ghostscript

GS(1)                             Ghostscript                            GS(1)



NAME
       gs  -  Ghostscript  (PostScript  and  PDF language interpreter and pre‐
       viewer)

SYNOPSIS
       gs [ options ] [ files ] ... (Unix, VMS)
       gswin32c [ options ] [ files ] ... (MS Windows)
       gswin32 [ options ] [ files ] ... (MS Windows 3.1)
       gsos2 [ options ] [ files ] ... (OS/2)

DESCRIPTION
       The gs (gswin32c,  gswin32,  gsos2)  command  invokes  Ghostscript,  an
       interpreter of Adobe Systems' PostScript(tm) and Portable Document For‐
       mat (PDF) languages.  gs reads "files" in sequence and executes them as
       Ghostscript programs. After doing this, it reads further input from the
       standard input stream (normally the keyboard), interpreting  each  line
       separately.  The  interpreter  exits  gracefully when it encounters the
       "quit" command (either in a file or from the keyboard), at end-of-file,
       or at an interrupt signal (such as Control-C at the keyboard).

       The  interpreter  recognizes  many  option  switches, some of which are
       described below. Please see the usage documentation for complete infor‐
       mation.  Switches  may appear anywhere in the command line and apply to
       all files thereafter.  Invoking Ghostscript with the -h  or  -?  switch
       produces a message which shows several useful switches, all the devices
       known to that executable, and the search path for  fonts;  on  Unix  it
       also shows the location of detailed documentation.

       Ghostscript  may be built to use many different output devices.  To see
       which devices your executable includes, run "gs -h".  Unless you  spec‐
       ify  a  particular  device, Ghostscript normally opens the first one of
       those and directs output to it, so if the first one in the list is  the
       one you want to use, just issue the command

            gs myfile.ps

       You   can   also  check  the  set  of  available  devices  from  within
       Ghostscript: invoke Ghostscript and type

            devicenames ==

       but the first device on the resulting  list  may  not  be  the  default
       device  you determine with "gs -h".  To specify "AbcXyz" as the initial
       output device, include the switch

            -sDEVICE=AbcXyz

       For example, for output to an Epson printer you might use the command

            gs -sDEVICE=epson myfile.ps

       The "-sDEVICE=" switch must precede the first  mention  of  a  file  to
       print, and only the switch's first use has any effect.

       Finally,  you  can specify a default device in the environment variable
       GS_DEVICE.  The order of precedence for these alternatives from highest
       to lowest (Ghostscript uses the device defined highest in the list) is:

       Some devices can support different resolutions (densities).  To specify
       the resolution on such a printer, use the "-r" switch:

            gs -sDEVICE= -rx

       For example, on a 9-pin Epson-compatible printer, you get  the  lowest-
       density (fastest) mode with

            gs -sDEVICE=epson -r60x72

       and the highest-density (best output quality) mode with

            gs -sDEVICE=epson -r240x72.

       If  you  select a printer as the output device, Ghostscript also allows
       you to choose where Ghostscript sends the output --  on  Unix  systems,
       usually  to  a temporary file.  To send the output to a file "foo.xyz",
       use the switch

            -sOutputFile=foo.xyz

       You might want to print each page separately.  To  do  this,  send  the
       output to a series of files "foo1.xyz, foo2.xyz, ..." using the "-sOut‐
       putFile=" switch with "%d" in a filename template:

            -sOutputFile=foo%d.xyz

       Each resulting file receives one page of output, and the files are num‐
       bered in sequence.  "%d" is a printf format specification; you can also
       use a variant like "%02d".

       On Unix and MS Windows systems you can also send output to a pipe.  For
       example,  to pipe output to the "lpr" command (which, on many Unix sys‐
       tems, directs it to a printer), use the option

            -sOutputFile=%pipe%lpr

       Note that the '%' characters need to be doubled on MS Windows to  avoid
       mangling by the command interpreter.

       You can also send output to standard output:

            -sOutputFile=-
       or
            -sOutputFile=%stdout%

       In  this  case  you must also use the -q switch, to prevent Ghostscript
       from writing messages to standard output.

