2.1.2 Command-line Options

The reference section describes all command line switches and INI file keywords that are used to set the options of POV-Ray. It is supposed to be used as a reference for looking up things. It does not contain detailed explanations on how scenes are written or how POV-Ray is used. It just explains all features, their syntax, applications, limits, drawbacks, etc.

Options may be specified by switches or INI-style options. Almost all INI-style options have equivalent +/ - switches and most switches have equivalent INI-style option. The following sections give a detailed description of each POV-Ray option. It includes both the INI-style settings and the +/ - switches.

The notation and terminology used is described in the tables below.

Keyword=bool	Turn Keyword on if bool equals true, yes, on or 1 and Turn it off if it is any other value.
Keyword=true	Do this option if true, yes, on or 1 is specified.
Keyword=false	Do this option if false, no, off or 0 is specified.
Keyword=filename	Set Keyword to filename where filename is any valid file name. Note: some options prohibit the use of any of the above true or false values as a file name. They are noted in later sections.
n	Any integer such as in +W320
n.n	Any float such as in Clock=3.45
0.n	Any float < 1.0 even if it has no leading 0
s	Any string of text
x or y	Any single character
path	Any directory name, drive optional, no final path separator ("\" or "/", depending on the operating system)

Unless otherwise specifically noted, you may assume that either a plus or minus sign before a switch will produce the same results.