Compile LaTeX source file in the background without any plugin

Question

I am new to Vim and I would like to make a key binding to compile my LaTeX source. I have the following

autocmd FileType tex :nnoremap <buffer> <F5> :!pdflatex %<CR>

which is working very well but I would like it to run in the background. I know there are options with <silent> but I can't make them work.

Answer 1

If you just want a non-disruptive process to run, consider tpope's Dispatch plugin: if you have a makeprg setup well for LaTex, you could use it's :Make; otherwise, you'll want to :Start pdflatex ....

To silence a mapping, use nnoremap <silent> .... But note that this just prevents echoing of the simulated characters being typed.

To silence a command, do :silent[!] command. With !, all error messages are suppressed.

Answer 2

You can use Vim's job_start() function to run a command asynchronously. This does not require any plugins, but does require Vim to be compiled with the +job feature (you can check this by running the :version command).

Here's a long one-liner to apply your command:

autocmd FileType tex :nnoremap <silent> <buffer> <F5>
    \ :let b:job = job_start(['/bin/sh', '-c', 'pdflatex ' . expand('%:p')])<CR>

Notes:

• The pdflatex command only works if your tex file is in Vim's current working directory. So you may want to consider using latexmk instead, which provides a -cd option.

• I've noticed that in some cases, job_start() will slightly mess up the screen. If this happens, you may want to add a callback function to redraw the screen (see this answer to a related question).

Answer 3

The way I like to do this is by using tmux to send the compilation command to another terminal. I like this method because it behaves as if you had typed the command in that terminal yourself.

Add this to your .vimrc (note this code uses latexmk instead of pdflatex):

function! TmuxSend()
    let tex_file = expand('%:p')
    let tex_cmd = 'latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -cd ' . tex_file
    let tmux_cmd = 'tmux send-keys -t vim_output.0 "' . tex_cmd . '" ENTER'
    let output = system(tmux_cmd)   
endfunction

autocmd FileType tex :nnoremap <silent> <buffer> <F5> :call TmuxSend()<CR>

Now, open another terminal and create a tmux session named "vim_output": tmux new-session -s vim_output. Now, when you press F5 in Vim, the latexmk command will be run in the terminal you just created.