texish

Text and Markup

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Input conventions

texish turns ASCII source into proper typography, as TeX does — the body font enables these so they fire in ordinary running text:

You type	You get
``…''	“curly double quotes”
`…'	‘curly single quotes’
`--`	en–dash
`---`	em—dash
`...`	an ellipsis (`\dots` also works)
`~`	a non-breaking space (a tie, as in `Figure~1`)

Emphasis and weight

\emph{emphasis}        % italic
\textit{italic}        \italic{…}
\textbf{bold}          \bold{…}

Monospaced text

\texttt sets its argument in Latin Modern Mono at the surrounding size — for file names, inline code, and the like:

The file \texttt{document.texish} defines \texttt{\\maketitle}.

Because the mono face is cut to sit with the roman body, the code matches the text around it rather than looming over it.

Colour

\color sets the pen for the rest of the current group; \textcolor colours just its argument. A colour is a CSS name (blue, darkred, …) or a #RRGGBB hex code.

\textcolor{firebrick}{a single red word}, then black again.
{\color{blue}the rest of this group is blue.}

Clickable links

\href and \url produce real clickable link annotations in PDF output (and draw the text blue on every backend). The URL is read verbatim, so a //, ~, or % in the address survives intact.

Visit the \href{https://example.org/docs}{documentation} for details, or go straight to
\url{https://example.org}.

\href{url}{text} links the display text; \url{url} typesets the address itself, in the monospaced face, as a link to itself.

Quick Start

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A texish document is a plain text file. The document features — titles, sections, lists, figures — live in a format you load with \use{document} at the top.

A first document

Save this as hello.texish:

\use{document}

\title{A First Document}
\author{Your Name}
\date{June 2026}
\maketitle

\section{Introduction}
Welcome to texish. This paragraph is set in Latin Modern Roman and broken into
lines the way \TeX\ does. Input conventions give you proper typography for free:
``curly quotes'', an en--dash, an em---dash, and an ellipsis\dots

\section{A little mathematics}
Inline math sits in the text, like $a^2 + b^2 = c^2$, and a displayed equation is
centered on its own line:
$$ \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}. $$

Render it

With the command-line tool:

texish hello.texish            # writes hello.pdf
texish hello.texish -t png     # writes hello.png (one per page)

The output lands beside the source file. Pass -o to choose a different path, -p a4 for A4 paper, and -r fhd for a higher-resolution PNG.

Next steps

The document format — sections, lists, quotations, and the title block.
Text and markup — emphasis, code, colour, and clickable links.
Mathematics — the full math-mode vocabulary.

Mathematics

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texish has a TeX math mode set in Latin Modern Math through an OpenType MATH table. Math is delimited by dollar signs: a single $…$ for inline math, a doubled $$…$$ for a display centered on its own line.

Inline, like $a^2 + b^2 = c^2$, or displayed:
$$ e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0. $$

Scripts

^ and _ attach a superscript and subscript to the preceding atom. Braces group a multi-token script.

$x^2$    $a_i$    $x_i^2$    $e^{-x^2}$    $\sum_{i=1}^{n}$

Fractions and radicals

$\frac{a}{b}$            % a fraction
$a \over b$              % the infix form
$\sqrt{2}$               $\sqrt[3]{x}$        % square and higher roots

Big operators and limits

$\sum_{i=1}^{n} i$       $\int_0^\infty f$
$\sum\limits_{i=1}^{n}$  % force stacked limits in inline style

In display style, the limits of \sum, \prod, and the like stack above and below by default.

Delimiters

\left and \right grow a delimiter to the height of the material between them.

$\left( \frac{a}{b} \right)$
$\left[ \sum_{i} x_i \right]$

Accents

$\hat{x}$    $\vec{v}$    $\widehat{abc}$

Roman text and calligraphic letters

\text sets upright words inside a formula; \mathcal sets calligraphic capitals.

