How to run LaTeX

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How to run LaTeX

To run LaTeX on the input file file, simply enter the following command:

latex file

If the file has the extension .tex then you can omit the extension when running LaTeX. i.e. to run LaTeX on the input file file.tex, you can use either of the following commands:

latex file or latex file.tex

If all goes well, this should generate a number of files, including the following:

file.aux This file contains information generated by LaTeX on where to find things such as table of contents entries. Usually you can just ignore it.
file.log This file contains a detailed log of what LaTeX did while processing your file. If you encounter errors that you just can't figure out, look in here for additional information which may help.
file.dvi This is the DeVice Independent (DVI) format output of what LaTeX\ thinks your document should look like. See the section on Previewing and Printing DVI Files for more information on what to do with this.

If all did not go well, then you'll find yourself at a LaTeX prompt, and if you're lucky, then there will be an error report printed out just above the prompt which you can match to one of the errors listed in chapter eight of the LaTeX User's Guide, where you can find more detailed information on interpreting these messages.

Brian Edmonds
Mon Jan 15 08:45:54 PST 1996