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Invocation

Calling @pack is fairly simple: 

a2ps Options... Files...

Command line options

@pack uses GNU getopt, hence:

Here after bool stands for boolean. It is considered as true (i.e. setting the option on), if bool is `yes', or `1'; as false if it equals `no' or `0'; and raise an error otherwise. The corresponding short option takes no arguments, but corresponds to a positive answer.

Global behavior

`-q'
`--quiet'
`--silent'
be really quiet
`-v'
`--verbose'
tell what we are doing
`-V'
`--version'
print version and exit successfully
`-=shortcut'
`--user-option=shortcut'
use the shortcut defined by the user. See section Configuration files, item `UserOption:'.
`--report[=language]'
generate PreScript report on all/language style. This file must be later processed by @pack using the PreScript style.
`--guess'
@pack won't print anything, but will act as file does: it returns for each file the language in which @pack believes the file is written. This can be very useful on broken systems to understand why a file is written with a bad style sheet (see section Automatic style).
`-h'
`--help'
print a short help, and exit successfully.
`--list-options'
Give a extensive report on @pack configuration and installation.
`--list-features'
Known medias, encodings, languages, prologues, printers and user option shortcuts are reported.

Sheets

`-M'
`--media=media'
use output media media. Currently media may be `A3', `A4', `A5', `B4', `B5', `Letter', `Legal', `Tabloid', `Ledger', `Statement', `Executive', `Folio', `Quarto', `10x14'. `A4dj', `Letterdj' are also defined for Desk Jet owners, since that printer needs bigger margins.
`-r'
`--landscape'
print in landscape mode
`-R'
`--portrait'
print in portrait mode
`--columns=num'
specify the number of columns of virtual pages per physical page.
`--rows=num'
specify the number of rows of virtual pages per physical page.
`--major=direction'
specify whether the virtual pages should be first filled in rows (direction = `rows') or in columns (direction = `columns').
`-1'
Predefined layout: 1 x 1 portrait, 80 chars/line, major rows (i.e. alias for `--columns=1 --rows=1 --portrait --chars-per-line=80 --major=rows').
`-2'
1 x 1 landscape, 80 chars/line, major rows.
`-3'
3 x 1 landscape, major rows.
`-4'
2 x 2 portrait, 80 chars/line, major rows.
`-5'
5 x 1 landscape, major rows.
`-6'
3 x 2 landscape, 80 chars/line, major rows.
`-7'
7 x 1 landscape, major rows.
`-8'
4 x 2 landscape, 80 chars/line, major rows.
`-9'
3 x 3 portrait, 80 chars/line, major rows.
`-j'
`--borders=bool'
print borders around virtual pages.
`-A'
`--compact=bool'
Compact mode for a sequence of files. This option allows the printing of more than one file in the same physical page. This option makes sense only when the number of virtual pages is greater than 1. Otherwise, the beginning of each file will be printed in a new sheet.
`--margin[=num]'
Specify the size of the margin (num PostScript points, or 12 points without arguments) to leave in the inside (i.e. left for the front side page, and right for the back side). This is intended to ease the binding.

Pages

`--line-numbers=number'
precede each number line with its line number.
`-C'
Alias for `--line-numbers=5'.
`-f'
`--fontsize=size'
scale font to size for body text. size is a float number. To change the base font, change the current prolog (see section Designing prologues.
`-lnum'
`--chars-per-line=num'
Set the number of columns per page. num is the real number of columns devoted to the body of the text, i.e., no matter whether lines are numbered or not.
`-Lnum'
`--lines-per-page=num'
Set the lines per virtual page for printing. The font size is automatically scaled up to fill in the whole page. This is useful for printing preformatted documents which have a fixed number of lines per page. The scaling of the font size will be suppressed if this option is used with option `--font'. The minimum number of lines per page is set at 40 and maximum is at 160. If a number less than 40 is supplied, scaling will be turned off and a warning message is printed on the terminal.
`-m'
`--catman'
Understand UNIX manual output ie: 66 lines per page and possible bolding and underlining sequences. The understanding of bolding and underlining is there by default even if `--catman' is not specified.
`-Tnum'
`--tabsize=num'
set tabulator size to num. This option is ignored if --interpret=no is given.
`--non-printable-format=format'
specify how non-printable chars are printed. format can be `caret' (`^A', `M-^B' etc.), or `space' (a space is written instead of the non-printable character).

Headers

These are the options through which you may define the information you want to see all around the pages.

All these options support text as an argument, which is composed of plain strings and meta sequences. See section Meta sequences for details.

`-b[text]'
`--header[=text]'
set the page header
`-B'
`--no-header'
no page headers at all.
`--center-title[=text]'
`--left-title[=text]'
`--right-title[=text]'
Set virtual page center, left and right titles to text.
`-u[text]'
`--underlay[=text]'
use text as under lay (or water mark), i.e., in a light gray, and under every page.
`--left-footer[=text]'
`--footer[=text]'
`--right-footer[=text]'
Set sheet footers to text.

