Usage: pdftex [OPTION]... [TEXNAME[.tex]] [COMMANDS]
   or: pdftex [OPTION]... \FIRST-LINE
   or: pdftex [OPTION]... &FMT ARGS
  Run pdfTeX on TEXNAME, usually creating TEXNAME.pdf.
  Any remaining COMMANDS are processed as pdfTeX input, after TEXNAME is read.
  If the first line of TEXNAME is %&FMT, and FMT is an existing .fmt file,
  use it.  Else use `NAME.fmt', where NAME is the program invocation name,
  most commonly `pdftex'.

  Alternatively, if the first non-option argument begins with a backslash,
  interpret all non-option arguments as a line of pdfTeX input.

  Alternatively, if the first non-option argument begins with a &, the
  next word is taken as the FMT to read, overriding all else.  Any
  remaining arguments are processed as above.

  If no arguments or options are specified, prompt for input.

-cnf-line=STRING        parse STRING as a configuration file line
-draftmode              switch on draft mode (generates no output PDF)
-enc                    enable encTeX extensions such as \mubyte
-etex                   enable e-TeX extensions
[-no]-file-line-error   disable/enable file:line:error style messages
-fmt=FMTNAME            use FMTNAME instead of program name or a %& line
-halt-on-error          stop processing at the first error
-ini                    be pdfinitex, for dumping formats; this is implicitly
                          true if the program name is `pdfinitex'
-interaction=STRING     set interaction mode (STRING=batchmode/nonstopmode/
                          scrollmode/errorstopmode)
-ipc                    send DVI output to a socket as well as the usual
                          output file
-ipc-start              as -ipc, and also start the server at the other end
-jobname=STRING         set the job name to STRING
-kpathsea-debug=NUMBER  set path searching debugging flags according to
                          the bits of NUMBER
[-no]-mktex=FMT         disable/enable mktexFMT generation (FMT=tex/tfm/pk)
-mltex                  enable MLTeX extensions such as \charsubdef
-output-comment=STRING  use STRING for DVI file comment instead of date
                          (no effect for PDF)
-output-directory=DIR   use existing DIR as the directory to write files in
-output-format=FORMAT   use FORMAT for job output; FORMAT is `dvi' or `pdf'
[-no]-parse-first-line  disable/enable parsing of first line of input file
-progname=STRING        set program (and fmt) name to STRING
-recorder               enable filename recorder
[-no]-shell-escape      disable/enable \write18{SHELL COMMAND}
-shell-restricted       enable restricted \write18
-src-specials           insert source specials into the DVI file
-src-specials=WHERE     insert source specials in certain places of
                          the DVI file. WHERE is a comma-separated value
                          list: cr display hbox math par parend vbox
-synctex=NUMBER         generate SyncTeX data for previewers according to
                          bits of NUMBER (`man synctex' for details)
-translate-file=TCXNAME use the TCX file TCXNAME
-8bit                   make all characters printable by default
-help                   display this help and exit
-version                output version information and exit

pdfTeX home page: <https://pdftex.org>

Email bug reports to pdftex@tug.org (https://lists.tug.org/pdftex).



pdfTeX 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.29 (TeX Live 2026)
kpathsea version 6.4.2
Copyright 2026 Han The Thanh (pdfTeX) et al.
There is NO warranty.  Redistribution of this software is
covered by the terms of both the pdfTeX copyright and
the Lesser GNU General Public License.
For more information about these matters, see the file
named COPYING and the pdfTeX source.
Primary author of pdfTeX: Han The Thanh (pdfTeX) et al.
Compiled with libpng 1.6.54; using libpng 1.6.54
Compiled with zlib 1.3.1; using zlib 1.3.1
Compiled with xpdf version 4.04
