GFTYPE(1)

💅 gftype — the manual page, but make it cute ✨

okay bestie, welcome to gftype(1) from the General Commands Manual — yes this is a real Unix man page and yes we're doing this together 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

gftype — translate a generic font file for humans to read 🌸

Like... it takes a font file that only a computer could love and turns it into something you can actually read. it's giving translator, it's giving interpreter, it's giving bestie energy 💖

---

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

gftype [-i] [-m] gf_file_name [output_file_name]

that's it. that's the whole vibe. two little flags, a font file, and optionally somewhere to put the output 👑

---

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

okay so first things first, real talk:

this manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. the complete documentation for this version of TeX lives in the info file or in the manual Web2C: A TeX implementation. so if you need the whole lore, go there, i'm just the highlights reel 💅

so. the gftype program translates a gf (generic font) file — the kind that gets output by, for example, mf(1) — into a file that humans can read. yes, humans. us. we can read it now. iconic 🎀

but wait, there's more, because of course there is:

• it also doubles as a gf file-validating program — like, if gftype can read it, it's correct. that's the whole test. no cap 🔥
• it also serves as an example of a gf-reading program for other software that wants to read gf files. so it's basically a tutorial AND a tool. main character energy fr fr 👑

now about that gf_file_name on the command line — it must be complete. like, fully, entirely, no shortcuts. why? because the resolution is part of the extension, so it would not make sense to append a default extension the way TeX or DVI-reading software does. that trick? doesn't work here. sorry babe 😭

and if you don't specify an output_file_name? the output goes to stdout. classic. love that for us ✨

---

💖 OPTIONS 💖

• -i — when this one's on the command line, the output file includes bitmap images of the characters. actual little pictures of your glyphs. obsessed 🦋
• -m — when this one's specified, you get a symbolic listing of the gf commands. the receipts, the lore, the play-by-play 💅

---

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

gftype goes looking for gf_file_name using the environment variable GFFONTS. 🧚

and if that's not set? it falls back to the variable TEXFONTS.

and if that's not set either? it just uses the system default. the backup backup plan. we love a safety net 💜

---

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

• dvitype(1)
• pktype(1)
• Donald E. Knuth et al., Metafontware.

go read those too, bestie, stay hydrated and stay curious 🌈

---

👑 AUTHORS 👑

David Fuchs and Don Knuth wrote the program. it was published as part of the Metafontware technical report, which you can get from the TeX Users Group. and Paul Richards originally ported it to Unix. legends, all of them, no notes 💖

---

okay that's the whole page!! this was Web2C 2025, dated 16 June 2015 — thanks for scrolling all the way down, you're literally the best, mwah 💋✨🎀