ChkTeX

ChkTeX is a LaTeX semantic checker.

This program has been written in frustration because some constructs in LaTeX are sometimes non-intuitive, and easy to forget. It is _not_ a replacement for the built-in checker in LaTeX; however it catches some typographic errors LaTeX oversees. In other words, it is Lint for LaTeX. Filters are also provided for checking the LaTeX parts of CWEB documents.

The program also supports output formats suitable for further processing by editors or other programs, making errors easy to cycle through. Software is provided for beautifully interfacing against the AUC-TeX Emacs mode. It is known to interface with LyX.

Here are some key features of "ChkTeX":

· Supports over 40 warnings. Warnings include:
+ Commands terminated with space. Ignores ``tt'', etc.
+ Space in front of references instead of ``~''.
+ Forgetting to group parenthesis characters when sub-/superscripting.
+ Italic correction (``/'') mistakes (double, missing, unnecessary).
+ Parenthesis and environment matching.
+ Ellipsis detection; also checks whether to use ``dots'', ``cdots'' or ``ldots''.
+ Enforcement of normal space after abbreviation. Detects most abbreviations automagically.
+ Enforcement of end-of-sentence space when the last sentence ended with capital letter.
+ Math-mode on/off detection.
+ Quote checking, both wrong types (``"'') and wrong direction.
+ Recommends splitting three quotes in a row.
+ Searching for user patterns.
+ Displays comments.
+ Space in front of ``label'' and similar commands.
+ Use of ``x'' instead of ``$times$'' between numbers.
+ Multiple spaces in input which will be rendered as one space (or multiple spaces, where that is undesirable).
+ Warns about text which may be ignored.
+ Mathematical operators typeset as variables.
+ No space in front of/after parenthesis.
+ Demands a consistent quote style.
+ Punctuation inside inner math mode/outside display math mode.
+ Use of TeX primitives where LaTeX equivalents are available.
+ Space in front of footnotes.
+ Bogus characters following commands.
· Fully customizable. Intelligent resource format makes it possible to make ChkTeX respect your LaTeX setup. Even command-line options may be specified globally in the ``chktexrc'' file.
· Supports ``input'' command; both TeX and LaTeX version. Actually includes the files. ``TEXINPUTS''-equivalent search path.
· Intelligent warning/error handling. The user may promote/mute warnings to suit his preferences. You may also mute warnings in the header of a file; thus killing much unwanted garbage.
· Scripts included for checking CWEB files written in LaTeX (Requires perl v5).
· Supports both LaTeX 2.09 and LaTeX2e.
· Flexible output handling. Has some predefined formats and lets the user specify his own format. Uses a ``printf()'' similar syntax. ``lacheck'' compatible mode included for interfacing with the AUC-TeX Emacs mode.
· ARexx scripts for interfacing with ScMsg and VBrowse are included. Special scripts included for CygnusED/GoldED, for binding to hotkey.
· Amiga Workbench support. Parameters may be passed by shift-clicking the LaTeX files and setting the remaining options in the tooltypes.
· Wildcard matching (Amiga only). Matches file patterns internally, thus saving a lot of work. This is, however, platform-specific code -- on UNIX boxes this is done by the shell.
· Written in ANSI C. ``configure'' script included for easy setup and installation on UNIX systems.

What's New in This Release:

· The defaults for LaTex checks were improved with regards to math and italics.

What is new in this release:

• This version fixes a bug on some 32-bit platforms and makes the build more portable.

What is new in version 1.7.1:

• Many small bugfixes.
• Allows using PCRE or POSIX regular expressions.
• Allows specifying Silent keywords with regular expressions and suppressing errors for the rest of the file.

What is new in version 1.7.0:

• It is now possible to have user-defined warnings in PCRE regular expression syntax and to suppress a certain warning on a given line via a LaTeX comment.
• Also added was support for macros which affect math mode (e.g., \ensuremath and \text).
• This ensures that warnings are correctly determined in those cases.