$V = \text{volume}$        $\mathcal{C}$        $\mathcal{P}(S)$

Matrices

$\matrix{ a & b \cr c & d }$       % unbracketed
$\pmatrix{ a & b \cr c & d }$      % parentheses
$\bmatrix{ a & b \cr c & d }$      % brackets
$\cases{ x & if positive \cr -x & otherwise }$

Displayed equations with numbers

\eqno sets an equation number flush right on a display line.

$$ x = \frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a} \eqno(1) $$

Installation

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texish is cross-published for the JVM, Scala Native, and Scala.js. There are two ways to use it: as the standalone command-line renderer, or as a library in an sbt build.

As a library

Add texish with the %%% operator so sbt selects the right platform artifact:

libraryDependencies += "io.github.edadma" %%% "texish" % "0.3.0"

The library gives you the engine and the parser layer — construct a typesetter for your target backend, feed it a source document, and flush it. On the JVM the backend is a Graphics2D raster typesetter; on Scala Native it is the Cairo PDF and image backends.

As a command-line tool

The Scala Native build links a standalone texish executable that turns a source document into a PDF (or one PNG per page) using the Cairo backend. Build it with:

sbt texishNative/nativeLink

The binary is produced at native/target/scala-3.8.4/texish. See the command-line tool reference for its options.

Requirements

Scala 3 for the library.
For the native binary and PDF output, the system needs Cairo, FreeType, and libjpeg-turbo available to the linker (the Scala Native bindings link against them).

Vector Graphics

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\picture opens a fixed-size drawing that flows in the text like any other box, so a diagram sits beside prose and prints through the same backend as the page. Inside it, coordinates are y-up with the origin at the bottom-left (the PostScript/TikZ convention); a bare number is a point, and unit suffixes (in, mm, pt, em) are honoured. Shapes draw immediately in the current graphics state, which \group saves and restores.

\picture width:3in height:2in {
  \fill{lightsteelblue} \stroke{steelblue} \linewidth{1.5pt}
  \rect{0.2in 0.2in 1in 1in}
  \circle{2in 0.9in 0.5in}
  \nofill \stroke{firebrick} \linetype{dashed}
  \line{0.2in 0.1in 2.6in 0.1in}
  \at anchor:south {1.4in 1.6in}{$y = x^2$}
}

The vocabulary

State (saved by \group): \stroke{color} / \nostroke, \fill{color} / \nofill, \linewidth{d}, \linecap{butt|round|square}, \linejoin{miter|round|bevel}, \dash{on off …}, and \linetype{solid|dashed|dotted|dashdot}.
Transforms: \translate{dx dy}, \scale{sx sy}, \rotate{degrees}.
Shapes: \line, \rect, \circle, \ellipse, \polygon, \polyline, \arc, \arcn.
Freeform paths: \path{ \moveto{x y} \lineto{x y} \curveto{c1x c1y c2x c2y x y} \close }.
Grouping and clipping: \group{ … }, \clip{ <path body> }.
Placement: \at[anchor:…]{x y}{content} drops fully typeset text or math at a coordinate (it stays upright over the y-flip), and \glyph[anchor:…]{x y}{codepoint} places a single marker glyph. Anchors are center, north/south/east/west, the four corners, and baseline.

Computed coordinates

Coordinates may be computed, not just literal — a bare variable \x is its value and arithmetic like \*{\x}{14} works — so a plot, a chart, or a chemical diagram is just a path built in a \for loop. See scripts/picture.script in the repository for a worked demo: shapes, a Bézier wave, a rotate-fan, a y = x² line graph, a bar chart, and a benzene ring.

Figures and Images

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Placing an image

\includegraphics places a raster image — PNG or JPEG — at its natural size, or sized by an optional key=value list:

\includegraphics{frog.jpg}
\includegraphics[width=200pt]{frog.jpg}
\includegraphics[width=0.4\linewidth]{diagram.png}
\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{photo.jpg}
\includegraphics[width=120pt,height=80pt]{logo.png}

width and height are lengths — a dimension like 200pt, 5cm, 0.5in, or a factor times \linewidth / \textwidth (the current line width).
Giving only one of width or height scales the other to preserve the aspect ratio.
scale multiplies the natural size; with no options the image keeps its pixel size.

