PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)NAMEplotfont - produce character maps of fonts supported by
the plotting utilities
SYNOPSISplotfont [ options ] fonts
DESCRIPTIONplotfont produces a character map for any font that is
supported by the plotting utilities, which include
graph(1), plot(1), pic2plot(1), tek2plot(1), and the GNU
libplot 2-D graphics export library (see plot(3)). Which
fonts are supported depends on the output format or dis
play type, which is specified by the -T option. A listing
of the fonts available in any specified output format may
be obtained with the --help-fonts option (see below).
The character map, or maps, will be written to standard
output in the specified format. For example, the Times-
Roman font is available when producing Postscript output.
The command plotfont-T ps Times-Roman > charmap.ps will
yield a character map of the Times-Roman font, in a
Postscript format that can be viewed or edited with the
idraw(1) drawing editor. The Times-Roman font is also
available when producing Fig output, which can be viewed
or edited with the xfig(1) drawing editor. The command
plotfont-T fig Times-Roman > charmap.fig will yield the
same character map, but in Fig format rather than in
Postscript format.
As another example, the Univers font is available when
producing PCL 5 output. The command plotfont-T pcl
Univers > charmap.pcl will produce a character map of the
Univers font, in PCL 5 format.
When producing output for the X Window System, i.e., for a
popped-up window, any scalable X Window System font that
has an XLFD (i.e., X Logical Font Description) name is
supported. For example, the command plotfont-T X
utopia-medium-r-normal will pop up a window, and draw a
character map of the Utopia-Regular font. "utopia-medium-
r-normal" is a truncated version of the Utopia-Regular
font's XLFD name. The Utopia-Regular font is available on
most X Window System displays.
OPTIONS
General Options
-T type
--display-type type
Select type as the output format or display type.
It may be "X", "png", "pnm", "gif", "svg", "ai",
"ps", "cgm", "fig", "pcl", "hpgl", "regis", "tek",
or "meta" (the default). These refer respectively
to the X Window System, PNG (Portable Network
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PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)
Graphics) format, portable anymap format
(PBM/PGM/PPM), a pseudo-GIF format that does not
use LZW encoding, the new XML-based Scalable Vector
Graphics format, the format used by Adobe Illustra
tor, Postscript or Encapsulated Postscript (EPS)
that can be edited with idraw(1), CGM format (by
default, confirming to the WebCGM profile), the
format used by the xfig(1) drawing editor, the
Hewlett-Packard PCL 5 printer language, the
Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language, ReGIS graphics
format (which can be displayed by the dxterm(1)
terminal emulator or by a VT330 or VT340 terminal),
Tektronix format (which can be displayed by the
xterm(1) terminal emulator), and device-independent
GNU metafile format itself. Unless type is "X", an
output file is produced and written to standard
output.
Files in PNG, PNM, pseudo-GIF, AI, or Fig format
contain only a single page of graphics. So if the
-T png option, the -T pnm option, the -T gif
option, the -T ai option, or the -T fig option is
used, the output file will contain a character map
for only the first-specified font.
A listing of the fonts available in any specified
output format may be obtained with the --help-fonts
option (see below). If a requested font is
unavailable, a default font will be substituted.
The default font is "Helvetica" for "X", "svg",
"ai", "ps", "cgm", and "fig", "Univers" for "pcl",
and "HersheySerif" for "png", "pnm", "gif", "hpgl",
"regis", "tek", and "meta".
-1
--lower-half
Generate a character map for the lower half of each
specified font. This is the default.
-2
--upper-half
Generate a character map for the upper half of each
specified font.
-o
--octal
Number the characters in octal rather than in deci
mal (the default).
-x
--hexadecimal
Number the characters in hexadecimal rather than in
decimal (the default).
FSF Jun 2000 2
PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)--box Surround each character with a box, showing its
extent to left and right. The default is not to do
this.
-j row
--jis-row row
Generate a character map for row row of a Japanese
font arranged according to JIS [Japanese Industrial
Standard] X0208. The only such font currently
available is the HersheyEUC [Extended Unix Code]
font. If used, this option overrides the -1 and -2
options. The valid rows are 1...94. In the JIS
X0208 standard, Roman characters are located in row
3, and Japanese syllabic characters (Hiragana and
Katakana) are located in rows 4 and 5. Greek and
Cyrillic characters are located in rows 6 and 7.
