Writing scripts to change fonts in FontForge

FontForge includes an interpreter so you can write scripts to modify fonts.

Starting scripts

If you start fontforge with a script on the command line it will not put up any windows and it will exit when the script is done.

$ fontforge -script scriptfile.pe {fontnames}

FontForge can also be used as an interpreter that the shell will automatically pass scripts to. If you a mark your script files as executable
    $ chmod +x scriptfile.pe
and begin each one with the line
    #!/usr/local/bin/fontforge
(or wherever fontforge happens to reside on your system) then you can invoke the script just by typing
    $ scriptfile.pe {fontnames}

If you wish FontForge to read a script from stdin then you can use "-" as a "filename" for stdin. (If you build FontForge without X11 then fontforge will attempt to read a script file from stdin if none is given on the command line.)

You can also start a script from within FontForge with File->Execute Script, and you can use the Preference Dlg to define a set of frequently used scripts which can be invoked directly by menu.

The scripting language provides access to much of the functionality found in the font view's menus. It does not currently (and probably never will) provide access to everything. (If you find a lack let me know, I may put it in for you). It does not provide commands for building up a glyph out of splines, instead it allows you to do high level modifications to glyphs.

If you set the environment variable PFAEDIT_VERBOSE (it doesn't need a value, just needs to be set) then FontForge will print scripts to stdout as it executes them.

In general I envision this as being useful for things like taking a latin font and extending it to contain cyrillic glyphs. So the script might:

Scripting Language

The syntax is rather like a mixture of C and shell commands. Every file corresponds to a procedure. As in a shell script arguments passed to the file are identified as $1, $2, ... $n. $0 is the file name itself. $argc gives the number of arguments. $argv[<expr>] provides array access to the arguments.

Terms can be

There are three different comments supported:

Expressions are similar to those in C, a few operators have been omitted, a few added from shell scripts. Operator precedence has been simplified slightly. So operators (and their precedences) are:

Note there is no comma operator, and no "?:" operator. The precedence of "and" and "or" has been simplified, as has that of the assignment operators.

Procedure calls may be applied either to a name token, or to a string. If the name or string is recognized as one of FontForge's internal procedures it will be executed, otherwise it will be assumed to be a filename containing another fontforge script file, this file will be invoked (since filenames can contain characters not legal in name tokens it is important to allow general strings to specify filenames). If the procedure name does not contain a directory then it is assumed to be in the same directory as the current script file. At most 25 arguments can be passed to a procedure.

Arrays are passed by reference, strings and integers are passed by value.

Variables may be created by assigning a value to them (only with the "="), so:
    i=3
could be used to define "i" as a variable. Variables are limited in scope to the current file, they will not be inherited by called procedures.

A statement may be

As with C, non-zero expressions are defined to be true.
A return statement may be followed by a return value (the expression) or a procedure may return nothing (void).
The shift statement is stolen from shell scripts and shifts all arguments down by one. (argument 0, the name of the script file, remains unchanged.
The foreach statement requires that there be a current font. It executes the statements once for each glyph in the selection. Within the statements only one glyph at a time will be selected. After execution the selection will be restored to what it was initially. (Caveat: Don't reencode the font within a foreach statement).
Statements are terminated either by a new line (you can break up long lnes with backslash newline) or a semicolon.

Trivial example:

i=0;	#semicolon is not needed here, but it's ok
while ( i<3 )
   if ( i==1 /* pointless comment */ )
	Print( "Got to one" )	// Another comment
   endif
   ++i
endloop

FontForge maintains the concept of a "current font" almost all commands refer only to the current font (and require that there be a font). If you start a script with File->Execute Script, the font you were editing will be current, otherwise there will be no initial current font. The Open(), New() and Close() commands all change the current font. FontForge also maintains a list of all fonts that are currently open. This list is in no particular order. The list starts with $firstfont.

Similarly when working with cid keyed fonts, FontForge works in the "current sub font", and most commands refer to this font. The CIDChangeSubFont() command can alter that.

All builtin variables begin with "$", you may not create any variables that start with "$" yourself (though you may assign to (some) already existing ones)

The following example will perform an action on all loaded fonts:

file = $firstfont
while ( file != "" )
   Open(file)
   /* Do Stuff */
   file = $nextfont
endloop

The built in procedures are very similar to the menu items with the same names. Often the description here is sketchy, look at the menu item for more information.

