pdftops

pdftops(1)                  General Commands Manual                 pdftops(1)

NAME
       pdftops  - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (ver-
       sion 3.02)

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 com-
       mands.  These are listed in square brackets with the description of the
       corresponding command line option.

       -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  op-
              tions   (-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 and masked image generation.  [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 com-
              piled 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  Post-
              Script  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 out-
              put.  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  dis-
              ables that embedding.  No attempt is made to substitute for non-
              embedded  CID  PostScript  fonts.   [config  file:   psEmbedCID-
              PostScriptFonts]

       -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-embed-
              ded CID TrueType fonts.  [config file: psEmbedCIDTrueTypeFonts]

       -preload
              Convert PDF forms to PS  procedures,  and  preload  image  data.
              This  uses more memory in the PostScript interpreter, but gener-
              ates significantly smaller PS files in situations  where,  e.g.,
              the same image is drawn on every page of a long document.

       -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:  psExpandS-
              maller]

       -noshrink
              Don't  scale  PDF pages which are larger than the paper.  By de-
              fault, 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]

       -pagecrop
              Treat the CropBox as the PDF page size.  By default, the  Media-
              Box is used as the page size.

       -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:

       0      No error.

       1      Error opening a PDF file.

       2      Error opening an output file.

       3      Error related to PDF permissions.

       99     Other error.

AUTHOR
       The  pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996-2007 Glyph &
       Cog, LLC.

SEE ALSO
       xpdf(1), pdftotext(1),  pdfinfo(1),  pdffonts(1),  pdftoppm(1),  pdfim-
       ages(1), xpdfrc(5)
       http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/

                               27 February 2007                     pdftops(1)