MP(1) MP(1)
NAME
mp - MetaPost, a system for drawing pictures
SYNOPSIS
mp [ options ] [ commands ]
DESCRIPTION
Mp interprets the MetaPost language and produces PostScript
pictures. The MetaPost language is similar to Knuth's Meta-
Font with additional features for including tex(1) or
troff(1) commands and accessing features of PostScript not
found in MetaFont.
The commands given on the command line to mp are passed to
it as the first input line. The first line should begin
with a filename, a control sequence, or &memname.
The normal usage is to say mp 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.
There is normally one output file for each picture gener-
ated, and the output files are named jobname.nnn, where nnn
is a number passed to the beginfig macro. The output file
name can also be jobname.ps if this number is negative.
The output files can be used as figures in a tex(1) document
by including
\special{psfile=jobname.nnn}
in the document. Alternatively, one can \input epsf.tex
and then use the macro \epsfbox{jobname.nnn} to produce a
box of the appropriate size containing the figure.
btex TeX commands etex
This causes mp to generate a picture expression that
corresponds to the tex commands. If the tex commands
generate more than one line of text, it must be in a
\vbox or a minipage environment.
verbatimtex TeX commands etex
This is ignored by mp except that the tex commands are
passed on to tex. When using latex instead of tex the
input file must start with a verbatimtex block that
gives the \documentstyle and \begin{document} commands.
You can use the `%&' construct in the first verbatimtex
block to ensure that the correct tex format is used to
process the commands.
MP(1) MP(1)
Since most tex
fonts have to be downloaded as bitmaps, the btex feature
works best when the output of mp is to be included in a tex
document so that dvips (see tex(1)) can download the fonts.
For self-contained PostScript output that can be used
directly or included in a troff document, start your input
file with the command prologues:=1 and stick to standard
PostScript fonts. Tex and mp use the names in the third col-
umn of the file trfonts.map, which can be found in the
directories with support files for mp.
Mp output can be included in a troff document via the
mpictures(6) macro package. In this case mp should be
invoked with the -T flag so that the commands between btex
and etex or between verbatimtex and etex are interpreted as
troff instead of tex. (This automatically sets
prologues:=1).
OPTIONS
This version of mp understands the following command line
options.
--mem mem
Use mem as the name of the mem to be used, instead of
the name by which mp was called or a %& line.
--help
Print help message and exit.
--ini
Be inimpost, for dumping bases; this is implicitly true
if the program is called as inimpost.
--interaction mode
Sets the interaction mode. The mode can be one of
batchmode, nonstopmode, scrollmode, and errorstopmode.
The meaning of these modes is the same as that of the
corresponding commands.
--kpathsea-debug bitmask
Sets path searching debugging flags according to the
bitmask. See the Kpathsea manual for details.
--progname name
Pretend to be program name. This affects both the for-
mat used and the search paths.
-T Produce TROFF output.
--troff
As -T.
MP(1) MP(1)
--version
Print version information and exit.
ENVIRONMENT
See the paths section of tex(1) for the details of how the
environment variables are used when searching. The
kpsewhich utility can be used to query the values of the
variables.
If the environment variable TEXMFOUTPUT is set, mp attempts
to put its output files in it, if they cannot be put in the
current directory.
Here is a list of the environment variables affect the
behavior of mp:
MPINPUTS
Search path for input files.
MFINPUTS
Auxiliary search path for input files with .mf exten-
sions.
MPSUPPORT
Directory for various tables for handling included tex
and troff.
MPXCOMMAND
The name of a shell script that converts embedded type-
setting commands to a form that mp understands.
Defaults: makempx for tex and troffmpx for troff.
TEX The version of tex or latex to use when processing btex
and verbatimtex commands. Default tex. This version of
mp allows you to use a `%&format' line instead.
TROFF
The troff pipeline for btex and verbatimtex commands.
Default eqn -d$$ | troff.
MPEDIT
A command template for invoking an editor.
A .mem file is a binary file that permits fast loading of
macro packages. Mp reads the default plain.mem unless
another .mem file is specified at the start of the first
line with an & just before it. There is also an that simu-
lates plain MetaFont so that mp can read .mf fonts.
Experts can create .mem files be invoking inimpost and giv-
ing macro definitions followed by a dump command.
MP(1) MP(1)
The MetaPost language is similar to MetaFont, but the manual
A User's Manual for MetaPost assumes no knowledge of Meta-
Font. Mp does not have bitmap output commands or MetaFont's
online display mechanism.
FILES
mpost.pool
Encoded text of 's messages.
*.mem
Predigested mem files.
plain.mp
The standard mem file.
mfplain.mp
The -compatible mem file.
/sys/lib/texmf/metapost/base/*.mp
The standard macros included in the original distribu-
tion.
/sys/lib/texmf/metapost/support/*
Various tables for handling included tex and troff.
/sys/lib/texmf/metapost/support/trfonts.map
Table of corresponding font names for troff and
PostScript.
psfonts.map
Table of corresponding font names for tex and
PostScript.
/sys/lib/texmf/doc/metapost/examples.mp
The source file for a few sample figures that are part
of a latex document mpintro.tex that describes the
MetaPost system in a little more detail.
SEE ALSO
troff(1), tex(1).
John D. Hobby, A User's Manual for MetaPost, CSTR 162, AT&T
Bell Labs,
John D. Hobby, Drawing Graphs with MetaPost, CSTR 164, AT&T
Bell Labs.
Donald E. Knuth, The MetaFont book.