ARCHIVED: What is dvips, and how do I use it to print DVI files?

In Unix, the dvips command takes a DVI file, produced by TeX or LaTeX, and turns it into a PostScript file. It then attempts to print the file on the default printer, unless told otherwise.

You can send the output of the dvips command to a file using the -o switch. For example, to convert the DVI file myfile.dvi into a PostScript file named newfile.ps, you would enter: dvips -o newfile.ps myfile.dvi

Although the output of the dvips command can be redirected, its input cannot be taken from a pipe, but instead, must be redirected from a file. For example, you could enter:

This would convert myfile.dvi to PostScript, send it to the 2up command for side-by-side printing, filter through psduplex for double-sided printing, and use the BSD print command to send the output to the printer named ps99 (which is assumed to be PostScript and double-sided compatible).

At Indiana University, the dvips command is available on Steel in the /usr/local/bin directory.

Note: On June 23, 2008, Steel will become read-only; you will be able to access your files there but not change them or add new files. Steel is replaced by IU's newest supercomputer, Quarry. For more, see ARCHIVED: About the Steel retirement.

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