Provided by: latex2html_2024-debian1-2_all 
NAME
latex2html - translate LaTeX files to HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
SYNOPSIS
latex2html [options] [target [target ...]]
DESCRIPTION
This manual page explains the LaTeX2HTML utility, which is a Perl program that translates LaTeX document
into HTML format. For each source file given as an argument the translator will create a directory
containing the corresponding HTML files. For details and examples, please consult the online html
documentation, a copy of which should be available in /usr/share/doc/latex2html/manual.ps.gz or
/usr/share/doc/latex2html/html/
CAVEAT
This documentation has been derived from the TeX manual, and may not be up to date. Please refer to the
online manual for authoritative documentation.
Options controlling Titles, File-Names and Sectioning
-t <top-page-title>
Same as setting: $TITLE = <top-page-title> ; Name the document using this title.
-short_extn
Same as setting: $SHORTEXTN = 1; Use a filename prefix of .htm for the produced HTML files. This
is particularly useful for creating pages to be stored on CD-ROM or other media, to be used with
operating systems that require a 3-character extension.
-long_titles <num>
Same as setting: $LONG_TITLES = <num>; Instead of the standard names: node1.html, node2.html,...
the filenames for each HTML page are constructed from the first <num> words of the section heading
for that page, separated by the `_' character. Commas and common short words (a an to by of and
for the) are omitted from both title and word-count. Warning: Use this switch with great caution.
Currently there are no checks for uniqueness of names or overall length. Very long names can
easily result from using this feature.
-custom_titles
Same as setting: $CUSTOM_TITLES = 1; Instead of the standard names: node1.html, node2.html, ...
the filenames for each HTML page are constructed using a Perl subroutine named custom_title_hook .
The user may define his/her own version of this subroutine, within a .latex2html-init file say, to
override the default (which uses the standard names). This subroutine takes the section-heading as
a parameter and must return the required name, or the empty string (default).
-dir <output-directory>
Same as setting: $DESTDIR = <output-directory> ; Redirect the output to the specified directory.
The default behaviour is to create (or reuse) a directory having the same name as the prefix of
the document being processed.
-no_subdir
Same as setting: $NO_SUBDIR = 1; Place the generated HTML files into the current directory. This
overrides any $DESTDIR setting.
-prefix <filename-prefix>
Same as setting: $PREFIX = <filename-prefix> ; The <filename-prefix> will be prepended to all
.gif, .pl and .html files produced, except for the top-level .html file; it may include a
(relative) directory path. This will enable multiple products of LaTeX2HTML to peacefully coexist
in the same directory. However, do not attempt to simultaneously run multiple instances of
LaTeX2HTML using the same output directory, else various temporary files will overwrite each
other.
-auto_prefix
Same as setting: $AUTO_PREFIX = 1; Constructs the prefix as `<title>-' to be prepended to all the
files produced, where <title> is the name of the LaTeX file being processed. (Note the `-' in
this prefix.) This overrides any $PREFIX setting.
-no_auto_link
Same as setting: $NO_AUTO_LINK = 1; If $NO_AUTO_LINK is empty and variables $LINKPOINT and
$LINKNAME are defined appropriately (as is the default in the latex2html.config file), then a hard
link to the main HTML page is produced, using the name supplied in $LINKNAME. Typically this is
index.html; on many systems a file of this name will be used, if it exists, when a browser tries
to view a URL which points to a directory. On other systems a different value for $LINKNAME may be
appropriate. Typically $LINKPOINT has value $FILE.html, but this may also be changed to match
whichever HTML page is to become the target of the automatic link. Use of the -no_auto_link
switch cancels this automatic linking facility, when not required for a particular document.
-split <num>
Same as setting: $MAX_SPLIT_DEPTH = <num>; (default is 8) Stop splitting sections into separate
files at this depth. Specifying -split 0 will put the entire document into a single HTML file. See
below for the different levels of sectioning. Also see the next item for how to set a ``relative''
depth for splitting.
-split +<num>
Same as setting: $MAX_SPLIT_DEPTH = -<num>; (default is 8) The level at which to stop splitting
sections is calculated ``relative to'' the shallowest level of sectioning that occurs within the
document. For example, if the document contains \section commands, but no \part or \chapter
commands, then -split +1 will cause splitting at each \section but not at any deeper level;
whereas -split +2 or -split +3 also split down to \subsection and \subsubsection commands
respectively. Specifying -split +0 puts the entire document into a single HTML file.
