neulab/tldr huggingface dataset:
There are some other methods for arranging an update, notably useful for many versions of xdvi and xpdf.  These are best set in latexmk's configuration; see below.
Note that if latexmk dies or is stopped by the user, the "forked" previewer will continue to run.  Successive invocations with the -pvc option will not fork new previewers, but latexmk will normally use the existing previewer.  (At least this will happen when latexmk is running under an operating system where it knows how to determine whether an existing previewer is running.)
-pvc-  Turn off -pvc.
-quiet Same as -silent
-r <rcfile> Read the specified initialization file ("RC file") before processing.
Be careful about the ordering: (1) Standard initialization files -- see the section below on "Configuration/initialization (RC) files" -- are read first.  (2) Then the options on the command line are acted on in the order they are given.  Therefore if an initialization file is specified by the -r option, it is read during this second step.  Thus an initialization file specified with the -r option can override both the standard initialization files and previously specified options.  But all of these can be overridden by later options.
The contents of the RC file just comprise a piece of code in the Perl programming language (typically a sequence of assignment statements); they are executed when the -r option is encountered during latexmk's parsing of its command line.  See the -e option for a way of giving initialization code directly on latexmk's command line.  An error results in latexmk stopping.  Multiple instances of the -r and -e options can be used, and they are executed in the order they appear on the command line.
-recorder Use the -recorder option with latex and pdflatex.  In (most) modern versions of these programs, this results in a file of extension .fls containing a list of the files that these programs have read and written.  Latexmk will then use this file to improve its detection of source files and generated files after a run of latex or pdflatex.
For further information, see the documentation for the $recorder configuration variable.
-recorder- Do not use the -recorder option with latex and pdflatex.
-rules Show a list of latemk's rules and dependencies after processing.
-rules- Do not show a list of latexmk's rules and dependencies after processing.  (This is the default.)
-showextraoptions Show the list of extra latex and pdflatex options that latexmk recognizes.  These are options for the latex and pdflatex that latexmk recognizes, but simply passes through to these programs when they are run.  These options are (currently) a combination of those allowed by the TeXLive and MiKTeX implementations.  (If a particular option is given to latexmk but is not handled by the particular implementation of latex or pdflatex that is being used, that program will probably give an error message.)  These options are very numerous, but are not listed in this documentation because they have no effect on latexmk's actions.
There are a few options (-includedirectory=dir, -initialize, -ini) that are not recognized, either because they don't fit with latexmk's intended operations, or because they need special processing by latexmk that isn't implemented (at least, not yet).
There are also options that are accepted by latex etc, but instead trigger actions by latexmk: -help, -version.
Finally, there are certain options for latex and pdflatex (e.g., -recorder) that trigger special actions or behavior by latexmk itself as well as being passed in some form to the called latex and pdflatex program, or that affect other programs as well. These options do have entries in this documentation.  These options are: -jobname=STRING, -aux-directory=dir, -output- directory=DIR, -quiet, and -recorder.
-logfilewarninglist -logfilewarnings After a run of (pdf)latex, give a list of warnings about undefined citations and references (unless silent mode is on).
See also the $silence_logfile_warnings configuration variable.
-logfilewarninglist- -logfilewarnings- After a run of (pdf)latex, do not give a list of warnings about undefined citations and references.  (Default)
-silent Run commands silently, i.e., with options that reduce the amount of diagnostics generated.  For example, with the default settings, the command "latex -interaction=batchmode" is used for latex.
See also the -logfilewarninglist and -logfilewarninglist- options.
Also reduce the number of informational messages that latexmk generates.
To change the options used to make the commands run silently, you need to configure latexmk with changed values of its configuration variables, the relevant ones being $bibtex_silent_switch, $biber_silent_switch, $dvipdf_silent_switch, $dvips_silent_switch, $latex_silent_switch, $makeindex_silent_switch, and $pdflatex_silent_switch.
-use-make When after a run of latex or pdflatex, there are warnings about missing files (e.g., as requested by the LaTeX \input, \include, and \includgraphics), latexmk tries to make them by a custom dependency. If no relevant custom dependency with an appropriate source file is found, and if the -use-make option is set, then latexmk will try as a resort using the make program to try to make the missing files.
Note that the filename may be specified without an extension, e.g., by \includegraphics{drawing} in a LaTeX file.  In that case, latexmk will try making drawing.ext with ext set in turn to the possible extensions that are relevant for latex (or as appropriate pdflatex).
See also the documentation for the $use_make_for_missing_files configuration variable.
-use-make- Do not use the make program to try to make missing files. (Default.)
-v, -version Print version number of latexmk.
-verbose Opposite of -silent.  This is the default setting.
-view=default, -view=dvi, -view=ps, -view=pdf Set the kind of file used when previewing is requested (e.g., by the -pv or -pvc switches).  The default is to view the "highest" kind of requested file (in the order dvi, ps, pdf).
-xelatex Use xelatex.  That is, use xelatex to process the source file(s) to pdf (in place of pdflatex).  This option is exactly equivalent to specifying the following sequence of options:
-pdflatex="xelatex %O %S" -pdf -dvi- -ps-
Compatibility between options
The preview-continuous option -pvc can only work with one file.  So in this case you will normally only specify one filename on the command line.
