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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Jerry wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:20210219142754.00007ee4@seibercom.net"><br>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap="">I may be missing something obvious, but why can you not (a) open a
tracker file for reading, and note if it is empty; then, (b) if it is
not empty, read an integer from it, increment the integer, close the
file for reading, open it for writing, and write the augmented integer
back. If it was empty, treat it as if it contained zero.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap="">
Perhaps I am misunderstanding you, but that sounds like a like more
work than I want to invest. I was looking for an automated system.
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
In that case, I am very very confused ! The system <i>is</i>
"automated"; all you have to do is to add a tiny bit of code to your
TeX source. The following is written without testing, but it should
be pretty close to a solution:<br>
<br>
<tt>\newread \trackerin</tt><tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\newwrite \trackerout</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; line-height:100%;"><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\newcount \seqno</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; line-height:100%;"><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\openin \trackerin = tracker.txt</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\ifeof \trackerin</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt> \seqno = 0</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\else</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt> \read \trackerin to \seqtmp</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt> \seqno = \seqtmp</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\fi</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\closein \trackerin</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; line-height:100%;"><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\advance \seqno by 1</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\message {New sequence number = \number
\seqno}</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; line-height:100%;"><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\immediate \openout \trackerout =
tracker.txt</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\immediate \write \trackerout {\number
\seqno}</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\immediate \closeout \trackerout</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px;
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; line-height:100%;"><tt><br>
</tt></p>
<tt>
</tt>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;
line-height:100%;"><tt>\end</tt></p>
<tt><br>
</tt><br>
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