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diff --git a/runtime/doc/print.txt b/runtime/doc/print.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bbbca1d --- /dev/null +++ b/runtime/doc/print.txt @@ -0,0 +1,748 @@ +*print.txt* For Vim version 8.2. Last change: 2020 Aug 15 + + + VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar + + +Printing *printing* + +1. Introduction |print-intro| +2. Print options |print-options| +3. PostScript Printing |postscript-printing| +4. PostScript Printing Encoding |postscript-print-encoding| +5. PostScript CJK Printing |postscript-cjk-printing| +6. PostScript Printing Troubleshooting |postscript-print-trouble| +7. PostScript Utilities |postscript-print-util| +8. Formfeed Characters |printing-formfeed| + +{only available when compiled with the |+printer| feature} + +============================================================================== +1. Introduction *print-intro* + +On MS-Windows Vim can print your text on any installed printer. On other +systems a PostScript file is produced. This can be directly sent to a +PostScript printer. For other printers a program like ghostscript needs to be +used. + +Note: If you have problems printing with |:hardcopy|, an alternative is to use +|:TOhtml| and print the resulting html file from a browser. + + *:ha* *:hardcopy* *E237* *E238* *E324* +:[range]ha[rdcopy][!] [arguments] + Send [range] lines (default whole file) to the + printer. + + On MS-Windows a dialog is displayed to allow selection + of printer, paper size etc. To skip the dialog, use + the [!]. In this case the printer defined by + 'printdevice' is used, or, if 'printdevice' is empty, + the system default printer. + + For systems other than MS-Windows, PostScript is + written in a temp file and 'printexpr' is used to + actually print it. Then [arguments] can be used by + 'printexpr' through |v:cmdarg|. Otherwise [arguments] + is ignored. 'printoptions' can be used to specify + paper size, duplex, etc. + Note: If you want PDF, there are tools such as + "ps2pdf" that can convert the PostScript to PDF. + +:[range]ha[rdcopy][!] >{filename} + As above, but write the resulting PostScript in file + {filename}. + Things like "%" are expanded |cmdline-special| + Careful: An existing file is silently overwritten. + {only available when compiled with the |+postscript| + feature} + On MS-Windows use the "print to file" feature of the + printer driver. + +Progress is displayed during printing as a page number and a percentage. To +abort printing use the interrupt key (CTRL-C or, on MS-systems, CTRL-Break). + +Printer output is controlled by the 'printfont' and 'printoptions' options. +'printheader' specifies the format of a page header. + +The printed file is always limited to the selected margins, irrespective of +the current window's 'wrap' or 'linebreak' settings. The "wrap" item in +'printoptions' can be used to switch wrapping off. +The current highlighting colors are used in the printout, with the following +considerations: +1) The normal background is always rendered as white (i.e. blank paper). +2) White text or the default foreground is rendered as black, so that it shows + up! +3) If 'background' is "dark", then the colours are darkened to compensate for + the fact that otherwise they would be too bright to show up clearly on + white paper. + +============================================================================== +2. Print options *print-options* + +Here are the details for the options that change the way printing is done. +For generic info about setting options see |options.txt|. + + *pdev-option* +'printdevice' 'pdev' string (default empty) + global +This defines the name of the printer to be used when the |:hardcopy| command +is issued with a bang (!) to skip the printer selection dialog. On Win32, it +should be the printer name exactly as it appears in the standard printer +dialog. +If the option is empty, then vim will use the system default printer for +":hardcopy!" + + *penc-option* *E620* +'printencoding' 'penc' String (default empty, except for: + MS-Windows: cp1252, + Macintosh: mac-roman, + VMS: dec-mcs, + HPUX: hp-roman8, + EBCDIC: ebcdic-uk) + global +Sets the character encoding used when printing. This option tells Vim which +print character encoding file from the "print" directory in 'runtimepath' to +use. + +This option will accept any value from |encoding-names|. Any recognized names +are converted to