Input

`-c'
`--truncate-lines=bool'
Cut lines too large to be printed inside the borders. The maximum line size depends on format and font size used and whether line numbering is enabled.
`-i'
`--interpret=bool'
interpret tab, bs and ff chars
`-Xname'
`--encoding=name'
use input encoding name. Currently @pack supports:
`ascii'
Regular ASCII code.
`latin1'
Which real ISO name is ISO8859-1.
`latin2 (ISO8859-2)'
`latin3 (ISO8859-3)'
`latin4 (ISO8859-4)'
`latin5 (ISO8859-9)'
`latin6 (ISO8859-10)'
The support for these encodings is provided thanks to Ogonkify (see section `Overview' in Ogonkify manual). Ogonkify is a tool that lets you extend the font support for most encodings, i.e., for most non-western-Europe alphabets. If you think the support is not good enough, you may help the extension of Ogonkify: See section `Adding new characters' in Ogonkify manual, for details.
`hp8'
The 8 bits Roman encoding for HP.
`mac'
For the Macintosh encoding. The support is not sufficient, and a lot of character may be missing at the end of the job. This is planed to be fixed.
`ibmpc'
For the regular PC encoding. Not all the characters will be printed.
`pcg'
For the PC Graphic encoding.
`cp1250'
MicroSoft's CP-1250 encoding (aka CeP).
`-t filename'
`--title=filename'
Give the name filename to the files read trough the standard input.
`--prologue=prologue'
Use prologue as the PostScript prologue for @pack{}. prologue must be in a file named `prologue.pro', which be in a directory of your library path (see section Library files). Currently the available prologues are:
`bw'
(black and white) the regular presentation
`gray'
same presentation, but with gray shades for comments etc.
`gray2'
same as gray, but light declaration (such as function calls etc.) are mapped on the same shape as the strong declarations (such as function declaration etc.).
`color'
still the same idea, but with colors.
`--print-anyway=bool'
force binary printing. By default, a whole print job is stopped as soon as a binary file is detected. To detect such a file we make use of a very simple heuristic: if the first sheet of the file contains more than 40% of non-printing characters, it's a binary file.

Output

`-ofile'
`--output=file'
leave output to file file. If file is `-', leave output to the standard output.
`-nnum'
`--copies=num'
print num copies of each page
`-D'
`--setpagedevice[=key:value]'
Pass a page device definition to the generated PostScript output. If no value is given, key is removed from the definitions. For example, command 
a2ps -DDuplex:true report.pre
prints file `report.pre' in duplex (two side) mode. Page device operators are implementation dependent but they are standardized. See section Page device options for details.
`-S'
`--statusdict=key[:value]'
`--statusdict=key[::value]'
Pass a statusdict definition to the generated PostScript output. statusdict operators and variables are implementation dependent; see printer's documentation for details. See section Statusdict options for details. If no value is given, key is removed from the definitions. With a single colon, pass a call to an operator, for instance: 
a2ps -Ssetpapertray:1 quicksort.c
prints file `quicksort.c' by using paper from the paper tray 1 (assuming that printer supports paper tray selection). With two colons, define variable key to equal value. For instance: 
a2ps -Spapertray::1 quicksort.c
produces 
  /papertray 1 def
in the PostScript.
`-k'
`--page-prefeed'
enable page prefeeding. It consists in positioning the sheet in the printing area while the PostScript is interpreted (instead of waiting the end of the interpretation of the page before pushing the sheet). It can lead to an significant speed up of the printing. @pack quotes the access to that feature, so that non supporting printers won't fail.
`-K'
`--no-page-prefeed'
disable page prefeeding. See item `DefaultPrinter:' in section Configuration files and results of option `--list-options' to see the bindings between printer names and commands.
`-P name'
`--printer=name'
send output to printer name. See item `Printer:' and `Unknown printer:' in section Your printers and results of option `--list-options' to see the bindings between printer names and commands.
`-d'
send output to the default printer. See item `DefaultPrinter:' in section Your printers.
`-snum'
`--side=num'
number of sheet sides. num is of course 1 or 2.

Pretty printing

`-g'
`--graphic-symbols=bool'
set symbols graphical conversion
`-Elanguage'
`--pretty-print=language'
use the language pretty print style sheet. See section Known languages, for the available style sheets.
`-K'
`--automatic-style=bool'
@pack will try to guess in what language is written your files, and use the corresponding style sheet.
`--strip-level=num'
Depending on the value of num:
  1. everything is printed;
  2. regular comments are not printed
  3. strong coments are not printed
  4. every comment is canceled.
This option is valuable for instance in java in which case strong comments are the so called documentation comments, or in SDL for which some graphical editors pollutes the specification with internal data as comments. Note that the current implementation is not satisfactory: some undesired blank lines remain. This is planed to be fixed.

Meta sequences

Headers, footers, titles and the water mark are strings in which some meta sequences are later replaced by their actual values. In general `%' are related to general information, while `$' meta sequences are related to the current file.

On a new sheet @pack first draws the water mark, then the content of the first page, then the frame of the first page, (ditto with the others), and finally the sheet header and footers. This order must be taken into account for some meta sequences (e.g., `$L', `$l').

