mpage  -  print  multiple  pages  per  sheet on PostScript
       printer


SYNOPSIS

       mpage       [-1248aAcEfHloOrRStUvxX]        [-b papersize]
       [-B[num[lrtb]*]  [-C  [encoding]]  [-da|p] [-D dateformat]
       [-F fontname]   [-h header]   [-j first[-last][%interval]]
       [-L lines]  [-m[num[lrtb]*]  [-M[num[lrtb]*]  [-p[prprog]]
       [-P[printer]]   [-s tabstop]   [-W width]    [-z printcmd]
       [-Z printcmd_args] [file...]]


DESCRIPTION

       mpage  reads  plain text files or PostScript documents and
       prints them on a PostScript printer with the text  reduced
       in  size  so  that  several  pages  appear on one sheet of
       paper.  This is useful for viewing large  printouts  on  a
       small  amount of paper.  It uses ISO 8859.1 to print 8-bit
       characters.

       The following options are recognized (note that  arguments
       to  options  may  be  separated from the option by spaces,
       except for -B, -m, -M, -p and -P):

       -1     Print 1 normal page per sheet (included for  symme­
              try).

       -2     Print 2 normal pages per sheet.

       -4     Print 4 normal pages per sheet (default).

       -8     Print 8 normal pages per sheet.

       -a     Toggle  layout  of  the  pages on the sheet so that
              successively numbered pages run down the sheet,  as
              opposed to left to right.  (default updown) .

       -A     This  option is deprecated, see -b.  Prepare output
              for European  A4  sized  paper.   For  default  see
              'mpage -x'.

              Prepare  output for selected paper type.  Papersize
              can be A3 for European A3, A4 for European A4, Let­
              ter  for  US Letter or Legal for Legal sized paper.
              For default see 'mpage -x'.  To  see  the  list  of
              currently  available  types,  just  give the 'mpage
              -bl' or 'mpage  -b?'  command  (Note:  mpage  exits
              after finding such option use.)

       -B[<num>[lrtb]*]
              Setup  a box around a particular part of your page.
              Specify text box margins and line  thickness.   The
              default  is  0  columns  (lines)  for both left and
              right (top and bottom) margins and  0  line  thick­
              ness.  Specifying -B solely toggles printing of the
              box.  l, r, t or b set the left, right, top or bot­
              tom  margin  respectively to <num> columns (lines).
              Not specifying any of the sides, will set the  line
              thickness  when  <num>  is  given.  For example -B1
              sets the line thickness to 1.  Sides with  negative
              margins will not print.

       -c     Toggle concatenation off pages from different files
              on single sheets (default off).

       -C[encodingfile]
              Specify the  character  encoding  file.   The  file
              should   be   in   the   mpage   library  directory
              (/usr/share/mpage).  Mpage has an internal  default
              encoding  based  on  Latin-1  or  IBM codepage 850.
              Depending on compile time option this encoding def­
              inition  is on or not.  Not specifying an encoding­
              file will toggle the usage of the  internal  encod­
              ing.

       -da|p  Force  input to be taken as ascii (a) or postscript
              (p) text.  This way you can print  your  postscript
              code  as  text, or print postscript code that mpage
              does not recognise. When using -dp, make sure  that
              the the postscript code contains %Page page separa­
              tors or else things will probably look odd.

       -Ddateformat
              Set the date format as in strftime(3) to be used in
              date/time representations (e.g. in headers).

       -E     Print  2  normal  pages  per  sheet.  However, this
              option will print every second and  third  page  of

              -a and -l.

       -f     Toggles  folding  lines  longer  than  page   width
              (default off) .

       -Ffontname
              Specify font.  (default Courier).

       -hheader
              This  is used only when the -p or -H switch is used
              and is passed as the "-h header" option to pr(1) or
              as the header for -H.

       -H     Create  header line for each logical page separated
              from page text by a horizontal line. Unless  -h  is
              given,  the header consist of last file changetime,
              filename and page number, all in bold and  slightly
              larger  font.   This  option  only  applies to non-
              postscript files.

