xpdf - Man Page

• Open a PDF file: xpdf path/to/file.pdf
• Open a specific page in a PDF file: xpdf path/to/file.pdf :page_number
• Open a compressed PDF file: xpdf path/to/file.pdf.tar
• Open a PDF file in fullscreen mode: xpdf -fullscreen path/to/file.pdf
• Specify the initial zoom: xpdf -z 75% path/to/file.pdf
• Specify the initial zoom at page width or full page: xpdf -z page|width path/to/file.pdf

tldr.sh

xpdf [options] [PDF-file [:page | +dest]] ...

xpdf [options] -remote remote-name [command ...]

xpdf [options] -open [PDF-file]

Xpdf is a viewer for Portable Document Format (PDF) files.  (These are also sometimes also called ´Acrobat' files, from the name of Adobe's PDF software.)  Xpdf uses the Qt GUI toolkit and runs on Unix, OS X, and Windows.

To run xpdf, type:

where file.pdf is your PDF file.  The file name can be followed by a page number to be displayed, prefixed with a colon:

or by a named destination, prefixed with ´+' (this is only useful with PDF files that provide named destination targets):

If you specify multiple files, they will each be opened in a separate tab:

You can also start xpdf without opening any files:

Xpdf reads a configuration file at startup.  It first tries to find the user's private config file, ~/.xpdfrc.  If that doesn't exist, it looks for a system-wide config file, typically /etc/xpdfrc (but this location can be changed when xpdf is built).  See the xpdfrc(5) man page for details.

The following command line options are available.  All command line options must come before any PDF files to be opened.

Many of the options can be set with configuration file commands. These are listed in square brackets with the description of the corresponding command line option.

-geometry geometry

Set the initial window geometry.

-title title

Set the window title.  By default, the title will be "xpdf: foo.pdf".

-open [PDF-file]

This option sets up a default remote server.  If Xpdf is already running (with the "-open" switch), the PDF file (if any) is opened in a new tab.  If Xpdf (with the "-open" switch) is not already running, starts Xpdf and opens the PDF file (if any).  This is useful for GUI desktop environments, e.g., the typical double-click on a PDF file case.

-rv

Set reverse video mode.  This reverses the colors of everything except images.  It may not always produce great results for PDF files which do weird things with color.  This also causes the paper color to default to black.

-papercolor color

Set the "paper color", i.e., the background of the page display.  The color can be #RRGGBB (hexadecimal) or a named color.  This option will not work well with PDF files that do things like filling in white behind the text. [config file: paperColor]

-mattecolor color

Set the matte color, i.e., the color used for background outside the actual page area.  The color can be #RRGGBB (hexadecimal) or a named color. [config file: matteColor]

-fsmattecolor color

Set the matte color for full-screen mode.  The color can be #RRGGBB (hexadecimal) or a named color. [config file: fullScreenMatteColor]

-z zoom

Set the initial zoom factor.  A number specifies a zoom percentage, where 100 means 72 dpi.  You may also specify ´page', to fit the page to the window size, or ´width', to fit the page width to the window width. [config file: initialZoom]

-rot angle

Rotate pages by 0 (the default), 90, 180, or 270 degrees.

-aa yes | no

Enable or disable font anti-aliasing.  This defaults to "yes". [config file: antialias]

-aaVector yes | no

Enable or disable vector anti-aliasing.  This defaults to "yes". [config file: vectorAntialias]

-enc encoding-name

Sets the encoding to use for text output.  The encoding-name must be defined with the unicodeMap command (see xpdfrc(5)). This defaults to "Latin1" (which is a built-in encoding). [config file: textEncoding]

-pw password

Specify the password for the PDF file.  This can be either the owner password (which will bypass all security restrictions) or the user password.

-fullscreen

Open xpdf in full-screen mode, useful for presentations.

-remote remote-name

Start Xpdf in remote server mode.  See the Remote Server Mode section.

-display display

Set the X display (only available with X11).

-cmd

Print commands as they're executed (useful for debugging). [config file: printCommands]

-tabstate tabstate-file

Sets the file used by the loadTabState and saveTabState commands. [config file: tabStateFile]

-cfg config-file

Read config-file in place of ~/.xpdfrc or the system-wide config file.

