pdftex

teX engine

TLDR

Compile TeX to PDF

$ pdftex [document.tex]

Compile with output name

$ pdftex -jobname=[output] [document.tex]

Interaction mode

$ pdftex -interaction=nonstopmode [document.tex]

Draft mode (no output)

$ pdftex -draftmode [document.tex]

Show version

$ pdftex --version

SYNOPSIS

pdftex [-interaction mode] [-jobname name] [options] file

DESCRIPTION

pdftex is a TeX engine. It produces PDF directly.
Extended from original TeX. Adds PDF primitives.
Direct PDF generation. No DVI intermediate.
Microtypographic extensions. Better text appearance.

PARAMETERS

-interaction MODE

Set interaction (nonstopmode, batchmode, scrollmode).

-jobname NAME

Set output name.

-draftmode

No PDF output.

-output-directory DIR

Output directory.

-halt-on-error

Stop on first error.

-ini

Initialize format.

CAVEATS

Plain TeX by default. Use pdflatex for LaTeX. Large documents may need multiple runs.

HISTORY

pdfTeX was developed by Hàn Thế Thành as his PhD project. It extended TeX to output PDF directly.