Linux dpost command
On the Solaris operating system, the dpost command is a troff postprocessor for PostScript printers.
Description
dpost translates files created by troff into PostScript and writes the results on the standard output. If no files are specified, or if "-" is one of the input files, the standard input is read.
The files should be prepared by troff. The default font files in /usr/lib/font/devpost produce the best and most efficient output. They assume a resolution of 720 dpi, and can format files by adding the -Tpost option to the troff command. Older versions of the eqn and pic preprocessors need to know the resolution that troff will be using to format the files. If those are the versions installed on your system, use the -r720 option with eqn and -T720 with pic.
dpost makes no assumptions about resolutions. The first x res command sets the resolution used to translate the input files, the DESC.out file, usually /usr/lib/font/devpost/DESC.out, defines the resolution used in the binary font files, and the PostScript prologue is responsible for setting up an appropriate user coordinate system.
Syntax
dpost [-c num] [-e num] [-m num] [-n num] [-o list] [-w num] [-x num] [-y num]
[-F dir] [-H dir] [-L file] [-O] [-T name] [file]...
Options
| -c num | Print num copies of each page. By default, only one copy is printed. |
| -e num | Sets the text encoding level to num. The recognized choices are 0, 1, and 2. The size of the output file and print time should decrease as num increases. Level 2 encoding will usually be about 20 percent faster than level 0, which is the default and produces output essentially identical to previous versions of dpost. |
| -m num | Magnify each logical page by the factor num. Pages are scaled uniformly about the origin, which is located near the upper left corner of each page. The default magnification is 1.0. |
| -n num | Print num logical pages on each piece of paper, where num can be any positive integer. By default, num is set to 1. |
| -o list | Print those pages for which numbers are given in the comma-separated list. The list contains single numbers N and ranges N1-N2. A missing N1 means the lowest numbered page, a missing N2 means the highest. The page range is an expression of logical pages rather than physical sheets of paper. For example, if you are printing two logical pages to a sheet, and you specified a range of 4, then two sheets of paper would print, containing four page layouts. If you specified a page range of 3-4, when requesting two logical pages to a sheet; then only page 3 and page 4 layouts would print, and they would appear on one physical sheet of paper. |
| -p mode | Print files in either portrait or landscape mode. Only the first character of mode is significant (you can specify p or l, respectively). The default mode is portrait. |
| -w num | Set the line width used to implement troff graphics commands to num points, where a point is approximately 1/72 of an inch. By default, num is set to 0.3 points. |
| -x num | Translate the origin num inches along the positive x-axis. The default coordinate system has the origin fixed near the upper left corner of the page, with positive x to the right and positive y down the page. Positive num moves everything right. The default offset is 0 inches. |
| -y num | Translate the origin num inches along the positive y-axis. Positive num moves text up the page. The default offset is 0. |
| -F dir | Use dir as the font directory. The default dir is /usr/lib/font, and dpost reads binary font files from directory /usr/lib/font/devpost. |
| -H dir | Use dir as the host resident font directory. Files in this directory should be complete PostScript font descriptions, and must be assigned a name that corresponds to the appropriate two-character troff font name. Each font file is copied to the output file only when needed and at most once during each job. There is no default directory. |
| -L file | Use file as the PostScript prologue which, by default, is /usr/lib/lp/postscript/dpost.ps. |
| -O | Disables PostScript picture inclusion. A recommended option when dpost is run by a spooler in a networked environment. |
| -T name | Use font files for device name as the best description of available PostScript fonts. By default, name is set to post and dpost reads binary files from /usr/lib/font/devpost. |
Examples
pic -T720 file | tbl | eqn -r720 | troff -mm -Tpost | dpost
This command will likely give the best formatting for a system with older versions of eqn and pic installed. The specific parameters can be tweaked according to the printing results on your particular hardware setup.
Related commands
troff — Typeset or format documents for terminal display or line-printer.