2.7.1.3. Adding and removing fonts from the command line

When an application starts, the font configuration system automatically scans ~/.fonts (your personal font directory) as well as /usr/share/fonts (which is the system-wide font directory). Any changes to the fonts contained in those directories are detected automatically, so adding fonts is simply a matter of placing files into those directories, and removing fonts is simply a matter of deleting them.

For example, if you have a compressed tar file named /tmp/newfonts.tgz containing a folder named newfonts full of TrueType fonts and wish to install them for your own private use, you can use these commands:

$ cd ~/.fonts

$ tar xvzf /tmp/newfonts.tgz "*.ttf" "*.TTF"

Or, to install the fonts so that they are accessible to all users system-wide:

# cd /usr/share/fonts

# mkdir newfonts

# cd newfonts

# tar xvzf /tmp/newfonts.tgz "*.ttf" "*.TTF"

To delete all of your personal fonts:

$ rm -rf ~/.fonts/*

And to delete the system-wide fonts installed in newfonts :

# rm -rf /user/share/fonts/ newfonts