fontforge

Module attributes

fontforge.hooks

A dictionary which the user may fill to associate certain FontForge events with a python function to be run when those events happen. The function will be passed the font (or possibly glyph) for which the relevant event occurred.

Hook names

newFontHook

This function will be called when a new font has been created.

loadFontHook

This function will be called when a font is loaded from disk. (if a font has an “initScriptString” entry in its persistent dictionary, that script will be invoked before this function).

Other hooks are defined in a font’s own temporary and persistent dictionaries.

fontforge.splineCorner

A point type enumeration of value 0

fontforge.splineCurve

A point type enumeration of value 1

fontforge.splineHVCurve

A point type enumeration of value 2

fontforge.splineTangent

A point type enumeration of value 3

fontforge.spiroG4

A spiro point type enumeration of value 1.

A Spiro G4 curve point

fontforge.spiroG2

A spiro point type enumeration of value 2.

A Spiro G2 curve point

fontforge.spiroCorner

A spiro point type enumeration of value 3.

A Spiro corner point

fontforge.spiroLeft

A spiro point type enumeration of value 4.

A Spiro left “tangent” point

fontforge.spiroRight

A spiro point type enumeration of value 5.

A Spiro right “tangent” point

fontforge.spiroOpen

A spiro point type enumeration of value 6.

This may only be used on the first point in a spiro tuple. It indicates that the tuple describes an open contour.

fontforge.unspecifiedMathValue

A constant, used when the value is unspecified

Module functions

fontforge.getPrefs(pref_name)

returns the value of the named preference item

fontforge.setPrefs(pref_name, value)

sets the value of the named preference item

fontforge.hasSpiro()

Returns a boolean, True if Raph Levien’s spiro package is available for use in FontForge.

fontforge.savePrefs()

Saves the current preference settings

fontforge.loadPrefs()

Loads the user’s default preference settings. Not done automatically in a script.

fontforge.defaultOtherSubrs()

Sets the type1 PostScript OtherSubrs to the default value

fontforge.readOtherSubrsFile(filename)

Sets the type1 PostScript OtherSubrs to the stuff found in the file.

fontforge.loadEncodingFile(filename[, encname])

Loads an encoding file, returns the name of the encoding or None. When loading encodings in Unicode consortium format, an encname has to be specified or the encoding will be ignored and None will be returned.

fontforge.loadNamelist(filename)

Loads a namelist

fontforge.loadNamelistDir(dirname)

Loads all namelist files in the directory

fontforge.preloadCidmap(filename, registry, order, supplement)

Loads a FontForge cidmap file (first three args are strings, last is an integer)

fontforge.printSetup(type[, printer|cmd|file, width, height])

Prepare to print a font sample. The first argument may be one of:

lp

Queues postscript output to the printer using lp. You may use the optional second argument to specify the printer name.

lpr

Queues postscript output to the printer using lpr. You may use the optional second argument to specify the printer name.

ghostview

Displays the output using ghostview (or gv). The second argument is ignored.

command

Use a custom shell command to print the output. The second argument should contain the command and its arguments.

ps-file

Dump the postscript output to a file. The second argument specifies the filename.

The third and fourth arguments are optional and specify the page size (in points) for the output. The third argument is the page width and the fourth is the height. These settings remain until changed.

fontforge.nameFromUnicode(uni[, namelist])

Finds the glyph name associated with a given unicode codepoint. If a namelist is specified the name will be taken from that.

fontforge.UnicodeAnnotationFromLib(n)

Returns the Unicode Annotations for this value as described by www.unicode.org. If there is no unicode annotation for this value, or no library available, then return empty string “”. It can execute with no current font.

fontforge.UnicodeBlockCountFromLib(n)

Return the number of Unicode Blocks as described by www.unicode.org. Currently, the blocks are {0..233}, spanning unicode values {uni0..uni10FFFF}. If there is no value, then return -1. This can execute with no current font.

fontforge.UnicodeBlockEndFromLib(n)

Returns the Unicode Block end value as described by www.unicode.org. Currently, the blocks are {0..233}, spanning unicode values {uni0..uni10FFFF}. If there is no value, then return -1. This can execute with no current font.

fontforge.UnicodeBlockNameFromLib(n)

Returns the Unicode Block Name as described by www.unicode.org. Currently, the blocks are {0..233}, spanning unicode values {uni0..uni10FFFF}. If there is no value, then return empty string “”. This can execute with no current font.

fontforge.UnicodeBlockStartFromLib(n)

Returns the Unicode Block start value as described by www.unicode.org. Currently, the blocks are {0..233}, spanning unicode values {uni0..uni10FFFF}. If there is no value, then return -1. This can execute with no current font.

fontforge.unicodeFromName(glyphname)

Looks up glyph name in its dictionary and if it is associated with a unicode code point returns that number. Otherwise it returns -1

fontforge.UnicodeNameFromLib(n)

Returns the Unicode Name for this value as described by www.unicode.org. If there is no unicode name for this value, then return empty string “”. It can execute with no current font.

fontforge.UnicodeNamesListVersion()

Return the Unicode Nameslist Version (as described by www.unicode.org).

This can execute with no current font.

fontforge.UnicodeNames2FromLib(val)

Errors and corrections happen, therefore names can be corrected in the next Unicode Nameslist version. This function returns the formal alias for the unicode value given, or an empty string if there is no such alias.

fontforge.scriptFromUnicode(n)

Return the script tag for the given Unicode codepoint. So, for ord('Q'), it would return latn. This is most useful with font.addLookup(), like:

# Add a `mark` lookup for an arbitrary glyph...
script = fontforge.scriptFromUnicode(glyph.unicode)
font.addLookup("l1", "gpos_mark2base", None, (("mark",((script,("dflt")),)),))
font.addLookupSubtable("l1", "l1-1")
font.addAnchorClass("l1-1", "top")
fontforge.SpiroVersion()

Returns the version of LibSpiro available to FontForge. Versions 0.1 to 0.5 do not have a method to indicate version numbers, but there is a limited method to estimate versions {‘0.0’..’0.5’}. ‘0.0’ if FontForge has no LibSpiro available. ‘0.1’ if LibSpiro 20071029 is available. ‘0.2’ if LibSpiro 0.2 to 0.5 is available. LibSpiro 0.6 and higher reports back it’s version available.

fontforge.version()

Returns FontForge’s version number. This will be a large number like 20070406.

fontforge.loadPlugins()

Discovers and loads FontForge python plugins according to the current configuration, if not already loaded. This is primarily intended when importing FontForge into a python process but can also be when loading is delayed by the -skippyplug command-line flag.

fontforge.getPluginInfo()

Returns a list of dictionary objects describing configured and/or discovered plugins. Configured plugins are listed first in loading order followed by any newly discovered plugins. Each dictionary object will have the keys:

name

The name of the plugin as defined by its author.

enabled

“On” if the plugin is enabled, “Off” if it is disabled, “New” if the user has not yet configured this plugin.

status

“Not Found” if the plugin is configured but was not discovered. “Couldn’t Load” if the plugin was discovered and its load status is “On” but the relevant module could not be imported. “Couldn’t Start” if the module could be imported but the initialization function was missing or returned an error. “Unloaded” if the plugin was discovered and its load status is “On” but loading has not been attempted (most likely because of a configuration change or startup flag). None if the plugin was discovered but has load status “Off” or New” or if it was loaded successfully.

package_name

The name of the Python package containing the plugin.

module_name

The name of the Python module carrying the initialization function.

attrs

Additional sub-objects or properties of the module needed to pick out the location of the initialization function (if any).

prefs

A boolean indicating whether the plugin has configurable preferences.

package_url

The “Home-page” URL listed in the package, if any.

summary

The “Summary” line in the package’s metadata with a brief description of the plugin.

Some of these values will be None if the plugin has not been loaded and a few more will be None if the plugin was not discovered.

fontforge.configurePlugins([List of dictionaries])

This method allows plugins to be reconfigured using the Python API. It accepts a list (or any other iterable object) of dictionaries similar to those provided by getPluginInfo() except that only the name and enabled fields are examined. The name value must be the name of a known (currently configured or discovered) plugin. The enabled value must be “On” or “Off”. The configuration will be updated to correspond to the listed plugins in the specified order.

If a plugin that was not discovered is missing from the list it will be removed from the configuration. Any missing but discovered plugins will be added to the end of the configuration list with load status “New”.

fontforge.runInitScripts()

Runs the system or user initialization scripts, if not already run. This is primarily intended when importing FontForge into a python process.

fontforge.scriptPath()

Returns a tuple listing the directory paths which are searched for python scripts during FontForge initialization.

fontforge.fonts()

Returns a tuple of all fonts currently loaded into FontForge for editing

fontforge.activeFont()

If the script were invoked from the File->Execute Script… dialog, or invoked by a menu item in the font view, this returns the font that was active at the time. Otherwise it returns None.

fontforge.activeGlyph()

If the script were invoked from the File->Execute Script… dialog or a menu item from an outline glyph window or a glyph import/export command this returns the glyph that was active at the time. Otherwise it returns None.

fontforge.activeLayer()

This returns the currently active layer as an integer between 0 (inclusive) and the font/glyph’s layer count (exclusive). It may also be set to -1 if the current glyph window is displaying the font’s guideline layer.

fontforge.fontsInFile(filename)

Returns a tuple of all font names found in the specified file. The tuple may be empty if FontForge couldn’t find any.

fontforge.open(filename[, flags])

Opens a filename and returns the font it contains (if any). The optional flags argument can be string tuple or integer combination of the following flags:

fstypepermitted (1)

The user has the appropriate license to examine the font no matter what the fstype setting is.

allglyphsinttc (4)

Load all glyphs from the ‘glyf’ table of a ttc font (rather than only the glyphs used in the font picked).

fontlint (8)

Report more error conditions.

hidewindow (16)

Do not create a view window for this font even if the UI is active.

Note

This option supports efficient bulk processing of fonts in scripts run through the UI but using it can be tricky. Open fonts will be listed at the bottom of the “Window” menu but choosing them will have no effect.

If some fonts are not closed you may need to “force-quit” the application using your OS.

alltables (32)

Retain all recognized font tables that do not have a native format.

fontforge.parseTTInstrs(string)

Returns a binary string each byte of which corresponds to a truetype instruction. The input string should contain a set of instruction names as

"SRP0 MIRP[min,rnd,black]"
fontforge.unParseTTInstrs(sequence)

Reverse of the above. Converts a binary string into a human (sort of) readable string

fontforge.unitShape(n)

Returns a closed contour which is a regular n-gon. The contour will be inscribed in the unit circle. If n is negative, then the contour will be circumscribed around the unit circle. A value of 0 will produce a unit circle. If n==1 it is treated as if n were -4 – a circumscribed square where each side is 2 units long (this is for historical reasons). Behavior is undefined for n=2,-1,-2.

fontforge.registerGlyphSeparationHook(hook)

The GlyphSeparationHook is a python routine which FontForge will call when it wants to figure out the optical separation between two glyphs. If you never call this, or if you call it with a value of None FontForge will use a built-in default. This routine gets called during AutoWidth, AutoKern, and computing the optical left and right side bearings (for ‘lfbd’ and ‘rtbd’ features). For more information see its own section.

User Interface Module Functions

Users may define scripts to be run when menu items are invoked. Some of these scripts will want to ask users questions, so this section provides routines to determine if FontForge has a user interface, a command to add menu items, and various small standard dialogs to interact with the user. I do not currently provide a mechanism for allowing people to define special purpose dialogs (for example they might want to ask more than one question in a dialog, and I don’t support that).

When FontForge starts (if it’s a FontForge with python) it will look at the directories $(PREFIX)/share/fontforge/python and ~/.FontForge/python and attempt to run all files in those directories which end in ".py". Presumably these files will allow people to customize the user interface to suit their needs.

Currently it reads the files in directory order (which is generally somewhere between creation order and totally random). It will read the system directory before the user directory.

Example

import fontforge

def nameGlyph(junk, glyph):
   print(glyph.glyphname)

fontforge.registerMenuItem(callback=nameGlyph, context="Glyph",
                           name=("Print Glyph Name", "MyExt_PrintGlyphName"))

def neverEnableMe(junk, glyph):
   return False

fontforge.registerMenuItem(callback=nameGlyph, enable=neverEnableMe, context="Glyph",
                           submenu=("SubMenu", "MyExt_SubMenu"),
                           name=("Print Glyph Name", "MyExt_PrintGlyphName"))

def importGlyph(junk, glyph, filename, toback):
   print("Import")
   print(glyph.glyphname)
   print(filename)

def exportGlyph(junk, glyph, filename):
   print("Import")
   print(glyph.glyphname)
   print(filename)

fontforge.registerImportExport(importGlyph, exportGlyph, None, "foosball", "foo", "foo,foobar")

The first call will define a menu item in the Tools menu of the Glyph window. The menu will be called “Print Glyph Name”. It has no shortcut to invoke it. It needs no external data. It is always enabled. And when activated it will invoke the function “nameGlyph” which prints the name of the glyph in the window from which the command is invoked.

The second call defines a menu item in a submenu of the Tools menu. This submenu is called “SubMenu”. This item will never be enabled – but if it were enabled it would again call “nameGlyph” to print the name of the current glyph.

The last provides a way to import and export files of type “foosball” (or it would if the routines did anything).

Not a very useful example.

fontforge.hasUserInterface()

Returns True if this session of FontForge has a user interface

fontforge.registerMenuItem(callback, enable, data, context, hotkey, {submenu_names, } name)
(Positional interface)
fontforge.registerMenuItem(callback=, enable=None, data=None, context=, hotkey=None, name=, submenu=None, keyword_only=False)
(Keyword interface)
fontforge.registerMenuItem(context=, divider=, submenu=None)
(Divider interface)

If FontForge has a user interface this will add this menu item to the FontForge menu(s) specified by the context parameter. This second keyword interface is explained in the divider section.

We also recommend reading the Menu section of Extending FontForge with Python

Note: The positional interface is forward-compatible with earlier verions of FontForge.

callback

This is the function that will be called when the menu item is activated. It will be passed two arguments, the first is the data value specified here (which defaults to None) and the second is a fontforge.glyph or fontforge.font object (depending on the context). The callback’s return value is ignored.

enable

When specified this function is called with the same arguments as callback right before the menu or submenu is diplayed. When it returns True the menu item will be enabled and when it returns``False`` it will be disabled. (When enable is None the menu item is always enabled.)

data

data can be whatever you want; it defaults to None. FontForge passes it to both of the above functions. It can be used to provide context or default arguments for the function (so that one function can be used for multiple menu items.)

context

Currently this can the string "Font", the string "Glyph" or the tuple ("Font", "Glyph")). "Font" will add the menu item to the FontView “Tools” menu or its submenu, while "Glyph" will add it to the CharView tools menu or its submenu.

hotkey

hotkey must be either None or a string in hotkey format, which is the same as the second part of a HotKey assignment. Because hotkeys are a “limited resource” this string is only a suggestion; it has no effect when the specified HotKey is already taken. Therefore, before picking a candidate HotKey you should at least verify that it is not already used by the relevant window in FontForge.

Even when the specified HotKey is taken a user can still specify their own in the HotKeys file. You can make this easier to do, now and in the future, by providing the full triplet of names for each “level” using the current interface.

name

name can be a string but ideally it is a tuple of three strings (localized_name, english_name, identifier_string) or of two strings (english_name, identifier_string). Use the three-tuple version when your plugin or other extension is localized and the two-tuple version when it is not localized or the user has configured the base locale.

Note: The english_name and localized_name can and should include a mnemonic, picked out by a leading underscore. However, mnemonics at the top level (so the first submenu name or the name if submenu is None) are taken as a suggestion, similar to the hotkey argument. Please read the sections on Internationalization and Localization and on Mnemonics in Extending FontForge with Python.

