# author Daniel Gloger
# author Martin Vermeer
+# author Jürgen Spitzmüller
# Full author contact details are available in file CREDITS
-# This script converts an SVG image to something that pdflatex can process
-# into high quality PDF.
+# This script converts an SVG image to two files that can be processed
+# with pdflatex into high quality PDF. It requires Inkscape.
# Usage:
-# python svg2pdftex.py ${base}.svg ${base}.pdft
+# python svg2pdftex.py [inkscape_command] inputfile.svg outputfile.pdf_tex
# This command generates
-# ${base}.pdf the converted pdf file
-# ${base}.pdft a tex file that can be included in your latex document
-# using '\input{${base}.pdft}'
+# 1. outputfile.pdf -- the converted PDF file (text from SVG stripped)
+# 2. outputfile.pdf_tex -- a TeX file that can be included in your
+# LaTeX document using '\input{outputfile.pdf_text}'
#
# Note:
# Do not use this command as
-# python svg2pdftex.py file.svg file.pdf
-# the real pdf file will be overwritten by a tex file named file.pdf.
+# python svg2pdftex.py [inkscape_command] inputfile.svg outputfile.pdf
+# the real PDF file would be overwritten by a TeX file named outputfile.pdf.
#
-import os, sys, re
+from __future__ import print_function
+
+import os, sys, re, subprocess
def runCommand(cmd):
''' Utility function:
run a command, quit if fails
'''
- if os.system(cmd) != 0:
- print "Command '%s' fails." % cmd
+ res = subprocess.check_call(cmd)
+ if res != 0:
+ print("Command '%s' fails (exit code: %i)." % (res.cmd, res.returncode))
sys.exit(1)
-# We expect two args, the names of the input and output files.
-if len(sys.argv) != 3:
- sys.exit(1)
+InkscapeCmd = "inkscape"
+InputFile = ""
+OutputFile = ""
-input, output = sys.argv[1:]
+# We expect two or three args: the names of the input and output files
+# and optionally the inkscape command (with path if needed).
+args = len(sys.argv)
+if args == 3:
+ # Two args: input and output file only
+ InputFile, OutputFile = sys.argv[1:]
+elif args == 4:
+ # Three args: first arg is inkscape command
+ InkscapeCmd, InputFile, OutputFile = sys.argv[1:]
+else:
+ # Invalid number of args. Exit with error.
+ sys.exit(1)
# Fail silently if the file doesn't exist
-if not os.path.isfile(input):
+if not os.path.isfile(InputFile):
sys.exit(0)
-# Strip the extension from ${output}
-outbase = os.path.splitext(output)[0]
+# Strip the extension from ${OutputFile}
+OutBase = os.path.splitext(OutputFile)[0]
-# Inkscape 0.48 can output the image as a PDF file ${base}.pdf and place the text
-# in a LaTeX file ${base}.pdf_tex, which is renamed to ${output}, for typesetting
-# by pdflatex itself.
-runCommand('inkscape --file=%s --export-pdf=%s.pdf --export-latex' % (input, outbase))
+# Inkscape (as of 0.48) can output SVG images as a PDF file without text, ${OutBase}.pdf,
+# while outsourcing the text to a LaTeX file ${OutBase}.pdf_tex which includes and overlays
+# the PDF image and can be \input to LaTeX files. We rename the latter file to ${OutputFile}
+# (although this is probably the name it already has).
+runCommand([r'%s' % InkscapeCmd, '--file=%s' % InputFile, '--export-pdf=%s.pdf' % OutBase, '--export-latex'])
-os.rename('%s.pdf_tex' % outbase, output)
+os.rename('%s.pdf_tex' % OutBase, OutputFile)