PIC2GRAPH(1)						      General Commands Manual						      PIC2GRAPH(1)

NAME

       pic2graph - convert a PIC diagram into a cropped image

SYNOPSIS

       pic2graph [ -unsafe ] [ -format fmt ] [ -eqn delim ]

DESCRIPTION

       Reads a PIC program as input; produces an image file (by default in Portable Network Graphics format) suitable for the Web as output.  Also
       translates eqn(1) constructs, so it can be used for generating images of mathematical formulae.

       PIC is a rather expressive graphics minilanguage suitable for producing box-and-arrow diagrams of the kind  frequently  used  in  technical
       papers  and  textbooks.	The language is sufficiently flexible to be quite useful for state charts, Petri-net diagrams, flow charts, simple
       circuit schematics, jumper layouts, and other kinds of illustration involving repetitive  uses  of  simple  geometric  forms  and  splines.
       Because PIC descriptions are procedural and object-based, they are both compact and easy to modify.

       The PIC language is fully documented in "Making Pictures With GNU PIC", a document which is part of the groff(1) distribution.

       Your input PIC code should not be wrapped with the .PS and .PE macros that normally guard it within groff(1) macros.

       The  output  image  will  be a black-on-white graphic clipped to the smallest possible bounding box that contains all the black pixels.	By
       specifying command-line options to be passed to convert(1) you can give it a border, set the background transparent, set the image's  pixel
       density, or perform other useful transformations.

       This program uses pic(1), eqn(1), groff(1), gs(1), and the ImageMagick convert(1) program.  These programs must be installed on your system
       and accessible on your $PATH for pic2graph to work.

OPTIONS

       -unsafe
	      Run pic(1) and groff(1) in the `unsafe' mode enabling the PIC macro sh to execute arbitrary commands.   The  default  is	to  forbid
	      this.

       -format fmt
	      Specify an output format; the default is PNG (Portable Network Graphics).  Any format that convert(1) can emit is supported.

       -eqn delim
	      Change  the  fencepost  characters  that	delimit eqn(1) directives ($ and $, by default).  This option requires an argument, but an
	      empty string is accepted as a directive to disable eqn(1) processing.

       Command-line switches and arguments not listed above are passed to convert(1).

FILES

       /usr/share/groff/1.18.1/tmac/eqnrc  The eqn(1) initialization file.

SEE ALSO

       eqn2graph(1), pic(1), eqn(1), groff(1), gs(1), convert(1).

AUTHOR

       Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>, based on a recipe by W. Richard Stevens.

Groff Version 1.18.1						   17 July 2002 						      PIC2GRAPH(1)