gv(1) General Commands Manual gv(1)
Name
gv - a PostScript and PDF previewer
Synopsis
gv [ filename ]
[-monochrome] [-grayscale] [-color]
[-[no]safer] [-[no]quiet] [-arguments <arguments>]
[-page <label>] [-[no]center]
[-media <media>]
[-portrait] [-landscape] [-upsidedown] [-seascape]
[-scale <n>] [-scalebase <n>]
[-swap] [-noswap]
[-antialias] [-noantialias]
[-dsc] [-nodsc]
[-eof] [-noeof]
[-pixmap] [-nopixmap]
[-watch] [-nowatch]
[-?] [-h] [-help] [-v]
[-resize] [-noresize]
[-geometry [<width>][x<height>][{+-}<xoffset>{+-}<yoffset>]
[-ad <resource file>]
[-style <resource file>]
[-spartan]
[<other toolkit options>]
Description
gv allows to view and navigate through PostScript and PDF documents on an X display by providing a user interface for the ghostscript
interpreter.
Please note that gv is derived from Tim Theisen's ghostview 1.5.
Options
filename
The name of the file to be displayed. The file ending ".ps" may be omitted. "filename" may point to a compressed file (gzipped,
zipped or compressed). Viewing PDF files requires at least ghostscript version 4.x.
-ad <resource file>
Read and use additional resources from the file <resource file>. These resources have higher priority than those provided in the
context of the -style <resource file> option.
-antialias, -noantialias
Whether to use antialiasing.
-arguments <arguments>
Start ghostscript with additional options as specified by the string <arguments>.
-center, -nocenter
Whether the page should be centered automatically.
-dsc, -nodsc
Determines if document structuring convention (DSC) comments should be respected or ignored. If -nodsc is used gv will not attempt
to examine the structure of the document but will pass the file to the ghostscript interpreter as a whole. In this case no page num-
bers are shown and freely moving around in the document is not possible. This option may help when viewing files not conforming to
the document structuring conventions.
-eof, -noeof
Defines the behaviour of the postscript scanner used to examine the structure of the document. If -noeof is used the scanner will
ignore end of file (EOF) comments. This may help when viewing documents which import other documents without enclosing them within
the proper "BeginDocument" and "EndDocument" comments. If -eof is used, the scanner treats an EOF comment as marking the end of the
file.
-pixmap, -nopixmap
If -pixmap is used gv tries to maintain off-screen regions of the displayed page by allocating a sufficiently large pixmap. If
-nopixmap is used the X Server is responsible for maintaining obscured portions of the displayed page (see also the "useBacking-
Pixmap" resource).
-v Print the version number of gv to standard output and exit.
-h, -? Display a short help message and exit.
-help Display a more explicit help message and exit.
-scale <n>
Selects the scale entry <n> relative to the scale 1.0. <n> must be an integer.
-scalebase <n>
Selects the scale base <n>.
-monochrome, -grayscale, -color
Sets the color palette to be used.
-media <media>
Selects the paper size to be used. Valid values are names of paper sizes that appear in the list of page medias as given by the
medias resource.
-page <label>
Display the page with label <label> first.
-portrait, -landscape, -seascape, -upsidedown
Sets the orientation.
-quiet, -noquiet
Whether to start ghostscript with the -dQUIET option.
-resize, -noresize
Whether gv is allowed to automatically fit the size of its window to the size of the displayed page.
-safer, -nosafer
Whether to start ghostscript with the -dSAFER option.
-spartan
This is a shortcut for "-style gv_spartan.dat".
-style <resource file>
Read and use additional resources from the file <resource file>. These resources have lower priority than those provided in the
context of the -ad <resource file> option.
-swap, -noswap
Whether to interchange the meaning of the orientations landscape and seascape.
-watch, -nowatch
The -watch option causes gv to check the document periodically. If changes are detected gv will automatically display the newer ver-
sion of the file. The document is by default checked once every second. This can be changed via the watchFileFrequency resource.
Note that sending gv the SIGHUP signal also causes an update of the displayed document. This method may be used by document creators
to trigger gv remotely.
