LaTeX Template

A simple LaTeX Template, with nice structure, and commands for ease of use

Requirements / Dependencies

software	what for ?	installation link
latexmk	compile with complex options and watch for changes	official doc
zsh [for now]	shell targeted for the scripts "compile", "clear_aux" and "watch"	oh-my-zsh tuto
latex	seems obvious	official doc
[linux] evince	pdf viewer
[macos] skim	pdf viewer	official website
[windows] gsview32	pdf viewer

why LuaTex ?

LuaTex supports utf-8 characters from the get go, which is nice when you want to use cyrillic letters as I do in my mathematics notations.

The integration of lua within latex allows for much more flexible documents, and sometimes coding in latex much faster, for instance if you want to input name-[number].tex files and then modify, add new files, remove some, ... It is much easier to just modify the range rather than deleting or adding complete lines on \input{...} :

\ifluatex
    % with luatex
    \begin{luacode*}
        for i = 1, 7 do
            local filename = "doc/maths/cmd_maths-" .. i .. ".tex"
            tex.sprint("\\input{" .. filename .. "}")
        end
    \end{luacode*}    
\else
    % without luatex
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-1.tex}
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-2.tex}
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-3.tex}
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-4.tex}
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-5.tex}
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-6.tex}
    \input{doc/maths/cmd_maths-7.tex}
\fi

compiling and watching using latexmk :

➤ efficient way to compile and watch for changes in your LaTeX files

If you use zsh (which I do) : [or just copy paste what's inside into your terminal]

zsh compile.zsh

zsh watch.zsh

flags

# —— compile & watch flags ———
zsh compile.zsh -r      # compiles report only
zsh compile.zsh -a      # compiles article only
zsh compile.zsh -ra     # compiles article combined with report
zsh compile.zsh -d      # compiles documentation only
zsh compile.zsh -t      # compiles tests only
zsh compile.zsh -h      # flags help
# —— Exclusive to compile ———
zsh compile.zsh         # compile all files (doc/report/test)

The same applies to watch script

other shells

if you use another shell (bash/...) you might have to adapt the script [chatGPT if you are hurry] to the targeted shell.

project structure

📦LaTeX-Template
 ┣ 📂aux_files              ‹◀ latex compiling aux files (cache)
 ┣ 📂doc                    ‹◀ github README
 ┣ 📂out                    ‹◀ compiled files
 ┃ ┣ 📜documentation.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜rapport.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜tests.pdf
 ┣ 📂src                    ‹◀ actual project source code
 ┣ 📜.latexmkrc             ‹◀ compile settings
 ┣ 📜clear_aux.zsh
 ┣ 📜compile.zsh
 ┗ 📜watch.zsh

documentation

The documentation can be accessed easily in a pdf format at the location :

📦LaTeX-Template
 ┣ 📂out                    ‹◀ compiled files
 ┃ ┣ 📜documentation.pdf        ← formatted custom commands and settings documentation
 ┃ ┣ 📜rapport.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜tests.pdf

(⚠️ incomplete, for now use the pdf) If the user prefers in a markdown format : it can be found here (📁 doc/doc.md)

testing

📦LaTeX-Template
 ┣ 📂out                    ‹◀ compiled files
 ┃ ┣ 📜documentation.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜rapport.pdf
 ┃ ┣ 📜tests.pdf                ← testing commands and environments

Packages :

The project Latex-Template relies on the following latex packages to provide a better tex experience :

Package	Used For	include/pacakges/
lualatex	latex engine (utf-8 : cyrillic characters in math mode)	-
ifluatex	import and define stuff depending on the engine used (lua/pdf)latex	base.tex
—	—	—
inputenc	utf-8 input for pdflatex engine (if used)	base.tex
fontenc	font encoding	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
graphicx	including images	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
amsmath	maths	base.tex
amssymb	maths symbols	base.tex
stmaryrd	symbols for computer science	base.tex
amsthm	theorem environments	theorem_styles.tex
mathtools	convenient convergence arrows	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
hyperref	url links with custom text	base.tex
url	typesetting URLs	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
babel	french names for envs	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
multicol	typesetting documents with multiple columns	base.tex
multirow	table cells spanning multiple rows	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
minitoc	table of content of the chapter	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
xcolor	custom colors	base.tex
float	improved interface for floating objects	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
table	tables	base.tex
xcdraw	drawing tables with TikZ	base.tex
array	extending the array and tabular environments	base.tex
tabularx	beautiful tables with adjustable-width column	base.tex
booktabs	publication quality tables	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
algorithm2e	algorithm environments	base.tex
comment	commenting out large blocks of code with env	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
tikz-cd	creating commutative diagrams	base.tex
tikz	creating graphics programmatically	base.tex
pgfplots	latex curve graphs	base.tex
—*—	—*—	—*—
footmisc	make sure footnotes are bellow	base.tex
geometry	page margin dimensions	base.tex
pdfpages	include PDF documents	base.tex
—	—	—
dsfont	double stroke : better than \mathbb	fonts.tex
avant	font (used for pdflatex sans serif font)	fonts.tex
fontawesome5	icons [\info / \warn ...]	fonts.tex
mfirstuc	capitalizing the first letter of a word	fonts.tex
ulem	emphasis is now underline	fonts.tex
unicode-math	cyrillic letters in math mode	fonts.tex
—	—	—
framed	framed or shaded regions that can break across pages	others.tex
awesomebox	env with bar at the left [\info / \warn ...]	others.tex
changepage	margin adjustment and detection of odd/even pages	others.tex
enumitem	create custom enum environments	others.tex
pifont	checkmarks for checkmarks environment	others.tex
datetime	advanced time formatting and date commands	others.tex
—	—	—
shellesc	pygmentize call must use console commands	minted.tex
minted	code highlight	minted.tex

---

Quick accesses to some settings

babel language :

• original setting : english

code --goto src/include/packages/base.tex:14:19

margin dimensions

• original settings :
  • top : 1.5cm
  • bottom : 1.5cm
  • margin : 2.5cm

code --goto src/include/packages/base.tex:40

Project & Render Settings

code --goto src/include/settings/project.tex

code --goto src/include/settings/render.tex