xpdf

Lightweight X11 PDF viewer

TLDR

Open PDF file

$ xpdf [document.pdf]

Open at specific page

$ xpdf [document.pdf] [5]

Set initial zoom (percent, "page", "width")

$ xpdf -z [150] [document.pdf]

Full screen mode

$ xpdf -fullscreen [document.pdf]

Open with owner password

$ xpdf -opw [owner_password] [document.pdf]

Reverse video (dark background) mode

$ xpdf -rv [document.pdf]

Remote control mode

$ xpdf -remote [name] [document.pdf]

SYNOPSIS

xpdf [-z zoom] [-fullscreen] [-opw password] [options] file.pdf [page]

xpdf is a lightweight PDF viewer for X11. It renders PDF documents with minimal resource usage.The viewer provides basic PDF functionality: navigation, zoom, search, and printing. It handles most standard PDF features.Remote mode enables control from scripts. Commands sent to the named instance open files, navigate, and control display.Configuration through ~/.xpdfrc customizes appearance and behavior. Font paths, colors, and key bindings are adjustable.The xpdf package includes command-line tools: [pdftotext](/man/pdftotext)(1), [pdftops](/man/pdftops)(1), [pdfinfo](/man/pdfinfo)(1), and [pdfimages](/man/pdfimages)(1). These are widely used independent of the viewer.

PARAMETERS

-z ZOOM

Initial zoom (percent, page, width).

-fullscreen

Full screen mode.

-opw PASSWORD

Owner password.

-upw PASSWORD

User password.

-remote NAME

Start in remote mode.

-g GEOMETRY

Window geometry.

-rv

Reverse video mode.

-papercolor COLOR

Paper background color.

-mattecolor COLOR

Matte color around page area.

-cfg FILE

Config file.

-v

Show version.

-h

Show help.

KEY BINDINGS

n, Space, PgDn

Next page.

p, Backspace, PgUp

Previous page.

+, -

Zoom in/out.

Zoom to page.

Zoom to width.

Search forward.

Search backward.

Quit.

INSTALL

sudo apt install xpdf

sudo dnf install xpdf

sudo pacman -S xpdf

sudo apk add xpdf

brew install xpdf

nix profile install nixpkgs#xpdf

CAVEATS

Fewer features than Evince or Okular. Some modern PDF features may not render. X11 only. Development slower than alternatives.

HISTORY

xpdf was created by Derek Noonburg starting in 1995. It was one of the first open-source PDF viewers and spawned the Poppler library used by many modern viewers.