PostScript files distributed with Ghostscript

Table of contents

For other information, see the Ghostscript overview.

Generally used system files

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

gs_*_e.ps

These files define the Encodings known to Ghostscript. All of them except gs_std_e.ps and gs_il1_e.ps are loaded only if referred to.

PostScript Encodings:
gs_ce_e.ps, gs_il1_e.ps, gs_std_e.ps, gs_sym_e.ps.
PDF Encodings:
gs_mex_e.ps, gs_mro_e.ps, gs_pdf_e.ps, gs_wan_e.ps.
Non-standard Encodings:
gs_dbt_e.ps, gs_il2_e.ps, gs_ksb_e.ps, gs_wl1_e.ps, gs_wl2_e.ps, gs_wl5_e.ps.
Pseudo-encodings:
gs_css_e.ps, gs_lgo_e.ps, gs_lgx_e.ps, gs_mgl_e.ps.
gs_btokn.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in if the btoken feature is included in the configuration. It provides support for binary tokens.
gs_ccfnt.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in if the ccfonts feature is included in the configuration. It provides support for compiled fonts.
gs_cff.ps
Load CFF (compressed) fonts.
gs_fntem.ps
Code for emulating PostScript fonts with non-PostScript font technologies.
gs_cidtt.ps
Code for emulating CID fonts with TrueType fonts.
gs_cidcm.ps
Code for recognizing font names of the form CIDFont-CMap (or CIDFont--CMap) and creating the font automatically.
gs_ciddc.ps
Defines Decoding and CIDDecoding resource categories and related procsets. Used for for emulating PostScript fonts with non-PostScript font technologies.
gs_cidfm.ps
Provides resource mapping for CIDFont category.
gs_cidfn.ps
ProcSet for implementing CIDFont and CIDMap resources.
gs_cmap.ps
ProcSet for implementing CMap resources.
gs_cspace.ps
PostScript portion of the basic color space handling; see the extensive comment at the head of the file for information.
gs_dscp.ps
Code to compensate for badly written PostScript files by setting Orientation according to the DSC comments.
gs_epsf.ps
Allow the interpreter to recognize DOS EPSF file headers, and skip to the PostScript section of the file.
gs_fapi.ps
Font API support.
gs_fonts.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in. It initializes Ghostscript's font machinery and provides some utility procedures that work with fonts.
gs_frsd.ps
Support for the PostScript LanguageLevel 3 ReusableStreamDecode filter.
gs_img.ps
Implementation of the traditional (non-dictionary) form of the image and imagemask operators, and the colorimage operator (including the Next alphaimage facility).
gs_init.ps
Ghostscript reads this automatically when it starts up. It contains definitions of many standard procedures and initialization for a wide variety of things.
gs_lev2.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in if the Ghostscript interpreter includes Level 2 PostScript functions. It contains definitions of procedures and miscellaneous initialization for the Level 2 functions.
gs_ll3.ps
Initialize PostScript LanguageLevel 3 functions.
gs_resmp.ps
A procset for redefining resource categories with a resource map.
gs_resst.ps
A procset which allow to put resource files into static data segment of Ghostscript executable.
gs_stres.ps
A map for generating the static data segment with including resource files, and for retrieving resources from there.
gs_res.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in if the Level 2 resource machinery is included. Currently, this is the case for all Level 2 configurations.
gs_setpd.ps
Implementation of the setpagedevice operator.
gs_statd.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in. It creates a dummy statusdict and some other environmental odds and ends for the benefit of PostScript files that really want to be printed on a LaserWriter.
gs_trap.ps
Stub support for the PostScript LanguageLevel 3 "In-RIP trapping" feature.
gs_ttf.ps
Support code for direct use of TrueType fonts.
gs_typ32.ps
Initialization file for Type 32 fonts.
gs_typ42.ps
Support code for Type 42 fonts (TrueType font in a PostScript "wrapper").
gs_type1.ps
gs_init.ps reads this in if the Ghostscript interpreter includes Type 1 font capability (which it normally does).

Configuration files

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution. Users are allowed to modify them to configure Ghostscript.

Fontmap
Font mapping table.
cidfmap
CID font mapping table. Allows substitution of a CID font for another CID font or a TrueType font for a CID font.
FAPIconfig
A configuration file for Font API client.
FAPIfontmap
Font mapping table for Font-API-handled fonts.
FAPIcidfmap
Font mapping table for Font-API-handled CID fonts.

