Table of Contents

• 1. closepath
  • 1.1. Syntax
  • 1.2. Stack Effects
  • 1.3. Description
  • 1.4. PostScript Level
  • 1.5. Examples
  • 1.6. Common Use Cases
    • 1.6.1. Creating Closed Shapes
    • 1.6.2. Ensuring Proper Fills
    • 1.6.3. Creating Compound Paths
  • 1.7. Common Pitfalls
  • 1.8. Error Conditions
  • 1.9. Implementation Notes
  • 1.10. Behavior Details
  • 1.11. Performance Considerations
  • 1.12. See Also

1. closepath

Closes the current subpath by adding a straight line back to its starting point.

1.1. Syntax

- closepath → -

1.2. Stack Effects

Table 1. Before

Level	Object
(empty)	No operands required

Table 2. After

Level	Object
(empty)	No results

1.3. Description

closepath closes the current subpath by appending a straight line segment connecting the current point to the subpath’s starting point—generally, the point most recently specified by moveto.

If the current subpath is already closed or the current path is empty, closepath does nothing.

closepath terminates the current subpath. Appending another segment to the current path will begin a new subpath, even if it is drawn from the endpoint reached by closepath.

1.4. PostScript Level

Level 1 and later

1.5. Examples

Closing a triangle

newpath
100 100 moveto
200 100 lineto
150 200 lineto
closepath                % Adds line from (150,200) to (100,100)
stroke

Multiple closed subpaths

newpath
% First square
100 100 moveto
200 100 lineto
200 200 lineto
100 200 lineto
closepath

% Second square (new subpath)
250 100 moveto
350 100 lineto
350 200 lineto
250 200 lineto
closepath

fill

Circle with closepath

newpath
200 200 50 0 360 arc
closepath                % Not strictly necessary for arcs
fill

1.6. Common Use Cases

1.6.1. Creating Closed Shapes

/drawPolygon {
  % array of points -> draws closed polygon
  /points exch def
  newpath
  points 0 get points 1 get moveto
  2 2 points length 1 sub {
    /i exch def
    points i get points i 1 add get lineto
  } for
  closepath
} def

[100 100  200 150  250 100  200 50] drawPolygon
fill

1.6.2. Ensuring Proper Fills

% Without closepath - gap at join
newpath
100 100 moveto
200 100 lineto
200 200 lineto
100 200 lineto
% No closepath
5 setlinewidth
stroke                   % Gap visible at corner

% With closepath - clean join
newpath
250 100 moveto
350 100 lineto
350 200 lineto
250 200 lineto
closepath
stroke                   % Clean miter join at corner

1.6.3. Creating Compound Paths

/drawTarget {
  % cx cy radius
  /r exch def
  /cy exch def
  /cx exch def

  newpath
  cx cy r 0 360 arc closepath          % Outer circle
  cx cy r 2 div 0 360 arc closepath    % Inner circle

  % Fill with even-odd rule creates ring
  eofill
} def

200 200 80 drawTarget

1.7. Common Pitfalls

Line Cap at Close Point - The line cap setting doesn’t affect the join where closepath connects. The line join setting applies instead.

2 setlinecap             % Round caps
0 setlinejoin            % Miter joins

newpath
100 100 moveto
200 100 lineto
closepath
stroke                   % Join at (100,100) is mitered, not rounded

Not Needed for All Shapes - Complete arcs (0 to 360) are automatically closed. Adding closepath doesn’t hurt, but it’s redundant.

newpath
200 200 50 0 360 arc     % Already creates closed path
closepath                % Redundant but harmless

Always Close Filled Paths - For clean fills and strokes, always use closepath to close shapes, even if the endpoints are very close.

1.8. Error Conditions

Error	Condition
[limitcheck]	Path becomes too complex for implementation

Note: closepath does not require a current point and will not generate a [nocurrentpoint] error.

1.9. Implementation Notes

• Creates an explicit line segment in the path

• The closing segment participates in line join calculations

• Current point after closepath is the subpath start point

• Subsequent path operations start a new subpath

• Has no effect on empty paths or already-closed subpaths

• Essential for proper fill and stroke behavior

1.10. Behavior Details

The behavior differs from simply using lineto back to the starting point:

% Using lineto
newpath
100 100 moveto
200 100 lineto
200 200 lineto
100 200 lineto
100 100 lineto          % Back to start
% Next lineto extends from (100,100)

% Using closepath
newpath
100 100 moveto
200 100 lineto
200 200 lineto
100 200 lineto
closepath               % Back to start, subpath closed
% Next lineto starts NEW subpath

1.11. Performance Considerations

• Very lightweight operation

• No computational overhead

• Improves rendering quality for stroked paths

• Required for correct fill behavior in most cases

1.12. See Also

• newpath - Initialize empty path

• moveto - Start new subpath

• lineto - Add straight line segment

• arc - Add circular arc

• currentpoint - Get current point