xpdf

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 25 Oct 2001
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NAME

xpdf - Portable Document Format (PDF) file viewer for X (version 0.93)

SYNOPSIS

xpdf [options] [PDF-file [page]]

DESCRIPTION

Xpdf is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files. (These are also sometimes also called 'Acrobat' files, from the name of Adobe's PDF software.) Xpdf runs under the X Window System on UNIX, VMS, and OS/2.

To run xpdf, simply type:

: xpdf file.pdf

where file.pdf is your PDF file. The file name can be followed by a number specifying the page which should be displayed first, e.g.:

: xpdf file.pdf 18

You can also start xpdf without opening any files:

: xpdf

OPTIONS

X resources are listed in square brackets with the corresponding option.

-z zoom: Set the initial zoom factor. A number (-5 .. 5) specifies a zoom factor, where 0 means 72 dpi. You may also specify 'page', to fit the page to the window size, or 'width', to fit the page width to the window width. [xpdf.initialZoom]
-g geometry: Set the initial window geometry. (-geometry is equivalent.) [xpdf.geometry]
-title title: Set the window title. By default, the title will be "xpdf: foo.pdf". [xpdf.title]
-remote name: Start/contact xpdf remote server with specified name (see the REMOTE SERVER MODE section below).
-raise: Raise xpdf remote server window (with -remote only).
-quit: Kill xpdf remote server (with -remote only).
-cmap: Install a private colormap. This is ignored on TrueColor visuals. [xpdf.installCmap]
-rgb number: Set the size of largest RGB cube xpdf will try to allocate. The default is 5 (for a 5x5x5 cube); set to a smaller number to conserve color table entries. This is ignored with private colormaps and on TrueColor visuals.
-papercolor color: Set the "paper color", i.e., the background of the page display. This will not work too well with PDF files that do things like filling in white behind the text. [xpdf.paperColor]
-eucjp: When copying text, convert Japanese text to EUC-JP. This is currently the only option for converting Japanese text -- the only effect is to switch to 7-bit ASCII for non-Japanese text, in order to fit into the EUC-JP encoding. (This option is only available if pdftotext was compiled with Japanese support.) [xpdf.eucjp]
-t1lib font-type: Set the type of font rendering for t1lib (the Type 1 rasterizer) to use. Options are 'none' (don't use t1lib at all), 'plain' (use non-anti-aliased fonts), 'low' or 'high' (use low-level or high-level anti-aliased fonts). [xpdf.t1libControl]
-freetype font-type: Set the type of font rendering for FreeType (the TrueType rasterizer) to use. Options are 'none' (don't use FreeType at all), 'plain' (use non-anti-aliased fonts), or 'aa' (use anti-aliased fonts). [xpdf.freeTypeControl]
-ps PS-file: Set the default file name for PostScript output. This can also be of the form '|command' to pipe the PostScript through a command. [xpdf.psFile]
-paperw size: Set the paper width, in points. [xpdf.psPaperWidth]
-paperh size: Set the paper height, in points. [xpdf.psPaperHeight]
-level1: Generate Level 1 PostScript. The resulting PostScript files will be significantly larger (if they contain images), but will print on Level 1 printers. This also converts all images to black and white. [xpdf.psLevel1]
-opw password: Specify the owner password for the PDF file. Providing this will bypass all security restrictions.
-upw password: Specify the user password for the PDF file.
-fullscreen: Open xpdf in a full-screen mode, useful for presentations. You may also want to specify '-bg black' (or similar) with this. (There is currently no way to switch between window and full-screen modes on the fly.)
-cmd: Print commands as they're executed (useful for debugging).
-q: Don't print any messages or errors.
-v: Print copyright and version information.
-h: Print usage information. (-help is equivalent.)

Several other standard X options and resources will work as expected:

-display display: [xpdf.display]
-fg color: (-foreground is equivalent.) [xpdf.foreground]
-bg color: (-background is equivalent.) [xpdf.background]
-font font: (-fn is equivalent.) [xpdf.font]

The color and font options only affect the user interface elements, not the PDF display (the 'paper').

The following X resources do not have command line option equivalents:

xpdf.urlCommand: Set the command executed when you click on a URL link. See the WEB BROWSERS section below for details.
xpdf.japaneseFont: Sets the X font name pattern to use for Japanese text. The default is:

: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-%s-*-*-*-*-*-jisx0208.1983-0

xpdf.chineseGBFont: Sets the X font name pattern to use for Chinese GB (simplified) text. The default is:

: -*-fangsong ti-medium-r-normal-*-%s-*-*-*-*-*-gb2312.1980-0

xpdf.chineseCNSFont: Sets the X font name pattern to use for Chinese CNS (traditional) text. The default is:

: -*-fixed-medium-r-normal-*-%s-*-*-*-*-*-big5-0

xpdf.viKeys: Enables the 'h', 'l', 'k' and 'j' keys for left, right, up, and down scrolling.

The following resources set the file names of the Type 1 fonts to use for the Base 14 fonts:

: xpdf.t1TimesRoman
xpdf.t1TimesItalic
xpdf.t1TimesBold
xpdf.t1TimesBoldItalic
xpdf.t1Helvetica
xpdf.t1HelveticaOblique
xpdf.t1HelveticaBold
xpdf.t1HelveticaBoldOblique
xpdf.t1Courier
xpdf.t1CourierOblique
xpdf.t1CourierBold
xpdf.t1CourierBoldOblique
xpdf.t1Symbol
xpdf.t1ZapfDingbats

If t1lib is enabled, these Type 1 fonts will be used instead of X server fonts.

