.\" Copyright (C) 2006-2020 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
.\"      Written by Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com>
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.\" For tolerably obvious reason, this needs to be processed through PIC.
.\" It also needs to be processed through TBL and EQN.  Use "groff -p -e -t".
.\" There is no hope that this will ever look right under nroff.
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.\" document can be automatically extracted.  %%TUTORIAL%% begins the
.\" tutorial part; %%REFERENCE%% the reference part.  %%POSTLUDE%% the
.\" bibliography and end matter after the reference part.
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.\" This document was written for free use and redistribution by
.\" Eric S. Raymond <esr@thyrsus.com> in August 1995.  It has been put
.\" under the GPL in March 2006.
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.\" Definitions end here
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.TL
Making Pictures With GNU PIC
.AU
Eric S. Raymond
.AI
\[la]\fIesr@snark.thyrsus.com\fP\[ra]
.AB
The \fBpic\fP language is a \fBtroff\fP extension that makes it easy
to create and alter box-and-arrow diagrams of the kind frequently used
in technical papers and textbooks.
This paper is both an introduction to and reference for \fIgpic\/\fP(1),
the implementation distributed by the Free Software Foundation for use
with \fIgroff\/\fP(1).
It also catalogs other implementations and explains the differences
among them.
.AE
.\"%%TUTORIAL%%
.
.
.NH 1
Introduction to PIC
.
.NH 2
Why PIC?
.PP
The \fBpic\fP language provides an easy way to write procedural
box-and-arrow diagrams to be included in \fBtroff\fP documents.
The language is sufficiently flexible to be quite useful for state
charts, Petri-net diagrams, flow charts, simple circuit schematics,
jumper layouts, and other kinds of illustration involving repetitive
uses of simple geometric forms and splines.
Because these descriptions are procedural and object-based, they are
both compact and easy to modify.
.PP
The phrase \[lq]GNU pic\[rq] may refer to either of two \fBpic\fP
implementations distributed by the Free Software Foundation and
intended to accept the same input language.
The \fIgpic\/\fP(1) implementation is for use with the \fIgroff\/\fP(1)
implementation of \fBtroff\fP.
The \fIpic2plot\/\fP(1) implementation runs standalone and is part of
the \fBplotutils\fR package.
Because both implementations are widely available in source form for
free, they are good bets for writing very portable documentation.
.
.NH 2
PIC Versions
.PP
The original 1984 pre-\fIditroff\/\fP(1) version of \fBpic\fP is long
obsolete.
The rewritten 1991 version is still available as part of the
Documenter's Work Bench module of System V.
.PP
Where differences between Documenter's Work Bench (1991) \fBpic\fP and GNU
\fBpic\fP need to be described, original \fBpic\fP is referred to as
\[lq]DWB pic\[rq].
Details on the history of the program are given at the end of this
document.
.PP
The \fBpic2plot\fR program does not require the rest of the
\fIgroff\/\fP(1) toolchain to render graphics.
It can display \fBpic\fR diagrams in an X\~window, or generate output
plots in a large number of other formats.
These formats include: PNG, PBM, PGM, PPM, GIF, SVG, Adobe Illustrator
format, idraw-editable Postscript, the WebCGM format for Web-based
vector graphics, the format used by the \fBxfig\fP drawing editor, the
Hewlett-Packard PCL\~5 printer language, the Hewlett-Packard Graphics
Language (by default, HP-GL/2), the ReGIS (remote graphics instruction
set) format developed by DEC, Tektronix format, and device-independent
GNU graphics metafile format.
.PP
In this document, \fIgpic\/\fP(1) and \fIpic2plot\/\fP(1) extensions are
marked as such.
.
.
.NH 1
Invoking PIC
.PP
Every \fBpic\fP description is a little program describing drawing
actions.
The \fB[gtn]roff\fP-dependent versions compile the program by
\fIpic\/\fP(1) into \fIgtroff\/\fP(1) macros; the \fIpic2plot\/\fP(1)
implementation uses a plotting library to draw the picture directly.
Programs that process or display
\fIgtroff\/\fP(1) output need not know or care that parts of the image
began life as \fBpic\fP descriptions.
.PP
The \fIpic\/\fP(1) program tries to translate anything between \fB.PS\fP
and \fB.PE\fP markers, and passes through everything else.
The normal definitions of \fB.PS\fP and \fB.PE\fP in the \fIms\fP macro
package and elsewhere have also the side-effect of centering the
\fBpic\fP output on the page.
.
.KS
.NH 2
PIC Error Messages
.PP
If you make a mistake in \fBpic\fP input such that the program cannot
interpret what you mean,
\fIgpic\/\fP(1) issues a diagnostic message in the format prescribed by
the GNU Coding Standards.
.
A typical error message looks like
.
.
.ds FAM C
.DS
pic:\fIfile\fP:\fInnn\fP: syntax error before \[aq]\fItoken\fP\[aq]
pic:\fIfile\fP:\fInnn\fP: giving up on this picture
.DE
.ds FAM T
.
.
.LP
where
.I file
is the name of the file being processed,
.I nnn
is a line number within that file,
and
.I token
is a symbol in the \fBpic\fP language
(often a keyword)
near
(usually just after)
the error location.
.KE
.
.
.NH 1
Basic PIC Concepts
.PP
Pictures are described procedurally, as collections of objects
connected by motions.
Normally, \fBpic\fP tries to string together objects left-to-right in
the sequence they are described, joining them at visually natural
points.
Here is an example illustrating the flow of data in \fBpic\fP
processing:
.KS
.PS
ellipse "document";
arrow;
box width 0.6 "\fIgpic\/\fP(1)"
arrow;
box width 1.1 "\fIgtbl\/\fP(1) or \fIgeqn\/\fP(1)" "(optional)" dashed;
arrow;
box width 0.6 "\fIgtroff\/\fP(1)";
arrow;
ellipse "PostScript"
.PE
.CE "1: Flow of \fBpic\fP data"
.PP
This was produced from the following \fBpic\fP program:
.KS
.DS
.ps -1
.vs -1
.CW
\&.PS
ellipse "document";
arrow;
box width 0.6 "\efIgpic\e/\efP(1)"
arrow;
box width 1.1 "\efIgtbl\e/\efP(1) or \efIgeqn\e/\efP(1)" "(optional)" dashed;
arrow;
box width 0.6 "\efIgtroff\e/\efP(1)";
arrow;
ellipse "PostScript"
\&.PE
.DE
.R
.KE
.LP
This little program illustrates several \fBpic\fP basics.
Firstly, we see how to invoke three object types; ellipses, arrows, and
boxes.
We see how to declare text lines to go within an object (and that text
can have font changes in it).
We see how to change the line style of an object from solid (the
default) to dashed.
And we see that a box can be made wider than its default size to
accommodate more text (we'll discuss this facility in detail in the next
section).
.PP
We also get to see \fBpic\fP's simple syntax.
Statements are ended by newlines or semicolons.
String quotes are required around all text arguments, whether or not
they contain spaces.
In general, the order of command arguments and modifiers like \[lq]width
1.2\[rq] or \[lq]dashed\[rq] doesn't matter, except that the order of
text arguments is significant.
.PP
Here are all but one of the basic \fBpic\fP objects at their default sizes:
.KS
.PS
box "box";
move;
line "line" "";
move;
arrow "arrow" "";
move;
circle "circle";
move;
ellipse "ellipse";
move;
arc; down; move; "arc"
.PE
.CE "2: Basic \fBpic\fP objects"
.PP
The missing simple object type is a \fIspline\fP.
There is also a way to collect objects into \fIblock composites\fP which
allows you to treat the whole group as a single object (resembling a
box) for many purposes.
We'll describe both of these later on.
.PP
The box, ellipse, circle, and block composite objects are \fIclosed\/\fR;
lines, arrows, arcs and splines are \fIopen\fP.
This distinction is often important in explaining command modifiers.
.PP
Figure \n[H1]-2 was produced by the following \fBpic\fP program,
which introduces some more basic concepts:
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
box "box";
move;
line "line" "";
move;
arrow "arrow" "";
move;
circle "circle";
move;
ellipse "ellipse";
move;
arc; down; move; "arc"
\&.PE
.DE
.ft R
.KE
.PP
The first thing to notice is the \fImove\fP command, which moves a
default distance (1/2 inch) in the current movement direction.
.PP
Secondly, see how we can also decorate lines and arrows with text.
The line and arrow commands each take two arguments here, specifying
text to go above and below the object.
If you wonder why one argument would not do, contemplate the output of
\fBarrow "ow!"\fP:
.KS
.PS
arrow "ow!"
.PE
.CE "3: Text centered on an arrow"
.PP
When a command takes one text string, \fBpic\fP tries to place it at
the object's geometric center.
As you add more strings, \fBpic\fP treats them as a vertical block to be
centered.
The program
.KS
.DS
.CW
line "1";
line "1" "2";
line "1" "2" "3";
line "1" "2" "3" "4";
line "1" "2" "3" "4" "5";
.DE
.ft R
.KE
.LP
for example, gives you this:
.KS
.sp 2
.PS
line "1";
line "1" "2";
line "1" "2" "3";
line "1" "2" "3" "4";
line "1" "2" "3" "4" "5";
.PE
.sp 2
.CE "4: Effects of multiple text arguments"
.PP
The last line of Figure 3-2's program, `\fBarc; down; move;
"arc"\fP', describing the captioned arc, introduces several new ideas.
Firstly, we see how to change the direction in which objects are
joined.
Had we written \fBarc; move; "arc"\fP, omitting \fBdown\fP the caption
would have been joined to the top of the arc, like this:
.KS
.PS
arc; move; "arc";
.PE
.CE "5: Result of \fBarc; move; ""arc""\fP"
.PP
This is because drawing an arc changes the default direction to the
one its exit end points at.
To reinforce this point, consider:
.KS
.PS
arc cw; move; "arc";
.PE
.CE "6: Result of \fBarc cw; move; ""arc""\fP"
.PP
All we've done differently here is specify \[lq]cw\[rq] for a clockwise arc
(\[lq]ccw\[rq] specifies counter-clockwise direction).
Observe how it changes the default direction to down, rather than up.
.PP
Another good way to see this via with the following program:
.KS
.DS
.CW
line; arc; arc cw; line
.DE
.ft R
.KE
.LP
which yields:
.KS
.PS
line; arc; arc cw; line;
.PE
.CE "7: Result of \fBline; arc; arc cw; line\fP"
.LP
Notice that we did not have to specify \[lq]up\[rq] for the second arc to be
joined to the end of the first.
.PP
Finally, observe that a string, alone, is treated as text to be
surrounded by an invisible box of a size either specified by width
and height attributes or by the defaults \fBtextwid\fR and
\fBtextht\fR.
Both are initially zero (because we don't know the default font size).
.
.
.NH 1
Sizes and Spacing
.PP
Sizes are specified in inches.
If you don't like inches, it's possible to set a global style variable
\fBscale\fP that changes the unit.
Setting \fBscale = 2.54\fP effectively changes the internal unit to
centimeters (all other size variable values are scaled correspondingly).
.
.NH 2
Default Sizes of Objects
.PP
Here are the default sizes for \fBpic\fP objects:
.TS H
center, tab(@), linesize(2);
lb | lb
l | l.
.sp 2p
Object@Default Size
.sp 2p
_
.sp 2p
.TH
box@0.75" wide by 0.5" high
circle@0.5" diameter
ellipse@0.75" wide by 0.5" high
arc@0.5" radius
line@0.5" long
arrow@0.5" long
.sp 5p
_
.TE
.PP
The simplest way to think about these defaults is that they make the
