TeX, LaTeX and Friends

8:22 AM

Hello everyone,

If I would like to pass file names with spaces to be used by tikz external library, how can I make it work without getting errors knowing that I have a command

\NewDocumentCommand{\inputtikz}{ m m }{%
\tikzset{external/export=true}%
\tikzsetnextfilename{#2}%
\input{#1}%
\tikzset{external/export=false}%
}

and I use it like

\inputtikz{{"the rect"}.tikz}{{"my rect"}}

but it doesn't work unless I remove the spaces for both argumnts

Paulo Cereda

8:38 AM

quack

Ulrike Fischer

8:48 AM

@Diaa file names with spaces works ok in simple conditions like inputting a graphic or a file. But you should use them in complicate setups e.g. where external tools are called, only if you, and I mean you, are willing to spent a lot time to get the quoting right. This kind of stuff breaks if there are not enough and too much quotes, and if the chain is longer every step must be adjusted to the previous.

3

CarLaTeX

Jan 21 '14 at 12:33, by David Carlisle

@NicolaTalbot people who put spaces in filenames deserve no sympathy.

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

9:16 AM

@Diaa Can you make a MWE?

Paulo Cereda

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas ooh Merry Whristmas Everybody

enthu

Hi, I am having texlive 2019 on my system, is it wise to upgrade it to 2020? I mean, are all packages upgraded/ no possible issues, etc?

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

9:33 AM

@enthu There are always potential issues. Packages evolve, some get deprecated... If you are close to finishing a thesis or such, don't update. If not, an update is mostly safe and potential problems can be sorted out. (and what @PauloCereda said below)

@PauloCereda :D to you too

Paulo Cereda

@enthu You can also install TL 2020 while keeping 2019 around.

Plergux

@PauloCereda Feliz Natal para você também! :D

Paulo Cereda

@Plergux awwww <3

@Plergux to you too sheep person! <3

Plergux

10:26 AM

@PauloCereda :D

Paulo Cereda

@Plergux :D

Plergux

@PauloCereda @Skillmon @TeXnician Manjaro up and running :D

Paulo Cereda

@Plergux ooh

Plergux

@PauloCereda with duck for scale :p

Paulo Cereda

@Plergux ooh

@Plergux i3? :)

Plergux

10:30 AM

@PauloCereda Yup :)

Paulo Cereda

@Plergux oooooooh

enthu

10:47 AM

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas @PauloCereda been off-tex for a while, went for a clear installation. uninstalled 2019. hope this upgrade to be painless.

@Plergux coffee is getting cold :D

Plergux

@enthu That's okay. I prefer my coffee cold. :p

enthu

@Plergux so cold-brew coffee should be on your list as well ^__^

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

@Plergux is this a green overleaf pen right of the computer?

Plergux

@enthu I've not tried cold brew yet, but I've made myself iced coffee. Yum yum! :p

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas uuhh... no, just a generic green Pentel Energel pen :p

Rmano

@Plergux In Italian we say that coffee must be "dark like the night, hot like hell, strong like love" (somebody says "sweet like love" but I do not agree there...)

enthu

10:53 AM

@Plergux good idea! cheers!

Plergux

@Rmano I have heard something along those lines : "black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love!" < from a book by a Neopolitan friend of mine that I'm translating into Icelandic :p He has translated it into English himself :p

Rmano

@Plergux yet, that could be (I will never dare discuss coffee with a Neapolitan) ;-P

enthu

@Rmano nice saying, will remember it. I love coffee indeed, although my family and friends like tea more.

Diaa

@UlrikeFischer well said

Plergux

@Rmano :p yeah, every area has the "right idea" about food and drink, right? :p Or every nonna perhaps. :p

Diaa

11:04 AM

I can but I feel abandoned with my lovely spaces right now :D
You can check my last asked question to see the case of spaces after considering Cicada's comment
https://tex.stackexchange.com/q/576077/2288

Rmano

@Plergux Yes! I myself also like (good) percolated coffee (especially if Kona), I just find that that and the Italian ones are different beverages based on the same product.

Plergux

@Rmano I don't think I have the taste buds to talk much about coffee :p Most of the time I just drink instant. :p Maybe if I had the money to buy a proper coffee maker and buy good coffee I might tell the difference. Though I doubt it. :p

Rmano

@Plergux probably yes --- I am not a tea expert at all but when somebody offered me a real one I did notice the difference...

