# Text Formatting Commands

Formatting commands, e.g. {anything}

The idea of formatting commands is to allow you to introduce superscripts, subscripts, accented letters, maths, dashed lines or plotting symbols into PostScript text files, or into collage titles, captions, or legends, using only ASCII text controls. To use a formatting command you simply introduce the command into the text enclosed in curly brackets as in: {raise}, {lower}, {newline}, and so on. If {anything} is a recognised command then it will be executed when the .eps file is created. Otherwise the literal string argument, i.e. anything, will be printed with no inter-word space. Note that no {commands} add interword spaces, so this provides a mechanism to build up long character strings and also control spacing; use {anything} to print anything with no trailing inter-word space, or use { } to introduce an inter-word space character. To introduce spaces for tabbing, for instance, just use {newline}{ }start-of-tabbing, with the number of spaces required inside the { }. Note that the commands are both spelling and case sensitive, so, for instance, {21}{degree}{C} will indicate the temperature intended, but {21}{degrees}{C} will print as 21degreesC while {21}{Degree}{C} will produce 21DegreeC.

Special commands, e.g {left}

left, e.g. {left} will print a {
right, e.g. {right} will print a }
%!command, e.g. {%!command} will issue command as a PostScript command
The construction {%!command} should only be used if you understand PostScript. It provides PostScript programmers with the power to create special effects. For example {%!1 0 0 setrgbcolor}, will change the font colour to red, and {%!0 0 1 setrgbcolor} will make it blue, while {%!2 setlinewidth} will double line thickness.

Coordinates, e.g. {raise}

raise, e.g. use {raise} to create a superscript or restore after {lower}
lower, e.g. use {lower} to create a subscript or restore after {raise}
increase, e.g. use {increase} to increase font size by 1 point
decrease, e.g. use {decrease} to decrease font size by 1 point
expand, e.g. use {expand} to expand inter-line spacing by 1 point
contract, e.g. use {contract} to contract inter-line spacing by 1 point

Currency, e.g. {dollar}

dollar $
sterling £
yen ¥

Maths, e.g. {divide}

divide ÷
multiply ×
plusminus ±

Scientific units, e.g. {Angstrom}

Angstrom Å
degree °
micron µ

Fonts, e.g. {roman}

roman
bold
italic
helvetica
helveticabold
helveticaoblique
symbol
zapfchancery
zapfdingbats
isolatin1
Note that you can use octal codes to get extra-keyboard characters, and the character selected will depend on whether the StandardEncoding or IOSLatin1Encoding is current. For instance, \361 will locate an {ae} character if the StandardEncoding Encoding Vector is current, but it will locate a {ntilde} character if the ISOLatin1Encoding Encoding Vector is current, i.e. the command {isolatin1} has been used previously. The command {isolatin1} will install the ISOLatin1Encoding Vector as the current Encoding Vector until it is cancelled by any font command, such as {roman}, or by any shortcut command such as {ntilde} or {alpha}. For this reason, {isolatin1} should only be used for characters where shortcuts like {ntilde} are not available.

Poor man's bold, e.g. {pmb?}

The command {pmb?} will use the same technique of overprinting as used by the Knuth TeX macro to render the argument, that is ? in this case, in bold face font, where ? can be a letter or an octal code. This is most useful when printing a boldface character from a font that only exists in standard typeface. For example, {pmbb} will print a boldface letter b in the current font then restore the current font, while {symbol}{pmbb}{roman} will print a boldface beta then restore roman font. Again, {pmb\243} will print a boldface pound sign.

Punctuation, e.g. {dagger}

dagger
daggerdbl
paragraph ¶
section §
questiondown ¿

Special letters, e.g. {Aacute}

Aacute Á
agrave à
aacute á
acircumflex â
atilde ã
adieresis ä
aring å
ae æ
ccedilla ç
egrave è
eacute é
ecircumflex ê
edieresis ë
igrave ì
iacute í
icircumflex î
idieresis ï
ntilde ñ
ograve ò
oacute ó
ocircumflex ô
otilde õ
odieresis ö
ugrave ù
uacute ú
ucircumflex û
udieresis ü
All the other special letters can be printed using {isolatin1} (say just once at the start of the text) then using the octal codes, for instance {isolatin1}{\303} will print an upper case ntilde.

Greek, e.g. {alpha}

alpha
beta
chi
delta
epsilon
phi
gamma
eta
kappa
lambda
mu
nu
pi
theta
rho
sigma
tau
omega
psi
All the other characters in the symbol font can be printed by installing symbol font, supplying the octal code, then restoring the font, as in {symbol}{\245}{roman} which will print infinity, then restore Times Roman font.

Lines and Symbols, e.g. {ce}

li = line
da = dashed line
do = dotted line
dd = dashed dotted line
ce, ch, cf = circle (empty, half filled, filled)
te, th, tf = triangle (empty, half filled, filled)
se, sh, sf = square (empty, half filled, filled)
de, dh, df = diamond (empty, half filled, filled)

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