# TeXstudio : User manual

## Contents:

- 1. Configuring TeXstudio
  - 1.1 Configuring the editor
  - 1.2 Configuring the latex related commands
  - 1.3 Configuring the build system
  - 1.4 Configuring some general issues
  - 1.4.1 Configuring the spell checker
  - 1.4.2 Configuring the thesaurus
  - 1.4.3 Configuring the latex syntax checker
  - 1.4.4 Configuring the grammar checker
  - 1.5 Configuring the autocompletion
  - 1.6 Configuring shortcuts
  - 1.7 Configuring the Latex/Math-Menu
  - 1.8 Configuring the Custom Toolbar
  - 1.9 Configuring SVN support
- 2. Editing a TeX document
  - 2.1 Usual commands
  - 2.2.1 Setting the preamble of a TeX document
  - 2.2.2 Using Templates to start a new document
  - 2.3 Structure of a document
  - 2.4 Browsing your document
  - 2.5 Formatting your text
  - 2.6 Spacings
  - 2.7 Inserting a list
  - 2.8 Inserting a table
  - 2.8.1 Manipulating a table
  - 2.9 Inserting a "tabbing" environment
  - 2.10 Inserting a picture
  - 2.10.1 Inserting a picture using a "wizard"
  - 2.11 Cross References and notes
  - 2.12 Inserting math formulae
  - 2.13 Auto completion
  - 2.14 Thesaurus
  - 2.15 Special Commands
- 3. Compiling a document
  - 3.1 Compiling
  - 3.2 The log files
- 4. Other features
  - 4.1 About documents separated in several files
  - 4.2 Syntax Check
  - 4.3 Bibliography
  - 4.4 SVN Support
  - 4.5 Personal macros
  - 4.6 Pstricks support
  - 4.7 Metapost support
  - 4.8 The "Convert to Html" command
  - 4.9 "Forward/Inverse search" with TeXstudio
  - 4.10 Advanced header usage
  - 4.11 Synopsis of the TeXstudio command
  - 4.12 Keyboard shortcuts
  - 4.13 Description of the cwl format
  - 4.14 Using table templates
  - 4.15 Writing your own language definitions
- Changelog
  - Changes in Version 2.9.4
  - Changes in Version 2.9.2
  - Changes in Version 2.9.0
  - Changes in Version 2.8.8
  - Changes in Version 2.8.6
  - Changes in Version 2.8.4
  - Changes in Version 2.8.2
  - Changes in Version 2.8.0
  - Changes in Version 2.7.0
  - Changes in Version 2.6.6
  - Changes in Version 2.6.4
  - Changes in Version 2.6.2
  - Changes in Version 2.6.0
  - Changes in Version 2.5.2
  - Changes in Version 2.5.1
  - Changes in Version 2.5
  - Changes in Version 2.4
  - Changes in Version 2.3
  - Changes in Version 2.2
  - Changes in Version 2.1
  - Changes in Version 1.9.9a
  - Changes in Version 2.0
  - Changes in Version 1.9.9
  - Changes in Version 1.9

# 1. Configuring TeXstudio

Before using TeXstudio, you should configure the editor and latex related commands via the "Configure TeXstudio" command in the "Options" menu ("Preferences" under Mac OS X). Note that there are two levels of detail. More advanced or less often used options are only visible if you toggle "Show advancde options" in the lower left corner.

## 1.1 Configuring the editor

You may change the default encoding for new files ("Configure TeXstudio" -> "Editor" -> "Editor Font Encoding") if you don't want utf8 as encoding. Don't forget to set the same encoding in the preamble of your documents. (e.g. \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}, if you use utf-8).
TeXstudio can auto detect utf-8 and latin1 encoded files, but if you use a different encoding in your existing documents you have to specify it in the configuration dialog before opening them. (and then you also have to disable the auto detection)

- "Folding" toggles the editors code-folding capability (hide sections of the text).
- The selection box "Indentation mode" lets you select, wether indented lines are followed by lines of the same indentation after pressing Enter or letting TeXstudio do automatic indentation.

## 1.2 Configuring the latex related commands

LaTeX comes with a number of command line tools to compile and manipulate LaTeX documents. The commands section defines there location and arguments.

The default settings should work with the recent and standard LaTeX distributions, but you could have to modify them ("Configure TeXstudio" -> "Commands"). To change a command, just click on the button at the end of the corresponding line and select the command in the file browser : TeXstudio will automatically adapt the syntax of the command.

You can use a number of special characters / character sequences to address the context of the current document. They are expanded at runtime:

Special Character | Expands to
--- | ---
`%` | master filename (root) for of current document without extension
`@` | current line number
`?` followed by further characters | See the instruction at the bottom of the configuration dialog.
`[txs-app-dir]` | Location of the TeXstudio executable (useful for portable settings)
`[txs-settings-dir]` | Location of the settings file (texstudio.ini)

The section Forward/Inverse search gives some example commands for common viewers.

You can always restore the original settings using the revert button to the right.

## 1.3 Configuring the build system

TeXstudio provides general commands for translating latex.
The default settings use "pdflatex" and the internal pdf viewer. Other commands and viewer can be selected as well as a different bibliography translator.
The "embedded pdf viewer" does not open a new window for viewing the pdf document but presents it directly next to the text in the editor.
A useful alternative might be using the "latexmk" as compile command (if the command is installed on your system), as it handles dependencies with biblatex and index very well.
The advanced options allows finer customization which is in general not necessary.

User commands can be defined here by "adding" them. Each user command has a name with a pattern `<command id>:<display name>`, e.g. `user0:User Command 0`. The command id has to be unique and must not contain spaces. In advanced mode, you can reference it using `txs:///"<command id>`. The display name will be shown in the tools menu. The user commands can be activated either by short cut (alt+shift+F%n) or by the tools menu (Tools/User).
User commands can either consist of a combination of known commands by selecting them from a list of available commands. This is triggered by clicking the spanner-symbol.
Alternatively a command can be directly selected through the file system.

## 1.3.1 Advanced configuration of the build system

If you enable the advanced options, you can configure the build system in more detail.

Every txs-command is a list of external programs/latex-commands and other txs-commands to call. An external program can be called with its usual command line, while a txs-command with id "foobar" is called by txs:///foobar.
The commands in the list are separated by |, which is just a separator (i.e. it will not pass the stdout from one program to the stdin of the next).

Each of these txs-command has a unique id, which is shown as tooltip of the displayed name for "normal" commands and in the edit box for user commands. Some important commands are usual: txs:///quick (Build & View, the old quickbuild), txs:///compile (Default compiler), txs:///view (Default viewer), txs:///latex (latex), txs:///pdflatex (pdflatex), txs:///view-pdf (Default Pdf Viewer), txs:///view-pdf-external (External pdf viewer).

For example, in a typical build configuration you might call txs:///quick by pressing F1, which calls txs:///compile, which first calls txs:///pdflatex that calls the actual pdflatey, and then calls txs:///view, which calls txs:///view-pdf, which calls txs:///view-pdf-internal, which displays the pdf.

There is no difference between commands defined as command on the command config page, commands defined as build on the build config page, or commands defined as user commands. They are just separated in the GUI to simplify the interface.
This also means that you can change every command as you want, ignoring its old definition (you could even change its id, when editing the ini file.).

There are however three always defined internal commands, which can only be called and not modified:

txs:///internal-pdf-viewer | Opens the internal viewer for the current document
txs:///view-log | Views the log file for the current document
txs:///conditionally-recompile-bibliography | Checks if the bib files have been modified, and calls txs:///recompile-bibliography, iff that is the case

The internal pdf viewer also accepts the following options (txs:///internal-pdf-viewer) to modify its behaviour:

--embedded | Opens the viewer embedded
--windowed | Opens the viewer windowed (default if no option is given)
--close-(all|windowed|embedded) | Close all open viewers, or just viewers of a specific kind
--preserve-existing | Does not change any existing viewers (i.e. always opens a new one)
--preserve-(embedded|windowed) | Does not change any existing embedded/windowed viewers
--preserve-duplicates | Only opens the pdf in the first opened viewer
--(no-)auto-close | If the viewer should be closed, when the corresponding tex file is closed (default: auto-close iff embedded)
--(no-)focus | If the viewer should be focused, when it is opened (default: focus iff windowed)
filename | Determines the file to open. Like in other commands, file patterns are supported. If this parameter is not provided, TXS uses `"?am.pdf"`, i.e. the absolute path of the main file. If the parameter is not an absolute filename, it is searched for in the directory of the main file as well as in `Options -> Build -> Build Options -> Additional Serach Paths -> PDF Files`

It is also possible to modify the arguments of called subcommands with argument modifiers or by adding a new argument . These modifiers are passed through called lists, so it will always change the arguments of the finally called program, even if the directly called subcommand is just a wrapper around another command:

txs:///foobar --xyz | This will add the xyz option
txs:///foobar[--xyz=123] | This will change the value of the xyz option to 123 (i.e. removing any xyz option defined in foobar)
txs:///foobar{--xyz=123} | This will remove --xyz=123 from the foobar command line, ignoring xyz options with other values |
txs:///foobar{--xyz} | This will remove any --xyz option from the foobar command line, regardless of its value
txs:///foobar{} | This will remove all options from the foobar command line, leaving only the name of the executable

Finally, there are also hidden options, which can only be changed by modifing the ini-file: Tools/Kind/LaTeX, Tools/Kind/Rerunnable, Tools/Kind/Pdf, Tools/Kind/Stdout, Tools/Kind/Viewer, which give a list of commands that are treated as latex compiler (e.g. show the log afterwards), rerunnable (repeat command call, if there are warnings), pdf generators (e.g. pdflatex), commands that prints to stdout (e.g. bibtex), and viewers (e.g. only open once).

## 1.3.2 Details of the execution environment

The PATH for the execution is the same as the PATH used when executing TeXstudio. On Linux/OS X the PATH may depend on the way you started TeXstudio. Programs started from the GUI may have a different PATH setting than programs started from a shell.

The working directory is set to the path of the master document, or to the path of the current file if there is no master document.

All commands specified in the configuration (i.e. Commands and User Commands) are executed directly. There is no shell involved. So output redirection and other shell functionality does not work.

You can see the difference with the following scipt:

    #! /bin/sh
    # I am testscript
    echo "Working Directory"
    pwd
    echo "Arg1: $1"
    echo "Arg2: $2"
    echo "Arg3: $3"

When calling `/path/to/testscript foo > bar` from the shell, you will pass one argument (foo) and redirect the output to bar. When writing this as a user command in TeXstudio, you will have three arguments(foo, > bar) and no redirection.

If you need shell functionality, you have to explicitly run a shell. You can either do this directly in the user command.

    sh -c "/path/to/testscript foo > bar"

or on Windows:

    cmd /C "/path/to/testscript.bat foo > bar"

or call a wrapper script in the user command

    /path/to/wrapperscript foo bar

and do the actual work inside the wrapper script:

    #! /bin/sh
    # I am wrapperscript
    /path/to/testscript $1 > $2

## 1.4 Configuring some general issues

This panel allows the setting of some general aspects.

- The "style" and "color scheme" of TeXstudio can be selected. The modern variant is closer to texmaker 1.9.
- The symbol list can either appear "tabbed" (old behaviour, tabbed activated) or can have small symbol tabs besides the symbol lists which leaves more room for the symbols.
- Also the log viewer can appear tabbed which allows faster change between error table, log view and previewer ...
- The language of the menus can be changed directly to ignore system settings.

## 1.4.1 Configuring the spell checker

TeXstudio offers an integrated spellchecker which can be used either via a dialog or dirctly while typing. All text outside of LaTeX commands is checked. Additionally, text in options of LaTeX commands is also checked. TeXstudio determines if an option contains natural text and thus should be spell checked by looking up its definition in the completion word lists. For more information on completion word lists see the section on completion and the description of the cwl format.

The spell checker uses the Hunspell dictionary format, which is widely used, e.g. in OpenOffice, LibreOffice and Firefox. The each dictionary consists of two files (`.dic` and `.aff`). French, British and German dictionaries are distributed with TeXstudio. You can add additional dictionaries yourself by placting them in the dictionary path. A particularly convenient way to get additional dictionaries is downloading a dictionary extension of http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Dictionaries or LibreOffice and importing them using the button Import Dictionary in the options.

