(latex2e.info)Command line

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28 Command line
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Synopsis (from a terminal command line):

     pdflatex OPTIONS ARGUMENT

   Run LaTeX on ARGUMENT.  In place of 'pdflatex' you can also use
'xelatex', or 'lualatex', or 'dviluatex', or 'latex'.

   For example, this will run LaTeX on the file 'thesis.tex', creating
the output 'thesis.pdf'.

     pdflatex thesis

Note that '.tex' is the default file extension.

   pdfTeX is a development of the original TeX program, as are XeTeX and
LuaTeX (Note: TeX engines).  They are completely backward compatible.
But the original program had a custom output format, DVI, while the
newer ones can output directly to PDF. This allows them to take
advantage of the extra features in PDF such as hyperlinks, support for
modern image formats such as JPG and PNG, and ubiquitous viewing
programs.  In short, if you run 'pdflatex' or 'xelatex' or 'lualatex'
then you will by default get PDF and have access to all its modern
features.  If you run 'latex', or 'dvilualatex', then you will get DVI.
The description here assumes pdfLaTeX.

   Note: Command line options, for a selection of the most useful
command line options.  As to ARGUMENT, the usual case is that it does
not begin with a backslash, so the system takes it to be the name of a
file and it compiles that file.  If ARGUMENT begins with a backslash
then the system will interpret it as a line of LaTeX input, which can be
used for special effects (Note: Command line input).

   If you gave no arguments or options then 'pdflatex' prompts for input
from the terminal.  You can escape from this by entering '<control>-D'.

   If LaTeX finds an error in your document then by default it stops and
asks you about it.  Note: Recovering from errors for an outline of
what to do.

Command line options

Read text from the terminal.

Command line input

Write text to the terminal.

Recovering from errors

When something goes wrong.