The identifier_string should be a single alphanumeric (plus underscores, but no spaces) string to identify this menu item. In the future this will serve as the representation of the menu item in menu configuration files, allowing a user or administrator to put the item where they like. It should include the name of your plugin or an abbreviation of it. For a plugin called “Feature File Helpers” and an item with (English) name “Save Fragment” a reasonable option would be “FeatFileHelp_SaveFragment”. (This is for the future, as configurable menus are not yet supported by FontForge.)

submenu

Note: submenu is a keyword-only argument.

submenu can be any of: None, a string, a two-tuple or three-tuple as with name, or a Python list of any of these, with each specifying a level of sub-menu. (You cannot specify muitple levels of submenu with a tuple, as this would be ambiguous.) The tuple elements are analogous to name: a three-tuple of (localized_name, english_name, identifier_string), a two-tuple of (english_name, identifier_string), or a string which is treated as the localized_name. Submenus can and should also specify a mnemonic.

In the future the identfier_string will allow a whole submenu to be moved to a different location in the menu hierarchy.

submenu_names

When using the positional interface, each of these “intermediate” entries can be a three-tuple, two-tuple, or string, corresponding to an entry in the submenu list.

keyword_only

When keyword_only is False (the default) the function will attempt to fall back to the positional interface and any reported errors will be relative to that interface. If you’re having trouble with keyword parameters set keyword_only to True to see a more specific error message.

divider

This special form of the function adds a horizontal line to the menu. The context keyword is required and divider must be set to True. If the submenu keyword is omitted the divider is added to the top level.

fontforge.registerImportExport(import_function, export_function, data, name, extension[, extension_list])

This will add the capability to import or export files of a given type, presumably a way of specifying the splines in a given glyph.

import-function

The function to call to import a file into a glyph. It will be called with: The data argument (specified below), A pointer to the glyph into which the import is to happen, A filename, A flag indicating whether the import should go to the background layer or foreground. This function may be None. In which case there is no import method for this file type.

export-function

The function to call to export a glyph into a file. It will be called with: The data argument (see below), a pointer to the glyph, and a filename. This function may be None, in which case there is no export method for this file type.

data

Anything you like (including None). It will be passed to the import/export routines and can provide them with context if they need that. name The name to be displayed in the user interface for this file type. This may just be the extension, or it might be something more informative.

extension

This is the default extension for this file type. It is used by the export dialog to pick an extension for the generated filename.

extension-list

Some file types have more than one common extension (eps files are usually named “eps”, but I have also seen “ps” and “art” used). The import dialog needs to filter all possible filenames of this file type. This argument should be a comma separated list of extensions. It may be omitted, in which case it defaults to being the same as the “extension” argument above.

fontforge.logWarning(msg)

Adds the message (a string) to FontForge’s Warnings window. (if you wish to display a % character you must represent it as two percents). If there is no user interface the output will go to stderr.

fontforge.postError(win_title, msg)

Creates a popup dialog to display the message (a string) in that dlg. (if you wish to display a % character you must represent it as two percents). If there is no user interface the output will go to stderr.

fontforge.postNotice(win_title, msg)

Creates a little window which will silently vanish after a minute or two and displays the message (a string) in that window. (if you wish to display a % character you must represent it as two percents). If there is no user interface the output will go to stderr.

fontforge.openFilename(question[, def_name[, filter]])

All arguments are strings. The first is a question asked to the user (for which a filename to open is presumed to be the answer). The second is optional and provides a default filename. The third is optional and provides a filter (like “*.sfd”)

The result is either a filename or None if the user canceled the dialog.

Throws an exception if there is no user interface.

fontforge.saveFilename(question[, def_name[, filter]])

All arguments are strings. The first is a question asked to the user (for which a filename to save something to is presumed to be the answer). The second is optional and provides a default filename. The third is optional and provides a filter (like “*.sfd”)

The result is either a filename or None if the user canceled the dialog.

Throws an exception if there is no user interface.

fontforge.ask(title, question, answers[, def, cancel])

Allows you to ask the user a multiple choice question. It pops up a dialog posing the question with a list of buttons ranged underneath it – one for each answer.

The first argument is the dialog’s title, the second is the question to be asked, the third is a tuple of strings – each string will become a button, the fourth and fifth arguments are option, the fourth is the index in the answer array that will be the default answer (the one invoked if the user presses the [Return] key), and the fifth is the answer invoked if the user presses the [Escape] key. If omitted the default answer will be the first, and the cancel answer will be the last.

The function returns the index in the answer array of the answer chosen by the user.

Throws an exception if there is no user interface.

fontforge.askChoices(title, question, answers[, default=, multiple=])

Similar to the above allows you to ask the user a multiple choice question. It pops up a dialog posing the question with a scrollable list of choices – one for each answer.

The first argument is the dialog’s title, the second is the question to be asked, the third is a tuple of strings – each string will become a button, the fourth and fifth arguments are option, the fourth is the index in the answer array that will be the default answer (the one invoked if the user presses the [Return] key). If omitted the default answer will be the first.

The fifth argument means that multiple options can be selected. If true, the fourth argument should be a tuple of Boolean values or a single integer index into the answer tuple. So, if there are three options, it should look like (True, False, True), which would select the first and last option.

The function returns the index in the answer array of the answer chosen by the user. If the user cancels the dialog, a -1 is returned.

default and multiple may be passed by position if desired.

Throws an exception if there is no user interface.

fontforge.askString(title, question[, def_string])

Allows you to ask the user a question for which a string is the answer.

The first argument is the dialog’s title, the second is the question to be asked, the third is optional and specified a default answer.

The function returns the string the user typed or None if they cancelled the dialog.

Throws an exception if there is no user interface.

fontforge.askMulti(title, specification)

This method raises a dialog with multiple questions for the user, optionally organized into separate tabs. The answers can be choices (similar to fontforge.askChoices()) a string (similar to fontforge.askString()) an existing filename (similar to fontforge.openFilename()) or a save filename (similar to fontforge.saveFilename().

Due to the variety of potential specification parameters this facility is explained in a separate document.

The method throws an exception if there is no user interface or the specification is not valid. Otherwise it either returns a dictionary of answers or None if the user chose “Cancel” or closed the dialog without choosing “OK”.

Point

class fontforge.point([x, y, on_curve, type, selected])

Creates a new point. Optionally specifying its x,y location, on-curve status and selected status. x and y must be supplied together.

A “point initializer tuple” is any tuple (x,y[,True|False[,0|1|2|3[,True|False]]]), where x and y are numbers, the third value corresponds to on-curve, the fourth to type, and the fifth to selected.

point.x

The x location of the point

point.y

The y location of the point

point.on_curve

Whether this is an on curve point or an off curve point (a control point)

point.selected

The value of this member also determines the selected status in the UI on setting a layer. FontForge usually retains the selection status of any point between and that of an on-curve point when saving, whether or not a UI is present.

point.type

For an on-curve point, its FontForge point type.

There are four types: fontforge.splineCorner, fontforge.splineCurve, fontforge.splineHVCurve and fontforge.splineTangent.

A new point will have type splineCorner. When assigning a layer to glyph.layers, glyph.background or glyph.foreground the type value is ignored. To influence the type FontForge will associate with an on-curve point use glyph.setLayer().

point.interpolated

True if FontForge treats this (quadratic, on-curve) point as interpolated. All interpolated points should be mid-way between their off-curve points, but some such points are not treated as interpolated. This flag is ignored when setting a layer.

Older versions of FontForge omitted interpolated points. This was equivalent to executing the following on a contour:

c[:] = [ p for p in c if not p.interpolated ]

This member will be false for a point marked “Never interpolate” in FontForge but there is currently no way of setting or preserving that mark when a layer is replaced using the Python interfaces. A “round trip” through a Python contour therefore clears that mark on any points that have it, and FontForge treats mid-placed and omitted on_curve points as equivalent.

point.name

The point name (generally there is no name)

point.dup()

Returns a copy of the current point.

point.transform(tuple)

Transforms the point by the transformation matrix

point.__reduce__()

This function allows the pickler to work on this type. I don’t think it is useful for anything else.

Contour

A contour is a collection of points. A contour may be either based on cubic or quadratic splines.

If based on cubic splines there should be either 0 or 2 off-curve points between every two on-curve points. If there are no off-curve points then we have a line between those two points. If there are 2 off-curve points we have a cubic bezier curve between the two end points.

If based on quadratic splines things are more complex. Again, two adjacent on-curve points yield a line between those points. Two on-curve points with an off-curve point between them yields a quadratic bezier curve. However if there are two adjacent off-curve points then an on-curve point will be interpolated between them. (This should be familiar to anyone who has read the truetype ‘glyf’ table docs).

For examples of what these splines can look like see the section on bezier curves.

A contour may be open in which case it is just a long wiggly line, or closed when it is more like a circle with an inside and an outside. Unless you are making stroked fonts all your contours should eventually be closed.

Contours may also be expressed in terms of Raph Levien’s spiro points. This is an alternate representation for the contour, and is not always available (Only if fontforge.hasSpiro() is True. If available the spiro member will return a tuple of spiro control points, while assigning to this member will change the shape of the contour to match the new spiros.

Two contours may be compared to see if they describe similar paths.

class fontforge.contour(is_quadratic=False)

Creates a new contour.

contour.is_quadratic

Whether the contour should be interpreted as a set of quadratic or cubic splines. Setting this value has the side effect of converting the point list to the appropriate format.

contour.closed

Whether the contour is open or closed.

contour.name

The contour name (generally there is no name).

contour.spiros

This is an alternate representation of a curve. This member is only available if fontforge.hasSpiro() is True. Returns a tuple of spiro control points. Each of these is itself a tuple of four elements; an x,y location, a type field, and a set of flags. The type field takes on values (which are predefined constants in the fontforge module):

For more information on what these point types mean see Raph Levien’s work.

The flags argument is treated as a bitmap of which currently on one bit (0x1) is defined. This indicates that this point is selected in the UI.

When you assign a tuple of spiro control points to this member, the point list for the Bezier interpretation of the contour will change. And when you change the Bezier interpretation the set of spiro points will change.

contour.dup()

Returns a deep copy of the contour. That is, it copies the points that make up the contour.

contour.isEmpty()

Returns whether the contour is empty (contains no points)

contour.boundingBox()

Returns a tuple representing a rectangle (xmin,ymin, xmax,ymax) into which the contour fits. It is not guaranteed to be the smallest such rectangle, but it will often be.

contour.getSplineAfterPoint(pos)

Returns a tuple of two four-element tuples. These tuples are x and y splines for the curve after the specified point.

contour.draw(pen)

Draw the contour to the pen argument.

contour.__reduce__()

This function allows the pickler to work on this type. I don’t think it is useful for anything else.

contour.__iter__()

Returns an iterator for the contour which will return the points in order.

Sequence Protocol

Does not support the repeat concept.

len(c)

The number of points in the contour

c[i]

The i th point on the contour. You may assign a point or point initializer to this (keeping the number of points constant) or use del c[i] to remove the entry (reducing the number by one).

c[i:j]

The contour containing points between i and j; i must be >= j. Alternatively, c[j:i:-1] returns those points in reverse order (larger strides are not supported).

c[i:j] = d

The points between i and j are replaced by those in d; i must be >= j. d can be a contour or a sequence of point initializer tuples, as in [(1,1,False),(2,1)]. If c[j:i:-1] is used instead the points of d are assigned in reverse order.

c + d

A contour concatenating c and d. d may be or encode either another contour or a point.

c += d

Appends d to c. d may be or encode either another contour or a point.

p in c

When p is a point, returns whether some point (p.x, p.y) is in the contour c. p can also be a tuple of two numbers.

Contour construction

contour.moveTo(x, y)

Adds an initial, on-curve point at (x,y) to the contour

contour.lineTo(x, y[, pos])

Adds an line to the contour. If the optional third argument is give, the line will be added after the pos’th point, otherwise it will be at the end of the contour.

contour.cubicTo((cp1x, cp1y)(cp2x, cp2y)(x, y)[, pos])

Adds a cubic curve to the contour. If the optional third argument is give, the line will be added after the pos’th point, otherwise it will be at the end of the contour.

contour.quadraticTo((cpx, cpy)(x, y)[, pos])

Adds a quadratic curve to the contour. If the optional third argument is give, the line will be added after the pos’th point, otherwise it will be at the end of the contour.

contour.insertPoint(point[, pos])

Adds point to the contour. If the optional third argument is give, the line will be added after the pos’th point, otherwise it will be at the end of the contour. The point may be either a point or a point initializer tuple.

contour.makeFirst(pos)

Rotate the point list so that the pos’th point becomes the first point

contour.isClockwise()

Returns whether the contour is drawn in a clockwise direction. A return value of -1 indicates that no consistent direction could be found (the contour self-intersects).

contour.reverseDirection()

Reverse the order in which the contour is drawn (turns a clockwise contour into a counter-clockwise one). See also layer.correctDirection().

contour.similar(other_contour[, error])

Checks whether this contour is similar to the other one where error is the maximum distance (in em-units) allowed for the two contours to diverge.

This is like the comparison operator, but that doesn’t allow you to specify an error bound.

contour.xBoundsAtY(ybottom[, ytop])

Finds the minimum and maximum x positions attained by the contour when y is between ybottom and ytop (if ytop is not specified it is assumed the same as ybottom). If the contour does not have any y values in the specified range then ff will return None.

contour.yBoundsAtX(xleft[, xright])

Finds the minimum and maximum y positions attained by the contour when x is between xleft and xright (if xright is not specified it is assumed the same as xleft). If the contour does not have any x values in the specified range then ff will return None.

Contour manipulation

contour.addExtrema([flags, emsize])

Extrema should be marked by on-curve points. If a curve lacks a point at an extrema this command will add one. Flags may be one of the following strings:

all

Add all missing extrema

only_good

Only add extrema on longer splines (with respect to the em-size)

only_good_rm

As above but also merge away on-curve points which are very close to, but not on, an added extremum

contour.cluster([within, max])

Moves clustered coordinates to a standard central value.

See also contour.round().

contour.merge(pos)

Removes the on-curve point a the given position and rearranges the other points to make the curve as similar to the original as possible. (pos may also be a tuple of positions, all of which will be removed)

See also contour.simplify().

contour.round([factor])

Rounds the x and y coordinates. If factor is specified then

new_coord = round(factor*old_coord)/factor

See also contour.cluster().

contour.selfIntersects()

Returns whether this contour intersects itself.

contour.simplify([error_bound, flags, tan_bounds, linefixup, linelenmax])

Tries to remove excess points on the contour if doing so will not perturb the curve by more than error-bound. Flags is a tuple of the following strings:

ignoreslopes

Allow slopes to change

ignoreextrema

Allow removal of extrema

smoothcurves

Allow curve smoothing

choosehv

Snap to horizontal or vertical

forcelines

flatten bumps on lines

nearlyhvlines

Make nearly horizontal/vertical lines be so

mergelines

Merge adjacent lines into one

setstarttoextremum

Rotate the point list so that the start point is on an extremum

removesingletonpoints

If the contour contains just one point then remove it

See also contour.merge().

contour.transform(matrix)

Transforms the contour by the matrix

See also

Curvatura documentation

Documentation for adding points of inflection, balancing and harmonizing.

contour.addInflections()

If the curvature of a spline in the contour changes sign then break the spline so that there will be a point at all points of inflection.

contour.balance()

For all cubic bezier splines of the contour make the line between the control points parallel to the chord such that the area is preserved. This is an improved version of the algorithm known as “tunnify”.

contour.harmonize()

For all bezier splines of the contour move the smooth on-curve points between its adjacent control points such that the adjacent curvatures become equal.

Layer

A layer is a collection of contours. All the contours must be the same order (all quadratic or all cubic). Currently layers do not contain references.

Layers may be compared to see if their contours are similar.

class fontforge.layer

Creates a new layer

layer.is_quadratic()

Whether the contours should be interpreted as a set of quadratic cubic splines. Setting this value has the side effect of converting the contour list to the appropriate format.

layer.__iter__()

Returns an iterator for the layer which will return the contours in order.

layer.__reduce__()

This function allows the pickler to work on this type. I don’t think it is useful for anything else.

layer.dup()

Returns a deep copy of the layer. That is, it will copy all the contours and all the points as well as copying the layer object itself.

layer.isEmpty()

Returns whether the layer is empty (contains no contour)

layer.addExtrema([flags, emsize])

Extrema should be marked by on-curve points. If a curve lacks a point at an extrema this command will add one. Flags may be one of the following strings:

all

Add all missing extrema

only_good

Only add extrema on longer splines (with respect to the em-size)

only_good_rm

As above but also merge away on-curve points which are very close to, but not on, an added extremum

layer.cluster([within, max])

Moves clustered coordinates to a standard central value.