-v

Print copyright and version information.

-h

Print usage information. (-help and --help are equivalent.)

Xpdf can be placed into full-screen mode via the -fullscreen command line option, the ´full screen' menu item, or a binding to the fullScreenMode or toggleFullScreenMode command.

Entering full-screen mode automatically switches to single-page view mode and to the fit-page zoom factor.

Full-screen mode can be exited via the default <esc> key binding, or via a binding to the windowMode or toggleFullScreenModecommand.

Xpdf's key and mouse bindings are user-configurable, using the bind and unbind commands in the config file (see xpdfrc(5)). The bind command allows you to bind a key or mouse button to a sequence of one or more commands.

In commands that take arguments (inside parentheses), special characters (namely '(', ')', ',', and '\x01') can be escaped by preceding them with a '\x01' character.  This is mostly useful in things like scripts that need to be able to open arbitrary PDF files, using the ´openFile' command.

The following commands are supported:

about

Open the ´about' dialog.

blockSelectMode

Set block selection mode.  In this mode, the selection is a simple rectangle.  Any part of the page can be selected, regardless of the content on the page.

checkOpenFile(file)

Check that file is open in the current tab, and open it if not.

checkOpenFileAtDest(file,dest)

Check that file is open in the current tab, and open it if not.  In either case go to the specified named destination.

checkOpenFileAtPage(file,page)

Check that file is open in the current tab, and open it if not.  In either case go to the specified page.

closeSidebar

Close the sidebar.

closeSidebarMoveResizeWin

Close the sidebar, resizing the window so that the document size doesn't change, and moving the window so that the document stays in the same place on the screen.

closeSidebarResizeWin

Close the sidebar, resizing the window so that the document size doesn't change.

closeTabOrQuit

Close the tab.  If this was the last open tab, close the window.  If this was the last window open, quit.

closeWindowOrQuit

Close the window.  If this was the last open window, quit.

continuousMode

Switch to continuous view mode.

copy

Copy selected text to the clipboard.

copyLinkTarget

Copy the target of the link under the mouse cursor to the clipboard.

endPan

End a pan operation.

endSelection

End a selection.

expandSidebar(n)

Expand the sidebar by n pixels.  Opens the sidebar if it is currently closed.

find

Set keyboard focus to the ´find' box.

findFirst

Find the first occurrence of the search string.

findNext

Find the next occurrence of the search string.

findPrevious

Find the previous occurrence of the search string.

focusToDocWin

Set keyboard focus to the main document window.

focusToPageNum

Set keyboard focus to the page number text box.

followLink

Follow a hyperlink (does nothing if the mouse is not over a link).

followLinkInNewTab

Follow a hyperlink, opening PDF files in a new tab (does nothing if the mouse is not over a link).  For links to non-PDF files, this command is identical to followLink.

followLinkInNewTabNoSel

Same as followLinkInNewTab, but does nothing if there is a non-empty selection.  (This is useful as a mouse button binding.)

followLinkInNewWin

Follow a hyperlink, opening PDF files in a new window (does nothing if the mouse is not over a link).  For links to non-PDF files, this command is identical to followLink.

followLinkInNewWinNoSel

Same as followLinkInNewWin, but does nothing if there is a non-empty selection.  (This is useful as a mouse button binding.)

followLinkNoSel

Same as followLink, but does nothing if there is a non-empty selection. (This is useful as a mouse button binding.)

fullScreenMode

Go to full-screen mode.

goBackward

Move backward along the history path.

goForward

Move forward along the history path.

gotoDest(dest)

Go to a named destination.

gotoLastPage

Go to the last page in the PDF file.

gotoPage(page)

Go to the specified page.

help

Open the help URL.

hideMenuBar

Hide the menu bar.

hideToolbar

Hide the toolbar.

horizontalContinuousMode

Switch to horizontal continuous view mode.

linearSelectMode

Set linear selection mode.  In this mode, the selection follows text. Non-text regions cannot be selected.

loadSession

Load the session from the session save file.  The path for the session file is specified with the sessionFile setting (see xpdfrc(5)).

loadTabState

Load the tab state file (which was written via the saveTabState command), and restore the tabs listed in that file.  The path for the tab state file is specified with the tabStateFile setting (see xpdfrc(5)).