Options -p, -pv and -pvc are mutually exclusive.  So each of these options turns the others off.
% latexmk thesis    # run latex enough times to resolve cross-references
% latexmk -pvc -ps thesis# run latex enough times to resolve cross-references, make a postscript file, start a previewer.  Then watch for changes in the source file thesis.tex and any files it uses.  After any changes rerun latex the appropriate number of times and remake the postscript file.  If latex encounters an error, latexmk will keep running, watching for source file changes.
% latexmk -c        # remove .aux, .log, .bbl, .blg, .dvi, .pdf, .ps & .bbl files
HOW TO CHANGE THE WAY LATEXMK BEHAVES, DEALING WITH PROBLEMS, ETC Some possibilities:
a. If you get a strange error, do look carefully at the output that is on the screen and in log files.  While there is much that is notoriously verbose in the output of latex (and that is added to by latexmk), the verbosity is there for a reason: to enable the user to diagnose problems. Latexmk does repeat some messages at the end of a run that it thinks would otherwise be easy to miss in the middle of other output.
b. If latexmk doesn't do things the way you would like, the first step in finding out what to do is to look in this documentation at the list of command line options and then at the sections on configuration/initialization files.  A lot of latexmk's behavior is configurable to deal with particular situations.  (But there is a lot of reading.)
c. Further tricks can involve replacing the standard commands that latexmk by other commands or scripts.
d. For possible examples of code for use in an RC file, see the directory example_rcfiles in the distribution of latexmk (e.g., at http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/latexmk/example_rcfiles).  Even if these examples don't do what you want, they may provide suitable inspiration.
e. There's a useful trick that can be used when you are lualatex instead of pdflatex (and in some related situations).  The problem is that latexmk won't notice a dependency on a file, bar.baz say, that is input by the lua code in your document instead of by the LaTeX part.  (Thus if you change bar.baz and rerun latexmk, then latexmk will think no files have changed and not rerun lualatex, whereas if you had '\input{bar.baz}' in the LaTeX part of the document, latexmk would notice the change.)  One solution is just to put the following somewhere in the LaTeX part of the document:
\typeout{(bar.baz)}
This puts a line in the log file that latexmk will treat as implying that the file bar.baz was read.  (At present I don't know a way of doing this automatically.)  Of course, if the file has a different name, change bar.baz to the name of your file.
f. Look on tex.stackexchange, i.e., at http://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/latexmk  Someone may have already solved your problem.
g. Ask a question at tex.stackexchange.com.
h. Or ask me (the author of latexmk).  My e-mail is at the end of this documentation.
CONFIGURATION/INITIALIZATION (RC) FILES Latexmk can be customized using initialization files, which are read at startup in the following order:
1) The system RC file, if it exists. On a UNIX system, latexmk searches for following places for its system RC file, in the following order, and reads the first it finds: "/opt/local/share/latexmk/LatexMk", "/usr/local/share/latexmk/LatexMk", "/usr/local/lib/latexmk/LatexMk". On a MS-WINDOWS system it looks for "C:\latexmk\LatexMk". On a cygwin system (i.e., a MS-Windows system in which Perl is that of cygwin), latexmk reads for the first it finds of "/cygdrive/c/latexmk/LatexMk", "/opt/local/share/latexmk/LatexMk", "/usr/local/share/latexmk/LatexMk", "/usr/local/lib/latexmk/LatexMk". In addition, it then tries the same set of locations, but with the file name replaced "LatexMk" replaced by "latexmkrc".
2) The user's RC file, "$HOME/.latexmkrc", if it exists.  Here $HOME is the user's home directory.  [Latexmk determines the user's home directory as follows:  It is the value of the environment variable HOME, if this variable exists, which normally is the case on UNIX-like systems (including LINUX and OS-X).  Otherwise the environment variable USERPROFILE is used, if it exists, which normally is the case on MS- Windows systems. Otherwise a blank string is used instead of $HOME.]
3) The RC file in the current working directory.  This file can be named either "latexmkrc" or ".latexmkrc", and the first of these to be found is used, if any.
4) Any RC file(s) specified on the command line with the -r option.
Each RC file is a sequence of Perl commands.  Naturally, a user can use this in creative ways.  But for most purposes, one simply uses a sequence of assignment statements that override some of the built-in settings of Latexmk.  Straightforward cases can be handled without knowledge of the Perl language by using the examples in this document as templates. Comment lines are introduced by the "#" character.
Note that command line options are obeyed in the order in which they are written; thus any RC file specified on the command line with the -r option can override previous options but can be itself overridden by later options on the command line.  There is also the -e option, which allows initialization code to be specified in latexmk's command line.
For possible examples of code for in an RC file, see the directory example_rcfiles in the distribution of latexmk (e.g., at http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/latexmk/example_rcfiles).