Vim standard names - see 'encoding' for more details. Names +not recognized by Vim will just be converted to lower case and underscores +replaced with '-' signs. + +If 'printencoding' is empty or Vim cannot find the file then it will use +'encoding' (if it is set an 8-bit encoding) to find the print character +encoding file. If Vim is unable to find a character encoding file then it +will use the "latin1" print character encoding file. + +When 'encoding' is set to a multibyte encoding, Vim will try to convert +characters to the printing encoding for printing (if 'printencoding' is empty +then the conversion will be to latin1). Conversion to a printing encoding +other than latin1 will require Vim to be compiled with the |+iconv| feature. +If no conversion is possible then printing will fail. Any characters that +cannot be converted will be replaced with upside down question marks. + +Four print character encoding files are provided to support default Mac, VMS, +HPUX, and EBCDIC character encodings and are used by default on these +platforms. Code page 1252 print character encoding is used by default on +MS-Windows platform. + + *pexpr-option* +'printexpr' 'pexpr' String (default: see below) + global +Expression that is evaluated to print the PostScript produced with +|:hardcopy|. +The file name to be printed is in |v:fname_in|. +The arguments to the ":hardcopy" command are in |v:cmdarg|. +The expression must take care of deleting the file after printing it. +When there is an error, the expression must return a non-zero number. +If there is no error, return zero or an empty string. +The default for non MS-Windows or VMS systems is to simply use "lpr" to print +the file: > + + system('lpr' . (&printdevice == '' ? '' : ' -P' . &printdevice) + . ' ' . v:fname_in) . delete(v:fname_in) + v:shell_error + +On MS-Windows machines the default is to copy the file to the currently +specified printdevice: > + + system('copy' . ' ' . v:fname_in . (&printdevice == '' + ? ' LPT1:' : (' \"' . &printdevice . '\"'))) + . delete(v:fname_in) + +On VMS machines the default is to send the file to either the default or +currently specified printdevice: > + + system('print' . (&printdevice == '' ? '' : ' /queue=' . + &printdevice) . ' ' . v:fname_in) . delete(v:fname_in) + +If you change this option, using a function is an easy way to avoid having to +escape all the spaces. Example: > + + :set printexpr=PrintFile(v:fname_in) + :function PrintFile(fname) + : call system("ghostview " . a:fname) + : call delete(a:fname) + : return v:shell_error + :endfunc + +Be aware that some print programs return control before they have read the +file. If you delete the file too soon it will not be printed. These programs +usually offer an option to have them remove the file when printing is done. + *E365* +If evaluating the expression fails or it results in a non-zero number, you get +an error message. In that case Vim will delete the file. In the default +value for non-MS-Windows a trick is used: Adding "v:shell_error" will result +in a non-zero number when the system() call fails. + +This option cannot be set from a |modeline| or in the |sandbox|, for security +reasons. + + *pfn-option* *E613* +'printfont' 'pfn' string (default "courier") + global +This is the name of the font that will be used for the |:hardcopy| command's +output. It has the same format as the 'guifont' option, except that only one +font may be named, and the special "guifont=*" syntax is not available. + +In the Win32 GUI version this specifies a font name with its extra attributes, +as with the 'guifont' option. + +For other systems, only ":h11" is recognized, where "11" is the point size of +the font. When omitted, the point size is 10. + + *pheader-option* +'printheader' 'pheader' string (default "%<%f%h%m%=Page %N") + global +This defines the format of the header produced in |:hardcopy| output. The +option is defined in the same way as the 'statusline' option. If Vim has not +been compiled with the |+statusline| feature, this option has no effect and a +simple default header is used, which shows the page number. The same simple +header is used when this option is empty. + + *pmbcs-option* +'printmbcharset' 'pmbcs' string (default "") + global +Sets the CJK character set to be used when generating CJK output from +|:hardcopy|. The following predefined values are currently recognised by Vim: + + Value Description ~ + Chinese GB_2312-80 + (Simplified) GBT_12345-90 + MAC Apple Mac Simplified Chinese + GBT-90_MAC GB/T 12345-90 Apple Mac Simplified + Chinese + GBK GBK (GB 13000.1-93) + ISO10646 ISO 10646-1:1993 + + Chinese CNS_1993 CNS 11643-1993, Planes 1 & 2 + (Traditional) BIG5 + ETEN Big5 with ETen extensions + ISO10646 ISO 10646-1:1993 + + Japanese JIS_C_1978 + JIS_X_1983 + JIS_X_1990 + MSWINDOWS Win3.1/95J (JIS X 1997 + NEC + + IBM extensions) + KANJITALK6 Apple Mac KanjiTalk V6.x + KANJITALK7 Apple Mac KanjiTalk V7.x + + Korean KS_X_1992 + MAC Apple Macintosh Korean + MSWINDOWS KS X 1992 with MS extensions + ISO10646 ISO 10646-1:1993 + +Only certain combinations of the above values and 'printencoding' are +possible. The following tables show the valid combinations: + + euc-cn gbk ucs-2 utf-8 ~ + Chinese GB_2312-80 x + (Simplified) GBT_12345-90 x + MAC x + GBT-90_MAC x + GBK x + ISO10646 x x + + euc-tw big5 ucs-2 utf-8 ~ + Chinese CNS_1993 x + (Traditional) BIG5 x + ETEN x + ISO10646 x x + + euc-jp sjis ucs-2 utf-8 ~ + Japanese JIS_C_1978 x x + JIS_X_1983 x x + JIS_X_1990 x x x + MSWINDOWS x + KANJITALK6 x + KANJITALK7 x + + euc-kr cp949 ucs-2 utf-8 ~ + Korean KS_X_1992 x + MAC x + MSWINDOWS x + ISO10646 x x + +To set up the correct encoding and character set for printing some +Japanese text you would do the following; > + :set printencoding=euc-jp + :set printmbcharset=JIS_X_1983 + +If 'printmbcharset' is not one of the above values then it is assumed to +specify a custom multibyte character set and no check will be made that it is +compatible with the value for 'printencoding'. Vim will look for a file +defining the character set in the "print" directory in 'runtimepath'. + + *pmbfn-option* +'printmbfont' 'pmbfn' string (default "") + global +This is a comma-separated list of fields for font names to be used when +generating CJK output from |:hardcopy|. Each font name has to be preceded +with a letter indicating the style the font is to be used for as follows: + + r:{font-name} font to use for normal characters + b:{font-name} font to use for bold characters + i:{font-name} font to use for italic characters + o:{font-name} font to use for bold-italic characters + +A field with the r: prefix must be specified when doing CJK printing. The +other fontname specifiers are optional. If a specifier is missing then +another font will be used as follows: + + if b: is missing, then use r: + if i: is missing, then use r: + if o: is missing, then use b: + +Some CJK fonts do not contain characters for codes in the ASCII code range. +Also, some characters in the CJK ASCII code ranges differ in a few code points +from traditional ASCII characters. There are two additional fields to control +printing of characters in the ASCII code range. + + c:yes Use Courier font for characters in the ASCII + c:no (default) code range. + + a:yes Use ASCII character set for codes in the ASCII + a:no (default) code range. + +The following is an example of specifying two multibyte fonts, one for normal +and italic printing and one for bold and bold-italic printing, and using +Courier to print codes in the ASCII code range but using the national +character set: > + :set printmbfont=r:WadaMin-Regular,b:WadaMin-Bold,c:yes +< + *popt-option* +'printoptions' 'popt' string (default "") + global +This is a comma-separated list of items that control the format of the output +of |:hardcopy|: + + left:{spec} left margin (default: 10pc) + right:{spec} right margin (default: 5pc) + top:{spec} top margin (default: 5pc) + bottom:{spec} bottom margin (default: 5pc) + {spec} is a number followed by "in" for inches, "pt" + for points (1 point is 1/72 of an inch), "mm" for + millimeters or "pc" for a percentage of the media + size. + Weird example: + left:2in,top:30pt,right:16mm,bottom:3pc + If the unit is not recognized there is no error and + the default value is used. + + header:{nr} Number of lines to reserve for the header. + Only the first line is actually filled, thus when {nr} + is 2 there is one empty line. The header is formatted + according to 'printheader'. + header:0 Do not print a header. + header:2 (default) Use two lines for the header + + syntax:n Do not use syntax highlighting. This is faster and + thus useful when printing large files. + syntax:y Do syntax highlighting. + syntax:a (default) Use syntax highlighting if the printer appears to be + able to print color or grey. + + number:y Include line numbers in the printed output. + number:n (default) No