More obscure system files

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

gs_agl.ps
Contains the mapping from Adobe glyph names to Unicode values, used to support TrueType fonts.
gs_cet.ps
Sets a number of alternate defaults to make Ghostscript behave more like Adobe CPSI. Useful for running the CET conformance test suite.
gs_cmdl.ps
This file is not used yet. Eventually it will replace C code that parses the Ghostscript command line.
gs_diskf.ps
This file implements the -dDISKFONTS feature (diskfont.dev). See the the usage documentation for a description of this feature.
gs_diskn.ps
This file implements the %disk IODevice (diskn.dev feature). See the the language documentation for information on the use of the %disk# devices. These PostScript modifications primarily perform the searching of all Searchable file systems in a defined SearchOrder when a file reference does not contain an explicit %device% specifier (such as %os% or %disk0%). This is required to emulate undocumented behaviour of Adobe PostScript printers that have a disk and was experimentally determined.
gs_fform.ps
A usable but imperfect PostScript implementation of Form caching.
gs_kanji.ps
This file provides support for the Wadalab free Kanji font. It is not included automatically in any configuration.
gs_pdfwr.ps
This file contains some patches for providing information to the pdfwrite driver. It is included only if the pdfwrite driver is included.
gs_rdlin.ps
A tiny patch for systems with built-in readline support.
ht_ccsto.ps
A default stochastic CMYK halftone. This file is in the public domain.
stcolor.ps
Configure the (Epson) stcolor driver

PDF-specific system files

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

gs_l2img.ps
The ProcSet that emulates the PostScript Level 2 "image" operator on Level 1 systems.
pdf_base.ps
Utilities for interpreting PDF objects and streams.
pdf_draw.ps
The interpreter for drawing-related PDF operations.
pdf_font.ps
Code for handling fonts in PDF files.
pdf_main.ps
Document- and page-level control for interpreting PDF files.
pdf_ops.ps
Definitions for most of the PDF operators.
pdf_rbld.ps
Contains procedures for bebuilding damaged PDF files.
pdf_sec.ps
PDF security (encryption) code.
pdf_cslayer.ps
Layer data extraction utilities of Illustrator files.
gs_icc.ps
Support for ICC color profiles. These are not a standard PostScript feature, but are used in the PDF interpreter, as ICC profiles may be embedded in PDF files.
opdfread.ps
Postscript procset for reading an ordered PDF file. This is used by the ps2ps, ps2ps2 scripts.

It is now deprecated, and the contents are included in a ps2write header file.

EndOfTask.ps
An auxiliary file used by the ps2write script.
PDFX_def.ps
This is a sample prefix file for creating a PDF/X-3 document with the pdfwrite device.
PDFA_def.ps
This is a sample prefix file for creating a PDF/A document with the pdfwrite device.

Display PostScript-specific system files

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

gs_dpnxt.ps
NeXT Display PostScript extensions.
gs_dps.ps, gs_dps1.ps, gs_dps2.ps
gs_init.ps reads these in if the dps feature is included in the configuration. They provide support for various Display PostScript and Level 2 features.

Art and examples

These files are found in the examples subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

alphabet.ps
Prints a sample alphabet at several different sizes.
annots.pdf
A sample file with a wide variety of PDF "annotations".
cheq.ps
A chessboard "font" used by chess.ps (obtained from Adobe).
chess.ps
A black-and-white chessboard.
colorcir.ps
A set of nested ellipses made up of colored bars.
doretree.ps
A 3-D image produced by a modeling program. This file is in the public domain.
escher.ps
A colored version of a hexagonally symmetric Escher drawing of interlocking butterflies. Can be printed on monochrome devices, with somewhat less dramatic results.
golfer.eps
A gray-scale picture of a stylishly dressed woman swinging a golf club.
grayalph.ps
Grayscaled text test pattern.
ridt91.eps
The RIDT '91 logo. Note that since this is an EPS file, you will have to add "-c showpage" at the end of the command line to print it or convert it to a raster file.
snowflak.ps
A rectangular grid of intricate colored snowflakes. (May render very slowly.)
tiger.eps
A dramatic colored picture of a tiger's head.
transparency_example.ps
A simple example of transparency.
vasarely.ps
Colored rectangles and ellipses inspired by Victor Vasarely's experiments with tilting circles and squares.
waterfal.ps
Prints text in a variety of different sizes, to help evaluate the quality of text rendering.

Utilities

For more information on these utility programs, see the comments at the beginnings of the files. The ones marked (*) have batch files or shell scripts of the same name (like bdftops and bdftops.bat) to invoke them conveniently.

