PSDIT

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 5 March 1991
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NAME

psdit - convert ditroff intermediate format to POSTSCRIPT format

SYNOPSIS

psdit [ -Ffontdir ] [ -pprologue ] [ -olist ] [ file ]

DESCRIPTION

psdit translates a file created by device-independent [di]troff(1) to POSTSCRIPT format for printing on a POSTSCRIPT printer. If no file is mentioned, the standard input is used. The POSTSCRIPT file is sent to the standard output. The options are:

-F fontdir: take font information from fontdir instead of the default (see below).
-p prologue: use the contents of prologue instead of the default POSTSCRIPT prologue (see below).
-o list: prints pages whose 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.

Note: the input for psdit should be prepared with the corresponding -Tpsc option of [di]troff, pic, etc.
eqn should be run with the flags -r576 and -m2 to produce suitable output.
pic should be run with the -D flag. With DWB pic, use -T576 to set the correct resolution.

psdit allows for users to cause troff to include arbitrary POSTSCRIPT code in the generated POSTSCRIPT file. psdit recognizes the undefined ``%'' command in the ditroff intermediate file format to signal the start of raw POSTSCRIPT to be placed as is in the the output file. Everthing between (but not including) the percent sign and a line containing a single period (``.'') will be placed in the generated POSTSCRIPT output. This POSTSCRIPT is not insulated from the ditroff coordinate system or the state of the generated POSTSCRIPT. However, two functions are defined in the prologue so that users may insulate themselves if they so desire. The PB function (for picture begin) will perform a POSTSCRIPT save operation, translate the POSTSCRIPT coordinate system to ditroff's idea of the current position on the page, and change the scale and orienation of the coordinate system axes to be the standard POSTSCRIPT 72 units per inch. The PE macro (for picture end) will end this protected environment.

Several methods may be employed to incorporate such included POSTSCRIPT into the ditroff intermediate file. The ``.sy'', ``\!'' and ``.cf'' troff commands may be useful. For example, the following sequence could be used to include the POSTSCRIPT language description of a completely separate, printable document. Note that the "showpage" operator is redefined.

: (usual troff input)
\&
.fl
\!%PB
\!/showpage{}def
.fl
.sy cat mypic.ps
\!PE
\!.
(more regular troff input)

to include mypic.ps as an illustration. This facility is both powerful and useful. Indiscriminate inclusion of badly-behaving POSTSCRIPT code may be dangerous to your document's health.

psdit also supports the \X feature of DWB 2.0 and has support for the psfig package.

ENVIRONMENT

PSLIBDIR: path name of a directory to use instead of /usr/lib/transcript for psdit prologue.

FILES

/usr/lib/transcript/ditroff.font/devpsc/*: ditroff default description files for POSTSCRIPT virtual device.
/usr/lib/transcript/psdit.pro: default POSTSCRIPT prologue.

AUTHOR

Adobe Systems Incorporated

BUGS

The versions of eqn and pic distributed with ditroff (from AT&T) have the device names compiled in (so much for device independence!). They should just read the device description file for the information they need. You must be careful to know which version of eqn you are running or you will get undesirable results.
The B-splines generated by ditroff are drawn with an approximation. The functions D~ and D~~ in the prologue need a little work.

NOTES

POSTSCRIPT is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated.
Documenter's Workbench is a trademark of AT&T Technologies.

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Time: 17:19:48 GMT, March 25, 2025