-link <num>
Same as setting: $MAX_LINK_DEPTH = <num>; (default is 4) For each node, create links to child
nodes down to this much deeper than the node's sectioning-level. Specifying -link 0 will show no
links to child nodes from that page, -link 1 will show only the immediate descendants, etc. A
value at least as big as that of the -split <num> depth will produce a mini table-of-contents
(when not empty) on each page, for the tree structure rooted at that node. When the page has a
sectioning-level less than the -split depth, so that the a mini table-of-contents has links to
other HTML pages, this table is located at the bottom of the page, unless placed elsewhere using
the \tableofchildlinks command. On pages having a sectioning-level just less than the -split
depth the mini table-of-contents contains links to subsections etc. occurring on the same HTML
page. Now the table is located at the top of this page, unless placed elsewhere using the
\tableofchildlinks command.
-toc_depth <num>
Same as setting: $TOC_DEPTH = <num>; (default is 4) Sectioning levels down to <num> are to be
included within the Table-of-Contents tree.
-toc_stars
Same as setting: $TOC_STARS = 1; Sections created using the starred-form of sectioning commands
are included within the Table-of-Contents. As with LaTeX, normally such sections are not listed.
-show_section_numbers
Same as setting: $SHOW_SECTION_NUMBERS = 1; Show section numbers. By default section numbers are
not shown, so as to encourage the use of particular sections as stand-alone documents. In order
to be shown, section titles must be unique and must not contain inlined graphics.
-add_ref_name
Same as setting: $ADD_REF_NAME = 1; Usually cross reference text contains only the caption number
as a hyperlink to the corresponding LaTeX label. However, it could be handy to see the name of the
object referenced, if the reference text would contain both the caption number and the caption
name. With -add_ref_name the caption name is shown additionally when available.
-cut_ref_num
Same as setting: $CUT_REF_NUM = 1; Usually cross reference text contains only the caption number
as a hyperlink to the corresponding LaTeX label. With -add_ref_name the caption name can be shown
additionally. If the caption number is not desired, it can be cut out with -cut_ref_num. If
-cut_ref_num is given and -add_ref_name is not, then the cross reference text is suppressed
completely and a cross reference button shown instead.
-unsegment
Same as setting: $UNSEGMENT = 1; Treat a segmented document (see the section about document
segmentation) like it were not segmented. This will cause the translator to concatenate all
segments and process them as a whole. You might find this useful to check a segmented document for
consistency. For all documents the sectioning levels referred to above are:
0 document
1 part
2 chapter
3 section
4 subsection
5 subsubsection
6 paragraph
7 subparagraph
8 subsubparagraph
These levels apply even when the document contains no sectioning for the shallower levels; e.g. no \part
or \chapter commands is most common, especially when using LaTeX's article document-class.
Options controlling Extensions and Special Features
The switches described here govern the type of HTML code that can be generated, and how to choose between
the available options when there are alternative strategies for implementing portions of LaTeX code.
-html_version (2.0|3.2|4.0|5.0)[,(math|i18n)]*
Same as setting: $HTML_VERSION = ... ; This specifies both the HTML version to generate, and any
extra (non-standard) HTML features that may be required. The version number corresponds to a
published DTD for an HTML standard. A corresponding Perl file in the versions/ subdirectory is
loaded; these files are named `html<num>.pl'. Following the version number, a comma-separated
list of extensions can be given. Each corresponds to a file `<name>.pl' also located in the
versions/ subdirectory. When such a file is loaded the resulting HTML code can no longer be
expected to validate with the specified DTD. An exception is math when the -no_math switch is also
used, which should still validate. Currently, versions 2.0, 3.2, 4.0 and 5.0 are available. The
default version is usually set to be `5.0', within latex2html.config.
-no_tex_defs
Same as setting: $TEXDEFS = 0; (default is 1) When $TEXDEFS is set (default) the file texdefs.perl
will be read. This provides code to allow common TEX commands like \def, \newbox, \newdimen and
others, to be recognised, especially within the document preamble. In the case of \def, the
definition may even be fully interpreted, but this requires the pattern-matching to be not too
complicated. If $TEXDEFS is `0' or empty, then texdefs.perl will not be loaded; the translator
will make no attempt to interpret any raw TEX commands. This feature is intended to enable
sophisticated authors the ability to insert arbitrary TEX commands in environments that are
destined to be processed by LaTeX anyway; e.g. figures, theorems, pictures, etc. However this
should rarely be needed, as now there is better support for these types of environment. There are
now other methods to specify which chunks of code are to be passed to LaTeX for explicit image-
generation; see the discussion of the makeimage environment.
-external_file <filename>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_FILE = <filename> ; Specifies the prefix of the .aux file that this
document should read. The .aux extension will be appended to this prefix to get the complete
filename, with directory path if needed. This file could contain necessary information regarding
citations, figure, table and section numbers from LaTeX and perhaps other information also. Use of
this switch is vital for document segments, processed separately and linked to appear as if
generated from a single LaTeX document.