other basic objects fit snugly into a default-sized box.
.PP
\fIpic2plot\/\fP(1) does not necessarily emit a physical inch for
each virtual inch in its drawing coordinate system.
Instead, it draws on a canvas 8\~virtual inches by 8\~virtual inches
wide.
If its output page size is \[lq]letter\[rq], these virtual inches will
map to real ones.
Specifying a different page size (such as, say, \[lq]a4\[rq]) will scale
virtual inches so they are output as one eighth of the page width.
Also, \fIpic2plot\/\fP(1) centers all images by default, though the
\fB\-n\fP option can be used to prevent this.
.
.NH 2
Objects Do Not Stretch!
.PP
Text is rendered in the current font with normal troff line spacing.
Boxes, circles, and ellipses do \fInot\fP automatically resize to fit
enclosed text.
Thus, if you say \fBbox "this text far too long for a default box"\fP
you'll get this:
.KS
.PS
box "this text is far too long for a default box"
.PE
.CE "1: Boxes do not automatically resize"
.LP
which is probably not the effect you want.
.
.NH 2
Resizing Boxes
.PP
To change the box size, you can specify a box width with the \[lq]width\[rq]
modifier:
.KS
.PS
box width 3 "this text is far too long for a default box"
.PE
.CE "2: Result of \fBbox width 3 ""text far too long""\fP"
.PP
This modifier takes a dimension in inches.
There is also a \[lq]height\[rq] modifier that changes a box's height.
The \fBwidth\fP keyword may be abbreviated to \fBwid\fP; the
\fBheight\fP keyword to \fBht\fP.
.
.NH 2
Resizing Other Object Types
.PP
To change the size of a circle, give it a \fBrad[ius]\fP or
\fBdiam[eter]\fP modifier; this changes the radius or diameter of the
circle, according to the numeric argument that follows.
.KS
.PS
{circle rad 0.1; move down 0.2 from last circle .s; "0.1"};
move; circle rad 0.2 "0.2"; move; circle rad 0.3 "0.3";
.PE
.CE "3: Circles with increasing radii"
.PP
The \fBmove\fP command can also take a dimension, which just tells
it how many inches to move in the current direction.
.PP
Ellipses are sized to fit in the rectangular box defined by their
axes, and can be resized with \fBwidth\fP and \fBheight\fP like boxes.
.PP
You can also change the radius of curvature of an arc with \fBrad[ius]\fP
(which specifies the radius of the circle of which the arc is a segment).
Larger values yield flatter arcs.
.KS
.PS
{arc rad 0.1; move down 0.3 from last arc .center; "0.1"};
move;
{arc rad 0.2; move down 0.4 from last arc .center; "0.2"};
move;
{arc rad 0.3; move down 0.5 from last arc .center; "0.3"};
.PE
.CE "4: \fBarc rad\fP with increasing radii"
.PP
Observe that because an arc is defined as a quarter circle, increasing
the radius also increases the size of the arc's bounding box.
.
.NH 2
The `same' Keyword
.PP
In place of a dimension specification, you can use the keyword
\fBsame\fR.
This gives the object the same size as the previous one
of its type.
As an example, the program
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
box; box wid 1 ht 1; box same; box
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
gives you
.KS
.PS
box; box wid 1 ht 1; box same; box
.PE
.CE "5: The \fBsame\fP keyword"
.
.
.NH 1
Generalized Lines and Splines
.
.NH 2
Diagonal Lines
.PP
It is possible to specify diagonal lines or arrows by adding multiple \fBup\fP,
\fBdown\fP, \fBleft\fP, and \fBright\fP modifiers to the line object.
Any of these can have a multiplier.
To understand the effects, think of the drawing area as being gridded
with standard-sized boxes.
.KS
.PS
# Draw a demonstration up left arrow with grid box overlay
define gridarrow
{
	move right 0.5
	[
		{arrow up left $1;}
		box wid 0.5 ht 0.5 dotted with .nw at last arrow .end;
		for i = 2 to ($1 / 0.5) do {
			box wid 0.5 ht 0.5 dotted with .sw at last box .se;
		}
		move down from last arrow .center;
		[
			sprintf("\fBarrow up left %g\fP", $1)
		]
	]
	move right 0.1 from last [] .e;
}
gridarrow(0.5);
gridarrow(1);
gridarrow(1.5);
gridarrow(2);
undef gridarrow
.PE
.CE "1: Diagonal arrows (dotted boxes show the implied 0.5-inch grid)"
.
.NH 2
Multi-Segment Line Objects
.PP
A \[lq]line\[rq] or \[lq]arrow\[rq] object may actually be a path
consisting of any number of segments of varying lengths and directions.
To describe a path, connect several line or arrow commands with the
keyword \fBthen\fP.
.KS
.PS
define zigzag { $1 right 1 then down .5 left 1 then right 1 }
zigzag(line);
.PE
.CE "2: \fBline right 1 then down .5 left 1 then right 1\fP"
.PP
If a path starts with \fBthen\fP, the first segment is assumed to be into
the current direction, using the default length.
.
.NH 2
Spline Objects
.PP
If you start a path with the \fBspline\fP keyword, the path vertices
are treated as control points for a spline curve fit.
.KS
.PS
[zigzag(spline);]
move down 0.2 from last [] .s;
"The spline curve..."
move right from last [] .e;
[
	zigzag(line dashed);
	spline from start of last line right 1 then down .5 left 1 then right 1;
	"1" at last spline .start + (-0.1, 0);
	"2" at last spline .start + (1.1, 0);
	"3" at last spline .end + (-1.1, 0);
	"4" at last spline .end + (0.1, 0);
]
move down 0.2 from last [] .s;
"...with tangents displayed"
undef zigzag;
.PE
.CE "3: \fBspline right 1 then down .5 left 1 then right 1\fP"
.PP
You can describe many natural-looking but irregular curves this
way.
For example:
.KS
.PS
[spline right then up then left then down ->;]
move down 0.2 from last [] .s;
["\fBspline right then up then left then down ->;\fP"]
move right 3 from last [] .se;
"\fBspline left then up right then down right ->;\fP"
move up 0.2;
[spline left then up right then down right ->;]
.PE
.CE "4: Two more spline examples"
.LP
Note the arrow decorations.
Arrowheads can be applied naturally to any path-based object, line or
spline.
We'll see how in the next section.
.
.
.NH 1
Decorating Objects
.
.NH 2
Text Special Effects
.PP
All \fBpic\fP implementations support the following font-styling
escapes within text objects:
.IP "\efR, \ef1" \w'\efR,\~\ef3'u+2n
Set Roman style (the default)
.IP "\efI, \ef2"
Set Italic style
.IP "\efB, \ef3"
Set Bold style
.IP \efP
Revert to previous style; only works one level deep, does not stack.
.PP
In the \fBpic\fP implementations that are preprocessors for a
toolchain that include \fB[gtn]roff\fP, text objects may also contain
\fB[gtn]roff\fP vertical- and horizontal-motion escapes such as \eh or \ev.
Troff special glyphs are also available.
All \e-escapes will be passed through to the postprocessing stage and
have their normal effects.
The base font family is set by the \fB[gtn]roff\fP environment at the
time the picture is rendered.
.PP
\fBpic2plot\fP replaces \fB[gtn]roff\fP horizontal- and vertical-motion
escapes with \e-escapes of its own.
Troff special glyphs are not available, but in most back ends Latin-1
special characters and a square-root radical will be.
See the \fBpic2plot\fP documentation for full details.
.
.NH 2
Dashed Objects
.PP
We've already seen that the modifier \fBdashed\fP can change the line
style of an object from solid to dashed.
GNU \fBgpic\fP permits you to dot or dash ellipses, circles, and arcs
(and splines in \*[tx] mode only); some versions of DWB may only permit
dashing of lines and boxes.
It's possible to change the dash interval by specifying a
number after the modifier.
.PP
.KS
.PS
box dashed "default";
move;
box dashed 0.05 "0.05";
move;
box dashed 0.1 "0.1";
move;
box dashed 0.15 "0.15";
move;
box dashed 0.2 "0.2";
.PE
.CE "1: Dashed objects"
.
.NH 2
Dotted Objects
.PP
Another available qualifier is \fBdotted\fP.
GNU \fBgpic\fP permits you to dot or dash ellipses, circles, and arcs
(and splines in \*[tx] mode only); some versions of DWB may only permit
dashing of lines and boxes.
It too can be suffixed with a number to specify the interval between
dots:
.KS
.PS
box dotted "default";
move;
box dotted 0.05 "0.05";
move;
box dotted 0.1 "0.1";
move;
box dotted 0.15 "0.15";
move;
box dotted 0.2 "0.2";
.PE
.CE "2: Dotted objects"
.
.NH 2
Rounding Box Corners
.PP
It is also possible, in GNU \fBgpic\fP only, to modify a box so it has
rounded corners:
.KS
.PS
box rad 0.05 "rad 0.05";
move;
box rad 0.1 "rad 0.1";
move;
box rad 0.15 "rad 0.15";
move;
box rad 0.2 "rad 0.2";
move;
box rad 0.25 "rad 0.25";
.PE
.CE "3: \fBbox rad\fP with increasing radius values"
.PP
Radius values higher than half the minimum box dimension are silently
truncated to that value.
.
.NH 2
Slanted Boxes
.PP
GNU \fBgpic\fP supports slanted boxes:
.KS
.PS
box wid 1.2 xslanted 0.1 "xslanted 0.1";
move;
box wid 1.2 yslanted -0.1 "yslanted -0.1";
move;
box wid 1.2 xslanted -0.2 yslanted 0.1 "xslanted -0.2" "yslanted 0.1";
.PE
.CE "4: Various slanted boxes."
.PP
The \fBxslanted\fP and \fByslanted\fP attributes specify the x and
y\~offset, respectively, of the box's upper right corner from its default
position.
.
.NH 2
Arrowheads
.PP
Lines and arcs can be decorated as well.
Any line or arc (and any spline as well) can be decorated with
arrowheads by adding one or more as modifiers:
.KS
.PS
line <- ->
.PE
.CE "5: Double-headed line made with  \fBline <- ->\fP"
.PP
In fact, the \fBarrow\fP command is just shorthand for \fBline ->\fP.
And there is a double-head modifier <->, so the figure above could have
been made with \fBline <->\fP.
.PP
Arrowheads have a \fBwidth\fP attribute, the distance across the rear;
and a \fBheight\fP attribute, the length of the arrowhead along the shaft.
.PP
Arrowhead style is controlled by the style variable \fBarrowhead\fP.
The DWB and GNU versions interpret it differently.
DWB defaults to open arrowheads and an \fBarrowhead\fP value of\~2; the
Kernighan paper says a value of\~7 makes solid arrowheads.
GNU \fBgpic\fP defaults to solid arrowheads and an \fBarrowhead\fP value
of\~1; a value of\~0 produces open arrowheads.
Note that solid arrowheads are always filled with the current outline
color.
.
.NH 2
Line Thickness
.PP
It's also possible to change the line thickness of an object (this is
a GNU extension, DWB \fBpic\fP doesn't support it).
The default thickness of the lines used to draw objects is controlled by the
.B linethick
variable.
This gives the thickness of lines in points.
A negative value means use the default thickness:
in \*[tx] output mode, this means use a thickness of 8 milliinches;
in \*[tx] output mode with the
.B -c
option, this means use the line thickness specified by
.B .ps
lines; in troff output mode, this means use a thickness proportional
to the pointsize.
A zero value means draw the thinnest possible line supported by the
output device.
Initially it has a value of -1.
There is also a \fBthickness\fP attribute (which can be abbreviated to
\fBthick\fP).
For example, \fBcircle thickness 1.5\fP would draw a circle using a line
with a thickness of 1.5 points.
The thickness of lines is not affected by the value of the
.B scale
variable, nor by any width or height given in the
.B .PS
line.
.
.NH 2
Invisible Objects
.PP
The modifier \fBinvis[ible]\fP makes an object entirely invisible.
This used to be useful for positioning text in an invisible object that
is properly joined to neighboring ones.
Newer DWB versions and GNU \fBpic\fP treat stand-alone text in exactly
this way.
.
.NH 2