newTab

Open an empty new tab.

newWindow

Open an empty new window.

nextPage

Go to the next page.

nextPageNoScroll

Go to the next page, with the current relative scroll position.

nextTab

Switch to the next tab.

open

Open a PDF file in the current tab, using the open dialog.

openErrorWindow

Open the error window.

openFile(file)

Open the specified file in the current tab.

openFile2(file,page,dest,passwd,location)

Open the specified file.  If dest is not empty, go to the specified named destination.  Else, if page is not empty, go to the specified page number.  If password is not empty, it is used as the PDF password.  If location is "win", open the file in a new window; if it is "tab", open in a new tab; if it is "check", open in the current tab, but only if the specified PDF file isn't already open; else open in the current tab. Any/all of the arguments, other than file, can be empty strings.  For example:

openFile2(test.pdf,7,,,tab)

openFileAtDest(file,dest)

Open the specified file in the current tab at the specified named destination.

openFileAtDestIn(file,dest,location)

Open the specified file at the specified named destination.  Location must be "win" for a new window or "tab" for a new tab.

openFileAtPage(file,page)

Open the specified file in the current tab at the specified page.

openFileAtPageIn(file,page,location)

Open the specified file at the specified page.  Location must be "win" for a new window or "tab" for a new tab.

openFileIn(file,location)

Open the specified file.  Location must be "win" for a new window or "tab" for a new tab.

openIn(location)

Open a PDF file, using the open dialog.  Location must be "win" for a new window or "tab" for a new tab.

openSidebar

Open the sidebar.

openSidebarMoveResizeWin

Open the sidebar, resizing the window so that the document size doesn't change, and moving the window so that the document stays in the same place on the screen.

openSidebarResizeWin

Open the sidebar, resizing the window so that the document size doesn't change.

pageDown

Scroll down by one screenful.

pageUp

Scroll up by one screenful.

postPopupMenu

Display the popup menu.

prevPage

Go to the previous page.

prevPageNoScroll

Go to the previous page, with the current relative scroll position.

prevTab

Switch to the previous tab.

print

Open the ´print' dialog.

quit

Quit from xpdf.

raise

Bring the xpdf window to the front.

reload

Reload the current PDF file.

rotateCCW

Rotate the page 90 degrees counterclockwise.

rotateCW

Rotate the page 90 degrees clockwise.

run(external-command-string)

Run an external command.  The following escapes are allowed in the command string:

    %f => PDF file name (or an empty string if no
          file is open)
    %b => PDF file base name, i.e., file name minus
          the extension (or an empty string if no
          file is open)
    %u => link URL (or an empty string if not over
          a URL link)
    %p => current page number (or an empty string if
          no file is open)
    %x => selection upper-left x coordinate
          (or 0 if there is no selection)
    %y => selection upper-left y coordinate
          (or 0 if there is no selection)
    %X => selection lower-right x coordinate
          (or 0 if there is no selection)
    %Y => selection lower-right y coordinate
          (or 0 if there is no selection)
    %i => page containing the mouse pointer
    %j => x coordinate of the mouse pointer
    %k => y coordinate of the mouse pointer
    %% => %

The external command string will often contain spaces, so the whole command must be quoted in the xpdfrc file:

    bind x "run(ls -l)"

The command string may not be run through a shell.  It is recommended to keep the command simple, so that it doesn't depend on specific shell functionality.  For complex things, you can have the command string run a shell script.

saveAs

Save PDF via a file requester.

saveImage

Open the ´save image' dialog.

saveSession

Save the current session, consisting of all open windows and tabs, to the session save file.  This file can be loaded later with the loadSession command.  The path for the session file is specified with the sessionFile setting (see xpdfrc(5)).

saveTabState

Save a list of all tabs open in this window to the tab state file. For each tab, this writes the PDF file name and page number (on separate lines).  This file can be loaded later with the loadTabState command.  The path for the tab state file is specified with the tabStateFile setting (see xpdfrc(5)).

scrollDown(n)

Scroll down by n pixels.

scrollDownNextPage(n)

Scroll down by n pixels, moving to the next page if appropriate.

scrollLeft(n)

Scroll left by n pixels.

