APSplit Command Line Introduction
Introduction
APSplit is a command-line application. If you are used to the Microsoft Windows or Apple Mac OS X operating system, you may not be familiar with running command-line tools. This section shows you all you need to get started.
- Windows tells you how to use APSplit on Windows.
- Mac OS X tells you how to use APSplit on Macintosh.
Note: You can refer to the Getting Started With Command Line Applications for additional information on using command-line applications.
Windows
To run APSplit in Windows, you need to open a Command Prompt window.
In Windows 7 or above:
- Click Start > Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
The Command Prompt window opens.
Some basic commands
At the command prompt, you type each command, and press the Enter key to execute it. You can use the mouse to select text to copy or cut to the clipboard, but you cannot position the cursor with it. The command line is completely keyboard driven. Navigation keys are shown below:
Key | Action |
---|---|
Backspace | Delete previous character |
Right arrow | Move right one character |
Left arrow | Move left one character |
Up arrow | Recall previous command |
Tab | File or directory name auto complete |
Enter | Execute command |
In addition to running programs, you have many commands to navigate and maintain the system. Two important ones are cd and dir.
Changing directories
Use the cd command to change directories. For example, to change to the directory that APSplit is located in, type:
C:\>cd \Appligent\APSplit\
The command prompt changes to:
C:\Appligent\APSplit>
to show you where you are.
To move back one level, use the shortcut of two periods (..)
C:\Appligent\APSplit>cd..
Don’t forget to press the Enter key after every command. You will now be in this directory:
C:\Appligent>
Move back to APSplit:
C:\Appligent>cd APSplit
Listing the contents of a directory
Use the dir command to list the contents of a directory:
C:\Appligent\APSplit>dir
The computer responds with a listing of all the contents of the APSplit directory.
If the directory contents fly by too fast to read, do this:
C:\Appligent\APSplit>dir /p
The /p switch tells DOS to display one page at a time. Press the Enter key to see the next page.
To see the contents of all the subdirectories at the same time, type:
C:\Appligent\APSplit>dir /s
This displays the contents of APSplit and all the subdirectories under it.
Running APSplit
To run APSplit, type the commands on the command line as shown in other sections of this manual and press Enter. For example:
$ apsplit -o \output\ [options] samples\input.pdf
In this example, the dollar sign stands for the command prompt. The command processes the input.pdf file using the options you provide, and then saves the results to the output directory. Note that the relative path is included in the file specifications, so that APSplit knows where to find the files. However, the safest way to specify files is to use the full path:
$ apsplit -o c:\Appligent\APSplit\output\ [options] c:\Appligent\APSplit\samples\input.pdf
If you do not specify the correct path, you will get a “file not found” error.
Note: Each command must be typed on one line, even if it is presented on more than one line in the manual to fit on the page.
Now, refer to the rest of this User Guide for details about using APSplit.
Mac OS X
To run APSplit on the Macintosh, you need to open a terminal window. In the Applications folder:
- Open the Utilities folder.
- Double-click the Terminal application
The Terminal window opens.
Some basic commands
At the command prompt, you type each command, and press the Return key to execute it. You can use the mouse to select text to copy or cut to the clipboard, but you cannot position the cursor with it. The command line is completely keyboard driven. Navigation keys are shown below:
Key | Action |
---|---|
Backspace | Delete previous character |
Right arrow | Move right one character |
Left arrow | Move left one character |
Up arrow | Recall previous command |
Tab | File or directory name auto complete |
Return | Execute command |
In addition to running programs, you have many commands to navigate and maintain the system. Two important ones are cd and ls.
Changing directories
Use the cd command to change directories. For example, to change to the directory that APSplit is located in, type:
[yourcomputer:~]user% cd /Applications/Appligent/APSplit
The command prompt changes to:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/APSplit]user%
to show you where you are. yourcomputer is the name of your computer, and user is your user name.
To move back one level, use the shortcut of two periods (..)
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/APSplit]user% cd ..
Don’t forget to press the Return key after every command. You will now be in this directory:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent]user%
Move back to APSplit:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent]user% cd APSplit
Listing the contents of a directory
Use the ls command to list the contents of a directory:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/APSplit]user% ls
The computer responds with a listing of all the contents of the APSplit directory.
To see the contents of all the subdirectories at the same time, type:
[yourcomputer:Applications/Appligent/APSplit]user% ls -R
The -R switch displays the contents of APSplit and all the subdirectories under it. Note that these switches are case sensitive. You must use a capital ‘R.’
Running APSplit
To run APSplit, type the commands on the command line as shown in other sections of this manual and press Return. For example:
$ ./apsplit -o ./output/ [options] ./samples/input.pdf
In this example, the dollar sign stands for the command prompt, a convention used throughout this manual. The ./ tells the computer that the command is in the current directory. The command processes the input.pdf file using the options you provide, and then saves the results to the output directory. Note that the relative path is included in the file specifications, so that APSplit knows where to find the files. However, the safest way to specify files is to use the full path:
$ ./apsplit -o /Applications/Appligent/APSplit/output/ [options] /Applications/Appligent/APSplit/samples/input.pdf
If you do not specify the correct path, you will get a “file not found” error.
Note: Each command must be typed on one line, even if it is presented on more than one line in the manual to fit on the page.
Now, refer to the rest of this User Guide for details about using APSplit.