1 .\" Man page for tex2lyx.
2 .\" Use the following command to view man page:
4 .\" tbl tex2lyx.1 | nroff -man | less
6 .TH TEX2LYX 1 "@LYX_DATE@" "Version @VERSION@" "tex2lyx @VERSION@"
8 tex2lyx@version_suffix@ \- translate well-behaved LaTeX into LyX
16 The simplest way to use \fBtex2lyx\fR is via the File->Import->LaTeX
17 (plain) menu item in LyX. That runs \fBtex2lyx\fR on the given file
18 and loads the resulting file into LyX. You should try that first, and
19 call it from the command line only if you need to use more complicated
22 \fBtex2lyx\fR [ \fB\-userdir\fR \fIuserdir\fR ] [ \fB\-systemdir\fR \fIsystemdir\fR ]
23 [ \fB\-f\fR ] [ \fB\-n\fR ] [ \fB\-c\fR \fItextclass\fR ]
24 [\ \fB\-m\fR \fImodule1\fR[,\fImodule2\fR...]]
25 [\ \fB\-s\fR\ \fIsfile1\fR[,\fIsfile2\fR...]] [ \fB\-skipchildren\fR ] [
26 \fB\-roundtrip\fR ] [ \fB\-copyfiles\fR ] \fIinputfile\fR [ \fIoutputfile\fR ]
28 .\" \fBtex2lyx\fR [ \fB\-userdir\fR \fIuserdir\fR ] [ \fB\-systemdir\fR \fIsystemdir\fR ]
29 .\" [\ \fB\-r\fR\ \fIrenv1\fR[,\fIrenv2\fR...]] [\ \fB\-s\fR\ \fIsfile1\fR[,\fIsfile2\fR...]]
30 .\" \fIinputfiles\fR \fB\-p\fR \fB\-c\fR \fItextclass\fR
34 Class. By default, when \fBtex2lyx\fR sees a \f(CW\edocumentclass{foo}\fR command, it
35 creates a file of textclass \*[lq]foo\*[rq] and reads the LyX layout file for that class
36 (something like /usr/local/share/lyx/layouts/foo.layout \s-1OR\s0
37 \fB\s-1HOME\s0\fR/.lyx/layouts/foo.layout). Use \fB\-c\fR to declare a different textclass
38 (and read a different layout file).
40 This option is needed if the input file is a LaTeX fragment, with no preamble
41 matter or \f(CW\ebegin{document}\fR command. LyX files created by
42 \fBtex2lyx\fR from partial files can be included in an existing LyX file using
43 the \*[lq]Include LyX File\*[rq] command from LyX's Insert menu.
46 Module. Load the given modules. This is useful if \fBtex2lyx\fR does not
47 automatically detect a given module, but you know the modules that provide
48 some commands or environments that are used in the imported file. The modules
49 are loaded in the given order. If a module \fIfoo\fR depends on a module
50 \fIbar\fR, \fIbar\fR must be given before \fIfoo\fR.
53 Force. \fBtex2lyx\fR will not run if the .lyx file it would generate already exists.
54 Use the \fB\-f\fR option (carefully) to clobber any existing files.
57 Noweb. Translate a noweb (aka literate programming) file. This should be
58 (almost?) equivalent to running \*[lq]noweb2lyx foo.tex foo.lyx\*[rq]. This option
59 requires the \fB\-c\fR option.
62 Do not translate child documents included via \f(CW\einclude\fR and \f(CW\einput\fR.
63 This option is useful if the child documents are generated files and/or contain many
64 commands that \fBtex2lyx\fR does not understand yet.
67 Syntax files. Input (one or more quoted, comma-separated) syntax files to read
68 in addition to the default. (see the section on \fISyntax Files\fR for details).
71 Specify a system directory. Normally, you shouldn't need this. Your LyX system directory is
72 chosen. Cf. the section \f(CWFILES\fR for details.
75 Specify a user directory. Normally, you shouldn't need this. Your LyX user directory is
76 chosen. Cf. the section \f(CWFILES\fR for details.
79 Call LyX to re-export the created output file to LaTeX. If the output file name
80 is not given it is determined automatically to avoid over-writing the input file
81 by accident: If the input file is named \fIfoo.tex\fR the output file will be
82 named \fIfoo.lyx.lyx\fR, and the re-exported file will be named
86 Copy all included files \fBtex2lyx\fR is
87 aware of to the output directory if the output file is located in a different
88 directory than the input file. This is useful if you want to ensure that no
89 included file is overwritten (either in roundtrip mode or by a later export
90 from LyX). Please note that the resulting document may be uncompilable. This
91 happens if it needs files that \fBtex2lyx\fR does not know about and therefore
92 does not copy to the output directory.
