Inverse search

Inverse search is a feature of some non-interactive typesetting programs, such as LaTeX and GNU LilyPond. These programs read an abstract, textual, definition of a document as input, and converts this into a graphical format such as DVI or PDF. In a windowing system, this typically means that the source code is entered in one editor window, and the resulting output is viewed in a different output window. Inverse search means that a graphical object in the output window works as a hyperlink, which brings you back to the line and column in the editor, where the clicked object was defined. The inverse search feature is particularly useful during proofreading.

Implementations

• In TeX and LaTeX, the package srcltx provides an inverse search feature through DVI output files, while vpe, pdfsync and SyncTeX provide similar functionality for PDF output, among other techniques.
• GNU LilyPond provides an inverse search feature through PDF output files, since version 2.6. The program calls this feature Point-and-click,
• Many integrated development environments for programming use inverse search to display compilation error messages, and during debugging when a breakpoint happens.

Bibliography

• Jérôme Laurens, ”Direct and reverse synchronization with SyncTeX”, in TUGboat 29(3), 2008, p365–371, PDF (532KB) — including an overview of synchronization techniques with TeX

External links

• How to set up inverse search with xdvi