The important variables that can be configured are described in the section "List of configuration variables usable in initialization files". Syntax for setting these variables is of the following forms:
$bibtex = 'bibtex %O %B';
for the setting of a string variable,
$preview_mode = 1;
for the setting of a numeric variable, and
@default_files = ('paper', 'paper1');
for the setting of an array of strings.  It is possible to append an item to an array variable as follows:
push @default_files, 'paper2';
Note that simple "scalar" variables have names that begin with a $ character and array variables have names that begin with a @ character. Each statement ends with a semicolon.
Strings should be enclosed in single quotes.  (You could use double quotes, as in many programming languages.  But then the Perl programming language brings into play some special rules for interpolating variables into strings.  People not fluent in Perl will want to avoid these complications.)
You can do much more complicated things, but for this you will need to consult a manual for the Perl programming language.
Some of the variables set the commands that latexmk uses for carrying out its work, for example to generate a dvi file from a tex file or to view a postscript file.  This section describes some important features of how the commands are specified.
Placeholders:  Supposed you wanted latexmk to use the command elatex in place of the regular latex command, and suppose moreover that you wanted to give it the option "--shell-escape".  You could do this by the following setting:
$latex = 'elatex --shell-escape %O %S';
The two items starting with the % character are placeholders.  These are substituted by appropriate values before the command is run.  Thus %S will be replaced by the source file that elatex will be applied to, and %O will be replaced by any options that latexmk has decided to use for this command.  (E.g., if you used the -silent option it would replace %O by "-interaction=batchmode".)
The available placeholders are:
%B     base of filename for current command.  E.g., if a postscript file document.ps is being made from the dvi file document.dvi, then the basename is document.
%D     destination file (e.g., the name of the postscript file when converting a dvi file to postscript).
%O     options
%R     root filename.  This is the base name for the main tex file.
%S     source file (e.g., the name of the dvi file when converting a dvi file to ps).
%T     The name of the primary tex file.
%Y     Name of directory for auxiliary output files (see the configuration variable $aux_dir).  A directory separation character ('/') is appended if $aux_dir is non-empty and does not end in a suitable character, with suitable characters being those appropriate to UNIX and MS-Windows, i.e., ':', '/' and '\'.
%Z     Name of directory for output files (see the configuration variable $out_dir).  A directory separation character ('/') is appended if $out_dir is non-empty and does not end in a suitable character, with suitable characters being those appropriate to UNIX and MS- Windows, i.e., ':', '/' and '\'.
If for some reason you need a literal % character in your string not subject to the above rules, use a pair of these characters.  Thus with the command specification $ps_previewer = 'latex -ad=%%Sfile.ad %S', the %%S will become %S when the command is executed, but the %S will be replaced by the source filename, which in this case would be the name of a postscript file to be viewed.
Appropriate quoting will be applied to the filename substitutions, so you mustn't supply them yourself even if the names of your files have spaces in them.  (But if your TeX filenames have spaces in them, beware that many versions of the TeX program cannot correctly handle filenames containing spaces.)  In case latexmk's quoting does not work correctly on your system, you can turn it off -- see the documentation for the variable $quote_filenames.
The distinction between %B and %R needs a bit of care, since they are often the same, but not always.  For example on a simple document, the basename of a bibtex run is the same as for the texfile.  But in a document with several bibliographies, the bibliography files will have a variety of names.  Since bibtex is invoked with the basename of the bibliography file, the setting for the bibtex command should therefore be
Generally, you should use %B rather than %R.  Similarly for most purposes, the name %T of the primary texfile is not a useful placeholder.
See the default values in the section "List of configuration variables usable in initialization files" for what is normally the most appropriate usage.
If you omit to supply any placeholders whatever in the specification of a command, latexmk will supply what its author thinks are appropriate defaults.  This gives compatibility with configuration files for previous versions of latexmk, which didn't use placeholders.
"Detaching" a command: Normally when latexmk runs a command, it waits for the command to run to completion.  This is appropriate for commands like latex, of course.  But for previewers, the command should normally run detached, so that latexmk gets the previewer running and then returns to its next task (or exits if there is nothing else to do).  To achieve this effect of detaching a command, you need to precede the command name with "start ", as in
$dvi_previewer = 'start xdvi %O %S';
This will be translated to whatever is appropriate for your operating system.
Notes: (1) In some circumstances, latex will always run a command detached.  This is the case for a previewer in preview continuous mode, since otherwise previewing continuously makes no sense.  (2) This precludes the possibility of running a command named start.  (3) If the word start occurs more than once at the beginning of the command string, that is equivalent to having just one.  (4) Under cygwin, some complications happen, since cygwin amounts to a complicated merging of UNIX and MS-Windows.  See the source code for how I've handled the problem.
Command names containing spaces: Under MS-Windows it is common that the name of a command includes spaces, since software is often installed in a subdirectory of "C:\Program Files".  Such command names should be enclosed in double quotes, as in
$lpr_pdf = '"c:/Program Files/Ghostgum/gsview/gsview32.exe" /p %S'; $pdf_previewer = 'start "c:/Program Files/SumatraPDF/SumatraPDF.exe" %O %S'; $pdf_previewer = 'start "c:/Program Files/SumatraPDF (x86)/SumatraPDF.exe" %O %S';
(Note about the above example: Forward slashes are equivalent to backslashes in filenames under MS-Windows, provided that the filename is inside double quotes.  It is easier to use forward slashes in examples like the one above, since then one does not have to worry about the rules for dealing with forward slashes in strings in the Perl language.)