Japanese ideographic characters (Kanji) are located
in rows 16...84.
--bg-color name
Set the color used for the background to be name.
This is relevant only to plotfont-T X, plotfont-T
png, plotfont-T pnm, plotfont-T gif, plotfont-T
svg, plotfont-T cgm, and plotfont-T regis. An
unrecognized name sets the color to the default,
which is "white". The environment variable
BG_COLOR can equally well be used to specify the
background color.
If the -T png or -T gif option is used, a transpar
ent PNG file or a transparent pseudo-GIF, respec
tively, may be produced by setting the TRANSPAR
ENT_COLOR environment variable to the name of the
background color. If the -T svg or -T cgm option
is used, an output file without a background may be
produced by setting the background color to "none".
--bitmap-size bitmap_size
Set the size of the graphics display in which the
character map(s) will be drawn, in terms of pixels,
to be bitmap_size. The default is "570x570". This
is relevant only to plotfont-T X, plotfont-T png,
plotfont-T pnm, and plotfont-T gif, all of which
produce bitmaps. If you choose a rectangular (non-
square) window size, the fonts in the character
map(s) will be scaled anisotropically, i.e., by
different factors in the horizontal and vertical
directions. For plotfont-T X, this requires an
X11R6 display. Any font that cannot be scaled in
this way will be replaced by a default scalable
font, such as the vector font "HersheySerif".
The environment variable BITMAPSIZE can equally
well be used to specify the window size. For
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PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)
backward compatibility, the X resource Xplot.geome
try may be used instead.
--emulate-color option
If option is yes, replace each color in the output
by an appropriate shade of gray. This is seldom
useful, except when using plotfont-T pcl to pre
pare output for a PCL 5 device. (Many monochrome
PCL 5 devices, such as monochrome LaserJets, do a
poor job of emulating color on their own.) You may
equally well request color emulation by setting the
environment variable EMULATE_COLOR to "yes".
--numbering-font name
Set the font used for the numbering of the charac
ters in the character map(s) to be name, rather
than the default.
--page-size pagesize
Set the size of size of the page on which the char
acter map(s) will be positioned. This is relevant
only to plotfont-T svg, plotfont-T ai, plotfont-T ps, plotfont-T cgm, plotfont-T fig, plotfont-T pcl, and plotfont-T hpgl. The default is "let
ter", which means an 8.5 inch by 11 inch page. Any
ISO page size in the range "a0"..."a4" or ANSI page
size in the range "a"..."e" may be specified ("let
ter" is an alias for "a" and "tabloid" is an alias
for "b"). "legal" and "ledger" are recognized page
sizes also. The environment variable PAGESIZE can
equally well be used to specify the page size.
The graphics display in which each character map is
drawn will be a square region that would occupy
nearly the full width of the specified page. An
alternative size for the graphics display can be
specified. For example, the page size could be
specified as "letter,xsize=4in,ysize=6in", or
"a4,xsize=5.0cm,ysize=100mm". For all of the above
except plotfont-T hpgl, the graphics display will,
by default, be centered on the page. For all of
the above except plotfont-T svg and plotfont-T
cgm, the graphics display may be repositioned manu
ally, by specifying the location of its lower left
corner, relative to the lower left corner of the
page. For example, the page size could be speci
fied as "letter,xorigin=2in,yorigin=3in", or
"a4,xorigin=0.5cm,yorigin=0.5cm". It is also pos
sible to specify an offset vector. For example,
the page size could be specified as "letter,xoff
set=1in", or "letter,xoffset=1in,yoffset=1.2in", or
"a4,yoffset=-1cm". In SVG format and WebCGM format
it is possible to specify the size of the graphics
display, but not its position.
FSF Jun 2000 4
PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)--rotation angle
Rotate the graphics display by angle degrees. Rec
ognized values are "0", "90", "180", and "270".
"no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90",
respectively. The environment variable ROTATION
can also be used to specify a rotation angle.
--pen-color name
Set the pen color to be name. An unrecognized name
sets the pen color to the default, which is
"black".
