TEX(1)                      General Commands Manual                     TEX(1)

NAME
       tex, initex - text formatting and typesetting

SYNOPSIS
       tex [options] [&format] [file|\commands]

DESCRIPTION
       Run the TeX typesetter on file, usually creating file.dvi.  If the file
       argument has no extension, ".tex" will be appended to it.  Instead of a
       filename, a set of TeX commands can be given, the first of which must
       start with a backslash.  With a &format argument TeX uses a different
       set of precompiled commands, contained in format.fmt; it is usually
       better to use the -fmt format option instead.

       TeX formats the interspersed text and commands contained in the named
       files and outputs a typesetter independent file (called DVI, which is
       short for DeVice Independent).  TeX's capabilities and language are
       described in The TeXbook.  TeX is normally used with a large body of
       precompiled macros, and there are several specific formatting systems,
       such as LaTeX, which require the support of several macro files.

       This version of TeX looks at its command line to see what name it was
       called under.  If they exist, then both initex and virtex are symbolic
       links to the tex executable.  When called as initex (or when the -ini
       option is given) it can be used to precompile macros into a .fmt file.
       When called as virtex it will use the plain format.  When called under
       any other name, TeX will use that name as the name of the format to
       use.  For example, when called as tex the tex format is used, which is
       identical to the plain format.  The commands defined by the plain
       format are documented in The TeXbook.  Other formats that are often
       available include latex and amstex.

       The non-option command line arguments to the TeX 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 TeX's favorite symbols, like backslashes, unless you
       quote them.)  As described in The TeXbook, that first line should begin
       with a filename, a \controlsequence, or a &formatname.

       The normal usage is to say
       tex paper
       to start processing paper.tex.  The name paper will be the ``jobname'',
       and is used in forming output filenames.  If TeX doesn't get a filename
       in the first line, the jobname is texput.  When looking for a file, TeX
       looks for the name with and without the default extension (.tex)
       appended, unless the name already contains that extension.  If paper is
       the ``jobname'', a log of error messages, with rather more detail than
       normally appears on the screen, will appear in paper.log, and the
       output file will be in paper.dvi.

       This version of TeX can look in the first line of the file paper.tex to
       see if it begins with the magic sequence %&.  If the first line begins
       with %&format -translate-file_tcxname then TeX will use the named
       format and translation table tcxname to process the source file.
       Either the format name or the -translate-file specification may be
       omitted, but not both.  This overrides the format selection based on
       the name by which the program is invoked.  The -parse-first-line option
       or the parse_first_line configuration variable controls whether this
       behaviour is enabled.

       The e response to TeX's error prompt causes the system default editor
       to start up at the current line of the current file.  The environment
       variable TEXEDIT can be used to change the editor used.  It may contain
       a string with "%s" indicating where the filename goes and "%d"
       indicating where the decimal line number (if any) goes.  For example, a
       TEXEDIT string for emacs can be set with the sh command
       TEXEDIT="emacs +%d %s"; export TEXEDIT

       A convenient file in the library is null.tex, containing nothing.  When
       TeX can't find a file it thinks you want to input, it keeps asking you
       for another filename; responding `null' gets you out of the loop if you
       don't want to input anything.  You can also type your EOF character
       (usually control-D).

OPTIONS
       This version of TeX understands the following command line options.

       -cnf-line_string
              Parse string as a texmf.cnf configuration line.  See the
              Kpathsea manual.

       -enc   Enable the encTeX extensions.  This option is only effective in
              combination with -ini.  For documentation of the encTeX
              extensions see http://www.olsak.net/enctex.html.

       -file-line-error
              Print error messages in the form file:line:error which is
              similar 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.

       -fmt_format
              Use format as the name of the format to be used, instead of the
              name by which TeX was called or a %& line.

       -halt-on-error
              Exit with an error code when an error is encountered during
              processing.

       -help  Print help message and exit.

       -ini   Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats.  The INI mode
              can be used for typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and
              basic initializations like setting catcodes may be required.

       -interaction_mode
              Sets the interaction mode.  The mode can be either batchmode,
              nonstopmode, scrollmode, and errorstopmode.  The meaning of
              these modes is the same as that of the corresponding \commands.

       -ipc   Send DVI output to a socket as well as the usual output file.
              Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.

       -ipc-start
              As -ipc, and starts the server at the other end as well.
              Whether this option is available is the choice of the installer.

       -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.

       -mktex_fmt
              Enable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -mltex Enable MLTeX extensions.  Only effective in combination with
              -ini.

       -no-mktex_fmt
              Disable mktexfmt, where fmt must be either tex or tfm.

       -output-comment_string
              Use string for the DVI file comment instead of the date.

