NAME
PostScript::Convert - Use Ghostscript to convert PostScript or PDF to other formats
VERSION
This document describes version 0.03 of PostScript::Convert, released March 15, 2014.
SYNOPSIS
use PostScript::Convert;
psconvert($filename, $output_filename);
# Base output filename on input filename:
psconvert($filename, format => 'pdf');
my $postscript = "%!PS-Adobe-3.0 ...";
psconvert(\$postscript, $output_filename);
my $ps = PostScript::File->new;
$ps->add_to_page(...);
psconvert($ps, filename => $output_filename, format => 'pnggray');
DESCRIPTION
PostScript::Convert uses Ghostscript to convert PostScript or PDF to other formats. You will need to have Ghostscript installed.
It exports a single function:
psconvert
psconvert($input, [$output_filename], [options...])
This takes the PostScript code or PDF file pointed to by $input
and processes it through Ghostscript. The return value is not meaningful. It throws an exception if an error occurs.
Input specifications
$input
must be one of the following:
- A string
-
This is interpreted as a filename to open.
- A scalar reference
-
This must be a reference to a string containing a PostScript document.
- An array reference
-
This must be a reference to an array of strings, which when joined together form a PostScript document. No newlines are added when joining.
- An open filehandle
-
Any argument accepted by "openhandle" in Scalar::Util is interpreted as a filehandle to read from.
- A PostScript::File object
-
Note: in
eps
mode, this will generate multiple output files if the document has multiple pages. - Any other object
-
The object must implement a
get__PostScript_File
method that returns a PostScript::File object. (Note: there are 2 underscores afterget
)
Output options
The remaining arguments after $input
are key-value pairs that control the output. If there are an odd number of arguments following $input
, then the first one is the filename
.
Options added since version 0.01 are marked with the version they were added in (e.g. "(v0.02)").
filename
-
This is the output filename. If omitted, it will be calculated from
input
andformat
. format
-
This is the output format. If omitted, it will be taken from the extension of
filename
. Accepted formats are:png
-
24-bit color PNG
pnggray
-
8-bit grayscale PNG
pngmono
-
1-bit monochrome PNG
pdf
-
The preferred PDF version (currently 1.4, but subject to change).
pdf14
-
PDF version 1.4 (Acrobat 5.0 - 2001)
pdf13
-
PDF version 1.3 (Acrobat 4.0 - 1999)
pdf12
-
PDF version 1.2 (Acrobat 3.0 - 1996)
jpg
-
(v0.03) color JPEG with default extension .jpg (Note: JPEG encoding is not recommended. It's designed for photo-realistic images, not the text and line art more commonly found in PostScript files.)
You can control the compression quality by using
gs_param => ['-dJPEGQ=N']
(where N is an integer from 0 to 100). The default depends on your Ghostscript, but is usually 75. jpeg
-
(v0.03) color JPEG with default extension .jpeg
jpeggray
-
(v0.03) grayscale JPEG with default extension .jpeg
ghostscript
-
This is the Ghostscript executable to use. It defaults to
gs
, except on Microsoft Windows, where it isgswin32c.exe
. (You may use a pathname here.) include
-
An arrayref of directories to add to Ghostscript's search path (for advanced users only).
input
-
This is the input filename. (This is used only for calculating
filename
when necessary. It does not mean to actually read from this file, and it need not exist on disk.) If omitted, it will be taken from$input
(if that is a filename or a PostScript::File object containing a filename). paper_size
-
(v0.02) The desired output paper size. This can be a string indicating a known paper size, a string of the form
WIDTHxHEIGHT
(where WIDTH and HEIGHT are in inches), or an arrayref of two numbers[ WIDTH, HEIGHT ]
(where WIDTH and HEIGHT are in points). If omitted, Ghostscript will use its default paper size, unless you pass a PostScript::File object (or an object that supplies a PostScript::File), in which case the paper size will be taken from that object. resolution
-
(v0.02) The desired output resolution in pixels per inch. This is either a string of two integers separated by
x
(XRESxYRES
) or a single integer (if the X and Y resolution should be the same). (Passed togs
as its-r
option.) device
-
The Ghostscript device to use (for advanced users only). This is normally set automatically from the
format
. gs_param
-
An arrayref of additional parameters to pass to Ghostscript (for advanced users only).
unsafe
-
Ghostscript is normally run with
-dSAFER
, which prevents the PostScript code from accessing the filesystem. Passingunsafe => 1
will use-dNOSAFER
instead. Don't do this unless you trust the PostScript code you are converting.
