LUATEX(1) General Commands Manual LUATEX(1)
NAME
luatex, dviluatex, luahbtex, luajittex, texlua, texluac - An extended
version of TeX using Lua as an embedded scripting language
SYNOPSIS
luatex [--lua=FILE] [OPTION]... [TEXNAME[.tex]] [COMMANDS]
luatex [--lua=FILE] [OPTION]... \FIRST-LINE
luatex [--lua=FILE] [OPTION]... &FMT [ARGS]
DESCRIPTION
Run the luaTeX typesetter on TEXNAME, usually creating TEXNAME.pdf. Any
remaining COMMANDS are processed as luaTeX input, after TEXNAME is read.
Alternatively, if the first non-option argument begins with a backslash,
interpret all non-option arguments as a line of luaTeX input.
Alternatively, if the first non-option argument begins with a &, the
next word is taken as the FMT to read, overriding all else. Any remain-
ing arguments are processed as above.
If no arguments or options are specified, prompt for input.
If called as texlua it acts as a Lua interpreter. If called as texluac
it acts as a Lua bytecode compiler.
LuaTeX began as an extended version of pdfTeX with Unicode and OpenType
font support, embedded Lua scripting language, the e-TeX and Omega ex-
tensions, as well as an integrated MetaPost engine, that can create PDF
files as well as DVI files. For more information about luatex, see
http://www.luatex.org; and you can read the LuaTeX manual using the tex-
doc utility (texdoc luatex).
All LuaTeX text input and output is considered to be Unicode text, al-
though various filters make it possible to support any encoding.
In DVI mode, LuaTeX can be used as a complete replacement for the TeX
engine.
In PDF mode, LuaTeX can natively handle the PDF, JPG, JBIG2, and PNG
graphics formats. LuaTeX cannot include PostScript or Encapsulated
PostScript (EPS) graphics files; first convert them to PDF using ep-
stopdf(1).
The luajittex variant includes the Lua just-in-time compiler.
The luahbtex variant can use the HarfBuzz engine for glyph shaping, in-
stead of LuaTeX's built-in shaper.
OPTIONS
When the LuaTeX executable starts, it looks for the --lua command-line
option. If there is no --lua option, the command line is interpreted in
a similar fashion as in traditional pdfTeX and Aleph. But if the option
is present, LuaTeX will enter an alternative mode of command-line pars-
ing in comparison to the standard web2c programs. The presence of --lua
makes most of other options unreliable, because the lua initialization
file can disable kpathsea and/or hook functions into various callbacks.
--lua=FILE
The lua initialization file.
The following two options alter the executable behaviour:
--luaonly
Start LuaTeX as a Lua interpreter. In this mode, it will set
Lua's arg[0] to the found script name, pushing preceding options
in negative values and the rest of the command line in the posi-
tive values, just like the Lua interpreter. LuaTeX will exit im-
mediately after executing the specified Lua script.
--luaconly
Start LuaTeX as a Lua byte compiler. In this mode, LuaTeX is ex-
actly like luac from the standalone Lua distribution, except that
it does not have the -l switch, and that it accepts (but ignores)
the --luaconly switch.
Then the regular web2c options:
--debug-format
Debug format loading.
--draftmode
Sets \pdfdraftmode so luaTeX doesn't write a PDF and doesn't read
any included images, thus speeding up execution.
--enable-write18
Synonym for --shell-escape.
--disable-write18
Synonym for --no-shell-escape.
--shell-escape
Enable the \write18{command} construct, and Lua functions os.exe-
cute(), os.exec(), os.spawn(), and io.popen(). The command can
be any shell command. This construct is normally disallowed for
security reasons.
--no-shell-escape
Disable the \write18{command} construct and the other Lua func-
tions, even if it is enabled in the texmf.cnf file.
--shell-restricted
Enable restricted version of \write18, os.execute(), os.exec(),
os.spawn(), and io.popen(), only commands listed in texmf.cnf
file are allowed.
--file-line-error
Print error messages in the form file:line:error which is similar
to the way many compilers format them.
--no-file-line-error
Disable printing error messages in the file:line:error style.
--fmt=FORMAT
Use FORMAT as the name of the format to be used, instead of the
name by which luaTeX was called or a %& line.
--help Print help message and exit.
--ini Start in INI mode, which is used to dump formats. The INI mode
can be used for typesetting, but no format is preloaded, and ba-
sic initializations like setting catcodes may be required.
--interaction=MODE
Sets the interaction mode. The MODE can be either batchmode,
nonstopmode, scrollmode, and errorstopmode. The meaning of these
modes is the same as that of the corresponding \commands.
--jobname=NAME
Use NAME for the job name, instead of deriving it from the name
of the input file.
--kpathsea-debug=BITMASK
Sets path searching debugging flags according to the BITMASK.
See the Kpathsea manual for details.
--mktex=FMT
Enable mktexFMT generation, where FMT must be either tex or tfm.
--nosocket
Disable the luasocket (network) library.
--output-comment=STRING
In DVI mode, use STRING for the DVI file comment instead of the
date. This option is ignored inPDF mode.
--output-directory=DIRECTORY
Write output files in DIRECTORY instead of the current directory.
Look up input files in DIRECTORY first, then along the normal
search path.
--output-format=FORMAT
Set the output format mode, where FORMAT must be either pdf or
dvi. This also influences the set of graphics formats understood
by luaTeX.
--progname=NAME
Pretend to be program NAME (only for kpathsea).
--recorder
Enable the filename recorder. This leaves a trace of the files
opened for input and output in a file with extension .fls.
--safer
Disable some Lua commands that can easily be abused by a mali-
cious document.
--synctex=NUMBER
Enable/disable SyncTeX extension.
--version
Print version information and exit.
--credits
Print credits and version details.
The following options are ignored:
--8bit, --etex, --parse-first-line, --no-parse-first-line
These are always on.
--default-translate-file=TCXNAME, --translate-file=TCXNAME
These are always off.
SEE ALSO
pdftex(1), etex(1), aleph(1), lua(1).
AUTHORS
The primary authors of LuaTeX are Taco Hoekwater, Hartmut Henkel, Hans
Hagen, and Luigi Scarso, with help from Martin Schröder, Karel Skoupy,
and Han The Thanh.
TeX was designed by Donald E. Knuth, who implemented it using his Web
system for Pascal programs. It was ported to Unix at Stanford by Howard
Trickey, and at Cornell by Pavel Curtis. The version now offered with
the Unix TeX distribution is that generated by the Web to C system
(web2c), originally written by Tomas Rokicki and Tim Morgan.
The LuaTeX home page is http://luatex.org.
Web2C 2025/dev 17 November 2019 LUATEX(1)
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