Filled Objects
.PP
It is possible to fill boxes, circles, and ellipses.
The modifier \fBfill[ed]\fP accomplishes this.
You can suffix it with a fill value; the default is given by the style
variable \fBfillval\fP.
.PP
DWB \fBpic\fP and \fBgpic\fP have opposite conventions for fill values
and different defaults.
DWB \fBfillval\fP defaults to 0.3 and smaller values are darker; GNU
\fBfillval\fP uses 0 for white and 1 for black.
.KS
.PS
circle fill; move; circle fill 0.4; move; circle fill 0.9;
.PE
.CE "6: \fBcircle fill; move; circle fill 0.4; move; circle fill 0.9;\fR"
.PP
GNU \fBgpic\fP makes some additional guarantees.
A fill value greater than 1 can also be used: this means fill with the
shade of gray that is currently being used for text and lines.
Normally this is black, but output devices may provide a mechanism for
changing this.
The invisible attribute does not affect the filling of objects.
Any text associated with a filled object is added after the object has
been filled, so that the text is not obscured by the filling.
.
.NH 2
Colored Objects
.PP
As a GNU extension, three additional modifiers are available to specify
colored objects.
\fBoutline\fP sets the color of the outline, \fBshaded\fP the fill
color, and \fBcolor\fP sets both.
All three keywords expect a suffix specifying the color.
Example:
.KS
.PS
box color "yellow"; arrow color "cyan"; circle shaded "green" outline "black";
.PE
.CE "7: \fBbox color ""yellow""; arrow color ""cyan""; \
circle shaded ""green"" outline ""black"";\fR"
.PP
Alternative spellings are \fBcolour\fP, \fBcolored\fP, \fBcoloured\fP,
and \fBoutlined\fP.
.PP
Predefined color names for \fI[gtn]roff\/\fP-based \fBpic\fP
implementations are defined in the device macro files, for example
\f(CWps.tmac\fP; additional colors can be defined with the
\fB.defcolor\fP request (see the manual page of GNU \fItroff\/\fP(1)
for more details).
Currently, color support is not available at all in \*[tx] mode.
.PP
The \fIpic2plot\/\fP(1) carries with its own set of color names,
essentially those recognized by the X\~window system with \[lq]grey\[rq]
accepted as a variant of \[lq]gray\[rq].
.PP
\fBpic\fP assumes that at the beginning of a picture both glyph and fill
color are set to the default value.
.
.
.NH 1
More About Text Placement
.PP
By default, text is centered at the geometric center of the object it is
associated with.
The modifier \fBljust\fP causes the left end to be at the specified
point (which means that the text lies to the right of the specified
place!), the modifier \fBrjust\fP puts the right end at the place.
The modifiers \fBabove\fP and \fBbelow\fP center the text one half line
space in the given direction.
.PP
Text attributes can be combined:
.KS
.PS
[line up "ljust text" ljust;]
move 1.5;
[line up "rjust text" rjust;]
move;
[arrow 1 "ljust above" ljust above;]
move;
[arrow 1 "rjust below" rjust below;]
.PE
.CE "1: Text attributes"
.PP
What actually happens is that \fIn\fP text strings are centered in a box
that is \fBtextwid\fP wide by \fBtextht\fP high.
Both these variables are initially zero (that is \fBpic\fR's way of not
making assumptions about \fI[tg]roff\/\fP(1)'s default point size).
.PP
In GNU \fBgpic\fR, objects can have an
.B aligned
attribute.
This only works if the postprocessor is
\fBgrops\fP or \fBgropdf\fP.
Any text associated with an object having the
.B aligned
attribute is rotated about the center of the object
so that it is aligned in the direction from the start point
to the end point of the object.
Note that this attribute has no effect for objects whose start and
end points are coincident.
.
.
.NH 1
More About Direction Changes
.PP
We've already seen how to change the direction in which objects are
composed from rightwards to downwards.
Here are some more illustrative examples:
.KS
.PS
down;
[
	"\fBright; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse\fP";
	move 0.2;
	[right; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse;]
]
move down 0.3 from last [] .s;
[
	"\fBleft; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse\fP"
	move 0.2;
	[left; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse;]
]
# move down 0.3 from last [] .sw;
# To re-join this illustrations, delete everything from here down to
# the next #-comment, and uncomment the move line above
.PE
.CE "1: Effects of different motion directions (right and left)"
.KS
.PS
# To re-join this illustrations, delete everything down to here, then
# comment out the next `down' line.
# Don't forget to re-number the figures following!
down;
[
	"\fBdown; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse;\fP"
	move 0.2;
	box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse;
]
move right 2 from last [] .e;
[
	up; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse;
	move 0.2;
	"\fBup; box; arrow; circle; arrow; ellipse;\fP"
]
.PE
.CE "2: Effects of different motion directions (up and down)"
.PP
Something that may appear surprising happens if you change directions
in the obvious way:
.KS
.PS
box; arrow; circle; down; arrow; ellipse
.PE
.CE "3: \fBbox; arrow; circle; down; arrow; ellipse\fP"
.LP
You might have expected that program to yield this:
.KS
.PS
box; arrow; circle; move to last circle .s; down; arrow; ellipse
.PE
.CE "4: More intuitive?"
.LP
But, in fact, to get Figure \*[SN]3 you have to do this:
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
box;
arrow;
circle;
move to last circle .s;
down;
arrow;
ellipse
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
Why is this?
Because the exit point for the current direction is already set when you
draw the object.
The second arrow in Figure \*[SN]2 dropped downwards from the circle's
attachment point for an
object to be joined to the right.
.PP
The meaning of the command \fBmove to last circle \&.s\fP should be
obvious.
In order to see how it generalizes, we'll need to go into detail on two
important topics; locations and object names.
.
.
.NH 1
Naming Objects
.PP
The most natural way to name locations in \fBpic\fP is relative to
objects.
In order to do this, you have to be able to name
objects.
The \fBpic\fP language has rich facilities for this that try to emulate
the syntax of English.
.
.NH 2
Naming Objects By Order Of Drawing
.PP
The simplest (and generally the most useful) way to name an object is
with a \fBlast\fP clause.
It needs to be followed by an object type name; \fBbox\fP, \fBcircle\fP,
\fBellipse\fP, \fBline\fP, \fBarrow\fP, \fBspline\fP, \fB""\fP, or
\fB[]\fP (the last type refers to a \fIcomposite object\fP which we'll
discuss later).
So, for example, the \fBlast circle\fP clause in the program attached to
Figure \*[SN]3 refers to the last circle drawn.
.PP
More generally, objects of a given type are implicitly numbered
(starting from\~1).
You can refer to (say) the third ellipse in the current picture with
\fB3rd ellipse\fP, or to the first box as \fB1st box\fP, or to the fifth
text string (which isn't an attribute to another object) as \fB5th
""\fP.
.PP
Objects are also numbered backwards by type from the last one.
You can say \fB2nd last box\fP to get the second-to-last box, or
\fB3rd last ellipse\fP to get the third-to-last ellipse.
.PP
In places where \fIn\/\fBth\fR is allowed, \fB`\fIexpr\/\fB'th\fR is
also allowed.
Note that
.B 'th
is a single token: no space is allowed between the
.B '
and the \fBth\fP.
For example,
.IP
.KS
.DS
.CW
for i = 1 to 4 do {
   line from `i'th box.nw to `i+1'th box.se
}
.DE
.R
.KE
.
.NH 2
Naming Objects With Labels
.PP
You can also specify an object by referring to a label.
A label is a word (which must begin with a capital letter) followed by a
colon; you declare it by placing it immediately before the object
drawing command.
For example, the program
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
A: box "first" "object"
move;
B: ellipse "second" "object"
move;
arrow right at A .r;
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
declares labels \fBA\fP and \fBB\fP for its first and second objects.
Here's what that looks like:
.KS
.PS
A: box "first" "object"
move;
B: ellipse "second" "object"
move;
arrow right at A .r;
.PE
.CE "1: Example of label use"
The \fBat\fP statement in the fourth line uses the label \fBA\fP (the
behavior of \fBat\fP is explained in the next section).
We'll see later on that labels are most useful for referring to block
composite objects.
.PP
Labels are not constants but variables (you can view colon as a sort
of assignment).
You can say something like \fBA: A + (1,0);\fP and the effect is to
reassign the label \fBA\fR to designate a position one inch to the right
of its old value.
.
.
.NH 1
Describing locations
.PP
The location of points can be described in many different ways.
All these forms are interchangeable as for as the \fBpic\fP language
syntax is concerned; where you can use one, any of the others that would
make semantic sense are allowed.
.PP
The special label \fBHere\fR always refers to the current position.
.
.NH 2
Absolute Coordinates
.PP
The simplest is absolute coordinates in inches; \fBpic\fP uses a
Cartesian system with (0,0) at the lower left corner of the virtual
drawing surface for each picture (that is, X\~increases to the right
and Y\~increases upwards).
An absolute location may always be written in the conventional form as
two comma-separated numbers surrounded by parentheses (and this is
recommended for clarity).
In contexts where it creates no ambiguity, the pair of X and
Y\~coordinates suffices without parentheses.
.PP
It is a good idea to avoid absolute coordinates, however.
They tend to make picture descriptions difficult to understand and
modify.
Instead, there are quite a number of ways to specify locations
relative to \fBpic\fP objects and previous locations.
.PP
Another possibility of surprise is the fact that \fBpic\fP crops the
picture to the smallest bounding box before writing it out.
For example, if you have a picture consisting of a small box with its
lower left corner at (2,2) and another small box with its upper right
corner at (5,5), the width and height of the image are both 3\~units and
not\~5.
To get the origin at (0,0) included, simply add an invisible object to
the picture, positioning the object's left corner at (0,0).
.
.NH 2
Locations Relative to Objects
.PP
The symbol \fBHere\fP always refers to the position of the last object
drawn or the destination of the last \fBmove\fP.
.PP
Alone and unqualified, a \fBlast circle\fP or any other way of
specifying a closed-object or arc location refers as a position to the
geometric center of the object.
Unqualified, the name of a line or spline object refers to the position
of the object start.
.PP
Also, \fBpic\fP objects have quite a few named locations
associated with them.
One of these is the object center, which can be indicated (redundantly)
with the suffix \fB.center\fP (or just \fB.c\fP).
Thus, \fBlast circle \&.center\fP is equivalent to \fBlast
circle\fP.
.NH 3
Locations Relative to Closed Objects
.PP
Every closed object (box, circle, ellipse, or block composite) also
has eight compass points associated with it;
.KS
.PS
define dot {circle fill rad 0.02 at $1}

