1. Practical Examples

Real-world PostScript code examples demonstrating common tasks and techniques.

2. Hello World

Your first PostScript program:

%!PS-Adobe-3.0
/Helvetica findfont 12 scalefont setfont
100 700 moveto
(Hello, PostScript!) show
showpage

3. Drawing Basic Shapes

3.1. Rectangle

newpath
100 100 moveto
200 0 rlineto
0 150 rlineto
-200 0 rlineto
closepath
0.5 setgray fill

3.2. Circle

newpath
200 200 50 0 360 arc
closepath
0 setgray stroke

3.3. Triangle

newpath
150 100 moveto
250 100 lineto
200 200 lineto
closepath
1 0 0 setrgbcolor fill

4. Text Examples

4.1. Centered Text

/Helvetica findfont 24 scalefont setfont
(PostScript) stringwidth pop 2 div
300 exch sub 400 moveto
(PostScript) show

4.2. Multiple Lines

/Helvetica findfont 12 scalefont setfont
100 700 moveto (Line 1) show
100 680 moveto (Line 2) show
100 660 moveto (Line 3) show

5. Color Examples

5.1. RGB Colors

% Red square
1 0 0 setrgbcolor
0 0 100 100 rectfill

% Green square
0 1 0 setrgbcolor
110 0 100 100 rectfill

% Blue square
0 0 1 setrgbcolor
220 0 100 100 rectfill

5.2. Grayscale Gradient

0 0.1 1 {
  /gray exch def
  gray setgray
  gray 10 mul 0 10 100 rectfill
} for

6. Practical Techniques

6.1. Coordinate Transformation

gsave
  300 400 translate
  45 rotate
  0 0 100 50 rectfill
grestore

6.2. Clipping

gsave
  newpath 150 150 100 0 360 arc clip
  % Draw within circular clip
  0 0 300 300 rectfill
grestore

6.3. Reusable Procedures

/box {  % x y width height => -
  gsave
    newpath
    moveto
    dup 0 rlineto
    exch 0 exch rlineto
    neg 0 rlineto
    closepath stroke
  grestore
} def

100 100 50 75 box

7. See Also


Table of contents


Back to top

Copyright © 2025 Ribose. PostScript is a trademark of Adobe. Distributed under the MIT License.