Type asy -h to see the full list of command-line options
supported by Asymptote:
Usage: ../asy [options] [file ...]
Options (negate boolean options by replacing - with -no):
-GPUblockSize n Compute shader block size [8]
-GPUcompress Compress GPU transparent fragment counts [false]
-GPUindexing Compute indexing partial sums on GPU [true]
-GPUinterlock Use fragment shader interlock [true]
-GPUlocalSize n Compute shader local size [256]
-V,-View View output; command-line only
-absolute Use absolute WebGL dimensions [false]
-a,-align C|B|T|Z Center, Bottom, Top, or Zero page alignment [C]
-aligndir pair Directional page alignment (overrides align) [(0,0)]
-animating [false]
-antialias n Antialiasing width for rasterized output [2]
-auto3D Automatically activate 3D scene [true]
-autobillboard 3D labels always face viewer by default [true]
-autoimport str Module to automatically import
-autoplain Enable automatic importing of plain [true]
-autoplay Autoplay 3D animations [false]
-autorotate Enable automatic PDF page rotation [false]
-axes3 Show 3D axes in PDF output [true]
-batchMask Mask fpu exceptions in batch mode [false]
-batchView View output in batch mode [false]
-bw Convert all colors to black and white false
-cd directory Set current directory; command-line only
-cmyk Convert rgb colors to cmyk false
-c,-command str Command to autoexecute
-compact Conserve memory at the expense of speed false
-compress Compress images in PDF output [true]
-convertOptions str []
-d,-debug Enable debugging messages and traceback [false]
-devicepixelratio n Ratio of physical to logical pixels [1]
-digits n Default output file precision [7]
-divisor n Garbage collect using purge(divisor=n) [2]
-dvipsOptions str []
-dvisvgmMultipleFiles dvisvgm supports multiple files [true]
-dvisvgmOptions str [--optimize]
-embed Embed rendered preview image [true]
-e,-environment Show summary of environment settings; command-line only
-exitonEOF Exit interactive mode on EOF [true]
-fitscreen Fit rendered image to screen [true]
-framerate frames/s Animation speed [30]
-glOptions str []
-globalread Allow read from other directory true
-globalwrite Allow write to other directory false
-gray Convert all colors to grayscale false
-gsOptions str []
-h,-help Show summary of options; command-line only
-historylines n Retain n lines of history [1000]
-htmlviewerOptions str
[]
-hyperrefOptions str [setpagesize=false,unicode,pdfborder=0 0 0]
-ibl Enable environment map image-based lighting [false]
-iconify Iconify rendering window [false]
-image str Environment image name [snowyField]
-imageDir str Environment image library directory [ibl]
-inlineimage Generate inline embedded image [false]
-inlinetex Generate inline TeX code [false]
-inpipe n Input pipe [-1]
-interactiveMask Mask fpu exceptions in interactive mode [true]
-interactiveView View output in interactive mode [true]
-interactiveWrite Write expressions entered at the prompt to stdout [true]
-interrupt [false]
-k,-keep Keep intermediate files [false]
-keepaux Keep intermediate LaTeX .aux files [false]
-level n Postscript level [3]
-l,-listvariables List available global functions and variables [false]
-localhistory Use a local interactive history file [false]
-loop Loop 3D animations [false]
-lossy Use single precision for V3D reals [false]
-lsp Interactive mode for the Language Server Protocol [false]
-m,-mask Mask fpu exceptions; command-line only
-maxtile pair Maximum rendering tile size [(1024,768)]
-maxviewport pair Maximum viewport size [(0,0)]
-multiline Input code over multiple lines at the prompt [false]
-multipleView View output from multiple batch-mode files [false]
-multisample n Multisampling width for screen images [4]
-offline Produce offline html files [false]
-O,-offset pair PostScript offset [(0,0)]
-f,-outformat format Convert each output file to specified format
-o,-outname name Alternative output directory/file prefix
-outpipe n Output pipe [-1]
-paperheight bp Default page height [0]
-paperwidth bp Default page width [0]
-p,-parseonly Parse file [false]
-pdfreload Automatically reload document in pdfviewer [false]
-pdfreloadOptions str []
-pdfreloaddelay usec Delay before attempting initial pdf reload [750000]
-pdfviewerOptions str []
-position pair Initial 3D rendering screen position [(0,0)]
-prc Embed 3D PRC graphics in PDF output [false]
-prerender resolution Prerender V3D objects (0 implies vector output) [0]
-prompt str Prompt [> ]
-prompt2 str Continuation prompt for multiline input [..]
