---
name: "texdoc"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "texlive-doc"
version: "2026.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/texdoc"
---

# texdoc(1)

find & view documentation in TeX Live

## NAME

**texdoc** - find & view documentation in TeX Live

## SYNOPSIS

**texdoc** \[OPTION\]... NAME...\
 **texdoc** \[OPTION\]... ACTION

## DESCRIPTION

Try to find appropriate TeX documentation for the specified NAME(s). Alternatively, perform the given ACTION and exit.

## OPTIONS

- **-w**, **--view**

  Use view mode: start a viewer. **(default)**

- **-m**, **--mixed**

  Use mixed mode (view or list).

- **-l**, **--list**

  Use list mode: show a list of results.

- **-s**, **--showall**

  Use showall mode: show also "bad" results.

- **-i**, **--interact**

  Use interactive menus. **(default)**

- **-I**, **--nointeract**

  Use plain lists, no interaction required.

- **-M**, **--machine**

  Machine-readable output for lists (implies -I).

- **-q**, **--quiet**

  Suppress warnings and most error messages.

- **-v**, **--verbose**

  Print additional information (e.g., viewer command).

- **-D**, **--debug**

  Activate all debug output (equal to "--debug=all").

- **-d** LIST, **--debug**=LIST

  Activate debug output restricted to the categories specified in LIST.\
   Available categories: **config**, **files**, **search**, **docfile**, **score**, **texdocs**, **tlpdb**, **version**, **view**, and **all** to activate all of these.

- **-c** NAME=VALUE

  Set configuration item NAME to VALUE.

## ACTIONS

- **-h**, **--help**

  Print this help message.

- **-V**, **--version**

  Print the version number.

- **-f**, **--files**

  Print the list of configuration files used.

- **--just-view** FILE

  Display FILE, given with full path (no searching).

- **--print-completion** SHELL

  Print SHELL completion.

## ENVIRONMENT

The following environment variables can be split by colon and used to set viewers:

- **BROWSER**, **BROWSER\_texdoc**

  Set the command to be used for HTML documents.

- **DVIVIEWER**, **DVIVIEWER\_texdoc**

  Set the command to be used for DVI documents.

- **MDVIEWER**, **MDVIEWER\_texdoc**

  Set the command to be used for Markdown documents.

- **PAGER**, **PAGER\_texdoc**

  Set the command to be used for text documents.

- **PDFVIEWER**, **PDFVIEWER\_texdoc**

  Set the command to be used for PDF documents.

- **PSVIEWER**, **PSVIEWER\_texdoc**

  Set the command to be used for PS documents.

The following environment variables are also used:

- **LANG**, **LC\_ALL**, **LANGUAGE**, **LANGUAGE\_texdoc**

  Set the locale, which will influence on the search results.

- **TEXDOCS**

  In addition to the documents included in the TeX Live database, Texdoc also searches documentation under TEXMF trees specified by the kpathsea variable **TEXDOCS**.

## FILES

**\<texmf\>/texdoc/texdoc.cnf**, see output of the **--files** option.

## EXIT STATUS

The **texdoc** command exists with one of the following values:

- 0

  Success.

- 1

  Internal error.

- 2

  Usage error.

- 3

  No documentation found.

## REPORTING BUGS

Report bugs to *texdoc@tug.org*.\
 Texdoc home page: *http://tug.org/texdoc/*\
 Source: *https://github.com/TeX-Live/texdoc*

## COPYRIGHT

Copyright 2008-2025 Manuel Pe'gourie'-Gonnard, Takuto Asakura, the TeX Live Team.\
 License: GNU GPL version 3 or later *http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html*.\
 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.

## SEE ALSO

The full documentation is maintained as a PDF manual. The command

-

  ```
  texdoc texdoc
  ```

-

  should give you access to the complete manual.