Plergux

@Rmano :D Maybe one day I will go to Italy and have some real coffee :p

Rmano

@Plergux Yes, nice option too ;-).

Paulo Cereda

11:15 AM

@Plergux yo same

LaTeXereXeTaL

11:34 AM

I seem to be accumulating hats!

Paulo Cereda

@LaTeXereXeTaL ooh

David Carlisle

@Rmano just say "sweet like a pineapple pizza" and you will be accepted into Neapolitan society in no time.

Paulo Cereda

@DavidCarlisle or burned alive in the center of Napoli :)

David Carlisle

@PauloCereda Prima colazione

Paulo Cereda

@DavidCarlisle oh no

Rmano

11:51 AM

@PauloCereda A more probable outcome.

@DavidCarlisle well, lunch really ;-)

Paulo Cereda

@Rmano oh no

David Carlisle

@Rmano you are not in a correct timezone (and we are running a bit late as it's first day off work for the holiday season) (and the road outside looks like a river it's raining quite hard:-)

Rmano

@DavidCarlisle well, just a bit off (for political reasons, because longitude 0 is just outdoor)... but Italians have lunch between 12-13 (Spaniards are crazy in their eating timetable)

Going to prepare lunch, BTW (I am the official cook at home)

David Carlisle

12:06 PM

@Rmano in my experience Italians have lunch between 12 and 17, just in time to start the evening meal

Rmano

@DavidCarlisle An no, that's Spain. Before 8 there's no life, then 8-11 is breakfast, 11-13 is almuerzo, 13-14 is aperitivo, 14-17 is lunch, 17-21 is merienda, and 21-24 is dinner. ;-)

In Italy nobody will have dinner before 19 (and this is only in Northern Alps), normally 20.

enthu

2:02 PM

are there good examples of using texworks scripts?

I have seen it today, seems to be interesting

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

2:15 PM

learnlatex should make a challenge like this: pythonchallenge.com :)

Paulo Cereda

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas should they finish their website layout. :)

Phelype Oleinik

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas Oh, that design!

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

@PauloCereda They finished the design in the 90s :)

Paulo Cereda

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas ooh :)

enthu

2:52 PM

@PhelypeOleinik what a big hat!!!

Phelype Oleinik

@enthu It is my sombrero! :D

@enthu Also, it could be bigger, but stackexchange wants to limit the power of our hats, so they put a bounding box

enthu

@PhelypeOleinik that limit is probably a bug in SE!

Phelype Oleinik

@enthu No, it is a limit so people don't bug the site with building-sized sombreros

enthu

@PhelypeOleinik :)) that's so fun by the way!

@PhelypeOleinik how much is the diameter of the real hats?

Phelype Oleinik

@enthu I don't actually own a sombrero, so no idea. I'd expect it to be at least 2 metres across ;)

Ulrike Fischer

3:03 PM

@PhelypeOleinik you should add you filename-splitting sword ;-)

Phelype Oleinik

@UlrikeFischer Hah! :D

enthu

@PhelypeOleinik wow! these may save someone if they jump from the height!

David Carlisle

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas challenge, make @barbarabeeton happy for Christmas and add the missing hyphens in lords-a-leaping to

\let~\catcode~`76~`A13~`F1~`j00~`P2jdefA71F~`7113jdefPALLF
PA''FwPA;;FPAZZFLaLPA//71F71iPAHHFLPAzzFenPASSFthP;A$$FevP
A@@FfPARR717273F737271P;ADDFRgniPAWW71FPATTFvePA**FstRsamP
AGGFRruoPAqq71.72.F717271PAYY7172F727171PA??Fi*LmPA&&71jfi
Fjfi71PAVVFjbigskipRPWGAUU71727374 75,76Fjpar71727375Djifx
:76jelse&U76jfiPLAKK7172F71l7271PAXX71FVLnOSeL71SLRyadR@oL
RrhC?yLRurtKFeLPFovPgaTLtReRomL;PABB71 72,73:Fjif.73.jelse
B73:jfiXF71PU71 72,73:PWs;AMM71F71diPAJJFRdriPAQQFRsreLPAI
I71Fo71dPA!!FRgiePBt'el@ lTLqdrYmu.Q.,Ke;vz vzLqpip.Q.,tz;

Diaa

If spaces in file name are that notorious and can explode unexpectedly, especially in external file handling, why doesn't tex warn clearly in the log that having spaces in the main file or the sub ones might break the document buildup?

