PythonTeX

Fast Access to Python from within LaTeX

Author:	Geoffrey Poore
Version:	0.12
License:	LPPL (LaTeX code) and BSD 3-Clause (Python code)

PythonTeX provides fast, user-friendly access to Python from within LaTeX. It allows Python code entered within a LaTeX document to be executed, and the results to be included within the original document. It also provides syntax highlighting for code within LaTeX documents via the Pygments syntax highlighter.

PythonTeX also provides support for Ruby and Julia. Support for additional languages is coming soon.

See pythontex.pdf for detailed installation instructions, or use the installation script for TeX Live. See pythontex_quickstart.pdf to get started, and pythontex_gallery.pdf for examples of what is possible with PythonTeX.

The depythontex utility creates a copy of a PythonTeX document in which all Python code has been replaced by its output. This plain LaTeX document is more suitable for journal submission, sharing, or conversion to other document formats. See pythontex_gallery.html and the accompanying conversion script for an example of a PythonTeX document that was converted to HTML via depythontex and Pandoc.

Current status

Upcoming objectives:

• Add better support for macro programming with PythonTeX.

Version History

v0.12 (2013/08/26)

• Added support for the Julia language, with the julia and jl families of commands and environments. (Note that Pygments only added Julia support in version 1.6.)
• Warnings and errors are now synchronized with the line numbers of files brought in via \input, \include, etc. This is accomplished using the currfile package.
• Added package option gobble. When gobble=auto, all code is dedented before being executed and/or typeset. The current implementation is functional but basic; it will be improved and extended in the future.
• The document root directory is now always added to sys.path (or its equivalent), even when it is not the working directory. (The working directory has been added to sys.path since v0.12beta.) The document directory is added after the working directory, so that the working directory has precedence.
• Fixed a bug in console commands and environments; sys.path now contains the working and document directories, and the working directory is now the output directory by default. This parallels the behavior of non-console commands and environments.
• Added command-line option --interpreter that allows an interpreter to be invoked via a specific command. This allows, for example, a specific version of Python to be invoked.
• Improved synchronization of stderr in cases when an error is triggered far after its origin (for example, an error caused by a multiline string that is lacking a closing quote/delimiter, and thus may span several chunks of user code).
• Modified usage of the shlex module to work around its lack of Unicode support in Python versions prior to 2.7.3.
• Fixed a bug from v0.12beta that prevented \inputpygments from working when pygments=true.
• Fixed a bug with counters that caused errors when content spanning multiple columns was created within a tabular environment.
• Added checking for compatible Python versions in pythontex.py.
• Improved execution of *.bat and *.cmd files under Windows. The solution from v0.12beta allowed *.bat and *.cmd to be found and executed when the extension was not given, but did not give correct return codes.

v0.12beta (2013/06/24)