Paper Sizes
Paper sizes are not case sensitive. These are the known sizes: "comm #10 envelope", "envelope-c5", "envelope-dl", "envelope-monarch", europostcard, executive, folio, "half-letter", ledger, legal, letter, superb, tabloid, "us-legal", "us-letter", A0 - A10, B0 - B10.
DIAGNOSTICS
Can't %s STDIN: %s
-
There was an error while redirecting STDIN in order to run Ghostscript.
Can't seek temporary file: %s
-
A seek failed for the specified reason.
Don't know how to handle a %s
-
You passed an object that psconvert doesn't accept as
$input
. Don't know how to handle a %s ref
-
psconvert only accepts a scalar or array reference as
$input
. Expected extension in %s
-
The temporary filename created by PostScript::File must have an extension, but it didn't.
Ghostscript failed: exit status %s
-
Ghostscript did not exit successfully. The exit status is reported as a decimal number (
$? >> 8
), followed by " (signal %d)" if$? & 127
is non-zero, followed by " (core dumped)" if$? & 128
. ghostscript not defined
-
The
ghostscript
option was somehow unset. This shouldn't happen, since it has a default value. Must have PostScript::File 2.00 or later, this is only %s
-
PostScript::Convert isn't directly compatible with versions of PostScript::File older than 2.00. (If you can't upgrade PostScript::File, then you can write the PostScript to a file and pass that file to psconvert.)
No extension defined for format %s
-
The specified
format
failed to define a file extension. No extension in %s
-
The output filename must have a file extension.
No output device supplied
-
The
device
option (which normally comes from theformat
) was not set. No output filename supplied
-
You didn't specify an output filename, nor did you provide an input filename to guess it from.
No output format or filename supplied
-
You didn't specify the
format
option, nor did you supply an output filename from which to guess it. Unable to determine format from %s
-
You didn't specify the
format
option, and the output filename you supplied doesn't match any known format. Unable to open %s: %s
-
Opening the specified file failed for the specified reason.
Unknown format %s
-
The
format
you specified is not valid. Unknown paper size %s
-
The
paper_size
you specified is not valid.
CONFIGURATION AND ENVIRONMENT
PostScript::Convert expects to find a Ghostscript executable somewhere on your $ENV{PATH}
. (See the ghostscript
option for details.)
DEPENDENCIES
PostScript::Convert depends on Carp, Exporter, File::Spec, File::Temp, and Scalar::Util. All of these are core modules, but you may need to install a newer version of File::Temp.
It also requires you to have Ghostscript (http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/) installed somewhere on your PATH, unless you use the ghostscript
option to specify its location.
INCOMPATIBILITIES
PostScript::Convert is not compatible with versions of PostScript::File older than 2.00. (However, you could have an older version of PostScript::File write the PostScript to a file, and then pass that file to psconvert
.)
BUGS AND LIMITATIONS
No bugs have been reported.
AUTHOR
Christopher J. Madsen <perl AT cjmweb.net>
Please report any bugs or feature requests to <bug-PostScript-Convert AT rt.cpan.org>
or through the web interface at http://rt.cpan.org/Public/Bug/Report.html?Queue=PostScript-Convert.
You can follow or contribute to PostScript-Convert's development at https://github.com/madsen/postscript-convert.
COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE
This software is copyright (c) 2014 by Christopher J. Madsen.
This is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as the Perl 5 programming language system itself.
DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY
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