-font_size <size>
Same as setting: $FONT_SIZE = <size> ; This option provides better control over the font size of
environments made into images using LaTeX. <size> must be one of the font sizes that LaTeX
recognizes; i.e. `10pt', `11pt', `12pt', etc. Default is `10pt', or whatever option may have been
specified on the \documentclass or \documentstyle line. Whatever size is selected, it will be
magnified by the installation variables $MATH_SCALE_FACTOR, $FIGURE_SCALE_FACTOR and
$DISP_SCALE_FACTOR as appropriate. Note: This switch provides no control over the size of text on
the HTML pages. Such control is subject entirely to the user's choices of settings for the browser
windows.
-scalable_fonts
Same as setting: $SCALABLE_FONTS = 1; This is used when scalable fonts, such as PostScript
versions of the TEX fonts, are available for image-generation. It has the effect of setting
$PK_GENERATION to `1', and $DVIPS_MODE to be empty, overriding any previous settings for these
variables.
-no_math
Same as setting: $NO_SIMPLE_MATH = 1; Ordinarily simple mathematical expressions are set using the
ordinary text font, but italicized. When part of the expression can not be represented this way,
an image is made of the whole formula. This is called ``simple math''. When $NO_SIMPLE_MATH is
set, then all mathematics is made into images, whether simple or not. However, if the math
extension is loaded, using the -html_version switch described earlier, then specifying -no_math
produces a quite different effect. Now it is the special <MATH> tags and entities which are
canceled. In their place a sophisticated scheme for parsing mathematical expressions is used.
Images are made of those sub-parts of a formula which cannot be adequately expressed using
(italicized) text characters and <SUB> and <SUP> tags. See the subsection on mathematics for more
details.
-local_icons
Same as setting: $LOCAL_ICONS = 1; A copy of each of the icons actually used within the document
is placed in the directory along with the HTML files and generated images. This allows the whole
document to be fully self-contained, within this directory; otherwise the icons must be retrieved
from a (perhaps remote) server. It is also the default behavior if $ICONSERVER is not set. The
icons are normally copied from a subdirectory of the
$LATEX2HTMLDIR,
set within latex2html.config. An alternative set of icons can be used by specifying a (relative)
directory path in $ALTERNATIVE_ICONS to where the customised images can be found.
-init_file <file>
Load the specified initialisation file. This Perl file will be loaded after loading
$HOME/.latex2html-init, or .latex2html-init in the local directory, if either file exists. It is
read at the time the switch is processed, so the contents of the file may change any of the values
of any of the variables that were previously established, as well as any default options. More
than one initialisation file can be read in this way.
-no_fork
Same as setting: $NOFORK = 1; When set this disables a feature in the early part of the processing
whereby some memory-intensive operations are performed by `forked' child processes. Some single-
task operating systems, such as DOS, do not support this feature. Having $NOFORK set then ensures
that unnecessary file-handles that are needed with the forked processes, are not consumed
unnecessarily, perhaps resulting in a fatal Perl error.
-iso_language <type>
This enables you to specify a different language type than 'EN' to be used in the lang attribute
of the HTML document, e.g. 'en-US'.
-short_index
Same as setting: $SHORT_INDEX = 1; Creates shorter Index listings, using codified links; this is
fully compatible with the makeidx package.
-no_footnode
Same as setting: $NO_FOOTNODE = 1; Suppresses use of a separate file for footnotes; instead these
are placed at the bottom of the HTML pages where the references occur. When this option is used,
it is frequently desirable to change the style of the marker used to indicate the presence of a
footnote. This is done as in LaTeX, using code such as follows.
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\arabic{footnote}} All the styles \arabic, \alph, \roman, \Alph and
\Roman are available.
-numbered_footnotes
Same as setting: $NUMBERED_FOOTNOTES = 1; If this is set you will get every footnote applied with
a subsequent number, to ease readability.
-address <author-address>
Same as setting: $ADDRESS = <author-address> ; Sign each page with this address. See
latex2html.config for an example using Perl code to automatically include the date. A user-
defined Perl subroutine called &custom_address can be used instead, if defined; it takes the value
of $ADDRESS as a parameter, which may be used or ignored as desired. At the time when this
subroutine will be called, variables named $depth, $title, $file hold the sectioning-level, title
and filename of the HTML page being produced; $FILE holds the name of the filename for the title-
page of the whole document.