Resources
Resource files
In general gv does not depend on any external resource files. However, when starting gv, preferences are read from
o a system specific resource file. The name of this file is as described by the "XFILESEARCHPATH" environment variable, or, if this
variable is not defined, implementation dependant. In most cases it is "/usr/X11/lib/X11/app-defaults/GV". Administrators may want
to modify this file in order to set up gv according to the local needs of their system.
o a user specific resource file. The name of this file is either "~/.gv" or as described by the "XUSERFILESEARCHPATH" environment
variable.
The files "gv_user.ad" and "gv_system.ad" (located in the library directory of gv, which is most probably either "/usr/local/lib/gv/" or
"/usr/lib/gv/" may serve as a basis for constructing the user and system specific resource files.
Note that the user and system specific resource files are not the only sources of preferences taken into account when gv is started. How-
ever, in practice these are the most important.
Resources of gv
The following describes some of the resources of gv. The precise syntax of some of the resource values may be inferred from the appended
default system specific resource file.
antialias
Whether antialiasing should be used. Valid values are "True" and "False".
autoCenter
Whether the displayed page should automatically be centered (for instance when opening a new file). Valid values are "True" and
"False".
autoResize
Whether gv is allowed to resize the main window according to the size of the current page. Valid values are "True" and "False".
confirmPrint
Whether printing requires an extra confirmation. Valid values are "True" and "False".
confirmQuit
Whether leaving gv requires extra confirmation. Valid values are "0" (Never), "1" (When processing) and "2" (Always). The default
value is "1", which causes a confirmation request when trying to leave gv in the presence of pending PDF to Postscript conversions.
scrollingEyeGuide
If this resource is "True" scrolling via the keyboard causes a temporary border to be drawn around the previously visible area of
the page. Allowed values are "True" and "False".
ignoreEOF
Defines the behaviour of the postscript scanner as described in the Options section. Valid values are "True" and "False".
respectDSC
Determines whether gv should attempt to respect document structuring comments. Valid values are "True" and "False".
reverseScrolling
Defines the interpretation of directions when scrolling with the mouse. Valid values are "True" and "False".
swapLandscape
Whether the meaning of "landscape" and "seacape" should be interchanged. Valid values are "True" and "False".
scratchDir
Specifies a directory used to store temporary data.
defaultSaveDir
Specifies the default destination directory for files to be saved.
useBackingPixmap
If the value of this resource is "False" the X Server is advised that saving off-screen pixels of the displayed page would be bene-
ficial (maintaining backing store). In this case gv does not actively maintain the contents of the page but relies on the X Server.
The server is, however, always free to stop maintaining backing backing store. If the value of this resource is "True" the X Server
is advised that maintaining backing store is not useful. In this case gv attempts to allocate a sufficiently large pixmap to store
the contents of the displayed page.
watchFile
Whether the document should be checked periodically and updated automatically if changes are detected. Valid values are "True" and
"False".
watchFileFrequency
Defines the time in milliseconds elapsing between successive checks of the document when watchFile is set to "True". Allowed values
must be larger than 500.
printCommand
The command used for printing a file. The command may contain multiple '%s' wildcards which will be replaced by the name of the
file to be printed.
gsInterpreter
The command used to start the ghostscript interpreter.
gsCmdScanPDF
The command used to extract document structuring comments from a PDF file.
gsCmdConvPDF
The command used to convert a PDF file to PostScript.
gsX11Device
The ghostscript command line option which activates the "X11" device.
gsX11AlphaDevice
The ghostscript command line option which activates the "X11" device with antialiasing enabled.
gsSafer
Determines whether ghostscript should be started with the "-dSAFER" command line option.
gsQuiet
Determines whether ghostscript should be started with the "-dQUIET" command line option.
gsArguments
May be used to provide additional command line options for the ghostscript interpreter. Starting gv with the "-arguments <argu-
ments>" option will override this resource setting.
magMenu
Describes the menu that pops up when preparing to to zoom an area of the displayed page.
dirs Defines a list of directories accessible via the Directories menu in the file selection window. The special value "Home" corre-
sponds to the users home directory, the value "Tmp" corresponds to the scratch directory as defined by the scratchDir resource.
filter Defines the default filter to be used when displaying a directory contents in the file selection window. A filter is specified
according to the syntax
<filter> := [<filespecs>] [no <filespecs>]
<filespecs> := <filespec> [<filespecs>]
<filespec> := filename possibly including wildcards '*'
which match any character.