       -Iindent
              Indent text by indent characters.

       -jfirst[-last][%interval]
              Print just the selected sheets, specified  by  num­
              ber,  starting at 1.  Here last defaults to the end
              of data, interval to 1.  Thus  -j1-10  selects  the
              first  10 sheets, while -j 1%2 prints just the odd-
              numbered sheets and -j 2%2  prints  just  the  even
              ones.

              You can do double-sided printing, in two passes, as
              follows.  If you use 3-hole punched paper,  put  it
              in  the  printer such that the holes will appear at
              the top of the page -- on the right as you pull out
              the  printer  tray,  in  our  Laser  writer II NTX.
              Print the odd-numbered sheets with

                   mpage ... -j 1%2 ...

              Note the number of pages it  reports.   (Only  half
              this  many  will really be printed).  When printing
              finishes, if mpage reported an odd number of pages,
              remove  the  last  one  from the stack, since there
              will be no even-numbered sheet to match  it.   Then
              arrange  the  stack  of  paper  for printing on the
              other side.  (If it's punched, the holes  will  now

              out blank-side up; replace it  in  the  tray  still
              blank-side  up  but rotated 180 degrees.  For other
              printers, you figure it out.  Now print  the  even-
              numbered sheets in reverse order with

                   mpage ... -r -j 2%2 ...

              hoping  no  one else reaches the printer before you
              do.

       -k     When mapge finds a %%TRailer or %%PSTrailer in  the
              postscript  input  file it normally assumes this is
              the end of the postscript file  and  stops  reading
              the  input  file. But when the PS file includes EPS
              files, %%Trailers might  be  anywhere.  Using  this
              option ignores the %%TRailer and %%PSTRailer lines.

       -l     Toggle printing landscape or portrait mode.   Land­
              scape  pages  are  55  lines long by 132 characters
              wide by default.  Portrait pages are 66 lines  long
              by  80  characters  wide by default.  (default por­
              trait.)

       -Llines
              Adjust the page reduction parameters so that  lines
              lines  will  fit  in  the  space of one page.  This
              overrides the  default  values  normally  supplied.
              (See -l.)  If used in conjunction with -p then this
              value is passed to the pr(1) as well.   As  a  side
              effect  this changes the font size as well (as will
              the -W option.) So while  there  is  an  option  to
              change  font family, there is no explicit option to
              change font size!

       -m[<num>[lrtb]*]
              Specify sheet margin.  The  default  margin  is  20
              points.   Only specifying -m sets left margin to 40
              points.  l, r, t or b set left, right, top or  bot­
              tom margin respectively to <num> points.  Not spec­
              ifying any of the sides will  set  all  sides  when
              <num>  is  given.  <num> defaults to 40 points. For
              example  -m10  sets  all  margins  to  10   points.
              -ml50tb  sets left margin to default 40 and top and
              bottom margin to 50 points.  -m50l25bt30r set  bot­
              tom  and  top  margin  to 25, left margin to 50 and
              right margin to 30 points.  Margins can have  nega­
              tive   numbers.    Very  large  values  have  funny
              effects.  This is left as an exercise to the  user.

              Specify  logical  page  margins. For syntax, see -m
              option.  Defaults are 4 for -M solely,  and  8  for
              <num>.   Margins  can  be negative.  This way large
              white borders in your (postscript) documents can be
              reduced.   Very  large  values  have funny effects.
              This is left as an exercise to the user.

       -o     Toggle printing of  outlines  around  each  reduced
              page (default on).

       -O     Print  2  normal  pages  per  sheet.  However, this
              option will print every first  and  forth  page  of
              every  set  of four pages.  This option will ignore
              -a and -l.

       -p[prprog]
              Pipe input through prprog command (including speci­
              fied options) before printing (assumes the input is
              a text file).  When no  command  is  specified,  it
              defaults to pr(1).

