MPOST(1)MPOST(1)NAME
mpost, inimpost, virmpost - MetaPost, a system for drawing pictures
SYNOPSISmpost [options] [commands]
DESCRIPTION
MetaPost interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript pic‐
tures. The MetaPost language is similar to Knuth's Metafont with addi‐
tional features for including tex(1) or troff(1) commands and accessing
features of PostScript not found in Metafont.
Like TeX and Metafont, MetaPost is normally used with a large body of
precompiled macros. This version of MetaPost looks at its command line
to see what name it was called under. Both inimpost and virmpost are
symlinks to the mpost executable. When called as inimpost (or when the
-ini option is given) it can be used to precompile macros into a .mem
file. When called as virmpost it will use the plain mem. When called
under any other name, MetaPost will use that name as the name of the
mem to use. For example, when called as mpost the mpost mem is used,
which is identical to the plain mem. Other mems than plain are rarely
used.
The commands given on the command line to the MetaPost program are
passed to it as the first input line. (But it is often easier to type
extended arguments as the first input line, since UNIX shells tend to
gobble up or misinterpret MetaPost's favorite symbols, like semicolons,
unless you quote them.) The first line should begin with a filename, a
\controlsequence, or a &memname.
The normal usage is to say mpost figs to process the file figs.mp. The
basename of figs becomes the ``jobname'', and is used in forming output
file names. If no file is named, the jobname becomes mpout. The
default extension, .mp, can be overridden by specifying an extension
explicitly.
There is normally one output file for each picture generated, and the
output files are named jobname.nnn, where nnn is a number passed to the
beginfig macro. The output file name can also be jobname.ps if this
number is negative.
The output files can be used as figures in a TeX document by including
\special{psfile=jobname.nnn}
in the TeX document. Alternatively, one can \input epsf.tex and then
use the macro
\epsfbox{jobname.nnn}
to produce a box of the appropriate size containing the figure.
btex TeX commands etex
This causes mpost to generate a MetaPost picture expression that
corresponds to the TeX commands. If the TeX commands generate
more than one line of text, it must be in a \vbox or a minipage
environment.
verbatimtex TeX commands etex
This is ignored by mpost except that the TeX commands are passed
on to TeX. When using LaTeX instead of TeX the input file must
start with a verbatimtex block that gives the \documentstyle and
\begin{document} commands. You can use the `%&' construct in
the first verbatimtex block to ensure that the correct TeX for‐
mat is used to process the commands.
Since most TeX fonts have to be downloaded as bitmaps, the btex feature
works best when the output of mpost is to be included in a TeX document
so that dvips(1) can download the fonts. For self-contained PostScript
output that can be used directly or included in a troff document, start
your MetaPost input file with the command prologues:=1 and stick to
standard PostScript fonts. TeX and MetaPost use the names in the third
column of the file trfonts.map, which can be found in the directories
with support files for MetaPost.
MetaPost output can be included in a troff document via the -m pictures
macro package. In this case mpost should be invoked with the -T flag
so that the commands between btex and etex or between verbatimtex and
etex are interpreted as troff instead of TeX. (This automatically sets
prologues:=1 ).
OPTIONS
This version of MetaPost understands the following command line
options.
-file-line-error
Print error messages in the form file:line:error which is simi‐
lar to the way many compilers format them.
-no-file-line-error
Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.
-file-line-error-style
This is the old name of the -file-line-error option.
-halt-on-error
Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during pro‐
cessing.
-help Print help message and exit.
-ini Be inimpost, for dumping bases; this is implicitly true if the
program is called as inimpost.
-interaction mode
Sets the interaction mode. The mode can be one of batchmode,
nonstopmode, scrollmode, and errorstopmode. The meaning of
these modes is the same as that of the corresponding commands.
-jobname name
Use name for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name
of the input file.
-kpathsea-debug bitmask
Sets path searching debugging flags according to the bitmask.
See the Kpathsea manual for details.
-mem mem
Use mem as the name of the mem to be used, instead of the name
by which MetaPost was called or a %& line.
-output-directory directory
directory instead of the current directory. Look up input files
in directory first, the along the normal search path.