-info <string>
Same as setting: $INFO = <string> ; Generate a new section ``About this document'' containing
information about the document being translated. The default is to generate such a section with
information on the original document, the date, the user and the translator. An empty string (or
the value `0') disables the creation of this extra section. If a non-empty string is given, it
will be placed as the contents of the ``About this document'' page instead of the default
information.
Switches controlling Image Generation
These switches affect whether images are created at all, whether old images are reused on subsequent runs
or new ones created afresh, and whether anti-aliasing effects are used within the images themselves.
-use_dvipng
Use the dvipng program to generate png images, rather than using dvips followed by gs. This
method produces better alignment of math formulas which extend significantly above or below the
line of text in which they are contained.
-nouse_pdftex
Generate intermediate images with plain latex instead of pdflatex. If your document is written
for pdflatex, run ``pdflatex'' first and then ``latex2html''. If your document is written for
plain, dvi-producing latex, run ``latex'' first and then ``latex2html -nouse_pdftex''.
-use_luatex
Generate intermediate images with lualatex instead of plain latex. Produced PDF output will then
be translated into images with GhostScript. Useful for lualatex documents which cannot be
translated by latex or pdflatex.
-use_luadvi
Generate intermediate images with dvilualatex instead of plain latex. Useful for dvilualatex
documents which cannot be translated by latex.
-ascii_mode
Same as setting: $ASCII_MODE = $EXTERNAL_IMAGES = 1; Use only ASCII characters and do not include
any images in the final output. With -ascii_mode the output of the translator can be used on
character-based browsers, such as lynx, which do not support inlined images (via the <IMG> tag).
-nolatex
Same as setting: $NOLATEX = 1; Disable the mechanism for passing unknown environments to LaTeX for
processing. This can be thought of as ``draft mode'' which allows faster translation of the basic
document structure and text, without fancy figures, equations or tables. (This option has been
superseded by the -no_images option, see below.)
-external_images
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_IMAGES = 1; Instead of including any generated images inside the
document, leave them outside the document and provide hypertext links to them.
-ps_images
Same as setting: $PS_IMAGES = $EXTERNAL_IMAGES = 1; Use links to external PostScript files rather
than inlined images in the chosen graphics format.
-discard
Same as setting: $DISCARD_PS = 1; The temporary PostScript files are discarded immediately after
they have been used to create the image in the desired graphics format.
-no_images
Same as setting: $NO_IMAGES = 1; Do not attempt to produce any inlined images. The missing images
can be generated ``off-line'' by restarting LaTeX2HTML with the option -images_only .
-images_only
Same as setting: $IMAGES_ONLY = 1; Try to convert any inlined images that were left over from
previous runs of LaTeX2HTML.
-reuse <reuse_option>
Same as setting: $REUSE = <reuse_option>; This switch specifies the extent to which image files
are to be shared or recycled. There are three valid options: [*] 0 Do not ever share or recycle
image files. This choice also invokes an interactive session prompting the user about what to do
about a pre-existing HTML directory, if it exists. [*] 1 Recycle image files from a previous run
if they are available, but do not share identical images that must be created in this run. [*] 2
Recycle image files from a previous run and share identical images from this run. This is the
default. A later section provides additional information about image-reuse.
-no_reuse
Same as setting: $REUSE = 0; Do not share or recycle images generated during previous
translations. This is equivalent to -reuse 0 . (This will enable the initial interactive session
during which the user is asked whether to reuse the old directory, delete its contents or quit.)
-antialias
Same as setting: $ANTI_ALIAS = 1; (Default is 0.) Generated images of figure environments and
external PostScript files should use anti-aliasing. By default anti-aliasing is not used with
these images, since this may interfere with the contents of the images themselves.
-antialias_text
Same as setting: $ANTI_ALIAS_TEXT = 1; (Default is 1.) Generated images of typeset material such
as text, mathematical formulas, tables and the content of makeimage environments, should use anti-
aliasing effects. The default is normally to use anti-aliasing for text, since the resulting
images are much clearer on-screen. However the default may have been changed locally.
-no_antialias
Same as setting: $ANTI_ALIAS = 0; (Default is 0.) Generated images of figure environments and
external PostScript files should not use anti-aliasing with images, though the local default may
have been changed to use it.
-no_antialias_text
Same as setting: $ANTI_ALIAS_TEXT = 0; (Default is 1.) Generated images of typeset material
should not use anti-aliasing effects. Although on-screen images of text are definitely improved
using anti-aliasing, printed images can be badly blurred, even at 300dpi. Higher resolution
printers do a much better job with the resulting grey-scale images.
-white Same as setting: $WHITE_BACKGROUND = 1; (Default is 1.) Ensures that images of figure
environments have a white background. Otherwise transparency effects may not work correctly.