line numbers. + + wrap:y (default) Wrap long lines. + wrap:n Truncate long lines. + + duplex:off Print on one side. + duplex:long (default) Print on both sides (when possible), bind on long + side. + duplex:short Print on both sides (when possible), bind on short + side. + + collate:y (default) Collating: 1 2 3, 1 2 3, 1 2 3 + collate:n No collating: 1 1 1, 2 2 2, 3 3 3 + + jobsplit:n (default) Do all copies in one print job + jobsplit:y Do each copy as a separate print job. Useful when + doing N-up postprocessing. + + portrait:y (default) Orientation is portrait. + portrait:n Orientation is landscape. + *a4* *letter* + paper:A4 (default) Paper size: A4 + paper:{name} Paper size from this table: + {name} size in cm size in inch ~ + 10x14 25.4 x 35.57 10 x 14 + A3 29.7 x 42 11.69 x 16.54 + A4 21 x 29.7 8.27 x 11.69 + A5 14.8 x 21 5.83 x 8.27 + B4 25 x 35.3 10.12 x 14.33 + B5 17.6 x 25 7.17 x 10.12 + executive 18.42 x 26.67 7.25 x 10.5 + folio 21 x 33 8.27 x 13 + ledger 43.13 x 27.96 17 x 11 + legal 21.59 x 35.57 8.5 x 14 + letter 21.59 x 27.96 8.5 x 11 + quarto 21.59 x 27.5 8.5 x 10.83 + statement 13.97 x 21.59 5.5 x 8.5 + tabloid 27.96 x 43.13 11 x 17 + + formfeed:n (default) Treat form feed characters (0x0c) as a normal print + character. + formfeed:y When a form feed character is encountered, continue + printing of the current line at the beginning of the + first line on a new page. + +The item indicated with (default) is used when the item is not present. The +values are not always used, especially when using a dialog to select the +printer and options. +Example: > + :set printoptions=paper:letter,duplex:off + +============================================================================== +3. PostScript Printing *postscript-printing* + *E455* *E456* *E457* *E624* +Provided you have enough disk space there should be no problems generating a +PostScript file. You need to have the runtime files correctly installed (if +you can find the help files, they probably are). + +There are currently a number of limitations with PostScript printing: + +- 'printfont' - The font name is ignored (the Courier family is always used - + it should be available on all PostScript printers) but the font size is + used. + +- 'printoptions' - The duplex setting is used when generating PostScript + output, but it is up to the printer to take notice of the setting. If the + printer does not support duplex printing then it should be silently ignored. + Some printers, however, don't print at all. + +- 8-bit support - While a number of 8-bit print character encodings are + supported it is possible that some characters will not print. Whether a + character will print depends on the font in the printer knowing the + character. Missing characters will be replaced with an upside down question + mark, or a space if that character is also not known by the font. It may be + possible to get all the characters in an encoding to print by installing a + new version of the Courier font family. + +- Multi-byte support - Currently Vim will try to convert multibyte characters + to the 8-bit encoding specified by 'printencoding' (or latin1 if it is + empty). Any characters that are not successfully converted are shown as + unknown characters. Printing will fail if Vim cannot convert the multibyte + to the 8-bit encoding. + +============================================================================== +4. Custom 8-bit Print Character Encodings *postscript-print-encoding* + *E618* *E619* +To use your own print character encoding when printing 8-bit character data +you need to define your own PostScript font encoding vector. Details on how +to define a font encoding vector is beyond the scope of this help file, but +you can find details in the PostScript Language Reference Manual, 3rd Edition, +published by Addison-Wesley and available in PDF form at +http://www.adobe.com/. The following describes what you need to do for Vim to +locate and use your print character encoding. + +i. Decide on a unique name for your encoding vector, one that does not clash + with any of the recognized or standard encoding names that Vim uses (see + |encoding-names| for a list), and that no one else is likely to use. +ii. Copy $VIMRUNTIME/print/latin1.ps to the print subdirectory in your + 'runtimepath' and rename it with your unique name. +iii. Edit your renamed copy of latin1.ps, replacing all occurrences of latin1 + with your unique name (don't