       -output-directory_directory
              Write output files in directory instead of the current
              directory.  Look up input files in directory first, then along
              the normal search path.  See also description of the TEXMFOUTPUT
              environment variable.

       -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.

       -shell-escape
              Enable the \write18{command} construct.  The command can be any
              shell command.  This construct is normally disallowed for
              security reasons.

       -no-shell-escape
              Disable the \write18{command} construct, even if it is enabled
              in the texmf.cnf file.

       -src-specials
              Insert source specials into the DVI file.

       -src-specials_where
              Insert source specials in certain places of the DVI file.  where
              is a comma-separated value list: cr, display, hbox, math, par,
              parent, or vbox.

       -translate-file_tcxname
              Use the tcxname translation table to set the mapping of input
              characters and re-mapping of output characters.

       -default-translate-file_tcxname
              Like -translate-file except that a %& line can overrule this
              setting.

       -version
              Print version information and exit.

ENVIRONMENT
       See the Kpathsearch library documentation (the `Path specifications'
       node) for precise details of how the environment variables are used.
       The kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the variables.

       One caveat: In most TeX formats, you cannot use ~ in a filename you
       give directly to TeX, because ~ is an active character, and hence is
       expanded, not taken as part of the filename.  Other programs, such as
       Metafont, do not have this problem.

       TEXMFOUTPUT
              Normally, TeX puts its output files in the current directory.
              If any output file cannot be opened there, it tries to open it
              in the directory specified in the environment variable
              TEXMFOUTPUT.  There is no default value for that variable.  For
              example, if you say tex paper and the current directory is not
              writable, if TEXMFOUTPUT has the value /tmp, TeX attempts to
              create /tmp/paper.log (and /tmp/paper.dvi, if any output is
              produced.)  TEXMFOUTPUT is also checked for input files, as TeX
              often generates files that need to be subsequently read; for
              input, no suffixes (such as ``.tex'') are added by default, the
              input name is simply checked as given.

       TEXINPUTS
              Search path for \input and \openin files.  This probably start
              with ``.'', so that user files are found before system files.
              An empty path component will be replaced with the paths defined
              in the texmf.cnf file.  For example, set TEXINPUTS to
              ".:/home/user/tex:" to prepend the current directory and
              ``/home/user/tex'' to the standard search path.

       TEXFORMATS
              Search path for format files.

       TEXPOOL
              search path for tex internal strings.

       TEXEDIT
              Command template for switching to editor.  The default, usually
              vi, is set when TeX is compiled.

       TFMFONTS
              Search path for font metric (.tfm) files.

FILES
       The location of the files mentioned below varies from system to system.
       Use the kpsewhich utility to find their locations.

       texmf.cnf
              Configuration file.  This contains definitions of search paths
              as well as other configuration parameters like parse_first_line.

       tex.pool
              Text file containing TeX's internal strings.

       texfonts.map
              Filename mapping definitions.

       *.tfm  Metric files for TeX's fonts.

       *.fmt  Predigested TeX format (.fmt) files.

       $TEXMFMAIN/tex/plain/base/plain.tex
              The basic macro package described in the TeXbook.

NOTES
       This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive.  The complete
       documentation for this version of TeX can be found in the info manual
       Web2C: A TeX implementation.

BUGS
       This version of TeX implements a number of optional extensions.  In
       fact, many of these extensions conflict to a greater or lesser extent
       with the definition of TeX.  When such extensions are enabled, the
       banner printed when TeX starts is changed to print TeXk instead of TeX.

       This version of TeX fails to trap arithmetic overflow when dimensions
       are added or subtracted.  Cases where this occurs are rare, but when it
       does the generated DVI file will be invalid.

SEE ALSO
       mf(1),
       Donald E. Knuth, The TeXbook, Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13447-0.
       Leslie Lamport, LaTeX - A Document Preparation System, Addison-Wesley,
       1985, ISBN 0-201-15790-X.
       K. Berry, Eplain: Expanded plain TeX, https://tug.org/eplain
       Michael Spivak, The Joy of TeX, 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1990, ISBN
       0-8218-2997-1.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).  https://tug.org/TUGboat

TRIVIA
       TeX, pronounced properly, rhymes with ``blecchhh.''  The proper
       spelling in typewriter-like fonts is ``TeX'' and not ``TEX'' or
       ``tex.''

AUTHORS
       TeX was created by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web
       system for Pascal programs.  It was ported to Unix at Stanford by
       Howard Trickey, and at Cornell by Pavel Curtis.  The version now
       offered with the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the Web to
       C system (web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.

       The encTeX extensions were written by Petr Olsak.

Web2C 2020                       6 August 2019                          TEX(1)