Print(arg1,arg2,arg3,...)
This corresponds to no menu item. It will print all of its arguments to stdout. It can execute with no current font.
PostNotice(str)
When run from the UI will put up a window displaying the string (the window will not block the program and will disappear after a minute or so). When run from the command line will write the string to stderr.
Error(str)
Prints out str as an error message and aborts the current script
AskUser(question[,default-answer])
Asks the user the question and returns an answer (a string). A default-answer may be specified too.
Array(size)
Allocates an array of the indicated size.
a = Array(10)
i = 0;
while ( i<10 )
   a[i] = i++
endloop
a[3] = "string"
a[4] = Array(10)
a[4][0] = "Nested array";
SizeOf(arr)
Returns the number of elements in an array.
Strsub(str,start[,end])
Returns a substring of the string argument. The substring beings at position indexed by start and ends at the position indexed by end (if end is omitted the end of the string will be used, the first position is position 0). Thus Strsub("abcdef",2,3) == "c" and Strsub("abcdef",2) == "cdef"
Strlen(str)
Returns the length of the string.
Strstr(haystack,needle)
Returns the index of the first occurrence of the string needle within the string haystack (or -1 if not found).
Strrstr(haystack,needle)
Returns the index of the last occurrence of the string needle within the string haystack (or -1 if not found).
Strcasestr(haystack,needle)
Returns the index of the first occurrence of the string needle within the string haystack ignoring case in the search (or -1 if not found).
Strcasecmp(str1,str2)
Compares the two strings ignoring case, returns zero if the two are equal, a negative number if str1<str2 and a positive number if str1>str2
Strtol(str[,base])
Parses as much of str as possible and returns the integer value it represents. A second argument may be used to specify the base of the conversion (it defaults to 10). Behavior is as for strtol(3).
Strskipint(str[,base])
Parses as much of str as possible and returns the offset to the first character that could not be parsed.
LoadPrefs()
Loads the user's preferences. This used to happen automatically at startup. Now it happens automatically when the UI is started, but scripts must request it.
SavePrefs()
Save the current state of preferences. This used to happen when SetPref was called, now a script must request it explicitly.
GetPref(str)
Gets the value of the preference item whose name is contained in str. Only boolean, integer, real, string and file preference items may be returned. Boolean and real items are returned with integer type and file items are returned with string type. Encodings (NewCharset) are returned as magic numbers, these are meaningless outside the context of get/set Pref.
SetPrefs(str,val[,val2])
Sets the value of the preference item whose name is contained in str. If the preference item has a real type then a second argument may be passed and the value set will be val/val2. The NewCharset preference item may be set to a magic number as provided by GetPref, or by one of the encoding strings accepted by Reencode()
DefaultOtherSubrs()
Returns to using Adobe's versions of the OtherSubrs subroutines.
ReadOtherSubrsFile(filename)
Reads new PostScript subroutines to be used in the OtherSubrs array of a type1 font. The file format is a little more complicated than it should be (because I can't figure out how to parse the OtherSubrs array into individual subroutines).
% Copyright (c) 1987-1990 Adobe Systems Incorporated.
% All Rights Reserved
% This code to be used for Flex and Hint Replacement
% Version 1.1
%%%%%%
{systemdict /internaldict known
1183615869 systemdict /internaldict get exec
...
%%%%%%
{gsave currentpoint newpath moveto} executeonly
%%%%%%
{currentpoint grestore gsave currentpoint newpath moveto} executeonly
%%%%%%
{systemdict /internaldict known not
{pop 3}
...
GetEnv(str)
Returns the value of the unix environment variable named by str.
FileAccess(filename[,prot])
Behaves like the unix access system call. Returns 0 if the file exists, -1 if it does not. If protection is omitted, checks for read access.
UnicodeFromName(name)
Looks the string "name" up in FontForge's database of commonly used glyph names and returns the unicode value associated with that name, or -1 if not found. This does not check the current font (if any).
Chr(int)
Chr(array)
Takes an integer [0,255] and returns a single character string containing that code point. Internally FontForge interprets strings as if they were in ISO8859-1 (well really, FontForge just uses ASCII-US internally). If passed an array, it should be an array of integers and the result is the string.
Ord(string[,pos])
Returns an array of integers representing the encoding of the characters in the string. If pos is given it should be an integer less than the string length and the function will return the integer encoding of that character in the string.
Utf8(int)
Takes an integer [0,0x10ffff] and returns the utf8 string representing that unicode code point. If passed an array of integers it will generate a utf8 string containing all of those unicode code points. (it does not expect to get surrogates).
Rand()
returns a random integer

FontsInFile(filename)
Returns an array of strings containing the names of all fonts within a file. Most files contain one font, but some (mac font suitcases, dfonts, ttc files, svg files, etc) may contain several. If the file contains no fonts (or the file doesn't exist, or the fonts aren't named), a zero length array is returned. It does not open the font. It can execute without a current font.
Open(filename[,flags])
This makes the font named by filename be the current font. If filename has not yet been loaded into memory it will be loaded now. It can execute without a current font.
When loading from a ttc file (mac suitcase, dfont, svg, etc), a particular font may be selected by placing the fontname in parens and appending it to the filename, as Open("gulim.ttc(Dotum)")
The optional flags argument current has only one flag in it:
New()
This creates a new font. It can execute with no current font.
Close()
This frees up any memory taken up by the current font and drops it off the list of loaded fonts. After this executes there will be no current font.
Save([filename])
If no filename is specified then this saves the current font back into its sfd file (if the font has no sfd file then this is an error). With one argument it executes a SaveAs command, saving the current font to that filename.
Generate(filename[,bitmaptype[,fmflags[,res[,mult-sfd-file]]]])
Generates a font. The type of font is determined by the extension of the filename. Valid extensions are:

If present, bitmaptype may be one of:

If you do not wish to generate an outline font then give the filename the extension of ".bdf".
fmflags controls

res controls the resolution of generated bdf fonts. A value of -1 means fontforge will guess for each strike.

If the filename has a ".mult" extension then a "mult-sfd-file" may be present. This is the filename of a file containing the mapping from the current encoding into the subfonts. Here is an example. If this file is not present FontForge will go through its default search process to find a file for the encoding, and if it fails the fonts will not be saved.