• Merged pythontex_types*.py into a single replacement pythontex_engines.py compatible with both Python 2 and 3. It is now much simpler to add support for additional languages.
• Added support for the Ruby language as a demonstration of new capabilities. The ruby and rb families of commands and environments may be enabled via the new usefamily package option. Support for additional languages is coming soon. See the new section in the documentation on support for other languages for more information.
• Reimplemented treatment of Pygments content for better efficiency. Now a Pygments process only runs if there is content to highlight. Eliminated redundant highlighting of unmodified code.
• Improved treatment of dependencies. If a dependency is modified (os.path.getmtime()) after the current PythonTeX run starts, then code that depends on it will be re-executed the next time PythonTeX runs. A message is also issued to indicate that this is the case.
• The utilities class now has before() and after() methods that are called immediately before and after user code. These may be redefined to customize output. For example, LaTeX commands could be printed before and after user code; stdout could be redirected to StringIO for further processing; or matplotlib figures could be automatically detected, saved, and included in the document.
• Added explanation of how to track dependencies and created files automatically, and how to include matplotlib figures automatically, to the documentation for the PythonTeX utilities class.
• Created a new system for parsing and synchronizing stderr.
  • Exceptions that do not reference a line number in user code (such as those from warnings.warn() in a module) are now traced back to a single command or environment. Previously no synchronization was attempted. This is accomplished by writing delimiters to stderr before executing the code from each command/environment.
  • Exceptions that do reference a line in user code are more efficiently synchronized with a document line number. This is accomplished by careful record keeping as each script is assembled. Line number synchronization no longer involves parsing the script that was executed.
  • Improved and generalized parsing of stderr, in preparation for supporting additional languages. Exceptions that cannot be identified as errors or warnings are treated based on Popen.returncode.
• Created a new system for console content.
  • There are now separate families of console commands and environments. No Pygments or fancyvrb settings are shared with the non-console families, as was previously the case. There is a new family of commands and environments based on pycon, including the \pycon command (inline reference to console variable), pyconsole environment (same as the old one), \pyconc and pyconcode (execute only), and \pyconv and pyconverbatim (typeset only). There are equivalent families based on pylabcon and sympycon.
  • Each console session now runs in its own process and is cached individually. Console output is now cached so that changing Pygments settings no longer requires re-execution.
  • Unicode is now supported under Python 2.
  • The new package option pyconfuture allows automatic imports from __future__ for console families under Python 2, paralleling the pyfuture option.
  • Any errors or warnings caused by code that is not typeset (code command and environment, startup code) are reported in the run summary. This ensures that such code does not create mischief.
  • customcode is now supported for console content.
• Better support for latexmk and similar build tools. PythonTeX creates a file of macros (*.pytxmcr) that is always included in a document, and thus can be automatically detected and tracked by latexmk. This file now contains the time at which PythonTeX last created files. When new files are created, the macro file will have a new hash, triggering another document compile.
• Improved the way in which the PythonTeX outputdir is added to the graphics path. This had been done with \graphicspath, but that overwrites any graphics path previously specified by the user. Now the outputdir is appended to any pre-existing path.
• Added the depythontex option --graphicspath. This adds the outputdir to the graphics path of the depythontex document.
• The installer now provides more options for installation locations. It will now create missing directories if desired.
• The working directory (workingdir) is now appended to sys.path, so that code there may be imported.
• Under Windows, subprocess.Popen() is now invoked with shell=True if shell=False results in a WindowsError. This allows commands involving *.bat and *.cmd files to be executed when the extension is not specified; otherwise, only *.exe can be found and run.
• The path to utils is now found in pythontex.py via sys.path[0] rather than kpsewhich. This allows the PythonTeX scripts to be executed in an arbitrary location; they no longer must be installed in a texmf tree where kpsewhich can find them.
• Added rerun value never.
• At the end of each run, data and macros are only saved if modified, improving efficiency.
• The number of temporary files required by each process was reduced by one. All macros for commands like \py are now returned within stdout, rather than in their own file.
• Fixed a bug with \stderrpythontex; it was defaulting to verb rather than verbatim mode.

v0.11 (2013/04/21)

• As the first non-beta release, this version adds several features and introduces several changes. You should read these release notes carefully, since some changes are not backwards-compatible. Changes are based on a thorough review of all current and planned features. PythonTeX's capabilities have already grown beyond what was originally intended, and a long list of features still remains to be implemented. As a result, some changes are needed to ensure consistent syntax and naming in the future. Insofar as possible, all command names and syntax will be frozen after this release.
• Added the pythontex.py and depythontex.py wrapper scripts. When run, these detect the current version of Python and import the correct PythonTeX code. It is still possible to run pythontex*.py and depythontex*.py directly, but the new wrapper scripts should be used instead for simplicity. There is now only a single pythontex_utils.py, which works with both Python 2 and Python 3.
• Added the beta package option. This makes the current version behave like v0.11beta, for compatibility. This option is temporary and will probably only be retained for a few releases.
• Backward-incompatible changes (require the beta option to restore old behavior)
  • The pyverb environment has been renamed pyverbatim. The old name was intended to be concise, but promoted confusion with LaTeX's \verb macro.
  • For \printpythontex, \stdoutpythontex, and \stderrpythontex, the modes inlineverb and v have been replaced by verb, and the old mode verb has been replaced by verbatim. This brings naming conventions in line with standard LaTeX \verb and verbatim, avoiding a source of potential confusion.
  • The \setpythontexpyglexer, \setpythontexpygopt, and \setpygmentspygopt commands now take an optional argument and a mandatory argument, rather than two mandatory arguments. This creates better uniformity among current and planned settings macros.
  • The \setpythontexformatter and \setpygmentsformatter commands have been replaced by the \setpythontexprettyprinter and \setpygmentsprettyprinter commands. This anticipates possible upcoming features. It also avoids potential confusion with Pygments's formatters and the utilities class's formatter() method.
• Deprecated (still work, but raise warnings; after a few releases, they will raise errors instead, and after that eventually be removed)
  • The rerun setting all was renamed always, in preparation for upcoming features.
  • The stderr option is replaced by makestderr. The print/stdout option is replaced by debug. These are intended to prevent confusion with future features.
  • The fixlr option is deprecated. It was originally introduced to deal with some of SymPy's LaTeX formatting, which has since changed.
  • The utilities class method init_sympy_latex() is deprecated. The sympy_latex() and set_sympy_latex() methods now automatically initialize themselves on first use.
• Added autostdout package option and \setpythontexautostdout, to complement autoprint. Added prettyprinter and prettyprintinline package options to complement new settings commands.
• Added quickstart guide.
• Installer now installs gallery and quickstart files, if present.