       To select a specific paper size, use the command line switch

            -sPAPERSIZE=

       for instance

            -sPAPERSIZE=a4
       or
            -sPAPERSIZE=legal

       Most ISO and US paper sizes are recognized. See the usage documentation
       for  a  full  list,  or  the  definitions  in  the  initialization file
       "gs_statd.ps".

       Ghostscript can do many things other than print or view PostScript  and
       PDF  files.   For  example,  if  you want to know the bounding box of a
       PostScript (or EPS) file, Ghostscript provides a special "device"  that
       just prints out this information.

       For   example,   using  one  of  the  example  files  distributed  with
       Ghostscript,

            gs -sDEVICE=bbox golfer.ps

       prints out

            %%BoundingBox: 0 25 583 732
            %%HiResBoundingBox: 0.808497 25.009496 582.994503 731.809445

OPTIONS
       -- filename arg1 ...
              Takes the next argument as a file name as usual, but  takes  all
              remaining  arguments  (even  if  they have the syntactic form of
              switches) and defines the name "ARGUMENTS"  in  "userdict"  (not
              "systemdict")  as  an array of those strings, before running the
              file.  When Ghostscript finishes executing the  file,  it  exits
              back to the shell.

       -Dname=token
       -dname=token
              Define  a  name  in "systemdict" with the given definition.  The
              token must be exactly one token (as defined by the "token" oper‐
              ator) and may contain no whitespace.

       -Dname
       -dname Define a name in "systemdict" with value=null.

       -Sname=string
       -sname=string
              Define  a  name  in  "systemdict"  with a given string as value.
              This is different from -d.  For example, -dname=35 is equivalent
              to the program fragment
                   /name 35 def
              whereas -sname=35 is equivalent to
                   /name (35) def

       -q     Quiet startup: suppress normal startup messages, and also do the
              equivalent of -dQUIET.

       -gnumber1xnumber2
              Equivalent to -dDEVICEWIDTH=number1 and  -dDEVICEHEIGHT=number2.
              This  is  for  the benefit of devices (such as X11 windows) that
              require (or allow) width and height to be specified.

       -rnumber
       -rnumber1xnumber2
              Equivalent to -dDEVICEXRESOLUTION=number1  and  -dDEVICEYRESOLU‐
              TION=number2.  This is for the benefit of devices such as print‐
              ers that support multiple X and Y resolutions.  If only one num‐
              ber is given, it is used for both X and Y resolutions.

       -Idirectories
              Adds  the  designated  list  of  directories  at the head of the
              search path for library files.

       -      This is not really a switch, but indicates to  Ghostscript  that
              standard  input is coming from a file or a pipe and not interac‐
              tively from the command line.  Ghostscript reads  from  standard
              input  until it reaches end-of-file, executing it like any other
              file, and then continues with processing the command line.  When
              the  command line has been entirely processed, Ghostscript exits
              rather than going into its interactive mode.

       Note that the normal initialization file  "gs_init.ps"  makes  "system‐
       dict"  read-only, so the values of names defined with -D, -d, -S, or -s
       cannot be changed (although, of course, they can be superseded by defi‐
       nitions in "userdict" or other dictionaries.)

SPECIAL NAMES
       -dDISKFONTS
              Causes  individual character outlines to be loaded from the disk
              the first time  they  are  encountered.   (Normally  Ghostscript
              loads  all  the  character outlines when it loads a font.)  This
              may allow loading more fonts into RAM, at the expense of  slower
              rendering.

       -dNOCACHE
              Disables character caching.  Useful only for debugging.

       -dNOBIND
              Disables the "bind" operator.  Useful only for debugging.

       -dNODISPLAY
              Suppresses the normal initialization of the output device.  This
              may be useful when debugging.

       -dNOPAUSE
              Disables the prompt and pause at the end of each page.  This may
              be  desirable  for applications where another program is driving
              Ghostscript.

       -dNOPLATFONTS
              Disables the use of fonts supplied by  the  underlying  platform
              (for  instance  X  Windows).  This may be needed if the platform
              fonts look undesirably different from the scalable fonts.

       -dSAFER
              Disables the "deletefile" and  "renamefile"  operators  and  the
              ability  to  open  files in any mode other than read-only.  This
              strongly recommended for spoolers, conversion scripts  or  other
              sensitive  environments where a badly written or malicious Post‐
              Script program code must be prevented  from  changing  important
              files.

