pdftops - Portable Document Format (PDF) to PostScript converter (version 3.00)

pdftops [options] [PDF-file [PS-file]]

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.

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.

Many of the following options can be set with configuration file commands. 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 options (-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. [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 compiled 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 PostScript 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 output. 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 disables that embedding. No attempt is made to substitute for non-embedded CID PostScript fonts. [config file: psEmbedCIDPostScriptFonts]

-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-embedded CID TrueType fonts. [config file: psEmbedCIDTrueTypeFonts]

-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: psExpandSmaller]

-noshrink

Don't scale PDF pages which are larger than the paper. By default, 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]

-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.)

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.

The pdftops software and documentation are copyright 1996-2004 Glyph & Cog, LLC.

xpdf(1), pdftotext(1), pdfinfo(1), pdffonts(1), pdftoppm(1), pdfimages(1), xpdfrc(5)

http://www.foolabs.com/xpdf/