define compass { [
	ME: $1;
	dot(ME.c);  "\fB .c\fP"  at ME .c ljust;
	dot(ME.n);  "\fB.n\fP"   at ME .n above
	dot(ME.ne); "\fB .ne\fP" at ME .ne above
	dot(ME.e);  "\fB .e\fP"  at ME .e ljust
	dot(ME.se); "\fB .se\fP" at ME .se below
	dot(ME.s);  "\fB.s\fP"   at ME .s below
	dot(ME.sw); "\fB.sw \fP" at ME .sw below
	dot(ME.w);  "\fB.w \fP"  at ME .w rjust
	dot(ME.nw); "\fB.nw \fP" at ME .nw above
] }
compass(box wid 1.5 ht 1);
move right from last [] .e;
compass(circle diam 1);
move right from last [] .e;
compass(ellipse wid 1.5 ht 1);
.PE
.CE "1: Compass points"
.LP
these are the locations where eight compass rays from the geometric center
would intersect the figure.
So when we say \fBlast circle \&.s\fP we are referring to the south
compass point of the last circle drawn.
The explanation of Figure 8-3's program is now complete.
.PP
(In case you dislike compass points, the names \fB.top\fP,
\&\fB.bottom\fP, \fB.left\fP and \fB.right\fP are synonyms for \fB.n\fP,
\&\fB.s\fP, \fB.e\fP, and \fB.w\fP respectively; they can even be
abbreviated to \fB.t\fP, \fB.b\fP, \fB.l\fP and \fB.r\fP).
.PP
The names \fBcenter\fP, \fBtop\fP, \fBbottom\fP, \fBleft\fP, \fBright\fP,
\fBnorth\fP, \fBsouth\fP, \fBeast\fP, and \fBwest\fP can also be used
(without the leading dot) in a prefix form marked by \fBof\fP; thus,
\fBcenter of last circle\fP and \fBtop of 2nd last ellipse\fP are both
valid object references.
Finally, the names \fBleft\fP and \fBright\fP can be prefixed with
\fBupper\fP and \fBlower\fP which both have the obvious meaning.
.PP
Arc objects also have compass points; they are the compass points of
the implied circle.
.PP
Non-closed objects (line, arrow, or spline) have compass points too, but
the locations of them are completely arbitrary.
In particular, different \fBpic\fP implementations return different
locations.
.NH 3
Locations Relative to Open Objects
.PP
Every open object (line, arrow, arc, or spline) has three named
points: \fB.start\fP, \fB.center\fP (or \fB.c\fP), and \fB.end\fP.
They can also be used without leading dots in the \fBof\fP prefix form.
The center of an arc is the center of its circle, but the center of
a line, path, or spline is halfway between its endpoints.
.KS
.PS
define critical {
	[ ME: $1;
		dot(ME.c);     "\fB.center\fP" rjust at ME.center + (-0.1, 0.1)
		dot(ME.start); "\fB.start\fP"  rjust at ME.start  + (-0.1, 0.1)
		dot(ME.end);   "\fB.end\fP"    rjust at ME.end    + (-0.1, 0.1)
	]
}
critical(line up right 1);
move right 1 from last [] .e;
critical(arc rad 0.5 cw);
move down 0.5 from 2nd last [] .s;
critical(line right 1 then down .5 left 1 then right 1);
move right 1 from last [] .e;
critical(spline right 1 then up right then left then left 1);
.PE
.CE "2: Special points on open objects"
.PP
.
.NH 2
Ways of Composing Positions
.PP
Once you have two positions to work with, there are several ways to
combine them to specify new positions.
.NH 3
Vector Sums and Displacements
.PP
Positions may be added or subtracted to yield a new position (to be
more precise, you can only add a position and an expression pair; the
latter must be on the right side of the addition or subtraction sign).
The result is the conventional vector sum or difference of coordinates.
For example, \fBlast box \&.ne + (0.1, 0)\fP is a valid position.
This example illustrates a common use, to define a position slightly
offset from a named one (say, for captioning purposes).
.NH 3
Interpolation Between Positions
.PP
A position may be interpolated between any two positions.
The syntax is `\fIfraction\fP \fBof the way between\fP \fIposition1\fP
\fBand\fP \fIposition2\fP'.
For example, you can say \fB1/3 of the way between Here and last ellipse
\&.ne\fP.
The fraction may be in numerator/denominator form or may be an ordinary
number (values are \fInot\fP restricted to [0,1]).
As an alternative to this verbose syntax, you can say `\fIfraction\fP
\fB<\,\fP\fIposition1\fP \fB,\fP \fIposition2\/\fP\fB>\fP'; thus, the
example could also be written as \fB1/3 <Here, last ellipse>\fP.
.KS
.PS
arrow up right;
P: 1/3 of the way between last arrow .start and last arrow .end;
dot(P); move right 0.1; "P";
.PE
.CE "3: \fBP: 1/3 of the way between last arrow .start and last arrow .end\fP"
.PP
This facility can be used, for example, to draw double connections.
.KS
.PS
A: box "yin"; move;
B: box "yang";
arrow right at 1/4 <A.e,A.ne>;
arrow left  at 1/4 <B.w,B.sw>;
.PE
.CE "4: Doubled arrows"
.LP
You can get Figure \n[H1]-4 from the following program:
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
A: box "yin"; move;
B: box "yang";
arrow right at 1/4 <A.e,A.ne>;
arrow left  at 1/4 <B.w,B.sw>;
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
Note the use of the short form for interpolating points.
.NH 3
Projections of Points
.PP
Given two positions \fIp\fP and \fIq\fP, the position
\fB(\,\fP\fIp\fP\fB,\fP \fIq\fP\fB)\fP has the X\~coordinate of \fIp\fP
and the Y coordinate of \fIq\fP.
This can be helpful in placing an object at one of the corners of the
virtual box defined by two other objects.
.KS
.PS
box invis wid 2 height 1;
dot(last box .ne); "\fB(B,A)\fP is here" ljust at last circle + (0.1, 0.1);
dot(last box .se); "B" ljust at last circle + (0.1, -0.1)
dot(last box .sw); "\fB(A,B)\fP is here" rjust at last circle + (-0.1, -0.1);
dot(last box .nw); "A" ljust at last circle + (-0.1, 0.1)
.PE
.CE "5: Using (\fIx\fP, \fIy\fP) composition"
.
.NH 2
Using Locations
.PP
There are four ways to use locations; \fBat\fP, \fBfrom\fP, \fBto\fP,
and \fBwith\fP.
All four are object modifiers; that is, you use them as suffixes to a
drawing command.
.PP
The \fBat\fP modifier says to draw a closed object or arc with its
center at the following location, or to draw a line/spline/arrow
starting at the following location.
.PP
The \fBto\fP modifier can be used alone to specify a move destination.
The \fBfrom\fP modifier can be used alone in the same way as \fBat\fP.
.PP
The \fBfrom\fP and \fBto\fP modifiers can be used with a \fBline\fR or
\fBarc\fR command to specify start and end points of the object.
In conjunction with named locations, this offers a very flexible
mechanism for connecting objects.
For example, the following program
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
box "from"
move 0.75;
ellipse "to"
arc cw from 1/3 of the way \e
    between last box .n and last box .ne to last ellipse .n;
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
yields:
.KS
.PS
box "from"
move 0.75;
ellipse "to"
arc cw from 1/3 of the way \
    between last box .n and last box .ne to last ellipse .n;
.PE
.CE "6: A tricky connection specified with English-like syntax"
.PP
The \fBwith\fP modifier allows you to identify a named attachment
point of an object (or a position within the object) with another point.
This is very useful for connecting objects in a natural way.
For an example, consider these two programs:
.KS
.PS
[
	[
		box wid 0.5 ht 0.5;
		box wid 0.75 ht 0.75;
	]
	move 0.1 down 0.3 from last [] .s;
	"\fBbox wid 0.5 ht 0.5; box wid 0.75 ht 0.75\fP"
]
move from last [].e 1.5
[
	[
		box wid 0.5 ht 0.5;
		box wid 0.75 ht 0.75 with .sw at last box .se;
	]
	move 0.1 down 0.3 from last [] .s;
	box invisible "\fBbox wid 0.5 ht 0.5;\fP" \
	  "\fBbox wid 0.75 ht 0.75 with .sw at last box .se;\fP"
]
.PE
.CE "7: Using the \fBwith\fP modifier for attachments"
.
.NH 2
The `chop' Modifier
.PP
When drawing lines between circles that don't intersect them at a
compass point, it is useful to be able to shorten a line by the radius
of the circle at either or both ends.
Consider the following program:
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
circle "x"
circle "y" at 1st circle - (0.4, 0.6)
circle "z" at 1st circle + (0.4, -0.6)
arrow from 1st circle to 2nd circle chop
arrow from 2nd circle to 3rd circle chop
arrow from 3rd circle to 1st circle chop
\&.PE
.DE
.R
.KE
.LP
It yields the following:
.KS
.PS
circle "x"
circle "y" at 1st circle - (0.4, 0.6)
circle "z" at 1st circle + (0.4, -0.6)
arrow from 1st circle to 2nd circle chop
arrow from 2nd circle to 3rd circle chop
arrow from 3rd circle to 1st circle chop
.PE
.CE "8: The \fBchop\fR modifier"
.LP
Notice that the \fBchop\fR attribute moves arrowheads rather than
stepping on them.
By default, the \fBchop\fR modifier shortens both ends of the line by
\fBcirclerad\fR.
By suffixing it with a number you can change the amount of chopping.
.PP
If you say \fBline \&.\|.\|.\& chop \fIr1\fP chop \fIr2\fP\fR with
\fIr1\fP and \fIr2\fP both numbers, you can vary the amount of chopping
at both ends.
You can use this in combination with trigonometric functions to write
code that deals with more complex intersections.
.
.
.NH 1
Object Groups
.PP
There are two different ways to group objects in \fBpic\fP; \fIbrace
grouping\fP and \fIblock composites\fP.
.
.NH 2
Brace Grouping
.PP
The simpler method is simply to group a set of objects within curly
bracket or brace characters.
On exit from this grouping, the current position and direction are
restored to their value when the opening brace was encountered.
.
.NH 2
Block Composites
.PP
A block composite object is created a series of commands enclosed by
square brackets.
The composite can be treated for most purposes like a single closed
object, with the size and shape of its bounding box.
Here is an example.
The program fragment
.KS
.DS
.CW
A: [
    circle;
    line up 1 at last circle .n;
    line down 1 at last circle .s;
    line right 1 at last circle .e;
    line left 1 at last circle .w;
    box dashed with .nw at last circle .se + (0.2, -0.2);
    Caption: center of last box;
]
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
yields the block in figure \n[H1]-1, which we show both with and
without its attachment points.
The block's location becomes the value of \fBA\fP.
.KS
.PS
define junction {
	circle;
	line up 1 at last circle .n;
	line down 1 at last circle .s;
	line right 1 at last circle .e;
	line left 1 at last circle .w;
	box dashed with .nw at last circle .se + (0.2, -0.2);
	Caption: center of last box;
}
[junction();]
move;
compass([junction()]);
.PE
.CE "1: A sample composite object"
.LP
To refer to one of the composite's attachment points, you can say
(for example) \fBA \&.s\fP.
For purposes of object naming, composites are a class.
You could write \fBlast [] \&.s\fP as an equivalent reference, usable
anywhere a location is needed.
This construction is very important for putting together large,
multi-part diagrams.
.PP
Blocks are also a variable-scoping mechanism, like a \fIgroff\/\fP(1)
environment.
All variable assignments done inside a block are undone at the end of it.
To get at values within a block, write a name of the block followed by a
dot, followed by the label you want.
For example, we could refer the center of the box in the above composite as
\fBlast [] \&.Caption\fP or \fBA.Caption\fP.
.PP
This kind of reference to a label can be used in any way any other
location can be.
For example, if we added \fB"Hi!" at A.Caption\fP
the result would look like this:
.KS
.PS
A: [junction();]
"Hi!" at A.Caption;
.PE
.CE "2: Adding a caption using interior labeling"
.PP
You can also use interior labels in either part of a \fBwith\fR
modifier.
This means that the example composite could be placed relative to its
caption box by a command containing \fBwith A.Caption at\fP.
.PP
Note that both width and height of the block composite object are always
positive:
.KS
.PS
[
	[
		box wid -0.5 ht 0.5
		box wid 0.75 ht 0.75
	]
	move 0.1 down 0.3 from last [].s
	"\fBbox wid -0.5 ht 0.5; box wid 0.75 ht 0.75\fP"
]
move from last [].e 2
[
	[
		[ box wid -0.5 ht 0.5 ]
		box wid 0.75 ht 0.75
	]
	move 0.1 down 0.3 from last [].s
	"\fB[box wid -0.5 ht 0.5]; box wid 0.75 ht 0.75\fP"
]
.PE
.CE "3: Composite block objects always have positive width and height"
.PP
Blocks may be nested.
This means you can use block attachment points to build up complex
diagrams hierarchically, from the inside out.
Note that \fBlast\fP and the other sequential naming mechanisms
don't look inside blocks, so if you have a program that looks
like
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
P: [box "foo"; ellipse "bar"];
Q: [
	[box "baz"; ellipse "quxx"]
	"random text";
   ]
arrow from 2nd last [];
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
the arrow in the last line is attached to object \fBP\fP, not
object \fBQ\fP.
.PP
In DWB \fBpic\fP, only references one level deep into enclosed blocks
were permitted.
GNU \fBgpic\fP removes this restriction.
.PP
The combination of block variable scoping, assignability of labels and
the macro facility that we'll describe later on can be used to
simulate functions with local variables (just wrap the macro body in
block braces).
.
.
.NH 1
Style Variables
.PP
There are a number of global style variables in \fBpic\fR that can be used to
change its overall behavior.
We've mentioned several of them in previous sections.
They're all described here.
For each variable, the default is given.
.TS H
center, tab(@), linesize(2);
lb | lb | lb
l | n | l.
.sp 2p
Style Variable@Default@What It Does
.sp 2p
_
.sp 2p
.TH
boxht@0.5@Default height of a box
boxwid@0.75@Default width of a box
lineht@0.5@Default length of vertical line
linewid@0.75@Default length of horizontal line
linethick@-1@Default line thickness
arcrad @0.25@Default radius of an arc
circlerad@0.25@Default radius of a circle
ellipseht@0.5@Default height of an ellipse
ellipsewid@0.75@Default width of an ellipse
moveht@0.5@Default length of vertical move
movewid@0.75@Default length of horizontal move
textht@0@Default height of box enclosing a text object
textwid@0@Default width of box enclosing a text object
arrowht@0.1@Length of arrowhead along shaft
arrowwid@0.05@Width of rear of arrowhead
arrowhead@1@Enable/disable arrowhead filling
dashwid@0.05@Interval for dashed lines
maxpswid@8.5@Maximum width of picture
maxpsht@11@Maximum height of picture
scale@1@Unit scale factor
fillval@0.5@Default fill value
.sp 5p
_
.TE
Any of these variables can be set with a simple assignment statement.
For example:
.KS
.PS
[boxht=1; boxwid=0.3; movewid=0.2; box; move; box; move; box; move; box;]
.PE
.CE "1: \fBboxht=1; boxwid=0.3; movewid=0.2; box; move; box; move; box; move; box;\fP"
.PP
In GNU \fBpic\fR, setting the \fBscale\fR variable re-scales all
size-related state variables so that their values remain equivalent in
the new units.
.PP
The command \fBreset\fP resets all style variables to their defaults.
You can give it a list of variable names as arguments (optionally
separated by commas), in which case it resets only those.
.PP
State variables retain their values across pictures until reset.
.
.
.NH 1
Expressions, Variables, and Assignment
.PP
A number is a valid expression, of course (all numbers are stored
internally as floating-point).
Decimal-point notation is acceptable;
in GNU \fBgpic\fR, scientific notation in C's `e' format (like
\f(CW5e-2\fP) is accepted.
.PP
Anywhere a number is expected, the language also accepts a
variable.
Variables may be the built-in style variable described in the last
section, or new variables created by assignment.
.PP
DWB \fBpic\fP supports only the ordinary assignment via \fB=\fP, which
defines the variable (on the left side of the equal sign) in the current
block if it is not already defined there, and then changes the value (on
the right side) in the current block.
The variable is not visible outside of the block.
This is similar to the C\~programming language where a variable within a
block shadows a variable with the same name outside of the block.
.PP
GNU \fBgpic\fP supports an alternate form of assignment using \fB:=\fP.
The variable must already be defined, and the value is assigned to
that variable without creating a variable local to the current block.
For example, this
.KS
.DS
.CW
x=5
y=5
[
  x:=3
  y=3
]
print x " " y
.DE
.KE
.LP
prints \fB3 5\fP.
.PP
You can use the height, width, radius, and x and y coordinates of any
object or corner in expressions.
If \fBA\fP is an object label or name, all the following are valid:
.KS
.DS
.CW
A.x                  # x coordinate of the center of A
A.ne.y               # y coordinate of the northeast corner of A
A.wid                # the width of A
A.ht                 # and its height
2nd last circle.rad  # the radius of the 2nd last circle
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
Note the second expression, showing how to extract a corner coordinate.
.PP
Basic arithmetic resembling those of C operators are available; \fB+\fP,
\fB*\fP, \fB-\fP, \fB/\fP, and \fB%\fP.
So is \fB^\fP for exponentiation.
Grouping is permitted in the usual way using parentheses.
GNU \fBgpic\fP allows logical operators to appear in expressions;
\fB!\&\fP (logical negation, not factorial), \fB&&\fP, \fB|\||\fP,
\fB==\fP, \fB!=\fP, \fB>=\fP, \fB<=\fP, \fB<\fP, \fB>\fP.
.PP
Various built-in functions are supported: \fBsin(\fIx\fB)\fR,
\fBcos(\fIx\fB)\fR, \fBlog(\fIx\fB)\fR, \fBexp(\fIx\fB)\fR,
\fBsqrt(\fIx\fB)\fR, \fBmax(\fIx\fB,\fIy\fB)\fR,
\fBatan2(\fIx\fB,\fIy\fB)\fR, \fBmin(\fIx\fB,\fIy\fB)\fR,
\fBint(\fIx\fB)\fR, \fBrand()\fP, and \fBsrand()\fP.
Both \fBexp\fP and \fBlog\fP are
base\~10; \fBint\fP does integer truncation; \fBrand()\fP returns a
random number in [0-1), and \fBsrand()\fP sets the seed for
a new sequence of pseudo-random numbers to be returned by \fBrand()\fP
(\fBsrand()\fP is a GNU extension).
.PP
GNU \fBgpic\fP also documents a one-argument form or rand,
\fBrand(\fIx\fB)\fR, which returns a random number between 1 and
\fIx\fP, but this is deprecated and may be removed in a future
version.
.PP
The function \fBsprintf()\fP behaves like a C \fIsprintf\/\fP(3)
function that only takes %%, %e, %E, %f, %g, and %G conversion
specifications.
.
.
.NH 1
Macros
.PP
You can define macros in \fBpic\fP, with up to 32 arguments (up to 16
on EBCDIC platforms).
This is useful for diagrams with repetitive parts.
In conjunction with the scope rules for block composites, it effectively
gives you the ability to write functions.
.PP
The syntax is
.DS
.CW
\fBdefine\fP \fIname\fP \fB{\fP \fIreplacement text \fB}\fP
.R
.DE
.LP
This defines \fIname\fR as a macro to be replaced by the replacement
text (not including the braces).
The macro may be called as
.DS
.CW
\fIname\fB(\fIarg1, arg2, \|.\|.\|.\& argn\fB)\fR
.R
.DE
.LP
The arguments (if any) are substituted for tokens \fB$1\fP, \fB$2\fP
\&.\|.\|.\& \fB$n\fP
appearing in the replacement text.
.PP
As an example of macro use, consider this:
.KS
.DS
.CW
.ps -1
.vs -1
\&.PS
# Plot a single jumper in a box, $1 is the on-off state.
define jumper { [
    shrinkfactor = 0.8;
    Outer: box invis wid 0.45 ht 1;

