MKFONTDIR(1)                   X Version 11                    MKFONTDIR(1)
                                 Release 6.1



 NAME    [Toc]    [Back]
      mkfontdir, fonts.dir, fonts.scale, fonts.alias - create an index of X
      font files in a directory

 SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]
      mkfontdir [directory-name ... ]

 DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]
      For each directory argument, mkfontdir reads all of the font files in
      the directory searching for properties named "FONT", or (failing that)
      the name of the file stripped of its suffix.  These are converted to
      lower case and used as font names, and, along with the name of the
      font file, are written out to the file "fonts.dir" in the directory.
      The X server and font server use "fonts.dir" to find font files.

      The kinds of font files read by mkfontdir depend on configuration
      parameters, but typically include PCF (suffix ".pcf"), SNF (suffix
      ".snf") and BDF (suffix ".bdf").  If a font exists in multiple
      formats, mkfontdir will first choose PCF, then SNF and finally BDF.

      The first line of fonts.dir gives the number of fonts in the file.
      The remaining lines list the fonts themselves, one per line, in two
      fields.  First is the name of the font file, followed by a space and
      the name of the font.

 SCALABLE FONTS    [Toc]    [Back]
      Because scalable font files do not usually include the X font name,
      the file "fonts.scale" can be used to name the scalable fonts in the
      directory.  The fonts listed in it are copied to fonts.dir by
      mkfontdir.  "fonts.scale" has the same format as the "fonts.dir" file.

 FONT NAME ALIASES    [Toc]    [Back]
      The file "fonts.alias", which can be put in any directory of the
      font-path, is used to map new names to existing fonts, and should be
      edited by hand.  The format is two white-space separated columns, the
      first containing aliases and the second containing font-name patterns.
      Lines beginning with "!" are comment lines and are ignored.

      If neither the alias nor the value specifies the size fields of the
      font name, this is a scalable alias.  A font name of any size that
      matches this alias will be mapped to the same size of the font that
      the alias resolves to.

      When a font alias is used, the name it references is searched for in
      the normal manner, looking through each font directory in turn.  This
      means that the aliases need not mention fonts in the same directory as
      the alias file.

      To embed white space in either name, simply enclose it in double-quote
      marks; to embed double-quote marks (or any other character), precede
      them with back-slash:



 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 1 -             HP-UX 11.23 March 2003






 MKFONTDIR(1)                   X Version 11                    MKFONTDIR(1)
                                 Release 6.1



      "magic-alias with spaces"     "\"font name\" with quotes"
      regular-alias            fixed

      If the string "FILE_NAMES_ALIASES" stands alone on a line, each filename
 in the directory (stripped of its suffix) will be used as an
      alias for that font.

 FILES    [Toc]    [Back]
      fonts.dir      List of fonts in the directory and the files they are
                     stored in.  Created by mkfontdir.  Read by the X server
                     and font server each time the font path is set (see
                     xset(1)).

      fonts.scale    List of scalable fonts in the directory.  Contents are
                     copied to fonts.dir by mkfontdir.

      fonts.alias    List of font name aliases.  Read by the X server and
                     font server each time the font path is set (see
                     xset(1)).

 SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]
      X(1), Xserver(1), xfs(1), xset(1)


 Hewlett-Packard Company            - 2 -             HP-UX 11.23 March 2003