GenerateFamily(filename,bitmaptype,fmflags,array-of-font-filenames)
Generates a mac font family (FOND) from the fonts (which must be loaded) in the array-of-font-filenames. filename, bitmaptype, fmflags are as above.
#!/usr/local/bin/fontforge
a = Array($argc-1)
i = 1
j = 0
while ( i < $argc )
# Open each of the fonts
  Open($argv[i], 1)
# and store the filenames of all the styles in the array
  a[j] = $filename
  j++
  i++
endloop

GenerateFamily("All.otf.dfont","dfont",16,a)
ControlAfmLigatureOutput(script,lang,ligature-tag-list)
All three arguments must be strings. The first two must be strings containing four or fewer characters, the third a string containing a comma separated list of 4 (or fewer) character strings. Ligatures will be placed in an AFM file only if

The default setting is:

ControlAfmLigatureOutput("*","dflt","liga,rlig")
Import(filename[,toback[,flags]])
Either imports a bitmap font into the database, or imports background image[s] into various glyphs. There may be one or two arguments. The first must be a string representing a filename. The extension of the file determines how the import proceeds.

If present the second argument must be an integer, if the first argument is a bitmap font then the second argument controls whether it is imported into the bitmap list (0) or to fill up the backgrounds of glyphs (1). For eps and svg files this argument controls whether the splines are added to the foreground or the background layer of the glyph.

If there is a third argument it must also be an integer and provides a set of flags controling the behavior of importing an EPS file.

Export(format[,bitmap-size])
For each selected glyph in the current font, this command will export that glyph into a file in the current directory. Format must be a string and must be one of
MergeKern(filename)
Loads Kerning info out of either an afm or a tfm file and merges it into the current font.
PrintSetup(type,[printer[,width,height]])
Allows you to configure the print command. Type may be a value between 0 and 4

If the type is 4 (other) and the second argument is specified, then the second argument should be a string containing the "other" printing command.
If the type is 0 (lp) or 1 (lpr) and the second argument is specified, then the second argument should contain the name of a laser printer
(If the second argument is a null string neither will be set).

The third and fourth arguments should specify the page width and height respectively. Units are in 1/72 inches (almost points), so 8.5x11" paper is 612,792 and A4 paper is (about) 595,842.

PrintFont(type[,pointsize[,sample-text/filename[,output-file]]])
Prints the current font according to the PrintSetup. The values for type are (meanings are described in the section on printing):

The pointsize is either a single integer or an array of integers. It is only meaningful for types 0, 3 and 4. If omitted or set to 0 a default value will be chosen. The font display will only look at one value.

If you selected print type 3 then you may provide the name of a file containing sample text. This file may either be in ucs2 format (preceded by a 0xfeff value), or in the current default encoding. A null string or an omitted argument will cause FontForge to use a default value.

If your PrintSetup specified printing to a file (either PostScript or pdf) then the fourth argument provides the filename of the output file.

Quit(status)
Causes FontForge to exit with the given status. It can execute with no current font.
Cut
Makes a copy of all selected glyphs and saves it in the clipboard, then clears out the selected glyphs
Copy
Makes a copy of all selected glyphs.
CopyReference
Makes references to all selected glyphs and stores them in the clipboard.
CopyWidth
Stores the widths of all selected glyphs in the clipboard
CopyVWidth
Stores the vertical widths of all selected glyphs in the clipboard
CopyLBearing
Stores the left side bearing of all selected glyphs in the clipboard
CopyRBearing
Stores the right side bearing of all selected glyphs in the clipboard
CopyGlyphFeatures(arg,...)
This copies features from the currently selected glyph (only one) and stores them in the clipboard.

arg may be either a string in which case it should be either a four character opentype tag (like "kern") or a mac feature setting (like "<1,1>"). Or it may be an integer in which case it must be the integer representation of one of the above. Or arg may be an array of strings and integers (in this case there may be only one argument).

The feature 'kern' will match any kerning pair that has the currently selected glyph as the first character of the two. The (made up) feature '_krn' will match any kerning pair that has the currently selected glyph as the last character of the two. Similary for 'vkrn' and '_vkn'.

Paste
Copies the clipboard into the selected glyphs of the current font (removing what was there before)
PasteInto
Copies the clipboard into the current font (merging with what was there before)
PasteWithOffset(xoff,yoff)
Translates the clipboard by xoff,yoff before doing a PasteInto(). Can be used to build accented glyphs.
SameGlyphAs
If the clipboard contains a reference to a single glyph then this makes all selected glyphs refer to that one.
Clear
Clears out all selected glyphs
ClearBackground
Clears the background of all selected glyphs
CopyFgToBd
Copies all foreground splines into the background in all selected glyphs
Join([fudge])
Joins open paths in selected glyphs. If fudge is specified then the endpoints only need to be within fudge em-units of each other to be merged.
UnlinkReference
Unlinks all references within all selected glyphs
SelectAll
Selects all glyphs
SelectNone
Deselects all glyphs
Select(arg1, arg2, ...)
This clears out the current selection, then for each pair of arguments it selects all glyphs between (inclusive) the bounds specified by the pair. If there is a final singleton argument then that single glyph will be selected. An argument may be specified by:
SelectMore(arg1, arg2, ...)
The same as the previous command except that it does not clear the selection, so it extends the current selection.
SelectIf(arg1,arg2, ...)
The same as Select() except that instead of signalling an error when a glyph is not in the font it returns an error code.
SelectByATT(type,tags,contents,search-type)
See the Select By ATT menu command. The values for type are:
"Position" Simple position
"Pair" Pairwise positioning (but not kerning)
"Substitution" Simple substitution
"AltSubs" Alternate substitution
"MultSubs" Multiple substitution
"Ligature" Ligature
"LCaret" Ligature caret
"Kern" Kerning
"VKern" Vertical Kerning
"Anchor" Anchor class