-no_white
Same as setting: $WHITE_BACKGROUND = ''; (Default is 1.) Cancels the requirement that figure
environments have a white background.
-ldump Same as setting: $LATEX_DUMP = 1; (Default is 0.) Use this if you want to speed up image
processing during the 2nd and subsequent runs of LaTeX2HTML on the same document. The translator
now produces a LaTeX format-dump of the preamble to images.tex which is used on subsequent runs.
This significantly reduces the startup time when LaTeX reads the images.tex file for image-
generation. This process actually consumes additional time on the first run, since LaTeX is
called twice -- once to create the format-dump, then again to load and use it. The pay-off comes
with the faster loading on subsequent runs. Approximately 1 Meg of disk space is consumed by the
dump file.
Switches controlling Navigation Panels
The following switches govern whether to include one or more navigation panels on each HTML page, also
which buttons to include within such a panel.
-no_navigation
Same as setting: $NO_NAVIGATION = 1; Disable the mechanism for putting navigation links in each
page. This overrides any settings of the $TOP_NAVIGATION, $BOTTOM_NAVIGATION and $AUTO_NAVIGATION
variables.
-top_navigation
Same as setting: $TOP_NAVIGATION = 1; Put navigation links at the top of each page.
-bottom_navigation
Same as setting: $BOTTOM_NAVIGATION = 1; Put navigation links at the bottom of each page as well
as the top.
-auto_navigation
Same as setting: $AUTO_NAVIGATION = 1; Put navigation links at the top of each page. Also put one
at the bottom of the page, if the page exceeds $WORDS_IN_PAGE number of words (default = 450).
-next_page_in_navigation
Same as setting: $NEXT_PAGE_IN_NAVIGATION = 1; Put a link to the next logical page in the
navigation panel.
-previous_page_in_navigation
Same as setting: $PREVIOUS_PAGE_IN_NAVIGATION = 1; Put a link to the previous logical page in the
navigation panel.
-contents_in_navigation
Same as setting: $CONTENTS_IN_NAVIGATION = 1; Put a link to the table-of-contents in the
navigation panel if there is one.
-index_in_navigation
Same as setting: $INDEX_IN_NAVIGATION = 1; Put a link to the index-page in the navigation panel if
there is an index.
Switches for Linking to other documents
When processing a single stand-alone document, the switches described in this section should not be
needed at all, since the automatically generated navigation panels, described on the previous page should
generate all the required navigation links. However if a document is to be regarded as part of a much
larger document, then links from its first and final pages, to locations in other parts of the larger
(virtual) document, need to be provided explicitly for some of the buttons in the navigation panel. The
following switches allow for such links to other documents, by providing the title and URL for navigation
panel hyperlinks. In particular, the ``Document Segmentation'' feature necessarily makes great use of
these switches. It is usual for the text and targets of these navigation hyperlinks to be recorded in a
Makefile, to avoid tedious typing of long command-lines having many switches.
-up_url <URL>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_UP_LINK = <URL> ; Specifies a universal resource locator (URL) to
associate with the ``UP'' button in the navigation panel(s).
-up_title <string>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_UP_TITLE = <string> ; Specifies a title associated with this URL.
-prev_url <URL>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_PREV_LINK = <URL> ; Specifies a URL to associate with the ``PREVIOUS''
button in the navigation panel(s).
-prev_title <string>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_PREV_TITLE = <string> ; Specifies a title associated with this URL.
-down_url <URL>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_DOWN_LINK = <URL> ; Specifies a URL for the ``NEXT'' button in the
navigation panel(s).
-down_title <string>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_DOWN_TITLE = <string> ; Specifies a title associated with this URL.
-contents <URL>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_CONTENTS = <URL> ; Specifies a URL for the ``CONTENTS'' button, for
document segments that would not otherwise have one.
-index <URL>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_INDEX = <URL> ; Specifies a URL for the ``INDEX'' button, for document
segments that otherwise would not have an index.
-biblio <URL>
Same as setting: $EXTERNAL_BIBLIO = <URL> ; Specifies the URL for the bibliography page to be
used, when not explicitly part of the document itself. Warning: On some systems it is difficult
to give text-strings <string> containing space characters, on the command-line or via a Makefile.
One way to overcome this is to use the corresponding variable. Another way is to replace the
spaces with underscores (_).
Switches for Help and Tracing
The first two of the following switches are self-explanatory. When problems arise in processing a
document, the switches -debug and -verbosity will each cause LaTeX2HTML to generate more output to the
screen. These extra messages should help to locate the cause of the problem.
-tmp <path>
Define a temporary directory to use for image generation. If <path> is 0, the standard temporary
directory /tmp is used.
-h(elp)
Print out the list of all command-line options.
