LaTeX Compilation Scripts

Jun 09, 2022

I’m trying to automate \(\LaTeX\) compilation from Emacs as much as I can. Here are the shell scripts and Emacs functions that I’m using.

Shell Scripts

Here are some very simple scripts for compiling \(\LaTeX\) files with arara and the fish shell. The first, called “mkt” for “make TeX”, runs arara on the source file, then opens the resulting PDF.

function mkt 
  arara $argv 
  set output_file (string replace -r tex\$ pdf $argv) 
  open -g $output_file 
end

The second, called “mktc” for “make TeX continuously”, runs arara, opens the PDF, watches for changes, and runs arara whenever the file is saved.

function mktc
  arara $argv
  set output_file (string replace -r tex\$ pdf $argv)
  open -g $output_file
  fswatch -o $argv | xargs -n1 -I{} arara $argv
end

Emacs

Here are some functions to use in Emacs to run the scripts.

Auctex

(defun rlr/tex-mkt ()
  "Compile with arara."
  (interactive)
  (async-shell-command (concat "mkt " (buffer-file-name))))

(defun rlr/tex-mktc ()
  "Compile continuously with arara."
  (interactive)
  (start-process-shell-command (concat "mktc-" (buffer-file-name)) (concat "mktc-" (buffer-file-name)) (concat "mktc " (buffer-file-name))))

The first compiles with an asynchronous shell command, so that you can immediately return to editing the file while arara runs. I decided to use start-process-shell-command instead of async-shell-command for mktc, since mkt runs once and stops, while mktc keeps running in the background. When rlr/tex-mktc is called, a process is started that has the same name as the file with “mktc-” prepended it to it. The process is shown in a buffer that has the same name. That way, several files can be compiled at the same time.

Org Mode

(defun rlr/org-mkt ()
  "Make PDF with Arara."
  (interactive)
  (org-latex-export-to-latex)
  (async-shell-command (concat "mkt " (file-name-sans-extension (buffer-file-name))".tex")))

(defun rlr/org-mktc ()
  "Compile continuously with arara."
  (interactive)
  (org-latex-export-to-latex)
  (start-process-shell-command (concat "mktc-" (buffer-file-name)) (concat "mktc-" (buffer-file-name)) (concat "mktc " (file-name-sans-extension (buffer-file-name))".tex")))

These functions first export the org file to \(\LaTeX\), then compile the corresponding TeX files. All in all, a morning’s worth of work to save a few keystrokes. I run them using major mode hydras.