font(n) Tk Built-In Commands font(n)
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NAME
font - Create and inspect fonts.
SYNOPSIS
font option ?arg arg ...?
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DESCRIPTION
The font command provides several facilities for dealing with fonts, such as defining named fonts and
inspecting the actual attributes of a font. The command has several different forms, determined by
the first argument. The following forms are currently supported:
font actual font ?-displayof window? ?option?
Returns information about the the actual attributes that are obtained when font is used on
window's display; the actual attributes obtained may differ from the attributes requested due
to platform-dependant limitations, such as the availability of font families and pointsizes.
font is a font description; see FONT DESCRIPTIONS below. If the window argument is omitted,
it defaults to the main window. If option is specified, returns the value of that attribute;
if it is omitted, the return value is a list of all the attributes and their values. See FONT
OPTIONS below for a list of the possible attributes.
font configure fontname ?option? ?value option value ...?
Query or modify the desired attributes for the named font called fontname. If no option is
specified, returns a list describing all the options and their values for fontname. If a sin-gle single
gle option is specified with no value, then returns the current value of that attribute. If
one or more option-value pairs are specified, then the command modifies the given named font
to have the given values; in this case, all widgets using that font will redisplay themselves
using the new attributes for the font. See FONT OPTIONS below for a list of the possible
attributes.
font create ?fontname? ?option value ...?
Creates a new named font and returns its name. fontname specifies the name for the font; if
it is omitted, then Tk generates a new name of the form fontx, where x is an integer. There
may be any number of option-value pairs, which provide the desired attributes for the new
named font. See FONT OPTIONS below for a list of the possible attributes.
font delete fontname ?fontname ...?
Delete the specified named fonts. If there are widgets using the named font, the named font
won't actually be deleted until all the instances are released. Those widgets will continue
to display using the last known values for the named font. If a deleted named font is subse-quently subsequently
quently recreated with another call to font create, the widgets will use the new named font
and redisplay themselves using the new attributes of that font.
font families ?-displayof window?
The return value is a list of the case-insensitive names of all font families that exist on
window's display. If the window argument is omitted, it defaults to the main window.
font measure font ?-displayof window? text
Measures the amount of space the string text would use in the given font when displayed in
window. font is a font description; see FONT DESCRIPTIONS below. If the window argument is
omitted, it defaults to the main window. The return value is the total width in pixels of
text, not including the extra pixels used by highly exagerrated characters such as cursive
``f''. If the string contains newlines or tabs, those characters are not expanded or treated
specially when measuring the string.
font metrics font ?-displayof window? ?option?
Returns information about the metrics (the font-specific data), for font when it is used on
window's display. font is a font description; see FONT DESCRIPTIONS below. If the window
argument is omitted, it defaults to the main window. If option is specified, returns the
value of that metric; if it is omitted, the return value is a list of all the metrics and
their values. See FONT METRICS below for a list of the possible metrics.
font names
The return value is a list of all the named fonts that are currently defined.
FONT DESCRIPTION
The following formats are accepted as a font description anywhere font is specified as an argument
above; these same forms are also permitted when specifying the -font option for widgets.
[1] fontname
The name of a named font, created using the font create command. When a widget uses a named
font, it is guaranteed that this will never cause an error, as long as the named font exists,
no matter what potentially invalid or meaningless set of attributes the named font has. If
the named font cannot be displayed with exactly the specified attributes, some other close
font will be substituted automatically.
[2] systemfont
The platform-specific name of a font, interpreted by the graphics server. This also includes,
under X, an XLFD (see [4]) for which a single ``*'' character was used to elide more than one
field in the middle of the name. See PLATFORM-SPECIFIC issues for a list of the system fonts.
[3] family ?size? ?style? ?style |
...? | |
A properly formed list whose first element is the desired font family and whose optional sec- |
ond element is the desired size. The interpretation of the size attribute follows the same |
rules described for -size in FONT OPTIONS below. Any additional optional arguments following |
the size are font styles. Possible values for the style arguments are as follows: |
normal bold roman italic |
underline overstrike |
[4] X-font names |
(XLFD) | |
A Unix-centric font name of the form -foundry-family-weight-slant-setwidth-addstyle-pixel- |
point-resx-resy-spacing-width-charset-encoding. The ``*'' character may be used to skip indi- |
vidual fields that the user does not care about. There must be exactly one ``*'' for each |
field skipped, except that a ``*'' at the end of the XLFD skips any remaining fields; the |
shortest valid XLFD is simply ``*'', signifying all fields as defaults. Any fields that were |
skipped are given default values. For compatibility, an XLFD always chooses a font of the |
specified pixel size (not point size); although this interpretation is not strictly correct, |
all existing applications using XLFDs assumed that one ``point'' was in fact one pixel and |
would display incorrectly (generally larger) if the correct size font were actually used.