forget the line starting %%Title:), and + modify the array of glyph names to define your new encoding vector. The + array must have exactly 256 entries or you will not be able to print! +iv. Within Vim, set 'printencoding' to your unique encoding name and then + print your file. Vim will now use your custom print character encoding. + +Vim will report an error with the resource file if you change the order or +content of the first 3 lines, other than the name of the encoding on the line +starting %%Title: or the version number on the line starting %%Version:. + +[Technical explanation for those that know PostScript - Vim looks for a file +with the same name as the encoding it will use when printing. The file +defines a new PostScript Encoding resource called /VIM-name, where name is the +print character encoding Vim will use.] + +============================================================================== +5. PostScript CJK Printing *postscript-cjk-printing* + *E673* *E674* *E675* + +Vim supports printing of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean files. Setting up Vim +to correctly print CJK files requires setting up a few more options. + +Each of these countries has many standard character sets and encodings which +require that both be specified when printing. In addition, CJK fonts normally +do not have the concept of italic glyphs and use different weight or stroke +style to achieve emphasis when printing. This in turn requires a different +approach to specifying fonts to use when printing. + +The encoding and character set are specified with the 'printencoding' and +'printmbcharset' options. If 'printencoding' is not specified then 'encoding' +is used as normal. If 'printencoding' is specified then characters will be +translated to this encoding for printing. You should ensure that the encoding +is compatible with the character set needed for the file contents or some +characters may not appear when printed. + +The fonts to use for CJK printing are specified with 'printmbfont'. This +option allows you to specify different fonts to use when printing characters +which are syntax highlighted with the font styles normal, italic, bold and +bold-italic. + +No CJK fonts are supplied with Vim. There are some free Korean, Japanese, and +Traditional Chinese fonts available at: + + http://examples.oreilly.com/cjkvinfo/adobe/samples/ + +You can find descriptions of the various fonts in the read me file at + + http://examples.oreilly.de/english_examples/cjkvinfo/adobe/00README + +Please read your printer documentation on how to install new fonts. + +CJK fonts can be large containing several thousand glyphs, and it is not +uncommon to find that they only contain a subset of a national standard. It +is not unusual to find the fonts to not include characters for codes in the +ASCII code range. If you find half-width Roman characters are not appearing +in your printout then you should configure Vim to use the Courier font the +half-width ASCII characters with 'printmbfont'. If your font does not include +other characters then you will need to find another font that does. + +Another issue with ASCII characters, is that the various national character +sets specify a couple of different glyphs in the ASCII code range. If you +print ASCII text using the national character set you may see some unexpected +characters. If you want true ASCII code printing then you need to configure +Vim to output ASCII characters for the ASCII code range with 'printmbfont'. + +It is possible to define your own multibyte character set although this +should not be attempted lightly. A discussion on the process if beyond the +scope of these help files. You can find details on CMap (character map) files +in the document 'Adobe CMap and CIDFont Files Specification, Version 1.0', +available from http://www.adobe.com as a PDF file. + +============================================================================== +6. PostScript Printing Troubleshooting *postscript-print-trouble* + *E621* +Usually the only sign of a problem when printing with PostScript is that your +printout does not appear. If you are lucky you may get a printed page that +tells you the PostScript operator that generated the error that prevented the +print job completing. + +There are a number of possible causes as to why the printing may have failed: + +- Wrong version of the prolog resource file. The prolog resource file + contains some