And for search_type

  1. Select Results
  2. Merge Selection
  3. Restrict Selection

Reencode(encoding-name[,force])
Reencodes the current font into the given encoding which may be:
compacted,original,
iso8859-1, isolatin1, latin1, iso8859-2, latin2, iso8859-3, latin3, iso8859-4, latin4, iso8859-5, iso8859-6, iso8859-7, iso8859-8, iso8859-9, iso8859-10, isothai, iso8859-13, iso8859-14, iso8859-15, latin0, koi8-r, jis201, jisx0201, AdobeStandardEncoding, win, mac, symbol, wansung, big5, johab, jis208, jisx0208, jis212, jisx0212, sjis, gh2312, gb2312packed, unicode, iso10646-1, TeX-Base-Encoding, one of the user defined encodings, or something of the form "unicode-plane-%x" to represent the x'th iso10646 plane (where the BMP is plane 0).
You may also specify that you want to force the encoding to be the given one.
SetCharCnt(cnt)
Sets the number of glyphs in the font.
LoadEncodingFile(filename)
LoadTableFromFile(tag,filename)
Both arguments should be strings, the first should be a 4 letter table tag. The file will be read and preserved in the font as the contents of the table with the specified tag. Don't use a tag that ff thinks it understands!
SaveTableToFile(tag,filename)
Both arguments should be strings, the first should be a 4 letter table tag. The list of preserved tables will be searched for a table with the given tag, and saved to the file.
RemovePreservedTable(tag)
Searches for a preserved table with the given tag, and removes it from the font.
HasPreservedTable(tag)
Returns true if the font contains a preserved table with the given tag.
SetFontOrder(order)
Sets the font's order. Order must be either 2 (quadratic) or 3 (cubic). It returns the old order.
SetFontHasVerticalMetrics(flag)
Sets whether the font has vertical metrics or not. A 0 value means it does not, any other value means it does. Returns the old setting.
SetFontNames(fontname[,family[,fullname[,weight[,copyright-notice[,fontversion]]]]])
Sets various postscript names associated with a font. If a name is omitted (or is the empty string) it will not be changed.
SetFondName(fondname)
Sets the FOND name of the font.
SetItalicAngle(angle[,denom])
Sets the postscript italic angle field appropriately. If denom is specified then angle will be divided by denom before setting the italic angle field (a hack to get real values). The angle should be in degrees.
SetMacStyle(val)
SetMacStyle(str)
The argument may be either an integer or a string. If an integer it is a set of bits expressing styles as defined on the mac
0x01 Bold
0x02 Italic
0x04 Underline
0x08 Outline
0x10 Shadow
0x20 Condensed
0x40 Extended
-1 FontForge should guess the styles from the fontname

The bits 0x20 and 0x40 (condensed and extended) may not both be set.

If the argument is a string then the string should be the concatenation of various style names, as "Bold Italic Condensed"

SetTTFName(lang,nameid,utf8-string)
Sets the indicated truetype name in the MS platform. Lang must be one of the language/locales supported by MS, and nameid must be one of the small integers used to indicate a standard name, while the final argument should be a utf8 encoded string which will become the value of that entry. A null string ("") may be used to clear an entry.
Example: To set the SubFamily string in the American English language/locale
   SetTTFName(0x409,2,"Bold Oblique")
GetTTFName(lang,nameid)
The lang and nameid arguments are as above. This returns the current value as a utf8 encoded string. Combinations which are not present will be returned as "".
SetPanose(array)
SetPanose(index,value)
This sets the panose values for the font. Either it takes an array of 10 integers and sets all the values, or it takes two integer arguments and sets font.panose[index] = value
SetUniqueID(value)
Sets the postscript uniqueid field as requested. If you give a value of 0 then FontForge will pick a reasonable random number for you.
SetTeXParams(type,design-size,slant,space,stretch,shrink,xheight,quad,extraspace[...])
Sets the TeX (text) font parameters for the font.
Type may be 1, 2 or 3, depending on whether the font is text, math or math extension.
DesignSize is the pointsize the font was designed for.
The remaining parameters are described in Knuth's The MetaFont Book, pp. 98-100.
Slant is expressed as a percentage. All the others are expressed in em-units.
If type is 1 then the 9 indicated arguments are required. If type is 2 then 24 arguments are required (the remaining 15 are described in the metafont book). If type is 3 then 15 arguments are required.
SetCharName(name[,set-from-name-flag])
Sets the currently selected glyph to have the given name. If set-from-name-flag is absent or is present and true then it will also set the unicode value and the ligature string to match the name.
SetUnicodeValue(uni[,set-from-value-flag])
Sets the currently selected glyph to have the given unicode value. If set-from-value-flag is absent or is present and true then it will also set the name and the ligature string to match the value.
SetCharColor(color)
Sets any currently selected glyphs to have the given color (expressed as 24 bit rgb (0xff0000 is red) with the special value of -2 meaning the default color.
SetCharComment(comment)
Sets the currently selected glyph to have the given comment. The comment is converted via the current encoding to unicode.
BitmapsAvail(sizes)
Controls what bitmap sizes are stored in the font's database. It is passed an array of sizes. If a size is specified which is not in the font database it will be generated. If a size is not specified which is in the font database it will be removed. A size which is specified and present in the font database will not be touched.
If you want to specify greymap fonts then the low-order 16 bits will be the pixel size and the high order 16 bits will specify the bits/pixel. Thus 0x8000c would be a 12 pixel font with 8 bits per pixel, while either 0xc or 0x1000c could be used to refer to a 12 pixel bitmap font.
BitmapsRegen(sizes)
Allows you to update specific bitmaps in an already generated bitmap font. It will regenerate the bitmaps of all selected glyphs at the specified pixelsizes.
ApplySubstitution(script,lang,tag)
All three arguments must be strings of no more that four characters (shorter strings will be padded with blanks to become 4 character strings). For each selected glyph this command will look up that glyph's list of substitutions, and if it finds a substitution with the tag "tag" (and if that substitution matches the script and language combination) then it will apply the substitution-- that is it will find the variant glyph specified in the substitution and replace the current glyph with the variant, and remove the variant from the font.