[5] option value ?option value ...?
A properly formed list of option-value pairs that specify the desired attributes of the font,
in the same format used when defining a named font; see FONT OPTIONS below.
When font description font is used, the system attempts to parse the description according to each of
the above five rules, in the order specified. Cases [1] and [2] must match the name of an existing
named font or of a system font. Cases [3], [4], and [5] are accepted on all platforms and the clos-est closest
est available font will be used. In some situations it may not be possible to find any close font
(e.g., the font family was a garbage value); in that case, some system-dependant default font is cho-sen. chosen.
sen. If the font description does not match any of the above patterns, an error is generated.
FONT METRICS
The following options are used by the font metrics command to query font-specific data determined
when the font was created. These properties are for the whole font itself and not for individual
characters drawn in that font. In the following definitions, the ``baseline'' of a font is the hori-zontal horizontal
zontal line where the bottom of most letters line up; certain letters, such as lower-case ``g'' stick
below the baseline.
-ascent
The amount in pixels that the tallest letter sticks up above the baseline of the font, plus
any extra blank space added by the designer of the font.
-descent
The largest amount in pixels that any letter sticks down below the baseline of the font, plus
any extra blank space added by the designer of the font.
-linespace
Returns how far apart vertically in pixels two lines of text using the same font should be
placed so that none of the characters in one line overlap any of the characters in the other
line. This is generally the sum of the ascent above the baseline line plus the descent below
the baseline.
-fixed
Returns a boolean flag that is ``1'' if this is a fixed-width font, where each normal charac-ter character
ter is the the same width as all the other characters, or is ``0'' if this is a proportion-ally-spaced proportionally-spaced
ally-spaced font, where individual characters have different widths. The widths of control
characters, tab characters, and other non-printing characters are not included when calculat-ing calculating
ing this value.
FONT OPTIONS
The following options are supported on all platforms, and are used when constructing a named font or
when specifying a font using style [5] as above:
-family name
The case-insensitive font family name. Tk guarantees to support the font families named
Courier (a monospaced ``typewriter'' font), Times (a serifed ``newspaper'' font), and Hel-vetica Helvetica
vetica (a sans-serif ``European'' font). The most closely matching native font family will
automatically be substituted when one of the above font families is used. The name may also
be the name of a native, platform-specific font family; in that case it will work as desired
on one platform but may not display correctly on other platforms. If the family is unspeci-fied unspecified
fied or unrecognized, a platform-specific default font will be chosen. |
-size |
size | |
The desired size of the font. If the size argument is a positive number, it is interpreted as |
a size in points. If size is a negative number, its absolute value is interpreted as a size |
in pixels. If a font cannot be displayed at the specified size, a nearby size will be chosen. |
If size is unspecified or zero, a platform-dependent default size will be chosen. |
Sizes should normally be specified in points so the application will remain the same ruler |
size on the screen, even when changing screen resolutions or moving scripts across platforms. |
However, specifying pixels is useful in certain circumstances such as when a piece of text |
must line up with respect to a fixed-size bitmap. The mapping between points and pixels is |
set when the application starts, based on properties of the installed monitor, but it can be |
overridden by calling the tk scaling command. |
-weight weight
The nominal thickness of the characters in the font. The value normal specifies a normal
weight font, while bold specifies a bold font. The closest available weight to the one speci-fied specified
fied will be chosen. The default weight is normal.
-slant slant
The amount the characters in the font are slanted away from the vertical. Valid values for
slant are roman and italic. A roman font is the normal, upright appearance of a font, while
an italic font is one that is tilted some number of degrees from upright. The closest avail-able available
able slant to the one specified will be chosen. The default slant is roman.
-underline boolean
The value is a boolean flag that specifies whether characters in this font should be under-lined. underlined.
lined. The default value for underline is false.
-overstrike boolean
The value is a boolean flag that specifies whether a horizontal line should be drawn through
the middle of characters in this font. The default value for overstrike is false.
PLATFORM-SPECIFIC ISSUES
The following named system fonts are supported:
X Windows:
All valid X font names, including those listed by xlsfonts(1), are available.
MS Windows:
system ansi device
systemfixed ansifixed oemfixed
Macintosh:
system application
SEE ALSO
options
KEYWORDS
font
Tk 8.0 font(n)
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