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

align.ps
A test page for determining the proper margin and offset parameters for your printer.
bdftops.ps *
A utility for converting BDF fonts to outline form: see the documentation on fonts.
bench.ps
A file useful for running benchmarks.
caption.ps
A file for putting a caption in a box at the bottom of each page, useful for trade show demos.
cat.ps
Appends one file to another. Primarily used to overcome the 'copy' limitation of Windows command shell for ps2epsi
cid2code.ps
A utility for creating maps from CIDs to Unicode, useful when substituting a TrueType font for an Adobe font.
docie.ps
An emulation of the CIE color mapping algorithms.
errpage.ps
A file that you can put in front of your own files to make Ghostscript (or a PostScript printer) produce an informative error page if something goes wrong during the processing of your file(s).
font2pcl.ps
A utility to write a font as a PCL bitmap font.
gslp.ps *
A utility for doing "line printing" of plain text files.
gsnup.ps
A file that you can concatenate in front of (very well-behaved) PostScript files to do N-up printing. It is deliberately simple and naive: for more generality, use psnup (which, however, requires DSC comments).
jispaper.ps
A file that makes the b0 through b6 procedures refer to JIS B paper sizes rather than ISO B.
landscap.ps
A file that you can put in front of your own files to get them rendered in landscape mode.
mkcidfm.ps
A utility for creating a CID font mapping table cidfmap from fonts found in a specified directory.
pdf2dsc.ps
A utility to read a PDF file and produce a DSC "index" file.
pf2afm.ps *
A utility for producing AFM files from PFA, PFB, and optionally PFM files.
pfbtopfa.ps *
A utility to convert PFB (binary) font files to PFA (text) format.
prfont.ps
A utility to print a font catalog.
printafm.ps
A utility to print an AFM file on standard output.
ps2ai.ps
A utility for converting an arbitrary PostScript file into a form compatible with Adobe Illustrator. NOTE: ps2ai doesn't work properly with Adobe's Helvetica-Oblique font, and other fonts whose original FontMatrix involves skewing or rotation.
ps2ascii.ps *
A utility for extracting the ASCII text from PostScript source files. It redefines many operators. For more information, see the comments in the file.
ps2epsi.ps *
A utility for converting an arbitrary PostScript file into EPSI form.
rollconv.ps
A utility for converting files produced by Macromedia's Rollup program to a Type 0 form directly usable by Ghostscript.
showpage.ps
A file containing just the word "showpage". (The -c switch now makes this unnecessary; this file exists for backward compatibility.)
stocht.ps
A file that installs the StochasticDefault halftone as the default, which may improve output quality on inkjet printers. See the file for more information.
viewcmyk.ps
A utility for displaying CMYK files.
viewgif.ps
A utility for displaying GIF files.
viewjpeg.ps
A utility for displaying JPEG files.
viewmiff.ps
A utility for displaying MIFF files.
viewpbm.ps
A utility for displaying PBM/PGM/PPM files.
viewpcx.ps
A utility for displaying PCX files.
viewrgb.ps
A utility for displaying files created by -sDEVICE=bitrgb.
viewraw.ps
An extended utility for displaying files created by -sDEVICE=bitrgb.
waterfal.ps
A utility to print a "waterfall" of fonts at different sizes.

Development tools

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

acctest.ps
A utility that checks whether the interpreter enforces access restrictions.
image-qa.ps
A comprehensive test of the image display operators.
ppath.ps
A couple of utilities for printing out the current path, for debugging.
pphs.ps
A utility to print the Primary Hint Stream of a linearized PDF file.
traceimg.ps
Trace the data supplied to the image operator.
traceop.ps
A utility for tracing uses of any procedure or operator for debugging.
uninfo.ps
Some utilities for printing out PostScript data structures.
viewps2a.ps
A utility for displaying the output of ps2ascii.ps.
wftopfa.ps
Convert a Wadalab (Japanese) base font to .PFA (or .PFB) format.
winmaps.ps
A utility for creating mappings between the Adobe encodings and the Microsoft Windows character sets.
zeroline.ps
A utility for testing how interpreters handle zero-width lines.

Odds and ends

These files are found in the lib subdirectory of the Ghostscript source distribution.

jobseparator.ps
Convience file containing a job separator sequence for use when passing files with -dJOBSERVER.
lines.ps
A test program for line joins and caps.
stcinfo.ps
Print and show parameters of the (Epson) stcolor driver.

Copyright © 2000-2006 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights reserved.

This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or implied. This software is distributed under license and may not be copied, modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms of that license. Refer to licensing information at http://www.artifex.com/ or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 7 Mt. Lassen Drive - Suite A-134, San Rafael, CA 94903, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861, for further information.

Ghostscript version 9.22, 4 October 2017