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MPAGE(1)							      MPAGE(1)

NAME
       mpage - print multiple pages per sheet on PostScript printer

SYNOPSIS
       mpage  [-1248aAceEfHloOrRStTuUvVxX]  [-b papersize]  [-B[num[lrtb]]...]
       [-C  [encoding]]	 [-da|p]  [-D dateformat]  [-F fontname]   [-h header]
       [-j first[-last][%interval]]	    [-J startpageno]	    [-L lines]
       [-m[num[lrtb]]...]   [-M[num[lrtb]]...]	  [-p[prprog]]	 [-P[printer]]
       [-s tabstop] [-W width] [-z printcmd] [-Z printcmd_args] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
       mpage reads plain text files or PostScript documents and prints them on
       a PostScript printer with the text reduced  in  size  so	 that  several
       pages  appear  on one sheet of paper.  This is useful for viewing large
       printouts on a small amount of paper.  It  uses	ISO  8859.1  to	 print
       8-bit characters.

       The  following  options	are recognized (note that arguments to options
       may be separated from the option by spaces, except for -B, -m,  -M,  -p
       and  -P):  Also when mpage encounters -- as option it will stop parsing
       arguments and the remaining arguments are interpreted as filenames.

       -1     Print 1 normal page per sheet (included for symmetry).

       -2     Print 2 normal pages per sheet.

       -4     Print 4 normal pages per sheet (default).

       -8     Print 8 normal pages per sheet.

       -a     Toggle layout of the pages on the	 sheet	so  that  successively
	      numbered	pages run down the sheet, as opposed to left to right.
	      (default updown).

       -A     This option is deprecated, use -bA4 instead.

       -bpapersize
	      Prepare output for the selected paper type.  Papersize can be A3
	      for  European  A3,  A4 for European A4, Letter for US Letter, or
	      Legal for Legal sized paper.  For available  types,  see	option
	      -bl.   For  the  default, see 'mpage -x'.	 This default is taken
	      from the system; see papersize(5).  If  it  isn't	 found,	 mpage
	      exits with an error.

       -bl, -b?
	      List the currently available paper types, then exit.

       -B[<num>[lrtb]*]
	      Setup a box around a particular part of your page.  Specify text
	      box margins and  line  thickness.	  The  default	is  0  columns
	      (lines)  for  both left and right (top and bottom) margins and 0
	      line thickness.  Specifying -B solely toggles  printing  of  the
	      box.   l,	 r,  t	or b set the left, right, top or bottom margin
	      respectively to <num> columns (lines).  Not  specifying  any  of
	      the sides, will set the line thickness when <num> is given.  For
	      example -B1 sets the line thickness to 1.	 Sides	with  negative
	      margins will not print.

       -c     Toggle  concatenation  of	 pages	from different files on single
	      sheets (default off).

       -C[encodingfile]
	      Specify the character encoding file.  The file should be in  the
	      mpage library directory (/usr/lib/mpage).	 Mpage has an internal
	      default encoding based on Latin-1 or IBM codepage 850.   Depend‐
	      ing  on  compile	time  option this encoding definition is on or
	      not.  Not specifying an encodingfile will toggle	the  usage  of
	      the internal encoding.

       -da|p  Force  input  to	be  taken as ascii (a) or postscript (p) text.
	      This way you can print your postscript code as  text,  or	 print
	      postscript  code	that mpage does not recognise. When using -dp,
	      make sure that the the postscript code contains %Page page sepa‐
	      rators or else things will probably look odd.

       -Ddateformat
	      Set  the	date  format as in strftime(3) to be used in date/time
	      representations (e.g. in headers).  (Note: to make  this	useful
	      you probably need the -H option.)

       -e     Print  2	normal pages per sheet in duplex mode: every first and
	      fourth page on one side and every second and third on the	 other
	      side.  This  is  more  or	 less  a  combination of the -O and -E
	      options but in one pass.

       -E     Print 2 normal pages per sheet, namely: print  only  the	second
	      and  third  page	of every set of four pages. See also -O. These
	      options override -a and -l.  Using these	options	 double	 sided
	      prints can be created without a duplex printer.

       -f     Toggles folding lines longer than page width (default off).

       -Ffontname
	      Specify  font.   (default	 Courier). Check your printer for sup‐
	      ported fonts. Note: this has almost nothing to do with the fonts
	      used for your X-windows/KDE/Gnome environment.

       -hheader
	      This is used only when the -p or -H switch is used and is passed
	      as the "-h header" option to pr(1) or as the header for -H.

       -H     Create header line for each logical  page	 separated  from  page
	      text  by	a horizontal line. Unless -h is given, the header con‐
	      sists of last file modification time, filename and page  number,
	      all  in bold and slightly larger font.  This option only applies
	      to non-postscript files.

