tex-to-txt

In order to run grammar and spell checking for latex files it is annoying that latex commands are in the source code and copying from a pdf is a pain.

Therefore this repository provides a small python script, that will convert a given .tex file into a .txt file by removing all latex specific commands etc.

This will then enable you to copy the whole content of the .txt file into a spell checker of your choice (e.g. word, online check etc.).

Features:

• No extra dependencies (only python-out-of-the-box dependencies)
• Lightweight
• Not OS-dependant (runs on linux, macOS, windows)

Extraction steps:

• Remove comments (line starting with %)
• Remove all figures, equatitions, tables etc. (As they can be very complex you have to check them manually)
• Remove citations
• Replace references with placeholder (<Referenz entfernt>)
• Remove latex commands (but keep the content):
  • ac and acs
  • enquote
  • chapter
  • section
  • subsection
• save the output as a .txt file

Expressions

A list of standard expressions is predefined. You can find them here. Additionaly you can define a txt-file with your own expressions, either to use alongside, or as a replacement for the defaults.

How to run

Run from your commandline with:

python3 tex_to_txt.py [-h] [-e EXPRESSIONS] [-a] tex_path out_path

positional arguments:
tex_path              the path to the tex file
out_path              path to the ouput text file

options:
-h, --help            show this help message and exit
-e EXPRESSIONS, --expressions EXPRESSIONS
path containing expressions
-a, --additional      use the provided file in addition to the default expressions