Example: The filter
GV*filter: *.ps *.pdf no .*
screens out all files with names starting with a dot and keeps of the remaining ones only those which end on ".ps" or ".pdf".
filters
Defines a list of filters offered in the Filters menu of the file selection window. The filter "None" has a special meaning causing
all files to be displayed when the corresponding menu entry is selected.
miscMenuEntries
Describes the menu that pops up when clicking with the third mouse button on the displayed page. The value of this resource is a
list of menu entries. Allowed entries are "update", "redisplay", "toggle_current", "toggle_even", "toggle_odd", "unmark", "stop",
"print_all", "print_marked", "save_all", "save_marked" and "line".
showTitle
Whether the name of the displayed document should be shown in the title bar of the window. The name of gv's icon will also change
accordingly if this resource is set to "True".
maximumWidth, maximumHeight
When resizing gv will not attempt to exceed the size specified by these resources. These resources may be specified as a positive
integer or as "screen", optionally combined with a positive or negative offset. The default values listed above provide examples
for this syntax. "screen" will automatically be replaced by the size of the screen.
minimumWidth, minimumHeight
Defines a minimum size for the main window. Valid values for both resources are positive integers larger than 200.
scale Sets the initial scale. The value of this resource is the offset of the scale to be selected relative to the scale 1.0 in the the
"Scale" menu.
scaleBase
Selects the initial scale base. The value of this resource should be a positive integer.
scales Defines the available scales bases and scales in the "Scale" menu.
orientation
Sets the initial orientation. Valid values are "portrait", "landscape","seascape", "upside-down" and "automatic". "automatic"
causes gv to attempt to derive the correct orientation from document structuring comments.
fallbackOrientation
Defines the paper-size to be used when automatic orientation detetction fails. Valid values are "portrait", "landscape","seascape"
and "upside-down".
medias A list describing the page medias known to gv. List entries starting with "!" or "#" will not appear in the "Media" menu but will
still be used for automatic paper size detection.
pagemedia
Sets the paper size. Allowd values are as given in the above list of paper-sizes. Specifying "automatic" causes gv to attempt to
derive the correct paper-size from document structuring comments.
fallbackPageMedia
Defines the paper-size to be used when automatic paper-size detetction fails. Valid values are as given in the above list of
paper-sizes.
The default user and system specific resource file
GV.pageMedia: automatic
GV.orientation: automatic
GV.fallbackOrientation: portrait
GV.swapLandscape: False
GV.autoCenter: True
GV.antialias: False
GV.respectDSC: True
GV.ignoreEOF: True
GV.confirmPrint: True
GV.reverseScrolling: False
GV.scrollingEyeGuide: True
GV.autoResize: True
GV.maximumWidth: screen-20
GV.maximumHeight: screen-44
GV.minimumWidth: 400
GV.minimumHeight: 430
GV.confirmQuit: 1
GV.watchFile: False
GV.watchFileFrequency: 1000
GV.showTitle: True
GV.miscMenuEntries: redisplay
# update
stop
line
toggle_current
toggle_even
toggle_odd
unmark
line
print_all
print_marked
save_all
save_marked
GV.scale: 0
GV.scaleBase: 1
GV.scales: Natural size, 1.000, screen
Pixel based, 1.000, pixel
0.100, 0.100
0.125, 0.125
0.250, 0.250
0.500, 0.500
0.707, 0.707
1.000, 1.000
1.414, 1.414
