Functional PostScript Tutorial

Glyphnames

Glyphnames are pre-determined standard names by Adobe (for example, the shape # is "numbersign", the shape ! is "exclam", etc). They are unique identifiers of glyphs.

You can use glyphnames to print characters that are not part of your standard keyboard. For example:

	(define helv (font "Helvetica" 36))
	(glyphname->glyphpath helv "copyright")))

This will give you the glyphpath of a copyright symbol (a 'c' in a circle) in 36 point Helvetica.

Glyphnames are case sensitive. See PostScript Reference Manual Appendix E for a standard roman charater set and their glyphnames.

Instead of using glyphname->glyphpath, you can also embed glyphnames in a string inside an escape sequence of a string:

	(string->glyphpath helv "My Resum %eacute:")))

This gives you a picture that has the words "My Resume" with the properly accented 'e'. The % begins the escape sequence and : ends it. Glyphnames inside escape sequences are seperated by white spaces.

Related procedures in this section:
glyphname->glyphpath, string->glyphpath.

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