       -P[printer]
              Specify  the printer to which the PostScript output
              will be sent (e.g.lpr -Pprinter). Using -P with  no
              printer  specified  will send the PostScript to the
              default printer queue (e.g. lpr).  Using  -P-  will
              return output to stdout, useful in combination with
              MPAGE environment variable. Without -P output  will
              be send to standard output.

       -r     Reverse printing.  The last sheet is printed first.
              The way of arranging reduced pages  on  the  sheets
              doesn't change.

       -R     Switch  to  left to right mode, starting first page
              on left bottom corner.  This might  be  useful  for
              landscape  postscript files.  (Note: using -l after
              -R undoes -R,  and  switches  to  normal  landscape
              mode.

       -stabstop
              Set  tabstop  width (default 8 characters).  Should
              by >= 2.

       -S     Accept  non-square  page  reduction.   By  default,

              wastes some space on the sheet.  With  -S,  reduced
              pages are larger but slightly distorted. (only used
              when printing postscript files.)

       -t     Toggle printing on both sides of the  paper.   This
              will  toggle  duplex mode of the printer.  Use this
              option only if your printer is capable of  printing
              in duplex mode.  (default off).

       -T     Toggle  tumble  of every second pages when printing
              in duplex mode.   Use  this  option  only  if  your
              printer  is  capable of printing in duplex mode and
              together with -t.

       -U     This option is deprecated, see -b.  Prepare  output
              for  US Letter sized paper.  For default see 'mpage
              -x'.

       -v     Toggle printing a count of  the  number  of  sheets
              produced for printing (default off.)

       -Wwidth
              Adjust the page reduction parameters so that a line
              with width characters long will fit in the space of
              one  page.   This overrides the default values nor­
              mally supplied.  (See -l.)  If used in  conjunction
              with  -p  then  this value is passed to the s pr(1)
              program as well.  See also the  -L option  on  font
              sizes.

       -x     Force  usage  display,  which  also  shows  current
              defaults.

       -X [header]
              Print  header  centered  on  each   physical   page
              (sheet).  If no header is given, the default is the
              current filename (note -c) on the left and the page
              number on the right.

       -zprintcommand
              Specify  command to use to send output to.  Default
              is lpr (1) for BSD style spooler, lp (1)  for  SYSV
              style   spooler.   You  can  specify  command  line
              options, but note -Z.  For example -zlp for  system
              V Unix.

              Specify  what  option  to use for the "-z printcom­
              mand" to specify a printqueue.   For  example  -zlp
              -Z-d  for  system  V  Unix.   Default is -P for BSD
              style spooler, -d for SYSV style spooler.


ENVIRONMENT

       mpage examines the  PRINTER  (or  LPDEST  for  SYSV  style
       spooler)  environment  variable  to  override  its default
       printer.

       The MPAGE_LIB environment variable can be used to  control
       where the character encoding files (-C) can be found.

       mpage  also  examines  the  MPAGE environment variable for
       default option settings.  Any  option  or  combination  of
       options  can  be  specified in the MPAGE environment vari­
       able.  For example, if MPAGE is set to the string:

              -2oPqms -L60

       it would (in the absence of other command line  arguments)
       print 2 pages per sheet, 60 lines per page, with outlines,
       on the printer named qms  (overriding  the  PRINTER/LPDEST
       environment  variable,  if it exists.)  In the environment
       variable, white space is used as an option delimiter,  and
       no quoting is recognized.

       Any  command  line  options will override both the PRINTER
       and MPAGE environment variables.


FILES

       /usr/tmp/mpageXXXXXX
       /usr/share/mpage


BUGS

       Suffers under the burden of far too many  switches.   (But
       you wanted the choices!)

       NULL  characters  in  a  postscript  input file will cause
       mpage to crash!

       Many others, w're sure.

       Mpage is year 2000 compliant, as long  as  the  underlying
       operating system is!!!

       Version 2.5.1 pre, Released March 1998.
       Location:

              http://www.mesa.nl/pub/mpage
              ftp://ftp.mesa.nl/pub/mpage


AUTHORS

       Marcel Mol <marcel@mesa.nl> (current maintainer).

       Mark P. Hahn (Original author)


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