NAME

       mpost,  pmpost,  upmpost  -  MetaPost,  a  system  for  creating  graphics r-mpost, r-pmpost, r-upmpost -
       restricted MetaPost

SYNOPSIS

       mpost [options] [commands]

       mpost --dvitomp dvifile[.dvi] [mpxfile[.mpx]]

DESCRIPTION

       MetaPost interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript (EPS) or Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG)
       pictures.  The MetaPost language is similar to Knuth's Metafont with additional  features  for  including
       tex(1) or troff(1) commands and accessing features of PostScript not found in Metafont.

       MetaPost  is normally used with a set of basic macros, and it will use its executable name as the name of
       the preload file to use.   For example, when called as mpost the mpost.mp  file  is  used,  which  simply
       reads plain.mp.  When the --ini option is given, preloading does not happen.

       The  commands given on the command line to the MetaPost program are passed to it as the first input line.
       (But it is often easier to type extended arguments as the first input line, since  UNIX  shells  tend  to
       gobble  up  or  misinterpret  MetaPost's  favorite  symbols, like semicolons, unless you quote them.) The
       normal usage is to say mpost figs to process  the  file  figs.mp.   The  basename  of  figs  becomes  the
       ``jobname'',  and  is used in forming output file names.  If no file is named, the jobname becomes mpout.
       The default extension, .mp, can be overridden by specifying an extension explicitly.

       When the --dvitomp option is given, MetaPost acts as DVI-to-MPX converter  only.   See  dvitomp  (1)  for
       details.

       The  pmpost program is a variant with Japanese support, and upmpost has Unicode-enabled Japanese support,
       analogous to ptex and uptex.

       All three variants are also installed with an `r-' prefix, that is, r-mpost, r-pmpost,  r-upmpost,  which
       implicitly  specify  the  --restricted  option  to  make  MetaPost safe to run on unknown input; the tex,
       makempx, and editor commands are disabled.

       This manual page is a mere skeleton.  For a list of all command line options, run --help.

       The main documentation for this version of MetaPost can be found in the User Manual that should have been
       installed along with the program and is also available from https://tug.org/metapost.

       The MetaPost language is similar to Metafont, but the manual assumes no knowledge of Metafont.   MetaPost
       does not have bitmap output commands or Metafont's online display mechanism.

FILES

       plain.mp
              The standard preload file.

       mfplain.mp
              The Metafont-compatible preload file.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/base/*.mp
              The standard MetaPost macros included in the original distribution.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/*
              Various tables for handling included tex and troff.

       $TEXMFMAIN/metapost/support/trfonts.map
              Table of corresponding font names for troff and PostScript.

       psfonts.map
              Table of corresponding font names for tex and PostScript.

       $TEXMFMAIN/doc/metapost/*
              The MetaPost manual and tutorial source, also including sample figures

SUGGESTED READING

       Donald  E.  Knuth,  The  Metafontbook (Volume C of Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN
       0-201-13445-4.
       TUGboat (the journal of the TeX Users Group).

SEE ALSO

       dvitomp(1), epstopdf(1), mf(1), mptopdf(1), tex(1),
       MetaPost home page ⟨https://tug.org/metapost/⟩.

AUTHORS

       MetaPost was created by John D. Hobby, incorporating algorithms from Metafont by Donald E. Knuth.  It was
       originally implemented on Unix, incorporating system-dependent routines from web2c, while not relying  on
       it except for the actual Web-to-C translator.

       Ulrik  Vieth  adapted  MetaPost  to take advantage of the advanced path searching features in more recent
       versions of web2c and worked towards fully integrating MetaPost into the canonical Unix TeX distribution.

       The primary author of the current MetaPost was Taco Hoekwater, with assistance from Hans Hagen  and  many
       others.  It is currently maintained by Luigi Scarso.

BUGS

       The MetaPost home page is https://tug.org/metapost.

Web2C 2023                                      31 December 2018                                        MPOST(1)