Options for Metafile Output
The following option is relevant only if the -T option is
omitted or if -T meta is used. In this case the output of
plotfont will be in GNU graphics metafile format. It may
be translated to other formats by invoking plot(1).
-O
--portable-output
Output the portable (human-readable) version of GNU
metafile format, rather than the binary version
(the default). The format of the binary version is
machine-dependent.
Informational Options
--help Print a list of command-line options, and exit.
--help-fonts
Print a table of available fonts, and exit. The
table will depend on which output format or display
type is specified with the -T option. plotfont-T
X, plotfont-T svg, plotfont-T ai, plotfont-T ps,
plotfont-T cgm, and plotfont-T fig each support
the 35 standard Postscript fonts. plotfont-T svg,
plotfont-T pcl, and plotfont-T hpgl support the
45 standard PCL 5 fonts, and the latter two support
a number of Hewlett-Packard vector fonts. All
seven support a set of 22 Hershey vector fonts, as
do plotfont-T png, plotfont-T pnm, plotfont-T
gif, plotfont-T regis, and plotfont-T tek. plot
font without a -T option in principle supports any
of these fonts, since its output must be translated
to other formats by invoking plot(1).
--list-fonts
Like --help-fonts, but lists the fonts in a single
column to facilitate piping to other programs. If
no output format is specified with the -T option,
the full set of supported fonts is listed.
--version
Print the version number of plotfont and the plot
ting utilities package, and exit.
FSF Jun 2000 5
PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)ENVIRONMENT
The environment variables BITMAPSIZE, PAGESIZE, BG_COLOR,
EMULATE_COLOR, and ROTATION serve as backups for the
options --bitmap-size, --page-size, --bg-color, --emu
late-color, and --rotation, respectively. The remaining
environment variables are specific to individual output
formats.
plotfont-T X, which pops up a window on an X Window Sys
tem display for each character map, checks the DISPLAY
environment variable. Its value determines the display
that will be used.
plotfont-T png and plotfont-T gif, which produce output
in PNG format and pseudo-GIF format respectively, are
affected by the INTERLACE environment variable. If its
value is "yes", the output will be interlaced. Also, if
the TRANSPARENT_COLOR environment variable is set to the
name of a color, that color will be treated as transparent
in the output.
plotfont-T pnm, which produces output in portable anymap
(PBM/PGM/PPM) format, is affected by the PNM_PORTABLE
environment variable. If its value is "yes", the output
will be in a human-readable format rather than binary (the
default).
plotfont-T cgm, which produces output in CGM (Computer
Graphics Metafile) format, is affected by the CGM_MAX_VER
SION and CGM_ENCODING environment variables. By default,
it produces a binary-encoded version of CGM version 3 for
mat. For backward compatibility, the version number may
be reduced by setting CGM_MAX_VERSION to "2" or "1".
Irrespective of version, the output CGM file will use the
human-readable clear text encoding if CGM_ENCODING is set
to "clear_text". However, only binary-encoded CGM files
conform to the WebCGM profile.
plotfont-T pcl, which produces PCL 5 output for
Hewlett-Packard printers and plotters, is affected by the
environment variable PCL_ASSIGN_COLORS. It should be set
to "yes" when producing PCL 5 output for a color printer
or other color device. This will ensure accurate color
reproduction by giving the output device complete freedom
in assigning colors, internally, to its "logical pens".
If it is "no" then the device will use a fixed set of col
ored pens, and will emulate other colors by shading. The
default is "no" because monochrome PCL 5 devices, which
are much more common than colored ones, must use shading
to emulate color.
plotfont-T hpgl, which produces Hewlett-Packard Graphics
Language output, is affected by several environment vari
ables. The most important is HPGL_VERSION, which may be
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PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)
set to "1", "1.5", or "2" (the default). "1" means that
the output should be generic HP-GL, "1.5" means that the
output should be suitable for the HP7550A graphics plotter
and the HP758x, HP7595A and HP7596A drafting plotters (HP-
GL with some HP-GL/2 extensions), and "2" means that the
output should be modern HP-GL/2. If the version is "1" or
"1.5" then the only available fonts will be vector fonts,
and all lines will be drawn with a default width. Addi
tionally, if the version is "1" then the filling of arbi
trary curves with solid color will not be supported (cir
cles and rectangles aligned with the coordinate axes may
be filled, though).