-psviewerOptions str []
-q,-quiet Suppress welcome text and noninteractive stdout [false]
-render n Render 3D graphics using n pixels per bp (-1=auto) [-1]
-resizestep step Resize step [1.2]
-reverse reverse 3D animations [false]
-rgb Convert cmyk colors to rgb false
-safe Disable system call true
-scroll n Scroll standard output n lines at a time [0]
-shiftHoldDistance n WebGL touch screen distance limit for shift mode [20]
-shiftWaitTime ms WebGL touch screen shift mode delay [200]
-spinstep deg/s Spin speed [60]
-svgemulation Emulate unimplemented SVG shading [true]
-tabcompletion Interactive prompt auto-completion [true]
-tex engine latex|pdflatex|xelatex|lualatex|tex|pdftex|luatex|context|none [latex]
-thick Render thick 3D lines [true]
-thin Render thin 3D lines [true]
-threads Use POSIX threads for 3D rendering [true]
-toolbar Show 3D toolbar in PDF output [true]
-s,-translate Show translated virtual machine code [false]
-twice Run LaTeX twice (to resolve references) [false]
-twosided Use two-sided 3D lighting model for rendering [true]
-u,-user str General purpose user string
-v3d Embed 3D V3D graphics in PDF output [false]
-v,-verbose Increase verbosity level (can specify multiple times) 0
-version Show version; command-line only
-vibrateTime ms WebGL shift mode vibrate duration [25]
-viewportmargin pair Horizontal and vertical 3D viewport margin [(0.5,0.5)]
-wait Wait for child processes to finish before exiting [false]
-warn str Enable warning; command-line only
-webgl2 Use webgl2 if available [false]
-where Show where listed variables are declared [false]
-wsl Run asy under the Windows Subsystem for Linux [false]
-xasy Interactive mode for xasy [false]
-zoomPinchCap limit WebGL maximum zoom pinch [100]
-zoomPinchFactor n WebGL zoom pinch sensitivity [10]
-zoomfactor factor Zoom step factor [1.05]
-zoomstep step Mouse motion zoom step [0.1]
All boolean options can be negated by prepending no to the option name.
If no arguments are given, Asymptote runs in interactive mode
(see Interactive mode). In this case, the default output file
is out.eps.
If - is given as the file argument, Asymptote reads from
standard input.
If multiple files are specified, they are treated as separate
Asymptote runs.
If the string autoimport is nonempty, a module with this name is
automatically imported for each run as the final step in loading module
plain.
Default option values may be entered as Asymptote code in a
configuration file named config.asy (or the file specified by
the environment variable ASYMPTOTE_CONFIG or -config option).
Asymptote will look for this file in its usual search path
(see Search paths). Typically the configuration file is placed in the
.asy directory in the user’s home directory
(%USERPROFILE%\.asy under MSDOS).
Configuration variables are accessed using the long form of the option names:
import settings; outformat="pdf"; batchView=false; interactiveView=true; batchMask=false; interactiveMask=true;
Command-line options override these defaults. Most configuration
variables may also be changed at runtime.
The advanced configuration variables dvipsOptions,
hyperrefOptions, convertOptions, gsOptions,
htmlviewerOptions, psviewerOptions,
pdfviewerOptions, pdfreloadOptions,
glOptions, and dvisvgmOptions allow specialized options
to be passed as a string to the respective applications or
libraries. The default value of hyperrefOptions is
setpagesize=false,unicode,pdfborder=0 0 0.
If you insert
import plain; settings.autoplain=true;
at the beginning of the configuration file, it can contain arbitrary
Asymptote code.
The default output format is EPS for the (default)
latex and tex tex engine and PDF for the
pdflatex, xelatex, context, luatex, and
lualatex tex engines. Alternative output formats may be
produced using the -f option (or outformat setting).
To produce SVG output, you will need dvisvgm (version
3.2.1 or later) from https://dvisvgm.de,
which can display SVG output (used by the
xasy editor) for embedded EPS, PDF,
PNG, and JPEG images included with the
graphic() function. The generated output is optimized
with the default setting settings.dvisvgmOptions="--optimize".
Asymptote can also produce any output format supported
by the ImageMagick magick program (version 7 or
later.
The optional setting -render n requests
an output resolution of n pixels per bp. Antialiasing is
controlled by the parameter antialias, which by default
specifies a sampling width of 2 pixels.
To give other options to magick, use the
convertOptions setting or call magick convert manually. This example
emulates how Asymptote produces antialiased tiff output at
one pixel per bp:
asy -o - venn | magick convert -alpha Off -density 144x144 -geometry 50%x eps:- venn.tiff
If the option -nosafe is given, Asymptote runs
in unsafe mode. This enables the int system(string s) and
int system(string[] s) calls, allowing one
to execute arbitrary shell commands. The default mode, -safe,
disables this call.
A PostScript offset may be specified as a pair (in bp
units) with the -O option:
asy -O 0,0 file
The default offset is zero. The pair aligndir specifies
an optional direction on the boundary of the page (mapped to the
rectangle [-1,1]\times[-1,1]) to which the picture should be aligned; the
default value (0,0) species center alignment.
The -c (command) option may be used to execute arbitrary
Asymptote code on the command line as a string. It is not
necessary to terminate the string with a semicolon. Multiple -c
options are executed in the order they are given. For example
asy -c 2+2 -c "sin(1)" -c "size(100); draw(unitsquare)"
produces the output
4 0.841470984807897
and draws a unitsquare of size 100.
The -u (user) option may be used to specify arbitrary
Asymptote settings on the command line as a string. It is not
necessary to terminate the string with a semicolon. Multiple -u
options are executed in the order they are given. Command-line code like
-u x=sqrt(2) can be executed within a module like this:
real x; usersetting(); write(x);
When the -l (listvariables) option is used with file
arguments, only global functions and variables defined in the specified
file(s) are listed.
Additional debugging output is produced with each additional -v option:
-vDisplay top-level module and final output file names.
-vvAlso display imported and included module names and final LaTeX and
dvips processing information.
-vvvAlso output LaTeX bidirectional pipe diagnostics.
-vvvvAlso output knot guide solver diagnostics.
-vvvvvAlso output Asymptote traceback diagnostics.