95 Help. Print out usage information and quit.
98 Print out the version number and build information and quit.
101 \fBtex2lyx\fR will create a LyX file with the specified name (or
102 \fIdir/foo.lyx\fR if no name was given) from the LaTeX file
105 Suffixes .tex, .ltx and .latex are supported. If \fIinputfile\fR
106 does not exist and does not have one of these suffixes, \fBtex2lyx\fR will try to
107 translate \fIinputfile.tex\fR. (This is similar to the behavior of LaTeX.)
109 The purpose of \fBtex2lyx\fR is to translate \fIwell-behaved\fR LaTeX2e into LyX. If
110 your LaTeX file doesn't compile---or if you do weird things, like redefining
111 standard LaTeX commands---it may choke. LaTeX209 will often be translated
112 correctly, but it's not guaranteed.
114 \fBtex2lyx\fR lacks a few features. However, its main goals are:
116 Get through a well-behaved LaTeX2e file without crashing
118 Translate a lot of that file.
120 Localize the parts that can't be translated and copy them in TeX mode
122 It achieves these main goals pretty well on most files.
124 Here's a more lengthy description of what you should do to translate a LaTeX
129 \fBtex2lyx\fR will inform you of its progress and give any warnings to stderr, so if
130 you don't want any output at all, try (in csh) `tex2lyx foo.tex >& /dev/null'.
131 You should \s-1NOT\s0 redirect standard output to \fIfoo.lyx\fR.
133 Run LyX (version 2.1 or later) on the resulting .lyx file.
135 In theory, most of the file will have been translated, and anything that's
136 untranslatable will be transferred to TeX code (ERT in LyX-speak). In theory, LyX will be
137 able to read in the file, and to create printed documents from it, because all
138 that untranslated ERT stuff will be passed directly back to LaTeX, which LyX
139 uses as a backend. Unfortunately, reality doesn't always reflect theory. If
140 \fBtex2lyx\fR crashes, or LyX cannot read the generated LyX file, see the \f(CWBUGS\fR section below.
142 Transform things have been inserted as TeX code manually to LyX features, if possible.
144 As mentioned above, you should be able to print out the LyX file even without
145 doing this. However, changing a command in TeX code to the corresponding LyX
146 object will allow you to take advantage of LyX's \s-1WYSIWYM\s0 editing.
148 \fBtex2lyx\fR is not guaranteed to create a LyX file which generates exactly the same
149 output as the LaTeX file, although its goal is to achieve this. \fBtex2lyx\fR will generally err
150 on the side of translating less to ensure that the resulting output files are accurate,
151 even though this leads to more TeX code and less \s-1WYSIWYM\s0.
153 \s-1PROOFREAD\s0 \s-1THE\s0 \s-1DOCUMENT\s0!!
155 I'm sure you were planning on doing this anyway, but it's particularly
156 important after translating a LaTeX document. \fBtex2lyx\fR is better
157 at \*[lq]macro-translating\*[rq] (translating the whole document) than
158 \*[lq]micro-translating\*[rq] (translating every little detail). For example, you may see
159 extra spaces or deleted spaces. Space handling has improved, but it's
161 .SS "What tex2lyx Can Handle"
162 \fBtex2lyx\fR understands many LaTeX commands. It will translate:
164 regular text, including mini-commands like ~, `', \f(CW\e@\fR, \f(CW\eTeX\fR, as well as
165 accented characters like \f(CW\e'{a}\fR, and the special cases ?` and !`
167 title commands like \f(CW\eauthor\fR, \f(CW\edate\fR, \f(CW\etitle\fR, \f(CW\ethanks\fR and the
170 heading commands like \f(CW\esection\fR including starred commands (\f(CW\esection*\fR)
172 Environments: quote, quotation, and verse; center, flushright, and flushleft
174 itemize, enumerate, and description environments, and their \f(CW\eitem\fR commands.
175 Also, well-behaved nested lists
177 cross-referencing commands: \f(CW\eref\fR, \f(CW\epageref\fR, \f(CW\elabel\fR, and \f(CW\ecite\fR
179 \f(CW\efootnote\fR and \f(CW\emargin\fR
181 font-changing commands including \f(CW\eem\fR, \f(CW\eemph\fR, \f(CW\etextit\fR, and
182 corresponding commands to change family, size, series, and shape
184 \f(CW\einput{foo}\fR (or \f(CW\einput{foo.blah}\fR) and \f(CW\einclude{foo}\fR. Plain TeX
185 \f(CW\einput\fR command \*[lq]\f(CW\einput foo.tex\fR\*[rq] is also supported.