Command names under Cygwin: If latexmk is executed by Cygwin's Perl,  be particularly certain that pathnames in commands have forward slashes not the usual backslashes for the separator of pathname components.  See the above examples.  Backslashes often get misinterpreted by the Unix shell used by Cygwin's Perl to execute external commands.  Forward slashes don't suffer from this problem, and (when quoted, as above) are equally acceptable to MS-Windows.
Using MS-Windows file associations: A useful trick under modern versions of MS-Windows (e.g., WinXP) is to use just the command 'start' by itself:
$dvi_previewer = 'start %S';
Under recent versions of MS-Windows, this will cause to be run whatever program the system has associated with dvi files.  (The same applies for a postscript viewer and a pdf viewer.)  But note that this trick is not always suitable for the pdf previwer, if your system has acroread for the default pdf viewer.  As explained elsewhere, acroread under MS-Windows does not work well with latex and latexmk, because acroread locks the pdf file.
Not using a certain command: If a command is not to be run, the command name NONE is used, as in
$lpr  = 'NONE lpr';
This typically is used when an appropriate command does not exist on your system.  The string after the "NONE" is effectively a comment.
Options to commands: Setting the name of a command can be used not only for changing the name of the command called, but also to add options to command.  Suppose you want latexmk to use latex with source specials enabled.  Then you might use the following line in an initialization file:
$latex = 'latex --src-specials %O %S';
Running a subroutine instead of an external command: Use a specification starting with "internal", as in
$latex = 'internal mylatex %O %S'; sub mylatex { my @args = @_; # Possible preprocessing here return system 'latex', @args; }
Advanced tricks: Normally one specifies a single command for the commands invoked by latexmk.  Naturally, if there is some complicated additional processing you need to do in your special situation, you can write a script (or batch file) to do the processing, and then configure latexmk to use your script in place of the standard program.
It is also possible to configure latexmk to run multiple commands.  For example, if when running pdflatex to generate a pdf file from a tex file you need to run another program after pdflatex to perform some extra processing, you could do something like:
$pdflatex = 'pdflatex --shell-escape %O %S; pst2pdf_for_latexmk %B';
This definition assumes you are using a UNIX-like system (which includes Linux and OS-X), so that the two commands to be run are separated by the semicolon in the middle of the string.
If you are using MS-Windows, you would replace the above line by
$pdflatex = 'cmd /c pdflatex --shell-escape %O %S' . '&& pst2pdf_for_latexmk %B';
Here, the UNIX command separator ; is replaced by &&.  In addition, there is a problem that some versions of Perl on MS-Windows do not obey the command separator; this problem is overcome by explicitly invoking the MS-Windows command-line processor cmd.exe.
Default values are indicated in brackets.
$always_view_file_via_temporary [0] Whether ps and pdf files are initially to be made in a temporary directory and then moved to the final location.  (This applies to dvips, dvipdf, and ps2pdf operations, and the filtering operators on dvi and ps files.  It does not apply to pdflatex, unfortunately.)
This use of a temporary file solves a problem that the making of these files can occupy a substantial time.  If a viewer sees that the file has changed, it reads the new file, and this can cause havoc if the program writing the file has not yet finished its work.
See the $pvc_view_file_via_temporary variable for a setting that applies only if preview-continuous mode (-pvc option) is used. See $tmpdir for the setting of the directory where the temporary file is created.
$auto_rc_use [1] Whether to automatically read the standard initialization (rc) files, which are the system RC file, the user's RC file, and the RC file in the current directory.  The command line option -norc can be used to turn this setting off.  Each RC file could also turn this setting off, i.e., it could set $auto_rc_use to zero to prevent automatic reading of the later RC files.
This variable does not affect the reading of RC files specified on the command line by the -r option.
$aux_dir [""] The directory in which auxiliary files (aux, log, etc) are to be written by a run of (pdf)latex.  If this variable is not set, but $out_dir is set, then $aux_dir is set to $out_dir, which is the directory to which general output files are to be written.
Important note:  The effect of $aux_dir, if different from $out_dir, is achieved by giving (pdf)latex the -aux-directory. Currently (Dec. 2011 and later) this only works on the MiKTeX version of (pdf)latex.
See also the documentation of $out_dir for some complications on what directory names are suitable.
$banner [0] If nonzero, the banner message is printed across each page when converting the dvi file to postscript.  Without modifying the variable $banner_message, this is equivalent to specifying the -d option.
Note that if $banner is nonzero, the $postscript_mode is assumed and the postscript file is always generated, even if it is newer than the dvi file.
$banner_intensity [0.95] Equivalent to the -bi option, this is a decimal number between 0 and 1 that specifies how dark to print the banner message. 0 is black, 1 is white.  The default is just right if your toner cartridge isn't running too low.
$banner_message ["DRAFT"] The banner message to print across each page when converting the dvi file to postscript.  This is equivalent to the -bm option.
