Inverse search (also called "reverse search")
on sourceforge.net is a feature of some non-interactive typesetting programs, such as

LaTeX Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latices are found in nature, but synthetic latices are common as well. In nature, latex is found as a wikt:milky, milky fluid, which is present in 10% of all floweri ...

and

GNU LilyPond LilyPond is a computer program and file format for music engraving. One of LilyPond's major goals is to produce scores that are engraved with traditional layout rules, reflecting the era when scores were engraved by hand. LilyPond is cross-pla ...

. These programs read an abstract, textual, definition of a document as input, and convert this into a graphical format such as DVI or

PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...

. In a windowing system, this typically means that the

source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...

is entered in one

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

window, and the resulting output is viewed in a different output window. Inverse search means that a graphical object in the output window works as a

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference providing direct access to Data (computing), data by a user (computing), user's point and click, clicking or touchscreen, tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to ...

, which brings you back to the line and column in the editor, where the clicked object was defined. The inverse search feature is particularly useful during

proofreading Proofreading is a phase in the process of publishing where galley proofs are compared against the original manuscripts or graphic artworks, to identify transcription errors in the typesetting process. In the past, proofreaders would place corr ...

Implementations

* In

TeX Tex, TeX, TEX, may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tex (nickname), a list of people and fictional characters with the nickname * Tex Earnhardt (1930–2020), U.S. businessman * Joe Tex (1933–1982), stage name of American soul singer ...

and

, the packag
srcltx
provides an inverse search feature through DVI output files (e.g., with

yap Yap (, sometimes written as , or ) traditionally refers to an island group located in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, a part of Yap State. The name "Yap" in recent years has come to also refer to the state within the Federate ...

Xdvi xdvi is an open-source computer program written by Paul Vojta for displaying TeX-produced .dvi files under the X Window System on Unix, including Linux. The xdvi interface has a set of GUI controls and a window displaying a single page of the DV ...

), whil
vpepdfsync
an

provide similar functionality for PDF output, among other techniques. The

Comparison of TeX editors The following is a comparison of TeX editors. Table of editors See also * Formula editor * Comparison of word processors * Comparison of text editors * Comparison of desktop publishing software * List of TeX extensions *Chemical structure ...

has a column on support of inverse search; most of them provide it nowadays. *

provides an inverse search feature through PDF output files, since version 2.6. The program calls this feature ''Point-and-click'', * Many

integrated development environment An integrated development environment (IDE) is a Application software, software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, an ...

s for

programming Program (American English; also Commonwealth English in terms of computer programming and related activities) or programme (Commonwealth English in all other meanings), programmer, or programming may refer to: Business and management * Program m ...

use inverse search to display

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products, such as video game co ...

error message An error message is the information displayed when an unforeseen problem occurs, usually on a computer or other device. Modern operating systems with graphical user interfaces, often display error messages using dialog boxes. Error messages are us ...

s, and during

debugging In engineering, debugging is the process of finding the Root cause analysis, root cause, workarounds, and possible fixes for bug (engineering), bugs. For software, debugging tactics can involve interactive debugging, control flow analysis, Logf ...

when a

breakpoint In software development, a breakpoint is an intentional stopping or pausing place in a computer program, program, put in place for debugging purposes. It is also sometimes simply referred to as a pause. More generally, a breakpoint is a means o ...

is hit.

References

Bibliography

* Jérôme Laurens, ”Direct and reverse synchronization with SyncTeX”, in ''TUGboat'' 29(3), 2008, p365–371
PDF (532KB)
— ''including an overview of synchronization techniques with TeX''

External links

{{digital-typography-stub Software development