Enscript Reference

Enscript is an old utility, originally from Adobe, now by GNU, that typesets plaintext into postscript. Has a number of handy options for printing code.

Recipes

enscript -p enscriptoutut.ps enscript-test.txt

Print to a PostScript file so that you can test options without killing trees.

enscript --word-wrap -f Times-Roman10 -p enscriptoutut.ps enscript-test.txt

Good for regular prose printing. Doesn't leave much of a margin for notes and there is no double spacing so this won't make it very comfortable for editing.

enscript --word-wrap -f Times-Roman10 -s 16 --margins=72:72:30:30 -p out.ps foo.txt

Good for hand-editing code. Generous margins (measured in points, 72 to an inch), double spacing (-s 16), also measured in points so here it's a value that's a bit more than the font size (10).

enscript -p enscriptoutut.ps -G2E -f Courier5 foo.c

My default code printing command. Big header, two columns, tiny font so that two columns fit in normal (i.e. non-landscape) orientation.

enscript -G2rE -U2 foo.c

Another code printing recipie: gaudy header, two columns, landscape, code highlighting, 2-up printing.

Options

-s num, --baselineskip=num

Use this to get double (or triple) spacing. The value of num should be something on the order of a multiple of the font size. For example, if you're using 10 point font, specify a value of 14 to get double spacing. A value of 16 will give you a little more room to actually do some handwriting between the lines.

-T num, --tabsize=num

The default tabsize is 8 so when you're printing code you probably want to pick something smaller.

-U num, --nup=num

Print num logical pages on each output page. (N-up printing)

--margins=left:right:top:bottom

Adjust page marginals to be exact left, right, top and bottom PostScript points. Any of arguments can be left empty in which case the default value is used. There are 72 points per inch.

--word-wrap

If you're printing text you definitely want this option. Hell, even if you're printing code you probably want it. Without it, enscript will wrap right in the middle of words.

-p file, --output=file

Leave output to file file. If file is `-', leave output to stdout.

-P name, --printer=name

Spool output to the printer name.

-G

Gaudy headers. Big page number, filename, time/date stamp

-r

Landscape mode

-E

Pretty print. If priting code, may give you syntax coloring.

-2

Two-column printing.

-f name, --font=name

Specify the font. On a Mac you can see the list of fonts: cat /usr/share/enscript/font.map but what's available will be system dependent. Stable choices that should be available just about anywhere: Times-Roman12 Courier10. On my Leopard-running MacBookPro, I like Palatino-Roman10