$banner_scale [220.0] A decimal number that specifies how large the banner message will be printed.  Experimentation is necessary to get the right scale for your message, as a rule of thumb the scale should be about equal to 1100 divided by the number of characters in the message. The Default is just right for 5 character messages.  This is equivalent to the -bs option.
@BIBINPUTS This is an array variable, now mostly obsolete, that specifies directories where latexmk should look for .bib files.  By default it is set from the BIBINPUTS environment variable of the operating system.  If that environment variable is not set, a single element list consisting of the current directory is set.  The format of the directory names depends on your operating system, of course. Examples for setting this variable are:
@BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "C:\bibfiles" ); @BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "\\server\bibfiles" ); @BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "C:/bibfiles" ); @BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "//server/bibfiles" ); @BIBINPUTS = ( ".", "/usr/local/texmf/bibtex/bib" );
Note that under MS Windows, either a forward slash "/" or a backward slash "\" can be used to separate pathname components, so the first two and the second two examples are equivalent.  Each backward slash should be doubled to avoid running afoul of Perl's rules for writing strings.
Important note: This variable is now mostly obsolete in the current version of latexmk, since it has a better method of searching for files using the kpsewhich command.  However, if your system is an unusual one without the kpsewhich command, you may need to set the variable @BIBINPUTS.
$biber ["biber %O %S"] The biber processing program.
$biber_silent_switch ["--onlylog"] Switch(es) for the biber processing program when silent mode is on.
$bibtex ["bibtex %O %S"] The BibTeX processing program.
$bibtex_silent_switch ["-terse"] Switch(es) for the BibTeX processing program when silent mode is on.
$bibtex_use [1] Under what conditions to run BibTeX or biber.  When latexmk discovers from the log file that one (or more) BibTeX/biber- generated bibliographies are used, it can run BibTeX or biber whenever it appears necessary to regenerate the bbl file(s) from their source bib database file(s).
But sometimes, the bib file(s) are not available (e.g., for a document obtained from an external archive), but the bbl files are provided.  In that case use of BibTeX or biber will result in incorrect overwriting of the precious bbl files.  The variable $bibtex_use controls whether this happens.  Its possible values are: 0: never use BibTeX or biber.  1: only use BibTeX or biber if the bib files exist.  2: run BibTeX or biber whenever it appears necessary to update the bbl files, without testing for the existence of the bib files.
$cleanup_includes_cusdep_generated [0] If nonzero, specifies that cleanup also deletes files that are generated by custom dependencies.  (When doing a clean up, e.g., by use of the -C option, custom dependencies are those listed in the .fdb_latexmk file from a previous run.)
$cleanup_includes_generated [0] If nonzero, specifies that cleanup also deletes files that are detected in log file as being generated (see the \openout lines in the log file).  It will also include files made from these first generation generated files.
$cleanup_mode [0] If nonzero, specifies cleanup mode: 1 for full cleanup, 2 for cleanup except for dvi, ps and pdf files, 3 for cleanup except for dep and aux files.  (There is also extra cleaning as specified by the $clean_ext, $clean_full_ext and @generated_exts variables.)
This variable is equivalent to specifying one of the -c or -C options.  But there should be no need to set this variable from an RC file.
$clean_ext [""] Extra extensions of files for latexmk to remove when any of the clean-up options (-c or -C) is selected.  The value of this variable is a string containing the extensions separated by spaces.
It is also possible to specify a more general pattern of file to be deleted, by using the place holder %R, as in commands, and it is also possible to use wildcards.  Thus setting
$clean_ext = "out %R-blx.bib %R-figures*.log";
in an initialization file will imply that when a clean-up operation is specified, not only is the standard set of files deleted, but also files of the form FOO.out, FOO-blx.bib, and %R- figures*.log, where FOO stands for the basename of the file being processed (as in FOO.tex).
$clean_full_ext [""] Extra extensions of files for latexmk to remove when the -C option is selected, i.e., extensions of files to remove when the .dvi, etc files are to be cleaned-up.
More general patterns are allowed, as for $clean_ext.
$compiling_cmd [undefined], $failure_cmd [undefined], $success_cmd [undefined]
These variables specify commands that are executed at certain points of compilations during preview-continuous mode.  One motivation for their existance is to allow convenient visual indications of compilation status even when the window receiving the screen output of the compilation is hidden.
The commands are executed at the following points: $compiling_cmd at the start of compilation, $success_cmd at the end of a successful compilation, and $failure_cmd at the end of an unsuccessful compilation.  If any of above variables is undefined (the default situation) or blank, then the corresponding command is not executed.
An example of a typical setting of these variables is as follows
$compiling_cmd = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" set_window --name \"%D compiling\""; $success_cmd   = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" set_window --name \"%D OK\""; $failure_cmd   = "xdotool search --name \"%D\" set_window --name \"%D FAILURE\"";
These assume that the program xdotool is installed, that the previewer is using an X-Window system for display, and that the title of the window contains the name of the displayed file, as it normally does.  When the commands are executed, the placeholder string %D is replaced by the name of the destination file, which is the previewed file.  The above commands result in an appropriate string being appended to the filename in the window title: " compiling", " OK", or " FAILURE".