-v Print the current version of LaTeX2HTML.
-debug Same as setting: $DEBUG = 1; Run in debug-mode, displaying messages and/or diagnostic information
about files read, and utilities called by LaTeX2HTML. Shows any messages produced by these calls.
More extensive diagnostics, from the Perl debugger, can be obtained by appending the string `-w-'
to the 1st line of the latex2html (and other) Perl script(s).
-verbosity <num>
Same as setting: $VERBOSITY = <num>; Display messages revealing certain aspects of the processing
performed by LaTeX2HTML on the provided input file(s). The <num> parameter can be an integer in
the range 0 to 8. Each higher value adds to the messages produced.
0. No special tracing; as for versions of LaTeX2HTML prior to V97.1.
1. (This is the default.) Show section-headings and the corresponding HTML file names, and indicators
that major stages in the processing have been completed.
2. Print environment names and identifier numbers, and new theorem-types. Show warnings as they
occur, and indicators for more stages of processing. Print names of files for storing auxiliary
data arrays.
3. Print command names as they are encountered and processed; also any unknown commands encountered
while pre-processing. Show names of new commands, environments, theorems, counters and counter-
dependencies, for each document partition.
4. Indicate command-substitution the pre-process of math-environments. Print the contents of unknown
environments for processing in LaTeX, both before and after reverting to LaTeX source. Show all
operations affecting the values of counters. Also show links, labels and sectioning keys, at the
stages of processing.
5. Detail the processing in the document preamble. Show substitutions of new environments. Show the
contents of all recognised environments, both before and after processing. Show the cached/encoded
information for the image keys, allowing two images to be tested for equality.
6. Show replacements of new commands, accents and wrapped commands.
7. Trace the processing of commands in math mode; both before and after.
8. Trace the processing of all commands, both before and after. The command-line option sets an
initial value only. During processing the value of $VERBOSITY can be set dynamically using the
\htmltracing{...} command, whose argument is the desired value, or by using the more general
\HTMLset command as follows: \HTMLset{VERBOSITY}{<num>}.
Other Configuration Variables, without switches
The configuration variables described here do not warrant having a command-line switch to assign values.
Either they represent aspects of LaTeX2HTML that are specific to the local site, or they govern
properties that should apply to all documents, rather than something that typically would change for the
different documents within a particular sub-directory. Normally these variables have their value set
within the latex2html.config file. In the following listing the defaults are shown, as the lines of Perl
code used to establish these values. If a different value is required, then these can be assigned from a
local .latex2html-init initialisation file, without affecting the defaults for other users, or documents
processed from other directories.
$dd holds the string to be used in file-names to delimit directories; it is set internally to `/',
unless the variable has already been given a value within latex2html.config . Note: This value
cannot be set within a .latex2html-init initialisation file, since its value needs to be known in
order to find such a file.
$LATEX2HTMLDIR
Read by the install-test script from latex2html.config, its value is inserted into the latex2html
Perl script as part of the installation process.
$LATEX2HTMLSTYLES = $LATEX2HTMLDIR/styles ;
Read from the latex2html.config file by install-test, its value is checked to locate the styles/
directory.
$LATEX2HTMLVERSIONS = $LATEX2HTMLDIR/versions ;
The value of this variable should be set within latex2html.config to specify the directory path
where the version and extension files can be found.
$ALTERNATIVE_ICONS = '';
This may contain the (relative) directory path to a set of customised icons to be used in
conjunction with the -local_icons switch.
$TEXEXPAND = $LATEX2HTMLDIR/texexpand ;
Read by the install-test Perl script from latex2html.config, its value is used to locate the
texexpand Perl script.
$PSTOIMG = $LATEX2HTMLDIR/pstoimg ;
Read by the install-test Perl script from latex2html.config, its value is used to locate the
pstoimg Perl script.
$IMAGE_TYPE = '<image-type>';
Set in latex2html.config, the currently supported <image-type>s are: svg, png and gif. Vector
formats such as svg look better at high resolution, while bitmap formats such as png or gif are
generally faster to download and to render.
$DVIPS = 'dvips';
Read from latex2html.config by install-test, its value is checked to locate the dvips program or
script. There could be several reasons to change the value here:
add a switch -P<printer> to load a specific configuration-file; e.g. to use a specific set
of PostScript fonts, for improved image-generation.
to prepend a path to a different version of dvips than normally available as the system
default (e.g. the printing requirements are different).
to append debugging switches, in case of poor quality images; one can see which paths are
being searched for fonts and other resources.
to prepend commands for setting path variables that dvips may need in order to locate fonts
or other resources.
If automatic generation of fonts is required, using Metafont, the following configuration
variables are important.