The position of the plotfont-T hpgl graphics display on
the page can be rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise by
setting the HPGL_ROTATE environment variable to "yes".
This is not the same as the rotation obtained with the
--rotation option, since it both rotates the graphics dis
play and repositions its lower left corner toward another
corner of the page. Besides "no" and "yes", recognized
values for HPGL_ROTATE are "0", "90", "180", and "270".
"no" and "yes" are equivalent to "0" and "90", respec
tively. "180" and "270" are supported only if HPGL_VER
SION is "2" (the default).
By default, plotfont-T hpgl will draw with a fixed set of
pens. Which pens are present may be specified by setting
the HPGL_PENS environment variable. If HPGL_VERSION is
"1", the default value of HPGL_PENS is "1=black"; if
HPGL_VERSION is "1.5" or "2", the default value of
HPGL_PENS is "1=black:2=red:3=green:4=yel
low:5=blue:6=magenta:7=cyan". The format should be self-
explanatory. By setting HPGL_PENS you may specify a color
for any pen in the range #1...#31. All color names recog
nized by the X Window System may be used. Pen #1 must
always be present, though it need not be black. Any other
pen in the range #1...#31 may be omitted.
If HPGL_VERSION is "2" then plotfont-T hpgl will also be
affected by the environment variable HPGL_ASSIGN_COLORS.
If its value is "yes", then plotfont-T hpgl will not be
restricted to the palette specified in HPGL_PENS: it will
assign colors to "logical pens" in the range #1...#31, as
needed. The default value is "no" because other than
color LaserJet printers and DesignJet plotters, not many
HP-GL/2 devices allow the assignment of colors to logical
pens.
Opaque filling and the drawing of visible white lines are
supported only if HPGL_VERSION is "2" and the environment
variable HPGL_OPAQUE_MODE is "yes" (the default). If its
value is "no" then white lines (if any), which are nor
mally drawn with pen #0, will not be drawn. This feature
is to accommodate older HP-GL/2 devices. HP-GL/2 pen
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PLOTFONT(1) GNU Plotting Utilities PLOTFONT(1)
plotters, for example, do not support opacity or the use
of pen #0 to draw visible white lines. Some older HP-GL/2
devices may, in fact, malfunction if asked to draw opaque
objects.
plotfont-T tek, which produces output for a Tektronix
terminal or emulator, checks the TERM environment vari
able. If the value of TERM is a string beginning with
"xterm", "nxterm", or "kterm", it is taken as a sign that
plotfont is running in an X Window System VT100 terminal
emulator: a copy of xterm(1), nxterm(1), or kterm(1).
Before drawing graphics, plotfont-T tek will emit an
escape sequence that causes the terminal emulator's auxil
iary Tektronix window, which is normally hidden, to pop
up. After the graphics are drawn, an escape sequence that
returns control to the original VT100 window will be emit
ted. The Tektronix window will remain on the screen.
If the value of TERM is a string beginning with "kermit",
"ansi.sys", or "nansi.sys", it is taken as a sign that
plotfont is running in the VT100 terminal emulator pro
vided by the MS-DOS version of kermit(1). Before drawing
graphics, plotfont-T tek will emit an escape sequence
that switches the terminal emulator to Tektronix mode.
Also, some of the Tektronix control codes emitted by plot
font -T tek will be kermit-specific. There will be a lim
ited amount of color support, which is not normally the
case (the 16 `ansi.sys' colors will be supported). After
drawing graphics, plotfont-T tek will emit an escape
sequence that returns the emulator to VT100 mode. The key
sequence `ALT minus' can be employed manually within ker
mit to switch between the two modes.
SEE ALSOgraph(1), pic2plot(1), tek2plot(1), plot(1), plot(3), and
"The GNU Plotting Utilities Manual".
AUTHORSplotfont was written by Robert S. Maier (rsm@math.ari
zona.edu).
BUGS
Email bug reports to bug-gnu-utils@gnu.org.
FSF Jun 2000 8