Other placeholders that can be used are %S, %T, and %R, with %S and %T normally being identical. These can be useful for a command changing the title of the edit window. The visual indication in a window title can useful, since the user does not have to keep shifting attention to the (possibly hidden) compilation window to know the status of the compilation.
@cus_dep_list [()] Custom dependency list -- see section on "Custom Dependencies".
@default_files [("*.tex")] Default list of files to be processed.
Normally, if no filenames are specified on the command line, latexmk processes all tex files specified in the @default_files variable, which by default is set to all tex files ("*.tex") in the current directory.  This is a convenience: just run latexmk and it will process an appropriate set of files.  But sometimes you want only some of these files to be processed.  In this case you set the @default_files in an initialization file (e.g., the file "latexmkrc" in the current directory).  Then if no files are specified on the command line then the files you specify by setting @default_files are processed.
Three examples:
@default_files = ("paper_current");
@default_files = ("paper1", "paper2.tex");
@default_files = ("*.tex", "*.dtx");
Note that more than file may be given, and that the default extension is ".tex".  Wild cards are allowed.  The parentheses are because @default_files is an array variable, i.e., a sequence of filename specifications is possible.
$dependents_phony [0] If a list of dependencies is output, this variable determines whether to include a phony target for each source file.  If you use the dependents list in a Makefile, the dummy rules work around errors make gives if you remove header files without updating the Makefile to match.
$dependents_list [0] Whether to display a list(s) of dependencies at the end of a run.
$deps_file ["-"] Name of file to receive list(s) of dependencies at the end of a run, to be used if $dependesnt_list is set.  If the filename is "-", then the dependency list is set to stdout (i.e., normally the screen).
$do_cd [0] Whether to change working directory to the directory specified for the main source file before processing it.  The default behavior is not to do this, which is the same as the behavior of latex and pdflatex programs.  This variable is set by the -cd and -cd- options on latexmk's command line.
$dvi_filter [empty] The dvi file filter to be run on the newly produced dvi file before other processing.  Equivalent to specifying the -dF option.
$dvi_mode [See below for default] If nonzero, generate a dvi version of the document.  Equivalent to the -dvi option.
The variable $dvi_mode defaults to 0, but if no explicit requests are made for other types of file (postscript, pdf), then $dvi_mode will be set to 1.  In addition, if a request for a file for which a .dvi file is a prerequisite, then $dvi_mode will be set to 1.
$dvi_previewer ["start xdvi %O %S" under UNIX] The command to invoke a dvi-previewer.  [Default is "start" under MS-WINDOWS; under more recent versions of Windows, this will cause to be run whatever command the system has associated with .dvi files.]
Important note: Normally you will want to have a previewer run detached, so that latexmk doesn't wait for the previewer to terminate before continuing its work.  So normally you should prefix the command by "start ", which flags to latexmk that it should do the detaching of the previewer itself (by whatever method is appropriate to the operating system).  But sometimes letting latexmk do the detaching is not appropriate (for a variety of non-trivial reasons), so you should put the "start " bit in yourself, whenever it is needed.
$dvi_previewer_landscape ["start xdvi %O %S"] The command to invoke a dvi-previewer in landscape mode.  [Default is "start" under MS-WINDOWS; under more recent versions of Windows, this will cause to be run whatever command the system has associated with .dvi files.]
$dvipdf ["dvipdf %O %S %D"] Command to convert dvi to pdf file.  A common reconfiguration is to use the dvipdfm command, which needs its arguments in a different order:
$dvipdf = "dvipdfm %O -o %D %S";
WARNING: The default dvipdf script generates pdf files with bitmapped fonts, which do not look good when viewed by acroread. That script should be modified to give dvips the options "-P pdf" to ensure that type 1 fonts are used in the pdf file.
$dvipdf_silent_switch ["-q"] Switch(es) for dvipdf program when silent mode is on.
N.B. The standard dvipdf program runs silently, so adding the silent switch has no effect, but is actually innocuous.  But if an alternative program is used, e.g., dvipdfmx, then the silent switch has an effect.  The default setting is correct for dvipdfm and dvipdfmx.
$dvips ["dvips %O -o %D %S"] The program to used as a filter to convert a .dvi file to a .ps file.  If pdf is going to be generated from pdf, then the value of the $dvips_pdf_switch -- see below -- will be included in the options substituted for "%O".
$dvips_landscape ["dvips -tlandscape %O -o %D %S"] The program to used as a filter to convert a .dvi file to a .ps file in landscape mode.
$dvips_pdf_switch ["-P pdf"] Switch(es) for dvips program when pdf file is to be generated from ps file.
$dvips_silent_switch ["-q"] Switch(es) for dvips program when silent mode is on.
$dvi_update_command [""] When the dvi previewer is set to be updated by running a command, this is the command that is run.  See the information for the variable $dvi_update_method for further information, and see information on the variable $pdf_update_method for an example for the analogous case of a pdf previewer.