Paulo Cereda

@Diaa well, it's not the program's fault when users decide to write unfortunate code...

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

3:08 PM

@DavidCarlisle :) The hyphens will be shipped in a separate package

Phelype Oleinik

4

@UlrikeFischer Like this?

Paulo Cereda

@PhelypeOleinik OMG YES

Phelype Oleinik

2

David Carlisle

@Diaa we have just gone to a lot of effort in latex to make spaces work, you can have a main file with spaces and do \input{chapter one} etc but tikz externalize is constructing a commandline for the operating system so it depends on all kinds of details not known to tex

Diaa

@PauloCereda I might have a stranded one unintentionally and it will take me hours to find out by chance.

Phelype Oleinik

3:11 PM

@UlrikeFischer You could give the other duck a sword too ^^

Diaa

@DavidCarlisle but a warning to the log would help the innocents like me to rethink

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

Just got this link from a friend: andreas-zeller.blogspot.com/2017/01/…

David Carlisle

@Diaa that mean doing a slowish check for every latex document ever produced, just for the impossibly tiny fraction of documents where it is a problem, and even then it can only make a warning can not fix it, and so many people will not even notice it.

Skillmon

@Plergux is that a ranger?

Paulo Cereda

@Skillmon thought the same! looks like ranger

David Carlisle

3:14 PM

@Diaa it isn't really tex related, you might say that to delete a file in windows cmd shell you do del myfile.tex but of your file is my file.tex then that simple version does not work.

Diaa

@DavidCarlisle I know right. My brain is telling me to hate spaces and remove them from all my documents, but my heart is still craving them XD

Skillmon

@PauloCereda best file manager (next to commandline)

David Carlisle

@Diaa you could put the filenames in quotes but to get "my file.tex" you need to know the filename and the user may just have used my file with .tex being added automatically or maybe the user is using a powershell commandline or (like me bash) even on windows, so making it work is just a nightmare.

Diaa

@DavidCarlisle Today, I found them very annoying and putting extra effort to make it work would make me hate them more. Better late than never.

Paulo Cereda

@PhelypeOleinik ^^ this is how I see your avatar :)

David Carlisle

3:21 PM

@PhelypeOleinik @PauloCereda is about to remove your head

Paulo Cereda

@DavidCarlisle oh no

Phelype Oleinik

@PauloCereda This is awesome! XD

@DavidCarlisle But it is me who has the sword!

Paulo Cereda

@PhelypeOleinik oh no

David Carlisle

@PhelypeOleinik are you sure, the hilt sticking out, he could sneak up behind you and ....

Phelype Oleinik

@DavidCarlisle D:

@DavidCarlisle I should put in a safer (for me) place

David Carlisle

3:25 PM

@PhelypeOleinik you could use it for carving roast duck

Phelype Oleinik

@DavidCarlisle Seems safer, for some :)

Paulo Cereda

@DavidCarlisle oh no

Phelype Oleinik

A monochrome sombrero would look good on @DavidCarlisle :)

2

Paulo Cereda

ooh Señor Carlisle

Phelype Oleinik

@PauloCereda YES!

Ulrike Fischer

3:30 PM

@PhelypeOleinik nice, but I would have to exchange the avatar ;-)

barbara beeton

@Plergux -- Some of us mostly non-coffee drinkers survive on chocolat chaud. I will drink coffee if what is available is good Turkish coffee or the New Orleans potion with chicory. The former is good fun to make, and most impressive when prepared in front of guests, and anything else is best when prepared in a classic Chemex carafe. (I guess some of us are snobs.)

Plergux

@PauloCereda @skillmon yes. it's ranger :)

Paulo Cereda

@Plergux ooh go go power ranger

Skillmon

@Plergux good choice.

@Plergux how well do you fare with i3 so far?

Plergux

@barbarabeeton heh heh heh... I also like chocolate in my coffee. :p And cream :p

@Skillmon Very well. Will never understand why directions aren't Mod+WASD :p But I can use the arrow keys so I won't make a fuss :p

Skillmon

3:36 PM

@Plergux are they hjkl?

Plergux

@Skillmon yup.

Skillmon

@Plergux that's the VIM movement bindings.