You can specify one or more search paths for the dictionaries in the options. Multiple paths need to be separated by semicolon. With the paths you can use the special strings `[txs-app-dir]` and `[txs-settings-dir]`. These are expanded to the path of the executable and the config file (`texstudio.ini`) respectively. This expansion is particularly useful if you use a portable version on a USB stick in which the actual location of the program may depend on the computer you are using.

To make life easy TeXstudio lets you choose a preferred language for the spell checker. However, if you frequently work with files in different languages you may want to override the default behavior. This can be done in two ways. First you can specify the language of the file via the language menu in the status line. This setting will be lost as soon as the file is closed. To permanently save the language of the file TeXstudio supports a special "magic comment" `% !TeX spellcheck = de_DE`. If this comment is present in a file, its language is automatically set when the file is loaded.

Please note: spell checking with Ctrl+Shift+F7 starts at the cursor position and not at the beginning of the document.

If the interactive spell checker is enabled (default), any incorrectly spelled word is underlined with a red wave. Right-click on the word to open a menu with a list of possible corrections. In this context menu you can also add the word to the ignore list. If your dictionary is very large (> 5MB), opening the context menu and showing possible suggestions can take some seconds. If you don't need the suggestion, you can press shift while right clicking and don't have to wait.

Since the internal structure of the dictionaries is complex (e.g. contains rules how to generate a word with in different inflections) it is not possible to simply add words to the dictionary. Instead if a word is missing in the dictionary, you can add it to an ignore list, so that the spell checker won't complain about it. The ignore list is normally saved in the same directory as the dictionary. It's a plain text file with the extension .ign. If this isn't possible (e.g. missing access rights) the list is stored in the user configuration directory.

## 1.4.2 Configuring the thesaurus

The thesaurus uses OpenOffice.org 2.x databases. Only GPL French and US-English and German databases are distributed with TeXstudio.
Users can download others databases here : http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Dictionaries

## 1.4.3 Configuring the latex syntax checker

The latex syntax checker takes the list of possible completion commands to determine if a command is correct. Furthermore the completion list contains partially additional information to determine in which context a command is valid, whether it is valid only in math-mode or only in tabular-mode.

## 1.4.4 Configuring the grammar checker

The grammar checker is based on the standard http API of LanguageTool, and requires a separate installation of LanguageTool and java.

Once LanguageTool is installed, you can try it by starting the LanguageTool standalone application, and start TeXstudio afterward. LanguageTool then creates a locally running server at the address http://localhost:8081/ and TeXstudio automatically connects to it at startup. When the connection is established, all typed paragraphs are send to LT and after a short delay the possible grammar errors are highlighted.

To automatically start LanguageTool with TeXstudio, you need to enter the path to LT jar in the grammar page of the config dialog. If the java executable is not in the default PATH, you also need to set the path to it there.

In the advanced config mode, you can also mark certain LT rules as "special" whose matches will then be highlighted in a different/customizable way. This can be useful to do a stylistic analysis, e.g. by creating a own rule in LT highlighting all verbs or all adverbs.

Independent from LanguageTool, TeXstudio also checks for repeated and bad (imprecise/slang) words. The repetition check looks several words behind and marks repetition of short words in the immediate surrounding and repetition of long words up to 10 words before. These distances and lengths can be changed on the advanced grammar config page.

## 1.5 Configuring the autocompletion

TeXstudio has taken up completion word lists from kile which extended the number of known commands for completion considerably. TeXstudio understands the use of \documentclass and \usepackage in order to select valid lists of commands for completion as well as syntax checking. However TeXstudio allows one to select the additional word lists under "Configure TeXstudio" -> "Editor" -> "". The names of the word lists corresponds to the package for which they are made. The list latex.cwl contains the standard latex commands.
Concerning auto completion, TeXstudio allows one to adapt the behaviour to your liking. Following options are available:

- Completion enabled: self explanatory
- Case sensitive: let's you complete e.g. \Large from \la ...
- in first character: ?
- Auto Complete Common Prefix: if only one item is in the list or all items in the completion list share common starting characters, the common characters are directly inserted, like pressing the key Tab.
- Complete selected text when non-word character is pressed: when in completion mode, pressing a non-word character like space, leads to accepting the selected word. This may speed up typing.
- Enable ToolTip-Help: show tool tips on selected latex commands in the completion list.
- Use Placeholders: if the completed commands have options which need to be filled out, "place holder" are put at this positions and they can be jumped to by using Ctrl+Right/Ctrl+Left.

If your favorite package is not yet present for completion (and then as well not for syntax check), you can provide a list of your own by placing a file "packagename.cwl" in the config directory. This directory is placed in ~/.config/texstudio under linux and usually "c:\Documents and Settings/User/AppData/Roaming/texstudio" under windows. Basically the file contains a list of valid commands. A Description of the exact format and an example are given in the appendix.

## 1.6 Configuring shortcuts

Shortcuts can be changed by double clicking on "Current Shortcut" or "Additional Shortcut". A shortcut can be selected from the drop down list or put in as text directly. If a shortcut should be set to default value or removed completely, the items "<default>" or "<none>" at the top of the list can be selected.

## 1.7 Configuring the Latex/Math-Menu (Advanced option)

The Math/Latex-Menu can be adapted to user likings. For this menu items can be renamed and a new Latex-Code can be placed. The apropriate item can be be directly edited by doubleclicking on them.

## 1.8 Configuring the Custom Toolbar (Advanced option)

One Custom Toolbar is present in TMX. This toolbar can be filled with actions from the Latex-, Math- and User-Menu. Since many of those item don't have icons, user icons can be loaded as well. This is achieved by applying "load other icon" from the context menu on a item in the custom toolbar list in the configure dialog.

## 1.9 Configuring SVN support

To supports SVN (subversion) for document versioning. To make use of it, the SVN commandline tools need to be installed. Linux and Mac OSX normally provide already svn tools, for Windows, the installation of "SlikSVN" is recommended.

The complete path to the command "svn" and "svnadmin" need to be adjusted in the aprioriate field of the Commands page in the options. On the SVN page you can can choose the degree of automation (see below) WSVN, see below.

Note: You cannot checkout a repository via TeXstudio. Just use the normal tools for this (either svn checkout on the commmand line or the GUI of your choice). Once you have a working copy, TeXstudio can operate on it.

"Automatically check in after save" allows TeXstudio to perform an svn check in after every save of a document, thus providing a very complete history of the creation of a document. Since text documents are rather small compared to disk spaces, size of the svn database should not be a problem. In addition newly saved files (save as) are automatically added to svn control,provided that the directory is alredy under svn control. If that is not the case, TeXstudio searches in "SVN Directory Search Depth" directory above the current diorectory for a svn controlled directory to which the subdirectories and the TeX-Document will be added. If no appropriate directory is found, a repository is automatically generated in a directory called "./repo" and the document is added. Thus the user does not need to look up the necessary commands to set up a repository. This functionality is only activated when "Auto checkin in" is enabled !

With "User SVN revisions to undo before last save" TeXstudio will perform undo as usually, but if there are no further undoable commands in the internal storage, the document will be changed to the previous version in svn history. Further undo commands allows one to back further to older revisions, whereas a redo goes forward to more recent versions. This is a more interactive approach than choosing svn revisions directly via a menu command, see section 4.3

# 2. Editing a TeX document

## 2.1 Usual commands

The standard commands (cut, copy, find...) can be launched via the "Edit" menu and the "Edit" tool bar.

## 2.2.1 Setting the preamble of a TeX document

To define the preamble of your document, you can use the "Quick start" wizard ("Wizard" menu).

This dialog allows you to set the main features of your document (class, paper size, encoding...).
Note : You can add other options by clicking the "+" buttons. All yours settings are recorded.

You can also type your own preamble model in the editor : with the "Copy/paste" or "Save As" commands, you can use it for a new document.

## 2.2.2 Using Templates to start a new document

For new documents, templates can be used by using the command "File/New from template". A dialogue gives a selection of templates.

You can either create a new editor document from the template or create it as file(s) on disk and open these in the editor. The former option is not available for multi-file templates.

New templates can be created by using the command "File/Make Template" on a opened document which you like to have has a template. Note that this dialog currently does not support the full capabilities of the template system. In particular you cannot supply a preview image or create a multi-file template with it. You'll have to do this manually (see the template format).

User added templates can be edited or deleted by using the context menu in the template selection dialogue. Built-in templates can not be changed.

User templates are saved in the `/templates/user/` subdirectory of the config directory.

### 2.2.2.1 The Template Format

In its simplest form, a template is only a .tex file. Multi-file templates can be created by packaging all files in a zip achive. Optionally, meta data is stored in JSON format in a separate file with the same name, but extension ".json" instead of ".tex" or ".zip". Currently the following entries are supported:

    {
    "Name"        : "Book",
    "Author"      : "TXS built-in",
    "Date"        : "04.01.2013",
    "Version"     : "1.1",
    "Description" : "Default LaTeX class for books using separate files for each chapter.",
    "License"     : "Public Domain",
    "FilesToOpen" : "./TeX_files/chapter01.tex;main.tex"
    }

FilesToOpen only has an effect for mutli-file documents. You may add a preview image next to the template file. Again, it must have the same name, but extension ".png".

## 2.3 Structure of a document

To define a new part (section,subsection...) in your document with TeXstudio, just use this combo box in the tool bar :

This will cause a dialog to pop up which allows you to define the style of the part (section,subsection...).
Note : the "Structure View" is automatically updated.

## 2.4 Browsing your document

The "Structure View" (left panel) lets you quickly reach any part of your document. All you need to do is to click on any item (label, section...) and you will be taken to the beginning of the corresponding area in the editor. The mechanism for jumping to a line does not anymore only consider line numbers but really remembers text lines. Thus adding and removing lines will not lead to jumps to wrong locations.

A grey background shows the present cursor position in the text in the structure view as well. A greenish background denotes sections which are in the appendix.

The "Structure View" is automatically updated as you type. You can also use the "Refresh Structure" ("Edit" menu) command at any moment.

Apart from labels,sections,includes and beamer blocks, comments starting with %TODO are also scanned for and presented as section of its own in the structure view. This can be used to create a kind of permanent bookmark in the text or just to note where some changes are still necessary.

The structure view also offers a context menu which allows one to copy/cut all text which belongs to a section (including subsection) and paste it before or after a section. Section can be indented/unindented which means that the hierarchy level is changed by one, i.e. \section is changed to \subsection, and all subsections are treated accordingly

For each file, three bookmarks can be used to speed up navigation : just click on a line number to add or remove a bookmark. When you have already defined three bookmarks, you must remove one of them to add a new bookmark. To jump to the line corresponding to a bookmark in the editor, just click on the buttons in the status bar.

## 2.5 Formatting your text

You can quickly set the format of a part of your text with this tool bar :

Additional option: a selected text can be directly framed by certain environments. Example: while clicking on the button "Bold" after having selected the word "Hello" , you will obtain the code: \textbf{Hello}.
This option is available for all the environments indicated by "[selection]" in the "LaTeX" menu.

### Capitalisation

The menu "Edit" -> "Text Operations" contains a few methods for changing the capitalization of selected text:

- To Lowercase
- To Uppercase
- To Titlecase (strict)
- To Titlecase (smart)

Both variants of "To Titlecase" leave small words like a, the, of etc. in lowercase. Additionally, "To Titlecase (smart)" does not convert any words containing capital letters, assuming they are acronymes which require a fixed capitalization (e.g. "TeXstudio").

## 2.6 Spacings

The usual "spacing" commands are available in the "LaTeX" and "Math" menus. To insert quickly the "new line" LaTeX command, you can use the corresponding command in the toolbar (shortcut : Ctrl+Alt+return)

## 2.7 Inserting a list

The usual list environments code can be insert quickly via the "LaTeX-List" menu.
Note : the shortcut for the \item command is Ctrl+Alt+H.

## 2.8 Inserting a table

With the "Tabular" wizard ("Wizard" menu), t he LaTeX code for a tabular environment can be quickly inserted :

You can set the main features of your table.
Note : this dialog allows you to type directly the code in the cells.
The corresponding LaTeX code is automatically inserted in the editor.