PostScript that Vim needs to be able to print. Each version + of Vim needs one particular version. Make sure you have correctly installed + the runtime files, and don't have any old versions of a file called prolog + in the print directory in your 'runtimepath' directory. + +- Paper size. Some PostScript printers will abort printing a file if they do + not support the requested paper size. By default Vim uses A4 paper. Find + out what size paper your printer normally uses and set the appropriate paper + size with 'printoptions'. If you cannot find the name of the paper used, + measure a sheet and compare it with the table of supported paper sizes listed + for 'printoptions', using the paper that is closest in both width AND height. + Note: The dimensions of actual paper may vary slightly from the ones listed. + If there is no paper listed close enough, then you may want to try psresize + from PSUtils, discussed below. + +- Two-sided printing (duplex). Normally a PostScript printer that does not + support two-sided printing will ignore any request to do it. However, some + printers may abort the job altogether. Try printing with duplex turned off. + Note: Duplex prints can be achieved manually using PS utils - see below. + +- Collated printing. As with Duplex printing, most PostScript printers that + do not support collating printouts will ignore a request to do so. Some may + not. Try printing with collation turned off. + +- Syntax highlighting. Some print management code may prevent the generated + PostScript file from being printed on a black and white printer when syntax + highlighting is turned on, even if solid black is the only color used. Try + printing with syntax highlighting turned off. + +A safe printoptions setting to try is: > + + :set printoptions=paper:A4,duplex:off,collate:n,syntax:n + +Replace "A4" with the paper size that best matches your printer paper. + +============================================================================== +7. PostScript Utilities *postscript-print-util* + +7.1 Ghostscript + +Ghostscript is a PostScript and PDF interpreter that can be used to display +and print on non-PostScript printers PostScript and PDF files. It can also +generate PDF files from PostScript. + +Ghostscript will run on a wide variety of platforms. + +There are three available versions: + +- AFPL Ghostscript (formerly Aladdin Ghostscript) which is free for + non-commercial use. It can be obtained from: + + http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ + +- GNU Ghostscript which is available under the GNU General Public License. It + can be obtained from: + + ftp://mirror.cs.wisc.edu/pub/mirrors/ghost/gnu/ + +- A commercial version for inclusion in commercial products. + +Additional information on Ghostscript can also be found at: + + http://www.ghostscript.com/ + +Support for a number of non PostScript printers is provided in the +distribution as standard, but if you cannot find support for your printer +check the Ghostscript site for other printers not included by default. + + +7.2 Ghostscript Previewers. + +The interface to Ghostscript is very primitive so a number of graphical front +ends have been created. These allow easier PostScript file selection, +previewing at different zoom levels, and printing. Check supplied +documentation for full details. + +X11 + +- Ghostview. Obtainable from: + + http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gv/ + +- gv. Derived from Ghostview. Obtainable from: + + http://wwwthep.physik.uni-mainz.de/~plass/gv/ + + Copies (possibly not the most recent) can be found at: + + http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gv/ + +OpenVMS + +- Is apparently supported in the main code now (untested). See: + + http://wwwthep.physik.uni-mainz.de/~plass/gv/ + +MS-Windows + +- GSview. Obtainable from: + + http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/ + +Linux + +- GSview. Linux version of the popular MS-Windows previewer. + Obtainable from: + + http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/gsview/ + +- BMV. Different from Ghostview and gv in that it doesn't use X but svgalib. + Obtainable from: + + ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/graphics/viewers/svga/bmv-1.2.tgz + + +7.3 PSUtils + +PSUtils is a collection of utility programs for manipulating PostScript +documents. Binary distributions are available for many platforms, as well as +the full source. PSUtils can be