2.000, 2.000
4.000, 4.000
8.000, 8.000
10.00, 10.00
GV.medias: Letter, 612 792
# LetterSmall, 612 792
Legal, 612 1008
Statement, 396 612
Tabloid, 792 1224
Ledger, 1224 792
Folio, 612 936
Quarto, 610 780
# 7x9, 504 648
# 9x11, 648 792
# 9x12, 648 864
# 10x13, 720 936
10x14, 720 1008
Executive, 540 720
# A0, 2384 3370
# A1, 1684 2384
# A2, 1191 1684
A3, 842 1191
A4, 595 842
# A4Small, 595 842
A5, 420 595
# A6, 297 420
# A7, 210 297
# A8, 148 210
# A9, 105 148
# A10, 73 105
# B0, 2920 4127
# B1, 2064 2920
# B2, 1460 2064
# B3, 1032 1460
B4, 729 1032
B5, 516 729
# B6, 363 516
# B7, 258 363
# B8, 181 258
# B9, 127 181
# B10, 91 127
# ISOB0, 2835 4008
# ISOB1, 2004 2835
# ISOB2, 1417 2004
# ISOB3, 1001 1417
# ISOB4, 709 1001
# ISOB5, 499 709
# ISOB6, 354 499
# ISOB7, 249 354
# ISOB8, 176 249
# ISOB9, 125 176
# ISOB10, 88 125
# C0, 2599 3676
# C1, 1837 2599
# C2, 1298 1837
# C3, 918 1296
# C4, 649 918
# C5, 459 649
# C6, 323 459
# C7, 230 323
# DL, 312 624
GV.magMenu: 2, 2
4, 4
8, 8
16, 16
32, 32
64, 64
GV*Ghostview.background: white
GV*Ghostview.foreground: black
GV.gsInterpreter: gs
GV.gsCmdScanPDF: gs -dNODISPLAY -dQUIET -sPDFname=%s -sDSCname=%s pdf2dsc.ps -c quit
GV.gsCmdConvPDF: gs -dNODISPLAY -dQUIET -dNOPAUSE -sPSFile=%s %s -c quit
GV.gsX11Device: -sDEVICE=x11
GV.gsX11AlphaDevice: -dNOPLATFONTS -sDEVICE=x11alpha
GV.gsSafer: True
GV.gsQuiet: True
GV.gsArguments:
GV.uncompressCommand: gzip -d -c %s > %s
GV.printCommand: lpr
GV.scratchDir: ~/
GV.defaultSaveDir: ~/
GV.fallbackPageMedia: a4
GV.useBackingPixmap: True
GV*dirs: Home
Tmp
/usr/doc
/usr/local/doc
GV*filter: no .*
GV*filters: None
*.*ps* *.pdf* no .*
*.*ps* no .*
*.pdf* no .*
no .*
Mouse and key bindings
Mouse bindings in the Main and the Zoom window
The following mouse events are defined when the mouse pointer is either on the displayed page or on a zoomed area:
- press button 1, move mouse, release button 1
Scrolls the displayed page 'proportionally'.
- press button 3, move mouse, release button 3
Scrolls the displayed page 'absolutely'.
- double-click with button 1
In the main window this displays the previous/next page if the double-click occured in the left/right half of the window. In
a zoom window it does nothing.
- press button 2, release button 2
Pops up a small menu which allows to choose a magnification for a certain area around the current mouse position. After
selecting a magnification a zoom window pops up displaying the area at the chosen scale.
- press button 2, move mouse, release button 2
This draws and thereby defines a rectangular region which can be displayed in a zoom window. The magnification for the area
can be selected by means of a popup menu which appears after releasing button 2.
- press button 1, press button 2
Redisplays the current page. This event sequence works only in the main window.
- press button 3, release button 3
Pops up a small menu which offers a few standard actions like 'Redisplay', 'Mark Page', etc.
Mouse bindings in the File Selection popup
The following mouse events are defined when the mouse pointer is in the window of either a file or a directory list:
- press button 1, move mouse, release button 1
Scrolls a file or directory list 'proportionally'.
- press button 2, move mouse, release button 2
Scrolls a file or directory list 'absolutely'.
- press button 2, release button 2
Scrolls a file or directory list one page up/down if the button was pressed in the upper/lower half of the list.
- double-click with button 1 on a filename
Selects the file and closes the File Selection popup.