## 2.8.1 Manipulating tables

TeXstudio provides some commands to ease handling of tables. The commands are located at LaTeX → Manipulate Table and in the Table toolbar. Please be aware that some unexpected results may arise, if the table constructing commands get too complex. Following commands are offered:

- Add Row after the current row
- Remove Row: removes the table row in which the cursor
- Add Column: add a column in the complete table after current cursor position. If the cursor is positioned at start of line,first column, the column is added as new first column.
- Remove Column: remove current column
- Add/Remove \hline: add/remove \hline in all rows following the current row. If already a command \hline is present, no second command is placed.
- Align Columns: Aligns the column separators (ampersand) by introducing whitespace. The text in the cells is aligned according to the specification in the table header. This helps reading the table source.
- Remodel the table after a template. This allows one to force uniform table set-up in a document. Some templates are predefined, more can be added though it needs some programming in java script. This command is only present in the menu (math/tables)

TeXstudio also allows block cursors. Press <Ctrl>+<Alt>+<Shift> and drag the cursor with the mouse. The block cursor works like a set of normal cursors. You can copy and paste text as usual. Also you can type in new text, which will be added in every row.

## 2.9 Inserting a "tabbing" environment

To help you to insert a "tabbing" code, you can use the "Tabbing" wizard ("Wizard" menu) :

## 2.10 Inserting a picture

To insert a picture in your document, just use the "\includegraphics" command in the "LaTeX" menu. Then, click on the "browser" button in the dialog to select the graphic file.
Note : you can insert a "figure" LaTeX environment ("LaTeX - Environments" menu) before inserting the picture.

## 2.10.1 Inserting a picture using a "wizard"

Properly inserting figures is a challenge for LaTeX beginners and still quite a bit of text to type for the expert. Therefore TeXstudio offers a wizard for handling graphics insertion code in your document. "Graphics options" defines the optional parameter of `\insertgraphics[options]{file}`. While the most used width/height attributes can be easily set, alternatively you have full control with the user defined setting.
Place the graphic inside a `figure` environment if it does not have to be at an exact position in the text. Then LaTeX will determine an optimal position on the page.
By pressing the "Save as default" button the current settings (except file, caption and label) are stored and will hence be used as default when you open the wizard.
The wizard also comes into play when you drag drop an image file to your document or use copy in explorer and paste in TeXstudio. Together with the adjustable default parameters this makes insertion of new pictures very fast. Furthermore, if you start the wizard while the cursor is on picture code, the wizard is used to manipulate the existing picture settings.

## 2.11 Cross References and notes

This toolbox in the toolbar allows you to insert quickly the label, cite, ref, footnote... code.
Note : the labels used in your documents are displayed in the "Structure View".

Additional option:for the \ref command, a dialog box allows you to select directly the label.

## 2.12 Inserting math formula

You can toggle in the "in-line math" environment with the "f(x)" button in the toolbar (shortcut : Ctrl+Alt+M) or with the "Math" menu. The shortcut for the "display math" environment is : Alt+Shift+M.
The "Math" toolbar allows you to insert the most currents mathematical forms (frac, sqrt...) like the \left and \right tags.

With the "symbols panels" in the structure view, you can insert the code of 400 mathematical symbols.

You can also define the format of your mathematical text via the "Math" menu.
For the "array" environments, a wizard (like the "Tabular" wizard) is available in the "Wizard" menu. With this wizard, you can select the environment : array, matrix, pmatrix.... The cells can be directly completed.

## 2.13 Auto Completion

Whenever you press \ followed by a letter, a list of possible LaTex tags is shown where you select the right one. If you write additional letters the list is filtered, so that only the tags starting with the already written text are shown. If the list contains words which all start with the same letter combination, you can press Tab to complete all common letters. If only one element is present in the list, Tab selects this one to do the completion, like Enter. This behaviour is similar to tab completion in bash shells. You can also press Ctrl+Space to open this list whenever you want.
If a tag has different options, a short descriptive text is inserted into your text, telling you the meaning of each option. You can press Ctrl+Left, Ctrl+Right to select all positions.
Furthermore normal text can be completed by starting to type a word and pressing Ctrl+Space. All apropriate words in the current document are used as possible suggestions.
If a enviroment is to be inserted, typing in the beginning of the environment name and pressing Ctrl+Alt+Space gives suggestions for adequate enviroments which are inserted completely with \begin{env}..\end{env}
And finally user tags can be assigned a abbreviation which can also be used with completion. Just type in the start of the abbreviation and start the completion with Ctrl+Space. The abbreviation should show up in the completion list, especially marked with “abbreviation (template)”.
If you change a command by completing a new command, only the command name is substituted. The same is true for environments, where the environment is changed in the \begin- and \end-command.

## 2.14 Thesaurus

TeXstudio has integrated a simple thesaurus. OpenOffice 2.x databases are used for this. By placing the cursor on a word and activating the thesaurus (Ctrl+Shift+F8 or Edit/Thesaurus), it tries to find synonyms for this word. Please be patient if you start the thesaurus at first time since loading the database just occurs then and can take a few moments.

The first line to the left contains the word, for which a synonym is searched for. The list below gives a list of word classes. The can be chosen to reduce the number of suggestions. The column to the right contains the list of suggested synonyms. A selected word from this list apears in the first line to the right as proposition for replacement of the text. This word can be changed manually. It is also used to do further investigations for words and their synonyms which "start with" or "contain" that word. With "lookup" it can be directly used to look for a synonym for that word.

## 2.15 Special Commands

### Delete word/command/environment

With the shortcut Alt+Del, the word under the cursor is deleted. If it is a command, the command is deleted including opening and closing braces. E.g. "\textbf{text}" leave "text". If it is an environment, the enclosing bengin/end are removed.

### Rename environment

If you place the cursor on an environment name or the corresponding begin- or end-command, after a moment a mirror-cursor is activated on the environment name which allows synchronous change of the environment name in the begin- and end-command. So if you want to change a "\begin{tabular}...\end{tabular}" construction to "\begin{tabularx}...\end{tabularx}", place the text cursor on "tabular", wait for a second and then, after the mirror-cursor appears, change "tabular" to "tabularx".

### Cut Buffer

If you select something and then start to type in a command and complete it, the selection is put in as first argument. E.g. you have a "text", select it and start typing "\textbf", command which is completed. The resulting text is "\textbf{text}"

# 3. Compiling a document

## 3.1 Compiling

The easiest way to compile a document is to use the "Compile" command or the "Build&View" command ("Compile" button - shortcut : F6). You can select the default command via the "Configure TeXstudio" dialog.
(You can also launch each command one by one in the "Tools" menu).
Note : the "Clean" command in the "Tools menu" allows you to erase the files (dvi, toc, aux...) generated by a LaTeX compilation (except the ps and pdf files).

Warning : all yours files must have an extension and you can't compile an "untitled" file or a file with a space in his name.

## 3.2 The log files

With the "Quick Build" command, the log file is automatically displayed in the "Messages / Log file" pannel. While clicking on a number in the "Line" column, the cursor is placed on the corresponding line in the editor and the error is displayed.
Remark : a summary of the latex errors and warnings is displayed before the full log file.

The "Next Latex Error"and "Previous LaTeX Error" commands allow to get to the errors detected during compilation.

Lines with errors, warnings, bad boxes will be highlighted with red, yellow or blue background and you can jump between them using Ctrl+Up/Down. (Ctrl+Shift for errors only, Ctrl+Alt for warnings only, Alt+Shift for bad boxes only)
A tool tip will show more details of the mistake if you jump to a line (it is also shown if you move the mouse over the mark left from the line numbers).

# 4. Other features

## 4.1 About documents separated in several files

TeXstudio allows you to work onto documents separated in several files.
To include a TeX file into your document, just use the "\include{file}" command in the "LaTeX" menu. The file will appear in the "Structure View". With a click on his name, TeXstudio will open it.

TeXstudio now understands parent/child relations of loaded documents (1 level only !). Therefore, as in "master document mode", only the parent document is compiled if compilation is tarted while working on a child document. Likewise labels and usercommands are known in all corresponding documents.

You can still define your "master document" with the "Options" menu. All the commands of the "Tools" menu will apply only to this document even when working on the "children" documents (you can even close the "master" document).
If a master document is set, labels and usercommands which are defined in any open document, can be used for completion in any open document. Thus you can insert easily a reference to a label which is defined in another subdocument, as long as that document is open in TeXstudio.
Note : you can leave the "master" mode with the "Options" menu.

## 4.2 Syntax Check

The latex syntax checker takes the list of possible completion commands to determine if a command is correct. The completion list contains partially additional information to determine in which context a command is valid, whether it is valid only in math-mode or only in tabular-mode.
Furthermore the correctness of tabulars is checked in a little more detail. The number of columns is analyzed and checked in the subsequent rows. If more or less columns are given in a row, a warning maker is shown.

## 4.3 Bibliography

For the "bib" files , the "Bibliography" menu enables you to directly insert the entries corresponding to the standard types of document.
Note: the optional fields can be automatically deleted with the "Clean" command of the "Bibliography" menu.

## 4.4 SVN Support

Apart from the supported svn features already describes in section 1.8, TeXstudio supports two more commands.

"File/chekin" performs an explicit save and check in, with a input dialog which asks for an checkin in message which is stored in the svn history.

"File/Show old Revisions" pops up a dialog, which shows all alvailable revisions. A selection of an older revision leads to instatanious change of the current document to that older revision. You can can select and copy old parts to transfer them to the most recent version of your document, by copying the parts and then going back to most recent version. If you start editing that document directly, the dialog is closed and the present text is your new most recent version though yet unsaved.

## 4.5 Personal macros

TeXstudio allows you to insert your own macros (shortcuts : Shift+F1...Shift+F10). These macros are defined with the "Macros - Edit Macros" menu. Macros can consist of simple text which is directly placed into txs. It can also be an "environment" which are automatically extended by begin/end and it can be a java script. The needed functionality can be selected by checkbox.
The "abbreviation" is a pseudo-command for the latex completer. If the pseudo-command is completed, the macro will be inserted instead. Note that the pseudo-command needs to start with a backslash ("\").
"Trigger" is a regular expression which triggers the inclusion of the macro: When the last written characters match this expression, they are removed and the macro is inserted/executed. (see below for more details).

### 4.5.1 Text macros

Apart from normal text, some special codes are recognized and replaced on insertion.
If you write %| somewhere the cursor will be placed at that place in the inserted text. (A second %| will select everything between them).
Write %<something%> to mark it as descriptive text which can be selected by Ctrl+Left/Right.
The option %(filefilter%) will be replaced by a filename which is asked for in a file dialog. The file filter is the standard Qt-Filefilterformat. For example "Images (*.png *.xpm *.jpg);;Text files (*.txt);;XML files (*.xml)", see also Qt-Doc

### 4.5.2 Environment macros

The text will be used as environment-name, thus "%environment" will be inserted as:
\begin{environment }
\end{environment }
Note: texstudio needs that the env-name starts with "%", though that character is not placed on insertion.

### 4.5.3 Javascript macros

Instead of using code snippets, you can also make use of javascript. To do so, put "%SCRIPT" in the first line. The following code will be interpreted as javascript. The language is based on ECMAScript. To access the document these objects are introduced:

- "editor" allows some top level operations like searching/save/load. in the current document
- "cursor" gives access to cursor operations like moving, inserting and deleting texts.
- "fileChooser" gives access to the filechooser dialog, a very simple file selection dialog
- "app" to access application wide things like the clipboard or the menus

The following table gives an overview on the possible commands.

