[metapost] space in labels

[Ranousse]

>> I want to write a label with a space in it
>> label("my label", position);
>> Instead of a space a kind of minus caracter is written.
>> Is there a solution to my problem without using btex my label etex ?
> 
> That's an encoding problem. The default font is cmr10, which 
> doesn't have a space character. In the position usually occupied 
> by the space character is a sort of accent mark (used to build the
> Polish "suppressed l"). 
> 
> You need to switch to a font that has an actual space.
> Something like
> 
>     label("my label" infont "ptmr8r", position);
> 
> to select Times Roman. You need to pick a font that appears in 
> pdftex.map (used to be psfonts.map; when did that change?).
> You may also want to set 
>     prologues:=3; 

Thank you for the explanation.