found at: + + http://knackered.org/angus/psutils + +The utilities of interest include: + +- psnup. Convert PS files for N-up printing. +- psselect. Select page range and order of printing. +- psresize. Change the page size. +- psbook. Reorder and lay out pages ready for making a book. + +The output of one program can be used as the input to the next, allowing for +complex print document creation. + + +N-UP PRINTING + +The psnup utility takes an existing PostScript file generated from Vim and +convert it to an n-up version. The simplest way to create a 2-up printout is +to first create a PostScript file with: > + + :hardcopy > test.ps + +Then on your command line execute: > + + psnup -n 2 test.ps final.ps + +Note: You may get warnings from some Ghostscript previewers for files produced +by psnup - these may safely be ignored. + +Finally print the file final.ps to your PostScript printer with your +platform's print command. (You will need to delete the two PostScript files +afterwards yourself.) 'printexpr' could be modified to perform this extra +step before printing. + + +ALTERNATE DUPLEX PRINTING + +It is possible to achieve a poor man's version of duplex printing using the PS +utility psselect. This utility has options -e and -o for printing just the +even or odd pages of a PS file respectively. + +First generate a PS file with the 'hardcopy' command, then generate new +files with all the odd and even numbered pages with: > + + psselect -o test.ps odd.ps + psselect -e test.ps even.ps + +Next print odd.ps with your platform's normal print command. Then take the +print output, turn it over and place it back in the paper feeder. Now print +even.ps with your platform's print command. All the even pages should now +appear on the back of the odd pages. + +There are a couple of points to bear in mind: + +1. Position of the first page. If the first page is on top of the printout + when printing the odd pages then you need to reverse the order that the odd + pages are printed. This can be done with the -r option to psselect. This + will ensure page 2 is printed on the back of page 1. + Note: it is better to reverse the odd numbered pages rather than the even + numbered in case there are an odd number of pages in the original PS file. + +2. Paper flipping. When turning over the paper with the odd pages printed on + them you may have to either flip them horizontally (along the long edge) or + vertically (along the short edge), as well as possibly rotating them 180 + degrees. All this depends on the printer - it will be more obvious for + desktop ink jets than for small office laser printers where the paper path + is hidden from view. + + +============================================================================== +8. Formfeed Characters *printing-formfeed* + +By default Vim does not do any special processing of |formfeed| control +characters. Setting the 'printoptions' formfeed item will make Vim recognize +formfeed characters and continue printing the current line at the beginning +of the first line on a new page. The use of formfeed characters provides +rudimentary print control but there are certain things to be aware of. + +Vim will always start printing a line (including a line number if enabled) +containing a formfeed character, even if it is the first character on the +line. This means if a line starting with a formfeed character is the first +line of a page then Vim will print a blank page. + +Since the line number is printed at the start of printing the line containing +the formfeed character, the remainder of the line printed on the new page +will not have a line number printed for it (in the same way as the wrapped +lines of a long line when wrap in 'printoptions' is enabled). + +If the formfeed character is the last character on a line, then printing will +continue on the second line of the new page, not the first. This is due to +Vim processing the end of the line after the formfeed character and moving +down a line to continue printing. + +Due to the points made above it is recommended that when formfeed character +processing is enabled, printing of line numbers is disabled, and that form +feed characters are not the last character on a line. Even then you may need +to adjust the number of lines before a formfeed character to prevent +accidental blank pages. + +============================================================================== + vim:tw=78:ts=8:noet:ft=help:norl: |