ghostscript

Interpreter for PostScript and PDF file manipulation

TLDR

Convert PDF to images

$ gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=png16m -r300 -sOutputFile=[page-%d.png] [input.pdf]

Merge PDFs

$ gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=[merged.pdf] [file1.pdf] [file2.pdf]

Compress PDF

$ gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dPDFSETTINGS=/ebook -sOutputFile=[small.pdf] [large.pdf]

Convert PS to PDF

$ gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOutputFile=[output.pdf] [input.ps]

Extract pages from PDF

$ gs -dNOPAUSE -dBATCH -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -dFirstPage=[2] -dLastPage=[5] -sOutputFile=[extract.pdf] [input.pdf]

Ghostscript (gs) is an interpreter for PostScript and PDF. It renders documents to various output formats, converts between formats, and processes print jobs. It is the engine behind many PDF tools and print systems on Unix/Linux.The tool supports a wide range of output devices for rasterization, format conversion, and print processing. PDF manipulation includes merging, splitting, compressing, and converting between quality levels.

PARAMETERS

-dNOPAUSE

Don't pause between pages.

-dBATCH

Exit after processing.

-sDEVICE device

Output device (pdfwrite, png16m, jpeg, etc.).

-sOutputFile file

Output filename (use %d for page numbers).

-r resolution

Resolution in DPI.

-dPDFSETTINGS setting

PDF quality: /screen, /ebook, /printer, /prepress.

-dFirstPage n

Start page.

-dLastPage n

End page.

-dCompatibilityLevel ver

PDF version (1.4, 1.5, etc.).

-q

Quiet mode; suppress startup messages.

-dSAFER

Restrict file operations for safety (default in recent versions).

CONFIGURATION

/etc/ghostscript/

System-wide configuration directory for font mappings, resource files, and initialization scripts.

~/.ghostscript

User-specific Ghostscript resources and configuration overrides.

INSTALL

sudo apt install ghostscript

sudo dnf install ghostscript

sudo pacman -S ghostscript

sudo zypper install ghostscript

brew install ghostscript

nix profile install nixpkgs#ghostscript

CAVEATS

Complex command-line syntax. Some operations require specific device drivers. Font handling may need configuration. Security settings restrict file operations.

HISTORY

Ghostscript was started by L. Peter Deutsch in 1988 as a free PostScript interpreter. It's now developed by Artifex Software and remains fundamental to Unix/Linux printing and PDF processing.