FontForge recognizes the string "*" as a wildcard for both the script and the language (not for the tag though). So you wish to replace all glyphs with their vertical variants:

SelectAll()
ApplySubstitution("*","*","vrt2")
Transform(t1,t2,t3,t4,t5,t6)
Each argument will be divided by 100. and then all selected glyphs will be transformed by this matrix
HFlip([about-x])
All selected glyphs will be horizontally flipped about the vertical line through x=about-x. If no argument is given then all selected glyphs will be flipped about their central point.
VFlip([about-y])
All selected glyphs will be vertically flipped about the horizontal line through y=about-y. If no argument is given then all selected glyphs will be flipped about their central point.
Rotate(angle[,ox,oy])
Rotates all selected glyph the specified number of degrees. If the last two args are specified they provide the origin of the rotation, otherwise the center of the glyph is used.
Scale(factor[,yfactor][,ox,oy])
All selected glyphs will be scaled (scale factors are in percent)
Skew(angle[,ox,oy])
Skew(angle-num,angle-denom[,ox,oy])
All selected glyphs will be skewed by the given angle.
Move(delta-x,delta-y)
All selected glyphs will have their points moved the given amount.
ScaleToEm(em-size)
ScaleToEm(ascent,descent)
Change the font's ascent and descent and scale everything in the font to be in the same proportion to the new em (which is the sum of ascent and descent) value that it was to the old value.
NonLinearTransform(x-expression,y-expression)
Takes two string arguments which must contain valid expressions of x and y and transforms all selected glyphs using those expressions.
<e0> := "x" | "y" | "-" <e0> | "!" <e0> | "(" <expr> ")" |
	"sin" "(" <expr> ")" | "cos" "(" <expr> ")" | "tan" "(" <expr> ")" | 
	"log" "(" <expr> ")" | "exp" "(" <expr> ")" | "sqrt" "(" <expr> ")" |
	"abs" "(" <expr> ")" | 
	"rint" "(" <expr> ")" | "float" "(" <expr> ")" | "ceil" "(" <expr> ")"
<e1> := <e0> "^" <e1>
<e2> := <e1> "*" <e2> | <e1> "/" <e2> | <e1> "%" <e2> 
<e3> := <e2> "+" <e3> | <e2> "-" <e3>
<e4> := <e3> "==" <e4> | <e3> "!=" <e4> |
	<e3> ">=" <e4> | <e3> ">" <e4> |
	<e3> "<=" <e4> | <e3> "<" <e4> 
<e5> := <e4> "&&" <e5> | <e4> "||" <e5>
<expr> := <e5> "?" <expr> ":"

Example: To do a perspective transformation with a vanishing point at (200,300):

NonLinearTrans("200+(x-200)*abs(y-300)/300","y")

This command is not available in the default build, you must modify the file configure-fontforge.h and then rebuild FontForge.

ExpandStroke(width)
ExpandStroke(width,line cap, line join)
ExpandStroke(width,line cap, line join,0,removeinternal /external flag)
ExpandStroke(width,calligraphic-angle,height-numerator,height-denom)
ExpandStroke(width,calligraphic-angle,height-numerator,height-denom, 0, remove internal/external flag)
In the first format a line cap of "butt" and line join of "round" are implied.
A value of 1 for remove internal/external will remove the internal contour, a value of 2 will remove the external contour.
The first three calls simulate the PostScript "stroke" command, the two final simulate a caligraphic pen.
Width
In the PostScript "stoke" command the width is the distance between the two generated curves. To be more precise, at ever point on the original curve, a point will be added to each of the new curves at width/2 units as measured on a vector normal to the direction of the original curve at that point.
In a caligraphic pen, the width is the width of the pen used to draw the curve.
Line-cap
Can have one of three values: 0=> butt, 1=>round, 2=>square
Line-join
Can have one of three values: 0=>miter, 1=>round, 2=>bevel
caligraphic-angle
the (fixed) angle at which the pen is held.
height-numerator/denominator
These two values specify a ratio between the height and the width
height = numerator * width / denominator
(the scripting language only deals in integers, so when fractions are needed this kludge is used)
remove internal/external contour flags
1 => remove internal contour
2=> remove external contour
(you may not remove both contours)
4 => run remove overlap on result (buggy)
Outline(width)
Strokes all selected glyphs with a stroke of the specified width (internal to the glyphs). The bounding box of the glyph will not change. In other words it produces what the mac calls the "Outline Style".
Inline(width,gap)
Produces an outline as above, and then shrinks the glyph so that it fits inside the outline. In other words, it produces an inlined glyph.
Shadow(angle,outline-width,shadow-width)
Converts the selected glyphs into shadowed versions of themselves.
Wireframe(angle,outline-width,shadow-width)
Converts the selected glyphs into wireframed versions of themselves.
RemoveOverlap()
Does the obvious.
OverlapIntersect()
Removes everything but the intersection.
FindIntersections()
Finds everywhere that splines cross and creates points there.
Simplify()
Simplify(flags,error[,tan_bounds[,bump_size[,error_denom,line_len_max]]])
With no arguments it does the obvious. If flags is -1 it does a Cleanup, otherwise flags should be a bitwise or of