187 tabular environment, and commands that go inside it like \f(CW\ehline\fR, \f(CW\ecline\fR,
188 and \f(CW\emulticolumn\fR (but see below)
190 float environments table and table*, as well as \f(CW\ecaption\fR commands within
193 float environments figure and figure*, as well as graphics inclusion commands
194 \eepsf, \eepsffile, \eepsfbox, \eepsfxsize, \eepsfig, \epsfig, and \eincludegraphics.
195 Both the graphics and graphicx forms of \eincludegraphics are supported.
197 thebibliography environment and \f(CW\ebibitem\fR command, as well as BibTeX's
198 \f(CW\ebibliography\fR and \f(CW\ebibliographystyle\fR commands
200 miscellaneous commands: \f(CW\ehfill\fR, \f(CW\e\fR\f(CW\e\fR, \f(CW\enoindent\fR, \f(CW\eldots\fR...
202 documentclass-specific environments (and some commands) which can be
203 translated to LyX layouts
205 arguments to certain untranslatable commands (e.g. \f(CW\embox\fR)
207 Some of this support may not be 100% yet. See below for details
209 \fBtex2lyx\fR copies math (almost) verbatim from your LaTeX file. Luckily, LyX reads
210 in LaTeX math, so (almost) any math which is supported by LyX should work just
213 \fBtex2lyx\fR will copy any preamble commands (i.e., anything before
214 \f(CW\ebegin{document}\fR) verbatim. Fancy stuff you've got in your preamble
215 should thus be conserved in printed documents, although it will not of
216 course show up in the LyX window. Check Document->Settings->LaTeX Preamble to see the result.
217 .SS "What tex2lyx Can't Handle --- But it's \s-1OK\s0"
219 some spacing commands (\f(CW\ehspace\fR, \f(CW\epagebreak\fR and \f(CW\elinebreak\fR)
221 \f(CW\ecentering\fR, \f(CW\eraggedleft\fR, \f(CW\eraggedright\fR
223 \f(CW\everb\fR and verbatim environment. \fBtex2lyx\fR is careful to copy \fIexactly\fR in
224 this case, including comments and whitespace.
226 unknown (e.g., user-defined) environments and commands
228 \fBtex2lyx\fR copies unknown commands, along with their arguments, verbatim into the
229 LyX file. Also, if it sees a \f(CW\ebegin{foo}\fR where it doesn't recognize the
230 \*[lq]foo\*[rq] environment, it will copy verbatim until it sees \f(CW\eend{foo}\fR (unless
231 you use the \fB\-r\fR option). Most of these unknown commands
232 won't cause \fBtex2lyx\fR to break; they'll merely require you to do some editing
233 once you've loaded the file up in LyX. That should be less painful than
234 editing either the .tex or the .lyx file using a text editor.
235 .SS "What tex2lyx Handles Badly --- aka \s-1BUGS\s0"
236 Since \fBtex2lyx\fR is relatively new, it's got a number of problems. As it
237 matures, these bugs will be squished.
239 \*[lq]Exact\*[rq] copying of unknown environments and commands isn't quite exact.
240 This will yield ugly LyX, but in almost all cases the output will be the same.
241 However, most parts of the file will be copied perfectly, including whitespace
242 and comments. This includes: the LaTeX preamble, verbatim environments as well as
243 \f(CW\everb\fR commands, and skip blocks.
245 \fBtex2lyx\fR translates only a subset of the document class options to native features.
246 Other options are placed in the \*[lq]options\*[rq] field in the Document->Settings popup.
248 More importantly, \fBtex2lyx\fR doesn't translate \f(CW\enewcommands\fR, unknown
249 \f(CW\eusepackage\fR commands and other unknown code in the preamble. It
250 simply copies that into the LaTeX preamble. If you use special commands, e.g. to
251 specify the text layout in a way that that is not understood by LyX, tex2lyx won't
252 recognize it. Note that these settings will be overwritten if you modify the text
253 layout in LyX's document settings. Better remove these special options from the LaTeX
254 preamble (Document->Settings->LaTeX Preamble) and use the corresponding LyX document
255 settings, if possible.
257 The foil document class has a couple of bugs. \fBtex2lyx\fR may do weird things with optional
258 arguments to \f(CW\efoilhead\fR commands. Also, it may handle \f(CW\ebegin{dinglist}\fR
259 incorrectly (although the stuff in the environment should translate normally).
261 All known bugs of \fBtex2lyx\fR can be found on \fI\s-1http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome\s0\fR.