See also layer.round().

layer.correctDirection()

Orients all contours so that external ones are clockwise and internal counter-clockwise. See also contour.isClockwise().

layer.export(filename[, KEYWORD])

Exports the current layer (in outline format) to a file. The type of file is determined by the extension.

The following optional keywords modify the export process for various formats:

usetransform (boolean, default=False)

Flip the Y-axis of exported SVGs with a transform element rather than modifying the individual Y values.

usesystem (boolean, default=False)

Ignore the above keyword settings and use the values set by the user in the Import options dialog.

asksystem (boolean, default=False)

If the UI is present show the Import options dialog to the user and use the chosen values (does nothing otherwise).

layer.exclude(excluded_layer)

Removes the excluded area from the current contours. See also layer.removeOverlap() and layer.intersect().

layer.intersect()

Leaves only areas in the intersection of contours. See also layer.removeOverlap() and layer.exclude().

layer.removeOverlap()

Removes overlapping areas. See also layer.intersect() and layer.exclude().

layer.interpolateNewLayer(other_layer, amount)

Creates (and returns) a new layer which contains splines interpolated from the current layer and the first argument. If amount is 0 the result will look like the current layer, if 1 then like the first argument.

layer.round([factor])

Rounds the x and y coordinates. If factor is specified then

new_coord = round(factor*old_coord)/factor

See also layer.cluster().

layer.selfIntersects()

Returns whether any of the contours on this layer intersects any other contour (including itself).

layer.similar(other_layer[, error])

Checks whether this layer is similar to the other one where error is the maximum distance (in em-units) allowed for any two corresponding contours in the layers to diverge.

This is like the comparison operator, but that doesn’t allow you to specify an error bound.

layer.simplify([error_bound, flags, tan_bounds, linefixup, linelenmax])

Tries to remove excess points on the layer if doing so will not perturb the curve by more than error-bound. Flags is a tuple of the following strings:

ignoreslopes

Allow slopes to change

ignoreextrema

Allow removal of extrema

smoothcurves

Allow curve smoothing

choosehv

Snap to horizontal or vertical

forcelines

flatten bumps on lines

nearlyhvlines

Make nearly horizontal/vertical lines be so

mergelines

Merge adjacent lines into one

setstarttoextremum

Rotate the point list so that the start point is on an extremum

removesingletonpoints

If the contour contains just one point then remove it

layer.stemControl(stem_width_scale[, hscale, stem_height_scale, vscale, xheight])

Allows you to scale counters and stems independently of each other. stem_width_scale specifies by how much the widths of stems should be scaled (this should be a number around 1).

If omitted, hscale defaults to 1, otherwise it will indicate the horizontal scaling factor for the glyph as a whole.

If omitted, stem_height_scale defaults to stem_width_scale, otherwise it specifies the scaling for stem heights.

If omitted, vscale defaults to hscale, otherwise it specifies the vertical scale factor for the glyph as a whole. xheight is optional; if specified it will fix the points at that height so that they will be at the same level across glyphs.

layer.stroke("circular", width[, CAP, JOIN, FLAGS])
layer.stroke("elliptical", width, minor_width, ANGLE[, CAP, JOIN, FLAGS])
layer.stroke("calligraphic", width, height, angle[, FLAGS])
layer.stroke("polygon", contour[, FLAGS])
(Legacy interface)
layer.stroke("circular", width[, CAP, JOIN, ANGLE, KEYWORD])
layer.stroke("elliptical", width, minor_width[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
layer.stroke("calligraphic", width, height[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
layer.stroke("convex", contour[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
(Current interface)

Strokes the lines of each contour in the layer according to the supplied parameters. See the corresponding glyph.stroke() for a description of the syntax and the stroke documentation for more general information.

layer.transform(matrix)

Transforms the layer by the matrix

layer.nltransform(xexpr, yexpr)

xexpr and yexpr are strings specifying non-linear transformations that will be applied to all points in the layer (with xexpr being applied to x values, and yexpr to y values, of course). The syntax for the expressions is explained in the non-linear transform dialog.

layer.boundingBox()

Returns a tuple representing a rectangle (xmin,ymin, xmax,ymax) into which the layer fits. It is not guaranteed to be the smallest such rectangle, but it will often be.

layer.xBoundsAtY(ybottom[, ytop])

Finds the minimum and maximum x positions attained by the contour when y is between ybottom and ytop (if ytop is not specified it is assumed the same as ybottom). If the layer does not have any y values in the specified range then FontForge will return None.

layer.yBoundsAtX(xleft[, xright])

Finds the minimum and maximum y positions attained by the contour when x is between xleft and xright (if xright is not specified it is assumed the same as xleft). If the layer does not have any x values in the specified range then FontForge will return None.

layer.draw(pen)

Draw the layer to the pen argument.

layer.addInflections()

Please see contour.addInflections().

layer.balance()

Please see contour.balance().

layer.harmonize()

Please see contour.harmonize().

Sequence Protocol

Does not support the repeat, slice and contains concepts.

len(l)

The number of contours in the layer

l[i]

The i th contour in the layer. You may assign a contour to this (keeping the number of contours constant) or use del l[i] to remove the entry (reducing the number by one)

l + m

A layer concatenating l and m. m may be either another layer or a contour.

l += m

Appends m to l. m may be either another layer or a contour.

Glyph Pen

This implements the Pen Protocol to draw a FontForge glyph. You create a glyphPen with glyph.glyphPen(). You then draw into it with the operators below.

This type may not be pickled.

Example

import fontforge
font = fontforge.open("Ambrosia.sfd") # Open a font
pen = font["B"].glyphPen()            # Create a pen to draw into glyph "B"
pen.moveTo((100,100))                 # draw a square
pen.lineTo((100,200))
pen.lineTo((200,200))
pen.lineTo((200,100))
pen.closePath()                       # end the contour

font["A"].draw(pen)                   # or you can copy from one glyph to another
                                      # by having a glyph draw itself into the pen
pen = None                            # Finalize the pen. This tells FontForge
                                      # that the drawing is done and causes
                                      # it to refresh the display (if a UI is active).
class fontforge.glyphPen
glyphPen.moveTo((x, y))

With one exception this call begins every contor and creates an on curve point at (x,y) as the start point of that contour. This should be the first call after a pen has been created and the call that follows a glyphPen.closePath(), glyphPen.endPath().

glyphPen.lineTo((x, y))

Draws a line from the last point to (x,y) and adds that to the contour.

glyphPen.curveTo((cp1.x, cp1.y), (cp2.x, cp2.y), (x, y)) ((cp.x, cp.y), (x, y))

This routine has slightly different arguments depending on the type of the font. When drawing into a cubic font (PostScript) use the first set of arguments (with two control points – off curve points – between each on curve point). When drawing into a quadratic font (TrueType) use the second format with one control point between adjacent on-curve points.

The standard appears to support super-bezier curves with more than two control points between on-curve points. FontForge does not. Nor does FontForge allow you to draw a quadratic spline into a cubic font, nor vice versa.

glyphPen.qCurveTo([(cp.x, cp.y)]*, (x, y)) ([(cp.x, cp.y)]*, None))

This routine may only be used in quadratic (TrueType) fonts and has two different formats. It is used to express the TrueType idiom where an on-curve point mid-way between its control points may be omitted, leading to a run of off-curve points (with implied but unspecified on-curve points between them).

The first format allows an arbetary number of off-curve points followed by one on-curve point.

It is possible to have a contour which consists solely of off-curve points. When this happens the contour is NOT started with a glyphPen.moveTo(), instead the entire contour, all the off curve points, are listed in one call, and the argument list is terminated by a None to indicate there are no on-curve points.

glyphPen.closePath()

Closes the contour (connects the last point to the first point to make a loop) and ends it.

glyphPen.endPath()

Ends the contour without closing it. This is only relevant if you are stroking contours.

glyphPen.addComponent(glyph_name[, transform, selected])

Adds a reference (a component) to the glyph. The PostScript transformation matrix is a 6 element tuple (with a default of the identity transformation). When selected is true the reference will be marked as selected in the UI and related API calls.

Glyph

The glyph type refers to a glyph object. It has no independent life of its own, it always lives within a font. It has all the things you expect to be associated with a glyph: a glyph name, a unicode encoding, a drawing layer, GPOS/GSUB features…

This type may not be pickled.

This type may not be created directly – all glyphs are bound to a font and must be created through the font.

class fontforge.glyph

Note: Glyphs do not have an independent existence. They live in fonts. You may not create them stand-alone, only in the context of a font. See font.createChar().

glyph.activeLayer

Returns currently active layer in the glyph (as an integer). May be set to an integer or a layer name to change the active layer.

glyph.altuni

Returns additional unicode code points for this glyph. For a primary code point, see glyph.unicode .

Returns either None or a tuple of alternate encodings. Each alternate encoding is a tuple of

(unicode-value, variation-selector, reserved-field)

The first is an unicode value of this alternate code point. The second is an integer for variation selector and can be set to -1 if not used. The third is an empty field reserved for future use and currently must be set to zero.

glyph.altuni can be set to None to clear all alternates, or to a tuple. The elements of the tuple may be either integers (an alternate unicode value with no variation selector) or a tuple with up to 3 values in it as explained above.

glyph.anchorPoints

Returns the list of anchor points in the glyph. Each anchor point is a tuple of

(anchor-class-name, type, x,y [,ligature-index])

The first two are strings, the next two doubles, and the last (which is only present if type=="ligature") is an integer. Type may be

  • mark

  • base

  • ligature

  • basemark

  • entry

  • exit

glyph.anchorPointsWithSel

Same as the above, except also includes whether the anchor point is selected in the UI. Returns a tuple of all anchor points in the glyph. Each anchor point is a tuple of

(anchor-class-name, type, x,y, selected [,ligature-index])

The first two are strings, the next two doubles, then a boolean, and the last (which is only present if type=="ligature") is an integer. Type may be

  • mark

  • base

  • ligature

  • basemark

  • entry

  • exit

glyph.background

The glyph’s background layer. This is a copy of the glyph’s data. See also glyph.foreground and glyph.layers.

glyph.changed

Whether this glyph has been modified. This is (should be) maintained automatically, but you may set it if you wish.

glyph.color

The color of the glyph in the fontview. A 6 hex-digit RGB number or -1 for default. 0xffffff is white, 0x0000ff is blue, etc.

glyph.comment

Any comment you wish to associate with the glyph. UTF-8

glyph.dhints

A tuple with one entry for each diagonal stem hint. Each stem hint is itself represented by a tuple of three coordinate pairs (themselves tuples of two numbers), these three are: a point on one side of the stem, a point on the other side, and a unit vector pointing in the stem’s direction.

glyph.encoding

Returns the glyph’s encoding in the font’s encoding. (readonly)

If the glyph has multiple encodings, one will be picked at random.

If the glyph is not in the font’s encoding then a number will be returned beyond the encoding size (or in some cases -1 will be returned).

glyph.font

The font containing this glyph. (readonly)

glyph.foreground

The glyph’s foreground layer. This is a copy of the glyph’s data. See also glyph.background, glyph.layers and glyph.references.

glyph.glyphclass

An opentype glyphclass, one of automatic, noclass, baseglyph, baseligature, mark, component

glyph.glyphname

The name of the glyph

glyph.hhints

A tuple of all horizontal postscript hints. Each hint is itself a tuple of starting locations and widths.

glyph.horizontalComponents

A tuple of tuples.

This allows constructing very large versions of the glyph by stacking the components together. Some components may be repeated so there is no bound on the size.

This is different from horizontalVariants which expects prebuilt glyphs of various fixed sizes.

The components are stacked in the order they appear in the (top-level) tuple. Each sub-tuple represents information on one component. The subtuple should contain: (String glyph-name, Boolean is-extender, Int startConnectorLength, Int endConnectorLength, Int fullAdvance). Any of these may be omitted (except the glyph name) and will be assumed to be 0 if so.

glyph.horizontalComponentItalicCorrection

The italic correction for any composite glyph made with the horizontalComponents.

glyph.horizontalVariants

A string containing a list of glyph names. These are alternate forms of the current glyph for use in typesetting math. Presumably the variants are of different sizes.

Although ff will always return a string of glyph names, you may assign to it with a tuple of glyphs and ff will convert that to corresponding names.

glyph.isExtendedShape

A boolean containing the MATH “is extended shape” field.

glyph.italicCorrection

The glyph’s italic correction field. Used by both TeX and MATH. The special value fontforge.unspecifiedMathValue means the value is unspecified (An unspecified value will not go into the output tables, a value of 0 will)

glyph.layer_cnt

The number of layers in this glyph. (Cannot be set)

glyph.layers

A dictionary like object containing the layers of the glyph. It may be indexed by either a layer name or an integer between 0 and glyph.layer_cnt-1 to produce a layer object. Layer 0 is the background layer. Layer 1 is the foreground layer.

glyph.layerrefs

A dictionary like object containing the references in the layers of the glyph. It may be indexed by either a layer name, or an integer between 0 and glyph.layer_cnt-1 to produce a reference tuple object. Layer 0 is the background layer. Layer 1 is the foreground layer.

glyph.lcarets

A tuple containing the glyph’s ligature caret locations. Setting this will also either enable or disable the “Default Ligature Caret Count” flag depending from the number of elements in the tuple.

glyph.left_side_bearing

The left side bearing of the glyph. Setting this value will adjust all layers so that guides in the background etc will be adjusted with the rest of the glyph

glyph.manualHints

The glyph’s hints have been set by hand, and the glyph should not be autohinted without a specific request from the user. The “Don’t AutoHint” flag.

glyph.mathKern.bottomLeft

The glyph’s math kerning data associated with the bottom left vertex. This returns a tuple of two element tuples, each of which contains a kerning offset and an associated height (in the last entry the height term is meaningless, but present).

glyph.mathKern.bottomRight

The glyph’s math kerning data associated with the bottom right vertex. This returns a tuple of two element tuples, each of which contains a kerning offset and an associated height (in the last entry the height term is meaningless, but present).

glyph.mathKern.topLeft

The glyph’s math kerning data associated with the top left vertex. This returns a tuple of two element tuples, each of which contains a kerning offset and an associated height (in the last entry the height term is meaningless, but present).

glyph.mathKern.topRight

The glyph’s math kerning data associated with the top right vertex. This returns a tuple of two element tuples, each of which contains a kerning offset and an associated height (in the last entry the height term is meaningless, but present).

glyph.originalgid

The GID of this glyph in the font it was read from. (readonly)

glyph.persistent

Whatever you want (these data will be saved as a pickled object in the sfd file. It is your job to insure that whatever you put here can be pickled). See also the glyph.temporary field.

glyph.references

A tuple of tuples containing, for each reference in the foreground, a glyph-name, a transformation matrix, and whether the reference is currently selected. When assigning to the object the matrix and selected values are optional. See also glyph.foreground and glyph.layerrefs.

glyph.right_side_bearing

The right side bearing of the glyph

glyph.script

A string containing the OpenType 4 letter tag for the script associated with this glyph (readonly)

glyph.temporary

Whatever you want (these data will be lost once the font is closed)

See also glyph.persistent.

glyph.texheight

The Tex height. The special value fontforge.unspecifiedMathValue means the field is unspecified (An unspecified value will not go into the output tables, a value of 0 will)

glyph.texdepth

The Tex depth. The special value fontforge.unspecifiedMathValue means the field is unspecified (An unspecified value will not go into the output tables, a value of 0 will)

glyph.topaccent

The glyph’s top accent position field. Used by MATH. The special value fontforge.unspecifiedMathValue means the field is unspecified (An unspecified value will not go into the output tables, a value of 0 will)

glyph.ttinstrs

Any truetype instructions, returned as a binary string

glyph.unicode

The glyph’s unicode code point, or -1. In addition to this primary mapping, a glyph can have multiple secondary mappings - see glyph.altuni.

glyph.unlinkRmOvrlpSave

A flag that indicates the glyph’s references should be unlinked and remove overlap run on it before the font is saved (and then the original references replaced after the save finishes)

glyph.user_decomp

Your preferred decomposition for this glyph; used by glyph.build().

glyph.userdata

Warning

Deprecated name for glyph.temporary

glyph.vhints

A tuple of all vertical postscript hints. Each hint is itself a tuple of starting locations and widths.

glyph.validation_state

A bit mask indicating some problems this glyph might have. (readonly)

0x1

If set then this glyph has been validated.