The error argument is the number of pixels by which the modified path is allowed to stray from the true path.
The tan_bounds argument specifies the tangent of the angle between the curves at which smoothing will stop (argument is multiplied by .01 before use).
And bump_size gives the maximum distance a bump can move from the line and still be smoothed out.
If a fifth argument is given then it will be treated as the denominator of the error term (so users can express fraction pixel distances).
Generally it is a bad idea to merge a line segment with any other than a colinear line segment. The longer the line segment, the more likely that such a merge will produce unpleasing results. The sixth argument, if present, specifies the maximum length for lines which may be merged (anything longer will not be merged).

NearlyHvCps([error[,err-denom]])
Checks for control points which are almost, but not quite horzontal or vertical (where almost means (say) that abs( (control point).x - point.x ) < error, where error is either:
.1 if no arguments are given
first-arg if one argument is given
first-arg/second-arg if two arguments are given
NearlyHvLines([error[,err-denom]])
Checks for lines which are almost, but not quite horzontal or vertical (where almost means (say) that abs( (end point).x - (start point).x ) < error, where error is either:
.1 if no arguments are given
first-arg if one argument is given
first-arg/second-arg if two arguments are given
AddExtrema()
RoundToInt([factor])
Rounds all points/hints/reference-offsets to be integers. If the the "factor" argument is specified then it rounds like rint(factor * x) / factor, in other words if you set factor to 100 then it will round to hundredths.
RoundToCluster([within-num,within-demom[,max]])
The first two provide a fraction that indicates a value within which similar coordinates will be bundled together. Max indicates how many "within"s from the center point it will go if there are a chain of points each within "within" of the previous one. So
 RoundToCluster(1,10,5)

Will merge coordinates within .1 em-unit of each other. A sequence like -.1,-.05,0,.05,.1,.15 will all be merged together because each is within .1 of the next, and none is more than .5 from the center.

AutoTrace()
CorrectDirection([unlinkrefs])
If the an argument is present it must be integral and is treated as a flag controlling whether flipped references should be unlinked before the CorrectDirection code runs. If the argument is not present, or if it has a non-zero value then flipped references will be unlinked.
DefaultATT(tag)
For all selected glyphs make a guess as to what might be an appropriate value for the given tag. If the tag is "*" then FontForge will apply guesses for all features it can.
AddATT(type,script-lang,tag,flags,variant)
AddATT("Position",script-lang,tag,flags,xoff,yoff,h_adv_off,v_adv_off)
AddATT("Pair",script-lang,tag,flags,name,xoff,yoff,h_adv_off,v_adv_off,xoff2,yoff2,h_adv_off2,v_adv_off2)
Allows you to add an Advanced Typography feature to a single selected glyph. The first argument may be either: Position, Pair, Substitution, AltSubs, MultSubs or Ligature. The second argument should be a script-lang list where each 4-character script name is followed by a comma separated list of 4 character language names (with the languages enclosed in curly braces) -- or the special string "Nested". As:
    grek{dflt} latn{dflt,VIT ,ROM }
The third arg should be a 4 character opentype feature tag (or apple feature/setting).

The fourth argument should be the otf flags (or -1 to make FontForge guess appropriate flags).

The remaining argument(s) vary depending on the value of the first (type) argument. For Position tags there are 4 integral arguments which specify how this feature modifies the metrics of this glyph. For Pair type the next argument is the name of the other glyph in the pair followed by 8 integral arguments, the first 4 specify the changes in positioning to the first glyph, the next four the changes for the second char. For substitution tags the fifth argument is the name of another glyph which will replace the current one. For an AltSubs tag the argument is a space separated list of glyph names any of which will replace the current one. For a MultSubs the argument is a space separated list of names all of which will replace the current one. For a Ligature the argument is a space separated list of glyph names all of which will be replaced by the current glyph.

RemoveATT(type,script-lang,tag)
Removes any feature tags which match the arguments (which are essentially the same as above, except that any of them may be "*" which will match anything).
CheckForAnchorClass(name)
Returns 1 if the current font contains an Anchor class with the given name (which must be in utf8).
AddAnchorClass(name,type,script-lang,tag,flags,merge-with)
These mirror the values of the Anchor class dialog of Element->Font Info. The first argument should be a utf8 encoded name for the anchor class. The second should be one of the strings "default", "mk-mk", or "cursive". The third should be a script-lang string like:
    grek{dflt} latn{dflt,VIT ,ROM }
The fourth arg should be a 4 character opentype feature tag. The fifth argument should be the otf flags (or -1 to make FontForge guess appropriate flags). The sixth and last argument should be the name of another AnchorClass to be merged into the same lookup (or a null string if this class merges with no other class yet).
RemoveAnchorClass(name)
Removes the named AnchorClass (and all associated points) from the font.
AddAnchorPoint(name,type,x,y[,lig-index])
Adds an AnchorPoint to the currently selected glyph. The first argument is the name of the AnchorClass. The second should be one of the strings: "mark", "basechar", "baselig", "basemark", "cursentry" or "cursexit". The next two values specify the location of the point. The final argument is only present for things of type "baselig".
BuildComposite()
BuildAccented()
BuildDuplicate()
AddAccent(accent[,pos])
There must be exactly on glyph selected. The first argument should be either the glyph-name of an accent, or the unicode code point of that accent (and it should be in the font). The second argument, if present indicates how the accent should be positioned... if omitted a default position will be chosen from the unicode value for the accent, this argument is the or of the following flags:
0x100 Above
0x200 Below
0x400 Overstrike
0x800 Left
0x1000 Right
0x4000 Center Left
0x8000 Center Right
0x10000 Centered Outside
0x20000 Outside
0x40000 Left Edge
0x80000 Right Edge
0x100000 Touching
ReplaceWithReference([num,denom])
Finds any glyph which contains an inline copy of one of the selected glyphs, and converts that copy into a reference to the appropriate glyph. Selection is changed to the set of glyphs which the command alters.

