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Replace LaTeX math escape strings with unicode characters in MacOS by building LaText Subsitutions.plist

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LaTeXSubstitutionsPlist

Replace LaTeX math escape strings with unicode characters in Mac OS by building Text Subsitutions.plist.

This takes more than 2400 LaTeX math escape strings (e.g. \alpha) from a built-in dictionary in the Julia language and formats them as the Mac OS file "Text Substitutions.plist." In some native apps (e.g. Mail, Safari), Mac OS replaces replaces these strings as it would shortcut phrases or emoticons.

After trying this out, Mac OS is way too eager to replace correctly spelled words with characters most people have never head of. I recommend paring down the list of substitutions to those characters you commonly use. Mac OS Text Substitutions does not require one to type the backslash in order to substitute. If it did, these substitutions would be more effectively escaped.

Instructions

  1. Open System Preferences > Keyboard > Text pane.
  2. Save your existing text substitutions by selecting them from the list (select all) in the pane and dragging them to any folder or the desktop. This will create Text Substitutions.plist.
  3. Navigate Finder to the working directory and drag LaText Substitutions.plist with LaTeX symbols into the list.
  4. Check Correct spelling automatically.

If you need to generate LaText Substitutions.plist yourself:

  1. Get a recent version of Julia. Downloadable at https://julialang.org/downloads/.
  2. Run your/path/to/julia latex_symbols_to_plist.jl in a working directory to generate LaText Substitutions.plist.

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Replace LaTeX math escape strings with unicode characters in MacOS by building LaText Subsitutions.plist

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