If unset then other bits are meaningless.

0x2

Glyph has an open contour.

0x4

Glyph intersects itself somewhere.

0x8

At least one contour is drawn in the wrong direction

0x10

At least one reference in the glyph has been flipped

(and so is drawn in the wrong direction)

0x20

Missing extrema

0x40

A glyph name referred to from this glyph, in an opentype table, is not present in the font.

0x40000

Points (or control points) are too far apart. (Coordinates must be within 32767)

Postscript only

0x80

PostScript has a limit of 1500 points in a glyph.

0x100

PostScript has a limit of 96 hints in a glyph.

0x200

Invalid glyph name.

TrueType only, errors in original file

0x400

More points in a glyph than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x800

More paths in a glyph than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x1000

More points in a composite glyph than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x2000

More paths in a composite glyph than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x4000

Instructions longer than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x8000

More references in a glyph than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x10000

References nested more deeply than allowed in ‘maxp’

0x40000

Points too far apart. TrueType and Type2 fonts are limited to 16 bit numbers, and so adjacent points must be within 32767 em-units of each other.

0x80000

Points non-integral. TrueType points and control points must be integer aligned. (FontForge will round them if they aren’t)

0x100000

Missing anchor. According to the opentype spec, if a glyph contains an anchor point for one anchor class in a subtable, it must contain anchor points for all anchor classes in the subtable. Even it, logically, they do not apply and are unnecessary.

0x200000

Duplicate glyph name. Two (or more) glyphs in this font have the same name. When outputting a PostScript font only one of them will ever be seen.

It’s a little hard to detect this in normal use, but if you change the encoding to “Glyph Order”, and then use Edit->Select->Wildcard and enter the glyph name, both of them should be selected.

0x400000

Duplicate unicode code point. Two (or more) glyphs in this font have the code point. When outputting an sfnt (TrueType/OpenType) font only one of them will ever be seen.

It’s a little hard to detect this in normal use, but if you change the encoding to “Glyph Order”, and then use Edit->Select->Wildcard and enter the code point, both of them should be selected.

0x800000

Overlapped hints. Either the glyph has no hint masks and there are overlapped hints, or a hint mask specifies two overlapping hints.

glyph.verticalComponents

A tuple of tuples.

This allows constructing very large versions of the glyph by stacking the components together. Some components may be repeated so there is no bound on the size.

This is different from verticalVariants which expects prebuilt glyphs of various fixed sizes.

The components are stacked in the order they appear in the (top-level) tuple. Each sub-tuple represents information on one component. The subtuple should contain: (String glyph-name, Boolean is-extender, Int startConnectorLength, Int endConnectorLength, Int fullAdvance). Any of these may be omitted (except the glyph name) and will be assumed to be 0 if so.

glyph.verticalComponentItalicCorrection

The italic correction for any composite glyph made with the verticalComponents.

glyph.verticalVariants

A string containing a list of glyph names. These are alternate forms of the current glyph for use in typesetting math. Presumably the variants are of different sizes.

glyph.width

The advance width of the glyph. See also glyph.vwidth.

glyph.vwidth

The vertical advance width of the glyph. See also glyph.width.

glyph.addAnchorPoint(anchor_class_name, anchor_type, x, y[, ligature_index])

Adds an anchor point. anchor-type may be one of the strings

  • "mark"

  • "base"

  • "ligature"

  • "basemark"

  • "entry"

  • "exit"

If there is an anchor point with the same anchor_class_name and:

  • lookup type is "gpos_mark2base" or

  • lookup type is "gpos_mark2ligature" and ligature_index is the same or

  • anchor_type is the same

then the existing anchor will be overwritten.

glyph.addExtrema([flags, emsize])

Extrema should be marked by on-curve points. If a curve lacks a point at an extrema this command will add one. Flags may be one of the following strings

all

Add all missing extrema

only_good

Only add extrema on longer splines (with respect to the em-size)

only_good_rm

As above but also merge away on-curve points which are very close to, but not on, an added extremum

glyph.addReference(glyph_name[, transform, selected])

Adds a reference to the specified glyph into the current glyph. Optionally specifying a transformation matrix and whether the reference is to be marked selected in the UI and related API calls.

glyph.addHint(is_vertical, start, width)

Adds a postscript hint. Takes a boolean flag indicating whether the hint is horizontal or vertical, a start location and the hint’s width.

glyph.addPosSub(subtable_name, variant)
glyph.addPosSub(subtable_name, variants)
glyph.addPosSub(subtable_name, ligature_components)
glyph.addPosSub(subtable_name, xoff, yoff, xadv, yadv)
glyph.addPosSub(subtable_name, other_glyph_name, kerning)
glyph.addPosSub(subtable_name, other_glyph_name, xoff1, yoff1, xadv1, yadv1, xoff2, yoff2, xadv2, yadv2)

Adds position/substitution data to the glyph. The number and type of the arguments vary according to the type of the lookup containing the subtable.

The first argument should always be a lookup subtable name.

If the lookup is for single substitutions then the second argument should be a string containing a single glyph name.

For multiple and alternated substitutions a tuple of glyph names. For ligatures, a tuple of the ligature components (glyph names).

For single positionings the second through fifth arguments should be small integers representing the adjustment along the appropriate axis.

For pairwise positionings (kerning) the second argument should be the name of the other glyph being kerned with, and the third through tenth should be small integers – or, if there are exactly three arguments then the third specifies traditional, one-axis, kerning.

If there is a previously existing entry, this will replace it (except for ligatures).

glyph.appendAccent(name='glyph_name')
glyph.appendAccent(unicode=<codepoint>)

Makes a reference to the specified glyph, adds that reference to the current layer of this glyph, and positions it to make a reasonable accent.

glyph.autoHint()

Generates PostScript hints for this glyph.

glyph.autoInstr()

Generates TrueType instructions for this glyph.

glyph.autoTrace()

Auto traces any background images

glyph.boundingBox()

Returns a tuple representing a rectangle (xmin,ymin, xmax,ymax) which is the minimum bounding box of the glyph.

glyph.build()

If the character is a composite character, then clears it and inserts references to its components.

glyph.canonicalContours()

Orders the contours in the current glyph by the x coordinate of their leftmost point. (This can reduce the size of the charstring needed to describe the glyph(s).

glyph.canonicalStart()

Sets the start point of all the contours of the current glyph to be the leftmost point on the contour. (If there are several points with that value then use the one which is closest to the baseline). This can reduce the size of the charstring needed to describe the glyph(s). By regularizing things it can also make more things available to be put in subroutines.

glyph.changeWeight(stroke_width[, type, serif_height, serif_fuzz, counter_type, removeoverlap, custom_zones])

See the Element->Style->Change Width command for a more complete description of these arguments.

stroke_width is the amount by which all stems are expanded.

type is one of "LCG", "CJK", "auto", "custom".

serif_height tells ff not to expand serifs which are that much off the baseline, while serif_fuzz specifies the amount of fuzziness allowed in the match. If you don’t want special serif behavior set this to 0.

counter_type is one of "squish", "retain", "auto".

removeoverlap (Cleanup Self Intersect) is a boolean int (0=false, 1=true). When activated, and FontForge detects that an expanded stroke will self-intersect, then setting this option will cause it to try to make things nice by removing the intersections.

custom_zones is only meaningful if the type argument were "custom". It may be either a number, which specifies the “top hint” value (bottom hint is assumed to be 0, others are between), or a tuple of 4 numbers (top hint, top zone, bottom zone, bottom hint).

glyph.condenseExtend(c_factor, c_add[, sb_factor, sb_add, correct])

Condenses or extends the size of the counters and side-bearings of the glyph. The first two arguments provide information on shrinking/growing the counters, the second two the sidebearings. If the last two are omitted they default to the same values as the first two.

A counter’s width will become:

new_width = c_factor * old_width + c_add

If present the correct argument allows you to specify whether you want to correct for the italic angle before condensing the glyph. (it defaults to``True``)

glyph.clear([layer])

With no arguments, clears the contents of the glyph (and marks it as not glyph.isWorthOutputting()). It is not possible to clear the guide layer with this function. layer may be either an integer index or a string.

glyph.cluster([within, max])

Moves clustered coordinates to a standard central value. See also glyph.round().

glyph.correctDirection()

Orients all contours so that external ones are clockwise and internal counter-clockwise.

glyph.doUndoLayer([layer, redo])

When redo is False this method is equivalent to the “Undo” UI menu item. It restores the last preserved layer state discarding the current state. When redo is True it is equivalent to “Redo”. You may omit the layer parameter, in which case the currently active layer will be used. Otherwise it must either be a layer name or an integer between 0 and glyph.layer_cnt-1.

doUndoLayer is normally used in conjunction with glyph.preserveLayerAsUndo()

glyph.exclude(excluded_layer)

Removes the excluded area from the current glyph. Takes an argument which is a layer. See also glyph.removeOverlap() and glyph.intersect().

glyph.export(filename[, KEYWORD])

Creates a file with the specified name containing a representation of the glyph. Uses the file’s extension to determine output file type.

The following optional keywords modify the export process for various formats:

layer (string or integer, default=glyph.activeLayer)

For vector formats, the layer to export.

pixelsize (integer, default=100)

For raster formats, the size of the image to output.

bitdepth (integer, default=8)

For raster formats, the depth of the image to output. Must be 1 or 8.

usetransform (boolean, default=False)

Flip the Y-axis of exported SVGs with a transform element rather than modifying the individual Y values.

usesystem (boolean, default=False)

Ignore the above keyword settings and use the values set by the user in the Import options dialog.

asksystem (boolean, default=False)

If the UI is present show the Import options dialog to the user and use the chosen values (does nothing otherwise).

Note: The old positional layer/pixelsize,bitdepth calling conventions are still supported but are not compatible with the other keyword parameters.

glyph.genericGlyphChange(stemType=<str>, thickThreshold=<double>, stemScale=<double>, stemAdd=<double>, stemHeightScale=<double>, stemHeightAdd=<double>, stemWidthScale=<double>, stemWidthAdd=<double>, thinStemScale=<double>, thinStemAdd=<double>, thickStemScale=<double>, thickStemAdd=<double>, processDiagonalStems=<boolean>, hCounterType=<str>, hCounterScale=<double>, hCounterAdd=<double>, lsbScale=<double>, lsbAdd=<double>, rsbScale=<double>, rsbAdd=<double>, vCounterType=<str>, vCounterScale=<double>, vCounterAdd=<double>, vScale=<double>, vMap=<tuple of tuples>)

Similar to font.genericGlyphChange(), but acting on this glyph only.

glyph.getPosSub(lookup_subtable_name)

Returns any positioning/substitution data attached to the glyph controlled by the lookup-subtable. If the name is "*" then returns data from all subtables.

The data are returned as a tuple of tuples. The first element of the subtuples is the name of the lookup-subtable. The second element will be one of the strings: "Position", "Pair", "Substitution", "AltSubs", "MultSubs", "Ligature".

Positioning data will be followed by four small integers representing adjustments to the: x position of the glyph, the y position, the horizontal advance, and the vertical advance.

Pair data will be followed by the name of the other glyph in the pair and then eight small integers representing adjustments to the: x position of the first glyph, the y position, the horizontal advance, and the vertical advance, and then a similar foursome for the second glyph.

Substitution data will be followed by a string containing the name of the glyph to replace the current one.

Multiple and Alternate data will be followed by several strings each containing the name of a replacement glyph.

Ligature data will be followed by several strings each containing the name of a ligature component glyph.

glyph.importOutlines(filename[, KEYWORD])

Uses the file’s extension to determine behavior. Imports outline descriptions (eps, svg, glif files) into the foreground layer. Imports image descriptions (bmp, png, xbm, etc.) into the background layer. The following optional keywords modify the import process for various formats:

scale (boolean, default=True)

Scale imported images and SVGs to ascender height

simplify (boolean, default=True)

Run simplify on the output of stroked paths

accuracy (float, default=0.25)

The minimum accuracy (in em-units) of stroked paths.

default_joinlimit (float, default=-1)

Override the format’s default miterlimit for stroked paths, which is 10.0 for PostScript and 4.0 for SVG. (Value -1 means “inherit” those defaults.)

handle_eraser (boolean, default=False)

Certain programs use pens with white ink as erasers. When this flag is set FontForge will attempt to simulate that.

correctdir (boolean, default=False)

Run “Correct direction” on (some) PostScript paths

usesystem (boolean, default=False)

Ignore the above keyword settings and use the values set by the user in the Import options dialog.

asksystem (boolean, default=False)

If the UI is present show the Import options dialog to the user and use the chosen values (does nothing otherwise).

Note: The old PostScript correctdir/handle_eraser flag tuple is still supported but is not compatible with the other keywords.

glyph.intersect()

Leaves only areas in the intersection of contours. See also glyph.removeOverlap() and glyph.exclude().

glyph.isWorthOutputting()

Returns whether the glyph is worth outputting into a font file. Basically a glyph is worth outputting if it contains any contours, or references or has had its width set.

glyph.preserveLayerAsUndo([layer, dohints])

Normally undo handling is turned off during python scripting. This method preserves the current state of a layer so that whatever you do after can be undone by the user. You may omit the layer parameter, in which case the currently active layer will be used. Otherwise it must either be a layer name or an integer between 0 and glyph.layer_cnt-1. When dohints is True then hints will also be preserved (they are not by default).

glyph.removeOverlap()

Removes overlapping areas. See also glyph.intersect() and glyph.exclude().

glyph.removePosSub(lookup_subtable_name)

Removes all data from the glyph corresponding to the given lookup-subtable. If the name is “*” then all data will be removed.

glyph.round([factor])

Rounds the x and y coordinates of each point in the glyph. If factor is specified then

new-coord = round(factor*old-coord)/factor

See also glyph.cluster().

glyph.selfIntersects()

Returns whether any of the contours in this glyph intersects any other contour in the glyph (including itself).

glyph.setLayer(layer, layer_index[, flags])

An alternative to assigning to glyph.layers, glyph.background, or glyph.foreground, and equivalent to those when not using the optional flags argument. When present, flags can be used to influence the types FontForge will assign to on-curve points. It should be a tuple of up to three of the following strings.

(In the following descriptions selected refers to points picked out by the chosen select_ flag, which is unrelated to point.selected. At most one "select_" flag and one mode flag should be included.)

select_none

Each (on-curve) point will be assigned a type corresponding to its point.type value.

select_all

(default) Each point will have a type assigned according to the chosen mode.

select_smooth

Each point with the type splineCorner will retain that type, others will be assigned a type according to the chosen mode. This makes point.type function like the smooth tag in the UFO glif format and some other spline storage formats.

select_incompat

Each point with a type compatible with its current geometry will retain that type, others will be assigned a type according to the chosen mode.

by_geom

(default) In this mode, each selected point will be assigned a type based on only its geometry. (However, see "hvcurve"` below.)

downgrade

In this mode, each selected point will be assigned the most specific type compatible with its geometry and its point.type. A point marked splineHVCurve can keep that type or be downgraded to splineCurve or splineCorner, while a splineCurve or splineTangent can keep that (respective) type or be downgraded to splineCorner. (splineCorner is compatible with any geometry.)

check

In this mode, the type of each selected point is verified to be compatible with its geometry. If it is not compatible the function raises an exception. (At present this exception is not very informative. However, to identify the specific problem one can duplicate the layer, use glyph.setLayer() with downgrade, and then retrieve the layer and compare it with the original.)

force

In this mode, the geometry of each selected point is altered to match its point.type, similar to changing a point’s type using the UI. Note that FontForge’s point conversion algorithm is not sophisticated and may not have the desired result.

hvcurve

This extra flag can be used to include splineHVCurve among the types that can be assigned “by geometry”. Normally FontForge assigns splineCurve to on-curve points with strictly horizontal or vertical off-curve points.

glyph.simplify([error_bound, flags, tan_bounds, linefixup, linelenmax])

Tries to remove excess points in the glyph if doing so will not perturb the curve by more than error-bound. Flags is a tuple of the following strings

ignoreslopes

Allow slopes to change

ignoreextrema

Allow removal of extrema

smoothcurves

Allow curve smoothing

choosehv

Snap to horizontal or vertical

forcelines

flatten bumps on lines

nearlyhvlines

Make nearly horizontal/vertical lines be so

mergelines

Merge adjacent lines into one

setstarttoextremum

Rotate the point list so that the start point is on an extremum

removesingletonpoints

If the contour contains just one point then remove it

glyph.stroke("circular", width[, CAP, JOIN, FLAGS])
glyph.stroke("elliptical", width, minor_width, ANGLE[, CAP, JOIN, FLAGS])
glyph.stroke("calligraphic", width, height, angle[, FLAGS])
glyph.stroke("polygon", contour[, FLAGS])
(Legacy interface)
glyph.stroke("circular", width[, CAP, JOIN, ANGLE, KEYWORD])
glyph.stroke("elliptical", width, minor_width[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
glyph.stroke("calligraphic", width, height[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
glyph.stroke("convex", contour[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
(Current interface)

Strokes the contours of the glyph according to the supplied parameters. See the stroke documentation for a more complete description of the facility and its parameters.