David Carlisle

@Plergux vim strikes again :(

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

4

@PhelypeOleinik like this? ^^^

Paulo Cereda

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas LOL

Plergux

3:37 PM

@Skillmon @DavidCarlisle oh dear. I will enjoy ignoring them even more now :p

Skillmon

@Plergux they are handy, you don't have to move your hands at all.

Phelype Oleinik

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas THANK YOU, YES! :D

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

@PhelypeOleinik :D

Ulrike Fischer

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas you should also give him a monochrome sword ;-) (but rotated ...)

Plergux

@Skillmon maybe, but it is no way intuitive. At least not for me.

David Carlisle

3:39 PM

@Plergux vim has never claimed to be intuitive

samcarter_prepared_for_xmas

@UlrikeFischer Are there any swords left? Your ducks seem to have all of them: i.stack.imgur.com/7qdlz.png

Ulrike Fischer

@samcarter_prepared_for_xmas the ducks are quite willing to lend the sword to David if needed.

Skillmon

3:56 PM

@DavidCarlisle well, better than breaking your fingers just to hit those weird key combinations :)

Alan Munn

4:12 PM

@DavidCarlisle The easy fix unfortunately also gives you and-a-partridge and in-a-pear tree.

Paulo Cereda

ooh a partridge in a pear tree -> a peartridge

David Carlisle

@AlanMunn I expect a full report before 12th night:-)

Alan Munn

4:39 PM

\let~\catcode~`76~`A13~`F1~`j00~`P2jdefA71F~`7113jdefPALLF
PA''FwPA;;FPAZZF-a-PANNFLaLPA//71F71iPAHHFLPAzzFenPASSFthP;A$$FevP
A@@FfPARR717273F737271P;ADDFRgniPAWW71FPATTFvePA**FstRsamP
AGGFRruoPAqq71.72.F717271PAYY7172F727171PA??Fi*LmPA&&71jfi
Fjfi71PAVVFjbigskipRPWGAUU71727374 75,76Fjpar71727375Djifx
:76jelse&U76jfiPLAKK7172F71l7271PAXX71FVLnOSeL71SLRyadR@oL
RrhC?yLRurtKFeLPFovPgaTLtReRomL;PABB71 72,73:Fjif.73.jelse
B73:jfiXF71PU71 72,73:PWs;AMM71F71diPAJJFRdriPAQQFRsreLPAI
I71Fo71dPA!!FRgiePBt'el@ lTLqdrYmu.Q.,Ke;vz vzLqpip.Q.,tz;

@DavidCarlisle The hard part is fixing the pretty squared off code.

Alan Munn

5:10 PM

\let~\catcode~`76~`A13~`F1~`j00~`P2jdefA71F~`7113jdefPALLF
PA''FwPA;;FPAZZF-a-PA//71F71iPAHHFLPAzzFenPASSFthP;A$$FevP
A@@FfPARR717273F737271P;ADDFRgniPAWW71FPATTFvePA**FstRsamP
AGGFRruoPAqq71.72.F717271PAYY7172F727171PA??Fi*LmPA&&71jfi
Fjfi71PAVVFjbigskipRPWGAUU71727374 75,76Fjpar71727375Djifx
:76jelse&U76jfiPLAKK7172F71l7271PAXX71FVLnOSeL71SLRyadR@oL
RrhC?yLRurtKFeLPFovPgaTLtReRomL;PABB71 72,73:Fjif.73.jelse
B73:jfiXF71PU71 72,73:PWs;AMM71F71diPAJJFRdriPAQQFRsreLPAI
I71Fo71dPA!!FRgiePBt'el@ lTLqdrYmu.Q.,Ke;vz vzLqpip.Q.,tz;

@DavidCarlisle This one is better. :) @barbarabeeton I added your hyphens.

barbara beeton

@AlanMunn -- You guys are too much! Now, to run it through to see if everything else is okay.

Alan Munn

Actually the second last line can be:

doTsW,Wk;Rri@stW aHAHHFndLaLPpqar.tridgeLinLaLpe.LtYer.W,:

barbara beeton

5:26 PM

@AlanMunn -- Beautiful hyphens! But I can be cruel. Commas would be appropriate, and a page break between stanzas eight and nine. (I don't remember whether those were present in @DavidCarlisle's original, but probably not. So he gets a raspberry too.)