$dvi_update_method [2 under UNIX, 1 under MS-Windows] How the dvi viewer updates its display when the dvi file has changed.  The values here apply equally to the $pdf_update_method and to the $ps_update_method variables. 0 => update is automatic, 1=> manual update by user, which may only mean a mouse click on the viewer's window or may mean a more serious action. 2 => Send the signal, whose number is in the variable $dvi_update_signal.  The default value under UNIX is suitable for xdvi. 3 => Viewer cannot do an update, because it locks the file. (As with acroread under MS-Windows.) 4 => run a command to do the update.  The command is specified by the variable $dvi_update_command.
See information on the variable $pdf_update_method for an example of updating by command.
$dvi_update_signal [Under UNIX: SIGUSR1, which is a system-dependent value] The number of the signal that is sent to the dvi viewer when it is updated by sending a signal -- see the information on the variable $dvi_update_method.  The default value is the one appropriate for xdvi on a UNIX system.
$failure_cmd [undefined] See the documentation for $compiling_cmd.
$fdb_ext ["fdb_latexmk"] The extension of the file which latexmk generates to contain a database of information on source files.  You will not normally need to change this.
$force_mode [0] If nonzero, continue processing past minor latex errors including unrecognized cross references.  Equivalent to specifying the -f option.
@generated_exts [( aux , bbl , idx , ind , lof , lot , out , toc , $fdb_ext )] This contains a list of extensions for files that are generated during a LaTeX run and that are read in by LaTeX in later runs, either directly or indirectly.
This list has two uses: (a) to set the kinds of file to be deleted in a cleanup operation (with the -c, -C, -CA, -g and -gg options), and (b) in the determination of whether a rerun of (pdf)LaTeX is needed after a run that gives an error.
(Normally, a change of a source file during a run should provoke a rerun.  This includes a file generated by LaTeX, e.g., an aux file, that is read in on subsequent runs.  But after a run that results in an error, a new run should occur until the user has made a change in the files.  But the user may have corrected an error in a source .tex file during the run.  So latexmk needs to distinguish user-generated and automatically generated files; it determines the automatically generated files as those with extensions in the list in @generated_exts.)
A convenient way to add an extra extension to the list, without losing the already defined ones is to use a push command in the line in an RC file.  E.g.,
push @generated_exts, "end";
adds the extension "end" to the list of predefined generated extensions.  (This extension is used by the RevTeX package, for example.)
$go_mode [0] If nonzero, process files regardless of timestamps, and is then equivalent to the -g option.
%hash_calc_ignore_pattern !!!This variable is for experts only!!!
The general rule latexmk uses for determining when an extra run of some program is needed is that one of the source files has changed.  But consider for example a latex package that causes an encapsulated postscript file (an "eps" file) to be made that is to be read in on the next run.  The file contains a comment line giving its creation date and time.  On the next run the time changes, latex sees that the eps file has changed, and therefore reruns latex.  This causes an infinite loop, that is only terminated because latexmk has a limit on the number of runs to guard against pathological situations.
But the changing line has no real effect, since it is a comment. You can instruct latex to ignore the offending line as follows:
$hash_calc_ignore_pattern{'eps'} = '^%%CreationDate: ';
This creates a rule for files with extension .eps about lines to ignore.  The left-hand side is a Perl idiom for setting an item in a hash.  Note that the file extension is specified without a period.  The value, on the right-hand side, is a string containing a regular expresssion.  (See documentation on Perl for how they are to be specified in general.)  This particular regular expression specifies that lines beginning with "%%CreationDate: " are to be ignored in deciding whether a file of the given extension .eps has changed.
There is only one regular expression available for each extension. If you need more one pattern to specify lines to ignore, then you need to combine the patterns into a single regular expression. The simplest method is separate the different simple patterns by a vertical bar character (indicating "alternation" in the jargon of regular expressions).  For example,
$hash_calc_ignore_pattern{'eps'} = '^%%CreationDate: |^%%Title: ';
causes lines starting with either "^%%CreationDate: " or "^%%Title: " to be ignored.
It may happen that a pattern to be ignored is specified in, for example, in a system or user initialization file, and you wish to remove this in a file read later.  To do this, you use Perl's delete function, e.g.,
delete $hash_calc_ignore_pattern{'eps'};
$kpsewhich ["kpsewhich %S"] The program called to locate a source file when the name alone is not sufficient.  Most filenames used by latexmk have sufficient path information to be found directly.  But sometimes, notably when .bib files are found from the log file of a bibtex or biber run, the name of the file, but not its path is known.  The program specified by $kpsewhich is used to find it.
See also the @BIBINPUTS variable for another way that latexmk also uses to try to locate files; it applies only in the case of .bib files.
$landscape_mode [0] If nonzero, run in landscape mode, using the landscape mode previewers and dvi to postscript converters.  Equivalent to the -l option.  Normally not needed with current previewers.
$latex ["latex %O %S"] The LaTeX processing program.  Note that as with other programs, you can use this variable not just to change the name of the program used, but also specify options to the program.  E.g.,
$latex = "latex --src-specials";
%latex_input_extensions This variable specifies the extensions tried by latexmk when it finds that a LaTeX run resulted in an error that a file has not been found, and the file is given without an extension.  This typically happens when LaTeX commands of the form \input{file} or \includegraphics{figure}, when the relevant source file does not exist.