Command | Description
--- | ---
Global scope
alert(str), information(str), warning(str) or critical(str) | shows str in a messagebox with a certain icon
confirm(str) or confirmWarning(str) | shows str as a yes/no question in a messagebox
debug(str) | prints str to stdout
writeFile(name, value) | Writes value to file name (requires write privileges)
readFile(name) | Reads the entire file name (requires read privileges)
system(cmd) | Calls cmd and returns a ProcessX object which has this methodes: waitForFinished: Wait until the process is finished readAllStandardOutputStr: Returns the stdout readAllStandardErrorStr: Returns the stderr exitCode: The exit code exitStatus: The qt exit status terminate or kill: Stops the process
setGlobal(name, value) | Sets a temporary, global variable
getGlobal(name) | Reads a global variable
hasGlobal(name) | Checks for the existence of a global variable
setPersistent(name, value) | Sets a global configuration variable. (can change the values of the ini file, requires write privileges)
getPersistent(name) | Reads a global configuration variable. (can read all values of the ini file, requires read privileges)
hasPersistent(name) | Checks if a global configuration variable exists. (requires read privileges)
hasReadPrivileges() | Checks if the script has read privileges
hasWritePrivileges() | Checks if the script has write privileges
registerAsBackgroundScript([id]) | Allows the script to run in the background (necessary iff the script should handle events/signals)
triggerMatches | Matches of the regular trigger expression, if the script was called by an editor trigger.
triggerId | Numeric id of the trigger, if the script was called by an event trigger.
include(script) | Includes another script. Can be a filename or the name of a macro.
pdfs | List of all open, internal pdf viewers .
Editor object
editor.search(searchFor, [options], [scope], [callback]) | Searchs something in the editor. searchFor is the text which is searched. It can be either a string (e.g. "..") or a regexp (e.g. /[.]{2}/). options is a string and a combination of "i", "g", "w" to specify a case-insensitive search, a global search (continue after the first match) or a whole-word-only search. scope is a cursor constraining the search scope (see editor.document().cursor). callback is a function which is called for every match. A cursor describing the position of the match is passed as first argument. All arguments except searchFor are optional, and the order may be changed (which may not be future compatible). The function returns the number of found matches.
editor.replace(searchFor, [options], [scope], [replaceWith]) | This function searches and replaces something in the editor. It behaves like editor.search apart from the replaceWith argument which can be a simple string or a callback function. If it is a function the return value of replaceWith is used to replace the match described by the cursor passed to replaceWith.
editor.replaceSelectedText(newText, [options]) | This function replaces the current selections with newText or inserts newText, if nothing is selected. If newText is a function, it will be called with the selected text and corresponding cursor, and the return value will be the newText. It is recommended to use this function for all text replacements/insertions, since it is the easiest way to handle multiple cursors/block selections correctly. Though it is only available in txs >= 2.8.5. Options is an object that can have the following properties: `{"noEmpty": true}` only replaces; does not insert anything if the selection is empty `{"onlyEmpty": true}` only inserts at the cursor position; does not change non empty selected text `{"append": true}` appends newText to the current selection, does not remove the old text `{"prepend": true}` prepends newText to the current selection, does not remove the old text `{"macro": true}` Treats newText as normal macro text, e.g. inserting %< %> placeholders Examples: `editor.replaceSelectedText("world", {"append": true} )` Appends "world" to the current selections. `editor.replaceSelectedText(function(s){return s.toUpperCase();})` Converts the current selection to uppercase.
editor.undo(); | undo last command in editor
editor.redo(); | redo last command in editor
editor.cut(); | cut selection to clipboard
editor.copy(); | copy selection to clipboard
editor.paste(); | paste clipboard contents
editor.selectAll(); | select all
editor.selectNothing(); | select nothing (clear selections)
editor.find(); | activate "find panel"
editor.find(QString text, bool highlight, bool regex, bool word=false, bool caseSensitive=false); | activate "find panel" with predefined values
editor.find(QString text, bool highlight, bool regex, bool word, bool caseSensitive, bool fromCursor, bool selection); | activate "find panel" with predefined values
editor.findNext(); | find next
editor.replacePanel(); | replace (if find panel open and something is selected)
editor.gotoLine(); | activate "goto line panel"
editor.indentSelection(); | indent selection
editor.unindentSelection(); | unindent selection
editor.commentSelection(); | comment selection
editor.uncommentSelection(); | uncomment selection
editor.clearPlaceHolders(); | clear place holders
editor.nextPlaceHolder(); | jump to next place holder
editor.previousPlaceHolder() | jump to previous place holder
editor.setPlaceHolder(int i, bool selectCursors=true); | set Placeholder
editor.setFileName(f); | set filename to f
editor.write(str) | inserts str at the current cursors position (if there are cursor mirrors, str will be inserted by all of them)
editor.insertText(str) | inserts str at the current cursor position (cursor mirrors are ignored, so it is preferable to use replaceSelectedText or write instead)
editor.setText(text) | replace the whole text of the current document by text
editor.text() | return the text of the complete document
editor.text(int line) | return text of line
Document object
editor.document().lineCount() | Returns the number of lines
editor.document().visualLineCount() | Returns the number of visual lines (counting wrapped lines)
editor.document().cursor(line, [column = 0], [lineTo = -1], [columnTo = length of lineTo]) | Returns a cursor object. If lineTo is given the cursor has a selection from line:column to lineTo:columnTo, otherwise not.
editor.document().text([removeTrailing = false], [preserveIndent = true]) | Returns the complete text of the document
editor.document().textLines() | Returns an array of all text lines
editor.document().lineEndingString() | Returns a string containing the ending of a line (\n or \n\r)
editor.document().canUndo() | Returns true if undo is possible
editor.document().canRedo() | Returns true if redo is possible
editor.document().expand(lineNr) | Expands the line
editor.document().collapse(lineNr) | Collapse the line
editor.document().expandParents(lineNr) | Expand all parents of the line until it is visible
editor.document().foldBlockAt(bool unFold, lineNr); | Collapses or expands the first block before lineNr
editor.document().getMasterDocument(); | Returns the open document which directly includes this document
editor.document().getTopMasterDocument(); | Returns the open document which indireclty includes this document and is not itself included by any other document
editor.document().getMagicComment(name); | Returns the content of a magic comment, if it exists
editor.document().updateMagicComment(name, value, [create = false]); | Changes a magic comment
editor.document().labelItems/refItems/bibItems | Returns the ids of all labels/references or included bibliography files.
Document Manager object
documentManager.currentDocument | Current document (usually the same as editor.document(), unless the script is running in background mode)
documents.masterDocument | Master document
[documentManager.]documents | Array of all open documents
documentManager.findDocument(fileName) | Returns the open document with a certain file name
documentManager.singleMode() | Returns if there is no explicit master document
documentManager.getMasterDocumentForDoc(document) | Returns the open document (possibly indirectly) including the given document
documentManager.findFileFromBibId(id) | Returns the file name of the bib file containing an entry with the given id
Cursor object
cursor.atEnd() | returns whether the cursor is at the end of the document
cursor.atStart() | returns whether the cursor is at the start of the document
cursor.atBlockEnd() | returns whether the cursor is at the end of a block
cursor.atBlockStart() | returns whether the cursor is at the start of a block
cursor.atLineEnd() | returns whether the cursor is at the end of a line
cursor.atLineStart() | returns whether the cursor is at the start of a line
cursor.hasSelection() | return whether the cursor has a selection
cursor.lineNumber() | returns the line number of the cursor
cursor.columnNumber() | returns the column of the cursor
cursor.anchorLineNumber() | returns the line number of the anchor.
cursor.anchorColumnNumber() | returns the column of the anchor.
cursor.shift(int offset) | Shift cursor position (text column) by a number of columns (characters)
cursor.setPosition(int pos, MoveMode m = MoveAnchor) | set the cursor position after pos-characters counted from document start (very slow)
cursor.movePosition(int offset, MoveOperation op = NextCharacter, MoveMode m = MoveAnchor); | move cursor offset times. MoveOperations may be: cursorEnums.NoMove cursorEnums.Up cursorEnums.Down cursorEnums.Left cursorEnums.PreviousCharacter = Left cursorEnums.Right cursorEnums.NextCharacter = Right cursorEnums.Start cursorEnums.StartOfLine cursorEnums.StartOfBlock = StartOfLine cursorEnums.StartOfWord cursorEnums.PreviousBlock cursorEnums.PreviousLine = PreviousBlock cursorEnums.PreviousWord cursorEnums.WordLeft cursorEnums.WordRight cursorEnums.End cursorEnums.EndOfLine cursorEnums.EndOfBlock = EndOfLine cursorEnums.EndOfWord cursorEnums.NextWord cursorEnums.NextBlock cursorEnums.NextLine = NextBlock Options for MoveMode are: cursorEnums.MoveAnchor cursorEnums.KeepAnchor cursorEnums.ThroughWrap
cursor.moveTo(int line, int column); | move cursor to line and column
cursor.eraseLine(); | remove current line
cursor.insertLine(bool keepAnchor = false); | insert empty line
cursor.insertText(text, bool keepAnchor = false) | insert text text at cursor (this function will ignore indentations and mirrors, see editor.write and editor.insertText)
cursor.selectedText() | return the selected text
cursor.clearSelection(); | clears selection
cursor.removeSelectedText(); | removes selected text
cursor.replaceSelectedText(text); | replace selected text with text
cursor.deleteChar(); | removes char right to the cursor
cursor.deletePreviousChar(); | removes char left to the cursor
cursor.beginEditBlock(); | begins a new edit block. All cursor operations encapsulated in an edit block are undone/redone at once.
cursor.endEditBlock(); | ends an edit block
App object
app.getVersion() | Current version (0xMMmm00)
app.clipboard | Property to read/write to the clipboard
app.getCurrentFileName() | File name of currently edited file
app.getAbsoluteFilePath(rel, ext = "") | Converts a relative filename to an absolute one
app.load(file) | Loads an file
app.fileOpen/Save/Close/.../editUndo/.../QuickBuild/... | All menu commands (i.e. all slots in the texmaker.h file). You can view a list of all currently existing slots on the "menu" page of the config dialog.
app.newManagedMenu([parent menu,] id, caption) | Creates a new menu and returns it
app.getManagedMenu(id) | Returns a QMenu with a certain id
app.newManagedAction(menu, id, caption) | Creates a new action and returns it menu: Parent menu id: Id of the new action (the final, unique id will be menu id/action id) caption: Visible text You can use action.triggered.connect(function(){ ... }); to link a function to the returned action (for details see the qt signal/slot documentation).
app.getManagedAction([id]) | Returns an QAction with a certain id (all ids have the form main/menu1/menu2/.../menuN/action, with usually one menu, e.g. "main/edit/undo", see texmaker.cpp)
app.createUI(file, [parent]) | Loads a certain ui file and creates a QWidget* from it
app.createUIFromString(string, [parent]) | Creates a QWidget* described in the string
app.slowOperationStarted()/slowOperationEnded() | Notify txs about the start/end of a slow operation to temporary disable the endless loop detection.
UniversalInputDialog class
new UniversalInputDialog() | Creates a new dialog
dialog.add(defaultValue, [description, [id]]) | Adds a new variable with the given default value, optional description and id to the dialog; and returns the corresponding qt component. A string default value becomes a QLineEdit, a number a QSpinBox and an array a QComboBox.
dialog.get(nr/id) | Returns the current value of the nr-th added variable or the variable with a certain id.
dialog.getAll() | Returns the value of all variables as combined numerical/associative array. You can use returnvalue[i] to get the i-th variable, and returnvalue.id to get the variable with a certain id.
dialog.exec() | Displays the dialog. Returns 1 if the user accepted the dialog, 0 if it was canceled.
dialog.show() | Displays the dialog asynchronously.
UniversalInputDialog([[defaultValue_0, description_0, id_0], [defaultValue_1, description_1, id_1], ...]) | Short form: Creates a new dialog, adds all variables of the array and call exec on it.
FileChooser object
fileChooser.exec() | show dialog and wait until it is closed again
fileChooser.setDir(dir) | set directory in the dialog to dir
fileChooser.setFilter(filter) | set file filter to filter, using the QT-format, see above
fileChooser.fileName() | return selected filename (after exec)

Some examples:

- Copy current file name to clipboard:

      %SCRIPT
      app.clipboard = editor.fileName();

- Execution of editor text:

      %SCRIPT
      eval(editor.text());

- Show all properties of an object:

      %SCRIPT
      obj = editor;                                                    //object to show (e.g. the current editor)

      app.fileNew();                                                   //create a new document
      newEditor = documentManager.currentDocument.editorView.editor;   //access the newly created document
      for (var prop in obj)
        newEditor.write(prop+"\n");                                    //print the properties

- Additional action in the edit menu

      %SCRIPT
      var menu = app.getManagedMenu("main/edit");                   //get edit menu
      var act = app.newManagedAction(menu, "script", "scripttest"); //add action
      act.triggered.connect(function(){alert("called");});          //register simple handler
      registerAsBackgroundScript("test");                           //keep handler valid

- Asynchronous dialog:

      %SCRIPT
      var ui = createUI(" ... path to your ui file ...");  //load dialog
      ui.accepted.connect(function(){alert("x");})         //react to dialog closing
      registerAsBackgroundScript("abc");                   //keep function valid
      ui.show();                                           //show dialog