       -Iindent
	      Indent text by indent characters.

       -jfirst[-last][%interval]
	      Print just the selected sheets, specified by a number,  starting
	      at  1.   Here  last  defaults to the end of data, interval to 1.
	      Several -j options can be given (up to MAXJARGS, default 100) to
	      create  a	 complex  selection of pages.  Thus -j1-10 selects the
	      first 10 sheets,	while  -j 1%2  prints  just  the  odd-numbered
	      sheets and -j 2%2 prints just the even ones.

	      You can do double-sided printing, in two passes, as follows.  If
	      you use 3-hole punched paper, put it in the  printer  such  that
	      the  holes will appear at the top of the page -- on the right as
	      you pull out the printer tray,  in  our  Laser  writer  II  NTX.
	      Print the odd-numbered sheets with

		   mpage ... -j 1%2 ...

	      Note  the number of pages it reports.  (Only half this many will
	      really be printed).  When printing finishes, if  mpage  reported
	      an  odd  number  of  pages,  remove the last one from the stack,
	      since there will be no even-numbered sheet to  match  it.	  Then
	      arrange  the stack of paper for printing on the other side.  (If
	      it's punched, the holes will now be on the  left.)   On  our  II
	      NTX,  the	 paper comes out blank-side up; replace it in the tray
	      still blank-side up but rotated 180 degrees.  For	 other	print‐
	      ers,  you	 figure it out.	 Now print the even-numbered sheets in
	      reverse order with

		   mpage ... -r -j 2%2 ...

	      hoping no one else reaches the printer before you do.

       -Jstartpageno
	      Set the start value of  the  sheet  page	count  to  startpageno
	      instead of 1.

       -k     When  mpage  finds  a %%Trailer or %%PSTrailer in the postscript
	      input file it normally assumes this is the end of the postscript
	      file  and	 stops	reading	 the  input file. But when the PS file
	      includes EPS files, %%Trailers might  be	anywhere.  Using  this
	      option ignores the %%Trailer and %%PSTrailer lines.

       -l     Toggle  printing	landscape or portrait mode (default portrait).
	      Landscape pages are 55 lines long	 by  132  characters  wide  by
	      default.	Portrait pages are 66 lines long by 80 characters wide
	      by default.

       -Llines
	      Adjust the page reduction parameters so that  lines  lines  will
	      fit in the space of one page.  This overrides the default values
	      normally supplied.  (See -l.)  If used in	 conjunction  with  -p
	      then  this  value	 is  passed  to	 the pr(1) as well.  As a side
	      effect this changes the font  size  as  well  (as	 will  the  -W
	      option.)	So  while  there  is  an option to change font family,
	      there is no explicit option to change font size!

       -m[<num>[lrtb]*]
	      Specify sheet margin. The default margin	is  20	points.	  Only
	      specifying  -m  sets left margin to 40 points.  l, r, t or b set
	      left, right, top or bottom margin respectively to <num>  points.
	      Not specifying any of the sides will set all sides when <num> is
	      given.  <num> defaults to 40 points. For example -m10  sets  all
	      margins  to  10  points.	-ml50tb sets left margin to default 40
	      and top and bottom margins to 50 points.	-m50l25bt30r sets bot‐
	      tom  and top margin to 25, left margin to 50 and right margin to
	      30 points.  Margins can have negative numbers.

       -M[<num>[lrtb]*]
	      Specify  logical	page  margins.	For  syntax,  see  -m  option.
	      Defaults	are  4 for -M solely, and 8 for <num>.	Margins can be
	      negative.	 This way large white  borders	in  your  (postscript)
	      documents can be reduced.

       -o     Toggle  printing	of  outlines around each reduced page (default
	      on).

       -O     Print 2 normal pages per sheet, namely: print only the first and
	      fourth  page  of	every  set  of	four pages. See also -E. These
	      options override -a and -l.  Using these	options	 double	 sided
	      prints can be created without a duplex printer.

       -p[prprog]
	      Pipe  input through prprog command (including specified options)
	      before printing (assumes the input is a  text  file).   When  no
	      command is specified, it defaults to pr(1).

       -P[printer]
	      Specify the printer to which the PostScript output is sent (e.g.
	      lpr -Pprinter). Using -P with no	printer	 specified  sends  the
	      PostScript  to  the  default printer queue (e.g. lpr). Using -P-
	      returns output to stdout, useful in combination with  the	 MPAGE
	      environment variable. Without -P output is sent to standard out‐
	      put.

       -r     Reverse printing.	 The last sheet is printed first.  The way  of
	      arranging reduced pages on the sheets doesn't change.

