Man1 - mft.1

mft - translate Metafont or MetaPost code to TeX code for prettyprinting

mft [/OPTIONS/] mf_file_name[*.mf*|*.mp*]

This manual page is not meant to be exhaustive. The complete documentation for this version of TeX can be found in the info file or manual Web2C: A TeX implementation.

The mft program creates a TeX file from a Metafont or MetaPost program. It takes appropriate care of typographic details like page layout and the use of indentation, italics, boldface, etc., as illustrated in the book Computer Modern Typefaces. Special conventions in Metafont and MetaPost comments allow you to control things that would not otherwise come out right; section 1 of the MFT source program in the Metafontware report explains these rules.

The mft program uses an optional change file (which works just as the change files to tangle*(1) and *weave*(1) do) and one or several style files (which are prepended to everything). If no style file is specified, the style file *plain.mft for Metafont (or mplain.mft for MetaPost) is automatically used.

The mf_file_name, optional change_file_name, and style_file_name files are searched for using the MFINPUTS (for Metafont) or MPINPUTS (for MetaPost) and MFTINPUTS environment variables if you have set them, or else the corresponding system defaults.

The output TeX file name is formed by using .tex in place of the extension of mf_file_name.

-change=*/change_file_name/[.ch]*

Apply the change file change_file_name to mf_file_name.

-metapost

Assume mf_file_name is a MetaPost source file (this is the default if mf_file_name has the extension .mp).

-style=*/style_file_name/[.mft]*

Use the style file style_file_name instead of plain.mft (or mplain.mft); this option can be given more than once.

mftmac.tex

TeX macros used by mft output.

plain.mft, mplain.mft

Default style files.

cmbase.mft

Style file for Computer Modern.

*mf*(1), *weave*(1).
Donald E. Knuth, Computer Modern Typefaces (Volume E of Computers and Typesetting), Addison-Wesley, 1986, ISBN 0-201-13446-2.
Donald E. Knuth et al., Metafontware.

Donald E. Knuth wrote the program, and he ported it to Unix with the help of Pierre MacKay and the Unix port of weave by Howard Trickey and Pavel Curtis. The program is published in the Metafontware technical report, available from the TeX Users Group.