info

Get comprehensive font information.

Quick Reference

fontisan info <font> [options]

Options

Option	Description
--format FORMAT	Output format (text, yaml, json)
--brief	Fast mode - essential metadata only (5x faster)
--verbose	Show all available information
--tables	Include table listing
--features	Include OpenType features

Brief Mode

For font indexing systems that need to scan thousands of fonts quickly, use the --brief flag to get essential metadata only.

Performance Benefits

• 5x faster than full mode by using metadata-only loading
• Loads only 6 tables instead of 15-20 (name, head, hhea, maxp, OS/2, post)
• Lower memory usage through reduced table loading
• Optimized for batch processing of many fonts

Brief Mode Attributes

Brief mode populates only the following 13 essential attributes:

Font Identification:

• font_format - Font format (truetype, cff)
• is_variable - Whether font is variable

Essential Names:

• family_name - Font family name
• subfamily_name - Font subfamily/style
• full_name - Full font name
• postscript_name - PostScript name

Version Info:

• version - Version string

Metrics:

• font_revision - Font revision number
• units_per_em - Units per em

Vendor:

• vendor_id - Vendor/foundry ID

Brief Mode Examples

# Fast font indexing
fontisan info font.ttf --brief

# Brief mode with JSON output
fontisan info font.ttf --brief --format json

# Process many fonts quickly
for font in *.ttf; do
  fontisan info "$font" --brief --format json >> fonts.jsonl
done

Brief Mode Sample Output

Font type:                TrueType (Variable)
Family:                   Mona Sans ExtraLight
Subfamily:                Regular
Full name:                Mona Sans ExtraLight
PostScript name:          MonaSans-ExtraLight
Version:                  Version 2.001
Vendor ID:                GTHB
Font revision:            2.00101
Units per em:             1000

Brief Mode JSON Output

{
  "font_format": "truetype",
  "is_variable": true,
  "family_name": "Mona Sans ExtraLight",
  "subfamily_name": "Regular",
  "full_name": "Mona Sans ExtraLight",
  "postscript_name": "MonaSans-ExtraLight",
  "version": "Version 2.001",
  "font_revision": 2.00101,
  "vendor_id": "GTHB",
  "units_per_em": 1000
}

Full Mode

Full mode populates additional attributes (remain nil in brief mode):

• postscript_cid_name, preferred_family, preferred_subfamily, mac_font_menu_name
• unique_id, description, designer, designer_url
• manufacturer, vendor_url, trademark, copyright
• license_description, license_url, sample_text, permissions

Output

Shows comprehensive font metadata:

• Family and style names
• Version and copyright
• PostScript name
• Format (TrueType, OpenType, etc.)
• Glyph count
• Table count
• Unicode ranges
• Variable font axes (if applicable)

Examples

# Basic info
fontisan info font.ttf

# Brief mode for fast indexing
fontisan info font.ttf --brief

# Verbose output
fontisan info font.ttf --verbose

# Include tables
fontisan info font.ttf --tables

# JSON output
fontisan info font.ttf --format json

Sample Output

Font: SourceSans3-Regular.otf
Format: OpenType (CFF)
Family: Source Sans 3
Style: Regular
PostScript: SourceSans3-Regular
Version: 3.046
Copyright: Copyright 2023 Adobe

Glyphs: 1,024
Tables: 18
Characters: 892

Unicode Ranges:
  Basic Latin (95)
  Latin-1 Supplement (96)
  Latin Extended-A (128)
  Greek and Coptic (72)

Features: 24
  liga, dlig, kern, mark, mkmk, ...

Use Cases

Get Family Name

fontisan info font.ttf --format json | jq '.family_name'

Check Font Format

fontisan info font.ttf --format json | jq '.format'

Compare Fonts

diff <(fontisan info font1.ttf) <(fontisan info font2.ttf)

Batch Process Fonts (Fast)

# Use brief mode for fast batch processing
for font in *.ttf; do
  echo "=== $font ==="
  fontisan info "$font" --brief
done

Build Font Index

# Create JSON index of all fonts
echo '[' > fonts.json
first=true
for font in **/*.ttf; do
  if $first; then first=false; else echo ',' >> fonts.json; fi
  fontisan info "$font" --brief --format json >> fonts.json
done
echo ']' >> fonts.json

Ruby API

Brief Mode

require 'fontisan'

# Fast metadata-only loading
info = Fontisan.info("font.ttf", brief: true)

# Access populated fields
puts info.family_name       # "Open Sans"
puts info.postscript_name   # "OpenSans-Regular"
puts info.is_variable       # false

# Non-essential fields are nil
puts info.copyright         # nil (not populated)
puts info.designer          # nil (not populated)

# Serialize to YAML/JSON
puts info.to_yaml
puts info.to_json

Brief Mode for Collections

require 'fontisan'

# Specify font index for TTC/OTC files
info = Fontisan.info("/path/to/fonts.ttc", brief: true, font_index: 0)
puts info.family_name

Related Commands

• tables — Detailed table information
• glyphs — List all glyphs
• features — List OpenType features
• variable — Variable font details
• version — Show Fontisan version