TITLE

ttftable - import, export, or delete TrueType font tables

SYNOPSIS

ttftable [options] infile.ttf [outfile.ttf]

Opens infile.ttf for reading, optionally imports, exports, and/or deletes tables from the font, then writes the modified font to outfile.ttf if provided.

OPTIONS

-export tag[,tag...] List of tables to export to default datafiles
-export "tag=fname"  Name of table to export to named datafile
-import tag[,tag...] List of tables to import from default datafiles
-import "tag=fname"  Name of table to import from named datafile
-delete tag[,tag...] List of tables to remove from font
-update tag[,tag...] Force a re-build of the named tables 
-list                Write a list of table tags from infile.ttf to STDOUT
-verbose             Verbose output
-text                Use text mode i/o for datafiles
-xport               alias for -export (thus permitting -x) 
-help                Help

Option names may be abbreviated as much as you like; -export, -import, -delete and -update options may be repeated.

DESCRIPTION

After opening font file infile.ttf, ttftable can export one or more of the truetype tables to separate files, import one or more font tables from separate files, and/or delete specified tables from the font.

Changes are written to outfile.ttf if supplied.

Tables are identified by their four-character tag. The following (case insensitive) pseudo tags can also be used:

graphite  all SIL Graphite tables (Silf Feat Gloc Glat Sill Sile)
volt      all Microsoft VOLT tables (TSIV TSID TSIP TSIS)
opentype  all OpenType tables (GDEF GSUB GPOS)
all       all tables in the font (use with caution!)

The parameter to -export and -import is a table tag optionally followed by equals sign and a filename. If the filename is not provided, ttftable makes up a file name by appending ".tagname.dat" to the input font file name. CAUTION: Windows users should include quotes around parameters of the form tag=fname.

-update is a debugging tool that forces the named tables to be read in detail, then "dirties" them, and finally updates the font. This should bring the font into consistent state if it wasn't before. Note that, due to their interrelated nature, updating either the 'loca' or the 'glyf' table updates both and will cause every glyph to be read and parsed and then reconstructed, taking significantly more time.

Font tables such as TSIV that contain text use various conventions for line ending. During -export, the -text option will convert any line-endings in the font data to what is needed by your platform. During -import, the -text option simply converts your platform line endings to newline (\n) character, which may not be what you want, so use with caution.

Arrangements of command line options that import and export the same table and/or the same data file will "do the right thing" except that external files can contain only one table.

EXAMPLES

# list of tables in a font
ttftable -l myfont.ttf

# list of tables and their details such as offset, size, checksum
ttftable -l -v myfont.ttf

# extract VOLT source from a font:
ttftable -e "TSIV=myfont.vtp" -t myfont.ttf

# extract all tables into separate binary files
ttftable -e all myfont.ttf

# Create a new font by deleting all OpenType tables
ttftable -d opentype myfont.ttf newfont.ttf
 

BUGS

Deleting Graphite or OpenType tables does not remove name table strings that are used for feature names and values.

The pseudo tags graphite, volt, opentype and all cannot be used in conjunction with the =fname capability.