If specified the num and denom arguments specify the error allowed for coordinate differences.

MergeFonts(other-font-name[,flags])
Loads other-font-name, and extracts any glyphs from it which are not in the current font and moves them to the current font. The flags argument is the same as that for Open. Currently the only relevant flag is to say that you do have a license to use a font with fstype=2.
InterpolateFonts(percentage,other-font-name[,flags])
Interpolates a font which is percentage of the way from the current font to the one specified by other-font-name (note: percentage may be negative or more than 100, in which case we extrapolate a font). This command changes the current font to be the new font. NOTE: You will need to set the fontname of this new font. The flag argument is the same as for Open.

AutoHint()
SubstitutionPoints()
AutoCounter()
DontAutoHint()
AutoInstr()
ClearHints()
AddHHint(start,width)
Adds horizontal stem hint to any selected glyphs. The hint starts at location "start" and is width wide. A hint will be added to all selected glyphs.
AddVHint(start,width)
Adds a vertical stem hint to any selected glyphs. The hint starts at location "start" and is width wide. A hint will be added to all selected glyphs.
ClearCharCounterMasks()
Clears any counter masks from the (one) selected glyph.
SetCharCounterMask(cg,hint-index,hint-index,...)
Creates or sets the counter mask at index cg to contain the hints listed. Hint index 0 corresponds to the first hstem hint, index 1 to the second hstem hint, etc. vstem hints follow hstems.
ReplaceCharCounterMasks(array)
This requires that there be exactly one glyph selected. It will create a set of counter masks for that glyph. The single argument must be an array of twelve element arrays of integers (in c this would be "int array[][12]"). This is the format of a type2 counter mask. The number of elements in the top level array is the number of counter groups to be specified. The nested array thus corresponds to a counter mask, and is treated as an array of bytes. Each bit in the byte specifies whether the corresponding hint is active in this counter. (there are at most 96 hints, so at most 12 bytes). Array[i][0]&0x80 corresponds to the first horizontal stem hint, Array[i][0]&0x40 corresponds to the second, Array[i][1]&0x80 corresponds to the eighth hint, etc.
ClearPrivateEntry(key)
Removes the entry indexed by the given key from the private dictionary of the font.
ChangePrivateEntry(key,val)
Changes (or adds if the key is not already present) the value in the dictionary indexed by key. (all values must be strings even if they represent numbers in PostScript)
GetPrivateEntry(key)
Returns the entry indexed by key in the private dictionary. All return values will be strings. If an entry does not exist a null string is returned.
SetWidth(width[,relative])
If the second argument is absent or zero then the width will be set to the first argument, if the second argument is 1 then the width will be incremented by the first, and if the argument is 2 then the width will be scaled by <first argument>/100.0 .
SetVWidth(vertical-width[,relative])
If the second argument is absent or zero then the vertical width will be set to the first argument, if the second argument is 1 then the vertical width will be incremented by the first, and if the argument is 2 then the vertical width will be scaled by <first argument>/100.0 .
SetLBearing(lbearing[,relative])
If the second argument is absent or zero then the left bearing will be set to the first argument, if the second argument is 1 then the left bearing will be incremented by the first, and if the argument is 2 then the left bearing will be scaled by <first argument>/100.0 .
SetRBearing(rbearing[,relative])
If the second argument is absent or zero then the right bearing will be set to the first argument, if the second argument is 1 then the right bearing will be incremented by the first, and if the argument is 2 then the right bearing will be scaled by <first argument>/100.0 .
CenterInWidth()
AutoWidth(spacing)
Guesses at the widths of all selected glyphs so that two adjacent "I" glyphs will appear to be spacing em-units apart. (if spacing is the negative of the em-size (sum of ascent and descent) then a default value will be used).
AutoKern(spacing,threshold[,kernfile])
(AutoKern doesn't work well in general)
Guesses at kerning pairs by looking at all selected glyphs, or if a kernfile is specified, FontForge will read the kern pairs out of the file.
SetKern(ch2,offset)
Sets the kern between any selected glyphs and the glyph ch2 to be offset. The first argument may be specified as in Select(), the second is an integer representing the kern offset.
RemoveAllKerns()
Removes all kern pairs and classes from the current font.
SetVKern(ch2,offset)
Sets the kern between any selected glyphs and the glyph ch2 to be offset. The first argument may be specified as in Select(), the second is an integer representing the kern offset.
VKernFromHKern()
Removes all vertical kern pairs and classes from the current font, and then generates new vertical kerning pairs by copying the horizontal kerning data for a pair of glyphs to the vertically rotated versions of those glyphs.
RemoveAllVKerns()
Removes all vertical kern pairs and classes from the current font.