v0.11beta (2013/02/17)

• Commands like \py can now bring in any valid LaTeX code, including verbatim content, under the pdfTeX and XeTeX engines. Verbatim content was not allowed previously. LuaTeX cannot bring in verbatim, due to a known bug.
• Added package option depythontex and scripts depythontex*.py. These allow a PythonTeX document to be converted into a pure LaTeX document, with no Python dependency. The package option creates an auxiliary file with extension .depytx. The depythontex*.py scripts take this auxiliary file and the original LaTeX document, and combine the two to produce a new document that does not rely on the PythonTeX package. All PythonTeX commands and environments are replaced by their output. All Python-generated content is substituted directly into the document. By default, all typeset code is wrapped in \verb and verbatim, but depythontex*.py has a --listing option that allows fancyvrb, listings, minted, or pythontex to be used instead.
• The current PythonTeX version is now saved in the .pytxcode. If this does not match the version of the PythonTeX scripts, a warning is issued. This makes it easier to determine errors due to version mismatches.
• Fixed an incompatibility with the latest release of xstring (version 1.7, 2013/01/13).
• Fixed a bug in the console environment that could cause problems when switching from Pygments highlighting to fancyvrb when using the fvextfile option. Fixed a bug introduced in the v0.10beta series that prevented the console environment from working with fancyvrb.
• Fixed a bug with PythonTeX verbatim commands and environments that use Pygments. The verbatim commands and environments were incorrectly treated as if they had the attributes of executed code in the v0.10beta series.
• Fixed a bug from the v0.10beta series that sometimes prevented imports from __future__ from working when there were multiple sessions.
• Fixed a bug related to hashing dependencies' mtime under Python 3.

v0.10beta2 (2013/01/23)

• Improved pythontex*.py's handling of the name of the file being processed. A warning is no longer raised if the name is given with an extension; extensions are now processed (stripped) automatically. The filename may now contain a path to the file, so you need not run pythontex*.py from within the document's directory.
• Added command-line option --verbose for more verbose output. Currently, this prints a list of all processes that are launched.
• Fixed a bug that could crash pythontex*.py when the package option pygments=false.
• Added documentation about autoprint behavior in the preamble. Summary: code commands and environments are allowed in the preamble as of v0.10beta. autoprint only applies to the body of the document, because nothing can be typeset in the preamble. Content printed in the preamble can be brought in by explicitly using \printpythontex, but this should be used with great care.
• Revised \stdoutpythontex and \printpythontex so that they work in the preamble. Again, this should be used with great care if at all.
• Revised treatment of any content that custom code attempts to print. Custom code is not allowed to print to the document (see documentation). If custom code attempts to print, a warning is raised, and the printed content is included in the pythontex*.py run summary.
• One-line entries in stderr, such as those produced by Python's warnings.warn(), were not previously parsed because they are of the form :<linenumber>: rather than line <linenumber>. These are now parsed and synchronized with the document. They are also correctly parsed for inclusion in the document via \stderrpythontex.
• If the package option stderrfilename is changed, all sessions that produced errors or warnings are now re-executed automatically, so that their stderr content is properly updated with the new filename.