A relative path is resolved against the directory of the document being rendered, so frog.jpg finds the image beside the source file.

Centering

\centerline centers a single line — the simplest way to center an image:

\centerline{\includegraphics[width=0.4\linewidth]{frog.jpg}}

\centering switches the rest of the current group to centered lines (so a wrapped paragraph or a multi-line block centers); use it inside a group or a figure body so it reverts at the close. \leftline and \rightline are the flush-left and flush-right counterparts of \centerline.

Figures and tables with captions

\figure and \table detach their body to a page edge and number it on its own counter; a \caption written inside reads “Figure 1: …” or “Table 1: …”.

\figure[h]{
  \centerline{\includegraphics[width=0.35\linewidth]{frog.jpg}}
  \vskip 6pt
  \centerline{\caption{A frog, scaled to a third of the text width.}}
}

An optional placement specifier — [h] here, [t] top, [b] bottom — follows the command. [h] keeps the float in place if it fits; the default is top.

Tabular material

\tabular sets a table from a column spec (l/c/r for alignment, | for a vertical rule); rows are separated by \\ and a horizontal rule by \hline:

\tabular{|l|c|r|}{
  \hline
  Item & Qty & Price \\
  \hline
  Widget & 3 & 1.50 \\
  Gadget & 1 & 9.99 \\
  \hline
}

The Document Format

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The engine itself is small — boxes, glue, macros, math. The familiar article furniture (titles, sections, lists, figures) comes from a format you load at the top of a document:

\use{document}

This is the analogue of plain TeX’s format or a LaTeX document class, kept deliberately small. \use resolves the format from texish’s bundled packages, so nothing else is needed. Everything below assumes it is loaded.

Title block

Declare the title, author, and date, then typeset the block with \maketitle:

\title{On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies}
\author{A. Einstein}
\date{June 1905}
\maketitle

Each is optional; \maketitle centers whichever were given.

Abstract

\begin{abstract}
A short summary of the document, indented on both sides under a centered heading.
\end{abstract}

Sections

\section and \subsection are auto-numbered; a subsection’s number resets with each new section. The first paragraph after a heading is set flush left with no indent, as in a LaTeX article; following paragraphs indent.

\section{Introduction}
The opening paragraph sits flush against the left margin.

A second paragraph opens with the usual first-line indent.

\subsection{Background}
Numbered 1.1, 1.2, and so on.

Lists

Lists nest, and the markers hang to the left of the text so wrapped lines align under the content rather than the marker.

\begin{enumerate}
\item First point.
\item Second point.
\end{enumerate}

\begin{itemize}
\item A bullet.
\item Another bullet, with a nested list:
  \begin{itemize}
  \item a deeper bullet.
  \end{itemize}
\end{itemize}

Quotations

quote indents a block on both sides; quotation indents it further. Both revert at the matching \end.

\begin{quote}
The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.
\end{quote}

Footnotes

\footnote raises a numbered marker in the text and sets its body at the foot of whatever page the marker lands on.

The result was first noted by Gauss\footnote{In a letter of 1809.} and later refined.

Spacing and page breaks

\smallskip   \medskip   \bigskip       % named vertical gaps
\vskip 12pt plus 2pt minus 1pt         % explicit vertical glue
\vfill                                  % stretchable fill to the page bottom
\eject                                  % force a page break (\vfill\eject to flush)

Running heads and feet

The format ships a page number in the footer. Override \footline, or define a \headline, to change the running head or foot; \the\pageno is the current page.

\def headline {\hfil\italic{Draft}\hfil}

See figures and images for \figure, \caption, and centering, and text and markup for emphasis, code, colour, and links.

Command Cheat Sheet

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A quick index of the commands. Those marked (format) require \use{document}; the rest are engine primitives available in any document.