  The dialog is described in an ui file which can be created with the Qt Designer.
- Calculator:

      %SCRIPT
      currentLine=editor.text(cursor.lineNumber());
      from=currentLine.lastIndexOf("%")+1;
      to=currentLine.lastIndexOf("=");
      if (from>=0 && to > from) {
        toEvaluate = currentLine.substring(from, to);
        with (Math) { value = eval(toEvaluate);}
        cursor.eraseLine();
        cursor.insertText(currentLine.substring(0, from)+toEvaluate+"="+value);
        cursor.insertLine();
        cursor.movePosition(1,cursorEnums.Left );
      }

  This will evaluate everything between % and = and write the result after the =. You can use it like a calculator if you write %5+3= in the tex file.
- (tikz) Coordinate pair mover:

      %SCRIPT
      var doit = function(){
      var mytext=cursor.selectedText();
      var regExNumberPre = " *[0-9]+([.][0-9]*)? *";
      var regExDigit = /[0-9]/;
      var regExSpace = / /g;
      var regExPairPre = " *(-?"+regExNumberPre+")";
      var regExPair = new RegExp("()[(]"+regExPairPre+","+regExPairPre+"[)]"); ;

      //read first coordinate pair
      var regExFirstPairPre = regExPairPre + " *([+-]"+regExNumberPre+")?";
      var regExFirstPair = new RegExp("()[(]"+regExFirstPairPre+","+regExFirstPairPre+"[)]");

      //extract offsets (start regex search from first digit, to allow -x - y)
      var matches = regExFirstPair.exec(mytext);
      if (matches == null) throw "missing";
      //throw matches;
      var offsetXPre = matches[4];
      var offsetYPre = matches[8];
      if (offsetXPre == "" && offsetYPre == "") throw "abc";
      var offsetX = offsetXPre == ""?0.0:offsetXPre.replace(regExSpace, "")*1.0;
      var offsetY = offsetYPre == ""?0.0:offsetYPre.replace(regExSpace, "")*1.0;

      //move first pair
      var matchpos = mytext.search(regExFirstPair);
      editor.write(mytext.slice(0,matchpos));
      editor.write("("+(matches[2].replace(regExSpace, "")*1.0+offsetX));
      editor.write(", "+(matches[6].replace(regExSpace, "")*1.0+offsetY)+")");

      //move other pairs
      var remaining = mytext.slice(matchpos+matches[0].length);
      while (remaining != ""){
      	matches = regExPair.exec(remaining);
      	if (matches == null) break;
      	matchpos = remaining.search(regExPair);
      	editor.write(remaining.slice(0,matchpos));
      	remaining = remaining.slice(matchpos+matches[0].length);
      	editor.write("(" + ((matches[2].replace(regExSpace, "")*1.0)+offsetX) + ", "+ ((matches[4].replace(regExSpace, "")*1.0)+offsetY) + ")");
      }
      editor.write(remaining);
      }
      doit();

  This will add to all selected coordinate pairs the offset of the first pair which translates all pairs in a given direction. E.g. if you have (1 + 1, 2 - 1.5) (3, 4) it will change it to (2, 0.5) (4, 2.5).

### 4.5.4 Triggers

#### 4.5.4.1 Regular Expressions

In its simplest form, the trigger is simply a text, which is replaced by the macro. E.g. trigger="eg" macro="example given", "eg" in "the leg" is replaced on pressing "g" by "example given"
As the trigger is a regular expression, more elaborate triggers can be created. TXS makes use of look-behind searching: "(?<=\s)%" is used to replace a "%" if the previous character is a space. More help on regular expressions can be found on the internet.

You can access the matched expression in the script via the global variable `triggerMatches`. `triggerMatches` is an array. It's zero-th component is the match to the complete regexp. The following elements are matches to groups (if groups are defined).

Example:

    Trigger: #([a-z])
    Typed text: #a

    triggerMatches[0] == '#a'
    triggerMatches[1] == 'a'

#### 4.5.4.2 Limitation of Scope

You can also prepend the pseudo expression `(?language:...)` to only activate the macro in documents of a specify language (like the language "latex", e.g. `(?language:latex)`).
Another such prependable option is `(?highlighted-as:..)` to restrict a macro to certain, highlighted environments. (e.g. with `(?highlighted-as:numbers,math-delimiter,math-keyword)` the macro is only activated within the math mode). The possible values correspond to the list on the syntax highlighting config page.

#### 4.5.4.3 Event Triggers

Additionally the following special trigger terms (without parentheses) can be used to execute the script when the corresponding event occurs:

Special Trigger | Executed on Event
--- | ---
?txs-start | TeXstudio is started.
?new-file | A new file is created
?new-from-template | A new file is created from a template
?load-file | A file is loaded
?load-this-file | The file containing the macro is loaded (only makes sense, if the script is defined as magic comment)
?save-file | A file is saved
?close-file | A file is closed
?master-changed | A document is un/defined as master document
?after-typeset | A latex-like command has ended
?after-command-run | A command run has ended (e.g. a compile command that calls latex twice and opens the viewer, will trigger this event once, but after-typeset twice)

Multiple of these special triggers can be combined by | symbols.

## 4.6 Pstricks support

The main pstricks commands can be inserted with the "Pstricks" panel in the "Structure View".

## 4.7 Metapost support

The metapost keywords can be inserted with the "Metapost" panel in the "Structure View" and the "mpost" command can be launched via the "Tools" menu.

## 4.8 The "Convert to Html" command

This command (from the "Tools" menu ) produces a set of html pages from a LaTeX source file with one image for each html page. Each page in the slide presentation corresponds to one of the postscript pages you would obtain running LaTeX.
The command also produces an index page corresponding to the table of contents you would obtain with LaTeX. Each item of the index page includes a link to the corresponding html page.

You can create links in the html pages by using the \ttwplink{}{} command in the tex file.
Synopsis :
\ttwplink{http://www.mylink.com}{my text} (external link)
\ttwplink{page3.html}{my text} (internal link)
\ttwplink{name_of_a_label}{my text} (internal link)
Warning : You can't use this command with the hyperref package (and some others packages). This command can only be used with the "Convert to html" tool.

## 4.9 "Forward/Inverse search" with TeXstudio

### Integrated pdf-viewer

TeXstudio provides an integarted pdf-viewer which offers forward- and inverse-search. Make sure that synctex is activated in the pdflatex command (option -synctex=1 needs to be added), though TeXstudio will ask you if it can correct the command itself if it is not set correctly.
Forward search is automatically done every time the pdf-viewer is opened. TeXstudio will jump to the position where your cursor is currently positioned. Additionally you can CTRL+left click on a word in the text editor to jump to the pdf or use the context menu and select "Go To PDF".
Inverse can be activated by clicking in the pdf with CTRL+left mouse button or by slecting "jump to source" in the context menu, which is activated with a right mouse button click. Furthermore it is possible to enable "Scrolling follows Cursor" in pdf-viewer/configure. This will keep the pdf-viewer position synchronous to your cursor oposition in the editor. Likewise "Cursor follows Scrolling" keeps the editor position synchronous to pdf-viewer position.

### General Set-up for external viewers

Some (dvi) viewers can jump to (and visually highlight) a position in the DVI file that corresponds to a certain line number in the (La)TeX source file.
To enable this forward search, you can enter the command line of the corresponding viewer either as command line for an user tool in the User menu (User/User Commands/Edit...) or in the viewer command line in the config dialog ("Options/Configure TeXstudio" -> "Commands"). When the viewer is launched, the @-placeholder will be replaced by the current line number and ?c:ame by the complete absolute filename of the current file.
On Windows, you can execute DDE commands by inserting a command of the form: dde:///service/control/[commands...] or (since TeXstudio 1.9.9) also dde:///programpath:service/control/[commands...] to start the program if necessary.
Below you can find a list of commands for some common viewers. Of course, you have to replace (your program path) with the path of the program on your computer, if you want to use a command.

### Sumatra

To launch Sumatra from TeXstudio and configure Sumatra for inverse search: "(your sumatra path)" -reuse-instance -inverse-search """"(your TeXstudio path)""" """%%f""" -line %%l" "?am.pdf"
To jump to a line in a running Sumatra (Windows only): dde:///SUMATRA/control/[ForwardSearch("?am.pdf","?c:am.tex",@,0,0,1)]
To launch Sumatra if it is not running and jump to a line in it (Windows only): dde:///(your sumatra path):SUMATRA/control/[ForwardSearch("?am.pdf","?c:am.tex",@,0,0,1)]
To launch TeXstudio from Sumatra: "(your TeXstudio path)" "%f" -line %l
A possible value for (your Sumatra path) is C:/Program Files/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe

### Foxit Reader

To launch Foxit Reader from TeXstudio: "(your Reader path)" "?am.pdf"

### Acrobat Reader

To launch Acrobat Reader from TeXstudio: "(your Reader path)" "?am.pdf"
Naviation and closing are achieved via DDE commands. Since version 10 of the adobe products the DDE service name contains a letter for the Product and the version number.

Product | Service name
--- | ---
Adobe Reader 9 | acroview
Adobe Acrobat 9 | acroview
Adobe Reader 10 | acroviewR10
Adobe Acrobat 10 | acroviewA10
Adobe Reader 11 | acroviewR11
Adobe Acrobat 11 | acroviewA11

The following example is for Adobe Reader 11:
To jump to a position in a running Acrobat Reader (Windows only): dde:///acroviewR11/control/[DocOpen("?am.pdf")][FileOpen("?am.pdf")][DocGotoNameDest("?am.pdf","jump-position")] jump-position can be defined with the hyperref package
To close the document in a running Acrobat Reader (Windows only): dde:///acroviewR11/control/[DocOpen("?am.pdf")][FileOpen("?am.pdf")][DocClose("?am.pdf")]

### Yap (Yet Another Previewer)

To launch Yap from TeXstudio : "(your Yap path)" -1 -s @?c:m.tex %.dvi
To launch TeXstudio from Yap: "(your TeXstudio path)" "%f" -line %l
A possible value for (your Yap path) is C:/Program Files/MiKTeX 2.7/miktex/bin/yap.exe

### xdvi

To launch xdvi from TeXstudio : xdvi %.dvi -sourceposition @:?c:m.tex
To launch xdvi from TeXstudio and enable inverse search : xdvi -editor "texstudio %f -line" %.dvi -sourceposition @:%.tex

### kdvi

To launch kdvi from TeXstudio : kdvi "file:%.dvi#src:@ ?c:m.tex"

### Okular

To launch okular from TeXstudio: okular --unique %.dvi#src:@?c:m.tex
To launch TeXstudio from Okular: texstudio %f -line %l

### Skim

To launch Skim from TeXstudio: (your Skim path)/Contents/SharedSupport/displayline @ ?am.pdf ?c:ame
To launch TeXstudio from skim : Command: /applications/texstudio.app/contents/macos/texstudio with arguments: "%file" -line %line
A possible value for (your Skim path) is /Applications/Skim.app

## 4.10 Advanced header usage

Texstudio can use special, "magic" comments in the text to adapt options for that document.

- `% !TeX spellcheck = de_DE`

  This special comment tells txs that this document is written in German and German spell checking is to be used, independent on any general settings.

- `% !TeX encoding = utf8`

  The code defines the character encoding of a document.

- `% !TeX root = filename`

  The code defines the master document for this file.

- `% !TeX program = pdflatex`

  This marks the document as to be compiled with pdflatex. (i.e. overrides the default txs:///quick command)

- `% !TeX TXS-program:latex = txs:///xelatex %`

  This overrides the default txs:///latex command to call xelatex instead

- `% !TeX TXS-SCRIPT = foobar
  % //Trigger = ?load-this-file
  % app.load("/tmp/test/test.tex");
  % app.load("/tmp/test/a.tex");
  % TXS-SCRIPT-END`

  This defines a temporary javascript macro which is executed, when the file is loaded, and which in turns loads the two files in /tmp/test. .

  The macros defined via TXS-SCRIPT are active in all files of a document (e.g. included files). You cannot run them manually. They are run via the trigger (regular expression or special trigger, see section on triggers). The macro is just read once, when the file is opened. Changes during an edit session will only take effect when you reopen the file.