- click with button 1 on a directory name
Causes the contents of this directory to be displayed.
Mouse bindings in the Table of Contents
The following mouse events are defined when the mouse pointer is in the window showing a list of page numbers of the current file
(table of contents):
- press button 1, move mouse, release button 1
Scrolls the table of contents.
- press button 1 on a page number
Go to this page.
- press button 2 on a page number
Mark this page if it is unmarked, but unmark it if it is marked.
- press button 2, move mouse, release button 2
Marks/unmarks all unmarked/marked pages in the region crossed by the mouse pointer during the movement.
Mouse bindings in the Panner widget
The Panner widget is the rectangular region located close to the left edge of the main window. It indicates the size and the posi-
tion of the visible area of the current page relative to the total page.
The following mouse events are defined when the mouse pointer is in this region:
- press button 1, move mouse
Scrolls the displayed page.
- press button 2
Display the previous page.
- press button 3
Display the next page.
Mouse bindings in the
The ">>" and "<<" buttons are used to move to another page. The following mouse events are defined:
- press button 1
Move 1 page forward/backwards.
- press button 2
Move 5 pages forward/backwards.
- press button 3
Move 10 pages forward/backwards.
Key Bindings
The following key events are defined in the main window. Those bindings scrolling the page are also defined in zoom popups.
=== Notation:
s-X means press "Shift" and key "X"
c-X means press "Ctrl" and key "X"
sc-X means press "Shift" or "Ctrl" and key "X"
=== Miscellaneous keys:
A Toggle antialiasing on and off
O Open a new file
Q Quit gv
R Toggle gv's resizing behaviour
I Respect/Ignore document structuring
W Watch file / Don't watch file
S Save the marked pages
sc-S Save the current file
P Print the marked pages
sc-P Print the current file
c-L Redisplay the current page
. Redisplay the current page
sc-. Reopen the current file
M Mark the current page
N Unmark the current page
=== Orientation:
7 Orientation portrait
8 Orientation landscape
9 Orientation upside-down
0 Orientation seascape
=== Magnification:
sc-6 Select the scale entry -6 relative to the scale 1.0
sc-5 Select the scale entry -5 relative to the scale 1.0
sc-4 Select the scale entry -4 relative to the scale 1.0
sc-3 Select the scale entry -3 relative to the scale 1.0
sc-2 Select the scale entry -2 relative to the scale 1.0
sc-1 Select the scale entry -1 relative to the scale 1.0
^ Select the scale 1.0 (for german keyboard layout)
` Select the scale 1.0
1 Select the scale entry 1 relative to the scale 1.0
2 Select the scale entry 2 relative to the scale 1.0
3 Select the scale entry 3 relative to the scale 1.0
4 Select the scale entry 4 relative to the scale 1.0
5 Select the scale entry 5 relative to the scale 1.0
6 Select the scale entry 6 relative to the scale 1.0
+ Select the next scale entry
= Select the next scale entry
- Select the previous scale entry
=== Navigating:
Arrow Scroll in the direction of the arrow
s-Up Scroll columns up or jump -1 pages
s-Down Scroll columns down or jump 1 pages
s-Left Scroll rows left or jump -1 pages
s-Right Scroll rows right or jump 1 pages
c-Up Jump -1 pages (to top/left corner)
c-Down Jump 1 pages (to top/left corner)
c-Left Jump -5 pages (to top/left corner)
c-Right Jump 5 pages (to top/left corner)
D,X,Z,Y,C Identical to arrow up,down,left,left,right
V Center the page
sc-Space Scroll columns up or jump -1 pages
Space Scroll columns down or jump 1 pages
BackSpace Scroll columns up or jump -1 pages
Insert Jump -5 pages
Delete Jump 5 pages
Home Go to the first page
End Go to the last page
Prior Jump -1 pages
Next Jump 1 pages
Keypad 0-9 Highlight a page number
Keypad - Highlight previous page number
Keypad + Highlight next page number
Keypad Enter Jump to the highlighted page
c-Enter Jump -1 pages
s-Enter Jump -1 pages
Enter Jump 1 pages
B Jump -1 pages
F Jump 1 pages
Comments about the user interface
Scales The "Scale" menu which allows to view the document at different sizes is divided into two parts. The first part shows a list of
available scale bases, the second part, separated by a line, lists the relative scales which are applied with respect to the
selected scale base.
