Suppose that you have a base named joe.base. Typing
mf &joeor (on unix, where we must either quote or escape the ampersand)
mf \&joeor responding
&joeto the ** prompt, omits loading plain base, and loads the joe base instead. Typically, however, the joe.mf file which originally produced the joe base will have included plain.mf, because working without the plain base macros would be too cumbersome. (Refer to The book (1986), Chapter 5: `Running ', page 35, `dangerous bend' number two.)
The `cm' base, for making the COMPUTER MODERN fonts, can be loaded in that way:
mf &cmRemember to quote the ampersand under UNIX!