263 \fBtex2lyx\fR is rather robust. As mentioned above, it may not translate
264 your file perfectly, but the result should be usable and it shouldn't crash. If you encounter
265 problems---and the problem is not one of those mentioned above or on
266 \fI\s-1http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome\s0\fR---please report the issue as described in the section
267 on \fIBug Reports\fR.
268 .SS "What LyX Can't Handle"
269 LyX itself is missing a couple of features, such that even if \fBtex2lyx\fR translates
270 things perfectly, LyX may still have trouble reading it. If you really need
271 these features, you can export your final document as LaTeX, and put them
272 back in. See \fI\s-1BUGS\s0\fR for more details on these bugs.
274 For a number of commands (such as \f(CW\e\e\fR), LyX does not support the optional argument.
275 \fBtex2lyx\fR will automatically discard the optional arguments with a warning to
276 stdout. LyX also ignores the width argument for the thebibliography
279 LyX support for tables isn't perfect. For complicated tables, use a \*[lq]skip\*[rq]
280 block, so that they will be copied in TeX mode.
282 LyX allows figures to have sizes in the units known to TeX, such as in, cm, etc. It also
283 translates percentages of \etextwidth, \etextheight, \ecolumnwidth, but no other lengths
284 (e.g. if you wanted to scale a figure to size \etopmargin for some reason). \fBtex2lyx\fR
285 will copy figures with untranslatable sizes in TeX mode. Again, you might be able to fix
288 tex2lyx \fB\-f\fR \fB\-r\fR \*[lq]myenv\*[rq] foo.tex
290 The above will create a file foo.lyx from foo.tex, overwriting if
291 necessary. When it finds a \f(CW\ebegin{myenv} ... \eend{myenv}\fR block, it will
292 translate the stuff within the block, but copy the \f(CW\ebegin\fR and \f(CW\eend\fR
293 commands in TeX mode.
295 tex2lyx \fB\-n\fR \fB\-c\fR \*[lq]literate-article\*[rq] foo.tex
297 The above will change a noweb document into a LyX literate-article
298 document. A user would do this if the noweb document had documentclass
302 Bugs should be reported to the LyX bug tracker at http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome. Additionally,
303 you can post a message to the LyX developers' mailing list. Its address is currently
304 lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org. If your message bounces, you can check the LyX home page,
305 http://www.lyx.org/. If you are running \fBtex2lyx\fR on a huge file, please do not send all of the output in
306 your bug report. Just include the last ten or twenty lines of output, along with
307 the piece of the LaTeX file it crashed on. Or, even better, attach a small but
308 complete file which causes the same problem as your original file.
310 \fBtex2lyx\fR reads a LyX layout file to know how to handle LaTeX environments and
311 commands which get translated to LyX layouts. This file will include all
312 \*[lq]normal\*[rq] non-math environments (i.e., including quote and itemize, but not
313 tabular, minipage, and some other fancy environments), and commands like
314 \f(CW\esection\fR and \f(CW\etitle\fR. If you want to tex2lyx a class that doesn't have an
315 existing layout file, then you'll have to create a layout file. But you have
316 to do this anyway, in order to LyX the file, since LyX depends on layout files
317 to know how to display and process its files. Check the LyX documentation for
318 help with this task (which can be hard or easy, depending on the class you
319 want to create a layout file for.) If your class is quite similar to a class
320 that has a layout file, then consider using the \fB\-c\fR option.
322 \fBtex2lyx\fR always reads at least one syntax file, called the default syntax file.
323 \fBtex2lyx\fR will read your personal syntax file if it exists; otherwise it will
324 read the system-wide file. \fBtex2lyx\fR will read additional syntax files if you
325 specify them with the \fB\-s\fR option. (These extra files should have the same
326 format as the default file, but will tend to be shorter, since they only have
327 to specify extra commands not found in the default file.) A syntax file tells
328 \fBtex2lyx\fR a few things.
330 First, it describes the syntax of each command, that is, how many required
331 arguments and how many optional arguments the command takes. Knowing this
332 makes it easier for \fBtex2lyx\fR to copy (in TeX mode) commands that it doesn't
333 know how to translate. The syntax file simply has a command, followed by
334 braces or brackets describing its arguments in the correct order. For example,
335 a syntax file entry \f(CW\ebibitem[]{}\fR means that the \f(CW\ebibitem\fR command takes
336 an optional argument followed by a required one, while the entry \f(CW\ebf\fR
337 means that the \f(CW\ebf\fR command takes no arguments at all. When \fBtex2lyx\fR
338 encounters a token that it doesn't know how to translate into LyX, it will
339 copy the token---along with the correct number of arguments---exactly. If the
340 token is not in the syntax file, then \fBtex2lyx\fR just copies as many arguments
341 as it finds. This means that it may copy too much. But since the user can
342 specify additional syntax files, that shouldn't happen often.