A "circular" nib just has a width (the diameter), while an "elliptical" nib has a width (major axis) and a minor_width (minor axis). A "calligraphic" or "rectangular" nib is similar in that it has a width and a height. Finally a "convex" nib is one supplied by the user as a fontforge.contour or fontforge.layer. It must be convex as defined in the main stroke facility documentation.

ANGLE is optional. It can be specified either positionally or with angle=float. It must be a floating point number in units of radians and defaults to zero. The nib is rotated by this angle before stroking the path.

CAP is optional. It can be specified either positionally or with cap=string. It must be one of the strings “nib” (the default), “butt”, “round”, and “bevel”.

JOIN is optional. It can be specified either positionally or with join=string. It must be one of the strings “nib” (the default), “bevel”, “miter”, and “miterclip”, “round”, and “arcs”.

KEYWORD Parameters:

removeinternal (boolean, default=False)

When a contour is closed and clockwise, only the smaller “inside” contour is retained. When a contour is closed and counter-clockwise only the larger “outside” contour is retained.

removeexternal (boolean, default=False)

When a contour is closed and clockwise, only the larger “outside” contour is retained. When a contour is closed and counter-clockwise only the smaller “inside” contour is retained.

extrema (boolean, default=True)

When true, any missing extrema on the stroked paths are added.

simplify (boolean, default=True)

When true, simplify is called on the path before it is returned. The error-bound is set to the accuracy value.

removeoverlap (string, default="layer")

Specifies whether, and on what basis, remove-overlap should be run. “layer” corresponds to running remove-overlap on the layer as a whole. “contour” corresponds to running remove-overlap on individual contours. “none” corresponds to not running remove-overlap. Note that because the stroke facility relies on remove-overlap to eliminate cusps and other artifacts, “none” is an unusual choice and available primarily for debugging purposes.

accuracy (float, default=0.25)

This is a target (but not a guarantee) for the allowed error, in em-units, of the output relative to the input path and nib geometries. Higher values allow more error will typically yield contours with fewer points.

jlrelative (boolean, default=True)

See below.

joinlimit (float, default=20)

Specifies the maximum length of a “miter”, “miterclip”, or “arcs” join. For “miter” joins that would be longer will fall back to “bevel”. With “miterclip” and “arcs” a longer join will be trimmed to the specified length. Note, however, that no join is trimmed past the “bevel line” and therefore lower values do not guarantee a given length.

When jlrelative is false the value is interpreted as a length in em-units. Otherwise the value is interpreted as a multiple of “stroke-widths”: the average of the spans of the nib at the incoming and outgoing join angles.

ecrelative (boolean, default=True)

See below.

extendcap (float, default=0)

When the contour being stroked is open and the cap style is “butt” or “round”, this parameter adds area between the end of that contour and the cap. The length of that area will never be less than the specified value but may be more, depending on the geometry of the nib and the join. (However, it will always be exact for circular nibs.)

When ecrelative is false the value is interpreted as a length in em-units. Otherwise the value is interpreted as a multiple of “stroke-widths”: the span of the stroked path at the angle at the cap.

arcsclip (string, default="auto")

When using the “arcs” join style this parameter influences the algorithm used to clip joins that exceed the joinlimit. The value “svg2” specifies the standard SVG algorithm while the value “ratio” specifies an alternative algorithm that works better for longer and thinner nibs at shorter limits. The default value “auto” chooses the “ratio” algorithm for oblong elliptical and calligraphic nibs and jlrelative joinlimit < 4 and the “svg2” algorithm otherwise.

In the legacy interface, FLAGS is an optional tuple containing zero or more of the strings “removeinternal”, “removeexternal”, and “cleanup”. The last is interpreted as simplify=True, with a default of False when a FLAGS tuple is present.

glyph.transform(matrix[, flags])

Transforms the glyph by the matrix. The optional flags argument should be a tuple containing any of the following strings:

partialRefs

Don’t transform any references in the glyph, but do transform their offsets. This is useful if the referred glyph will be (or has been) transformed.

round

Round to int after the transformation is done.

glyph.nltransform(xexpr, yexpr)

xexpr and yexpr are strings specifying non-linear transformations that will be applied to all points in the current layer (with xexpr being applied to x values, and yexpr to y values, of course). The syntax for the expressions is explained in the non-linear transform dialog.

glyph.unlinkRef([ref_name])

Unlinks the reference to the glyph named ref-name. If ref-name is omitted, unlinks all references.

glyph.unlinkThisGlyph()

Unlinks all the references to the current glyph within any other glyph in the font.

glyph.useRefsMetrics(ref_name[, flag])

Finds a reference with the given name and sets the “use_my_metrics” flag on it (so this glyph will have the same advance width as the glyph the reference points to).

If the optional flag argument is False, then the glyph will no longer have its metrics bound to the reference.

glyph.validate([force])

Validates the glyph and returns the validation_state of the glyph (except bit 0x1 will always be clear). If the glyph passed the validation then the return value will be 0 (not 0x1). Otherwise the return value will be the set of errors found. If force is specified true this will always be validated, if force is unspecified (or specified as false) then it will return the cached value if it is known, otherwise will validate it.

glyph.draw(pen)

Draw the glyph’s outline to the pen argument.

glyph.glyphPen([replace=False])

Creates a new glyphPen which will draw into the current glyph. By default the pen will replace any existing contours and references, but setting the optional keyword argument, replace to false will retain the old contents.

glyph.addInflections()

Please see contour.addInflections().

glyph.balance()

Please see contour.balance().

glyph.harmonize()

Please see contour.harmonize().

Selection

This represents a font’s selection. You may index it with an encoding value (in the encoding ISO-646-US (ASCII) the character “A” has encoding index 65), or with a glyph’s name, or with a string like "uXXXXX" where XXXXX represent the glyph’s unicode codepoint in hex, or with a fontforge.glyph object. The value of indexing into a selection will be either True or False.

>>> print(fontforge.activeFont().selection[65])
True

This type may not be pickled.

class fontforge.selection
selection.byGlyphs

Returns another selection, just the same as this one except that its iterator function will return glyphs (rather than encoding slots) and will only return those entries for which glyphs exist.

This is read-only.

selection.__iter__()

Returns an iterator for the selection which will return all selected encoding slots in encoding order.

selection.all()

Select everything.

selection.none()

Deselect everything.

selection.changed()

Select all glyphs which have changed.

selection.invert()

Invert the selection.

selection.select(args)

There may be an arbitrary number of arguments. Each argument may be either:

  • A glyph name

    Note: There need not be a glyph with this name in the font yet, but if you use a standard name (like “A”) fontforge will still know where that glyph should be.

  • An integer (this will be interpreted as either an encoding index or (default) a unicode code point depending on the flags).

  • A fontforge glyph.

  • A tuple of flags.

    (If you wish to specify a single flag it must still be in a tuple, and you must append a trailing comma to the flag (so ("more",) rather than just ("more") ). FF needs the flags to be in a tuple otherwise it can’t distinguish them from glyph names)

    unicode

    Interpret integer arguments as unicode code points

    encoding

    Interpret integer arguments as encoding indeces.

    more

    Specified items should be selected

    less

    Specified items should be deselected.

    singletons

    Specified items should be interpreted individually and mean the obvious.

    ranges

    Specified items should be interpreted in pairs and represent all encoding slots between the start and end points specified by the pair. So .select(("ranges",None),"A","Z") would select all the upper case (latin) letters.

If the first argument is not a flag argument (or if it doesn’t specify either “more” or “less”) then the selection will be cleared. So .select("A") would produce a selection with only “A” selected, .select(("more",None),"A") would add “A” to the current selection, while .select(("less",None),"A") would remove “A” from the current selection.

Private

This represents a font’s postscript private dictionary. You may index it with one of the standard names of things that live in the private dictionary.

This type may not be pickled.

class fontforge.private
private.__iter__()

Returns an iterator for the dictionary which will return all entres.

private.guess(name)

Guess a value for this this entry in the private dictionary. If FontForge can’t make a guess it will simply ignore the request.

Math

This represents a font’s math constant table. Not all fonts have math tables, and checking this field will not create the underlying object, but examining or assigning to its members will create it.

This type may not be pickled.

Members

Any of the math constant names may be used as member names.

(These names begin with capital letters, not Python’s conventions but Microsoft’s)

These all take (16 bit) integer values.

I do not currently provide python access to any associated device tables.

math.ScriptPercentScaleDown

Percentage scale down for script level 1

math.ScriptScriptPercentScaleDown

Percentage scale down for script level 2

math.DelimitedSubFormulaMinHeight

Minimum height at which to treat a delimited expression as a subformula

math.DisplayOperatorMinHeight

Minimum height of n-ary operators (integration, summation, etc.)

math.MathLeading

White space to be left between math formulae to ensure proper line spacing.

math.AxisHeight

Axis height of the font

math.AccentBaseHeight

Maximum (ink) height of accent base that does not require raising the accents.

math.FlattenedAccentBaseHeight

Maximum (ink) height of accent base that does not require flattening the accents.

math.SubscriptShiftDown

The standard shift down applied to subscript elements. Positive for moving downward.

math.SubscriptTopMax

Maximum height of the (ink) top of subscripts that does not require moving subscripts further down.

math.SubscriptBaselineDropMin

Maximum allowed drop of the baseline of subscripts relative to the bottom of the base. Used for bases that are treated as a box or extended shape. Positive for subscript baseline dropped below base bottom.

math.SuperscriptShiftUp

Standard shift up applied to superscript elements.

math.SuperscriptShiftUpCramped

Standard shift of superscript relative to base in cramped mode.

math.SuperscriptBottomMin

Minimum allowed height of the bottom of superscripts that does not require moving them further up.

math.SuperscriptBaselineDropMax

Maximum allowed drop of the baseline of superscripts relative to the top of the base. Used for bases that are treated as a box or extended shape. Positive for superscript baseline below base top.

math.SubSuperscriptGapMin

Minimum gap between the superscript and subscript ink.

math.SuperscriptBottomMaxWithSubscript

The maximum level to which the (ink) bottom of superscript can be pushed to increase the gap between superscript and subscript, before subscript starts being moved down.

math.SpaceAfterScript

Extra white space to be added after each sub/superscript.

math.UpperLimitGapMin

Minimum gap between the bottom of the upper limit, and the top of the base operator.

math.UpperLimitBaselineRiseMin

Minimum distance between the baseline of an upper limit and the bottom of the base operator.

math.LowerLimitGapMin

Minimum gap between (ink) top of the lower limit, and (ink) bottom of the base operator.

math.LowerLimitBaselineDropMin

Minimum distance between the baseline of the lower limit and bottom of the base operator.

math.StackTopShiftUp

Standard shift up applied to the top element of a stack.

math.StackTopDisplayStyleShiftUp

Standard shift up applied to the top element of a stack in display style.

math.StackBottomShiftDown

Standard shift down applied to the bottom element of a stack. Positive values indicate downward motion.

math.StackBottomDisplayStyleShiftDown

Standard shift down applied to the bottom element of a stack in display style. Positive values indicate downward motion.

math.StackGapMin

Minimum gap between bottom of the top element of a stack, and the top of the bottom element.

math.StackDisplayStyleGapMin

Minimum gap between bottom of the top element of a stack and the top of the bottom element in display style.

math.StretchStackTopShiftUp

Standard shift up applied to the top element of the stretch stack.

math.StretchStackBottomShiftDown

Standard shift down applied to the bottom element of the stretch stack. Positive values indicate downward motion.

math.StretchStackGapAboveMin

Minimum gap between the ink of the stretched element and the ink bottom of the element above.

math.StretchStackGapBelowMin

Minimum gap between the ink of the stretched element and the ink top of the element below.

math.FractionNumeratorShiftUp

Standard shift up applied to the numerator.

math.FractionNumeratorDisplayStyleShiftUp

Standard shift up applied to the numerator in display style.

math.FractionDenominatorShiftDown

Standard shift down applied to the denominator. Positive values indicate downward motion.

math.FractionDenominatorDisplayStyleShiftDown

Standard shift down applied to the denominator in display style. Positive values indicate downward motion.

math.FractionNumeratorGapMin

Minimum tolerated gap between the ink bottom of the numerator and the ink of the fraction bar.

math.FractionNumeratorDisplayStyleGapMin

Minimum tolerated gap between the ink bottom of the numerator and the ink of the fraction bar in display style.

math.FractionRuleThickness

Thickness of the fraction bar.

math.FractionDenominatorGapMin

Minimum tolerated gap between the ink top of the denominator and the ink of the fraction bar.

math.FractionDenominatorDisplayStyleGapMin

Minimum tolerated gap between the ink top of the denominator and the ink of the fraction bar in display style.

math.SkewedFractionHorizontalGap

Horizontal distance between the top and bottom elements of a skewed fraction.

math.SkewedFractionVerticalGap

Vertical distance between the ink of the top and bottom elements of a skewed fraction.

math.OverbarVerticalGap

Distance between the overbar and the ink top of the base.

math.OverbarRuleThickness

Thickness of the overbar.

math.OverbarExtraAscender

Extra white space reserved above the overbar.

math.UnderbarVerticalGap

Distance between underbar and the (ink) bottom of the base.

math.UnderbarRuleThickness

Thickness of the underbar.

math.UnderbarExtraDescender

Extra white space reserved below the underbar.

math.RadicalVerticalGap

Space between the ink to of the expression and the bar over it.

math.RadicalDisplayStyleVerticalGap

Space between the ink top of the expression and the bar over it in display style.

math.RadicalRuleThickness

Thickness of the radical rule in designed or constructed radical signs.

math.RadicalExtraAscender

Extra white space reserved above the radical.

math.RadicalKernBeforeDegree

Extra horizontal kern before the degree of a radical if such be present.

math.RadicalKernAfterDegree

Negative horizontal kern after the degree of a radical if such be present.

math.RadicalDegreeBottomRaisePercent

Height of the bottom of the radical degree, if such be present, in proportion to the ascender of the radical sign.

math.MinConnectorOverlap

Minimum overlap of connecting glyphs during glyph construction.

math.exists()

Returns whether the font currently has an underlying math table associated with it. Note that examining or assigning to one of the members will create such a table.

math.clear()

Removes any underlying math table from the font.

Font

The font type refers to a fontforge font object. It generally contains a list of glyphs, an encoding to order those glyphs, a fontname, a list of GPOS/GSUB lookups and many other things.

This type may not be pickled.

class fontforge.font

Creates a new font.

font.activeLayer

Returns currently active layer in the font (as an integer). May be set to an integer or a layer name to change the active layer.

font.ascent

The font’s ascent

font.bitmapSizes

A tuple with an entry for each bitmap strike attached to the font. Each strike is identified by pixelsize (if the strike is a grey scale font it will be indicated by (bitmap-depth<<16)|pixelsize.

