When it comes to data analysis, having it all in one place is great – until it isn't. If your analysis has sections, consider breaking your master analysis file into topical subfiles, and stringing them all together when you compile your report.
Luckily, LaTeX provides not one but two useful functions that support this very
pattern: \input and \include. Read about the difference between them in
this well-put answer on the TeX Stack Exchange,
and select the one best suited to your needs.
To use \input or \include, create a tex file with the bones of your document.
analyses/00-my-analysis.tex
\documentclass{article}
\title{A cool analysis}
\author{A cool analyst}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\end{document}
Next, conduct your analysis across a series of ptexw files. (Need a refresher
on pweave, our tool for compiling prose and Python into sweet data nectar?
Check out our introduction.)
analyses/01-part-1.ptexw
\section*{Part 1}
<<>>=
# some analysis here
@
analyses/02-part-2.ptexw
\section*{Part 2}
<<>>=
# yet more analysis here
@
As you complete your subfiles, simply \include or \input them in your master
tex file, where the thing to include is the basename of your subfile (that is,
the name of your file, without preceding directories or a trailing file extension).
analyses/00-my-analysis.tex
\documentclass{article}
\title{A cool analysis}
\author{A cool analyst}
\begin{document}
\maketitle
\include{01-part-1}
\include{02-part-2}
\end{document}
When you're ready to produce your final report, compile your pweave files –
pweave -o analysis/01-part-1.tex analysis/01-part-1.ptexw
pweave -o analysis/02-part-2.tex analysis/02-part-2.ptexw– then, run pdflatex.
cd analyses && pdflatex 00-my-analysis.texIt's as simple as that!
Using Make? A Makefile to compile reports organized in the above fashion might look like this:
# Define a variable containing paths/to/each of your subfiles.
subsections=analyses/01-part-1.tex analyses/02-part-2.tex
# Set a phony target, all, to make your final report.
all : analyses/my-analysis.pdf
# Set a phony target to delete generated files. (pdflatex emits a bunch.)
clean :
rm analyses/*.pdf analyses/*.aux analyses/*.log analyses/0[1-9]*.tex analyses/figures/*
# Define a recipe for compiling your final report that depends on your master
# tex file, as well as each subsection.
analyses/time-tracking.pdf : analyses/00-my-analysis.tex $(subsections)
cd analyses && \
pdflatex $(notdir $<)
# Define a wildcard recipe that compiles your pweave files to tex files, i.e.,
# the dependencies of your final report.
analyses/%.tex : analyses/%.ptexw
pweave -o $@ $<