xpdf

Section: User Commands (1)
Updated: 22 Feb 1998
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NAME

xpdf - Portable Document Format (PDF) file viewer for X (version 0.7a)

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.

-err: Send error messages to /dev/tty instead of stderr (useful if xpdf is started from another application, e.g., netscape which otherwise pops up an annoying little window for every error).
-z number: Set the initial zoom factor (-5 .. 5). [xpdf.initialZoom]
-g geometry: Set the initial window geometry. (-geometry is equivalent.) [xpdf.geometry]
-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.
-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]
-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]
-cmd: Print commands as they're executed (useful for debugging).
-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.

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.
'Page' entry box: Move to a specific page number. Click in the box to activate it, type the page number, then hit return.
magnifying glass buttons: Increase and decrease the resolution, i.e., zoom in and zoom out.
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.
Save PDF...: Save the current file via a file requester.
Rotate left: Rotate the page 90 degrees counterclockwise.
Rotate right: 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.
f: Find a text string.
n: Move to the next page.
p: Move to the previous page.
<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.
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 -err %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.