2.5 Terminal Or Command Prompt
Sometimes you may find that you need to use a command-line
application. This is an application that doesn't have a graphical
user interface. This isn't specific to TeX, but the TeX distribution comes with a number of them. In fact, front-ends (such
as TeXWorks) run some of these applications for you when click on
the typeset or build button.
Most operating systems provide a terminal or command prompt where you can type the command-line application name and any associated information. For example, Figure 2.1 shows a terminal running under Fedora on Linux.
- Windows
- To open the MSDOS Prompt, go to the Start menu, then
“All Programs”, then “Accessories” and click on “MSDOS
Prompt”.
- Mac OSX
- To open the Mac Terminal, go to your
“Applications” folder, open “Utilities” and double click on “Terminal”.
- Unix etc
- The Terminal is usually located either in the “Applications” menu or in the “System Tools” subdirectory of the “Applications” menu.
Example:
One such command-line application you are likely to need is texdoc. This is mentioned in more detail in §1.1. Class and Package Documentation, but to use texdoc you need to open the terminal or command prompt as described above and type texdoc followed by a package or class name, for example:
texdoc scrbook(see Figure 2.2) then press the Enter or Return
key.
Other TeX-related command-line applications include pdflatex, bibtex, makeindex, xindy and kpsewhich.
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