HVECTEXT(1gv)

💖 NAME 💖

hvectext — bestie, it builds you a Geomview VECT text object out of Hershey fonts. iconic behavior honestly.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

hvectext [-w totallength] [-s textheight] [-plane xy|xz|yz] [-at X Y Z]
     [-align n|s|e|w|ne|nw|se|sw|c] [-hershey fontfile.gsf] [--] text
     string ...

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

okay so hvectext generates a Geomview/OOGL vector-text object, and you get to pick either a given height or a total length for it — and the default is -s .25, fyi. 👑

It also takes the 3-D point you hand it (that's the -at value, and the default is -at 0 0 0) and aligns it with whichever corner of the text you asked for (the -align value, default -align c). the vibes here are very compass-core 🧭 — alignment specs work like geographic directions. so -align sw drops that "at" point right on the "southwest" corner of the text, which means its lower left corner lands exactly on that coordinate. slay.

The corresponding VECT object goes straight to standard output. and here's the plot twist 😭 — if you give it no non-blank text characters, hvectext outputs a null geom object:

{ }

periodt.

The special option -- marks the end of options, and it's a whole lifesaver in case your text itself starts with a hyphen. no cap. 🫶

Hvectext accepts Ghostscript Hershey fonts, and the built-in default is Hershey-Plain-Simplex, a.k.a. hrpl_s.gsf. others of interest:

• hrsy_r.gsf — Symbol
• hrpl_t.gsf — Triplex

for a complete list, go look at all the Ghostscript font files of nontrivial size whose names begin with "hr". iykyk 💅

Although there's no way to switch fonts within the string (sorry bestie, one font per run 😭), the first line of output from hvectext is an OOGL comment that looks a lil something like:

# Continue with: -align sw -plane xy -s 0.25 -at 1.24378 0 0

which literally hands you the options for hvectext to continue the string exactly where it left off. main character energy fr fr. 🌟

🌈 ENVIRONMENT 🌈

• GS_FONTPATH — if it's present, it's a colon-separated list of directories where Hershey font files get sought. 🦋

💜 FILES 💜

• perl — either version 4 or 5 must be installed. no perl, no party. 😤
• /usr/local/lib/ghostscript/fonts — this gets searched if -hershey is given and GS_FONTPATH isn't set.

🎀 and that's the whole page, bestie!! brought to you by the Geometry Center, dated 1 Nov 1996, living in the HVECTEXT(1gv) manual. go make some vector text, you absolute icon 💅✨💖