344 Some commands that cannot be translated to LyX, like \f(CW\embox\fR, have as one of
345 their arguments regular LaTeX text. If the string \*[lq]translate\*[rq] is put into an
346 argument of an (untranslatable) command in the syntax file, then \fBtex2lyx\fR will
347 translate that argument instead of copying it verbatim. So, for example, the
348 default syntax file has \f(CW\eraisebox{}[][]{translate}\fR. This means that the
349 \f(CW\eraisebox\fR command and the first argument (and optional arguments if they
350 exist) are copied in TeX mode, but the last argument (which may contain math,
351 complicated LaTeX, other untranslatable commands, etc.) will be translated
352 into LyX. You can't use \*[lq]translate\*[rq] on optional arguments.
354 User-defined syntax files are allowed to define new commands and
355 their syntax, or override the number of arguments for a command given in the
356 default syntax file. (E.g., if you're using a style that gives an extra
357 argument to some command...) However, this will only be useful for commands
358 copied in TeX mode. Commands which are actually translated by \fBtex2lyx\fR (like
359 \f(CW\eitem\fR) have their argument syntax hard-coded. The hard-coded commands are
360 identified in the default syntax file.
362 Second, the syntax file describes any \*[lq]regular environments\*[rq]. Usually, an
363 entire unknown environment will be copied in TeX mode. If you define a regular
364 environment \*[lq]foo\*[rq], though, then only the \f(CW\ebegin{foo}\fR and \f(CW\eend{foo}\fR
365 commands will be copied in TeX mode; the text within the environment will be
366 treated (i.e., translated) by \fBtex2lyx\fR as regular LaTeX, rather than being
367 copied into TeX mode. Don't try to declare \*[lq]tabbing\*[rq] and \*[lq]picture\*[rq] as regular
368 environments, as the text within those environments will confuse \fBtex2lyx\fR; use
369 this capability for new environments you create that have plain text or math
370 or simple commands in them. You also can't declare unknown math environments
371 (like equation*) as regular environments, either, since the LyX math editor
372 won't understand them. The names of regular environments appear,
373 whitespace-separated, between \f(CW\ebegin{tex2lyxre}\fR and \f(CW\eend{tex2lyxre}\fR
374 statements in the syntax file. (If you have a regular environment which you
375 won't use very often, you can use the \fB\-r\fR option rather than writing a
378 Always keep a copy of your original LaTeX files either under a different
379 name or in a different directory. There are a couple ways in which using LyX
380 could lead to overwriting the original LaTeX file.
382 If you import foo.tex to create foo.lyx, then edit foo.lyx and want to
383 re-export it, note that it will overwrite the original foo.tex. (LyX will ask
384 you if you want to overwrite it.)
388 can be used to specify which system directory to use.
390 The system directory is determined by searching for the file
391 "chkconfig.ltx". Directories are searched in this order:
393 1) \-sysdir command line parameter
395 2) @LYX_DIR_VER@ environment variable
397 3) Maybe <path of binary>/TOP_SRCDIR/lib
399 4) <path of binary>/../share/<name of binary>/
401 5) hardcoded lyx_dir (at build time: @real_pkgdatadir@)
404 can be used to specify which user directory to use.
406 The user directory is, in order of precedence:
408 1) \-userdir command line parameter
410 2) @LYX_USERDIR_VER@ environment variable
412 3) $HOME/.<name of binary> if no explicit setting is made
415 If \fI\s-1LIBDIR\s0\fR is the system-wide LyX directory and
416 \fI\s-1MY_LYXDIR\s0\fR
417 is your personal LyX directory, then the following files are read by tex2lyx:
418 .IP "\fI\s-1MY_LYXDIR\s0\fR/layouts/*.layout" 4
419 User's personal layout files for document classes
420 .IP "\fI\s-1MY_LYXDIR\s0\fR/syntax.default" 4
421 User's personal syntax file
422 .IP "\fI\s-1LIBDIR\s0\fR/layouts/*.layout" 4
423 System-wide layout files for document classes
424 .IP "\fI\s-1LIBDIR\s0\fR/lib/syntax.default" 4
425 System-wide LaTeX syntax file
427 \fIlyx@version_suffix@\fR\|(1), \fIlatex\fR\|(1)
429 tex2lyx is Copyright (c) 2003ff. by the LyX Team (lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org)
projects / lyx.git / blob