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NAME

       mpage - print multiple pages per sheet on PostScript printer

SYNOPSIS

       mpage  [-1248aAceEfHloOrRStTuUvVxX]  [-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):  Also when mpage encounters -- as option it will stop parsing
       arguments and the remaining arguments are interpreted as filenames.

       -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, use -bA4 instead.

       -bpapersize
              Prepare output for the 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 available  types,  see  option
              -bl.   For  the  default, see ’mpage -x’.  This default is taken
              from the system; see papersize(5).  If  it  isn’t  found,  mpage
              exits with an error.

       -bl, -b?
              List the currently available paper types, then exit.

       -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  of  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/lib/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
              postscript  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 make  this  useful
              you probably need the -H option.)

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

       -E     Print 2 normal pages per sheet, namely: print  only  the  second
              and  third  page  of every set of four pages. See also -O. These
              options override -a and -l.  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
              consists of last  file  modification  time,  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.
              Several -j options can be given (up to 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 (default portrait).
              Landscape pages are 55 lines long  by  132  characters  wide  by
              default.  Portrait pages are 66 lines long by 80 characters wide
              by default.

       -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 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 margins  to  50  points.   -m50l25bt30r  sets
              bottom  and top margin to 25, left margin to 50 and right margin
              to 30 points.  Margins can have negative numbers.

       -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.

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

       -O     Print 2 normal pages per sheet, namely: print only the first and
              fourth  page  of  every  set  of  four pages. See also -E. These
              options override -a and -l.  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 is sent (e.g.
              lpr -Pprinter). Using -P with no  printer  specified  sends  the
              PostScript  to  the  default printer queue (e.g. lpr). Using -P-
              returns output to stdout, useful in combination with  the  MPAGE
              environment  variable.  Without  -P  output  is sent 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 be >= 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 option has 3
              states: nop, yes, no, which mean:

              NOP:   don’t do anything in PostScript, use the printer default;

              YES:   force printer to do duplex;

              NO:    force printer not to do it.

              If there is no -t, then the duplex is NOP. If you put some -t on
              the command line, the state toggles as "yes,no,yes,no...".   So,
              if your printer is set to print, by default, in duplex mode, you
              will use "-t -t" on the command line to force  it  to  print  in
              non-duplex mode. Use this option only if your printer is capable
              of printing in duplex mode.  (default NOP).

       -T     Toggle tumble of every second pages.  This option has 3  states:
              nop,  yes,  no  (with  behaviour  similar  to  -t).  So, if your
              printer is set to print, by default, in duplex mode, with tumble
              on,  you  will use "-T -T" on command line to print in nontumble
              mode.  Use this option  only  if  your  printer  is  capable  of
              printing  in  duplex  mode.  With this version of mpage, you may
              use this option even if you do not use -t.  (default NOP).

       -u     Toggle checking for UTF-8 input  (not  relevant  for  postscript
              input).

       -U     This option is deprecated, use -bLetter instead.

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

       -V     Print version information and exit.

       -Wwidth
              Adjust the page  reduction  parameters  so  that  a  line  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
              pr(1) program as well.  See also the -L option on font sizes.

       -x     Print usage information (including current defaults), then exit.

       -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

       /tmp/mpageXXXXXX
       /usr/lib/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 2.5.6, Released January 2008.
       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)

                                  2008/01/14