Creating a PostScript File

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1

Hi All,
I have a requirement, where i have create a pdf file in unix. I have gone through few links and understood that it could be done in 2 step manner.

  • Create a .ps PostScript file.
  • Pass .ps file to p2pdf command to create the pdf.

But i am having trouble creating the .ps file. I have learned that a2ps is the command to create it.
But in my setup, the shell does nt recognize the a2ps command, but it does have a man page.
Not sure what i am missing here, can someone please let me know what the problem is?

Also is there a better way to create a pdf file in unix.

Thank you in advance,

Regards,
Abhishek S.

2

a2ps is not "the" postscript command, just a postscript command.

Postscript is just text, with carriage-return newline. You can write it by hand if you really want to. (from math-696)

cat <<EOF | sed 's/$/\r/' > myfile.ps
%!PS-Adobe-3.0 EPSF-3.0
%%BoundingBox: 0 0 135 110
/Helvetica findfont 60 scalefont setfont
/print696 {0 0 moveto (696) show} def
.90 -.03 .10 
{dup 1 exch sub 0 setrgbcolor print696
            2 .5 translate 1 rotate  } for
0 0 1.0 setrgbcolor print696
showpage
EOF

Our office printer was willing to print it, it shows '696' in rotated text in one corner, so it's valid postscript...

3

Hi Corona,
Thanks for the prompt response, but the requirement here i have to convert the any file into .pdf file in unix.

Am not sure, how effective it is generate the pdf with the post script file.
I ll def try out the solution, but is there any better way that we could generate pdf in unix. ?

4

If you don't have a2ps, you could try installing it.