Document structure (format)

Command	Effect
`\title{…}` `\author{…}` `\date{…}`	set the title-block fields
`\maketitle`	typeset the centered title block
`\begin{abstract}…\end{abstract}`	a centered, indented summary
`\section{…}` `\subsection{…}`	auto-numbered headings
`\begin{itemize}` `\begin{enumerate}` `\item`	bulleted and numbered lists
`\begin{quote}` `\begin{quotation}`	indented quotation blocks
`\footnote{…}`	a numbered footnote
`\figure[htb]{…}` `\table[htb]{…}` `\caption{…}`	floats with numbered captions

Text and markup

Command	Effect
`\emph{…}` `\textit{…}` `\textbf{…}`	italic, italic, bold
`\texttt{…}`	monospaced (Latin Modern Mono)
`\color{name}` `\textcolor{name}{…}`	pen colour (CSS name or `#RRGGBB`)
`\href{url}{text}` `\url{url}`	clickable links (real PDF annotations)
`\TeX` `\LaTeX` `\TeXish`	the logos
…’’ `` `--` `---` `...` `~`	quotes, dashes, ellipsis, tie

Mathematics

Command	Effect
$…$ `$$…$$`	inline and display math
`^` `_`	super/subscript
`\frac{a}{b}` `a \over b`	fractions
`\sqrt{x}` `\sqrt[3]{x}`	roots
`\sum` `\int` `\prod` `\limits`	big operators
`\left( … \right)`	stretchy delimiters
`\hat` `\vec` `\widehat`	accents
`\text{…}` `\mathcal{…}`	upright / calligraphic
`\matrix` `\pmatrix` `\bmatrix` `\cases`	matrices
`\eqno(…)`	display equation number

Boxes, spacing, and pages

Command	Effect
`\hbox` `\vbox` `\vtop`	explicit boxes
`\centerline` `\leftline` `\rightline` `\centering`	alignment
`\rlap` `\llap`	zero-width overlap boxes
`\kern` `\hskip` `\vskip`	rigid / glue spacing
`\smallskip` `\medskip` `\bigskip`	named vertical gaps
`\vfil` `\vfill` `\hfil` `\hss`	stretchable fill
`\lower` `\raise`	shift a box vertically
`\penalty` `\nobreak` `\eject`	page-break control

Images and graphics

Command	Effect
`\includegraphics[width=,height=,scale=]{path}`	place a PNG or JPEG
`\picture width:… height:… {…}`	open a vector-graphics drawing

Macros and programming

Command	Effect
`\def name args {body}`	define a macro (`[name:default]` optional args)
`\newenvironment name {begin}{end}`	define a `\begin`/`\end` environment
`\let` `\global` `\gdef`	aliasing and global definitions
`\if` `\ifx` `\else` `\fi`	conditionals
`\calc{…}` `\+ \- \* \/`	arithmetic
`\for … \done`	iteration
`\newcounter` `\stepcounter` `\value` `\arabic`/`\roman`/`\Roman`/`\alph`/`\Alph`	counters and number formatting
`\use{name}` `\include{path}`	load a format / include raw input

Units

pt (the base unit, 1/72 in), in, cm, mm, em, ex.

Command-Line Tool

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The Scala Native build links a standalone texish executable that turns a source document into a PDF (or one PNG per page) using the Cairo backend.

texish [options] [input-file]

  input-file                    texish source to typeset; reads standard input if omitted
  -o, --output <file>           output path (default: beside the input file, or out)
  -t, --type <pdf | png>        output type (default: pdf)
  -p, --paper <a4 | letter>     paper size (default: letter)
  -r, --resolution <sd|hd|fhd>  PNG device resolution (default: hd)

Examples

texish doc.texish                       # writes doc.pdf
texish doc.texish -o paper -p a4        # writes paper.pdf on A4
texish doc.texish -t png -r fhd         # writes doc.png (or doc_1.png, doc_2.png, …)
cat doc.texish | texish -o doc          # read the source from standard input

PDF is the default output. A single-page document writes name.png; a multi-page document writes name_1.png, name_2.png, and so on.

Building the binary

sbt texishNative/nativeLink

The executable is produced at native/target/scala-3.8.4/texish.

Links and images in PDF output

Clickable links (\href / \url) become real PDF link annotations only in PDF output — the PNG backend draws the link text but carries no annotation. \includegraphics reads PNG everywhere and JPEG through the libjpeg-turbo binding on the native backend.