Producing just a tight picture, is there a replacement for \documentclass{minimal}?

Question

I want to produce a picture in PDF format using pdflatex, with nothing else in the page but the picture, so I decided to use the document class minimal

\documentclass{minimal}
\begin{document}
\input{file_produced_by_graphics_program}
\end{document}

But the \input file contains labels in the form of $\cal{A}$ and when I run pdflatex on the example input above I have

...
! Undefined control sequence.
<recently read> \cal 
...

My question is twofold

may I use a different document class that defines \cal but doesn't put extraneous stuff on the page?
may I load something or define a new command, so that I can use \cal inside a minimal document?

An extra question is, are there other similar gaps in minimal functionality?

http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/42114/why-should-the-minimal-class-be-avoided — Joseph Wright, Jun 15 '16 at 09:15
When I type texdoc standalone, it opens the documentation file near the end, a clear sign that a past self was wiser than the present one... :-( — gboffi, Jun 15 '16 at 09:35

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

The standalone class will even crop the PDF file for you, with customizable borders.

You should never use the minimal class, see Why should the minimal class be avoided?, but you should never use \cal as well.

It is true that \cal still works in the standard classes, but only for back compatibility; the command has been deprecated since 1995.

If you insist on using it, at least use it properly:

${\cal A}$

You may be very surprised if you try something like $\cal{A}_m$ , producing

Do yourself a favor and prefer typing the longer, but safer,

$\mathcal{A}_m$

Producing just a tight picture, is there a replacement for \documentclass{minimal}?

1 Answers1