    # Count on end ] to reset these
    boxwid = Outer.wid * shrinkfactor / 2;
    boxht  = Outer.ht  * shrinkfactor / 2;

    box fill (!$1) with .s at center of Outer;
    box fill ($1)  with .n at center of Outer;
] }

# Plot a block of six jumpers.
define jumperblock {
    jumper($1);
    jumper($2);
    jumper($3);
    jumper($4);
    jumper($5);
    jumper($6);

    jwidth  = last [].Outer.wid;
    jheight = last [].Outer.ht;

    box with .nw at 6th last [].nw wid 6*jwidth ht jheight;

    # Use {} to avoid changing position from last box draw.
    # This is necessary so move in any direction works as expected
    {"Jumpers in state $1$2$3$4$5$6" at last box .s + (0,-0.2);}
}

# Sample macro invocations.
jumperblock(1,1,0,0,1,0);
move;
jumperblock(1,0,1,0,1,1);
\&.PE
.ps
.vs
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
It yields the following:
.KS
.PS
# Plot a single jumper in a box, $1 is the on-off state.
define jumper { [
    shrinkfactor = 0.8;
    Outer: box invis wid 0.45 ht 1;

    # Count on end ] to reset these
    boxwid = Outer.wid * shrinkfactor / 2;
    boxht  = Outer.ht  * shrinkfactor / 2;

    box fill (!$1) with .s at center of Outer;
    box fill ($1)  with .n at center of Outer;
] }

# Plot a block of six jumpers
define jumperblock {
    jumper($1);
    jumper($2);
    jumper($3);
    jumper($4);
    jumper($5);
    jumper($6);

    jwidth  = last [].Outer.wid;
    jheight = last [].Outer.ht;

    box with .nw at 6th last [].nw wid 6*jwidth ht jheight;

    # Use {} to avoid changing position from last box draw.
    # This is necessary so move in any direction works as expected
    {"Jumpers in state $1$2$3$4$5$6" at last box .s + (0,-0.2);}
}

