File: web2c.info, Node: mf invocation, Next: Initial Metafont, Up: Metafont 5.1 `mf' invocation =================== Metafont (usually invoked as `mf') reads character definitions specified in the Metafont programming language, and outputs the corresponding font. This section merely describes the options available in the Web2c implementation. For a complete description of the Metafont language, see `The Metafontbook' (*note References::). Metafont processes its command line and determines its memory dump (base) file in a way exactly analogous to MetaPost and TeX (*note tex invocation::, and *note Memory dumps::). Synopses: mf [OPTION]... [MFNAME[.mf]] [MF-COMMANDS] mf [OPTION]... \FIRST-LINE mf [OPTION]... &BASE ARGS Most commonly, a Metafont invocation looks like this: mf '\mode:=MODE; mag:=MAGNIFICATION; input MFNAME' (The single quotes avoid unwanted interpretation by the shell.) Metafont searches the usual places for the main input file MFNAME (*note Supported file formats: (kpathsea)Supported file formats.), extending MFNAME with `.mf' if necessary. To see all the relevant paths, set the environment variable `KPATHSEA_DEBUG' to `-1' before running the program. By default, Metafont runs an external program named `mktexmf' to create any nonexistent Metafont source files you input. You can disable this at configure-time or runtime (*note mktex configuration: (kpathsea)mktex configuration.). This is mostly for the sake of the EC fonts, which can be generated at any size. Metafont writes the main GF output to the file `BASEMFNAME.NNNgf', where NNN is the font resolution in pixels per inch, and BASEMFNAME is the basename of MFNAME, or `mfput' if no input file was specified. A GF file contains bitmaps of the actual character shapes. Usually GF files are converted immediately to PK files with GFtoPK (*note gftopk invocation::), since PK files contain equivalent information, but are more compact. (Metafont output in GF format rather than PK for only historical reasons.) Metafont also usually writes a metric file in TFM format to `BASEMFNAME.tfm'. A TFM file contains character dimensions, kerns, and ligatures, and spacing parameters. TeX reads only this .tfm file, not the GF file. The MODE in the example command above is a name referring to a device definition (*note Modes::); for example, `localfont' or `ljfour'. These device definitions must generally be precompiled into the base file. If you leave this out, the default is `proof' mode, as stated in `The Metafontbook', in which Metafont outputs at a resolution of 2602dpi; this is usually not what you want. The remedy is simply to assign a different mode--`localfont', for example. The MAGNIFICATION assignment in the example command above is a magnification factor; for example, if the device is 600dpi and you specify `mag:=2', Metafont will produce output at 1200dpi. Very often, the MAGNIFICATION is an expression such as `magstep(.5)', corresponding to a TeX "magstep", which are factors of 1.2 * sqrt(2). After running Metafont, you can use the font in a TeX document as usual. For example: \font\myfont = newfont \myfont Now I am typesetting in my new font (minimum hamburgers). The program accepts the following options, as well as the standard `-help' and `-version' (*note Common options::): `-[no]-file-line-error' `-fmt=FMTNAME' `-halt-on-error' `-ini' `-interaction=STRING' `-jobname=STRING' `-kpathsea-debug=NUMBER' `-[no]parse-first-line' `-output-directory' `-progname=STRING' `-recorder' `-translate-file=TCXFILE' `-8bit' These options are common to TeX, Metafont, and MetaPost. *Note Common options::. `-mktex=FILETYPE' `-no-mktex=FILETYPE' Turn on or off the `mktex' script associated with FILETYPE. The only value that makes sense for FILETYPE is `mf'.
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