NAME
dviselect - extract pages from DVI files
SYNOPSIS
dviselect [ -s ] [ -i infile ] [ -o outfile ] list of pages [ infile [
outfile ] ]
DESCRIPTION
Dviselect selects pages from a DVI file produced by TeX, creating a new
DVI file usable by any of the TeX conversion programs, or even by
dviselect itself.
A range is a string of the form even, odd, or first:last where both
first and last are optional numeric strings, with negative numbers
indicated by a leading underscore character ``_''. If both first and
last are omitted, the colon may also be omitted, or may be replaced
with an asterisk ``*''. A page range is a list of ranges separated by
periods. A list of pages is described by a set of page ranges
separated by commas and/or white space.
Dviselect actually looks at the ten count variables that TeX writes;
the first of these (\count0) is the page number, with \count1 through
\count9 having varied uses depending on which macro packages are in
use. (Typically \count1 might be a chapter or section number.) A page
is included in dviselect's output if all its \count values match any
one of the ranges listed on the command line. For example, the command
``dviselect *.1,35:'' might select everything in chapter 1, as well as
pages 35 and up. ``dviselect 10:30'' would select pages 10 through 30
(inclusive). ``:43'' means everything up to and including page 43
(including negative-numbered pages). To get all even-numbered pages,
use ``even''; to get all odd-numbered pages, use ``odd''. If a Table
of Contents has negative page numbers, ``:_1'' will select it. Note
that ``*'' must be quoted from the shell; the empty string is more
convenient to use, if harder to read.
Instead of \count values, dviselect can also select by ``absolute page
number'', where the first page is page 1, the second page 2, and so
forth. Absolute page numbers are indicated by a leading equal sign
``=''. Ranges of absolute pages are also allowed: ``dviselect =3:7''
will extract the third through seventh pages. Dot separators are not
legal in absolute ranges, and there are no negative absolute page
numbers. Even/odd specifiers, however, are legal; ``dviselect =even''
selects every other page, starting with the second.
More precisely, an asterisk or an empty string implies no limit; an
equal sign means absolute page number rather than \counts; a leading
colon means everything up to and including the given page; a trailing
colon means everything from the given page on; the word ``even'' means
only even values shall be accepted; the word ``odd'' means only odd
values shall be accepted; and a period indicates that the next \count
should be examined. If fewer than 10 ranges are specified, the
remaining \counts are left unrestricted (that is, ``1:5'' and ``1:5.*''
are equivalent). A single number n is treated as if it were the range
n:n. An arbitrary number of page selectors may be given, separated by
commas or whitespace; a page is selected if any of the selectors
matches its \counts or absolute page number.
Dviselect normally prints the page numbers of the pages selected; the
-s option suppresses this.
AUTHOR
Chris Torek, University of Maryland
SEE ALSO
dviconcat(1), latex(1), tex(1)
MC-TeX User's Guide
The TeXbook
BUGS
A leading ``-'' ought to be allowed for negative numbers, but it is
currently used as a synonym for ``:'', for backwards compatibility.
Section or subsection selection will sometimes fail, for the DVI file
lists only the \count values that were active when the page ended.
Clever macro packages can alleviate this by making use of other
``free'' \count registers. Chapters normally begin on new pages, and
do not suffer from this particular problem.
The heuristic that decides which arguments are page selectors and which
are file names is often wrong. Using shell redirection or the -i and
-o options is safest.
Dviselect does not adjust the parameters in the postamble; however,
since these values are normally used only to size certain structures in
the output conversion programs, and the parameters never need to be
adjusted upward, this has not proven to be a problem.