$PK_GENERATION = 1;
This variable must be set, to initiate font-generation; otherwise fonts will be scaled from
existing resources on the local system. In particular this variable must not be set, if
one wishes to use PostScript fonts or other scalable font resources (see the
-scalable_fonts switch).
$DVIPS_MODE = 'toshiba';
The mode given here must be available in the modes.mf file, located with the Metafont
resource files, perhaps in the misc/ subdirectory.
$METAFONT_DPI = 180;
The required resolution, in dots-per-inch, should be listed specifically within the
MakeTeXPK script, called by dvips to invoke Metafont with the correct parameters for the
required fonts.
$LATEX = 'latex';
Read from latex2html.config by install-test, its value is checked to locate the latex program or
script. If LaTeX is having trouble finding style-files and/or packages, then the default command
can be prepended with other commands to set environment variables intended to resolve these
difficulties; e.g. $LATEX = 'setenv TEXINPUTS <path to search> ; latex' . There are several
variables to help control exactly which files are read by LaTeX2HTML and by LaTeX when processing
images:
$TEXINPUTS
This is normally set from the environment variable of the same name. If difficulties occur
so that styles and packages are not being found, then extra paths can be specified here, to
resolve these difficulties.
$DONT_INCLUDE
This provides a list of filenames and extensions to not include, even if requested to do so
by an \input or \include command. (Consult latex2html.config for the default list.)
$DO_INCLUDE = '';
List of exceptions within the $DONT_INCLUDE list. These files are to be read if requested
by an \input or \include command.
$ICONSERVER = '<URL>';
This is used to specify a URL to find the standard icons, as used for the navigation buttons.
Names for the specific images size, as well as size information, can be found in
latex2html.config. The icons themselves can be replaced by customised versions, provided this
information is correctly updated and the location of the customised images specified as the value
of $ICONSERVER. When the -local_icons switch is used, so that a copy of the icons is placed with
the HTML files and other generated images, the value of $ICONSERVER is not needed within the HTML
files themselves.
$NAV_BORDER = <num>;
The value given here results in a border, measured in points, around each icon. A value of `0' is
common, to maintain strict alignment of inactive and active buttons in the control panels.
$LINKNAME = '"index.$EXTN"';
This is used when the $NO_AUTO_LINK variable is empty, to allow a URL to the working directory to
be sufficient to reach the main page of the completed document. It specifies the name of the HTML
file which will be automatically linked to the directory name. The value of $EXTN is .html unless
$SHORTEXTN is set, in which case it is .htm .
$LINKPOINT = '"$FILE$EXTN"';
This specifies the name of the HTML file to be duplicated, or symbolically linked, with the name
specified in $LINKNAME. At the appropriate time the value of $FILE is the document name, which
usually coincides with the name of the working directory.
$CHARSET = 'utf-8';
This specifies the character set used within the HTML pages produced by LaTeX2HTML. If no value
is set in a configuration or initialisation file, the default value will be assumed. The lowercase
form $charset is also recognised, but this is overridden by the uppercase form.
$ACCENT_IMAGES = 'large';
Accented characters that are not part of the ISO-Latin fonts can be generated by making an image
using LaTeX. This variable contains a (comma-separated) list of LaTeX commands for setting the
style to be used when these images are made. If the value of this variable is empty then the
accent is simply ignored, using an un-accented font character (not an image) instead.
Within the color.perl package, the following two variables are used to identify the names of files
containing specifications for named colors. Files having these names are provided, in the
$LATEX2HTMLSTYLES directory, but they could be moved elsewhere, or replaced by alternative files having
different names. In such a case the values of these variables should be altered accordingly.
$RGBCOLORFILE = 'rgb.txt';
$CRAYOLAFILE = 'crayola.txt';
The following variables may well be altered from the system defaults, but this is best done using a local
.latex2html-init initialisation file, for overall consistency of style within documents located at the
same site, or sites in close proximity.
$default_language = 'english';
This establishes which language code is to be placed within the <!DOCTYPE ... > tag that may
appear at the beginning of the HTML pages produced. Loading a package for an alternative language
can be expected to change the value of this variable. See also the $TITLES_LANGUAGE variable,
described next.
$TITLES_LANGUAGE = 'english';
This variable is used to specify the actual strings used for standard document sections, such as
``Contents'', ``References'', ``Table of Contents'', etc. Support for French and German titles is
available in corresponding packages. Loading such a package will normally alter the value of this
variable, as well as the $default_language variable described above.
$WORDS_IN_NAVIGATION_PANEL_TITLES = 4;
Specifies how many words to use from section titles, within the textual hyperlinks which accompany
the navigation buttons.
