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

# typog-grep(1)

specialized grep for typog-inspect elements in LaTeX log files

## NAME

typog-grep - specialized grep for typog-inspect elements in LaTeX log files

## SYNOPSIS

- **typog-grep** -a\|--all\|--any \[*OPTION*...\] *LOG-FILE*...

  - **typog-grep** \[*OPTION*...\] *REGEXP* *LOG-FILE*...

  The first form, \`\`discovery mode'', shows all *ID*s of

```
<typog-inspect id="ID" ...>
```

elements in *LOG-FILE*.

The second form shows the contents, *LOG-DATA*, of the elements

```
<typog-inspect id="ID" ...>
LOG-DATA
</typog-inspect>
```

whose *ID*s match *REGEXP* in *LOG-FILE*.

If no *LOG-FILE* is given read from *stdin*. The filename `"-"` is synonymous to *stdin*.

## DESCRIPTION

**typog-grep** is a tailored post-processor for LaTeX *log* files and the `"typoginspect"` environment as provided by the LaTeX package typog. It shares more with the venerable **sgrep** \<https://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/jjaakkol/sgrep.html\> than with POSIX **grep** \<https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/grep.html\>.

In the LaTeX source file the user brackets her text or code in a `"typoginspect"` environment:

```
\begin{typoginspect}{ID}
TEXT-OR-CODE-TO-INVESTIGATE
\end{typoginspect}
```

where *ID* is used to identify one or more bracketed snippets. *ID* does not have to be unique. The *REGEXP* mechanism makes it easy to select groups of related *ID*s if they are named accordingly.

In *LOG-FILE* the result of the environment shows up, packed with tracing information, as

```
<typog-inspect id="ID" job="JOB-NAME" line="LINE-NUMBER" page="PAGE-NUMBER">
LOG-DATA
</typog-inspect>
```

where all the capital-letter sequences are meta-variables and in particular *JOB-NAME* is the expansion of `"\jobname"`, *LINE-NUMBER* is the LaTeX source file line number of the beginning of the `"typoginspect"` environment, and *PAGE-NUMBER* is the page where the output of `"TEXT-OR-CODE-TO-INVESTIGATE"` occurs.

**typog-grep** reveals the contents of *LOG-FILE* between `"<typog-inspect id="`*ID*`" ...>"` and `"</typog-inspect>"` excluding the XML-tags themselves. Access the *JOB-NAME*, *LINE-NUMBER*, and *PAGE-NUMBER* with the commandline options **--job-name**, **--line-number**, and **--page-number**. Use **--id** to show the name of the IDs that matched *REGEXP*.

`"typoginspect"` environments can be nested. **typog-grep** respects the nesting, i.e., if the *ID* of the nested environment does not match *REGEXP* it will not be included in the program's output.

## OPTIONS

The list of options is sorted by the names of the long options.

- **-a**, **--all**, **--any**

  ID-discovery mode: Discover all `"typog-inspect"` elements independent of any matching patterns and print their *ID*s. The results are printed in their order of occurrence in the *LOG-FILE*s. Pipe the output into **sort** to get alphabetically ordered *ID*s.

  Augment with options **--job-name**, **--line-number**, **--log-line-number**, or **--page-number** for more information.

- **--color**, **colour** *WHEN*

  Colorize specific log contents for the matching *ID*s. The argument *WHEN* determines when to apply color: `"always"`, `"never"`, or `"auto"`. The setting `"auto"` checks whether standard output has been redirected. This is the default.

- **-C**, **--config** *KEY*=*VALUE*\[:*KEY*=*VALUE*\[:...\]\]

  Set one or more configuration *KEY* to *VALUE* pairs. See section "CONFIGURATION" for a description of all available configuration items. Use option **--show-config** to display the default configuration.

- **--debug**

  Turn on debug output on *stderr*.

- **-E**, **--encoding** *ENCODING*

  Set the *ENCODING* of *LOG-FILE* for the translation to UTF-8. The default is unset.

  Use this option to get rid of pesky "\<*HEX-DIGITS*\>" escapes on UTF-8 terminals. See option **--show-encodings** for the known encodings and Encode::Supported for a summary of all encodings. See also section "Some Common Encodings".

  Apply **iconv** \<https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/utilities/iconv.html\> (POSIX) or **recode** \<https://github.com/rrthomas/recode/\> (GNU) on *LOG-FILE* before this tool to avoid having to use option **--encoding**.

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

  Display brief help then exit.

- **-i**, **--\[no-\]id**

  Print the actual ID-name that matched *REGEXP*. Control the appearance of the matching *ID* with configuration item `"id-heading"`.

- **-y**, **--\[no-\]ignore-case**

  Match *ID*s while ignoring case distinctions in patterns and data.

- **-j**, **--\[no-\]job-name**

  Print the `"\jobname"` that **latex** associated with the input file.

- **-n**, **--\[no-\]line-number**

  Print the line number where the `"typoginspect"` environment was encountered in the LaTeX source file.

- **-N**, **--\[no-\]log-line-number**

  Print the line number of the *log*-file where the current line was encountered.

- **-p**, **--\[no-\]page-number**

  Print page number where the contents of the `"typoginspect"` environment starts in the typeset document.

- **-P**, **--\[no-\]pager**

  Redirect output from *stdout* to the configured pager.

- **--show-config**

  Show the default configuration and exit.

- **--show-encodings**

  Show all known encodings and exit.

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

  Show version information and exit.

- **-w**, **--\[no-\]word-regexp**

  Match only whole words.

## CONFIGURATION

- "id-format"=*FORMAT*

  Control the *FORMAT* for printing matching ids in inline-mode, where *FORMAT* is passed to Perl's `"printf"`. Default: `%s:`.

