.Dd Created:2026-03-30|Updated:2026-04-02|
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.Dt POSTSCRIPT oh
.Os linux , OpenBSD 7.8 |
.Nm postscript 
.Nd usage, macros, tips and examples.
PostScript is a stack-based documentation language.
.Sh BASICS
.obc document_proces
.It Document processor Ta : Li %!PS No or Li %!PS-Adobe
.D1 Using Li %!Ps-Adobe No allows PDF viewers to show document properties.
.D1 Tested properties: Li %%Title No , Li %%Creator
.It Device parameters Ta : Li setpagedevice
.D1 Example:
.obdl /PageSize
<< /PageSize [ width height ] >> setpagedevice
.Ed
.It Set position Ta : Li x y moveto
.D1 position Li 0 0 moveto No is bottom left.
.It Set font Ta : Li /fontName fontSize selectfont
.D1 Fonts tested: Li Helvetica, Courier, Times, Palatino.
.D1 All tested fonts have variants : -Bold, -Oblique, -BoldOblique. Eg.: Li /Helvetica-Bold
.It Display text Ta : Li (Text) show
.It Show content Ta : Li showpage
.El
.Ss Example
.obdl %!PS-Adobe
%%Title: The practice document
%%Creator: the ps creator
<< /PageSize [792 612] >> setpagedevice
10 580 moveto
/Helvetica-Bold 12 selectfont
(Text in Helvetica-Bold) show
10 560 moveto
/Helvetica 12 selectfont
(Text in Helvetica) show
10 545 moveto
/Courier 12 selectfont
(Text in Courier) show
showpage
.Ed
.Sy Result:
.obc
.It Sy Text in Helvetica-Bold
.It Text in Helvetica
.It Li Text in Courier
.El
The example can be saved and exported to PDF:
.Dl ps2pdf PS_FILE PDF_FILE
.Sh BASIC MACROS
Macros are defined as
.Li /MacroName MacroContent def
or
.Li /MacroName { MacroContent } def
\&.
.obc store_page_size
.It Store page size:
.obdl /pageWidth 792 def
/pageHeight 612 def
<< /PageSize [pageWidth PageHeight] >> setpagedevice
.Ed
.D1 Letter is 612x792, A4 is 595x843, can be inverted to use in portrait or landscape.
.It selectfont function:
.obdl /fontSize 12 def
/selFont { fontSize selectfont } def
/font /Helvetica selFont def
selFont
.Ed
.Sh STACK
PostScript is a stack-based language, eg.:
.Li 2 3 add
returns 5,
.Li 5 2 sub
returns 3.
.Sh COMMANDS
.obc command_description_value_from_stack__: description
.It Return current x and y Ta : Li currentpoint
.It Exchange the top two values from the stack Ta : Li exch
.It Return the top value from the stack Ta : Li pop
.It Sum top two values Ta : Li add
.It Sub top value from previous value Ta : Li sub
.It Multiply top two values Ta : Li mul
.It Divide the previous to last value by the top value Ta : div
.El
.Ss Usage
Set new y position
.obdl /margin_left 10 def
/line_height 15 def
/cur_y { currentpoint exch pop line_height sub } def
/new_line { margin_left cur_y moveto } def
.Ed
.Bl -enum -compact
.It
Define margin_left as 10
.It
Define line_height as 15
.It
Get current x and y
.It
Exchange x and y to have x as the top value in the stack.
.It
Pop x out of the stack.
.It
Remove line_height from current y position to get the new y position.
.It
new_line: Move to x at margin_left and cur_y
.El
.Ss New text line
.obdl /text_line { new_line /Helvetica sel_font show } def
(line added with text_line) text_line
.Ed
.Sh INCLUDE
.Dl (FILENAME) run
This requires running ps2pdf with -dNOSAFER. This applies to images as well.
.Sh TODO
.obdi Add sample file.
.El
.Sh SEE ALSO
.oxr dc oh
.oxr latex oh
.oxr pdf oh
.Xr documentation oh
.dm .Xr ps2pdf 1
.Ss links
.obc2
.It - Lk https://www.adobe.com/jp/print/postscript/pdfs/PLRM.pdf PLRM - PostScript Language Reference Manual
.It - Lk https://archive.org/details/postscriptlangua00adobrich PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook
.It - Lk https://hint.userweb.mwn.de/compiler/ThinkingInPostScript.pdf Thinking in PostScript
.It - Lk http://www.tailrecursive.org/postscript/postscript.html A First Guide to PostScript
.El
.Sh AUTHORS
.An -nosplit
.Xr ohazot oh |
.Xr about oh |
.Lk https://ohazot.com ohazot.com
.Aq Mt admin@ohazot.com