript.
$TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/*
The MetaPost manual and tutorial source, also including sample figures
SUGGESTED READING
Donald E. Knuth, The Metafontbook (Volume C of Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley,
1986, ISBN 0-201-13445-4.
TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).
SEE ALSO
dvitomp(1), epstopdf(1), mf(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1),
MetaPost home page <https://tug.org/metapost/>.
AUTHORS
MetaPost was created by John D. Hobby, incorporating algorithms from Metafont by Donald E.
Knuth. It was originally implemented on Unix, incorporating system-dependent routines
from web2c, while not relying on it except for the actual Web-to-C translator.
Ulrik Vieth adapted MetaPost to take advantage of the advanced path searching features in
more recent versions of web2c and worked towards fully integrating MetaPost into the
canonical Unix TeX distribution.
The primary author of the current MetaPost was Taco Hoekwater, with assistance from Hans
Hagen and many others. It is currently maintained by Luigi Scarso.
BUGS
The MetaPost home page is https://tug.org/metapost.
Web2C 2022/dev 31 December 2018 MPOST(1)
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