- "id-heading"=0\|1

  Choose between printing the matching *ID*s with option **--id**: Inline (`0`) or heading before the matching data (`1`). Default: `0`.

- "id-heading-format"=*FORMAT*

  Control the *FORMAT* for printing matching *ID*s in heading-mode, where *FORMAT* is passed to Perl's `"printf"`. Default: `"--> %s <--"`.

- "id-indent"=*INDENT*

  Indentation of nested typog-inspect tags. Only used in \`\`discovery mode'' (first form), i.e., if **--all** is active. Default: 8.

- "id-max-length"=*MAXIMUM-LENGTH*

  Set the maximum length of a matching *ID* for printing. It a matching *ID* exceeds this length it will be truncated and the last three characters (short of *MAXIMUM-LENGTH*) will be replaced by dots. Default: 40.

- "line-number-format"=*FORMAT*

  Control the *FORMAT* for printing TeX source line numbers, where *FORMAT* is passed to Perl's `"printf"`. Default: `%5d`.

- "log-line-number-format"=*FORMAT*

  Control the *FORMAT* for printing log line numbers, where *FORMAT* is passed to Perl's `"printf"`. Default: `%6d`.

- "page-number-format"=*FORMAT*

  Control the *FORMAT* for printing page numbers, where *FORMAT* is passed to Perl's `"printf"`. Default: `"[%3d]"`.

- "pager"=*PAGER*

  Name of pager application to pipe output into if run with option **--pager**. Default: `"less"`.

- "pager-flags"=*FLAGS*

  Pass *FLAGS* to *PAGER*. Default: `"--quit-if-one-screen"`.

- Color Configuration

  For the syntax of the color specifications consult the manual page of Term::ANSIColor(pm).

  - "file-header-color"

    Color of the filename header.

  - "fill-state-color"

    Color of the messages that report \`\`Underfull hbox'' or \`\`Overfull hbox''.

  - "first-vbox-color"

    Color of the first vbox on a page.

  - "font-spec-color"

    Color of font specifications.

  - "horizontal-break-candidate-color"

    Color of lines with horizontal-breakpoint candidates `"@"`.

  - "horizontal-breakpoint-color"

    Color of lines with horizontal breakpoints `"@@"`.

  - "id-color"

    Color of matching *ID*s when printed inline.

  - "id-heading-color"

    Color of matching *ID*s when printed in heading form.

  - "line-break-pass-color"

    Color of the lines showing which pass (e.g., `@firstpass`) of the line-breaking algorithm is active.

  - "line-number-color"

    Color of TeX-source-file line numbers.

  - "log-line-number-color"

    Color of log-file line numbers.

  - "math-color"

    Color used for math expressions including their font specs.

  - "page-number-color"

    Color of page numbers of the final output.

  - "tightness-color"

    Color of lines with Tight/Loose hbox reports.

  - "vertical-breakpoint-color"

    Color of possible vertical breakpoints.

### Brief summary of colors and attributes

- Foreground Color

  `"black"`, `"red"`, `"green"`, `"yellow"`, `"blue"`, `"magenta"`, `"cyan"`, `"white"`,

  Prefix with `"bright_"` for high-intensity or bold foreground.

- Foreground Grey

  `"grey0"`, ..., `"grey23"`

- Background Color

  `"on_black"`, `"on_red"`, `"on_green"`, `"on_yellow"`, `"on_blue"`, `"on_magenta"`, `"on_cyan"`, `"on_white"`

  Replace `"on_"` with `"on_bright_"` for high-intensity or bold background.

- Background Grey

  `"on_grey0"`, ..., `"on_grey23"`

- Text Attribute

  `"bold"`, `"dark"`, `"italic"`, `"underline"`, `"reverse"`

### Some Common Encodings

The following list shows some encodings that are suitable for option **--encoding**.

- Latin-1, Western European

  `"iso-8859-1"`, `"cp850"`, `"cp860"`, `"cp1252"`

- Latin-2, Central European

  `"iso-8859-2"`, `"cp852"`, `"cp1250"`

- Latin-3, South European (Esperanto, Maltese)

  `"iso-8859-3"`

- Latin-4, North European (Baltics)

  `"iso-8859-4"`

- Cyrillics

  `"iso-8859-5"`, `"cp855"`, `"cp866"` (Ukrainian), `"cp1251"`

- Arabic

  `"iso-8859-6"`, `"cp864"`, `"cp1006"` (Farsi), `"cp1256"`

- Greek

  `"iso-8859-7"`, `"cp737"`, `"cp1253"`

- Hebrew

  `"iso-8859-8"`, `"cp862"`, `"cp1255"`

- Turkish

  `"iso-8859-9"`, `"cp857"`, `"cp1254"`

- Nordic

  `"iso-8859-10"`, `"cp865"`, `"cp861"` (Icelandic)

- Thai

  `"iso-8859-11"`, `"cp874"`

- Baltic

  `"iso-8859-13"`, `"cp775"`, `"cp1257"`

- Celtic

  `"iso-8859-14"`

- Latin-9 (sometimes called Latin0)

  `"iso-8859-15"`

- Latin-10

  `"iso-8859-16"`

## EXIT STATUS

The exit status is 0 if at least one *ID* matched *REGEXP*, 1 if no *ID* matched *REGEXP*, and 2 if an error occurred.

## CAVEATS

The end tag `"</typog-inspect>"` sometimes gets placed too early in the output and the trace *seems* truncated.  However, LaTeX reliably logs the requested the trace information, but the write operations for trace data and the code which is used to print the end tag are not synchronized.

## SEE ALSO

[**grep**(1)](/grep/1.md), [**printf**(3)](/printf/3.md), **Encode::Supported**(pm), **Term::ANSIColor**(pm)