texpand

Convert LaTeX macros to Unicode characters on standard input. Whitespace is trimmed from inputs.

Installation

Requires gperf.

make -C ./src install

Usage

printf %s '\\theta' | texpand
# θ

printf '\n %s \n' '\\theta' | texpand
# θ

printf %s '\\mathbb{Z}' | texpand
# ℤ

Macros which take an argument require {} around the argument. Subscripts and superscripts are not supported; if this is unacceptable, see UnicodeIt.

Text editors which can pipe to sh can use texpand on a keybind to expand LaTeX macros. For Kakoune, the snippet

define-command texpand-word %{ evaluate-commands -draft -save-regs 'e|' -no-hooks %{
	set-register e 'nop'
	set-register | %{
		root="$(mktemp -d)" ; stdin="$root/stdin" ; stdout="$root/stdout"
		tee "$stdin" | texpand > "$stdout"

		if [ "$?" -eq 0 ]
		then cat "$stdout"
		else printf 'set-register e fail "%s"\n' "failed to expand macro" > "$kak_command_fifo" ; cat "$stdin"
		fi

		rm -rf "$root"
	}

	execute-keys 'h<a-f>\|<ret>'
	%reg{e}
}}

map global insert <c-t> '<a-;>: texpand-word<ret>'

will bind <c-t> in insert mode to a command, which,

1. selects to the last \,
2. passes the selection to texpand,
3. and replaces the selected word with the procured Unicode character if successful; else, does nothing, and prints an error message to *debug*.

For example, let | represent the cursor, so that our buffer is

\mu|

then <c-t> in insert mode will result in

μ|

but if the expansion were to fail (i.e., if the macro were invalid), the buffer would instead be unchanged; e.g., let our buffer be

\abcde|

then <c-t> gives

\abcde|

and prints the message "failed to expand macro" on the status line.