.TH VIRTEX 1 "21 Oct 1991"
.ie t .ds TX \fRT\v'+0.25m'E\v'-0.25m'X\fP\" for troff
.el .ds TX TeX\" for nroff
.\" to use, type \*(TX
.SH NAME
virtex \- virgin \*(TX
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I virtex
is a version of the \*(TX program that has no
preloaded macro packages, but is capable of
loading a special preformatted binary file, called
a
.I format 
.RI ( .fmt )
file produced by the
.IR initex (1)
program.
.PP
Preprocessing of large macro files and font
definitions by 
.I initex
makes it possible to rapidly load complex
packages, like plain \*(TX, AMS\*(TX, or La\*(TX,
without the overhead of macro parsing and file
opening that would otherwise be experienced.
.PP
.I virtex
can be invoked directly, providing it with a name
of a format file specially prefixed by an
ampersand:
.nf

.I virtex '&plain' filename

.fi
This causes it to load the binary file named
.I plain.fmt
from a directory in the standard TEXINPUTS search
path, and then load the text file
.I "filename"
and process it.
.PP
Because this need occurs frequently, UNIX 
.I virtex
provides a convenient shorthand.  If it is invoked
under a name other than 
.IR virtex ,
such as 
.IR footex ,
it will behave as if it had been invoked as
.I "virtex '&footex'"
and first load a file named
.IR footex.fmt .
Thus, 
.IR amstex ,
.IR lamstex ,
.IR latex ,
.IR slitex ,
.IR tex ,
.IR texinfo ,
and others can all be file system links to 
.IR virtex ,
without requiring additional disk space.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.nf
initex (1)
tex (1)
.fi