-parse-first-line
If the first line of the main input file begins with %& parse it
to look for a dump name or a -translate-file option.
-no-parse-first-line
Disable parsing of the first line of the main input file.
-progname name
Pretend to be program name. This affects both the format used
and the search paths.
-recorder
Enable the filename recorder. This leaves a trace of the files
opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.
-T Produce TROFF output.
-translate-file tcxname
Use the tcxname translation table.
-troff As -T.
-version
Print version information and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications'
node) for the details of how the environment variables are use when
searching. The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of
the variables.
If the environment variable TEXMFOUTPUT is set, MetaPost attempts to
put its output files in it, if they cannot be put in the current direc‐
tory.
Here is a list of the environment variables affect the behavior of
mpost:
MPINPUTS
Search path for input files.
MFINPUTS
Auxiliary search path for input files with .mf exten‐
sions.
MPSUPPORT
Directory for various tables for handling included tex
and troff.
MPXCOMMAND
The name of a shell script that converts embedded type‐
setting commands to a form that MetaPost understands.
Defaults: makempx for tex and troffmpx for troff.
TEX The version of TeX - or LaTeX - to use when processing
btex and verbatimtex commands. Default tex. This ver‐
sion of MetaPost allows you to use a `%&format' line
instead.
TROFF The troff pipeline for btex and verbatimtex commands.
Default eqn -d\$\$ | troff
MPEDIT A command template for invoking an editor.
A .mem file is a binary file that permits fast loading of macro
packages. mpost reads the default plain.mem unless another .mem
file is specified at the start of the first line with an & just
before it. There is also an mfplain.mem that simulates plain
Metafont so that mpost can read .mf fonts. (Plain Metafont is
described in The Metafontbook).
Experts can create .mem files be invoking inimpost and giving
macro definitions followed by a dump command.
The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual A
User's Manual for MetaPost assumes no knowledge of Metafont.
MetaPost does not have bitmap output commands or Metafont's
online display mechanism.
FILES
mpost.pool
Encoded text of MetaPost's messages.
*.mem Predigested MetaPost mem files.
plain.mp
The standard mem file.
mfplain.mp
The Metafont-compatible mem file. This is loaded when
virmp is invoked via a symbolic link as mfmp.
$TEXMFMAIN/metapost/base/*.mp
The standard MetaPost macros included in the original
distribution.
$TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/*
Various tables for handling included tex and troff.
$TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/trfonts.map
Table of corresponding font names for troff and Post‐
Script.
psfonts.map
Table of corresponding font names for tex and PostScript.
$TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/examples.mp
The source file for a few sample figures that are part of
a LaTeX document $TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/mpintro.tex that
describes the MetaPost system in a little more detail.
NOTES
This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete
documentation for this version of MetaPost can be found in the
info manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.
SUGGESTED READING
Donald E. Knuth, The Metafontbook (Volume C of Computers and
Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13445-4.
John D. Hobby, A User's Manual for MetaPost, CSTR 162, AT&T Bell
Labs,
John D. Hobby, Drawing Graphs with MetaPost, CSTR 164, AT&T Bell
Labs,
TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).
SEE ALSOtex(1), mf(1), dvips(1).
AUTHORS
MetaPost was designed by John D. Hobby, incorporating algorithms
from Metafont by Donald E. Knuth. It was originally implemented
on Unix, incorporating system-dependent routines from web2c,
while not relying on it except for the actual Web-to-C transla‐
tor.
Ulrik Vieth adapted MetaPost to take advantage of the advanced
path searching features in more recent versions of web2c and
worked towards fully integrating MetaPost into the canonical
Unix TeX distribution. He also updated and extended this manual
page.
TRIVIA
Unlike TeX and Metafont, MetaPost originally didn't use any
fancy logo. John Hobby says he prefers the spelling ``Meta‐
Post'', yet Don Knuth has updated the Metafont logo.mf font to
be able to typeset a proper MetaPost logo similar to the Meta‐
font logo. Feel free to use whatever you think is more appro‐
priate!
Web2C 7.5.4 10 November 2001 MPOST(1)
