Manpages

NAME

xpdf - Portable Document Format (PDF) file viewer for X (xpopple)

SYNOPSIS

xpdf [options] [PDF-file [page | +dest]]

DESCRIPTION

xpopple is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files. (These are also sometimes also called ’Acrobat’ files, from the name of Adobe’s PDF software.) xpopple runs under the X Window System on UNIX.

xpopple uses the Poppler library to process PDF files. Poppler was originally derived from version 3 of Glyph & Cog, LLC’s Xpdf suite, but Poppler doesn’t include the Xpdf viewer program itself. xpopple is the Xpdf program, modified to use Poppler.

To run xpopple, simply type:

xpdf file.pdf

where file.pdf is your PDF file. The file name can be followed by a number specifying the page which should be displayed first, e.g.:

xpdf file.pdf 18

You can also give a named destination, prefixed with ’+’ in place of the page number. (This is only useful with PDF files that provide named destination targets.)

You can also start xpdf without opening any files:

xpdf

Various compressed formats (gz, bz2, xz, and Z) are also supported, for example::

xpdf file.pdf.gz

CONFIGURATION FILE

Xpdf reads a configuration file at startup. It first tries to find the user’s private config file, ~/.xpdfrc. If that doesn’t exist, it looks for a system-wide config file, /etc/xpdf/xpdfrc. See the xpdfrc(5) man page for details.

OPTIONS

Many of the following options can be set with configuration file commands or X resources. These are listed in square brackets with the description of the corresponding command line option.
-g geometry

Set the initial window geometry. (-geometry is equivalent.) [X resource: Xpdf.geometry]

-title title

Set the window title. By default, the title will be "xpdf: foo.pdf". [X resource: Xpdf.title]

-rgb number

Set the size of largest RGB cube xpdf will try to allocate. The default is 5 (for a 5x5x5 cube); set to a smaller number to conserve color table entries. This is ignored with private colormaps and on TrueColor visuals. [X resource: Xpdf.rgbCubeSize]

-papercolor color

Set the "paper color", i.e., the background of the page display. This will not work too well with PDF files that do things like filling in white behind the text. [X resource: Xpdf.paperColor]

-mattecolor color

Set the matte color, i.e., the color used for background outside the actual page area. (There is a separate setting, Xpdf.fullScreenMatteColor, for full-screen mode.) [X resource: Xpdf.matteColor]

-z zoom

Set the initial zoom factor. A number specifies a zoom percentage, where 100 means 72 dpi. You may also specify 'page’, to fit the page to the window size, or 'width’, to fit the page width to the window width, or 'height’, to fit the page height to the window height [config file: initialZoom; or X resource: Xpdf.initialZoom]

-ps PS-file

Set the default file name for PostScript output (i.e., the name which will appear in the print dialog). This can also be of the form ’| command’ to pipe the PostScript through a command. [config file: psFile]

-paper size

Set the paper size to one of "letter", "legal", "A4", or "A3". This can also be set to "match", which will set the paper size to match the size specified in the PDF file. [config file: psPaperSize]

-paperw size

Set the paper width, in points. [config file: psPaperSize]

-paperh size

Set the paper height, in points. [config file: psPaperSize]

-level1

Generate Level 1 PostScript. The resulting PostScript files will be significantly larger (if they contain images), but will print on Level 1 printers. This also converts all images to black and white. [config file: psLevel]

-enc encoding-name

Sets the encoding to use for text output. The encoding-name must be defined with the unicodeMap command (see xpdfrc(5)). This defaults to "Latin1" (which is a built-in encoding). [config file: textEncoding]

-opw password

Specify the owner password for the PDF file. Providing this will bypass all security restrictions.

-upw password

Specify the user password for the PDF file.

-fullscreen

Open xpdf in full-screen mode, useful for presentations.

-pagecmd command

Run a shell command each time a new page is displayed, with the page number as an argument. This can be used for presentation recording. [config file: pageCommand]

-remote name

Start/contact xpdf remote server with specified name (see the REMOTE SERVER MODE section below).

