pdftops - Unix, Linux Command

NAME

pdftops - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (version 3.00)

SYNOPSIS

pdftops [options] [PDF-file [PS-file]]

DESCRIPTION

Pdftops converts Portable Document Format (PDF) files to PostScript so they can be printed.

Pdftops reads the PDF file, PDF-file, and writes a PostScript file, PS-file. If PS-file is not specified, pdftops converts file.pdf to file.ps (or file.eps with the -eps option). If PS-file is '-’, the PostScript is sent to stdout.

CONFIGURATION FILE

Pdftops reads a configuration file at startup. It first tries to find the user’s private config file, ~/.xpdfrc. If that doesn’t exist, it looks for a system-wide config file, /etc/xpdf/xpdfrc. See the xpdfrc(5) man page for details.

OPTIONS

Many of the following options can be set with configuration file commands. These are listed in square brackets with the description of the corresponding command line option.

Tag	Description
-f number
	Specifies the first page to print.
-l number
	Specifies the last page to print.
-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. No more than one of the PostScript level options (-level1, -level1sep, -level2, -level2sep, -level3, -level3Sep) may be given. [config file: psLevel]
-level1sep
	Generate Level 1 separable PostScript. All colors are converted to CMYK. Images are written with separate stream data for the four components. [config file: psLevel]
-level2	Generate Level 2 PostScript. Level 2 supports color images and image compression. This is the default setting. [config file: psLevel]
-level2sep
	Generate Level 2 separable PostScript. All colors are converted to CMYK. The PostScript separation convention operators are used to handle custom (spot) colors. [config file: psLevel]
-level3	Generate Level 3 PostScript. This enables all Level 2 features plus CID font embedding. [config file: psLevel]
-level3Sep
	Generate Level 3 separable PostScript. The separation handling is the same as for -level2Sep. [config file: psLevel]
-eps	Generate an Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) file. An EPS file contains a single image, so if you use this option with a multi-page PDF file, you must use -f and -l to specify a single page. No more than one of the mode options (-eps, -form) may be given.
-form	Generate a PostScript form which can be imported by software that understands forms. A form contains a single page, so if you use this option with a multi-page PDF file, you must use -f and -l to specify a single page. The -level1 option cannot be used with -form.
-opi	Generate OPI comments for all images and forms which have OPI information. (This option is only available if pdftops was compiled with OPI support.) [config file: psOPI]
-noembt1	By default, any Type 1 fonts which are embedded in the PDF file are copied into the PostScript file. This option causes pdftops to substitute base fonts instead. Embedded fonts make PostScript files larger, but may be necessary for readable output. [config file: psEmbedType1Fonts]
-noembtt	By default, any TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF file are copied into the PostScript file. This option causes pdftops to substitute base fonts instead. Embedded fonts make PostScript files larger, but may be necessary for readable output. Also, some PostScript interpreters do not have TrueType rasterizers. [config file: psEmbedTrueTypeFonts]
-noembcidps
	By default, any CID PostScript fonts which are embedded in the PDF file are copied into the PostScript file. This option disables that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-embedded CID PostScript fonts. [config file: psEmbedCIDPostScriptFonts]
-noembcidtt
	By default, any CID TrueType fonts which are embedded in the PDF file are copied into the PostScript file. This option disables that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-embedded CID TrueType fonts. [config file: psEmbedCIDTrueTypeFonts]
-paper size
	Set the paper size to one of "letter", "legal", "A4", or "A3". This can also be set to "match", which will set the paper size to match the size specified in the PDF file. [config file: psPaperSize]
-paperw size
	Set the paper width, in points. [config file: psPaperSize]
-paperh size
	Set the paper height, in points. [config file: psPaperSize]
-nocrop	By default, output is cropped to the CropBox specified in the PDF file. This option disables cropping. [config file: psCrop]
-expand	Expand PDF pages smaller than the paper to fill the paper. By default, these pages are not scaled. [config file: psExpandSmaller]
-noshrink
	Don’t scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper. By default, pages larger than the paper are shrunk to fit. [config file: psShrinkLarger]
-nocenter
	By default, PDF pages smaller than the paper (after any scaling) are centered on the paper. This option causes them to be aligned to the lower-left corner of the paper instead. [config file: psCenter]
-duplex	Set the Duplex pagedevice entry in the PostScript file. This tells duplex-capable printers to enable duplexing. [config file: psDuplex]
-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.
-q	Don’t print any messages or errors. [config file: errQuiet]
-cfg config-file
	Read config-file in place of ~/.xpdfrc or the system-wide config file.
-v	Print copyright and version information.
-h	Print usage information. (-help and --help are equivalent.)

EXIT CODES

The Xpdf tools use the following exit codes:

Tag	Description
0	No error.
1	Error opening a PDF file.
2	Error opening an output file.
3	Error related to PDF permissions.
99	Other error.