SYNCTEX(5) BSD File Formats Manual SYNCTEX(5)NAMEsynctex — Synchronize TeXnology help file
DESCRIPTION
Synchronize TeXnology help file (synctexs) are text files that help
input/output synchronization during document preparation with the TeX
typesetting system.
BASICS
The structure of this file should not be considered public, in the sense
that no one should need to parse its contents, except the synctex command
line utility, and the synctex_parser library. Unless it is absolutely
not avoidable, access to the contents of the synctex file should only be
made through requests made to the synctex command line utility.
STRUCTURE
The element structure of a synctex file is a list of text line records as
follows. ‘*’, ‘+’, and ‘?’ have their usual EBNF meanings: ‘*’ means
zero or more, ‘+’ means one or more, and ‘?’ means zero or one (i.e.,
optional).
<SyncTeX> ::= (The whole contents in 4 sections)
<Preamble>
<Content>
<Postamble>
<Post Scriptum>
Each section starts with the first occurrence of a sectioning line, and
ends with the next section, if any. In the following definitions, we do
not mention the section ending condition.
The preamble
<Preamble> ::=
"SyncTeX Version:" <Version Number> <EOL>
<Input Line>*
"Magnification:" <TeX magnification> <EOL>
"Unit:" <unit in scaled point> <EOL>
"X Offset:" <horizontal offset in scaled point> <EOL>
"Y Offset:" <vertical offset in scaled point> <EOL>
<Input Line> ::= "Input:" <tag> ":" <File Name> <EOL>
The content
<Content> ::=
<byte offset record>
"Content:" <EOL>
<sheet(1)>
<Input Line>*
<sheet(2)>
<Input Line>*
...
<sheet(N)>
<Input Line>*
<byte offset record> ::= "!" <byte offset> <end of record>
<sheet(n)> ::=
<byte offset record>
"{" <the integer n> <end of record>/
<box content>*
<byte offset record>
"}" <the integer n> <end of record>
The <box content> describes what is inside a box. It is either a verti‐
cal or horizontal box, with some records related to glue, kern or math
nodes.
<box content> ::=
<vbox section>|<hbox section>
|<void vbox record>|<void hbox record>
|<current record>|<glue record>|<kern record>|<math record>
<vbox section> ::=
"[" <link> ":" <point> ":" <size> <end of record>
<box content>*
"]" <end of record>
<hbox section> ::=
( <link> ":" <point> ":" <size> <end of record>
<box content>*
")" <end of record>
Void boxes:
<void vbox record> ::= "v" <link> ":" <point> ":" <size> <end of
record>
<void hbox record> ::= "h" <link> ":" <point> ":" <size> <end of
record>
<size> ::= <Width> "," <Height> "," <Depth>
<Width> ::= <integer>
<Height> ::= <integer>
<Depth> ::= <integer>
<link> ::= <tag> "," <line>( "," <column>)?
<line> ::= <integer>
<column> ::= <integer>
The forthcoming records are basic one liners.
<current record> ::= "x" <link> ":" <point> <end of record>
<kern record> ::= "k" <link> ":" <point> ":" <Width> <end of
record>
<glue record> ::= "g" <link> ":" <point> <end of record>
<math record> ::= "$" <link> ":" <point> <end of record>
The postamble
The postamble closes the file If there is no postamble, it means that the
typesetting process did not end correctly.
<Postamble>::=
<byte offset record>
"Count:" <Number of records> <EOL>
The post scriptum
The post scriptum contains material possibly added by 3rd parties. It
allows to append some transformation (shift and magnify). Typically, one
applies a dvi to pdf filter with offset options and magnification, then
he appends the same options to the synctex file, for example
synctex update -o foo.pdf -m 0.486 -x 9472573sp -y 13.3dd source.dvi
<Post Scriptum>::=
<byte offset record>
"Post Scriptum:" <EOL>
"Magnification:" <number> <EOL> (Set additional
magnification)
"X Offset:" <dimension> <EOL> (Set horizontal offset)
"Y Offset:" <dimension> <EOL> (Set vertical offset)
This second information will override the offset and magnification previ‐
ously available in the preamble section. All the numbers are encoded
using the decimal representation with "C" locale.
USAGE
The <current record> is used to compute the visible size of hbox's. The
byte offset is an implicit anchor to navigate the synctex file from sheet
to sheet.
Independant Mar 13, 2012 Independant
