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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 inter-
    nal 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 sepa-
    rators 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 sup-
    ported 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 con-
    sist 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.
    Several -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 print-
    ers, 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
    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 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 land-
    scape 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 print-
    ing 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  over-
    rides 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) environ-
    ment 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 envi-
    ronment 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 sys-
    tem 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)