When setting this value pass in a tuple of the same format. Any existing strike not specified in the tuple will be removed. Any new sizes will be created (but not rasterized – use font.regenBitmaps() for that).

font.capHeight

(readonly) Computes the Cap Height (the height of capital letters such as “E”). A negative number indicates the value could not be computed (the font might have no capital letters because it was lower case only, or didn’t include glyphs for a script with capital letters).

font.changed

Bit indicating whether the font has been modified. This is (should be) maintained automatically, but you may set it if you wish.

font.cidcopyright

Copyright message of the cid-keyed font as a whole (ie. not the current subfont).

font.cidfamilyname

Family name of the cid-keyed font as a whole (ie. not the current subfont).

font.cidfontname

Font name of the cid-keyed font as a whole (ie. not the current subfont).

font.cidfullname

Full name of the cid-keyed font as a whole (ie. not the current subfont).

font.cidordering
font.cidregistry
font.cidsubfont

Returns the number index of the current subfont in the cid-keyed font (or -1 if this is not a cid-keyed font).

May be set to an index (an integer) or a subfont fontname (a string) to change the current subfont. (To find the name of the current subfont, simply use .fontname).

font.cidsubfontcnt

Returns the number of subfonts in this cid-keyed font (or 0 if it is not a cid-keyed font)

font.cidsubfontnames

Returns a tuple of the subfont names in this cid-keyed font (or None if it is not a cid-keyed font)

font.cidsupplement
font.cidversion
font.cidweight

Weight of the cid-keyed font as a whole

font.comment

A comment associated with the font. Can be anything.

font.copyright

PostScript copyright notice

font.cvt

Returns a sequence object containing the font’s cvt table. Changes made to this object will be made to the font (this is a reference not a copy).

The object has one additional method cvt.find(value[,low,high]) which finds the index of value in the cvt table (or -1 if not found). If low and high are specified then the index will be between [low,high).

font.default_base_filename

The default base for the filename when generating a font

font.descent

The font’s descent

font.design_size

Size (in pica points) for which this font was designed.

font.em

The em size of the font. Setting this will scale the entire font to the new size.

font.encoding

The name of the current encoding. Setting it will change the encoding used for indexing. To compact the encoding, first set it to your desired encoding (e.g. UnicodeBMP), then set it to compacted.

font.familyname

PostScript font family name

font.fondname

Mac fond name

font.fontlog

A comment associated with the font. Can be anything.

font.fontname

PostScript font name

Note that in a CID keyed font this will be the name of the current subfont. Use cidfontname for the name of the font as a whole.

font.fullname

PostScript font name

font.gasp

Returns a tuple of all gasp table entries. Each item in the tuple is itself a tuple composed of a ppem (an integer) and a tuple of flags. The flags are chosen from:

  • gridfit

  • antialias

  • symmetric-smoothing

  • gridfit+smoothing

font.gasp_version

The version of the ‘gasp’ table. Currently this may be 0 or 1.

font.gpos_lookups

Returns a tuple of all positioning lookup names in the font. This member cannot be set.

font.gsub_lookups

Returns a tuple of all substitution lookup names in the font. This member cannot be set.

font.guide

A copy of the font’s guide layer

font.hasvmetrics
font.head_optimized_for_cleartype
font.hhea_ascent
font.hhea_ascent_add
font.hhea_descent
font.hhea_descent_add
font.hhea_linegap
font.horizontalBaseline

Returns a tuple of tuples containing the horizontal baseline information in the font (the ‘BASE’ table). If there is no information None will be returned, otherwise the format of the tuple is:

((tuple of baseline tags used), (tuple of script information))

The (tuple of baseline tags used) is simply a tuple of 4 letter strings as ("hang", "ideo", "romn") these are standard baseline tag names as defined in the opentype spec. The number of entries here, and their order is important as there will be subsequent tuples (in the script tuple) which use the same ordering.

The (tuple of script information) is again a tuple of script information tuples.

A script information tuple looks like

(script-tag,default-baseline-tag, (tuple of baseline positions), (tuple of language extents))

If there are no baseline tags defined (an empty tuple), then the default-baseline-tag and the (tuple of baseline positions) will be None. Otherwise both tags will be 4 character strings, and the (tuple of baseline positions) will be a tuple of numbers (in the same order as the (tuple of baseline tags used) above) specifying the relative positions of each baseline for this script.

A (tuple of language extents) is a tuple of language extent tuples.

A language extent tuple is

(language-tag,min-extent,max-extent, (tuple of feature extents))

language-tag is a 4 letter string specifying an opentype language, min/max-extent are numbers specifying how far above and below the baseline characters go in this script/language.

A (tuple of feature extents> is a tuple of feature extent tuples.

A feature extent tuple is

(feature-tag,min-extent,max-extent)

feature-tag is a 4 letter string specifying an opentype (GPOS or GSUB) feature tag, min/max-extent are numbers specifying how far above and below the baseline characters go in this script/language with the feature applied.

Example:

(("hang","ideo","romn"),
  (("cyrl","romn",(1405,-288,0),()),
   ("grek","romn",(1405,-288,0),()),
   ("latn","romn",(1405,-288,0),
     (("dflt",-576,1913,
       (("NoAc",-576,1482),
        ("ENG ",-576,1482))
     ),
   )
  )
 )
)

(Note: The comma after the dflt tuple puts it into a one-element tuple.)

font.is_cid

Indicates whether the font is a cid-keyed font or not. (Read-only)

font.is_quadratic

Deprecated. Whether the contours should be interpreted as a set of quadratic or cubic splines. Setting this value has the side effect of converting the entire font into the other format

Now each layer may have its own setting for this value, which should be set on the font’s font.layers.

font.isnew

A flag indicating that this is a new font

font.italicangle
font.macstyle
Bit 0

Bold (if set to 1)

Bit 1

Italic (if set to 1)

Bit 2

Underline (if set to 1)

Bit 3

Outline (if set to 1)

Bit 4

Shadow (if set to 1)

Bit 5

Condensed (if set to 1)

Bit 6

Extended (if set to 1)

Bits 7-15

Reserved (set to 0).

(source)

font.layer_cnt

The number of layers in the font. (Read only. Can change using add and del operations on the font.layers array)

font.layers

Returns a dictionary like object with information on the layers of the font – a name and a boolean indicating whether the layer is quadratic or not.

You may remove a layer with

del font.layers["unneeded layer"]

You may add a new layer with

font.layers.add("layer-name",is_quadratic[, is_background])

You may change a layer’s name with

font.layers["layer"].name = "new-name"

You may change the type of splines in a layer with

font.layers["layer"].is_quadratic = True

You may change whether it is a background layer by

font.layers["layer"].is_background = True

Note: The layers that live in the font are different from layers that live in a glyph. These objects do not have the Layer type documented earlier.

font.loadState

A bitmask indicating non-fatal errors found when loading the font. (readonly)

0x01

Bad PostScript entry in ‘name’ table

0x02

Bad ‘glyf’ or ‘loca’ table

0x04

Bad ‘CFF ‘ table

0x08

Bad ‘hhea’, ‘hmtx’, ‘vhea’ or ‘vmtx’ table

0x10

Bad ‘cmap’ table

0x20

Bad ‘EBLC’, ‘bloc’, ‘EBDT’ or ‘bdat’ (embedded bitmap) table

0x40

Bad Apple GX advanced typography table

0x80

Bad OpenType advanced typography table (GPOS, GSUB, GDEF, BASE)

0x100

Bad OS/2 version number

Windows will reject all fonts with a OS/2 version number of 0 and will reject OT-CFF fonts with a version number of 1

font.maxp_FDEFs

The number of function definitions used by the tt program

font.maxp_IDEFs

The number of instruction definitions used by the tt program

font.maxp_maxStackDepth

The maximum stack depth used by the tt program

font.maxp_storageCnt

The number of storage locations used by the tt program

font.maxp_twilightPtCnt

The number of points in the twilight zone of the tt program

font.maxp_zones

The number of zones used in the tt program

font.multilayer
font.onlybitmaps

A flag indicating that this font only contains bitmaps. No outlines.

font.os2_codepages

A 2 element tuple containing the OS/2 Codepages field

font.os2_family_class
font.os2_fstype
font.os2_stylemap

Write access to fsSelection, keep in sync with font.macstyle

font.os2_panose
font.os2_strikeypos
font.os2_strikeysize
font.os2_subxoff
font.os2_subxsize
font.os2_subyoff
font.os2_subysize
font.os2_supxoff
font.os2_supxsize
font.os2_supyoff
font.os2_supysize
font.os2_typoascent
font.os2_typoascent_add
font.os2_typodescent
font.os2_typodescent_add
font.os2_typolinegap
font.os2_use_typo_metrics
font.os2_unicoderanges

A 4 element tuple containing the OS/2 Unicode Ranges field

font.os2_vendor
font.os2_version
font.os2_weight
font.os2_weight_width_slope_only
font.os2_width
font.os2_winascent
font.os2_winascent_add
font.os2_windescent
font.os2_windescent_add
font.path

(readonly) Returns a string containing the name of the file from which the font was originally read (in this session), or if this is a new font, returns a made up filename in the current directory named something like “Untitled1.sfd”. See also font.sfd_path.

font.persistent

Whatever you want – though I recommend you store a dict here (these data will be saved as a pickled object in the sfd file. It is your job to ensure that whatever you put here can be pickled)

If you do store a dict then the following entries will be treated specially:

initScriptString

If present, and if this is a string, then each time the font is loaded from an sfd file, this string will be passed to the python interpreter.

Note

This is a string, not a function. Function code cannot be pickled. Since it is a string it will receive no arguments, but the current font will be available in the activeFont method of the fontforge module.

This string will be interpreted before the loadFontHook of the fontforge.hooks dictionary.

One possible behavior for this string is to define function hooks to be stored in the temporary dict described below.

font.math

Returns a math object which provides information on the font’s underlying math constant table. There is only one of these per font.

font.private

Returns a private dictionary-like object representing the PostScript private dictionary for the font. Changing entries in this object will change them in the font. (It’s a reference, not a copy).

There is an iterator associated with this entry.

font.privateState

Checks the (PostScript) Private dictionary and returns a bitmask of some common errors.

0x000001

Odd number of elements in either the BlueValues or OtherBlues array.

0x000002

Elements in either the BlueValues or OtherBlues are disordered.

0x000004

Too many elements in either the BlueValues or OtherBlues array.

0x000008

Elements in either the BlueValues or OtherBlues array are too close (must be at least 2*BlueFuzz +1 apart).

0x000010

Elements in either the BlueValues or OtherBlues array are not integers.

0x000020

Alignment zone height in either the BlueValues or OtherBlues array is too big for the value of BlueScale.

0x000100

Odd number of elements in either the FamilyBlues or FamilyOtherBlues array.

0x000200

Elements in either the FamilyBlues or FamilyOtherBlues are disordered.

0x000400

Too many elements in either the FamilyBlues or FamilyOtherBlues array.

0x000800

Elements in either the FamilyBlues or FamilyOtherBlues array are too close (must be at least 2*BlueFuzz +1 apart).

0x001000

Elements in either the FamilyBlues or FamilyOtherBlues array are not integers.

0x002000

Alignment zone height in either the FamilyBlues or FamilyOtherBlues array is too big for the value of BlueScale.

0x010000

Missing BlueValues entry.

0x020000

Bad BlueFuzz entry.

0x040000

Bad BlueScale entry.

0x080000

Bad StdHW entry.

0x100000

Bad StdVW entry.

0x200000

Bad StemSnapH entry.

0x400000

Bad StemSnapV entry.

0x800000

StemSnapH does not include StdHW.

0x1000000

StemSnapV does not include StdVW.

0x2000000

Bad BlueShift entry.

font.selection

Returns a reference to a array-like object representing the font's selection. There is one entry for each encoding slot (there may not be a glyph attached to every encoding slot). You may set this with a tuple of integers (or boolean values). There should not be more entries in the tuple than there are encoding slots in the current encoding. A True or non-0 value means the slot is selected.

font.sfd_path

(readonly) Returns a string (or None) containing the name of the sfd file associated with this font. Sometimes this will be the same as font.path.

font.sfnt_names

The strings in the sfnt ‘name’ table. A tuple of all MS names. Each name is itself a tuple of strings (language,strid,string). Language may be either the (english) name of the language/locale, or the number representing that language in Microsoft’s specification. Strid may be one of the (English) string names (Copyright, Family, SubFamily, etc.) or the numeric value of that item. The string itself is in UTF-8.

Mac names will be automagically created from MS names

font.sfntRevision

The font revision field stored in the 'head' table of an sfnt. This is documented to be a fixed 16.16 number (that is a 32 bit number with the binary point between bits 15 and 16).

The field may be unset (in which case when the font is generated, FontForge will guess a default value from one of the version strings).

The value returned with be None if the field is unset or a double.

You may set it to None which “unsets” it, or to a double value, or to an integer. The integer will be treated as a 32 bit integer and right shifted by 16 to get a 16.16 value).

font.size_feature

The OpenType ‘size’ feature has two formats. It may either represent the design size of the font (and nothing else) or the design size, and range (top and bottom point sizes for which this design works), a style id (used to represent this design size throughout the font family) and a set of language/string pairs used to represent this design size in the menu.

If no size information is specified in the font FontForge will return None.

If only the design size is specified, FontForge will return a tuple containing a single element: the point size for which the font was designed. (This is returned as a real number – the field can represent tenths of a point).

Otherwise FontForge returns a tuple containing five elements, the design size, the bottom of the design range, the top, the style id and a tuple of tuples. Each sub-tuple is a language/string pair. Language may be either the (english) name of the language/locale, or The string itself is in UTF-8.

font.strokedfont

is this a stroked font?

font.strokewidth

the stroke width of a stroked font

font.temporary

Whatever you want – though I recommend you store a dict here (these data will be lost once the font is closed)

If you do store a dict then the following entries will be treated specially:

generateFontPreHook

If present, and if this is a function it will be called just before a font is generated. It will be called with the font and the filename to which the font will be written.

generateFontPostHook

If present, and if this is a function it will be called just after a font is generated. It will be called with the font and the filename to which the font will be written.

font.texparameters

Returns a tuple of TeX font parameters. TeX font type followed by 22 parameters. Font type is one of:

  • text

  • mathsym

  • mathext

  • unset

In case of unset default values for font parameters will be returned.

font.uniqueid
font.upos

underline position

font.userdata

Warning

Deprecated name for font.temporary

font.uwidth

underline width

font.version

PostScript font version string

font.verticalBaseline

Same format as font.horizontalBaseline.

font.vertical_origin

Warning

Deprecated

font.vhea_linegap
font.weight

PostScript font weight string

font.woffMajor

The major version number of a woff file, an integer.

The field may be unset (in which case when the font is generated, FontForge will guess a default value from one of the version strings).

The value returned with be None if the field is unset or an integer.

You may set it to None which “unsets” it, or to an integer.

font.woffMinor

The minor version number of a woff file, an integer.

The field may be unset (in which case when the font is generated, FontForge will guess a default value from one of the version strings).

The value returned with be None if the field is unset or an integer.

You may set it to None which “unsets” it, or to an integer.

font.woffMetadata

Any metadata associated with a woff file. This is a utf8 string containing unparsed xml.

font.xHeight

(readonly) Computes the X Height (the height of lower case letters such as “x”). A negative number indicates the value could not be computed (the font might have no lower case letters because it was upper case only, or didn’t include glyphs for a script with lower case letters).

font.__iter__()

Returns an iterator for the font which will run through the font, in gid order, returning glyph names

font.__contains__()

Returns whether the font contains a glyph with the given name.

font.__len__()

The number of glyph slots in the current encoding

font.__getitem__(key)

If key is an integer, then returns the glyph at that encoding. If a string then returns the glyph with that name. May not be assigned to.

font.addAnchorClass(lookup_subtable_name, new_anchor_class_name)

Adds an anchor class to the specified (anchor) subtable.

font.addKerningClass(lookup_name, new_subtable_name, first_classes, second_classes, offsets[, after])
font.addKerningClass(lookup_name, new_subtable_name, separation, first_classes, second_classes[, onlyCloser, autokern, after])
font.addKerningClass(lookup_name, new_subtable_name, separation, class_distance, first_glyph_list, second_glyph_list[, onlyCloser, autokern, after])
font.addKerningClass(lookup_name, new_subtable_name, separation, class_distance[, onlyCloser, autokern, after])

Creates a new subtable and a new kerning class in the named lookup. The classes arguments are tuples of tuples of glyph names (each sub-tuble of glyph names is a kerning class). The offsets argument is a tuple of kerning offsets. There must be as many entries as

len(first-class)*len(second-class)

The optional after argument is used to specify the order of the subtable within the lookup.

