Usage:

hb-view [OPTION?] [FONT-FILE] [TEXT]

View text with given font.

Help Options:

-h, --help

Show help options

--help-all

Show all help options

--help-face

Options for the font face

--help-font

Options for the font instance

--help-variations

Options for font variations used

--help-text

Options for the input text

--help-text-context

Options for the input context text

--help-shape

Options for the shaping process

--help-features

Options for font features used

--help-view

Options for output rendering

--help-output

Options for the destination & form of the output

Font-face options:

--font-file=filename

Set font file-name

-y, --face-index=index

Set face index (default: 0)

--face-loader=loader

Set face loader to use (default: ot)

Supported face loaders are: ot/ft

--list-face-loaders

List available face loaders and quit

Font-instance options:

--font-size=1/2 integers or 'upem'

Font size (default: 256)

--font-ppem=1/2 integers

Set x,y pixels per EM (default: 0; disabled)

--font-ptem=point-size

Set font point-size (default: 0; disabled)

--font-bold=1/2 numbers; eg. 0.05

Set synthetic bold (default: 0)

--font-grade=1/2 numbers; eg. 0.05

Set synthetic grade (default: 0)

--font-slant=slant ratio; eg. 0.2

Set synthetic slant (default: 0)

--font-funcs=impl

Set font functions implementation to use (default: ot)

Supported font function implementations are: ot/ft

--list-font-funcs

List available font functions and quit

--ft-load-flags=integer

Set FreeType load-flags (default: 2)

Variations options:

--named-instance=index

Set named-instance index (default: none)

--variations=list

Comma-separated list of font variations

Variations are set globally. The format for specifying variation settings follows. All valid CSS font-variation-settings values other than 'normal' and 'inherited' are also accepted, though, not documented below.

The format is a tag, optionally followed by an equals sign, followed by a number. For example:

"wght=500" "slnt=-7.5"

Text options:

If no text is provided, standard input is used for input.

--text=string

Set input text

--text-file=filename

Set input text file-name

-u, --unicodes=list of hex numbers

Set input Unicode codepoints

--single-par

Treat text as single paragraph

Textual context options:

--text-before=string

Set text context before each line

--text-after=string

Set text context after each line

--unicodes-before=list of hex numbers

Set Unicode codepoints context before each line

--unicodes-after=list of hex numbers

Set Unicode codepoints context after each line

Shape options:

--shapers=comma-separated list

Set shapers to use (default: graphite2)

Supported shapers are: graphite2/ot/fallback

--list-shapers

List available shapers and quit

--direction=ltr/rtl/ttb/btt

Set text direction (default: auto)

--language=BCP 47 tag

Set text language (default: $LANG)

--script=ISO-15924 tag

Set text script (default: auto)

--bot

Treat text as beginning-of-paragraph

--eot

Treat text as end-of-paragraph

--preserve-default-ignorables

Preserve Default-Ignorable characters

--remove-default-ignorables

Remove Default-Ignorable characters

--invisible-glyph

Glyph value to replace Default-Ignorables with

--not-found-glyph

Glyph value to replace not-found characters with

--not-found-variation-selector-glyph

Glyph value to replace not-found variation-selector characters with

--utf8-clusters

Use UTF8 byte indices, not char indices

--cluster-level=0/1/2/3

Cluster merging level (default: 0)

--normalize-glyphs

Rearrange glyph clusters in nominal order

--unsafe-to-concat

Produce unsafe-to-concat glyph flag

--safe-to-insert-tatweel

Produce safe-to-insert-tatweel glyph flag

--glyphs

Interpret input as glyph string

--verify

Perform sanity checks on shaping results

Features options:

--features=list

Comma-separated list of font features

Features can be enabled or disabled, either globally or limited to specific character ranges. The format for specifying feature settings follows. All valid CSS font-feature-settings values other than 'normal' and the global values are also accepted, though not documented below. CSS string escapes are not supported. The range indices refer to the positions between Unicode characters, unless the --utf8-clusters is provided, in which case range indices refer to UTF-8 byte indices. The position before the first character is always 0.

The format is Python-esque.

Here is how it all works:

Syntax:

Value: Start: End:

Setting value:

"kern"

1 0 ? # Turn feature on

"+kern"

1 0 ? # Turn feature on

"-kern"

0 0 ? # Turn feature off

"kern=0"

0 0 ? # Turn feature off

"kern=1"

1 0 ? # Turn feature on

"aalt=2"

2 0 ? # Choose 2nd alternate

Setting index:

"kern[]"

1 0 ? # Turn feature on

"kern[:]"

1 0 ? # Turn feature on

"kern[5:]"

1 5 ? # Turn feature on, partial

"kern[:5]"

1 0 5 # Turn feature on, partial

"kern[3:5]"

1 3 5 # Turn feature on, range

"kern[3]"

1 3 3+1 # Turn feature on, single char

Mixing it all:

"aalt[3:5]=2" 2

3 5 # Turn 2nd alternate on for range

View options:

--background=rrggbb/rrggbbaa

Set background color (default: #FFFFFF)

--foreground=rrggbb/rrggbbaa

Set foreground color (default: #000000)

--font-palette=index

Set font palette (default: 0)

--custom-palette=comma-separated colors

Custom palette

--line-space=units

Set space between lines (default: 0)

--font-extents=one to three numbers

Set font ascent/descent/line-gap (default: auto)

--margin=one to four numbers

Margin around output (default: 16)

--show-extents

Draw glyph extents

Output destination & format options:

-o, --output-file=filename

Set output file-name (default: stdout)

-O, --output-format=format

Set output format

Supported output formats are: ansi/png/svg/pdf/ps/eps/script

Application Options:

--version

Show version numbers

-n, --num-iterations=N

Run shaper N times (default: 1)

Shows image of rendering text with a given font in various formats.