David Carlisle

@AlanMunn see there is no pleasing @barbarabeeton, even at Christmas:-)

2

Alan Munn

@DavidCarlisle Bah humbug, I say.

barbara beeton

@DavidCarlisle -- Would you be happier with a raspberry trifle?

@AlanMunn -- I didn't say that I didn't think it was both remarkable and remarkably quick. (It is.)

Paulo Cereda

@DavidCarlisle ooh toodle pip cheerio

David Carlisle

@AlanMunn and you didn't even need 12 days

Alan Munn

5:44 PM

@barbarabeeton Commas are really hard, because of the reuse of strings in the code.

Paulo Cereda

ooh also Oxford commas

barbara beeton

@AlanMunn -- Well, none of it is easy! I already knew you are clever, but you have also proved that you are devious. Kudos.

Paulo Cereda

@barbarabeeton ooh

Alan Munn

@barbarabeeton I think the devious prize goes to @DavidCarlisle not me. It is indeed very devious code, completely independent of the obfuscation.

barbara beeton

@AlanMunn -- Oh, @DavidCarlisle got the devious prize long ago, when he turned around the Latin translation in far fewer than twelve days!

Alan Munn

6:00 PM

@barbarabeeton I can add commas but I'll end up with an extra one after me. So which do you prefer: no commas or one more than necessary?

barbara beeton

@AlanMunn -- Let me think about that. I'm trying to think of any situation in which (in English) a comma after "me" might be grammatically acceptable. Without commas, it's definitely run-on, but with the line breaks, scrutable.

Paulo Cereda

@barbarabeeton "Goodness me, I am out of cookies!"

:)

Alan Munn

@barbarabeeton No the comma after 'me' is never going to be acceptable unless there was some parenthetical adverbial material in between the 'to me' and the object of 'give'.

barbara beeton

@AlanMunn -- Thought so. Then I guess that no commas is preferable.

Alan Munn

6:42 PM

@barbarabeeton Yes, and I can't think of a devious way to get rid of that pesky comma.

barbara beeton

Oh, joy. The Christmas weather forecast has been posted. Possible thunderstorms instead of midnight mass, with wind gusts of nearly hurricane force. Since there's still some snow on the ground it's likely there will be great puddles, street flooding, and some flooded basements. Full moon = high tides. So far, no predictions of earthquakes, and it's too cold for locusts. But 2020 still has a week left.

Alan Munn

@barbarabeeton Yikes. Stay safe!

barbara beeton

@AlanMunn -- Thank you. Same to you and yours. And everyone else.

Henri Menke

7:23 PM

7

Paulo Cereda

@HenriMenke OMG

Henri Menke

@PauloCereda :)

@PauloCereda The German language also has heaps of these.

@PauloCereda In German turtle = Schildkröte = shield + toad.

Paulo Cereda

@HenriMenke ooh

Henri Menke

@PauloCereda gloves = Handschuhe = hand + shoes.

Paulo Cereda

@HenriMenke :)

barbara beeton

7:45 PM

@HenriMenke -- I think that the compound for "dolphin" isn't the best. The manatee is a much better fit for the implied description.

Rmano

7:59 PM

@barbarabeeton "it could be worse... it could be raining" (cit). ;-P nice weather for a family Christmas Eve around the fire... ;-)

@HenriMenke given that you are here...

 \draw (0,0) to[] +(1,0) -- ++(0,-1);
 \draw (2,0) to[out=0, in=180] +(1,0) -- ++(0,-1);

Henri Menke

@Rmano to paths are asynchronous.

Rmano

Is it normale that the final point of the path is different?

Ah! So they are drawn like edges?

Ok --- perfect, I just wanted to be sure it was not my fault ;-)

@HenriMenke Thanks

Henri Menke

@Rmano Yes, to and edge use the same mechanism.

Rmano

@HenriMenke Ok, thanks --- so yes, it is normal.

Henri Menke

9:20 PM

@Rmano I've debugged this a bit more and found the reason for the difference. When you use in= or out= the topath is literally translated to .. controls \tikz@computed@start and \tikz@computed@end .. (\tikztotarget) where (\tikztotarget) is an absolute coordinate instead of a relative one.

So it essentially boils down to the difference between

\draw (0,0) --  (1,0) -- ++(0,-1);
\draw (2,0) -- +(1,0) -- ++(0,-1);

yo'

@HenriMenke wow! (and this looks like a bug...)