In this situation, latexmk searches for custom dependencies to make the missing file(s), but restricts it to the extensions specified by the variable %latex_input_extensions.  The default extensions are 'tex' and 'eps'.
(For Perl experts: %latex_input_extensions is a hash whose keys are the extensions.  The values are irrelevant.)  Two subroutines are provided for manipulating this and the related variable %pdflatex_input_extensions, add_input_ext and remove_input_ext. They are used as in the following examples are possible lines in an initialization file:
remove_input_ext( 'latex', 'tex' );
removes the extension 'tex' from latex_input_extensions
add_input_ext( 'latex', 'asdf' );
add the extension 'asdf to latex_input_extensions.  (Naturally with such an extension, you should have made an appropriate custom dependency for latexmk, and should also have done the appropriate programming in the LaTeX source file to enable the file to be read.  The standard extensions are handled by LaTeX and its graphics/graphicx packages.
$latex_silent_switch ["-interaction=batchmode"] Switch(es) for the LaTeX processing program when silent mode is on.
If you use MikTeX, you may prefer the results if you configure the options to include -c-style-errors, e.g., by the following line in an initialization file
$latex_silent_switch = "-interaction=batchmode -c-style-errors";
$lpr ["lpr %O %S" under UNIX/LINUX, "NONE lpr" under MS-WINDOWS] The command to print postscript files.
Under MS-Windows (unlike UNIX/LINUX), there is no standard program for printing files.  But there are ways you can do it.  For example, if you have gsview installed, you could use it with the option "/p":
$lpr = '"c:/Program Files/Ghostgum/gsview/gsview32.exe" /p';
If gsview is installed in a different directory, you will need to make the appropriate change.  Note the combination of single and double quotes around the name.  The single quotes specify that this is a string to be assigned to the configuration variable $lpr.  The double quotes are part of the string passed to the operating system to get the command obeyed; this is necessary because one part of the command name ("Program Files") contains a space which would otherwise be misinterpreted.
$lpr_dvi ["NONE lpr_dvi"] The printing program to print dvi files.
$lpr_pdf ["NONE lpr_pdf"] The printing program to print pdf files.
Under MS-Windows you could set this to use gsview, if it is installed, e.g.,
If gsview is installed in a different directory, you will need to make the appropriate change.  Note the double quotes around the name: this is necessary because one part of the command name ("Program Files") contains a space which would otherwise be misinterpreted.
$make ["make"] The make processing program.
$makeindex ["makeindex %O -o %D %S"] The index processing program.
$makeindex_silent_switch ["-q"] Switch(es) for the index processing program when silent mode is on.
$max_repeat [5] The maximum number of times latexmk will run latex/pdflatex before deciding that there may be an infinite loop and that it needs to bail out, rather than rerunning latex/pdflatex again to resolve cross-references, etc.  The default value covers all normal cases.
(Note that the "etc" covers a lot of cases where one run of latex/pdflatex generates files to be read in on a later run.)
$MSWin_back_slash [1] This configuration variable only has an effect when latexmk is running under MS-Windows.  It determines whether, when a command is executed under MS-Windows, there should be substituted "\" for the separator character between components of a directory name. Internally, latexmk uses "/" for the directory separator character, which is the character used by Unix-like systems.
For many programs under MS-Windows, both "\" and "/" are acceptable as the directory separator character.  But some programs only accept "\".  So for safety latexmk makes a translation, by default.  It is conceivable that under certain situations this is undesirable, so the configuration can be changed.  (A possible example might be when some of the software is implemented using Cygwin, which provides an Unix-like environment inside MS-Windows.)
$new_viewer_always [0] This variable applies to latexmk only in continuous-preview mode. If $new_viewer_always is 0, latexmk will check for a previously running previewer on the same file, and if one is running will not start a new one.  If $new_viewer_always is non-zero, this check will be skipped, and latexmk will behave as if no viewer is running.
$out_dir [""] The directory in which output files are to be written by a run of (pdf)latex.  See also the variable $aux_dir.
The effect of this variable (when non-blank) is achieved by using the -output-directory option of (pdf)latex.  This exists in the usual current (Dec. 2011 and later) implementations of TeX, i.e., MiKTeX and TeXLive. But it may not be present in other versions.
Commonly, the directory specified for output files is a subdirectory of the current working directory.  However, if you specify some other directory, e.g., "/tmp/foo" or "../output", be aware that this could cause problems, e.g., with makeindex or bibtex.  This is because modern versions of these programs, by default, will refuse to work when they find that they are asked to write to a file in a directory that appears not to be the current working directory or one of its subdirectories.  This is part of security measures by the whole TeX system that try to prevent malicious or errant TeX documents from incorrectly messing with a user's files.  If for $out_dir or $aux_dir you really do need to specify an absolute pathname (e.g., "/tmp/foo") or a path (e.g., "../output") that includes a higher-level directory, then you need to disable the security measures (and assume any risks).  This can be done by temporarily setting the operating system's environment variable openout_any to "a" (as in "all"), to override the default "paranoid" setting.