Currently @pack support the following meta sequences:

`%%'
character `%'
`$$'
character `$'
`%?#cond#if_true#if_false#'
this may be used for conditional assignment. The separator (presented here as `#') may be any character. if_true and if_false may be defined exactly the same way as regular headers, included meta sequences and the `$?' construct. cond may be:
`l'
true if printing in landscape mode,
`v'
true if printing on the back side of the sheet (verso).
`1'
`2'
`3'
true if tag 1, 2 or 3 is not empty. See item `$t1' for explanation.
`$(var)'
value of the environment variable var
`%a'
the localized equivalent for `Printed by User Name'
`%A'
the localized equivalent for `Printed by User Name from Host Name'
`%a{username}'
the localized equivalent for `Printed by username'
`%A{username@hostname}'
the localized equivalent for `Printed by username from hostname'. These two are provided in the case @pack would be used by the print service: since neither of the user name nor the host name can be known at the time the files reach @pack{}, these options should be used.
`%c'
trailing component of the current working directory
`%C'
current time in `hh:mm:ss' format
`$C'
file modification time in `hh:mm:ss' format
`%d'
current working directory
`%D'
current date in `yy-mm-dd' format
`$D'
file modification date in `yy-mm-dd' format
`%D{string}'
format current date according to string with the strftime(3) function.
`$D{string}'
format file's last modification date according to string with the strftime(3) function.
`%e'
current date in localized short format (e.g., `Jul 4, 76' in English, or `14 Juil 89' in French).
`$e'
file modification date in localized short format.
`%E'
current date in localized long format (e.g., `July 4, 76' in English, or `Samedi 14 Juillet 89' in French).
`$E'
file modification date in localized long format.
`%F'
current date in `dd.mm.yyyy' format.
`$F'
file modification date in `dd.mm.yyyy' format.
`%l'
top most line number of the current page
`$l'
current line number. To print the page number and the line interval in the right title, use `--right-title="$q:%l-$l"'.
`$L'
number of lines in the current file.
`%m'
the host name up to the first `.' character
`%M'
the full host name
`%n'
the user login name
`$n'
input file name without the directory part
`%N'
the user's pw_gecos field up to the first `,' character
`$N'
the full input file name
`%p'
current page number
`$p'
page number for this file
`%P'
total number of pages printed
`$P'
number of pages of the current file
`%q'
localized equivalent for `Page %p'
`$q'
localized equivalent for `Page $p'
`%Q'
localized equivalent for `Page %p/%P'
`$Q'
localized equivalent for `Page $p/$P'
`%s'
current sheet number
`$s'
sheet number for the current file
`%S'
total number of sheets
`$S'
number of sheet of the current file
`%t'
current time in 12-hour am/pm format
`$t'
file modification time in 12-hour am/pm format
`$t1'
`$t2'
`$t3'
Content of tag 1, 2 and 3. Tags are pieces of text @pack fetches in the files, according to the style. For instance, in mail-folder style, tag 1 is the title of the mail, and tag 2 its author.
`%T'
current time in 24-hour format `hh:mm'
`$T'
file modification time in 24-hour format `hh:mm'
`%*'
current time in 24-hour format with seconds `hh:mm:ss'
`$*'
file modification time in 24-hour format with seconds `hh:mm:ss'
`$v'
the sequence number of the current input file
`$V'
the total number of files
`%W'
current date in `mm/dd/yy' format
`$W'
file modification date in `mm/dd/yy' format

All format directives can also be given in format

escape width directive

where width specifies the width of the column to which the escape is printed. For example, escape `$5%' will expand to something like ` 12'. If the width is negative, the value will be printed left-justified.

Page device options

Page device is a PostScript level 2 feature that offers an uniform interface to control printer's output device. a2ps protects all page device options inside an if block so they have no effect in level 1 interpreters. Although all level 2 interpreters support page device, they do not have to support all page device options. For example some printers can print in duplex mode and some can not. Refer to the documentation of your printer for supported options.

Here are some usable page device options which can be selected with the `-D' option (`--setpagedevice'). For a complete listing, see PostScript Language Reference Manual: section 4.11 Device Setup.

Collate boolean
how output is organized when printing multiple copies
Duplex boolean
duplex (two side) printing
ManualFeed boolean
manual feed paper tray
OutputFaceUp boolean
print output `face up' or `face down'
Tumble boolean
how opposite sides are positioned in duplex printing

Statusdict options

The statusdict is a special storage entity in PostScript (called a dictionnary), in which some variables and operators determine the behavior of the printer. As for page device, those variables are device dependent: refer to the documentation of your printer for supported options.

Here are some statusdict definitions in which you might be interested:

manualfeed boolean
Variable which determine that the manual fed paper tray will be used.

Library files

@pack uses several files: its PostScript prologue, encoding related files, and such. @pack looks for these files in the following path: 

$HOME/.a2ps:/usr/local/share/a2ps

You may change this default path with the environment variable A2PS_LIBRARY.

If you plan to define yourself some header files for @pack (option `--prologue'), they should be in one of those directory, with a `.pro' suffix.

Exit status

The following exit values are returned:

`0'
@pack terminated normally.
`1'
an error occured.
`2'
bad argument was given.
`3'
unknown language was given.
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