NLSvec File

Purpose

Encodes PostScript fonts for the ISO8859-1 codeset characters that have code points of more than 127 decimal.

Description

The /usr/lib/ps/NLSvec file can contain optional comments, optional code sets, and optional character encodings.

If a line begins with an * (asterisk), it is treated as a comment.

If a specified codeset is used, it must precede all character encodings. If a code set is not specified, the default is ISO8859-1. A specified code set uses the following syntax:

x codeset CodeSetName

x

Use a lowercase letter.

codeset

Use all lowercase letters.

CodeSetName

Use any valid code set name available for use with the iconv command.

A character encoding uses the following syntax:

CodePoint PostscriptFontPosition PostscriptCharacterName

CodePoint

Displays the decimal code point for the character.

PostScriptFontPosition

Displays the new encoding for that character within the PostScript fonts. The encoding can be octal or decimal.

PostScriptCharacterName

Displays the PostScript character name.

The PostScript assigned character encodings as well as the character names can be found in the following book:

Adobe Systems Incorporated. PostScript Language Reference Manual, Second Edition. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Examples

International Character Support

By default, the output code set for the TranScript commands is ISO8859-1. The output code set can be specified with the NLSvec file. For the enscript, ps4014, ps630, and psplot TranScript commands, the input codeset is determined from the current locale. The mapping of characters outside the ASCII range is determined through the iconv subroutine using the input and output code sets. If there is no corresponding iconv converter, the commands treat the input data as if it were produced in ISO8859-1. This means that ASCII data is output correctly for all locales and codesets. For multibyte locales with no iconv converters to ISO8859-1 each byte of a multibyte character is treated as individual characters of the ISO8859-1 form. The only exception to this is the enscript command, which translates characters rather then bytes in the current locale through the mapping in the NLSvec file.

The following table lists the characters from the IBM-850 code set, which does not map directly to the ISO8859-1 code set through the iconv subroutine. The following characters would be mapped to 26 (0x1A) by the iconv subroutine and thus be discarded on output. It is possible to define an alternative NLSvec file for the IBM-850 code set so that more of the characters can be output on a PostScript device. The characters marked with an * (asterisk) before the character name are normally available in a PostScript font.

Files