9.2.2 char command

The char command specifies both side bearings for a single character. It has the form:

char charname expr1 , expr2

where:

charname

is a character name from the font encoding. See section 9.3 Invoking Charspace, for how to specify the encoding file.

expr1

expr2

specify the left and right side bearings, in pixels, respectively: the character widths in the output TFM and GF files are expr1 + expr2 + width (charname). If these expressions contain identifiers, the values of those identifiers are not resolved until after Charspace has read all the CMI files.

Giving the side bearings symbolically is useful when the character definition is intended to be used for more than one typeface. For example, `common.cmi' (see section 9.1 Charspace usage) contains:

char K H-sb , uc-min-sb char L H-sb , uc-min-sb

Then the CMI file you write for a particular font can define H-sb and uc-min-sb, and not have to redefine the side bearings for K and L.