# Sample macro invocations
jumperblock(1,1,0,0,1,0);
move 0.25;
jumperblock(1,0,1,0,1,1);
.PE
.CE "1: Sample use of a macro"
.LP
This macro example illustrates how you can combine [], brace grouping,
and variable assignment to write true functions.
.PP
One detail the example above does not illustrate is the fact that
macro argument parsing is not token-oriented.
If you call \fBjumper(\~1\~)\fP, the value of $1 is \fB"\~1\~"\fP.
You could even call \fBjumper(big\~string)\fP to give $1 the value
\fB"big\~string"\fP.
.PP
If you want to pass in a coordinate pair, you can avoid getting
tripped up by the comma by wrapping the pair in parentheses.
.PP
Macros persist through pictures.
To undefine a macro, say \fBundef\fP \fIname\fR; for example,
.DS
\f(CWundef jumper\fP
\f(CWundef jumperblock\fP
.DE
.LP
would undefine the two macros in the jumper block example.
.
.
.NH 1
Import/Export Commands
.PP
Commands that import or export data between \fBpic\fR and its
environment are described here.
.
.NH 2
File and Table Insertion
.PP
The statement
.DS
\f(CWcopy\fP \fIfilename\fR
.DE
.LP
inserts the contents of \fIfilename\fR in the \fBpic\fP input stream.
Any \fB.PS\fP/\fB.PE\fP pair in the file is ignored.
You can use this to include pre-generated images.
.PP
A variant of this statement replicates the \fBcopy thru\fP feature of
\fIgrap\/\fP(1).
The call
.DS
\f(CWcopy\fP \fIfilename\fR \f(CWthru\fP \fImacro\fP
.DE
.LP
calls \fImacro\fP (which may be either a name or replacement text)
on the arguments obtained by breaking each line of the file into
blank-separated fields.
The macro may have up to 9\~arguments.
The replacement text may be delimited by braces or by a pair of
instances of any character not appearing in the rest of the text.
.PP
If you write
.DS
\f(CWcopy\fP \f(CWthru\fP \fImacro\fP
.DE
.LP
omitting the filename, lines to be parsed are taken from the input
source up to the next \fB.PE\fP.
.PP
In either of the last two \fBcopy\fP commands, GNU \fBgpic\fP permits a
trailing `\fBuntil\fP \fIword\/\fP' clause to be added which terminates
the copy when the first word matches the argument (the default
behavior is therefore equivalent to \fBuntil \&.PE\fP).
.PP
Accordingly, the command
.RS
.KS
.IP
.CW
.nf
\&.PS
copy thru % circle at ($1,$2) % until "END"
1 2
3 4
5 6
END
box
\&.PE
.R
.fi
.KE
.RE
.LP
is equivalent to
.RS
.KS
.IP
.CW
.nf
\&.PS
circle at (1,2)
circle at (3,4)
circle at (5,6)
box
\&.PE
.R
.fi
.KE
.RE
.
.NH 2
Debug Messages
.PP
The command \fBprint\fR accepts any number of arguments, concatenates
their output forms, and writes the result to standard error.
Each argument must be an expression, a position, or a text string.
.
.NH 2
Escape to Post-Processor
.PP
If you write
.DS
\fBcommand\fR \fIarg\fR\|.\|.\|.
.DE
.LP
\fBpic\fP concatenates the arguments and pass them through as a line
to troff or \*[tx].
Each
.I arg
must be an expression, a position, or text.
This has a similar effect to a line beginning with
.B .
or
\fB\e\fR\|,
but allows the values of variables to be passed through.
.LP
For example,
.KS
.DS
.CW
.nf
\&.PS
x = 14
command ".ds string x is " x "."
\&.PE
\e*[string]
.DE
.R
.KE
.LP
prints
.DS
.CW
x is 14.
.R
.DE
.
.NH 2
Executing Shell Commands
.PP
The command
.DS
\f(CWsh\fP \f(CW{\fP \fIanything.\|.\|.\fP \f(CW}\fP
.DE
.LP
macro-expands the text in braces, then executes it as a shell command.
This could be used to generate images or data tables for later
inclusion.
The delimiters shown as {} here may also be two copies of any one
character not present in the shell command text.
In either case, the body may contain balanced {} pairs.
Strings in the body may contain balanced or unbalanced braces in any
case.
.
.
.NH 1
Control-flow constructs
.PP
The \fBpic\fP language provides conditionals and looping.
For example,
.KS
.DS
.CW
pi = atan2(0,-1);
for i = 0 to 2 * pi by 0.1 do {
    "-" at (i/2, 0);
    "." at (i/2, sin(i)/2);
    ":" at (i/2, cos(i)/2);
}
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
which yields this:
.KS
.PS
pi = atan2(0,-1);
for i = 0 to 2 * pi by 0.1 do {
    "-" at (i/2, 0);
    "." at (i/2, sin(i)/2);
    ":" at (i/2, cos(i)/2);
}
.PE
.CE "1: Plotting with a \fBfor\fP loop"
.LP
The syntax of the \fBfor\fP statement is:
.DS
\fBfor\fR \fIvariable\fR \fB=\fR \fIexpr1\/\fR \fBto\fR \fIexpr2\/\fR \
[\fBby\fR [\fB*\fR]\fIexpr3\/\fR] \fBdo\fR \fIX\fR \fIbody\fR \fIX\fR
.DE
The semantics are as follows:  Set
.I variable
to \fIexpr1\fR.
While the value of
.I variable
is less than or equal to
\fIexpr2\fR,
do
.I body
and increment
.I variable
by
\fIexpr3\fR;
if
.B by
is not given, increment
.I variable
by\~1.
If
.I expr3
is prefixed by\~\c
.B *
then
.I variable
is multiplied instead by
\fIexpr3\fR.
The value of
.I expr3
can be negative for the additive case;
.I variable
is then tested whether it is greater than or equal to
\fIexpr2\fR.
For the multiplicative case,
.I expr3
must be greater than zero.
If the constraints aren't met, the loop isn't executed.
.I X
can be any character not occurring in
\fIbody\fR; or the two \fIX\/\fPs may be paired braces (as in the
\fBsh\fR command).
.PP
The syntax of the \fBif\fP statement is as follows:
.DS
\fBif\fR \fIexpr\fR \fBthen\fR \fIX\fR \fIif-true\fR \fIX\fR \
[\fBelse\fR \fIY\fR \fIif-false\fR \fIY\/\fR]
.DE
Its semantics are as follows: Evaluate
\fIexpr\fR;
if it is non-zero then do
\fIif-true\fR,
otherwise do
\fIif-false\fR.
.I X
can be any character not occurring in
\fIif-true\fR.
.I Y
can be any character not occurring in
\fIif-false\fR.
.PP
Eithe or both of the
.I X
or
.I Y
pairs may instead be balanced pairs of
braces ({ and\~}) as in the \fBsh\fR command.
In either case, the \fIif-true\fR may contain balanced pairs of braces.
None of these delimiters are seen inside strings.
.PP
All the usual relational operators my be used in conditional expressions;
\fB!\&\fP (logical negation, not factorial), \fB&&\fP, \fB|\||\fP, \fB==\fP,
\fB!=\fP, \fB>=\fP, \fB<=\fP, \fB<\fP, \fB>\fP.
.PP
String comparison is also supported using \fB==\fP and \fB!=\fP.
String comparisons may need to be parenthesized to avoid syntactic
ambiguities.
.
.
.NH 1
Interface To [gt]roff
.PP
The output of \fBpic\fP is \fB[gt]roff\fP drawing commands.
The GNU \fIgpic\/\fP(1) command warns that it relies on drawing
extensions present in \fIgroff\/\fP(1) that are not present in
\fItroff\/\fP(1).
.
.NH 2
Scaling Arguments
.PP
The DWB \fIpic\/\fP(1) program accepts one or two arguments to
\&\fB.PS\fP, which is interpreted as a width and height in inches to
which the results of \fIpic\/\fP(1) should be scaled (width and height
scale independently).
If there is only one argument, it is interpreted as a width to scale the
picture to, and height is scaled by the same proportion.
.PP
GNU \fBgpic\fP is less general; it accepts a single width to scale
to, or a zero width and a maximum height to scale to.
With two non-zero arguments, it scales to the maximum height.
.
.NH 2
How Scaling is Handled
.PP
When \fBpic\fP processes a picture description on input, it passes
\fB.PS\fP, \fB.PE\fP, and \fB.PF\fP through to the postprocessor.
The \fB.PS\fP gets decorated with two numeric arguments which are the X
and Y\~dimensions of the picture in inches.
The post-processor can use these to reserve space for the picture and
center it.
.PP
The GNU incarnation of the \fBms\fP macro package, for example, includes
the following definitions:
.KS
.DS
.ps -1
.vs -1
.CW
\&.de PS
\&.br
\&.sp \e\en[DD]u
\&.ie \e\en[.$]<2 .@error bad arguments to PS (not preprocessed with pic?)
\&.el \e{\e
\&.	ds@need (u;\e\e$1)+1v
\&.	in +(u;\e\en[.l]-\e\en[.i]-\e\e$2/2>?0)
\&.\e}
\&..
\&.de PE
\&.par@reset
\&.sp \e\en[DD]u+.5m
\&..
.R
.DE
.ps
.vs
.KE
.LP
Equivalent definitions of these and of \fB.PF\fP are supplied by GNU
\fIpic\/\fP(1) if you use the \-mpic option; this should make it usable
with macro pages other than \fIms\/\fR(1).
.PP
If \fB.PF\fP is used instead of \fB.PE\fP, the \fBtroff\fP position is
restored to what it was at the picture start (Kernighan notes that
the\~F stands for \[lq]flyback\[rq]).
.PP
The invocation
.DS
\&\fB.PS <\,\fP\fIfile\fP
.DE
.LP
causes the contents of \fIfile\fP to replace the \fB.PS\fP line.
This feature is deprecated; use `\fBcopy\fP \fIfile\fR' instead.
.
.NH 2
PIC and [gt]roff commands
.PP
By default, input lines that begin with a period are passed to the
postprocessor, embedded at the corresponding point in the output.
Messing with horizontal or vertical spacing is an obvious recipe for
bugs, but point size and font changes are usually safe.
.PP
Point sizes and font changes are also safe within text strings, as
long as they are undone before the end of string.
.PP
The enablement of output line filling by \fB[gt]roff\fP is preserved
across pictures.
.
.NH 2
PIC and EQN
.PP
The Kernighan paper notes that there is a subtle problem with
complicated equations inside \fBpic\fR pictures; they come out wrong if
\fIeqn\/\fP(1) has to leave extra vertical space for the equation.
If your equation involves more than subscripts and superscripts, you
must add to the beginning of each equation the extra information
\fBspace\~0\fP.
He gives the following example:
.KS
.DS
.CW
arrow
box "$space 0 {H( omega )} over {1 - H( omega )}$"
arrow
.R
.DE
.KE
.EQ
delim @@
.EN
.KS
.PS
arrow
box "@space 0 {H( omega )} over {1 - H( omega )}@"
arrow
.PE
.CE "1: Equations within pictures"
.
.NH 2
Absolute Positioning of Pictures
.PP
A \fBpic\fP picture is positioned vertically by troff at the current
position.
The topmost position possible on a page is not the paper edge
but a position which is one baseline lower so that the first row of glyphs
is visible.
To make a picture really start at the paper edge you have to make the
baseline-to-baseline distance zero, this is, you must set the vertical
spacing to\~0 (using \fB.vs\fP) before starting the picture.
.
.
.NH 1
Interface to TeX
.PP
.PP
\*[tx] mode is enabled by the
.B \-t
option.
In \*[tx] mode, pic defines a vbox called
.B \egraph
for each picture; the name can be changed with the pseudo-variable
.B figname
(which is actually a specially parsed command).
You must yourself print that vbox using, for example, the command
.RS
.LP
.CW
\ecenterline{\ebox\egraph}
.RE
.LP
Actually, since the vbox has a height of zero (it is defined with \evtop)
this produces slightly more vertical space above the picture than
below it;
.RS
.LP
.CW
\ecenterline{\eraise 1em\ebox\egraph}
.RE
.LP
would avoid this.
.PP
To make the vbox having a positive height and a depth of zero (as used
e.g.\& by \*(lx's \f(CW\%graphics.sty\fP), define the following macro in
your document:
.KS
.DS
.CW
\edef\egpicbox#1{%
  \evbox{\eunvbox\ecsname #1\eendcsname\ekern 0pt}}
.R
.DE
.KE
.LP
Now you can simply say
.B \egpicbox{graph}
instead of \ebox\egraph.
.PP
You must use a \*[tx] driver that supports the
.B tpic
specials, version\~2.
.PP
Lines beginning with
.B \e
are passed through transparently; a
.B %
is added to the end of the line to avoid unwanted spaces.
You can safely use this feature to change fonts or to
change the value of \fB\ebaselineskip\fP.
Anything else may well produce undesirable results; use at your own risk.
Lines beginning with a period are not given any special treatment.
.PP
The \*[tx] mode of \fIpic\/\fP(1) does \fInot\fP translate \fBtroff\fP
font and size changes included in text strings!
.PP
Here an example how to use \fBfigname\fP.
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
figname = foo;
\&...
\&.PE

\&.PS
figname = bar;
\&...
\&.PE

\ecenterline{\ebox\efoo \ehss \ebox\ebar}
.DE
.R
.KE
.LP
Use this feature sparsingly and only if really needed:
A different name means a new box register in \*[tx], and the maximum number
of box registers is only 256.
Also be careful not to use a predefined \*[tx] or \*[lx] macro name as
an argument to \fBfigname\fP since this inevitably causes an error.
.
.
.NH 1
Obsolete Commands
.PP
GNU \fIgpic\/\fP(1)  has a command
.DS
\fBplot\fR \fIexpr\fR [\fB"\fItext\fB"\fR]
.DE
This is a text object which is constructed by using
.I text
as a format string for sprintf
with an argument of
\fIexpr\fP.
If
.I text
is omitted a format string of \fB"%g"\fP is used.
Attributes can be specified in the same way as for a normal text
object.
Be very careful that you specify an appropriate format string;
\fBpic\fP does only very limited checking of the string.
This is deprecated in favour of
\fBsprintf\fP.
.
.
.NH 1
Some Larger Examples
.PP
Here are a few larger examples, with complete source code.
One of our earlier examples is generated in an instructive way using a
for loop:
.KS
.DS
.ps -1
.vs -1
.CW
\&.PS
# Draw a demonstration up left arrow with grid box overlay
define gridarrow
{
    move right 0.1
    [
        {arrow up left $1;}
        box wid 0.5 ht 0.5 dotted with .nw at last arrow .end;
        for i = 2 to ($1 / 0.5) do
        {
            box wid 0.5 ht 0.5 dotted with .sw at last box .se;
        }
        move down from last arrow .center;
        [
            sprintf("\efBarrow up left %g\efP", $1)
        ]
    ]
    move right 0.1 from last [] .e;
}
gridarrow(0.5);
gridarrow(1);
gridarrow(1.5);
gridarrow(2);
undef gridarrow
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.ps
.vs
.KE
.KS
.PS
# Draw a demonstration up left arrow with grid box overlay
define gridarrow
{
	move right 0.5
	[
		{arrow up left $1;}
		box wid 0.5 ht 0.5 dotted with .nw at last arrow .end;
		for i = 2 to ($1 / 0.5) do {
			box wid 0.5 ht 0.5 dotted with .sw at last box .se;
		}
		move down from last arrow .center;
		[
			sprintf("\fBarrow up left %g\fP", $1)
		]
	]
	move right 0.1 from last [] .e;
}
gridarrow(0.5);
gridarrow(1);
gridarrow(1.5);
gridarrow(2);
undef gridarrow
.PE
.CE "1: Diagonal arrows (dotted boxes show the implied 0.5-inch grid)"
.PP
Here's an example concocted to demonstrate layout of a large,
multiple-part pattern:
.KS
.DS
.ps -1
.vs -1
.CW
\&.PS
define filter {box ht 0.25 rad 0.125}
lineht = 0.25;
Top: [
    right;
    box "\efBms\efR" "sources";
    move;
    box "\efBHTML\efR" "sources";
    move;
    box "\efBlinuxdoc-sgml\efP" "sources" wid 1.5;
    move;
    box "\efBTexinfo\efP" "sources";

    line down from 1st box .s lineht;
    A: line down;
    line down from 2nd box .s; filter "\efBhtml2ms\efP";
    B: line down;
    line down from 3rd box .s; filter "\efBformat\efP";
    C: line down;
    line down from 4th box .s; filter "\efBtexi2roff\efP";
    D: line down;
]
move down 1 from last [] .s;
Anchor: box wid 1 ht 0.75 "\efBms\efR" "intermediate" "form";
arrow from Top.A.end to Anchor.nw;
arrow from Top.B.end to 1/3 of the way between Anchor.nw and Anchor.ne;
arrow from Top.C.end to 2/3 of the way between Anchor.nw and Anchor.ne;
arrow from Top.D.end to Anchor.ne
{
    # PostScript column
    move to Anchor .sw;
    line down left then down ->;
    filter "\efBpic\efP";
    arrow;
    filter "\efBeqn\efP";
    arrow;
    filter "\efBtbl\efP";
    arrow;
    filter "\efBgroff\efP";
    arrow;
    box "PostScript";

