pfbtops

pfbtops [input.pfb] > output.ps

The pfbtops command converts a PostScript font in PFB (Printer Font Binary) format to human-readable PostScript source code. It decodes the binary font file and outputs its contents in a format that can be easily inspected, edited, and re-encoded if needed. This is particularly useful for examining font characteristics, troubleshooting font-related issues, or even modifying fonts (though the latter requires a thorough understanding of font formats). While direct editing is possible, using specialized font editors is generally recommended for font modification. The generated PostScript output can be used as input for other tools or simply viewed to understand the font's structure and embedded data.

It is important to note that while pfbtops reveals the inner workings of a font, directly interpreting all aspects of the output requires a good knowledge of PostScript and font encoding principles. For the average user, it serves best as a tool for basic inspection or integration into automated workflows that process font files.

The output is plain PostScript, which may be large and difficult to interpret without PostScript knowledge. This command only works on PFB format fonts.

A typical usage scenario involves redirecting the output to a file:
pfbtops font.pfb > font.ps

This will convert the 'font.pfb' file into 'font.ps', a human-readable PostScript representation of the font.
If the file name is not given, it will read from standard input.

The command primarily serves to make the contents of binary PostScript fonts accessible for inspection or further processing using other PostScript tools.

ps2ascii(1), gs(1), afm2tfm(1)