$WORDS_IN_PAGE = 450;
Specifies the minimum page length required before a navigation panel is placed at the bottom of a
page, when the $AUTO_NAVIGATION variable is set.
$CHILDLINE = "<BR><HR>\n";
This gives the HTML code to be placed between the child-links table and the ordinary contents of
the page on which it occurs.
$NETSCAPE_HTML = 0;
When set, this variable specifies that HTML code may be present which does not conform to any
official standard. This restricts the contents of any <!DOCTYPE ... > tag which may be placed at
the beginning of the HTML pages produced.
$BODYTEXT = '';
The value of this variable is used within the <BODY ... > tag; e.g. to set text and/or background
colors. It's value is overridden by the \bodytext command, and can be added-to or parts changed
using the \htmlbody command or \color and \pagecolor from the color package.
$INTERLACE = 1;
When set, interlaced images should be produced. This requires graphics utilities to be available
to perform the interlacing operation.
$TRANSPARENT_FIGURES = 1;
When set, the background of images should be made transparent; otherwise it is white. This
requires graphics utilities to be available which can specify the color to be made transparent.
$FIGURE_SCALE_FACTOR = 1;
Scale factor applied to all images of figure and other environments, when being made into an
image. Note that this does not apply to recognised mathematics environments, which instead use
the contents of $MATH_SCALE_FACTOR and $DISP_SCALE_FACTOR to specify scaling.
$MATH_SCALE_FACTOR = 1;
Scale factor applied to all images of mathematics, both inline and displayed. A value of 1.4 is a
good alternative, with anti-aliased images.
$DISP_SCALE_FACTOR = 1;
Extra scale factor applied to images of displayed math environments. When set, this value
multiplies $MATH_SCALE_FACTOR to give the total scaling. A value of `1.2' is a good choice to
accompany $MATH_SCALE_FACTOR = 1.4;.
$EXTRA_IMAGE_SCALE
This may hold an extra scale factor that can be applied to all generated images. When set, it
specifies that a scaling of $EXTRA_IMAGE_SCALE be applied when images are created, but to have
their height and width recorded as the un-scaled size. This is to coax browsers into scaling the
(usually larger) images to fit the desired size; when printed a better quality can be obtained.
Values of `1.5' and `2' give good print quality at 600dpi.
$PAPERSIZE = 'a5';
Specifies the size of a page for typesetting figures or displayed math, when an image is to be
generated. This affects the lengths of lines of text within images. Since images of text or
mathematics should use larger sizes than when printed, else clarity is lost at screen resolutions,
then a smaller paper-size is generally advisable. This is especially so if both the
$MATH_SCALE_FACTOR and $DISP_SCALE_FACTOR scaling factors are being used, else some images may
become excessively large, including a lot of blank space.
$LINE_WIDTH = 500;
Formerly specified the width of an image, when the contents were to be right- or center-justified.
(No longer used.)
The following variables are used to access the utilities required during image-generation. File and
program locations on the local system are established by the configure-pstoimg Perl script and stored
within $LATEX2HTMLDIR/local.pm as Perl code, to be read by pstoimg when required. After running the
configure-pstoimg Perl script it should not be necessary to alter the values obtained. Those shown below
are what happens on the author's system; they are for illustration only and do not represent default
values.
$GS_LIB = '/usr/local/share/ghostscript/4.02';
$PNMCAT = '/usr/local/bin/pnmcat';
$PNMQUANT = '/usr/local/bin/pnmquant';
$PNMFLIP = '/usr/local/bin/pnmflip';
$PPMTOGIF = '/usr/local/bin/ppmtogif';
$HOWTO_TRANSPARENT_GIF = 'netpbm';
$GS_DEVICE = 'pnmraw';
$GS = '/usr/local/bin/gs';
$PNMFILE = '/usr/local/bin/pnmfile';
$HOWTO_INTERLACE_GIF = 'netpbm';
$PBMMAKE = '/usr/local/bin/pbmmake';
$PNMCROP = '/usr/local/bin/pnmcrop';
$TMP = '/usr/var/tmp'; The following variables are no longer needed, having been replaced by the more
specific information obtained using the Perl script configure-pstoimg.
$USENETPBM = 1;
$PBMPLUSDIR = '/usr/local/bin';
SEE ALSO
latex(1)
AUTHOR
Nikos Drakos, Computer Based Learning Unit, University of Leeds <nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk>. Several people
have contributed suggestions, ideas, solutions, support and encouragement. The current maintainer is
Ross Moore. This manual page was written by Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org>, for the Debian
GNU/Linux system, based on the LaTeX documentation accompanying the program.
Debian July 1 2021 LaTeX2HTML(1)