Passing Command Line Arguments to a LaTeX Document

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Call Stack
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1	0.0001	53516	{main}( )	../index.php:0
2	0.0002	56956	require( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-blog-header.php' )	../index.php:17
3	0.1405	13846160	require_once( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-includes/template-loader.php' )	../wp-blog-header.php:16
4	0.1413	13908752	include( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/themes/svelt/single.php' )	../template-loader.php:34
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6	0.1782	14024932	apply_filters( )	../post-template.php:167
7	0.1814	14029484	call_user_func_array ( )	../plugin.php:166
8	0.1814	14029668	vim_color( )	../plugin.php:0
9	0.1814	14030004	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
10	0.1814	14036240	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
11	0.1814	14036444	vimcolor_process_color( )	../wp-vimcolor.php(143) : regexp code:6
12	0.1886	14052832	fread ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:105

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Call Stack
#	Time	Memory	Function	Location
1	0.0001	53516	{main}( )	../index.php:0
2	0.0002	56956	require( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-blog-header.php' )	../index.php:17
3	0.1405	13846160	require_once( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-includes/template-loader.php' )	../wp-blog-header.php:16
4	0.1413	13908752	include( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/themes/svelt/single.php' )	../template-loader.php:34
5	0.1779	14023068	the_content( )	../single.php:16
6	0.1782	14024932	apply_filters( )	../post-template.php:167
7	0.1814	14029484	call_user_func_array ( )	../plugin.php:166
8	0.1814	14029668	vim_color( )	../plugin.php:0
9	0.1814	14030004	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
10	0.1895	14050776	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
11	0.1895	14050920	vimcolor_process_color( )	../wp-vimcolor.php(143) : regexp code:1
12	0.1946	14052356	fread ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:105

( ! ) Warning: fread() [function.fread]: Length parameter must be greater than 0 in /home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/plugins/vimcolor/wp-vimcolor.php on line 105
Call Stack
#	Time	Memory	Function	Location
1	0.0001	53516	{main}( )	../index.php:0
2	0.0002	56956	require( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-blog-header.php' )	../index.php:17
3	0.1405	13846160	require_once( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-includes/template-loader.php' )	../wp-blog-header.php:16
4	0.1413	13908752	include( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/themes/svelt/single.php' )	../template-loader.php:34
5	0.1779	14023068	the_content( )	../single.php:16
6	0.1782	14024932	apply_filters( )	../post-template.php:167
7	0.1814	14029484	call_user_func_array ( )	../plugin.php:166
8	0.1814	14029668	vim_color( )	../plugin.php:0
9	0.1814	14030004	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
10	0.1949	14050784	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
11	0.1949	14050932	vimcolor_process_color( )	../wp-vimcolor.php(143) : regexp code:1
12	0.1996	14052372	fread ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:105

( ! ) Warning: fread() [function.fread]: Length parameter must be greater than 0 in /home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/plugins/vimcolor/wp-vimcolor.php on line 105
Call Stack
#	Time	Memory	Function	Location
1	0.0001	53516	{main}( )	../index.php:0
2	0.0002	56956	require( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-blog-header.php' )	../index.php:17
3	0.1405	13846160	require_once( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-includes/template-loader.php' )	../wp-blog-header.php:16
4	0.1413	13908752	include( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/themes/svelt/single.php' )	../template-loader.php:34
5	0.1779	14023068	the_content( )	../single.php:16
6	0.1782	14024932	apply_filters( )	../post-template.php:167
7	0.1814	14029484	call_user_func_array ( )	../plugin.php:166
8	0.1814	14029668	vim_color( )	../plugin.php:0
9	0.1814	14030004	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
10	0.2002	14051080	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
11	0.2002	14051296	vimcolor_process_color( )	../wp-vimcolor.php(143) : regexp code:3
12	0.2050	14053136	fread ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:105

( ! ) Warning: fread() [function.fread]: Length parameter must be greater than 0 in /home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/plugins/vimcolor/wp-vimcolor.php on line 105
Call Stack
#	Time	Memory	Function	Location
1	0.0001	53516	{main}( )	../index.php:0
2	0.0002	56956	require( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-blog-header.php' )	../index.php:17
3	0.1405	13846160	require_once( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-includes/template-loader.php' )	../wp-blog-header.php:16
4	0.1413	13908752	include( '/home/bbbart/www/htdocs/blog/wp-content/themes/svelt/single.php' )	../template-loader.php:34
5	0.1779	14023068	the_content( )	../single.php:16
6	0.1782	14024932	apply_filters( )	../post-template.php:167
7	0.1814	14029484	call_user_func_array ( )	../plugin.php:166
8	0.1814	14029668	vim_color( )	../plugin.php:0
9	0.1814	14030004	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
10	0.2054	14051044	preg_replace ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:143
11	0.2054	14051188	vimcolor_process_color( )	../wp-vimcolor.php(143) : regexp code:1
12	0.2105	14052624	fread ( )	../wp-vimcolor.php:105

Some time ago, someone asked me if I knew a way to pass command line arguments to LaTeX documents. My first response was that this ought to be impossible; being a compiler, LaTeX cannot in any way alter it’s input files. But command line parameters can alter the output without touching the input of course.

This has kept me thinking for a while, and at the end I came up with some kind of a solution.

Let’s take a simple LaTeX file:

and call it .

We will define the output of as a command line parameter at LaTeX invocation, as follows:

Result: containing the text “hello world”. Admitted, it’s not the easiest solution, but it does make LaTeX useful inside simple batch jobs!

For more advanced LaTeX templating, I advise using Perl and Text::Template.