v0.10beta (2013/01/09)

• Backward-incompatible: Redid treatment of command-line options for pythontex*.py, using Python's argparse module. Run pythontex*.py with option -h to see new command line options.
• Deprecated: \setpythontexcustomcode is deprecated in favor of the \pythontexcustomc command and pythontexcustomcode environment. These allow entry of pure code, unlike \setpythontexcustomcode. These also allow custom code to be added to the beginning or end of a session, via an optional argument. Improved treatment of errors and warnings associated with custom code.
• The summary of errors and warnings now correctly differentiates errors and warnings produced by user code, rather than treating all of them as errors. By default, pythontex*.py now returns an exit code of 1 if there were errors.
• The PythonTeX utilities class now allows external file dependencies to be specified via pytex.add_dependencies(), so that sessions are automatically re-executed when external dependencies are modified (modification is determined via either hash or mtime; this is governed by the new hashdependencies option).
• The PythonTeX utilities class now allows created files to be specified via pytex.add_created(), so that created files may be automatically cleaned up (deleted) when the code that created them is modified (for example, name change for a saved plot).
• Added the following package options.
  • stdout (or print): Allows input of stdout to be disabled. Useful for debugging.
  • runall: Executes everything. Useful when code depends on external data.
  • rerun: Determines when code is re-executed. Code may be set to always run (same as runall option), or only run when it is modified or when it produces errors or warnings. By default, code is always re-executed if there are errors or modifications, but not re-executed if there are warnings.
  • hashdependencies: Determines whether external dependencies (data, external code files highlighted with Pygments, etc.) are checked for modification via hashing or modification time. Modification time is default for performance reasons.
• Added the following new command line options. The options that are equivalent to package options are overridden by the package options when present.
  • --error-exit-code: Determines whether an exit code of 1 is returned if there were errors. On by default, but can be turned off since it is undesirable when working with some editors.
  • --runall: Equivalent to new package option.
  • --rerun: Equivalent to new package option.
  • --hashdependencies: Equivalent to new package option.
• Modified the fixlr option, so that it only patches commands if they have not already been patched (avoids package conflicts).
• Added \setpythontexautoprint command for toggling autoprint on/off within the body of the document.
• Installer now attempts to create symlinks under OS X and Linux with TeX Live, and under OS X with MacPorts Tex Live.
• Performed compatibility testing under lualatex and xelatex (previously, had only tested with pdflatex). Added documentation for using these TeX engines; at most, slightly different preambles are needed. Modified the PythonTeX gallery to support all three engines.
• Code commands and environments may now be used in the preamble. This, combined with the new treatment of custom code, allows PythonTeX to be used in creating LaTeX packages.
• Added documentation for using PythonTeX in LaTeX programming.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes caused incorrect line numbers with stderr content. Improved processing of stderr.
• Fixed a bug in automatic detection of pre-existing listings environment.
• Improved the detection of imports from __future__. Detection should now be stricter, faster, and more accurate.

v0.9beta3 (2012/07/17)

• Added Unicode support, which required the Python code to be split into one set for Python 2 and another set for Python 3. This will require any old installation to be completely removed, and a new installation created from scratch.
• Refactoring of Python code. Documents should automatically re-execute all code after updating to the new version. Otherwise, you should delete the PythonTeX directory and run PythonTeX.
• Improved installation script.
• Added package options: pyfuture, stderr, upquote, pyglexer, pyginline. Renamed the pygextfile option to fvextfile.
• Added custom code and workingdir commands.
• Added the console environment and associated options.
• Rewrote pythontex_utils*.py, creating a new, context-aware interface to SymPy's LatexPrinter class.
• Content brought in via macros no longer uses labels. Rather, long defs are used, which allows line breaks.
• Pygments highlighting is now default for PythonTeX commands and environments.

v0.9beta2 (2012/05/09)

• Changed Python output extension to .stdout.

v0.9beta (2012/04/27)

• Initial public beta release.