- `% !BIB program = biber`

  The special `% !BIB program` command is understood for compatibility with TeXShop and TeXWorks (also in the variant `% !BIB TS-program`). This is equivalent to `% !TeX TXS-program:bibliography = txs:///biber`

## 4.11 Synopsis of the TeXstudio command

`texstudio file [--master] [--line xx[:cc]] [--insert-cite citation] [--start-always] [--pdf-viewer-only] [--page yy]`

`--master` | defines the document as master document.
`--line xx[:cc]` | TeXstudio will jump to the xx line after loading the document. Optionally you can add a target column separated by a colon, e.g. "--line 2:5" will jump to column 5 in line 2.
`--insert-cite citation` | Pushes a bibtex key to TeXstudio, that will be inserted at the cursor position. This is intended as an interface for external bibliography managers to push citations to TeXstudio. You may either pass an (also custom) command like \mycite{key} or just the key. In the latter case, it is expanded to \cite{key}. Also comma separated keylists are supported. TeXstudio recognizes, if the cursor is already within a citation macro. If so, only the key is inserted at an appropriate position, otherwise the full citation command is inserted.
`--start-always` | TeXstudio will start, even if another instance of it is already running. This allows using of multiple instances.
`--pdf-viewer-only` | TeXstudio will open as standalone pdf viewer without editor
`--page` | option, TeXstudio displays a certain page if used as pdf viewer

Additional options only available in debug versions of texstudio:

`--disable-tests` | Prevent running any tests.
`--execute-tests` | Force running the most common tests.
`--execute-all-tests` | Force running all tests.

Note: The most common tests are run automatically, if there were changes to the executable (i.e. TXS has been compiled since the last run). Furthermore all tests are run once a week.

## 4.12 Keyboard shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts can be modified at Options -> Shortcuts.

The following list is a rough overview of the defaults keyboard shortcuts. Depending on the operating system, there may be some deviations to adapt for OS-specific shortcut conventions.

- "File" menu :
  - New : Ctrl+N
  - Open : Ctrl+O
  - Save : Ctrl+S
  - Save as: Ctrl+Alt+S
  - Save all: Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S
  - Close : Ctrl+W
  - Print Source Code : Ctrl+P
  - Exit : Ctrl+Q
- "Edit" menu :
  - Undo : Ctrl+Z
  - Redo : Ctrl+Y
  - Copy : Ctrl+C
  - Cut : Ctrl+X
  - Paste : Ctrl+V
  - Select All : Ctrl+A
  - Remove Line : Ctrl+K
  - Erase until End of Line : Alt+K
  - Find : Ctrl+F
  - Find next : F3 / Ctrl+G
  - Replace : CTrl+R
  - Go to line : Ctrl+G
  - Go to previous change: Ctrl+H
  - Go to to next change: Ctrl+Shift+H
  - Go to Bookmark 0..9: Ctrl+0..9
  - Set Bookmark 0..9: Ctrl+Shift+0..9
  - Set Unnamed Bookmark: Ctrl+Shift+B
  - Next Marker: Ctrl+Down
  - Previous Marker: Ctrl+Up
  - Go Back : Alt+Left
  - Go Forward : Alt+Right
  - Check spelling (from cursor) : Ctrl+Shift+F7
  - Open Thesaurus : Ctrl+Shift+F8
  - Refresh Structure View : F12
  - Remove placeholders : Ctrl+Shift+K
- "Idefix" menu :
  - Erase Word/Cmd/Env: Alt+Del
  - Paste as LaTeX: Ctrl+Shift+V
  - Show preview : Alt+P
  - Comment : Ctrl+T
  - Uncomment : Ctrl+U
  - Next Latex Error: Ctrl+Shift+Down
  - Previous Latex Error: Ctrl+Shift+Up
  - Next Latex Bad Box: Shift+Alt+Down
  - Previous Latex Bad Box: Shift+Alt+Up
  - Go to definition: Ctrl+Alt+F
  - Normal Completion: Ctrl+Space
  - \begin Completion: Ctrl+Alt+Space
  - Normal Text Completion: Alt+Shift+Space
  - Close Last Open Environment: Alt+Return
  - Remove Placeholders: Ctrl+Shift+K
- "Tools" menu :
  - Build & View : F1
  - Compile : F6
  - View Pdf : F7
  - Glossary : F9
  - Bibliography : F11
  - Index : F12
  - Check spelling : Ctrl+:
  - Thesaurus : Ctrl+Shift+F8
- "LaTeX" menu :
  - item : Ctrl+Shift+I
  - Italic : Ctrl+I
  - Slanted : Ctrl+Shift+S
  - Bold : Ctrl+B
  - Typewriter : Ctrl+Shift+T
  - Small caps : Ctrl+Shift+C
  - Emphasis : Ctrl+Shift+E
  - New line : Ctrl+Return
  - begin{environment} : Ctrl+E
  - Insert reference to next label : Ctrl+Alt+R
- "Math" menu :
  - Inline math mode : Ctrl+Shift+M
  - Display math mode : Alt+Shift+M
  - Numbered equations : Ctrl+Shift+N
  - Subscript : Ctrl+Shift+D
  - Superscript : CTrl+Shift+U
  - Frac : Alt+Shift+F
  - Dfrac : Ctrl+Shift+F
  - Sqrt : Ctrl+Shift+Q
  - Left : Ctrl+Shift+L
  - Right : Ctrl+Shift+R
- "User" menu :
  - User tags : Shift+F1...Shift+F10
  - User commands : Shift+Alt+F1...Shift+Alt+F10
- "View" menu :
  - Previous Document : Ctrl+PgDown
  - Next Document : Ctrl+PgUp
  - Focus Editor : Ctrl+Alt+Left
  - Focus Viewer : Ctrl+Alt+Right
  - Close Something : Esc
  - Next Document : Ctrl+PgUp
  - Fullscreeen Mode : F11

## 4.13 Description of the cwl format

cwl stands for completion word list and is a file format originally used in Kile to define the commands listed in the completer. TeXstudio uses an extended format of cwls to include additional semantic information and allow for cursor and placeholder placement. It uses them for the following purposes:

- Populating the autocompletion
- Knowledge on the valid commands in the current document (depending on \usepackage statements)
- Semantic information that provide additional context in the editor; e.g. a \ref-like command will check for the existence of the referenced label

### 4.13.1 cwl file format

Each line of a cwl file defines a command. Comment lines are possible and start with `#`. The command syntax is

`<command>[#classification]`

If no classification is given, the command is considered valid at any position in a LaTeX document. The char `#` cannot be used inside a `command`, as it has special meaning:

- `#include:<packagename>` (at start of line): also load packagename.cwl. This should be used to indicate that a package depends on other packages.
- `#repl:<search> <replacement>` (at start of line): define a letter replacement, e.g. "a -> ä for German. Only used for letter replacement in spell checking (babel)
- `#keyvals:<command>` (at start of line): start definition of keyvals for `command`, see graphicx.cwl in source code. To specify possible values for keys, add them after # e.g. `mode=#text,math`
  Instead of single keys/values, complete special lists can be given, e.g. `color=#%color`, see also tikz.cwl.
  `command` can consist of two parts, e.g. \documentclass/thesis which is only valid when the command \documentclass uses thesis as argument.
  If #c is added, the keyvals are only used for completion, not for syntax checking
- `#endkeyvals` (at start of line): end definition of keyvals, see graphicx.cwl in source code
- `#ifOption:<option>` (at start of line): the following block is only loaded if <option> was used in the usepackage command, e.g. \usepackage[svgnames]{color} -> option=svgnames
- `#endif` (at start of line): end conditional block
- `#` (at start of line with the exception of `#include,#repl,#keyvals or #endkeyvals` ): This line is a comment and will be ignored.
- `#` (in the middle of a line): Separates the command from the classification

cwl files should be encoded as UTF-8.

### 4.13.2 Command format

In its simplest form the command is just a valid LaTeX expression as you find it in the documentation, e.g. `\section{title}`. By default, every option is treated as a placeholder. Alteratively, you may either just define a stop position for the cursor by `%|` (Example: `\left(%|\right)`) or use `%< %>` to mark only part of an option as placeholder (Example: `\includegraphics[scale=%<1%>]{file}`). New lines can be included in a command by `%n`.

#### Argument Names

The argument names are visible in the completer window and after completion as placeholders in the editor. In general, you are free to name the arguments as you like. We encurage to provide meaningful names e.g. `\parbox[position]{width}{text}` instead of `\parbox[arg1]{arg2}{arg3}`.

There are a few argument names that have special meaning:

- `text` and `title`: The spellchecker will operate inside this argument (by default arguments are not spellchecked). This currently works only for the first command element.
- `bibid`: If used in a command classified as "C". See the classifier description below.

### 4.13.3 Classification format

The follwing classifications are known to TXS:

Classifier | Meaning
--- | ---
* | unusual command which is used for completion only in with the "all" tab. This marker may be followed by other classifications.
S | do not show in completer at all. This marker may be followed by other classifications.
m | valid only in math environment
t | valid only in tabular environment (or similar)
T | valid only in tabbing environment
n | valid only in text environment (i.e. not math env)
r | this command declares a reference like "\ref{key}"
c | this command declares a citation like "\cite{key}"
C | this command declares a complex citation like "\textcquote{bibid}{text}". The key needs to be given as `bibid`
l | this command declares a label like "\label{key}"
d | this command declares a definition command like "\newcommand{cmd}{def}"
g | this command declares an include graphics command like "\includegraphics{file}"
i | this command declares an include file command like "\include{file}"
u | this command declares an used package like "\usepackage{package}"
b | this command declares a bibliography like "\bibliography{bib}"
U | this command declares a url command like "\url{URL}, where URL is not checked"
D | this command declares a todo item (will be added to the todo list in the side panel)
B | this command declares a color (will be used for color completion only, no syntax checking)
s | this command declares a special definition, the definition class is given after a "#". The class name needs a preceding %. (e.g. %color), also see the examples below.
/env1,env2,... | valid only in environment env1 or env2 etc.
\env | environment alias, means that the environment is handled like the "env" environment. This is useful for env=math or tabular.

The classifiers specifying the meaning of arguments (like c or i) always apply to the first non-optional parameter. This is a current limitation of the cwl format and the LaTeX parser in TXS. For example `\ref{label}#r` and `\ref[option]{label}#r` will work as expected, but `\ref{arg}{label}#r` will interpret `arg` as reference. We recommend not to specify any class in such a case.

Examples:

Line | Explanation
--- | ---
`# test` | comment
`\typein{msg}#*` | unusual command which is only shown in completion "all"
`\sqrt{arg}#m` | only in math mode valid
`\pageref{key}#r` | declares a reference command which is used correctly for completion
`\vector(xslope,yslope){length}#*/picture` | unusual command which is valid only in the picture environment
`\begin{align}#\math` | declares that the "align"-environment is handled like a math-env, concerning command validity and syntax highlighting!
`\definecolor{name}{model}{color-spec}#s#%color` | adds `name` to the special list `%color`

### 4.13.4 cwl guidelines

Though TeXstudio can automatically create cwls from packages, these autogenerated cwls do not contain meaningful argument names and no classification of commands. Therefore we ship hand-tuned cwls for many packages. We encourage users to contribute new cwl files. These should have the following attributes:

- package-based: Each cwl should correspond to a package. The exception are some cwls containing fundamental (La)TeX commmands, but we've already written them so you should not have to bother. The cwl should be named like the package so that automatic loading works. If you `\usepackage{mypackage}` TeXstudio will load mypackage.cwl if available.
- complete: The cwl should contain all commands in the package. If you use a non-specified command in the editor, the syntaxchecker will mark it as unkown.
- specific: The commands should be classified if possible. This allows TeXstudio to give additional context to the command (e.g. warn if a math command is used outside of a math environment or check references and citations.
- priorized: Some packages may specify very many commands. Mark the unusual ones by the *-classifier to prevent the completer from overcrowding with rarely used commands.

## 4.14 Using table templates

Texstudio offers the possibility to reformat an existing latex table after a table template.
For example, you have entered following table into txs:

    \begin{tabular}{ll}
    a&b\\
    c&d\\
    \end{tabular}

Place the cursor inside the table and select the menu "Latex/Manipulate Tables/Remodel Table Using Template".
Now you can select a template which defines the formating of the table. A number of templates are predefined by txs:

- fullyframed_firstBold
- fullyframed_longtable
- plain_tabular
- plain_tabularx
- rowcolors_tabular

By selecting the first entry, the table is reformated to:

    \begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
    \hline
    \textbf{a}&\textbf{b}\\ \hline
    c&d\\ \hline
    \end{tabular}

These templates give the opportunity to easily reformat tables after a predefined fashion, thus achieving a uniform table style in a document, even if the tables are entered in a very simple style.

