.Dd Created:2026-03-30|Updated:2026-03-30|
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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 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