MPAGE(Local)															      MPAGE(Local)

NAME

       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]] [-J startpageno] [-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 symmetry).

       -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'.

       -bpapertype
	      Prepare  output for selected paper type.	Papersize can be A3 for European A3, A4 for European A4, Letter 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 thickness.  Specifying -B solely toggles printing of the box.  l,  r,  t
	      or b set the left, right, top or bottom 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 definition is on or not.  Not
	      specifying an encodingfile will toggle the usage of the internal encoding.

       -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  post-
	      script  code that mpage does not recognise. When using -dp, make sure that the the postscript code contains %Page page separators 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).	(Note: to be useful  you  probably
	      need the -H option.)

       -e     Print  2	normal	pages per sheet in duplex mode. Every first and fourth page or on one side and every second and third on the other
	      side. This is more or less a combination of the -O and -E option but then in one pass.

       -E     Print 2 normal pages per sheet. However, this option will print every second and third page of every set of four pages.  This option
	      will ignore -a and -l.  See also the -O option.  Using these options double sided prints can be created without a duplex printer.

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

       -Ffontname
	      Specify  font.   (default  Courier). Check your printer for supported fonts. Note: this has almost nothing to do with the fonts used
	      for your X-windows/KDE/Gnome environment.

       -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 modification, 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 a number, starting at 1.  Here last defaults to the end of data, interval to  1.   Sev-
	      eral  -j options can be given (upto MAXJARGS, default 100) to create a complex selection of pages.  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 be on the left.)  On  our  II  NTX,	the  paper
	      comes 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.

       -Jstartpageno
	      Set the start value of the sheet page count to startpageno instead of 1.

       -k     When mpage 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.  Landscape pages are 55 lines long by 132 characters wide by	default.   Portrait  pages
	      are 66 lines long by 80 characters wide by default.  (default portrait.)

       -Llines
	      Adjust  the page reduction parameters so that lines lines 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 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 bottom margin respectively to <num> points.  Not specifying 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 bottom and top margin to 25, left margin to 50 and right margin to 30 points.  Margins
	      can have negative numbers.  Very large values have funny effects.  This is left as an exercise to the user.

       -M[<num>[lrtb]*]
	      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 fourth page of  every  set  of  four  pages.   This
	      option  will  ignore  -a	and  -l.  See also the -E option.  Using these options double sided prints can be created without a duplex
	      printer.

       -p[prprog]
	      Pipe input through prprog command (including specified 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, pages are shrunk equally in X and Y, even if this 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 normally 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 on the left and the page number on the right of each physical page (sheet).  If no header is given, the default is the
	      current filename (note influence of -c), the filename of the first file on the page is used.

       -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.

       -Zprintprog_queuename_arg
	      Specify  what option to use for the "-z printcommand" 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 variable.	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, we're sure.

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

VERSION

       Version 2.5.3, Released oktober 2002.
       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)

								    2002/10/20							      MPAGE(Local)