scrollOutlineDown(n)

Scroll the outline down by n increments.

scrollOutlineUp(n)

Scroll the outline up by n increments.

scrollRight(n)

Scroll right by n pixels.

scrollToBottomEdge

Scroll to the bottom edge of the last displayed page, with no horizontal movement.

scrollToBottomRight

Scroll to the bottom-right corner of the last displayed page.

scrollToLeftEdge

Scroll to the left edge of the current page, with no vertical movement.

scrollToRightEdge

Scroll to the right edge of the current page, with no vertical movement.

scrollToTopEdge

Scroll to the top edge of the first displayed page, with no horizontal movement.

scrollToTopLeft

Scroll to the top-left corner of the first displayed page.

scrollUp(n)

Scroll up by n pixels.

scrollUpPrevPage(n)

Scroll up by n pixels, moving to the previous page if appropriate.

selectLine

Set the selection to the line at the current mouse position.

selectWord

Set the selection to the word at the current mouse position.

setSelection(pg,ulx,uly,lrx,lry)

Set the selection to the specified coordinates on the specified page.

showAttachmentsPane

Shows the attachments in the outline/layers/attachments pane.

showDocumentInfo

Open the document information dialog.

showKeyBindings

Open the key bindings dialog.

showLayersPane

Shows the layers in the outline/layers/attachments pane.

showMenuBar

Show the menu bar.

showOutlinePane

Shows the outline in the outline/layers/attachments pane.

showToolbar

Show the toolbar.

shrinkSidebar(n)

Shrink the sidebar by n pixels.  Closes the sidebar if shrinking it would go below the minimum allowed side.

sideBySideContinuousMode

Switch to side-by-side continuous view mode.

sideBySideSingleMode

Switch to side-by-side two-page view mode.

singlePageMode

Switch to single-page view mode.

startExtendedSelection

Extend the selection to the current mouse position, and continue extending as the mouse moves.

startPan

Start a pan operation at the current mouse position, which will scroll the document as the mouse moves.

startSelection

Start a selection at the current mouse position, which will be extended as the mouse moves.

toggleContinuousMode

Toggle between continuous and single page view modes.

toggleFullScreenMode

Toggle between full-screen and window modes.

toggleMenuBar

Toggle the menu bar between shown and hidden.

toggleSelectMode

Toggle between block and linear selection mode.

toggleSidebar

Toggle the sidebar between open and closed.

toggleSidebarMoveResizeWin

Toggle the sidebar between open and closed, resizing the window so that the document size doesn't change, and moving the window so that the document stays in the same place on the screen.

toggleSidebarResizeWin

Toggle the sidebar between open and closed, resizing the window so that the document size doesn't change.

toggleToolbar

Toggle the toolbar between shown and hidden.

viewPageLabels

Show page labels (if the PDF file has them), rather than page numbers.

viewPageNumbers

Show page numbers, rather than page labels.

windowMode

Go to window (non-full-screen) mode.

zoomFitPage

Set the zoom factor to fit-page.

zoomFitWidth

Set the zoom factor to fit-width.

zoomIn

Zoom in - go to the next higher zoom factor.

zoomOut

Zoom out - go the next lower zoom factor.

zoomPercent(z)

Set the zoom factor to z%.

zoomToSelection

Zoom to the current selection.

Starting xpdf with the "-remote" switch puts it into remote server mode.  All remaining command line options are commands (see the Commands section).  Subsequent invocations of "xpdf -remote" with the same remote server name will send commands to the already-running instance of xpdf.  The "checkOpenFile" commands are useful here for things like changing pages. For example:

The Xpdf tools use the following exit codes:

0

No error.

1

Error opening a PDF file.

2

Error opening an output file.

3

Error related to PDF permissions.

99

Other error.

The xpdf software and documentation are copyright 1996-2024 Glyph & Cog, LLC.

pdftops(1), pdftotext(1), pdftohtml(1), pdfinfo(1), pdffonts(1), pdfdetach(1), pdftoppm(1), pdftopng(1), pdfimages(1), xpdfrc(5)
http://www.xpdfreader.com/

linuxdoc(1), pdftopng(1), pdftosrc(1), sgml2latex(1), xpdfrc(5).