### 4.14.1 Creating table templates

The templates can be defined by the user as well. They have to be place in the config directory (Linux: ~/.config/texstudio) and need to named after the scheme tabletemplate_name.js.

Meta data is used to provide additional information for the template. It can be stored in a `metaData` object in the source code. The code `var metaData = {` has to start on the first line of the file. Currently only string values are accepted. It is possible to use html tags for formating. Example:

    var metaData = {
    "Name"       : "Colored rows",
    "Description" : "Formats the table using alternate colors for rows. <br> <code>\usepackage[table]{xcolor}</code> is necessary.",
    "Author"      : "Jan Sundermeyer",
    "Date"        : "4.9.2011",
    "Version"     : "1.0"
    }

The template itself is a javascript (see above) with some prefined variables which contain the whole table. The new table is just placed as replacement of the old one, using information from that variables. 3 variables are given:

- def the simplified table definition without any formatting (i.e. ll instead of |l|l|)
- defSplit the table definition split by column (array=l,l,p{2cm})
- env the actual enviroment name of the old table like "tabular" or "longtable"
- tab the actual table. It is a list of lines, each line is a list of columsn which contains the cell content as string

To see the principle of work, the source for the "plain_tabular" template is given here.

    function print(str){ //define this function to make source more readable
    cursor.insertText(str)
    }
    function println(str){ //define this function to make source more readable
    cursor.insertText(str+"\n")
    }
    var arDef=def.split("") // split the table definition (ll -> 'l' 'l')
    println("\\begin{tabular}{"+arDef.join("")+"}") //print table env
    for(var i=0;i<tab.length;i++){  // loop through all rows of the table
    	var line=tab[i];  // line is a list of all columns of row[i]
    	for(var j=0;j<line.length;j++){ // loop through all columns of a row
    		print(line[j]) // print cell
    		if(j<line.length-1) // if not last columns
    			print("&") // print &
    	}
    	println("\\\\") // close row with \\, note that js demands for backslashes in the string
    }
    println("\\end{tabular}") // close enviroment

As can be seen in the example, the table has to be rebuilt completely, thus allowing new formatting. A second example gives a slightly more elaborate table (fullyframed_firstBold):

    function print(str){
    cursor.insertText(str)
    }
    function println(str){
    cursor.insertText(str+"\n")
    }
    if(env=="tabularx"){
      println("\\begin{tabularx}{\\linewidth}{|"+defSplit.join("|")+"|}")
    }else{
        println("\\begin{"+env+"}{|"+defSplit.join("|")+"|}")
    }
    println("\\hline")
    for(var i=0;i<tab.length;i++){
    	var line=tab[i];
    	for(var j=0;j<line.length;j++){
                    var col=line[j];
                    var mt=col.match(/^\\textbf/);
                    if(i==0 && !mt)
                      print("\\textbf{")
    		print(line[j])
                    if(i==0 && !mt)
                      print("}")
    		if(j<line.length-1)
    			print("&")
    	}
    	println("\\\\ \\hline")
    }
    println("\\end{"+env+"}")

## 4.15 Writing your own language definitions

TeXstudio uses QCodeEdit as editor component. It specifies languages in a special xml format named QNFA. This includes highlighting, parentheses (for matching) and code folding. In a normal TeXstudio installation you won't find any .qnfa files, because we compile the files of the included languages into the binary. You can add your own languages or overwrite the default ones by placing appropriate .qnfa files in a `languages` folder inside the settings directory. Definitions here take precedence over the builtin ones.

The .qnfa file specifies the syntax of the language. The actual format information is specified in a .qxf file. You can either use the formats specified in defaultFormats.qxf or provide your own .qxf file along with the .qnfa file.

You should read the syntax format specification and have a look at the formats shipped with TeXstudio.

Note: We expose the language specification to you as end-user to give you more flexibility in adapting TeXstudio to your needs. But you should take it as is, because we don't have the capacity to give support here. It's a powerful API, but neither polished nor fully featured. You might find some constructs in the shipped .qnfa files, which are not documented in the syntax format specification. Additionally, the regular-expression based formatting of QNFA is not sufficient to define all the highlighting we wanted for LaTeX. Therefore we have extra highlighting functionality directly implemented in the sourcecode for the "(La)TeX" language, e.g. the highlighting inside the parentheses of `\begin` and `\end`. You won't be able to modify this or add it to other languages.

### Example

The following is a small example which specifies some highlighting of python code:

python.qnfa

    <!DOCTYPE QNFA>
    <QNFA language="Python" extensions="py" defaultLineMark="">
    	<sequence parenthesis="round:open" parenthesisWeight="00">\(</sequence>
    	<sequence parenthesis="round:close" parenthesisWeight="00">\)</sequence>

    	<!-- highlight def and function name -->
    	<sequence id="python/definition" format="python:definition">def$s?$w*</sequence>

    	<sequence id="python/number" format="python:number">[0-9]+</sequence>

    	<list id="python/keyword" format="python:keyword">
    		<word>return</word>
    		<word>if</word>
    		<word>elif</word>
    		<word>else</word>
    	</list>
    </QNFA>

python.qxf

    <!DOCTYPE QXF>
    <QXF version="1.0" >
    	<!-- full specification -->
        <format id="python:keyword" >
            <bold>false</bold>
            <italic>false</italic>
            <overline>false</overline>
            <underline>false</underline>
            <strikeout>false</strikeout>
            <waveUnderline>false</waveUnderline>
            <foreground>#B200FF</foreground>
        </format>
    	<!-- but it is sufficient to specify deviations from default -->
        <format id="python:number" >
            <italic>true</italic>
            <overline>false</overline>
            <foreground>#007F0E</foreground>
        </format>
        <format id="python:definition" >
            <bold>true</bold>
        </format>
    </QXF>

The results is the following highlighting:

# Changelog

## Changes in Version 2.9.4

- fix: bug concerning overwritten shortcuts on Linux and OSX

## Changes in Version 2.9.2

- allow word wrapping at all CJK characters
- simplified latexmk call (thanks to YoungFrog)
- fix: incorrect interpretation of dir/file arguments in import commands
- fix: crash when hidden implicit master document is deleted
- fix: incorrect merging of absolute files with additional search paths
- fix: make pkg-config work on osx again
- fix: crash when reopening hidden document in singleDocMode
- fix: basic shortcuts (like "Left") might be overwritten when using TXS in certain languages (Japanese, Italian, ...)
- fix: positioning of completer tooltip when using multiple screens

## Changes in Version 2.9.0

- link overlays for urls
- close editor tab by pressing middle mouse button
- more standard shortcuts (in particular for OS X)
- support optional filename argument in txs:///view-pdf-internal
- add "expand/collapse all documents" to context menu of structure
- add tabulary support
- open correct log file if output filenames are changed due to "%& -job-name=targetfile" (note: changed pdf filename not yet supported)
- user-defined icons are now portable: if possible icon paths are stored relative to settings dir or application dir
- windowed pdf viewer now supports --no-focus argument
- improved detection of label name for "Insert \ref to Next Label"
- improved context detection for preview (multi-line math, cursor inside multi-char delimiter)
- improved search for texdoc location
- improved log parsing including support for LaTeX3 warnings and errors
- resize with soft line warp: keep vertical cursor position constant
- support .tikz files (treated like .tex files)
- new options: Advanced Editor -> Structure Panel ("Show elements in comments", "Mark structure elements beyond \end{document}" and "Mark structure elements in appendix")
- new option: mouse wheel zoom also controls the log editor (patch by Paulo Silva)
- new option: encoding of bib files
- new options: some GUI elements are now scalable (for better hi-res display support)
- some cleanup in the options dialog
- change: LaTeX templates need to have "% !TXS template" on the first line if placeholders should be interpreted, otherwise files are loaded as plain LaTeX
- fix: maintain expansion of the Structure View in more situations
- fix: caseSensistivity for global search
- fix: sync scrolling in enlarged embedded pdf viewer
- fix: interpretation of % !BIB program = biber
- fix: fit to text width in multi-page grid of pdf viewer
- fix: unsaved documents could create false entries when saving a session
- fix: forgotten editor shortcuts
- fix: linecache on retina display
- fix: on OS X: the dictionary default path is relative to app
- fix: compilation on freebsd (patch by Abilio)
- fix: display user command icon (patch by Paulo Silva)
- fix: svn auto-checkin was not executed after some types of save operations
- fix: link-click on bib file also searches in additionalBibPaths
- fix: some sections were incorrectly marked as "beyond end of document"
- fix: crash when file is removed and silent reload is activated
- fix: failed "! TeX encoding" detection due to bug in line end detection
- fix: ignore hyph_*.dic files when looking for hunspell dictionaries
- fix: trigger ?load-file for files opened with the session at startup
- fix: update encoding in status bar when a % !TeX encoding = ... magic comment is typed
- fix: issue with opening some template zip files by updating QuaZip to 0.7.1
- fix: parsing of synctex file with nested sheets
- fix: crash when undoing insertion of magic comments
- fix: make symbol grid visible on dark-themed desktops
- fix: handle multiple existing assignments when checking the change of a shortcut
- fix: broken folding of %BEGIN_FOLD if the special math-close-comment %$ was used in the folded area
- fix: incorrect wrapping if chinese punctuation characters are on the line
- completer is disabled in overwrite mode (because it does not work correctly while overwriting)
- fix: incorrect behavior of input method with forward selections
- fix: texdoc usage on OS X
- fix: rendering of 1x1 non-continouos pdf page on retina display
- fix: some missing symbols
- removed: case insensitive completion (due to complexity/performance issues)

## Changes in Version 2.8.8

- basic Asymptote highlighting
- improved parsing of command options
- notify that syncing between PDF and .tex won't work anymore after "File Save As..." (need to recompile)
- improved startup speed compared to 2.8.6
- fix: txs finds resource in app if it is not installed under /Applications...
- fix: open completer with typing comma only when the context suggests it
- fix: crash in column handling of table parser
- fix: tab replacement was only performed for tabOrIndent if there was a selection
- fix: shortcut saving, so that added shortcuts (editor) are saved
- fix: too large symbol on non-retina screen with retina notebook
- fix: shortcut Shift+Backspace works like Backspace (Win+Linux)
- fix: indentation increasing if pasting with newline at and and cursor is at line start
- fix: replacing a selection by itself should not change anything (fixes indentation issues for some cases of selection-self-replacement)
- fix: rendering results may be slightly differerent depending on the usage of the line cache. some updates to the manual

## Changes in Version 2.8.6

- tab key inserts tab or indents, depending on cursor selection
- error table can be filtered and sorted
- tooltips on package names show a short description of the package
- support [txs-app-dir] and [txs-settings-dir] in commands (allows portable paths when using MikTeX portable and TXS portable on an USB stick)
- enable the possibility to remove shortcuts from qeditor
- sort shortcuts for editor in order of operation name
- more robust text width calculation in pdf
- mark section beyond end of document with orange background
- removed pdf printing (did never work well. Please use an external PDF viewer of your choice for printing.)
- detect fonts containing ligatures
- maintain cursor position (line and column) when using "Align Columns" for tables
- fix: remember removed shortcuts e.g. tab for insertSelection
- fix: completer opening in special cases for keyval completion
- fix: find next in pdf viewer
- fix: do not interpret % in verbatim as comment
- fix: user command names might be lost
- fix: update of monchrome/color settings in pdf viewer
- fix: help not working on OS X
- fix: make case conversion work for systems with old Qt 4.6
- fix: case conversion work also for cursor mirrors
- fix: broken cursor position for wrapped RTL text
- fix: crash when switching between qt and normal rendering
- fix: text background was not always drawn with the correct background color
- updated cwls: yathesis, marvosym, microtype, pifont, glossaries