By default two scales bases are available, the "Natural size" and the "Pixel based" base. When choosing the "Pixel based" scale
base a relative scale of 1.0 causes one postscript point to correspond to one pixel on the screen.
When viewing a document at a relative scale of 1.0 using the "Natural size" base the page should appear in its real size, as if
printed on paper. For the "Natural size" base to work properly gv has to know the correct size of the root window. Automatic detec-
tion of this size unfortunately only provides approximate results, therefore it is best if it is provided by the user. To do so the
resource
GV.screenSize: <width> x <height>
should be added to the "SCREEN_RESOURCES" property of the screen the document is viewed on, with <width> and <height> describing the
width and height of the root window in units of millimeters. For instance by using the command
echo "GV.screenSize: 396 x 291" | xrdb -override -screen
a width of 346 mm and a height of 291 mm will be used for the "Natural size" scale base. Alternatively the resource
GV.screenSize_<machine>_<disp>_<scr>: <width> x <height>
may be added to a resource file read by gv. Here <machine> ,<disp> and ANGLED) describe the display on which gv displays the docu-
ment. For instance, if the display is set to "tic.tac.toe.wo:0.1" the resource should be specified as
GV.screenSize_tic_0_1: 396 x 291
Note that this method doesn't work on VMS. As a last alternative the resource
GV.screenSize: <width> x <height>
may be added to one of the resource files. However, for obvious reasons this method should be used only on single user machines.
Scrolling
It is probably a de facto standard for user interfaces that windows are supposed to be scrolled by means of scrollbars attached to
their sides. However, for various reasons the use of scrollbars has been minimized in gv.
Instead, in all windows with obscured data, scrolling may be performed by pressing button1, moving the mouse, then releasing button1
directly in the window. This includes the displayed page, zoom popups, the table of contents and the file and directory lists dis-
played in the file selection popup.
Displaying new versions of a document
During document creation it is usually desirable to always display the newest version of the document in work.
Instead of explicitly loading it via the file selection popup the most recent version can be displayed by pressing the "Redisplay"
button in the main window (VMS users should use the "Update File" entry in the "File" menu). Choosing the "Redisplay" entry in the
menu that pops up when clicking with the third mouse button anywhere on the displayed page certainly has the same effect.
More comfortable is the "Watch File" feature which may be switched on by selecting the corresponding entry in the "State" menu. If
activated gv will check every now and then if a new version of the displayed file exists. If so it will be displayed automatically.
By default the file is checked about once every second.
Finally it may also be left to the document creating program to trigger gv to update its display. To do so the program should send
the SIGHUP signal to gv. For instance at the end of a shell script generating a postscript file from latex sources the line
kill -SIGHUP <gv_pid>
may be added (here <gv_pid> is the process id of gv). Executing the script and thereby creating a new version of the document will
then also cause the result to be displayed instantaneously. Please note that this feature is available only on X11 R6 based sys-
tems.
Availability
The source code of the most recent version of gv may be obtained from the following sources:
World Wide Web:
http://wwwthep.physik.uni-mainz.de/~plass/gv/
Anonymous ftp:
ftp://thep.physik.uni-mainz.de/pub/gv/
Authors
Johannes Plass plass@thep.physik.uni-mainz.de
Department of Physics
Johannes Gutenberg University
Mainz, Germany
gv is derived from GhostView 1.5, created by
Tim Theisen Systems Programmer
Internet: tim@cs.wisc.edu Department of Computer Sciences
UUCP: uwvax!tim University of Wisconsin-Madison
Phone: (608)262-0438 1210 West Dayton Street
FAX: (608)262-9777 Madison, WI 53706
Suggestions and bug reports
Please send suggestions or bug reports to plass@thep.physik.uni-mainz.de.
gv(1)