    # HTML column
    move to Anchor .se;
    line down right then down ->;
    A: filter dotted "\efBpic2img\efP";
    arrow;
    B: filter dotted "\efBeqn2html\efP";
    arrow;
    C: filter dotted "\efBtbl2html\efP";
    arrow;
    filter "\efBms2html\efP";
    arrow;
    box "HTML";

    # Nonexistence caption
    box dashed wid 1 at B + (2,0) "These tools" "don't yet exist";
    line chop 0 chop 0.1 dashed from last box .nw to A.e ->;
    line chop 0 chop 0.1 dashed from last box .w  to B.e ->;
    line chop 0 chop 0.1 dashed from last box .sw to C.e ->;
}
\&.PE
.R
.DE
.ps
.vs
.KE
.KS
.PS
define filter {box ht 0.25 rad 0.125}
lineht = 0.25;
Top: [
    right;
    box "\fBms\fR" "sources";
    move;
    box "\fBHTML\fR" "sources";
    move;
    box "\fBlinuxdoc-sgml\fP" "sources" wid 1.5;
    move;
    box "\fBTexinfo\fP" "sources";

    line down from 1st box .s lineht;
    A: line down;
    line down from 2nd box .s; filter "\fBhtml2ms\fP";
    B: line down;
    line down from 3rd box .s; filter "\fBformat\fP";
    C: line down;
    line down from 4th box .s; filter "\fBtexi2roff\fP";
    D: line down;
]
move down 1 from last [] .s;
Anchor: box wid 1 ht 0.75 "\fBms\fR" "intermediate" "form";
arrow from Top.A.end to Anchor.nw;
arrow from Top.B.end to 1/3 of the way between Anchor.nw and Anchor.ne;
arrow from Top.C.end to 2/3 of the way between Anchor.nw and Anchor.ne;
arrow from Top.D.end to Anchor.ne
{
    # PostScript column
    move to Anchor .sw;
    line down left then down ->;
    filter "\fBpic\fP";
    arrow;
    filter "\fBeqn\fP";
    arrow;
    filter "\fBtbl\fP";
    arrow;
    filter "\fBgroff\fP";
    arrow;
    box "PostScript";

    # HTML column
    move to Anchor .se;
    line down right then down ->;
    A: filter dotted "\fBpic2img\fP";
    arrow;
    B: filter dotted "\fBeqn2html\fP";
    arrow;
    C: filter dotted "\fBtbl2html\fP";
    arrow;
    filter "\fBms2html\fP";
    arrow;
    box "HTML";

    # Nonexistence caption
    box dashed wid 1 at B + (2,0) "These tools" "don't yet exist";
    line chop 0 chop 0.1 dashed from last box .nw to A.e ->;
    line chop 0 chop 0.1 dashed from last box .w  to B.e ->;
    line chop 0 chop 0.1 dashed from last box .sw to C.e ->;
}
.PE
.CE "2: Hypothetical production flow for dual-mode publishing"
.PP
.KS
.PS
# a three-dimensional block
#
# tblock(<width>, <height>, <text>)

define tblock { [
  box ht $2 wid $1 \
      color "gold" outlined "black" \
      xslanted 0 yslanted 0 \
      $3;
  box ht .1 wid $1 \
      color "yellow" outlined "black" \
      xslanted .1 yslanted 0 \
      with .sw at last box .nw;
  box ht $2 wid .1 \
      color "goldenrod" outlined "black" \
      xslanted 0 yslanted .1 \
      with .nw at 2nd last box .ne;
] }

tblock(1, .5, "Master" "1");
move -.1
tblock(.5, 1, "Slave");
.PE
.CE "3: Three-dimensional Boxes"
.PP
Here the source code for figure \n[H1]-3:
.KS
.DS
.CW
\&.PS
# a three-dimensional block
#
# tblock(<width>, <height>, <text>)

define tblock { [
  box ht $2 wid $1 \e
      color "gold" outlined "black" \e
      xslanted 0 yslanted 0 \e
      $3;
  box ht .1 wid $1 \e
      color "yellow" outlined "black" \e
      xslanted .1 yslanted 0 \e
      with .sw at last box .nw;
  box ht $2 wid .1 \e
      color "goldenrod" outlined "black" \e
      xslanted 0 yslanted .1 \e
      with .nw at 2nd last box .ne;
] }