## Changes in Version 2.8.4

- improved syncing to PDF: don't scroll PDF to top of page if the highlighted area is already visible
- support command detection for \DeclareRobustCommand
- persistently store fit and center options of preview panel
- support more environments for table auto-formatting
- remember scope when deleting auxiliary files
- improved handling of incomplete options in the syntax checker
- new/improved cwls: mathtools, circuitikz
- fix: crash with RTL text input
- fix: some shortcuts couldn't be assigned on OSX
- fix: multi-cursor edits are now grouped into a single undo action
- fix: lost scroll position when previewing large images
- fix: assignment of multiple shortcuts to editor operations
- fix: unindent per shortcut without selection
- fix: more consistent behavior for PgUp/PgDown in PDF viewer
- fix: immediately generate cursor mirrors when inserting via the menu
- fix: commands defined in one file included by many documents were only known in the completion list of one them
- fix: compile option without poppler
- fix: crash with \newcommands{xyz}{123456789}
- fix: %BEGIN_FOLD could not be folded
- fix: apply grayscale and invert color settings also to magnifier
- fix: incorrect search hightlight region in PDF viewer with Qt5
- fix: drag&drop of text already started +/-5 lines from the border (now 1 line)

## Changes in Version 2.8.2

- color completion
- some more predefined completions for tikz
- region preview with pdflatex and the embedded viewer (activate in options)
- more consistent visual for search/region preview range
- PDF can be shown in grayscale (as a preview how a grayscale print would look like)
- improved input method support
- improved \todo highlighting
- texstudio.ini settings GUI/ToobarIconSize and GUI/SecondaryToobarIconSize
- portable version uses relative paths to dictionaries, so they stay valid independent of the current location of the portable version
- several bugfixes

## Changes in Version 2.8.0

- completion and syntax check on keyval options, e.g. \includegraphics (graphicx!)
- search and replace over several documents improved
- improved parser for log files (better detection of filenames)
- todo-style commands (e.g. `\todo{}`) are added to the list of todos
- better compliance with standard shortcuts on OSX
- the keyboard modifier key for the context menu (spellcheck suppression) is configurable via texstudio.ini "Editor/ContextMenuKeyboardModifiers"

- use Consolas as default editor font on Windows if available
- improved auto-hide toolbars feature in embedded viewer
- users can overwrite the default language definitions and add own ones
- makeglossaries support
- allow quoted filenames in include-like commands to support filenames and directories containing spaces
- windows version compiles now with Qt5
- updated LaTeX reference manual
- several bugfixes

## Changes in Version 2.7.0

- added Edit -> Text Operations (To Lowercase / To Uppercase / To Titlecase)
- added list of recent sessions
- speedup of saving for large documents
- added recognition in filetree for import subimport importfrom and subimportfrom (Thanks to Steven Vandekerckhove)
- added button to stop a running compilation
- the dictionary search path can now contain of multiple directories
- Dictionaries in the OpenOffice/LibreOffice Extension format (*.oxt) can now be imported
- Updated the latex reference manual to to a recent version
- new option for maximum image tooltip width
- new option "Reference commands in context menu"
- new options for additional search paths in editor logic
- new option for automatic encoding detection: make latex and character based detection selectable separately
- new options for pdf highlight color and duration
- find dialog: search in all loaded documents i.e. also in hidden
- improved synchonization PDF -> source
- support "% !BIB = biber" syntax for compatibility with TeXShop and TeXWorks
- added several new cwl files
- several bugfixes

## Changes in Version 2.6.6

- fix bug that home/end don't work properly if the embedded pdf viewer is open
- fix macro abbreviation
- fix log entry locations not updated in editor
- signed windows installer

## Changes in Version 2.6.4

- package scanner: queries the tex istallation for installed packages and highlights missing packages
- package completion
- basic annotation support in internal pdf viewer
- improved render speed, especially on mac
- speed-up loading of hidden documents (option: automatically load included files)
- speed-up command completion window, especially citations
- improved log panel
- improved dtx highlighting
- added support for LilyPond book (.lytex)
- Edit -> Line operations now also work with selections
- updated hunspell library to 1.3.2
- fix: input method bug
- fix: shortcuts containing arrow keys did not work in japanese
- more bug fixes, e.g. tooltip does not disappear instantly anymore

## Changes in Version 2.6.2

- updated poppler and on Windows Qt (4.8.5)
- structure tree view: context menu entries to recursively collapse/expand the structure
- improved hard line wrap with joining lines
- View -> Focus Viewer now also works for the windowed viewer
- better detection of LanguageTool and dictionaries
- "Align Table Columns" now works also for tabu/longtabu
- many bug fixes: editable user templates, for } in rtl-languages, pinyin input method problem on mac, ...

## Changes in Version 2.6

- the documentation pdf of a package can be displayed in the internal PDF viewer
- retina support on mac complete for modern style
- embedded viewer can be enlarged/reduced to take the whole screen for better reading
- last open (and unclosed) environment can be closed by alt+enter
- "Align Table Columns" does now work with more environments
- template resources are now configured via template_resources.xml and are in utf-8
- basic Pweave highlighting
- added `% !TeX spellcheck = ... magic comment`
- new macro trigger depending on the current syntax highlighting
- improved bidi support for rtl languages
- several small corrections

## Changes in Version 2.5.2

- new %BEGIN_FOLD ... %END_FOLD comment to mark arbitrary regions as foldable
- add support to display CJK and Cyrillic in PDF viewer
- increased maximum possible tab width to 32
- fix basic input method support
- fix missing templates on Linux and Mac OS X
- fix vanishing menu bar on Mac OS X
- fix crash when saving as an already open file
- fix viewer might change size because of long status messages
- changed shortcuts for next/prev document to Ctrl+PgDown/Up
- several small corrections

## Changes in Version 2.5.1

- new template system
- improved fold panel
- added support for forward/backward mouse buttons in editor and viewer
- context menu for inline preview (allows copying of preview image)
- option to load all included files in order to have a complete ref/commands overview
- added "Open" context menu entry and link overlay for \bibliography{} commands
- show image preview on hover over graphic name
- several bug fixes (pdf scolling range, user template path, OSX-related bugs, ...)

## Changes in Version 2.5

- cursor history (go back/forward)
- references, packages and included file names become links on Ctrl+MouseOver
- insertion of handwritten equations (Windows 7 only, using TexTablet)
- improved table-code formating, including options to specify the desired format
- metadata support in LaTeX templates and table templates
- checking for the correct version of the runtime library
- more context menus (fold panel, bookmark panel)
- optionally more bold cursor for better visibility
- line operations: move up/down, duplicate
- windows installer: add possibility to associate .tex files with TXS
- several bug fixes (crashes, compilation, focus, ...)

## Changes in Version 2.4

- new build system which allows easier combination of several commands
- support many new tools: xelatex, lualatex, biber, latexmk, texindy
- embedded pdf viewer
- bookmark manager and persistent bookmarks
- inline grammar checking using LanguageTool
- basic syntax highlighting for lua and for dtx files
- biblatex support
- citation API to insert citations from other applications (JabRef plugin available)
- table autoformating
- improved appearance
- update checker
- extended scripting: gui/dialog creation, access to other documents/programs/menus, background mode and events
- crash protection
- many small improvements
- several bug fixes

## Changes in Version 2.3

- list of commands accepting \ref/\cite-references can be changed
- remember search history
- support for different dictionaries per document
- find-invalid-bracket feature
- almost word level inverse pdf search
- complete file names in graphic including macros
- improved BibTeX auto calling
- more methods available for scripting
- several bug fix (especially crashs in the pdf viewer/syntax check/structure view) and minor improvements

## Changes in Version 2.2

- improved preview:
  - Pdf viewer can show multiple pages in continous fashion
  - Pdf viewer works non-blocking (multi-threaded)
  - preview works with included files
- key replacements can trigger arbitrary user macros
- double quote replacement can easily be selected from predefined list
- completer distinguishes between usual, most often used and all possible commands
- saving/loading profiles working
- more environments are syntax highlighted
- as always, bug fixes and small improvements

## Changes in Version 2.1

- online latex syntax check has been extended
  - number of columns is checked in tabulars
  - \usepackage and \documentclass are interpreted to decide which commands are valid in the document
  - new commands added
- TXS automatically detects parent/child relation in loaded documents and acts accordingly. So normally no master mode is needed anymore.
- improved preview:
  - Pdf viewer can show multiple pages
  - Pdf viewer supports a presentation mode and multiple views
  - Pdf viewer has a new overview and clock dock
  - Selection preview become faster and is shown within the text
- easy parenthesis selection
- as always, bug fixes and small improvements

## Changes in Version 2.0

- integrated pdf viewer with forward/reverse search
- online latex syntax check (for simple errors)
- support to manipulate tables (add/remove lines,columns or \hline)
- inserted brackets are automatically closed
- option to limit line length with hard wraps
- word repetitions are marked as possible style error
- as always, bug fixes and small improvements

## Changes in Version 1.9.9a

- some performance issues on mac have been adressed. It should feel faster for long sible lines on mac.
- more than one overlay can be shown at the same time e.g. for syntax highlighting and spell checking
- command replacement in completed commands was added
- a cut buffer was added. If selected text is replaced with a command via completion, the removed text is used as argument for the inserted command (if applicable)
- tool tip in completer shows the surrounding of the label to which the selected reference is pointing
- profiles containing predefined short cuts, menu redefinition, editor settings can be imported from a file
- when waiting with text cursor on an environment name, a mirror cursor is generated which allows the renaming of the environment (\begin and \end simultaneously)
- delete word, a command or an environment by typing ALT-del
- spell checking is only done in known text commands
- some dialogs adapted to cope better with small screen sizes
- lots of bugs removed after user feedback

## 0.2 Changes in Version 1.9.9

- User Tags can use java script to manipulate the current document. The manipulation is done via direct cursor handling. If further functionality is needed, feel free to open a feature request.
- some performance issues on mac have been addressed. Still not perfect, but it should feel much faster on mac.
- math constructs can be previewed with mouse hover over the expression limit ($, begin{equation},...)
- a customizable tool bar is available
- the latex expressions in the Math/Latex-Menus can be changed to user preferred versions.
- global find over all open documents improved
- support of transparent versioning of text documents via svn
- structure view and custom command completer are updated as you type
- the structure view marks some aspects with colours like being part of the appendix or missing include files
- if a master document is defined, references and labels from open (!) subdocuments can be used for completion as well as for interactive label checking
- dde commands can be modified to start a corresponding program if it is not running
- if a started latex freezes up, you can kill it by pressing escape after 2 seconds
- the folding is now actually useful: mismatched brackets will not disturb it anymore and folded blocks can be edited
- lots of bugs removed after user feedback

## Changes in Version 1.9

TeXstudio has been diligently extended for the last months. The subsequent list gives a probably incomplete overview of new and changed functionality:

- First steps for dynamic syntax highlighting have been implemented. For example references in in commands like \label or \ref are checked and are marked especially if the reference does not exist (in case of referencing) or if it has been defined multiple times.
- The word completion system has been extended. It now uses “kile”-word lists which extend the number of known commands considerably. The key Tab can be used to complete common word bases in the present suggestion list like it is done in bash shells. Furthermore it can also complete normal text by proposing earlier used text parts. The two modes are distinguished by a backslash as starting letter. And finally “User Tags” (user defined text blocks) can be inserted by using user defined abbreviations which replaced in the completion process. The old behavior of using key sequences for inserting user tags certainly is still available. And lastly user defined latex commands are automatically scanned and can be used for command completion.
- Apart from using wizards, new documents can be created by using templates. User can add own templates which can be edited or removed later on if necessary.
- The symbol panel was extended. It was also extended by “kile” symbol list. It also can insert “tags” from textual lists. And finally the column count automatically adapts to the available horizontal space. Not to mention that unwanted symbol lists can be hidden.
- The symbol list selector was moved to the left edge to give more room for the symbols, like it was done in texmaker.
- Hover help was implemented. Hovering the cursor over standard latex commands will present tool tip help. If it is hovers over references, the corresponding text passage which contains the label is shown as tool tip.
- A preview for selected text can be shown either in the status panel or as tool tip.
- The status/log/error panel can also be used in a tabbed manner if desired.
- The online spell checker handles escaped chars like “a or \”{a} now correctly. It also refrain from spell checking in (some) latex command options like \ref{label} and some more.
- The context menu of the structure view gives some useful option like selecting a complete section or indenting a section which means changing \section to \subsection and accordingly all included headings as well.
- A thesaurus was added. It allows search for word parts as well.
- For sure, lots of bugs have been squashed !