LaTeX? Documents Dvips

8.2: Running LaTeX

The LaTeX source file is a text file, the name of which generally includes a `.tex' extension (TeX files also use the same extension---TeXinfo extensions are `.texi'). LaTeX files contain special commands which include characters such as `%', `\', and `}'. The file `sample.tex' is a sample LaTeX file which documents how to prepare input files for typesetting simple documents. LaTeX files are best edited using Emacs.

In the current version of TeX and LaTeX, the default TEXINPUTS is .:$HOME/tex:/usr/local/lib/texmf/tex//. Similar to PATH, TEXINPUTS allows the computer to find the information necessary to run TeX and LaTeX. If you keep your personal TeX macros in ~/tex, then you can safely delete any definition of TEXINPUTS that you have in ~/.cshrc. However, if you keep your personal macros elsewhere, e.g., ~/TeX, then you should define TEXINPUTS as

setenv TEXINPUTS .:~/TeX:

TeX will look first in the current directory, then in ~/TeX, and then use the default path.

To typeset a LaTeX file, use the command latex. For example,

        [lyman|15] latex sample.tex 

would tell the computer to typeset the sample program according to the embedded commands and create a `.dvi' (DeVice Independent) file named `sample.dvi'. (If there is only one file including the name `sample', a command like latex sample would work just as well.) Two programs that run in concert with TeX and LaTeX are makeindex and bibtex, which automatically construct indices and a bibliography, respectively, when the necessary information is included. This DVI file can be previewed on the screen before printing with the command xdvi, i.e. xdvi sample.dvi.

The standard method for printing LaTeX documents is to use the command lpr -d, where the d option implicitly invokes dvips to convert your DVI file into PostScript for printing. The dvips command should be invoked separately if the special effects needed are unavailable to DVI files.

LaTeX?

Documents

Dvips