-exec command

Execute a command (see the COMMANDS section below) in an xpdf remote server window (with -remote only).

-reload

Reload xpdf remote server window (with -remote only).

-cfg config-file

Read config-file in place of ~/.xpdfrc or the system-wide config file.

-m file1 file2 ...

Open multiple pdf files: file1 file2 ... etc. NOTE: The list of files is terminated once an argument starting with a dash is encountered. In order to view file names starting with a dash, simply prepend "./". -m may be used multiple times.

Several other standard X options and resources will work as expected:
-display display

[X resource: Xpdf.display]

-fg color

(-foreground is equivalent.) [X resource: xpdf*Foreground]

-bg color

(-background is equivalent.) [X resource: xpdf*Background]

-font font

Override the fonts used for the user interface. This uses a single X core font for all user interface elements, which is not ideal; see the USER INTERFACE FONTS section below for better approaches. (-fn is equivalent.) [X resource: xpdf*font]

The color and font options only affect the user interface elements, not the PDF display (the ’paper’).

The following X resources do not have command line option equivalents:
Xpdf.toolTipEnable

Enables (if set to true) or disables (if set to false) the tool-tips on the toolbar buttons.

Xpdf.fullScreenMatteColor

Sets the matte color to be used in full-screen mode. The default setting is "black".

OBSOLETE OPTIONS

The following command line options were accepted by earlier versions of Xpdf but are no longer allowed. In most cases, this is because they control rendering options that Poppler does not support.
-aa yes | no

Obsolete. Controlled the use of font anti-aliasing in the PDF rasterizer.

-aaVector yes | no

Obsolete. Controlled the use of vector anti-aliasing in the PDF rasterizer.

-eol unix | dos | mac

Obsolete. Set the end-of-line convention to use for text output.

-freetype yes | no

Obsolete. Controlled whether FreeType was used for font rasterization.

-t1lib yes | no

Obsolete. Controlled whether t1lib was used for font rasterization.

CONTROLS

On-screen controls, at the bottom of the xpdf window
left/right arrow buttons

Move to the previous/next page.

double left/right arrow buttons

Move backward or forward by ten pages.

dashed left/right arrow buttons

Move backward or forward along the history path.

’Page’ entry box

Move to a specific page number. Click in the box to activate it, type the page number, then hit return.

zoom popup menu

Change the zoom factor (see the description of the -z option above).

binoculars button

Find a text string.

print button

Bring up a dialog for generating a PostScript file. The dialog has options to set the pages to be printed and the PostScript file name. The file name can be ’-’ for stdout or ’| command’ to pipe the PostScript through a command, e.g., ’| lpr’.

’?’ button

Bring up the ’about xpdf’ window.

link info

The space between the ’?’ and ’Quit’ buttons is used to show the URL or external file name when the mouse is over a link.

’Quit’ button

Quit xpdf.

Menu
Pressing the right mouse button will post a popup menu with the following commands:
Open...

Open a new PDF file via a file requester.

Open in new window...

Create a new window and open a new PDF file via a file requester.

Save as...

Save the current file via a file requester.

Continuous view

Toggles between single page and continuous view modes.

Rotate counterclockwise

Rotate the page 90 degrees counterclockwise.

Rotate clockwise

Rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise. The two rotate commands are intended primarily for PDF files where the rotation isn’t correctly specified in the file.

Zoom to selection

Zoom in to the currently selected rectangle.

Outline
If the PDF contains an outline (a.k.a., bookmarks), there will be an outline pane on the left side of the window. The width of the outline pane is adjustable with a vertical split bar via the knob near its bottom end.

Text selection
Dragging the mouse with the left button held down will highlight an arbitrary rectangle. Any text inside this rectangle will be copied to the X selection buffer.

Links
Clicking on a hyperlink will jump to the link’s destination. A link to another PDF document will make xpdf load that document. A ’launch’ link to an executable program will display a dialog, and if you click ’ok’, execute the program. URL links call an external command (see the WEB BROWSERS section below).

Panning
Dragging the mouse with the middle button held down pans the window.

