[OS X TeX] The `%!TEX TSprogram = TeXify' line used in TeXShop ...

[Herbert Schulz]

On Feb 14, 2008, at 3:54 AM, John Dann wrote:

> Can anyone explain to me the use of these %! commands anyway?
>
> I've used TeXShop for a few years and never used them.
>
> Specifying the file encoding seems unnecessary to me as there are many
> ways in Cocoa to find out the encoding of a file, are they used by  
> LaTeX
> or TeX at all?
>
> Sorry if this is a dumb question, thanks for your time, especially if
> it really is a dumb question.
>
> Jon


Howdy,

I'll leave the encoding ``problem'' to others but the

%%!TEX TS-program = ...

line tells TeXShop which engine to use to compile the tex file  
(pdflatex, latex->dvips->ps2pdf, etc.) so that TeXShop does the right  
thing with any given file rather than having to manually choose the  
correct engine. It is also possible to define your own custom engines  
in TeXShop and those can only be chosen via the drop down engine menu  
on the source tool bar and that has to be done each time you open the  
file.

Good Luck,

Herb Schulz
(herbs at wideopenwest.com)