% The (not really) first 20 or so lines from the plain METAFONT base

% Unlimited copying and redistribution of this file are permitted as long
% as this file is not modified. Modifications are permitted, but only if
% the resulting file is not named plain.mf.

string base_name, base_version; base_name="plain"; base_version="2.71";

message "Preloading the plain base, version "&base_version&": preliminaries,";

delimiters ();  % this makes parentheses behave like parentheses
def upto = step 1 until enddef; % syntactic sugar
def downto = step -1 until enddef;
def exitunless expr c = exitif not c enddef;
let relax = \;  % ignore the word `relax', as in TeX
let \\ = \; % double relaxation is like single
def ]] = ] ] enddef; % right brackets should be loners
def -- = {curl 1}..{curl 1} enddef;
def --- = .. tension infinity .. enddef;
def ... = .. tension atleast 1 .. enddef;

def gobble primary g = enddef; def killtext text t = enddef;