SFDDIFF(1) General Commands Manual SFDDIFF(1)NAME
sfddiff - compare two font files
SYNOPSIS
sfddiff [--help] [--ignorehints] [--ignorenames] [--ignoregpos] [--ignoregsub] [--ignorebitmaps] [--exact] [--warn] [--merge outfile]
[--usage] [--version] fontfile1 fontfile2
DESCRIPTION
The program sfddiff compares two font files, which may be in any format fontforge(1) can read. It will notice the following differences:
1) Characters are present in one font but not in the other.
2) Characters are present in both fonts but have different sets of outlines or references. The outlines may be compared so that only
exact matches are accepted, or so that a fuzzier match is used. Similarly references may need to match exactly, or may be matched
after an unlink.
This fuzzy comparison is useful when comparing truetype and postscript fonts, or when comparing a font with references to one with-
out.
3) The postscript hints or truetype instructions are different.
4) The font names (the truetype `name' table) differ.
5) The kerning (and other `gpos' information) differs.
6) The ligatures (and other `gsub' information) differ.
7) Any bitmap strikes present in one font but not in the other.
8) Any bitmap characters present in one strike of one font but in the equivalent strike of the other.
9) Any bitmap characters which differ.
OPTIONS --help Provide a description with a list of the available options.
--ignorehints
Suppress the reporting of hint/instruction differences.
--ignoregpos
Suppress the reporting of kerning (and other `gpos') differences.
--ignoregsub
Suppress the reporting of ligature (and other `gsub') differences.
--ignorenames
Suppress the reporting of name string differences.
--ignorebitmaps
Suppress the reporting of bitmap differences.
--exact
Require outlines to match exactly.
--warn Warn if the outlines/references are slightly different.
--merge outfile
Store a merged version of the two fonts into the specified output file. The merged data will be based on sfdfile1, as well as any
characters present in sfdfile2 but not in sfdfile1 will be added, and the outlines of sfdfile2 will be placed in the background.
Finally, for any characters with different outlines or references the background of the the character will contain the outlines from
sfdfile2 (references will be unlinked into outlines and those outlines also will be added).
--usage
Display the usage description.
--version
Display the current version.
SEE ALSO fontforge(1)
The HTML version of the fontforge manual at:
http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/
AUTHOR
Copyright (C) 2000-2006 by George Williams (gww@silcom.com). Manual page heavily rewritten and modified to use standard -man(5) macros by
R.P.C. Rodgers (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov), 23 October 2002.
8 April 2006 SFDDIFF(1)
Check Out this Related Man Page
FONTFORGE(1) General Commands Manual FONTFORGE(1)NAME
fontforge - create and modify PostScript, TrueType and SVG fonts
SYNOPSIS
fontforge [-c string] [-cmap maptype] [-depth pixeld] [-display str] [-lang=ff] [-lang=py] [-last] [-library-status] [-help] [-keyboard
ktype] [-new] [-nosplash] [-recover mode] [-script file] [-sync] [-usage] [-vc vclass] [-version] fontfile ...
DESCRIPTION
The program fontforge allows you to create and modify font files, accepting input in the following formats (with associated file extensions
appearing in parentheses):
Glyph Bitmap Distribution (.bdf)
Macintosh resource fonts (.dfont, .bin, .hqx)
OpenType (.otf)
fontforge spline font database (.sfd)
POSTSCRIPT, which includes:
ASCII format (.pfa)
Binary format (.pfb)
CID-keyed fonts, Adobe convention used primarily for Asian characters (.cid, .otf)
POSTSCRIPT Type 0 (.ps)
POSTSCRIPT Type 3 (.ps)
Scaleable vector graphics fonts (.svg)
TeX bitmap (.pk)
TrueType (.ttf, .ttc)
X11 bitmap (.pcf)
If the argument list contains a font file name (or several), fontforge opens a fontview window for each font displaying the characters of
the that font. In the absence of options or arguments, the program opens a file-picker window, allowing you to browse your disk to find a
font file, or create a new one.