Key bindings

control-L

Redraw the current page.

control-W

Close the current window.

f or control-F or /

Find a text string.

control-G

Find next occurrence.

control-shift-G

Find previous occurrence.

control-P

Print.

<Space> or <PageDown>

Scroll down on the current page; if already at bottom, move to next page.

<Backspace> or <Delete> or <PageUp>

Scroll up on the current page; if already at top, move to previous page.

control-<Home>

Scroll to first page of document.

control-<End>

Scroll to last page of document.

q or <Escape>

Quit xpdf.

WEB BROWSERS

If you want to run xpdf automatically from netscape or mosaic (and probably other browsers) when you click on a link to a PDF file, you need to edit (or create) the files .mime.types and .mailcap in your home directory. In .mime.types add the line:

application/pdf pdf

In .mailcap add the lines:

# Use xpdf to view PDF files.
application/pdf; xpdf -q %s

Make sure that xpdf is on your executable search path.

When you click on a URL link in a PDF file, xpdf will execute the command specified by the urlCommand config file option, replacing an occurrence of ’%s’ with the URL. For example, to call netscape with the URL, add this line to your config file:

urlCommand "netscape -remote ’openURL(%s)’"

COMMANDS

Xpdf’s key and mouse bindings are user-configurable, using the bind and unbind options in the config file (see xpdfrc(5)). The bind command allows you to bind a key or mouse button to a sequence of one or more commands.

Available Commands
The following commands are supported:
gotoPage(page)

Go to the specified page.

gotoPageNoScroll(page)

Go to the specified page, with the current relative scroll position.

gotoDest(dest)

Go to a named destination.

gotoLastPage

Go to the last page in the PDF file.

gotoLastPageNoScroll

Go to the last page in the PDF file, with the current relative scroll position.

nextPage

Go to the next page.

nextPageNoScroll

Go to the next page, with the current relative scroll position.

prevPage

Go to the previous page.

prevPageNoScroll

Go to the previous page, with the current relative scroll position.

pageDown

Scroll down by one screenful.

scrollLeft(n)

Scroll left by n pixels.

scrollRight(n)

Scroll right by n pixels.

scrollUp(n)

Scroll up by n pixels.

scrollDown(n)

Scroll down by n pixels.

scrollUpPrevPage(n)

Scroll up by n pixels, moving to the previous page if appropriate.

scrollDownNextPage(n)

Scroll down by n pixels, moving to the next page if appropriate.

scrollToTopEdge

Scroll to the top edge of the current page, with no horizontal movement.

scrollToBottomEdge

Scroll to the bottom edge of the current page, with no horizontal movement.

scrollToLeftEdge

Scroll to the left edge of the current page, with no vertical movement.

scrollToRightEdge

Scroll to the right edge of the current page, with no vertical movement.

scrollToTopLeft

Scroll to the top-left corner of the current page.

scrollToBottomRight

Scroll to the bottom-right corner of the current page.

goForward

Move forward along the history path.

goBackward

Move backward along the history path.

zoomPercent(z)

Set the zoom factor to z%.

zoomFitPage

Set the zoom factor to fit-page.

zoomFitWidth

Set the zoom factor to fit-width.

zoomFitHeight

Set the zoom factor to fit-height.

zoomOut

Zoom out - go the next lower zoom factor.

zoomToSelection

Zoom in to the currently selected rectangle, if there is one.

rotateCW

Rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise.

rotateCCW

Rotate the page 90 degrees counterclockwise.

setSelection(pg,ulx,uly,lrx,lry)

Set the selection to the specified coordinates on the specified page.

continuousMode

Go to continuous view mode.

singlePageMode

Go to single-page view mode.

toggleContinuousMode

Toggle between continuous and single page view modes.

fullScreenMode

Go to full-screen mode.

windowMode

Go to window (non-full-screen) mode.

toggleFullScreenMode

Toggle between full-screen and window modes.

openInNewWin

Open a PDF file in a new window, using the open dialog.

openFile(file)

Open a specified PDF file in this window.

openFileInNewWin(file)

Open a specified PDF file in a new window.

openFileAtDest(file,dest)