       -R     Switch to left to right mode, starting first page on left bottom
	      corner.  This might be useful for	 landscape  postscript	files.
	      (Note: using -l after -R undoes -R, and switches to normal land‐
	      scape mode.)

       -stabstop
	      Set tabstop width (default 8 characters).	 Should be >= 2.

       -S     Accept non-square page reduction.	 By default, pages are	shrunk
	      equally in X and Y, even if this wastes some space on the sheet.
	      With -S, reduced pages are larger but slightly distorted.	 (Only
	      used when printing postscript files.)

       -t     Toggle  printing	on both sides of the paper.  This option has 3
	      states: nop, yes, no, which mean:

	      NOP:   don't do anything in PostScript, use the printer default;

	      YES:   force printer to do duplex;

	      NO:    force printer not to do it.

	      If there is no -t, then the duplex is NOP. If you put some -t on
	      the  command line, the state toggles as "yes,no,yes,no...".  So,
	      if your printer is set to print, by default, in duplex mode, you
	      will  use	 "-t  -t"  on the command line to force it to print in
	      non-duplex mode. Use this option only if your printer is capable
	      of printing in duplex mode.  (default NOP).

       -T     Toggle  tumble of every second pages.  This option has 3 states:
	      nop, yes, no (with  behaviour  similar  to  -t).	 So,  if  your
	      printer is set to print, by default, in duplex mode, with tumble
	      on, you will use "-T -T" on command line to print	 in  nontumble
	      mode.  Use this option only if your printer is capable of print‐
	      ing in duplex mode.  With this version of	 mpage,	 you  may  use
	      this option even if you do not use -t.  (default NOP).

       -u     Toggle  checking	for  UTF-8  input (not relevant for postscript
	      input).

       -U     This option is deprecated, use -bLetter instead.

       -v     Toggle printing a count of the number  of	 sheets	 produced  for
	      printing (default off).

       -V     Print version information and exit.

       -Wwidth
	      Adjust  the page reduction parameters so that a line width char‐
	      acters long will fit in the space of one page.   This  overrides
	      the  default  values  normally  supplied.	 (See -l.)  If used in
	      conjunction with -p then this value is passed to the pr(1)  pro‐
	      gram as well.  See also the -L option on font sizes.

       -x     Print usage information (including current defaults), then exit.

       -X[header]
	      Print  header  on	 the  left and the page number on the right of
	      each physical page (sheet).  If no header is given, the  default
	      is  the current filename (note influence of -c), the filename of
	      the first file on the page is used.

       -zprintcommand
	      Specify command to use to send output to.	 Default is lpr(1) for
	      BSD  style spooler, lp(1) for SYSV style spooler.	 You can spec‐
	      ify command line options, but note -Z.   For  example  -zlp  for
	      system V Unix.

       -Zprintprog_queuename_arg
	      Specify  what option to use for the "-z printcommand" to specify
	      a printqueue.  For example -zlp -Z-d for system V Unix.  Default
	      is -P for BSD style spooler, -d for SYSV style spooler.

ENVIRONMENT
       mpage  examines the PRINTER (or LPDEST for SYSV style spooler) environ‐
       ment variable to override its default printer.

       The MPAGE_LIB environment variable can be used  to  control  where  the
       character encoding files (-C) can be found.

       mpage  also  examines the MPAGE environment variable for default option
       settings.  Any option or combination of options can be specified in the
       MPAGE  environment  variable.   For  example,  if  MPAGE	 is set to the
       string:

	      -2oPqms -L60

       it would (in the absence of other command line arguments) print 2 pages
       per  sheet,  60 lines per page, with outlines, on the printer named qms
       (overriding the PRINTER/LPDEST environment variable, if it exists).  In
       the  environment	 variable, white space is used as an option delimiter,
       and no quoting is recognized.

       Any command line options will override both the PRINTER and MPAGE envi‐
       ronment variables.

FILES
       /tmp/mpageXXXXXX
       /usr/lib/mpage

BUGS
       Suffers under the burden of far too many switches.  (But you wanted the
       choices!)

       NULL characters in a postscript input file will cause mpage to crash!

       Many others, we're sure.

       Mpage is year 2000 compliant, as long as the underlying operating  sys‐
       tem is!!!

VERSION
       Version 2.5.6, Released January 2008.
       Location:

	      http://www.mesa.nl/pub/mpage
	      ftp://ftp.mesa.nl/pub/mpage

AUTHORS
       Marcel Mol <marcel@mesa.nl> (current maintainer).

       Mark P. Hahn (Original author)

				  2008/01/14			      MPAGE(1)
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