pdftex

TeX engine that produces PDF output directly

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

pdfTeX is a TeX engine that produces PDF output directly from TeX source, without an intermediate DVI stage. It extends Knuth's original TeX with PDF-specific primitives and microtypographic features such as margin kerning (character protrusion) and font expansion (hz-optimization) for improved text appearance.pdfTeX processes plain TeX by default. For LaTeX documents, use pdflatex instead, which is pdfTeX with the LaTeX format preloaded.

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 (create) a format file for faster loading.

-fmt FORMAT

Use the specified format file instead of the default.

-file-line-error

Print error messages with file name and line number.

-synctex NUMBER

Generate SyncTeX data for editor integration (1 to enable).

-shell-escape

Enable \write18 for running external commands.

-no-shell-escape

Disable \write18 (default).

CAVEATS

Processes plain TeX by default; use pdflatex for LaTeX documents. Large documents with cross-references, table of contents, or bibliography may need multiple compilation runs. The `-shell-escape` flag allows arbitrary command execution and should be used with caution.

HISTORY

pdfTeX was developed by Han The Thanh as his PhD thesis project at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, first released in 1996. It extended TeX to output PDF directly and introduced microtypographic features. pdfTeX became the default engine in most TeX distributions.