       -dWRITESYSTEMDICT
              Leaves  "systemdict"  writable.   This is necessary when running
              special utility programs such as font2c and pcharstr, which must
              bypass normal PostScript access protection.

       -sDEVICE=device
              Selects an alternate initial output device, as described above.

       -sOutputFile=filename
              Selects  an alternate output file (or pipe) for the initial out‐
              put device, as described above.

FILES
       The locations of many Ghostscript run-time files are compiled into  the
       executable  when  it  is  built.   On Unix these are typically based in
       /usr/local, but this may be different on your system.  Under  DOS  they
       are  typically  based in C:\GS, but may be elsewhere, especially if you
       install Ghostscript with GSview.  Run "gs -h" to find the  location  of
       Ghostscript  documentation  on your system, from which you can get more
       details. On a Debian system they are in /usr.

       /usr/share/ghostscript/#.##/*
              Startup files, utilities, and basic font definitions

       /usr/share/fonts/type1/gsfonts/*
              More font definitions

       /usr/share/doc/ghostscript/examples/*
              Ghostscript demonstration files

       /usr/share/doc/ghostscript/*
              Diverse document files

INITIALIZATION FILES
       When looking for the initialization files "gs_*.ps", the files  related
       to  fonts,  or the file for the "run" operator, Ghostscript first tries
       to open the file with the name as  given,  using  the  current  working
       directory  if  no  directory is specified.  If this fails, and the file
       name doesn't specify an explicit  directory  or  drive  (for  instance,
       doesn't  contain  "/"  on  Unix  systems or "\" on MS Windows systems),
       Ghostscript tries directories in this order:

       1.  the directories specified by the -I switches in  the  command  line
           (see below), if any;

       2.  the  directories  specified  by the GS_LIB environment variable, if
           any;

       3.  the directories  specified  by  the  GS_LIB_DEFAULT  macro  in  the
           Ghostscript  makefile  when  the  executable was built.  When gs is
           built      on      Unix,      GS_LIB_DEFAULT       is       usually
           "/usr/local/share/ghostscript/#.##:/usr/local/share/ghostscript/fonts"
           where "#.##" represents the Ghostscript version number.   They  are
           "/usr/share/ghostscript/#.##" on a Debian system.

       Each  of these (GS_LIB_DEFAULT, GS_LIB, and -I parameter) may be either
       a single directory or a list of directories separated by ":".

ENVIRONMENT
       GS_OPTIONS
              String of options  to  be  processed  before  the  command  line
              options

       GS_DEVICE
              Used to specify an output device

       GS_FONTPATH
              Path names used to search for fonts

       GS_LIB Path names for initialization files and fonts

       TEMP   Where temporary files are made

X RESOURCES
       Ghostscript,  or  more  properly  the X11 display device, looks for the
       following resources under the program name "Ghostscript":

       borderWidth
              The border width in pixels (default = 1).

       borderColor
              The name of the border color (default = black).

       geometry
              The window size and placement, WxH+X+Y (default is NULL).

       xResolution
              The number of x  pixels  per  inch  (default  is  computed  from
              WidthOfScreen and WidthMMOfScreen).

       yResolution
              The  number  of  y  pixels  per  inch  (default is computed from
              HeightOfScreen and HeightMMOfScreen).

       useBackingPixmap
              Determines whether backing store is to be used for  saving  dis‐
              play window (default = true).

       See  the  usage document for a more complete list of resources.  To set
       these resources on Unix, put them in a file such as "~/.Xresources"  in
       the following form:

            Ghostscript*geometry:     612x792-0+0
            Ghostscript*xResolution: 72
            Ghostscript*yResolution: 72

       Then merge these resources into the X server's resource database:

            % xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

SEE ALSO
       The various Ghostscript document files (above), especially Use.htm.

BUGS
       See    http://bugs.ghostscript.com/   and   the   Usenet   news   group
       comp.lang.postscript.

VERSION
       This document was last revised for Ghostscript version 8.71.

AUTHOR
       Artifex Software, Inc. are  the  primary  maintainers  of  Ghostscript.
       Russell  J.  Lang,  gsview at ghostgum.com.au, is the author of most of
       the MS Windows code in Ghostscript.



8.71                           10 February 2010                          GS(1)