.TH PKTYPE 1 "25 January 2026" "Web2C 2026"
.\"=====================================================================
.if n .ds MF Metafont
.if t .ds MF Metafont
.if t .ds TX \fRT\\h'-0.10m'\\v'0.17v'E\\v'-0.17v'\\h'-0.06m'X\fP
.if n .ds TX TeX
.\"=====================================================================
.SH NAME
pktype \- verify and translate a packed font (pk) bitmap file to plain text
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B pktype
.IR pk_file [pk]
.\"=====================================================================
.SH DESCRIPTION
The
.B pktype
program translates a packed font file
.RI ( pk )
output by, for example,
.BR gftopk (1),
to a file that humans can read. It also serves as a
.I pk
file-validating program (i.e., if
.B pktype
can read it, it's correct) and as an example of a
.IR pk -reading
program for other software that wants to read
.I pk
files.
.PP
The input
.I pk_file
on the command line may omit the suffix "pk".
The plain text translation is always written to standard output.
.PP
The output file gives a compact encoding of the packed encoding, using
conventions described in the source code. Run lengths of black pixels
alternate with parenthesized run lengths of white pixels, and brackets
are used to indicate when a row should be repeated.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH OPTIONS
See
.BR tex (1)
for details of command-line parsing.
.PP
The standard
.B -help
and
.B -version
options are supported.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH ENVIRONMENT
The program looks for
.I pk_file
using the environment variables PKFONTS, TEXPKS, GLYPHFONTS, and
TEXFONTS, in that order. If none are set, it uses the system default.
See the Kpathsea manual at https://tug.org/kpathsea for the details of
the searching.
.\"=====================================================================
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.BR dvitype (1),
.BR gftopk (1),
.BR gftype (1).
.br
Donald E. Knuth et al.,
.IR \*(MFware .
.\"=====================================================================
.SH AUTHORS
Tomas Rokicki wrote the program.
Donald E. Knuth originally ported it to Unix.
Pierre MacKay originally adapted it for compilation with Web2c.
.PP
Public discussion list and bug reports: https://lists.tug.org/tex-k