ppmlabel(1)
NAME
ppmlabel - add text to a portable pixmap
SYNOPSIS
ppmlabel [-angle angle] [-background transparent | colour] [-colour
colour] [-file filename] [-size textsize] [-text 'text
string'] [-x column] [-y row] ... [ppmfile]
DESCRIPTION
ppmlabel uses the text drawing facilities of ppmdraw to add text to a
portable pixmap. The location, size, baseline angle, colour of the
text and background colour (if any) are controlled by command line
arguments. The text can be specified on the command line or read from
files. Any number of separate text strings can be added by one
invocation of ppmlabel, limited only by the maximum length of the
command line.
If no ppmfile is specified, ppmdraw reads its input pixmap from
standard input.
OPTIONS
The arguments on the ppmlabel command line are not options in the
strict sense; they are commands which control the placement and
appearance of the text being added to the input pixmap. They are
executed left to right, and any number of arguments may appear.
All flags can be abbreviated to their shortest unique prefix.
-angle angle
Sets the angle of the baseline of subsequent text. angle is
specified as an integral number of degrees, measured
counterclockwise from the row axis of the pixmap.
-background transparent | colour
If the argument is ``transparent'', text is drawn over the
existing pixels in the pixmap. If a colour is given (see the
-colour switch below for information on how to specify
colours), rectangles enclosing subsequent text are filled
with that colour.
-colour colour
Sets the colour for subsequent text. The colour can be
specified in five ways:
* A name, assuming that a pointer to an X11-style colour
names file was compiled in.
* An X11-style hexadecimal specifier: rgb:r/g/b, where r
g and b are each 1- to 4-digit hexadecimal numbers.
* An X11-style decimal specifier: rgbi:r/g/b, where r g
and b are floating point numbers between 0 and 1.
* For backwards compatibility, an old-X11-style
hexadecimal number: #rgb, #rrggbb, #rrrgggbbb, or
#rrrrggggbbbb.
* For backwards compatibility, a triplet of numbers
separated by commas: r,g,b, where r g and b are
floating point numbers between 0 and 1. (This style
was added before MIT came up with the similar rgbi
style.)
-file filename
Reads text from the file filename and draws it on successive
lines.
-size textsize
Sets the height of the tallest characters above the baseline
to textsize pixels.
-text 'text string'
Draws the given text string (which must be quoted if it
contains spaces). The location for subsequent text is
advanced by 1.75 times the current textsize, which allows
drawing multiple lines of text in a reasonable manner without
specifying the position of each line.
-x column Sets the column at which subsequent text will be left
justified. Depending on the shape of the first character,
the actual text may begin a few pixels to the right of this
point.
-y row Sets the row which will form the baseline of subsequent text.
Characters with descenders, such as ``y'', will extend below
this line.
BUGS
Text strings are restricted to 7 bit ASCII. The text font used by
ppmdraw doesn't include definitions for 8 bit ISO 8859/1 characters.
When drawing multiple lines of text with a non-transparent background,
it should probably fill the space between the lines with the background
colour. This is tricky to get right when the text is rotated to a non-
orthogonal angle.
The -size, -x, and -y options MUST precede the -text option specifying
the string they apply to, or they will be silently ignored in favor of
the defaults.
SEE ALSO
ppmmake(1), ppm(5)
AUTHOR
Copyright (C) 1995 by John Walker (kelvin@fourmilab.ch)
WWW home page: http://www.fourmilab.ch/
Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,
without any conditions or restrictions. This software is provided ``as
is'' without express or implied warranty.
14 June 1995 ppmlabel(1)
Free and Open Source Software