tblock(1, .5, "Master" "1");
move -.1
tblock(.5, 1, "Slave");
\&.PE
.DE
.ft R
.KE
.
.
.
.NH 1
PIC Reference
.PP
This is an annotated grammar of \fBpic\fP.
.
.NH 2
Lexical Items
.PP
In general, \fBpic\fP is a free-format, token-oriented language that
ignores whitespace outside strings.
But certain lines and constructs are specially interpreted at the
lexical level:
.PP
A comment begins with \fB#\fP and continues to \fB\en\fP (comments may
also follow text in a line).
A line beginning with a period or backslash may be interpreted as text
to be passed through to the post-processor, depending on command-line
options.
An end-of-line backslash is interpreted as a request to continue the
line; the backslash and following newline are ignored.
.PP
.RS
Here are the grammar terminals:
.IP \s[-1]INT\s[0]
A positive integer.
.IP \s[-1]NUMBER\s[0]
A floating point numeric constant.
May contain a decimal point or be expressed in scientific notation in
the style of \fIprintf\/\fP(3)'s %e escape.
A trailing `i' or `I' (indicating the unit `inch') is ignored.
.IP \s[-1]TEXT\s[0]
A string enclosed in double quotes.
A double quote within \s[-1]TEXT\s[0] must be preceded by a backslash.
Instead of \s[-1]TEXT\s[0] you can use
.DS
.CW
sprintf ( TEXT [, <expr> ...] )
.R
.DE
.IP
except after the `until' and `last' keywords, and after all ordinal
keywords (`th' and friends).
.IP \s[-1]VARIABLE\s[0]
A string starting with a character from the set [a-z], optionally
followed by one or more characters of the set [a-zA-Z0-9_].
(Values of variables are preserved across pictures.)
.IP \s[-1]LABEL\s[0]
A string starting with a character from the set [A-Z], optionally
followed by one or more characters of the set [a-zA-Z0-9_].
.IP \s[-1]COMMAND-LINE\s[0]
A line starting with a command character (`.' in groff mode, `\e' in
\*[tx] mode).
.IP \s[-1]BALANCED-TEXT\s[0]
A string either enclosed by `{' and `}' or with \fIX\fP and \fIX\fP,
where \fIX\fP doesn't occur in the string.
.IP \s[-1]BALANCED-BODY\s[0]
Delimiters as in \s[-1]BALANCED-TEXT\s[0]; the body is interpreted as
`\fB\[la]command\[ra].\|.\|.\fP'.
.IP \s[-1]FILENAME\s[0]
The name of a file.
This has the same semantics as \s[-1]TEXT\s[0].
.IP \s[-1]MACRONAME\s[0]
Either \s[-1]VARIABLE\s[0] or \s[-1]LABEL\s[0].
.RE
.
.NH 2
Semi-Formal Grammar
.PP
Tokens not enclosed in \[la]\|\[ra] are literals, except:
.IP 1.
\fB\en\fP is a newline.
.IP 2.
Three dots is a suffix meaning `replace with 0 or more repetitions
of the preceding element(s).
.IP 3.
An enclosure in square brackets has its usual meaning of `this clause is
optional'.
.IP 4.
Square-bracket-enclosed portions within tokens are optional.
Thus, `h\^[eigh]\^t' matches either `height' or `ht'.
.LP
If one of these special tokens has to be referred to literally, it is
surrounded with single quotes.
.PP
The top-level \fBpic\fP object is a picture.
.DS
.CW
<picture> ::=
  .PS [NUMBER [NUMBER]]\en
  <statement> ...
  .PE \en
.R
.DE
.PP
The arguments, if present, represent the width and height of the picture,
causing \fBpic\fR to attempt to scale it to the given dimensions in
inches.
In no case, however, the X and Y\~dimensions of the picture exceed the
values of the style variables \fBmaxpswid\fP and \fBmaxpsheight\fP
(which default to the normal 8.5\^i by 11\^i page size).
.PP
If the ending `.PE' is replaced by `.PF', the page vertical position is
restored to its value at the time `.PS' was encountered.
Another alternate form of invocation is `.PS\~<\s[-1]FILENAME\s[0]',
which replaces the `.PS' line with a file to be interpreted by \fBpic\fR
(but this feature is deprecated).
.PP
The `.PS', `.PE', and `.PF' macros to perform centering and scaling are
normally supplied by the post-processor.
.PP
In the following, either `|' or a new line starts an alternative.
.DS
.CW
<statement> ::=
  <command> ;
  <command> \en
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<command> ::=
  <primitive> [<attribute>]
  LABEL : [;] <command>
  LABEL : [;] <command> [<position>]
  { <command> ... }
  VARIABLE [:] = <any-expr>
  figname = MACRONAME
  up | down | left | right
  COMMAND-LINE
  command <print-arg> ...
  print <print-arg> ...
  sh BALANCED-TEXT
  copy FILENAME
  copy [FILENAME] thru MACRONAME [until TEXT]
  copy [FILENAME] thru BALANCED-BODY [until TEXT]
  for VARIABLE = <expr> to <expr> [by [*] <expr>] do BALANCED-BODY
  if <any-expr> then BALANCED-BODY [else BALANCED-BODY]
  reset [VARIABLE [[,] VARIABLE ...]]
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<print-arg> ::=
  TEXT
  <expr>
  <position>
.R
.DE
.PP
The current position and direction are saved on entry to a
 `{\~.\|.\|.\~}' construction and restored on exit from it.
.PP
Note that in `if' constructions, newlines can only occur in
\s[-1]BALANCED-BODY\s[0].
This means that
.DS
.CW
if
{ ... }
else
{ ... }
.R
.DE
.PP
fails.
You have to use the braces on the same line as the keywords:
.DS
.CW
if {
\&...
} else {
\&...
}
.R
.DE
.PP
This restriction doesn't hold for the body after the `do' in a `for'
construction.
.PP
At the beginning of each picture, `figname' is reset to the vbox name
`graph'; this command has only a meaning in \*[tx] mode.
While the grammar rules allow digits and the underscore in the value of
`figname', \*[tx] normally accepts uppercase and lowercase letters only
as box names (you have to use `\ecsname' if you really need to
circumvent this limitation).
.DS
.CW
<any-expr> ::=
  <expr>
  <text-expr>
  <any-expr> <logical-op> <any-expr>
  ! <any-expr>
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<logical-op> ::=
  == | != | && | '||'
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<text-expr> ::=
  TEXT == TEXT
  TEXT != TEXT
.R
.DE
.PP
Logical operators are handled specially by \fBpic\fP since they can
deal with text strings also.
\fBpic\fP uses \%\fIstrcmp\/\fP(3) to test for equality of strings; an
empty string is considered as `false' for `&&' and `|\||'.
.DS
.CW
<primitive> ::=
  box                   \fR# closed object \[em] rectangle\fP
  circle                \fR# closed object \[em] circle\fP
  ellipse               \fR# closed object \[em] ellipse\fP
  arc                   \fR# open object \[em] quarter-circle\fP
  line                  \fR# open object \[em] line\fP
  arrow                 \fR# open object \[em] line with arrowhead\fP
  spline                \fR# open object \[em] spline curve\fP
  move
  TEXT TEXT ...         \fR# text within invisible box\fP
  plot <expr> TEXT      \fR# formatted text\fP
  '[' <command> ... ']'
.R
.DE
.PP
Drawn objects within `[\~.\|.\|.\~]' are treated as a single composite
object with a rectangular shape (that of the bounding box of all the
elements).
Variable and label assignments within a block are local to the block.
Current direction of motion is restored to the value at start of block
upon exit.
Position is \fInot\fR restored (unlike `{\~}');
instead, the current position becomes the exit position for the current
direction on the block's bounding box.
.DS
.CW
<attribute> ::=
  h[eigh]t <expr>       \fR# set height of closed figure\fP
  wid[th] <expr>        \fR# set width of closed figure\fP
  rad[ius] <expr>       \fR# set radius of circle/arc\fP
  diam[eter] <expr>     \fR# set diameter of circle/arc\fP
  up [<expr>]           \fR# move up\fP
  down [<expr>]         \fR# move down\fP
  left [<expr>]         \fR# move left\fP
  right [<expr>]        \fR# move right\fP
  from <position>       \fR# set from position of open figure\fP
  to <position>         \fR# set to position of open figure\fP
  at <position>         \fR# set center of open figure\fP
  with <path>           \fR# fix corner/named point at specified location\fP
  with <position>       \fR# fix position of object at specified location\fP
  by <expr-pair>        \fR# set object's attachment point\fP
  then                  \fR# sequential segment composition\fP
  dotted [<expr>]       \fR# set dotted line style\fP
  dashed [<expr>]       \fR# set dashed line style\fP
  thick[ness] <expr>    \fR# set thickness of lines\fP
  chop [<expr>]         \fR# chop end(s) of segment\fP
  '->' | '<-' | '<->'   \fR# decorate with arrows\fP
  invis[ible]           \fR# make primitive invisible\fP
  solid                 \fR# set solid line style\fP
  fill[ed] [<expr>]     \fR# fill closed figure with optional density\fP
  xscaled <expr>        \fR# slant box into x direction\fP
  yscaled <expr>        \fR# slant box into y direction\fP
  colo[u]r[ed] TEXT     \fR# set fill and outline color for figure\fP
  outline[d] TEXT       \fR# set outline color for figure\fP
  shaded TEXT           \fR# set fill color for figure\fP
  same                  \fR# copy size of previous object\fP
  cw | ccw              \fR# set orientation of curves\fP
  ljust | rjust         \fR# adjust text horizontally\fP
  above | below         \fR# adjust text vertically\fP
  aligned               \fR# align parallel to object\fP
  TEXT TEXT ...         \fR# text within object\fP
  <expr>                \fR# motion in the current direction\fR
.R
.DE
.PP
Missing attributes are supplied from defaults; inappropriate ones are
silently ignored.
For lines, splines, and arcs, height and width refer to arrowhead size.
.PP
The `at' primitive sets the center of the current object.
The `with' attribute fixes the specified feature of the given object to
a specified location.
(Note that `with' is incorrectly described in the Kernighan paper.)
.PP
The `by' primitive is not documented in the tutorial portion of
the Kernighan paper, and should probably be considered unreliable.
.PP
The primitive `arrow' is a synonym for `line\~->'.
.PP
Text is normally an attribute of some object, in which case successive
strings are vertically stacked and centered on the object's center by
default.
Standalone text is treated as though placed in an invisible box.
.PP
A text item consists of a string or sprintf-expression, optionally
followed by positioning information.
Text (or strings specified with `sprintf') may contain font changes,
size changes, and local motions, provided those changes are undone
before the end of the current item.
Text may also contain \e-escapes denoting special characters.
The base font and specific set of escapes supported is implementation
dependent, but supported escapes always include the following:
.IP "\efR, \ef1" \w'\efR,\~\ef3'u+2n
Set Roman style (the default)
.IP "\efI, \ef2"
Set Italic style
.IP "\efB, \ef3"
Set Bold style
.IP \efP
Revert to previous style; only works one level deep, does not stack.
.PP
Color names are dependent on the \gBpic\fR implementation, but in
all modern versions color names recognized by the X\~window system are
supported.
.PP
A position is an (x,y) coordinate pair.
There are lots of different ways to specify positions:
.DS
.CW
<position> ::=
  <position-not-place>
  <place>
  ( <position> )
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<position-not-place> ::=
  <expr-pair>
  <position> + <expr-pair>
  <position> - <expr-pair>
  ( <position> , <position> )
  <expr> [of the way] between <position> and <position>
  <expr> '<' <position> , <position> '>'
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<expr-pair> ::=
  <expr> , <expr>
  ( expr-pair )
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<place> ::=
  <label>
  <label> <corner>
  <corner> [of] <label>
  Here
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<label> ::=
  LABEL [. LABEL ...]
  <nth-primitive>
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<corner> ::=
  .n | .e | .w | .s
  .ne | .se | .nw | .sw
  .c[enter] | .start | .end
  .t[op] | .b[ot[tom]] | .l[eft] | .r[ight]
  left | right | <top-of> | <bottom-of>
  <north-of> | <south-of> | <east-of> | <west-of>
  <center-of> | <start-of> | <end-of>
  upper left | lower left | upper right | lower right
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<\,\f(CIxxx\/\fP-of> ::=
  \f(CIxxx\fP                   \fR# followed by `of'\fP
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<nth-primitive> ::=
  <ordinal> <object-type>
  [<ordinal>] last <object-type>
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<ordinal> ::=
  INT th
  INT st | INT nd | INT rd
  ` <any-expr> 'th
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<object-type> ::=
  box
  circle
  ellipse
  arc
  line
  arrow
  spline
  '[]'
  TEXT
.R
.DE
.PP
As Kernighan notes, \[lq]since barbarisms like \fB1th\fP and \fB3th\fP are
barbaric, synonyms like \fB1st\fP and \fB3rd\fP are accepted as well.\[rq]
Objects of a given type are numbered from 1 upwards in order of
declaration; the \fBlast\fP modifier counts backwards.
.PP
The \[lq]'th\[rq] form (which allows you to select a previous object with
an expression, as opposed to a numeric literal) is not documented in DWB's
\fIpic\/\fR(1).
.PP
The \[la]\,\fIxxx\/\fP-of\|\[ra] rule is special: The lexical parser checks whether
\fIxxx\fP is followed by the token `of' without eliminating it so that
the grammar parser can still see `of'.
Valid examples of specifying a place with corner and label are thus
.DS
.CW
A .n
\&.n of A
\&.n A
north of A
.R
.DE
.LP
while
.DS
.CW
north A
A north
.R
.DE
both cause a syntax error.
(DWB \fBpic\fP also allows the weird form `A\~north\~of'.)
.PP
Here the special rules for the `with' keyword using a path:
.DS
.CW
<path> ::=
  <relative-path>
  ( <relative-path> , <relative-path> )
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<relative-path> ::=
  <corner>
  . LABEL [. LABEL ...] [<corner>]
.R
.DE
.PP
The following style variables control output:
.TS H
center tab(@), linesize(2);
lb | lb | lb
l | n | l.
.sp 2p
Style Variable@Default@What It Does
.sp 2p
_
.sp 2p
.TH
boxht@0.5@Default height of a box
boxwid@0.75@Default width of a box
lineht@0.5@Default length of vertical line
linewid@0.75@Default length of horizontal line
arcrad @0.25@Default radius of an arc
circlerad@0.25@Default radius of a circle
ellipseht@0.5@Default height of an ellipse
ellipsewid@0.75@Default width of an ellipse
moveht@0.5@Default length of vertical move
movewid@0.75@Default length of horizontal move
textht@0@Default height of box enclosing a text object
textwid@0@Default width of box enclosing a text object
arrowht@0.1@Length of arrowhead along shaft
arrowwid@0.05@Width of rear of arrowhead
arrowhead@1@Enable/disable arrowhead filling
dashwid@0.05@Interval for dashed lines
maxpswid@8.5@Maximum width of picture
maxpsht@11@Maximum height of picture
scale@1@Unit scale factor
fillval@0.5@Default fill value
.sp 5p
_
.TE
Any of these can be set by assignment, or reset using the \fBreset\fP
statement.
Style variables assigned within `[\~]' blocks are restored to their
beginning-of-block value on exit; top-level assignments persist across
pictures.
Dimensions are divided by \fBscale\fR on output.
.PP
All \fBpic\fP expressions are evaluated in floating point; units
are always inches (a trailing `i' or `I' is ignored).
Expressions have the following simple grammar, with semantics very
similar to C\~expressions:
.DS
.CW
<expr> ::=
  VARIABLE
  NUMBER
  <place> <place-attribute>
  <expr> <op> <expr>
  - <expr>
  ( <any-expr> )
  ! <expr>
  <func1> ( <any-expr> )
  <func2> ( <any-expr> , <any-expr> )
  rand ( )
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<place-attribute>
 .x | .y | .h[eigh]t | .wid[th] | .rad
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<op> ::=
  + | - | * | / | % | ^ | '<' | '>' | '<=' | '>='
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<func1> ::=
  sin | cos | log | exp | sqrt | int | rand | srand
.R
.DE
.DS
.CW
<func2> ::=
  atan2 | max | min
.R
.DE
.LP
Both \fBexp\fP and \fBlog\fP are base 10; \fBint\fP does integer
truncation; and \fBrand()\fP returns a random number in [0-1).
.PP
There are \fBdefine\fP and \fBundef\fR statements which are not part
of the grammar (they behave as pre-processor macros to the language).
These may be used to define pseudo-functions.
.DS
.CW
\fBdefine\fP \fIname\fP \fB{\fP \fIreplacement-text\fP \fB}\fP
.R
.DE
.LP
This defines \fIname\fR as a macro to be replaced by the replacement
text (not including the braces).
The macro may be called as
.DS
.CW
\fIname\/\fB(\,\fIarg1, arg2, .\|.\|., argn\fB\/)\fR
.R
.DE
.LP
The arguments (if any) are substituted for tokens $1, $2 \&.\|.\|.\& $n
appearing in the replacement text.
To undefine a macro, say \fBundef\fP \fIname\fR, specifying the name to
be undefined.
.\"%%POSTLUDE%%
.
.
.NH 1
History and Acknowledgements
.PP
Original \fBpic\fP was written to go with Joseph Ossanna's original
\fItroff\/\fP(1) by Brian Kernighan, and later re-written by Kernighan
with substantial enhancements (apparently as part of the evolution of
\fItroff\/\fP(1) into \fIditroff\/\fP(1) to generate
device-independent output).
.PP
The language had been inspired by some earlier graphics languages
including \fBideal\fP and \fBgrap\fP.
Kernighan credits Chris van Wyk (the designer of \fBideal\fP) with many
of the ideas that went into
\fBpic\fP.
.PP
.\" the original definitions of EQ and EN cause insertion of vertical
.\" space which is not appropriate here
.de EQ
..
.de EN
..
.EQ
delim $$
.EN
The \fBpic\fP language was originally described by Brian Kernighan in
Bell Labs Computing Science Technical Report #116 (you can obtain a
PostScript copy of the revised version, [1], by sending a mail message to
\fInetlib@research.att.com\fP with a body of `send 116 from
research/cstr').
There have been two revisions, in 1984 and 1991.
.PP
The document you are reading effectively subsumes Kernighan's
description; it was written to fill in lacun\[ae] in the exposition and
integrate in descriptions of the GNU \fIgpic\/\fP(1) and
\fIpic2plot\/\fP(1) features.
.PP
The GNU \fBgpic\fR implementation was written by James Clark
\[la]\,\fIjjc@jclark.com\/\fP\[ra].
.PP
The GNU \fBpic2plot\fR implementation is based on James Clark's parser
code and maintained by Robert Maier, principal author of \fBplotutils\fP.
.
.
.NH 1
Bibliography
.IP 1.
Kernighan, B. W.
\fBPIC \[em] A Graphics Language for Typesetting
(Revised User Manual)\fP.
Bell Labs Computing Science Technical Report #116, December 1991.
.IP 2.
Van Wyk, C. J.
\fBA high-level language for specifying pictures\fP.
\fIACM Transactions On Graphics\fP 1,2 (1982) 163-182.
.
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