Henri Menke

@yo' I don't think this is fixable because you can mix difference coordinate systems here, so the notion of a relative coordinate cannot be preserved in a meaningful way, especially when computing the Bezier path.

@yo' Oh and not to mention the fact that the topath is actually a user-settable option.

yo'

@HenriMenke well, that's quite the coder's point of view, not the user's one ;) but point taken!

from a user's standpoint, \draw (x0.y0) op1 +(x1,y1) op2 ++ (x2,y2) should place the points on the same spots regardless of what op1 and op2 are.

Canageek

Does anyone know if there is an easy way to plot a CIE diagram with LaTeX?

Henri Menke

@yo' Since you seem to know so well, please contribute a fix.

yo'

9:31 PM

@HenriMenke as I said, point taken in that it's more complicated deep in pgf than it seems on the user layer. I just say that I can see where the confusion comes from.

anyway, organ's calling me. I need to prerecord the songs still today, as there'll be no time to do it tomorrow and the service is on Thursday morning.

Apologies if I poured oil on fire.

Plergux

@HenriMenke In Icelandic skjald+baka = shield pie :p

Rmano

@HenriMenke Ah, ok. So basically an edge guarantees that the current point is not moved, and in a to, well, it depends --- but normally it moves to the final coordinate even if it's a +(x,y) type.

@yo' edge also breaks the assumption. The important bit for me is that it's not a bug in circuitikz topath thing... ;-)

David Carlisle

9:49 PM

@Rmano first rule of package maintenance, always make sure someone else takes the blame.

Rmano

@DavidCarlisle I am here to learn from giants (as sir Isaac Newton said, I think)

:-)

Henri Menke

@Rmano When something has to be computed it will convert the relative coordinates into absolute ones, which defeats +(x,y).

David Carlisle

@Rmano "stand on the shoulders of" not "learn" :-)

Rmano

@DavidCarlisle well, yes, but you have to learn before...

David Carlisle

@Canageek you mean something like this? hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/cie.html#c2

Henri Menke

9:53 PM

@Rmano In the meantime you can tell your users to use ++ if that makes it easier. Otherwise you can work around it using (a) to[...] +(b) (a) +(b).

Canageek

@DavidCarlisle Yeah, the 1937 version. I'm writing up a question now as there is a package for it.

Just....with....some really bad documentation

Rmano

@HenriMenke also {[current point is local] to[...] +(b)} seems to work (not my idea, suggested in the bug report by the OP in github.com/circuitikz/circuitikz/issues/460)

@Canageek nobody reads documentation anyway :-( ;-)

Canageek

@Rmano I do since I am not skilled enough to read most raw LaTeX

Rmano

@Canageek I do also, and I even write it (200+ pages in circuitikz, a good third of that by me) but well...

Canageek

@Rmano Ahh, OK. My partner is a technical writer who finds part of their job is convincing management that documentation is worth spending time and money on, and that no, reading the source code is not enough

(To be fair, the programmers usually agree that having someone to help with documentation is a good thing)

0

Q: How to print a chromaticity diagram in LaTeX with labelled points on it?

How do I print a chromaticity diagram (Ideally a CIE 1931 plot) with certain coordinates on it labelled. Something like this (made with non-LaTeX software I don't have access to until after the Christmas break and would have to go into campus to use, which is strongly discouraged if not absolutel...

Note: If this is going to be a royal pain, just tell me that. The post-doc sent me the GNUplot script they used to write their thesis

...I wonder if that could serve for a basis for a pgfplots or TikZ script, since it has the math you need to do already worked out?

Alan Munn

10:10 PM

@Canageek You can call gnuplot from within TikZ

David Carlisle

@Canageek can't you just include an image and then write over it using tikz or overpic or picture mode or whatever?

Canageek

@AlanMunn !!!

@DavidCarlisle I would have no idea how to align the coordinates. I usually let pgfplots do that axis for me

@AlanMunn THAT Sounds easy!

