NAME

latexhelpindex.pl -- help latex authors to completify an index.

SYNOPSIS

This program helps latex authors augment an existing latex index.

1. It creates output like a compiler, which allows authors to use the emacs next-error function to step through their original latex text and hand add \index{} entries.

2. It creates a directory, called lhi/, which has the original latex source, but each paragraph is augmented by a line following it that contains all terms from this paragraph that were also in the index. These terms have an \autoindex{} preceding them. (Naturally, you might want to define \providecommand{\autoindex}[1]{\index{#1}}

The program tries to ignore instances in which the text already contains an \index{key} macro.

The user can also specify a file that contains index keys that should not be checked. (Naturally, by hand-fixing the input index (.idx) file, it is also easy to add or subtract index keys.)

The program tries to recognize phrases that extend over two lines. The items are sorted, too, which means skipping an item is as simple as going to the emacs error buffer and setting the mark at the next item. Finally, if there is an index item within the previous or next columns of lines (well, $LOOKFORDEFINITION=10 to be exact) that has an entry \index{key} already, it is not printed.

BUGS

• This program is slow, but who cares.

• This program could look for an existing \index{} entry within the same paragraph, rather than just up and down a fixed number of lines.

• This program could be smarter about plural and singular (word roots). Right now, it only adjusts for spacing and punctuation variations. Finally, it really is a quick-and-dirty hack, that could be cleaned up throughout (and gain some extra functionality).

• |see index items could be ignored. This is a feature. When one defines an abbreviation, that is ``\index{abbrev|see {abbreviation}}'', we do not want to include \index{abbrev} in the text (or the index contains both the see and page numbers). However, there should be a reference to the defined term.

• I was not sure what to do with |( and |) entries, so I just print an error and exit. My view is that after all autoindex items are inserted, the post- processor should be smart enough to recognized that 142,143,144,...,150 is a page range that should be printed as 142-150.

USAGE

latexhelpindex.pl file.idx texfiles*.tex

latexhelpindex.pl -e file.exclude file.idx texfiles*.tex

latexhelpindex.pl -q -e file.exclude file.idx texfiles*.tex (quiet, no print)

latexhelpindex.pl -n -e file.exclude file.idx texfiles*.tex (no directory output)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

AUTHOR

ivo welch

DATE

August 8, 2002

LICENSE

(C) Ivo Welch, 2002. GNU copyleft usage permitted by the author.

THANKS

Thanks to all the chaps on comp.text.tex who constantly help me out with necessary latex macros---especially Don Arseneau. This perl code may help give back a little to the community.

LATEST VERSION

I will try to keep the latest version at http://welch.econ.brown.edu/ . Please check there first. The site also contains another useful perl program for latex, called reflabel.pl. It cross-references information about labels and references, again in an output format that is useful for emacs use. For now, the perl code is at

http://welch.econ.brown.edu/computers/latexhelpindex.txt http://welch.econ.brown.edu/computers/reflabel.txt

SUPPORT

None. Don't even think about it. Expect absolutely no support from the author. Make changes yourself.