MMInstanceNames()
Returns an array containing the names of all instance fonts in a multi master set.
MMAxisNames()
Returns an array containing the names of all axes in a multi master set.
MMAxisBounds(axis)
Axis is an integer less than the number of axes in the mm font. Returns an array containing the lower bound, default value and upper bound. Note each value is multiplied by 65536 (because they need not be integers on the mac, and ff doesn't support real values).

(The default value is a GX Var concept. FF simulates a reasonable value for true multiple master fonts).

MMWeightedName()
Returns the name of the weighted font in a multi master set.
MMChangeInstance(instance)
Where instance is either a font name or a small integer. If passed a string FontForge searches through all fonts in the multi master font set (instance fonts and the weighted font) and changes the current font to the indicated one. If passed a small integer, then -1 indicates the weighted font and values between [0,$mmcount) represent that specific instance in the font set.
MMChangeWeight(weights)
Weights is an array of integers, one for each axis. Each value should be 65536 times the desired value (to deal with mac blends which tend to be small real numbers). This command changes the current multiple master font to have a different default weight, and sets that to be the current instance.
MMBlendToNewFont(weights)
Weights is an array of integers, one for each axis. Each value should be 65536 times the desired value (to deal with mac blends which tend to be small real numbers). This command creates a completely new font by blending the mm font and sets the current font to the new font.

CIDChangeSubFont(new-sub-font-name)
If the current font is a cid keyed font, this command changes the active sub-font to be the one specified (the string should be the postscript FontName of the subfont)
CIDSetFontNames(fontname[,family[,fullname[,weight[,copyright-notice]]]])
Sets various postscript names associated with the top level cid font. If a name is omitted (or is the empty string) it will not be changed. (this is just like SetFontNames except it works on the top level cid font rather than the current font).
CIDFlatten()
Flattens a cid-keyed font.
CIDFlattenByCMap(cmap-filename)
Flattens a cid-keyed font, producing a font encoded with the result of the CMAP file.
ConvertToCID(registry, ordering, supplement)
Converts current font to a CID-keyed font using given registry, ordering and supplement. registry and ordering must be strings, supplement must be a integer.
ConvertByCMap(cmapfilename)
Converts current font to a CID-keyed font using specified CMap file. cmapfilename must be a path name of a file conforming Adobe CMap File Format.
CharCnt()
Returns the number of glyphs in the current font
InFont(arg)
Returns whether the argument is in the font. The argument may be an integer in which case true is returned if the value is >= 0 and < total number of glyphs in the font. Otherwise if the argument is a unicode code point or a postscript glyph name, true is returned if that glyph is in the font.
WorthOutputting(arg)
Arg is as above. This returns true if the glyph contains any splines, references, images or has had its width set.
DrawsSomething(arg)
Arg is as above. This returns true if the glyph contains any splines, references or references.
CharInfo(str)
CharInfo("Kern",glyph-spec)
CharInfo("VKern",glyph-spec)
CharInfo(str,script,lang,tag)
There must be exactly one glyph selected in the font, and this returns information on it. The information returned depends on str with the obvious meanings:

Examples:

Select("A")
lbearing = CharInfo("LBearing")
kern = CharInfo("Kern","O")
Select(0u410)
SetLBearing(lbearing)
SetKern(0u41e,kern)
Select("a")
verta = CharInfo("Substitution","*","dflt","vrt2")


Examples

Example 1:

#Set the color of all selected glyphs to be yellow
#designed to be run within an interactive fontforge session.
foreach
  SetCharColor(0xffff00)
endloop

Example 2:

#!/usr/local/bin/fontforge
#Take a Latin font and apply some simple transformations to it
#prior to adding cyrillic letters.
#can be run in a non-interactive fontforge session.
Open($1);
Reencode("KOI8-R");
Select(0xa0,0xff);
//Copy those things which look just like latin
BuildComposit();
BuildAccented();

//Handle Ya which looks like a backwards "R"
Select("R");
Copy();
Select("afii10049");
Paste();
HFlip();
CorrectDirection();
Copy();
Select(0u044f);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

//Gamma looks like an upside-down L
Select("L");
Copy();
Select(0u0413);
Paste();
VFlip();
CorrectDirection();
Copy();
Select(0u0433);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

//Prepare for editing small caps K, etc.
Select("K");
Copy();
Select(0u043a);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

Select("H");
Copy();
Select(0u043d);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

Select("T");
Copy();
Select(0u0442);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

Select("B");
Copy();
Select(0u0432);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

Select("M");
Copy();
Select(0u043C);
Paste();
CopyFgToBg();
Clear();

Save($1:r+"-koi8-r.sfd");
Quit(0);

The Execute Script dialog

This dialog allows you to type a script directly in to FontForge and then run it. Of course the most common case is that you'll have a script file somewhere that you want to execute, so there's a button [Call] down at the bottom of the dlg. Pressing [Call] will bring up a file picker dlg looking for files with the extension *.pe (you can change that by typing a wildcard sequence and pressing the [Filter] button). After you have selected your script the appropriate text to text to invoke it will be placed in the text area.

The current font of the script will be set to whatever font you invoked it from.

The Scripts Menu

You can use the preference dialog to create a list of frequently used scripts. Invoke File->Preferences and select the Scripts tag. In this dialog are ten possible entries, each one should have a name (to be displayed in the menu) and an associated script file to be run.

After you have set up your preferences you can invoke scripts from the font view, either directly from the menu (File->Scripts-><your name>) or by a hot key. The first script you added will be invoked by Cnt-Alt-1, then second by Cnt-Alt-2, and the tenth by Cnt-Alt-0.

The current font of the script will be set to whatever font you invoked it from.

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