The second format will cause FontForge to auto kern the subtable. The separation argument specifies the desired optical distance between any two glyphs (if this is specified as 0 then the kerning class will be designed so glyphs just touch each other). Again the user specifies two sets of predefined classes. If the (optional) onlyCloser flag is set true then only negative kerning values will be inserted into the table.

In the third format the user merely specifies two lists of glyphs to be used, fontforge will look for similarities among among the glyphs and guess at classes. The class-distance argument to determine how precise the classes should match (1 is very tight matching, 20 is rather loose).

In the last format the font’s selection will be used to specify the list of glyphs to be examined (and the same list will be used for both the left and right glyphs – but fontforge will probably find different classes).

font.addLookup(new_lookup_name, type, flags, feature_script_lang_tuple[, after_lookup_name)

Creates a new lookup with the given name, type and flags. It will tag it with any indicated features. The type of one of

  • gsub_single

  • gsub_multiple

  • gsub_alternate

  • gsub_ligature

  • gsub_context

  • gsub_contextchain

  • gsub_revesechain

  • morx_indic

  • morx_context

  • morx_insert

  • gpos_single

  • gpos_pair

  • gpos_cursive

  • gpos_mark2base

  • gpos_mark2ligature

  • gpos_mark2mark

  • gpos_context

  • gpos_contextchain

  • kern_statemachine

The flags argument is a tuple of strings, or None. At most one of these strings may be the name of a mark class. The others are:

  • right_to_left

  • ignore_bases

  • ignore_ligatures

  • ignore_marks

A feature-script-lang tuple is a tuple with one entry for each feature (there may be no entries if there are no features). Each entry is itself a two element tuple, the first entry is a string containing a 4 letter feature tag, and the second entry is another tuple (potentially empty) with an entry for each script for which the feature is active. Each entry here is itself a two element tuple. The first element is a 4 letter script tag and the second is a tuple of languages. Each entry in the language tuple is a four letter language. Example: (("liga",(("latn",("dflt")),)),)

The optional final argument allows you to specify the ordering of the lookup. If not specified the lookup will be come the first lookup in its table.

font.addLookupSubtable(lookup_name, new_subtable_name[, after_subtable_name])

Creates a new subtable within the specified lookup. The lookup name should be a string specifying an existing lookup. The subtable name should also be a string and should not match any currently existing subtable in the lookup. The optional final argument allows you to specify the ordering within the lookup. If not specified this subtable will be first in the lookup.

If you want to create a subtable in a contextual lookup, then use font.addContextualSubtable(). If you want to create a kerning class subtable, then use font.addKerningClass().

font.addContextualSubtable(lookup_name, new_subtable_name, type, rule[, afterSubtable=]  [, bclasses=]  [, mclasses=]  [, fclasses=] [, bclassnames=]  [, mclassnames=]  [, fclassnames=])

Creates a new subtable within the specified contextual lookup (contextual, contextual chaining, or reverse contextual chaining). The lookup name should be a string specifying an existing lookup. The subtable name should also be a string and should not match any currently existing subtable in the lookup.

The type should be one of the strings “glyph”, “class”, “coverage” or “reversecoverage”. The rule should be a string specifying a string to match and a set of lookups to apply once the match has been made. (See below for more details).

The remaining arguments are optional, keyword arguments.

  • afterSubtable=, if present this should be followed by a string, the name of a subtable after which this one is to be placed in the lookup. If not specified this subtable will be first in the lookup.

  • bclasses=, fclasses=, mclasses= these three arguments specify sets of glyph classes for when type="class". They should be a tuple of thingies where each thingy is either a string containing a list of space separated glyph names, or another tuple containing a set of strings, each a glyph name. Note that the first class is magic and should usually be left as a null string.

  • bclassnames=, fclassnames=, mclassnames= These provide names for the glyph classes described above. These names are optional, but can be convenient. These are tuples of strings. There should be the same number of entries in bclassnames as there are in bclasses.

When type="glyph"

The rule should look something like:

glyph-name1 glyph-name2 | glyph-name3 @<lookup-name> | glyph-name4

The | s divide between backtrack, match and lookahead sections. So this example would match it the current glyph were named glyph-name3 and it were preceded by glyph-name2 and that by glyph-name1 and followed by glyph-name4. If the match were successful then the lookup named lookup-name would be applied. The @<> are literal characters and should be present in the rule.

If the invoked lookup is a ligature lookup then it should be invoked after the first glyph that forms the lookup (rather than the last) and all glyphs that might make up the lookup should be in the match section. So…

e | f @<ff-lig> f l | o

would only apply the ff-lig lookup if the ffl were preceded by e and followed by o.

When type="class"

The rule should look something like:

class-name1 class-name2 | class-name3 @<lookup-name> | class-name4

Very similar to the case of glyphs, except that instead of glyph names we have class names here. It is possible to have different sets of class names in the three different sections (backtrack, match and lookahead). If you don’t specify any class names then you must use numbers instead, each number referring to the class at that position in the tuple (the first class will be class 0, the second class 1, and so on).

When type="coverage"

The rule should look something like:

[g1 g2] [g3 g4] | [g5 g6 g7] @<lookup-name> | [g8 g9]

Each entry within brackets, [], represents a coverage table and should be a list of glyph names. The brackets are specified literally.

When type="reversecoverage"

The rule should look something like:

[g1 g2] [g3 g4] | [g5 g6 g7] => [rg1 rg2 rg3] | [g8 g9]

Very similar to normal coverage tables except that instead of specifying a lookup there are replacement glyphs inline. There must be the same number of replacement glyphs (rg1, rg2,rg3) as match glyphs (g5, g6, g7) and there may be only one coverage table in the match section.

Warning

This format has some limitations, if there are multiple lookups they will be applied in textual order (First lookup in the string is the first one applied). This limitation is also present in Adobe’s feature files so I hope it shan’t be a severe limitation.

font.addSmallCaps(scheight=None, capheight=None, lcstem=None, ucstem=None, symbols=None, letter_extension=None, symbol_extension=None, stem_height_factor=None)

This function uses keyword parameters. None are required, if omitted a default value will be used (generally found by analyzing the font).

For each selected letter, this function will create a corresponding small caps glyph. If you set the symbol keyword to True it will also create small caps variants of digits and symbols.

The outlines of the new glyph will be based on the outlines of the upper-case variant of the letter. These will then be scaled so that a glyph which was capheight high will now be scheight high, and so that stems which were ucstem wide will be lcstem wide. Normally the ratio of stem heights is the same as the ratio of stem widths, but you may change that with stem_height_factor.

When it creates a new glyph it will name that glyph by appending “.sc” to the original lower case letter name (so “a” would become “a.sc”) you may change the extension used with letter_extension. Similarly symbols and digits will use the extension “taboldstyle”, but you may change that with symbol_extension.

When it creates a glyph it also creates two lookups one bound to the feature “c2sc” and the other to “smcp”. A mapping from the lower case letter to the small caps letter will be provided under “smcp”, while a mapping from the upper case to the small caps under “c2sc”. Symbols will have both lookup maps attached to the original glyph.

font.alterKerningClass(subtable_name, first_classes, second_classes, offsets)

Changes the kerning class in the named subtable. The classes arguments are tuples of tuples of glyph names (each sub-tuble of glyph names is a kerning class). The offsets argument is a tuple of kerning offsets. There must be as many entries as len(first-class)*len(second-class). The optional after argument is used to specify the order of the subtable within the lookup.

font.autoKern(subtable_name, separation[, minKern=, onlyCloser=, touch=])
font.autoKern(subtable_name, separation, glyph_list1, glyph_list2[, minKern=, onlyCloser=, touch=])

The named subtable must be a kerning pair subtable that already exists.

This command will automatically generate kerning pairs for the named subtable. If no glyph lists are specified it will look at all pairs of the glyphs in the selection; if glyph lists are specified then it will look at all pairs that can be made with one glyph from the first list and the second from the second list.

It will attempt to guess a good kerning value between the two glyphs – a value which will make the optical separation between the two appear to be separation em-units. If minkern is specified then and the (absolute value of the) kerning correction is less than this number then no kerning pair will be generated. If onlyCloser is set true then only negative kerning offsets will be generated (only thing which move two glyphs closer together). If touch is set to 1 then the kerning offset will not be based on optical distance but on the closest approach between two the two glyphs.

font.appendSFNTName(language, strid, string)

Adds a new (or replaces an old) string in the sfnt ‘name’ table. Language may be either the English name of the language/locale as a string, or the number representing that language in MicroSoft’s specification. Strid may be one of the (english) string names (Copyright, Family, SubFamily, etc.) or the numeric value of that item. The string itself is in UTF-8.

font.buildOrReplaceAALTFeatures()

Removes any existing AALT features (and any lookups solely controlled by such features) and creates new ones containing all possible single and alternate substutions available for each glyph.

font.cidConvertByCMap(cmap_filename)

Converts a normal font into a CID-keyed font with one subfont using

the CMAP to determine the mapping.

font.cidConvertTo(registry, ordering, supplement)

Converts a normal font into a CID-keyed font with one subfont.

font.cidFlatten()

Converts a CID font into a normal font (glyphs will be in CID order).

font.cidFlattenByCMap(cmap_filename)

Converts a CID font into a normal font using the encoding specified in the CMAP file.

font.cidInsertBlankSubFont()

Adds a new (blank) sub-font into a cid-keyed font and changes the current sub-font to be it.

font.cidRemoveSubFont()

Removes the current subfont from a cid-keyed font.

font.close()

Frees memory for the current font.

Warning: Any python references to it will become invalid.

font.compareFonts(other_font, filename, flags_tuple)

This will compare the current font with the font in other-font (which must already have been opened). It will write the results to the filename, you may use “-” to send the output to stdout. The flags argument is a tuple of strings and controls what will be compared.

outlines

compare outlines

outlines-exactly

compare outlines exactly (otherwise allow slight errors and the unlinking of references)

warn-outlines-mismatch

warn if the outlines don’t exactly match (but are pretty close)

hints

compare hints

warn-refs-unlink

warn if references need to be unlinked before a match is found

strikes

compare bitmap strikes

fontnames

compare font names

gpos

compare glyph positioning

gsub

compare glyph substitutions

add-outlines

for any glyphs whose outlines differ, add the outlines of the glyph in the second font to the background of the glyph in the first

create-glyphs

if a glyph exists in the second font but not the first, create that glyph in the first and add the outlines from the second into the backgroun layer

font.createChar(uni[, name])

Create (and return) a character at the specified unicode codepoint in this font and optionally name it. If you wish to create a glyph with no unicode codepoint, set the first argument to -1 and specify a name.

If there is already a character at that (positive) codepoint then it is returned. If the optional name parameter is included and differs from its current name then the character is also renamed.

font.createInterpolatedGlyph(glyph1, glyph2, amount)

Create (and return) a glyph with the same unicode code point as glyph1. The glyph may not already exist. The contents of the glyph will be formed by interpolating between glyph1 and glyph2. If amount==0 the result will look like glyph1, or 1 then like glyph2.

font.createMappedChar(enc)
font.createMappedChar(name)

Create (and return) a character at the specified encoding in this font. If there is already a character there, return it

font.find(contour[, error_bound, search_flags])

Searches the font for all glyphs containing the contour (or layer) and returns an iterator which returns those glyphs.

error-bound: defaults to 0.01.

search_flags: tuple of the strings: reverse, flips, rotate, scale.

When found, the glyph.temporary is set to a dict of:

{
  "findMatchedRefs": matched_refs_bit_map,
  "findMatchedContours": matched_contours_bit_map,
  "findMatchedContoursStart": matched_contours_start_bit_map,
}
font.findEncodingSlot(uni)
font.findEncodingSlot(name)

Tests whether a glyph with this codepoint or name is in the font’s encoding and returns the encoding slot. If the glyph is not present it returns -1.

(If a glyph with that name/unicode is in the font, but is not in the encoding, then an value beyond the end of the encoding will be returned).

font.glyphs([type])

Returns an iterator which will return the glyphs in the font. By default they will be returned in “GID” order, but if type is specified as “encoding” they will be returned in encoding order. If returned in encoding order it is possible that a glyph will be returned more than once if there are multiple encoding slots which reference it.

font.generate(filename[, bitmap_type=, flags=, bitmap_resolution=, subfont_directory=, namelist=, layer=])

Generates a font. The type is determined by the font’s extension. The bitmap type (if specified) is also an extension. If layer is specified, then the splines and references in that layer will be used instead of the foreground layer.

Flags is a tuple containing some of

afm

output an afm file

pfm

output a pfm file

tfm

output a tfm file

ofm

output a ofm file

composites-in-afm

Store composite info in the afm file

glyph-map-file

Output a glyph map file giving the mapping between output gid and glyphnames

short-post

Do not include glyphnames in a ttf/otf file

apple

output apple advanced typography tables

opentype

output opentype tables

old-kern

output an old style ‘kern’ with opentype tables

winkern

only add kern pairs for mapped glyphs (required for kerning in some/all versions of Windows)

dummy-dsig

output an empty DSIG table so MS will mark a font with .ttf extension as an OpenType font.

no-FFTM-table

Do not generate an ‘FFTM’ table

TeX-table

Include a ‘TeX ‘ table in an ttf/otf file

round

Round PS coordinates to integers

no-hints

Do not include PS hints

no-flex

Do not include PS flex hints

omit-instructions

Do not include TrueType instructions

PfEd-comments

Include font and glyph comments in the ‘PfEd’ table

PfEd-colors

Include glyph colors in the ‘PfEd’ table

PfEd-lookups

Include lookup names in the ‘PfEd’ table

PfEd-guidelines

Include guideline locations in the ‘PfEd’ table

PfEd-background

Include background (and spiro) layers in the ‘PfEd’ table

symbol

Generate an sfnt with a Symbol cmap entry rather than a Unicode entry.

See also font.save().

font.generateTtc(filename, others[, flags=, ttcflags=, namelist=, layer=])

Generates a truetype collection file containing the current font and all others listed – the others argument may be None, a font, or a tuple (or list) of fonts.

Flags are as above,

Ttcflags is a tuple consisting of the following

merge

Try and share tables and glyphs among the various fonts.

cff

Use the CFF glyph format rather than the TrueType format (the OpenType documentation says that this does not work, but both the Mac and unix/linux accept it).

font.generateFeatureFile(filename[, lookup_name])

Generates an adobe feature file for the current font. If a lookup-name is specified then only data for that lookup will be generated.

font.genericGlyphChange(stemType=<str>, thickThreshold=<double>, stemScale=<double>, stemAdd=<double>, stemHeightScale=<double>, stemHeightAdd=<double>, stemWidthScale=<double>, stemWidthAdd=<double>, thinStemScale=<double>, thinStemAdd=<double>, thickStemScale=<double>, thickStemAdd=<double>, processDiagonalStems=<boolean>, hCounterType=<str>, hCounterScale=<double>, hCounterAdd=<double>, lsbScale=<double>, lsbAdd=<double>, rsbScale=<double>, rsbAdd=<double>, vCounterType=<str>, vCounterScale=<double>, vCounterAdd=<double>, vScale=<double>, vMap=<tuple of tuples>)

This function uses keyword parameters. Which ones are required depends on the three type arguments (stemType, hCounterType, vCounterType).

If stemType is omitted, or is the string “uniform”, then the stemScale parameter must be specified (and stemAdd may be). stemScale specifies a scaling factor by which all stems (horizontal and vertical, thick and thin) will be scaled. A value of 1.0 means no change. While stemAdd specifies the number of em-units to add to the width of each stem.

If stemType is the string “horizontalVertical”, then values must be specified for stemHeightScale and stemWidthScale (and may be for stemHeightAdd, stemWidthAdd ). The first of these specifies scaling for the height of horizontal stems, and the second scaling for the width of vertical stems.