CONTROLS

On-screen controls, at the bottom of the xpdf window

left/right arrow buttons: Move to the previous/next page.
double left/right arrow buttons: Move backward or forward by ten pages.
dashed left/right arrow buttons: Move backward or forward along the history path.
'Page' entry box: Move to a specific page number. Click in the box to activate it, type the page number, then hit return.
zoom popup menu: Change the zoom factor (see the description of the -z option above).
binoculars button: Find a text string.
print button: Bring up a dialog for generating a PostScript file. The dialog has options to set the pages to be printed and the PostScript file name. The file name can be '-' for stdout or '|command' to pipe the PostScript through a command, e.g., '|lpr'.
'?' button: Bring up the 'about xpdf' window.
link info: The space between the '?' and 'Quit' buttons is used to show the URL or external file name when the mouse is over a link.
'Quit' button: Quit xpdf.

Open...: Open a new PDF file via a file requester.
Reload: Reload the current PDF file. Note that Xpdf will reload the file automatically (on a page change or redraw) if it has changed since it was last loaded.
Save as...: Save the current file via a file requester.
Rotate counterclockwise: Rotate the page 90 degrees counterclockwise.
Rotate clockwise: Rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise. The two rotate commands are intended primarily for PDF files where the rotation isn't correctly specified in the file, but they're also useful if your X server doesn't support font rotation.
Quit: Quit xpdf.

Text selection

Dragging the mouse with the left button held down will highlight an arbitrary rectangle. Any text inside this rectangle will be copied to the X selection buffer.

Links

Clicking on a hyperlink will jump to the link's destination. A link to another PDF document will make xpdf load that document. A 'launch' link to an executable program will display a dialog, and if you click 'ok', execute the program. URL links call an external command (see the WEB BROWSERS section below).

Panning

Dragging the mouse with the middle button held down pans the window.

Key bindings

o: Open a new PDF file via a file requester.
r: Reload the current PDF file. Note that Xpdf will reload the file automatically (on a page change or redraw) if it has changed since it was last loaded.
f: Find a text string.
n: Move to the next page. Scrolls to the top of the page, unless scroll lock is turned on.
p: Move to the previous page. Scrolls to the top of the page, unless scroll lock is turned on.
<Space> or <PageDown> or <Next>: Scroll down on the current page; if already at bottom, move to next page.
<Backspace> or <Delete> or <PageUp> or <Previous>: Scroll up on the current page; if already at top, move to previous page.
<Home>: Scroll to top of current page.
<End>: Scroll to bottom of current page.
arrows: Scroll the current page.
0: Set the zoom factor to zero (72 dpi).
+: Zoom in (increment the zoom factor by 1).
-: Zoom out (decrement the zoom factor by 1).
z: Set the zoom factor to 'page' (fit page to window).
w: Set the zoom factor to 'width' (fit page width to window).
control-L: Redraw the current page.
q: Quit xpdf.

WEB BROWSERS

If you want to run xpdf automatically from netscape or mosaic (and probably other browsers) when you click on a link to a PDF file, you need to edit (or create) the files .mime.types and .mailcap in your home directory. In .mime.types add the line:

: application/pdf pdf

In .mailcap add the lines:

: # Use xpdf to view PDF files.

: application/pdf; xpdf -q %s

Make sure that xpdf is on your executable search path.

When you click on a URL link in a PDF file, xpdf will execute the command specified by the xpdf.urlCommand resource, replacing an occurrence of '%s' with the URL. For example, to call netscape with the URL, use this resource setting:

: xpdf.urlCommand: netscape -remote 'openURL(%s)'

REMOTE SERVER MODE

Xpdf can be started in remote server mode by specifying a server name (in addition to the file name and page number). For example:

: xpdf -remote myServer file.pdf

If there is currently no xpdf running in server mode with the name 'myServer', a new xpdf window will be opened. If another command:

: xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 9

is issued, a new copy of xpdf will not be started. Instead, the first xpdf (the server) will load another.pdf and display page nine. If the file name is the same:

: xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 4

the xpdf server will simply display the specified page.

The -raise option tells the server to raise its window; it can be specified with or without a file name and page number.

The -quit option tells the server to close its window and exit.

CONFIGURATION FILE

Xpdf will read a file called .xpdfrc from your home directory (if it exists). This file can contain two types of entries.

fontpath directory: Look for Type 1 fonts in directory. Xpdf uses this only to get the font encoding. For display, the font must also be mapped with a fontmap entry.
fontmap PDF-font X-font: Map PDF-font (as referenced in a PDF file) to X-font, which should be a standard X font descriptor with '%s' in the pixel size position.

For example, use:

: fontmap TimesCE-Roman -*-times-medium-r-*-*-%s-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859-2

to map the Central European (Latin-2) version of the Times-Roman font. This assumes that you've installed the appropriate X fonts (see mkfontdir(1)). Xpdf knows about the ISO8859-2 encoding, so you don't need a fontpath entry for these fonts. To use the Bakoma Type 1 fonts, do this:

: fontpath /home/derekn/fonts/bakoma
fontmap cmb10 -bakoma-cmb10-medium-r-normal--%s-*-*-*-p-*-adobe-fontspecific
fontmap cmbsy10 -bakoma-cmbsy10-medium-r-normal--%s-*-*-*-p-*-adobe-fontspecific
etc...

This assumes that the Type 1 font files are available in the directory /home/derekn/fonts/bakoma.