This manual page is intended only as a rudimentary overview; see the HTML Users Manual for more complete information.
OPTIONS -c string
Must be the first argument. Executes "string" as a set of scripting commands. Any additional arguments will be passed to the
script.
-cmap maptype
Employ the specified method to control 8-bit colormaps, where maptype assumes one of these three values:
current
Attempt to allocate colors in the current (shared) colormap. The program will likely not find everything it requires.
copy Allocate what can be allocated, then copy the current colormap; it can thus make use of cells other programs are using.
private
Create a new colormap and fill it with the required colors.
-depth pixeld
Attempt to employ a visual that matches the specified pixel depth, pixeld.
-display str
Employ the X display specified by the string str (for example: localhost:0).
-help Display the usage description and start a web client displaying the online documentation.
-keyboard ktype
Alter the displayed menus to employ modifier keys appropriate to the specified keyboard type, where ktype assumes one of the follow-
ing four values:
ibm IBM PC type keyboard.
mac Apple Macintosh keyboard.
sun Sun workstation keyboard.
ppc Macintosh keyboard, but on a system running SuSe linux (the mappings differ from those used under MacOS X).
-last Opens whatever font you last edited with fontforge. If you specify n -last fontforge will open the last n fonts.
-lang=ff
Interpret the script with the fontforge interpreter.
-lang=py
Interpret the script with the python interpreter.
-library-status
Prints information about optional libraries.
-new Create a new font with the ISO 8859-1 encoding (the international encoding standard for western Europe, and the standard for most X
fonts).
-nosplash
Suppress display of the splash screen.
-recover mode
Control the crash recovery mechanism (helpful if crash recovery causes problems), where mode takes on one of three allowed settings:
auto perform automatic recovery (default) if the program crashed before saving changes.
clean Delete recovery information.
none Suppress crash recovery.
-script file
Execute the script named file. Does not open the X display. This must be the first argument passed to fontforge. Any other argu-
ments are handled by the scriptfile itself. Any other command line arguments will be passed to the script. The program contains a
command interpreter which allows access to most but not all of its interactive features. If a scriptfile is executable, and if its
first line contains the string "fontforge", then the argument -script may be omitted. This means that fontforge can be used as an
interpreter.
-sync Make X synchronous. Used primarily for debugging, this option slows X down.
-usage Display the usage description.
-vc vclass
Attempt to use a visual that matches the class, vclass, specified as either the name of a visual class or an integer enumerating a
visual class.
-version
Display the current version (a six digit string containing the date stamp of the source files).
ENVIRONMENT
If any of the following environment variables exist, they are used:
BROWSER
Specifies the name of a browser program for examining documentation.
AUTOTRACE
Specifies the location of the autotrace program (usually FontForge can figure this out without help, but not always).
MF Specifies the location of the metafont program.
FONTFORGE_VERBOSE
Turns on verbose mode in scripting. Each statement is printed as it is executed.
FILES
~/.FontForge/autosave/
crash recovery directory
/usr/local/share/fontforge/*.ui
translations for the user interface
/usr/local/share/doc/fontforge/*.html
optional location for online documentation.
/usr/local/share/fontforge/*.cidmap
"encoding" files for Adobe's cid formats from http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/cidmaps.tgz
SEE ALSO sfddiff(1)
The HTML version of the fontforge manual, available online at:
http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/
NOTE
fontforge used to be called pfaedit.
AUTHOR
Copyright (C) 2000-2007 by George Williams (gww@silcom.com). Original manual page by Tom Harvey, subsequently modified by George Williams.
Heavily rewritten and modified to use standard -man (5) macros by R.P.C. Rodgers (rodgers@nlm.nih.gov), 23 October 2002.
BUGS
Undoubtedly many, but unknown and ever changing. See
http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/#known-bugs for a current list.
2 March 2004 FONTFORGE(1)