# man > papersize(5)

[_PAPERSIZE_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAPERSIZE/5/markdown)                             File Formats Manual                            [_PAPERSIZE_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAPERSIZE/5/markdown)

## NAME
       **papersize **- specify preferred paper size

## SYNOPSYS
### /etc/papersize

## DESCRIPTION
       The  **papersize  **file is used to specify the preferred paper size to use by available commands
       and programs generating documents.

       The format of this file is extremely simple: whitespace and anything starting with `#' is ig‐
       nored, and the name of the paper is the first string found; the case in the name of the paper
       does not import (see **CAVEATS **section however).

## PAPER NAMES
       The following names are commonly understood by programs: **a3**, **a4**, **a5**, **b5**, **letter**, **legal**, **exec‐**
       **utive**, **note **and **11x17**.

       Additional paper names that one may encounter are: **a0**, **a1**, **a2**, **a6**, **a7**, **a8**, **a9**, **a10**,  **b0**,  **b1**,
       **b2**,  **b3**,  **b4**, **tabloid**, **statement**, **note**, **halfletter**, **halfexecutive**, **folio**, **quarto**, **ledger**, **ar‐**
       **chA**, **archB**, **archC**, **archD**, **archE**, **flsa**, **flse**, **csheet**, **dsheet**, **esheet **and **10x14**.

       The value of the **papersize **file can be overridden by looking in order at the **PAPERSIZE  **envi‐
       ronment  variable,  then  at  the contents of the file specified by the **PAPERCONF **environment
       variable.  If the **papersize **file does not exist, programs using the paper library default  to
       using **letter **as a fall-back value

## CAVEATS
       This  manual page documents the format of the **papersize **file that is read by the **libpaper **li‐
       brary.  Some programs that read this file do not yet use the library and may have trouble ig‐
       noring whitespace and comments in the file; they may also require that the paper names use  a
       specific capitalization.

## DOCUMENTATION
       Yves Arrouye <<arrouye@debian.org>>

## SEE ALSO
       [**paperconf**(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/paperconf/1/markdown)
       [**paperconfig**(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/paperconfig/8/markdown)



                                                                                        [_PAPERSIZE_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/PAPERSIZE/5/markdown)