If stemType is the string “thickThin”, then values must be specified for thinStemScale, thickStemScale and thickThreshold (and may be for thinStemAdd, thickStemAdd ). The first of these specifies scaling for the width/height of thin stems, and the second scaling for the width/height of thick stems. While the thickThreshold argument specifies the size (in em-units) at which a stem is classified as “thick”.

If hCounterType is omitted, or is the string “uniform”, then horizontal counters, and the left and right side bearings will all be scaled using the same rules, and hCounterScale must be specified to provide the scaling factor (while hCounterAdd may be specified).

If hCounterType is the string “nonUniform”, then horizontal counters, and the left and right side bearings may all be scaled using different rules, and hCounterScale, lsbScale and rsbScale must be specified to provide the scaling factors (while hCounterAdd, lsbAdd, and rsbAdd may be specified).

If hCounterType is the string “center”, then the left and right side-bearings will be set so the new glyph is centered within the original glyph’s width. (Probably more useful for CJK fonts than LGC fonts).

If hCounterType is the string “retainScale”, then the left and right side-bearings will be set so the new glyph is within within the original glyph’s width, and the side-bearings remain in the same proportion to each other as before.

If vCounterType is omitted, or is the string “mapped”, then certain zones on the glyph may be placed at new (or the same) locations – similar to BlueValues. So you can specify a zone for the baseline, one for the x-height and another for the top of capitals and ascenders (and perhaps a fourth for descenders). Each such zone is specified by the vMap argument which is a tuple of 3-tuples, each 3-tuple specifying a zone with: Original location, original width, and final location.

Note

No default value is providedfor this argument you must figure out all the values yourself.

If vCounterType is the string “scaled”, then vertical counters, and the top and bottom side bearings will all be scaled using the same rules, and vCounterScale must be specified to provide the scaling factor (while vCounterAdd may be specified). This is probably most useful for CJK fonts.

font.getKerningClass(subtable_name)

Returns a tuple whose entries are: (first-classes, second-classes, offsets). The classes are themselves tuples of tuples of glyph names. The offsets will be a tuple of numeric kerning offsetss a tuple whose entries are: (first-classes, second-classes, offsets). The classes are themselves tuples of tuples of glyph names. The offsets will be a tuple of numeric kerning offsets.

font.getLookupInfo(lookup_name)

Returns a tuple whose entries are: (lookup-type, lookup-flags, feature-script-lang-tuple). The lookup type is a string as described in font.addLookup(), and the feature-script-lang tuple is also described there.

font.getLookupSubtables(lookup_name)

Returns a tuple of all subtable names in that lookup.

font.getLookupSubtableAnchorClasses(subtable_name)

Returns a tuple of all anchor class names in that subtable.

font.getLookupOfSubtable(subtable_name)

Returns the name of the lookup containing this subtable.

font.getSubtableOfAnchor(anchor_class_name)

Returns the name of the subtable containing this anchor class.

font.importBitmaps(bitmap_font_file[, to_background])

Load any bitmap strikes out of the bitmap-font-file into the current font

font.importLookups(another_font, lookup_names[, before_name])

The first argument must be a font object, the second a string or a tuple of strings, and the third, another string.

It will search the other font for the named lookup(s) and import it into the current font. (Contextual lookups which invoke other lookups will have any nested lookups imported as well).

Lookups will be imported in the order listed. If a before-name is specified, then it is looked up in the current font and all lookups will be added before it, if not specified lookups will appear at the end of the list.

font.interpolateFonts(fraction, filename)

Interpolates a font between the current font and the font contained in filename.

font.isKerningClass(subtable_name)

Returns whether the named subtable contains a kerning class.

font.isVerticalKerning(subtable_name)

Returns whether the named subtable contains a vertical kerning data

font.italicize(italic_angle=, ia=lc_condense=, lc=uc_condense=, uc=symbol_condense=, symbol=deserif_flat=, deserif_slant=, deserif_pen=, baseline_serifs=, xheight_serifs=, ascent_serifs=, descent_serifs=, diagonal_serifs=, a=, f=, u0438=, u043f=, u0442=, u0444=, u0448=, u0452=, u045f=)

This function uses keyword parameters. None are required, if omitted a default value will be used. Some keywords have abbreviations (“ia” for “italic_angle”) you may use either.

This function will attempt to italicize each selected glyph. For a detailed explanation of what this entails please see the information on the Italic dialog.

The *_condense keywords should be 4 element tuples of floating point numbers; these numbers correspond to: Left side bearing condensation, stem condensation, counter condensation and right side bearing condensation. These numbers should be small numbers around 1 (scale factors, not percentages).

Set at most one of the deserif_* keywords.

Setting a to True will turn on the transformation that applies to the “a” glyph. Setting u0438 will control the transformation that applies to the glyph at unicode codepoint U+0438.

The f keyword is slightly more complex. Setting it to 0 turns off all transformations of glyphs like “f”, setting it to 1 will give “f” a tail which looks like a rotated version of its head, and setting it to 2 will simply extend the main stem of “f” below the baseline.

font.lookupSetFeatureList(lookup_name, feature_script_lang_tuple)

Sets the feature list of indicated lookup. The feature-script-lang tuple is described at font.addLookup().

font.lookupSetFlags(lookup_name, flags)

Sets the lookup flags for the named lookup.

font.lookupSetStoreLigatureInAfm(lookup_name, boolean)

Sets whether this ligature lookup contains data to store in the afm.

font.mergeFonts(filename[, preserveCrossFontKerning])(font[, preserveCrossFontKerning])

Merges the font in the file into the current font.

font.mergeFeature(filename, boolean)

Merge feature and lookup information from an adobe feature file, or metrics information from the (afm, tfm, etc) file into the current font. The optional boolean will try to skip invalid feature lookups containing replacement glyphs which do not exist in the font, which can help in reusing large feature files.

font.mergeKern(filename)

Deprecated name for mergeFeature above

font.mergeLookups(lookup_name1, lookup_name2)

The lookups must be of the same type. All subtables from lookup_name2 will be moved to lookup_name1, the features list of lookup_name2 will be merged with that of lookup_name1, and lookup_name2 will be removed.

font.mergeLookupSubtables(subtable_name1, subtable_name2)

The subtables must be in the same lookup. Not all lookup types allow their subtables to be merged (contextual subtables may not be merged, kerning classes may not be (kerning pairs may be)). Any information bound to subtable2 will be bound to subtable1 and subtable2 will be removed.

font.printSample(type, pointsize, sample, output_file)

Type is a string which must be one of

fontdisplay

Display all glyphs in the font in encoding order

chars

Display the selected glyphs scaled to fill a page

Ignores the pointsize argument.

waterfall

Displays the selected glyphs at many pointsizes.

The pointsize argument should be a tuple of pointsizes here.

fontsample

The third argument should contain a string which will be layed out and displayed as well as FontForge can.

fontsampleinfile

The third argument should contain the name of a file which contains text to be layed out and displayed.

If output is to a file (see fontforge.printSetup()) then the last argument specifies a file name in which to store output.

font.randomText(script[, lang])

Returns a random text sample using the letter frequencies of the specified script (and optionally language). Both script and language should be expressed as strings containing OpenType Script and Language tags. “dflt” is a reasonable language tag. If the language is not specified, one will be chosen at random. If ff has no frequency information for the script/language specified it will use the letters in the script with equal frequencies.

font.regenBitmaps(tuple_of_sizes)

A tuple with an entry for each bitmap strike to be regenerated (rerasterized). Each strike is identified by pixelsize (if the strike is a grey scale font it will be indicated by (bitmap-depth<<16)|pixelsize.

font.removeAnchorClass(anchor_class_name)

Removes the named AnchorClass (and all associated points) from the font.

font.removeLookup(lookup_name[, remove_acs])

Remove the lookup (and any subtables within it). remove_acs (0 or 1), specifies whether to remove associated anchor classes and points.

font.removeLookupSubtable(subtable_name[, remove_acs])

Remove the subtable (and all data associated with it). remove_acs (0 or 1), specifies whether to remove associated anchor classes and points

font.removeGlyph(uni[, name])(name)(glyph)

You may either pass in a FontForge glyph object (from this font) or identify a glyph in the font by unicode code point or name. In any case the glyph will be removed from the font.

If you use (uni,name) to specify a name, set uni to -1.

Warning

This frees FontForge’s storage to this glyph. If you have any python references to that storage they will be looking at garbage. This does not go through the usual python reference mechanism.

font.replaceAll(srch, rpl[, error_bound])

Searches the font for all occurrences of the srch contour (or layer) and replaces them with the replace contour (or layer).

font.revert()

Reloads the font from the disk.

Warning

If you have any references to glyphs which live in the font those references will no longer be valid, and using them will cause crashes. This is very un-python-like.

font.revertFromBackup()

Reloads the font from the backup file on the disk.

Warning

If you have any references to glyphs which live in the font those references will no longer be valid, and using them will cause crashes. This is very un-python-like.

font.save([filename])

Saves the font to an sfd file. See also font.generate()

font.saveNamelist(filename)

Saves the font’s namelist to a file.

font.getTableData(table_name)

Gets binary data from any saved table. FF will save ‘fpgm’, ‘prep’, ‘cvt ‘ and ‘maxp’. FF may also save tables which you explicitly request. Do not expect to get binary data for tables like ‘GPOS’ or ‘glyf’ which FF will generate when it creates a font… that information is not currently available.

Returns a binary string.

font.setTableData(table_name, sequence)

Sets binary data of any saved table. FF will save ‘fpgm’, ‘prep’, ‘cvt ‘ and ‘maxp’. FF may also save tables which you explicitly request. Do not expect to set binary data for tables like ‘GPOS’ or ‘glyf’ which FF will generate when it creates a font… that information is not currently available.

If sequence is None, then the named table will be removed from the font.

font.validate([force])

Validates the font and returns a bit mask of all errors from all glyphs (as defined in the validation_state of a glyph – except bit 0x1 is clear). If the font passed the validation then the return value will be 0 (not 0x1). Otherwise the return value will be the set of errors found.

Note: The set of errors is slightly different for TrueType and PostScript output. The returned mask contains the list of potential errors. You must figure out which apply to you.

Normally each glyph will cache its validation_state and it will not be recalculated. If you pass a non-zero argument to the routine then it will force recalculation of each glyph – this can be slow.

Selection Based Interface

See the selection type for how to alter the selection.

font.addExtrema()

Extrema should be marked by on-curve points. If a curve in any selected glyph lacks a point at a significant extremum this command will add one.

font.addInflections()

Please see contour.addInflections().

font.autoHint()

Generates PostScript hints for all selected glyphs.

font.autoInstr()

Generates TrueType instructions for all selected glyphs.

font.autoWidth(separation[, minBearing=, maxBearing=, height=, loopCnt=])

Guesses at reasonable horizontal advance widths for the selected glyphs

font.autoTrace()

Auto traces any background images in all selected glyphs

font.build()

If any of the selected characters is a composite character, then this command will clear it and insert references to its components (this command can create new glyphs).

font.canonicalContours()

Orders the contours in the selected glyphs by the x coordinate of their leftmost point. (This can reduce the size of the charstring needed to describe the glyph(s).

font.canonicalStart()

Sets the start point of all the contours of the selected glyphs to be the leftmost point on the contour. (If there are several points with that value then use the one which is closest to the baseline). This can reduce the size of the charstring needed to describe the glyph(s). By regularizing things it can also make more things available to be put in subroutines.

font.changeWeight(stroke_width[, type, serif_height, serif_fuzz, counter_type, custom_zones])

See the Element->Style->Change Width command for a more complete description of these arguments.

Stroke_width is the amount by which all stems are expanded.

Type is one of “LCG”, “CJK”, “auto”, “custom”.

Serif_height tells ff not to expand serifs which are that much off the baseline, while serif_fuzz specifies the amount of fuzziness allowed in the match. If you don’t want special serif behavior set this to 0.

Counter_type is one of “squish”, “retain”, “auto”.

Custom_zones is only meaningful if the type argument were “custom”. It may be either a number, which specifies the “top hint” value (bottom hint is assumed to be 0, others are between), or a tuple of 4 numbers (top hint, top zone, bottom zone, bottom hint).

font.condenseExtend(c_factor, c_add[, sb_factor, sb_add, correct])

Condenses or extends the size of the counters and side-bearings of the selected glyphs. The first two arguments provide information on shrinking/growing the counters, the second two the sidebearings. If the last two are omitted they default to the same values as the first two.

A counter’s width will become:

new_width = c_factor * old_width + c_add

If present the correct argument allows you to specify whether you want to correct for the italic angle before condensing the glyph. (it defaults to True)

font.clear()

Clears the contents of all selected glyphs

font.cluster([within, max])

Moves clustered coordinates to a standard central value in all selected glyphs. See also font.round().

font.copy()

Copies all selected glyphs into (FontForge’s internal) clipboard.

font.copyReference()

Copies all selected glyphs (as references) into (FontForge’s internal) clipboard.

font.correctDirection()

Orients all contours so that external ones are clockwise and internal counter-clockwise in all selected glyphs.

font.correctReferences()

Checks a font for glyphs with mixed contours and references (or references with transformation matrices which cannot be represented truetype (ie. scaling by 2 or more)). If a mixed case is discovered FontForge will take the contours out of the glyph, put them in a new glyph, and make a reference to the new glyph.

font.cut()

Copies all selected glyphs into (FontForge’s internal) clipboard. And then clears them.

font.paste()

Pastes the contents of (FontForge’s internal) clipboard into the selected glyphs – and removes what was there before.

font.intersect()

Leaves only areas in the intersection of contours in all selected glyphs. See also font.removeOverlap().

font.pasteInto()

Pastes the contents of (FontForge’s internal) clipboard into the selected glyphs – and retains what was there before.

font.removeOverlap()

Removes overlapping areas in all selected glyphs. See also font.intersect().

font.replaceWithReference([fudge])

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 fudge argument specifies the error allowed for coordinate differences.

font.round([factor])

Rounds the x and y coordinates of each point in all selected glyphs. If factor is specified then

new-coord = round(factor*old-coord)/factor

See also font.cluster().

font.simplify([error_bound, flags, tan_bounds, linefixup, linelenmax])

Tries to remove excess points in all selected glyphs if doing so will not perturb the curve by more than error-bound. Flags is a tuple of the following strings

ignoreslopes

Allow slopes to change

ignoreextrema

Allow removal of extrema

smoothcurves

Allow curve smoothing

choosehv

Snap to horizontal or vertical

forcelines

flatten bumps on lines

nearlyhvlines

Make nearly horizontal/vertical lines be so

mergelines

Merge adjacent lines into one

setstarttoextremum

Rotate the point list so that the start point is on an extremum

removesingletonpoints

If the contour contains just one point then remove it

font.stroke("circular", width[, CAP, JOIN, FLAGS])
font.stroke("elliptical", width, minor_width, ANGLE[, CAP, JOIN, FLAGS])
font.stroke("calligraphic", width, height, angle[, FLAGS])
font.stroke("polygon", contour[, FLAGS])
(Legacy interface)
font.stroke("circular", width[, CAP, JOIN, ANGLE, KEYWORD])
font.stroke("elliptical", width, minor_width[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
font.stroke("calligraphic", width, height[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
font.stroke("convex", contour[, ANGLE, CAP, JOIN, KEYWORD])
(Current interface)

Strokes the lines of the contours in all selected glyphs according to the supplied parameters. See glyph.stroke() for a description of the syntax and the stroke documentation for more general information.

font.transform(matrix[, flags])

Transforms all selected glyphs by the matrix. The optional flags argument should be a tuple containing any of the following strings:

activeLayer

Transform font.activeLayer only. (By default all layers are transformed.)

guide

Also transform font.guide layer.

noWidth

Do not change glyph.width.

round

Round to int after the transformation is done.

simplePos

Also transform simple positioning features and kern pairs.

kernClasses

Also transform kerning classes.

font.nltransform(xexpr, yexpr)

xexpr and yexpr are strings specifying non-linear transformations that will be applied to all points in the selected glyphs of the font (with xexpr being applied to x values, and yexpr to y values, of course). The syntax for the expressions is explained in the non-linear transform dialog.

font.unlinkReferences()

Unlinks all references in all selected glyphs and replaces them with splines.