Open a specified PDF file in this window and go to a named destination.

openFileAtDestInNewWin(file,dest)

Open a specified PDF file in a new window and go to a named destination.

openFileAtPage(file,page)

Open a specified PDF file in this window and go to a page.

openFileAtPageInNewWin(file,page)

Open a specified PDF file in a new window and go to a page.

closeWindow

Close the window. If this was the last open window, clear the window, but don’t quit from Xpdf.

closeWindowOrQuit

Close the window. If this was the last open window, quit from Xpdf.

run(external-command-string)

Run an external command. The following escapes are allowed in the command string:

%f => PDF file name (or an empty string if no
file is open)
%b => PDF file base name, i.e., file name minus
the extension (or an empty string if no
file is open)
%u => link URL (or an empty string if not over
a URL link)
%p => current page number (or an empty string if
no file is open)
%x => selection upper-left x coordinate
(or 0 if there is no selection)
%y => selection upper-left y coordinate
(or 0 if there is no selection)
%X => selection lower-right x coordinate
(or 0 if there is no selection)
%Y => selection lower-right y coordinate
(or 0 if there is no selection)
%i => page containing the mouse pointer
%j => x coordinate of the mouse pointer
%k => y coordinate of the mouse pointer
%% => %

The external command string will often contain spaces, so the whole command must be quoted in the xpdfrc file:

bind x "run(ls -l)"

openOutline

Open the outline pane.

closeOutline

Close the outline pane.

toggleOutline

Toggle the outline pane between open and closed.

scrollOutlineDown(n)

Scroll the outline down by n increments.

scrollOutlineUp(n)

Scroll the outline up by n increments.

focusToDocWin

Set the keyboard focus to the main document window.

focusToPageNum

Set the keyboard focus to the page number text box.

search(key)

Search for the string key as if it had been entered in the ’find’ dialog.

findNext

Finds the next occurrence of the search string (no dialog).

findPrev

Finds the previous occurrence of the search string (no dialog).

The following commands depend on the current mouse position:
startSelection

Start a selection, which will be extended as the mouse moves.

endSelection

End a selection.

startPan

Start a pan, which will scroll the document as the mouse moves

postPopupMenu

Display the popup menu.

followLink

Follow a hyperlink (does nothing if the mouse is not over a link).

followLinkInNewWin

Follow a hyperlink, opening PDF files in a new window (does nothing if the mouse is not over a link). For links to non-PDF files, this command is identical to followLink.

followLinkNoSel

Same as followLink, but does nothing if there is a non-empty selection. (This is useful as a mouse button binding.)

followLinkInNewWinNoSel

Same as followLinkInNewWin, but does nothing if there is a non-empty selection. (This is useful as a mouse button binding.)

Default Bindings
The default mouse bindings are as follows:

bind mousePress1 any startSelection
bind mouseRelease1 any endSelection followLinkNoSel
bind mousePress2 any startPan
bind mouseRelease2 any endPan
bind mousePress3 any postPopupMenu
bind mousePress4 any scrollUpPrevPage(16)
bind mousePress5 any scrollDownNextPage(16)
bind mousePress6 any scrollLeft(16)
bind mousePress7 any scrollRight(16)

The default key bindings are as follows:

bind ctrl-home any gotoPage(1)
bind home any scrollToTopLeft
bind ctrl-end any gotoLastPage
bind end any scrollToBottomRight
bind pgup any pageUp
bind backspace any pageUp
bind delete any pageUp
bind pgdn any pageDown
bind space any pageDown
bind left any scrollLeft(16)
bind right any scrollRight(16)
bind up any scrollUp(16)
bind down any scrollDown(16)
bind [ any rotateCCW
bind ] any rotateCW
bind o any open
bind O any open
bind r any reload
bind R any reload
bind s any saveAs
bind S any saveAs
bind f any find
bind F any find
bind ctrl-f any find
bind / any find
bind ctrl-g any findNext
bind ctrl-G any findPrev
bind ctrl-p any print
bind n scrLockOff nextPage
bind N scrLockOff nextPage
bind n scrLockOn nextPageNoScroll
bind N scrLockOn nextPageNoScroll
bind p scrLockOff prevPage
bind P scrLockOff prevPage
bind p scrLockOn prevPageNoScroll
bind P scrLockOn prevPageNoScroll
bind v any goForward
bind V any goForward
bind b any goBackward
bind B any goBackward
bind g any focusToPageNum
bind G any focusToPageNum
bind 0 any zoomPercent(125)
bind + any zoomIn
bind - any zoomOut
bind z any zoomFitPage
bind Z any zoomFitPage
bind w any zoomFitWidth
bind W any zoomFitWidth
bind h any zoomFitHeight
bind H any zoomFitHeight
bind alt-f any toggleFullScreenMode
bind ctrl-l any redraw
bind ctrl-w any closeWindowOrQuit
bind ? any about
bind q any quit
bind Q any quit
bind escape any quit

Previous versions of xpdf included a "viKeys" X resource. It is no longer available, but the following bindings are equivalent:

bind h any scrollLeft(16)
bind l any scrollRight(16)
bind k any scrollUp(16)
bind j any scrollDown(16)

REMOTE SERVER MODE

Xpdf can be started in remote server mode by specifying a server name (in addition to the file name and page number). For example:

xpdf -remote myServer file.pdf

If there is currently no xpdf running in server mode with the name ’myServer’, a new xpdf window will be opened. If another command:

xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 9

is issued, a new copy of xpdf will not be started. Instead, the first xpdf (the server) will load another.pdf and display page nine. If the file name is the same:

xpdf -remote myServer another.pdf 4

the xpdf server will simply display the specified page.

The -raise option tells the server to raise its window; it can be specified with or without a file name and page number.

The -quit option tells the server to close its window and exit.

USER INTERFACE FONTS

In order to support international text in user interface elements, xpdf uses the support for UTF-8 and Xft fonts that was introduced in OpenMotif 2.3.

The user interface makes use of four fonts which are specified using Motif Render Tables: default for most text, mono for text in a monospaced font, and helpHuge and helpBig for headings in the About dialog. The fonts used can be customised using X resources. By default, they are configured as follows:

Xpdf*renderTable.default.fontType: FONT_IS_XFT
Xpdf*renderTable.default.fontName: Sans-Serif
Xpdf*renderTable.default.fontSize: 12
Xpdf*renderTable.default.fontEncoding: iso10646-1
Xpdf*renderTable.helpHuge.fontType: FONT_IS_XFT
Xpdf*renderTable.helpHuge.fontName: Serif
Xpdf*renderTable.helpHuge.fontStyle: bold
Xpdf*renderTable.helpHuge.fontSize: 20
Xpdf*renderTable.helpHuge.fontEncoding: iso10646-1
Xpdf*renderTable.helpBig.fontType: FONT_IS_XFT
Xpdf*renderTable.helpBig.fontName: Serif
Xpdf*renderTable.helpBig.fontSize: 16
Xpdf*renderTable.helpBig.fontEncoding: iso10646-1
Xpdf*renderTable.mono.fontType: FONT_IS_XFT
Xpdf*renderTable.mono.fontName: Monospace
Xpdf*renderTable.mono.fontSize: 12
Xpdf*renderTable.mono.fontEncoding: iso10646-1

If you prefer to use X core fonts, as in earlier versions of xpdf, you can specify these using conventional resources, provided that you use fonts with the "iso10646-1" Unicode charset:

Xpdf*font: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1
Xpdf*XmTextField.font: -*-courier-medium-r-normal-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1

EXIT CODES

Xpdf uses the following exit codes:

AUTHORS

The original Xpdf software and documentation are copyright 1996–2014 Glyph & Cog, LLC. Modifications for Poppler support and further development were done by the Debian and Gentoo Xpdf maintainers, and by xpopple contributors.

SEE ALSO

pdftops(1), pdftotext(1), pdftohtml(1), pdfinfo(1), pdffonts(1), pdfdetach(1), pdftoppm(1), pdftopng(1), pdfimages(1), xpdfrc(5)