Alan Munn

@Canageek E.g. (just some sample code I had lying around; it may be from the docs even)

% arara: pdflatex: {shell: yes}

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.7}
\def\cdf(#1)(#2)(#3){0.5*(1+(erf((#1-#2)/(#3*sqrt(2)))))}%
% to be used: \cdf(x)(mean)(variance)

\DeclareMathOperator{\CDF}{cdf}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
    \begin{axis}[%
    xlabel=$x$,
    ylabel=$\CDF(x)$,
    grid=major]
    \addplot[smooth,red] gnuplot{\cdf(x)(0)(1)};
    \addplot[smooth,blue]gnuplot{\cdf(x)(0.5)(1)};
    \addplot[smooth,green]gnuplot{\cdf(x)(1)(1)};

If you're not using arara then compile with shell escape enabled

Canageek

@AlanMunn Wait, I can call it from within pgfplots? o.0 I already use pgfplots, that will be simpler then learning a whole new syntax

Alan Munn

@Canageek Yes, absolutely.

Canageek

10:18 PM

@AlanMunn Yeah, I already need that since I use TikZ's externalize command to save compile time. Takes it from several minutes to under a minute. Gets annoying when it doesn't realize I've changed things and I need to manually delete things to force it to update everything, but so worth it

OK, so it looks like I'll have to manually install GNUplot even though it is on CTAN

Ah, CTAN is horribly out of date anyway, it has an almost 2 year old version

Alan Munn

@Canageek The one I have is from 2012, which shows you how much I use it. :)

Canageek

10:42 PM

@AlanMunn Can I call an entire GNUplot script from within TikZ?

/me opens TikZ manual

I"M SORRY DOES THAT SAY THIRTEEN HUNDRED PAGES

Rmano

@Canageek ;-) ctan.org/pkg/pgfplots?lang=en

Canageek

@Rmano Oh Right, that might work, I know that syntax a bit

Rmano

Also this can be useful ctan.org/pkg/gnuplottex?lang=en I used it some year ago

Canageek

"This can be useful for complicated things that need to be passed to gnuplot. However, for really complicated situations you should create a special external generating gnuplot file and use the file-syntax to include the table “by hand”."

Ok, how do I find the file syntax? I can't find an entry for that in the index

@DavidCarlisle Turns out that is what the previous grad students GNUplot file is doing

@Rmano PERFECT

Alan Munn

11:01 PM

@Canageek Yes, that's also a useful package.

Canageek

Ok, is "$pdflatex = 'pdflatex %O --shell-escape %S';" not how you tell latexmk to always use shell escape?

Wait, seriously ">latexmk --shell-escape ThesisMasterDoc"

"Package gnuplottex Warning: Shell escape not enabled.
(gnuplottex) You'll need to convert the graphs yourself."

What am I doing wrong?

Oh too many hypens, it doesn't do the -- for options that have more then one letter, weird

"Package gnuplottex Warning: Shell escape not enabled.
(gnuplottex) You'll need to convert the graphs yourself."

WHA

Oh

(c:/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/generic/catchfile/catchfile.sty)'touch' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
system returned with code 1
'rm' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
system returned with code 1
'rm' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
system returned with code 1

So it is using touch to test if write18 is enabled, which doesn't exist on windows

GREAT design there

OK, I have linux installed within windows, so I've made touch.bat which is just @echo off
bash -c "touch %1"

Canageek

11:56 PM

;alsdkjfadfs IT IS USING MIKETEX OPTION TO MEAN "ON WINDOWS"

David Carlisle

@Canageek what is "it" here? (I lost the thread of interconnected things:-)

Canageek

@DavidCarlisle ctan.org/pkg/gnuplottex?lang=en

I didn't figure it out until I gave up and opened the code to find out what the tests it was running to see if it had write18

ExecuteOptions{shell}
\ProcessOptions\relax
%% test if shell escape really works
\ifShellEscape
\def\tmpfile{w18-test-\the\year\the\month\the\day\the\time.tex}
\ifmiktex
\immediate\write18{echo t > "\tmpfile"}
\else
\immediate\write18{touch \tmpfile}
\fi
\ifmiktex
\IfFileExists{\tmpfile}{\ShellEscapetrue}{\ShellEscapefalse}
\immediate\write18{del "\tmpfile"}
\else
\IfFileExists{\tmpfile}{\ShellEscapetrue}{\ShellEscapefalse}
\immediate\write18{rm -f \tmpfile}
\immediate\write18{rm -f "\jobname.gnuploterrors"}

I didn't set the MikeTeX option since I use TeX Live

But by MikeTeX the documentaiton means "WINDOWS"

So I've been trying to give it the commands it needs when there is an option for that, but now I'm worried it will use other MikeTeX things TeXLive doesn't have

Guess I can check

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