TeX-file output another TeX-file

Question

My problem, is to generate some .tex-file from within another .tex-file. The origin of problem is to extract some information from scientific paper, and create another .tex->.pdf-file with data about authors and so on.

My MWE now work with using \string, but if I want to create many lines in outputted .tex, it is easy to make a mistake. Is any simple solution?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T2A,T1]{fontenc}
    %\usepackage{filecontents}
\makeatletter
\def\macroPass#1{%
    \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
    \else
    \def\macroPrint{#1}
    \fi
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}


\newwrite\regformfile
\newcommand\writeregformfile{%
    \immediate\openout\regformfile=data.tex
    \immediate\write\regformfile{
            \string\documentclass{article}^^J
            \string\begin{document}^^J
                \string\begin{center} \string\bfseries^^J
                     \string\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}^^J
                         \string\hline^^J
                        Field& \unexpanded\expandafter{\macroPrint}  \string\\  \string\hline^^J
                     \string\end{tabular}^^J
                 \string\end{center}^^J
             \string\end{document}
    }
}

\macroPass{To data.tex}
\writeregformfile
\end{document}

MWE with folecontents, which is work incorrect.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T2A,T1]{fontenc}
    %\usepackage{filecontents}
\makeatletter
\def\macroPass#1{%
    \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
    \else
    \def\macroPrint{#1}
    \fi
}
\makeatother

\begin{filecontents*}{data.tex}
    \documentclass{article}
    \begin{document}
        \begin{center}\bfseries
            \begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
                \hline
                Field& \macroPrint \\ \hline
            \end{tabular}
        \end{center}
    \end{document}
\end{filecontents*}
\begin{document}
\macroPass{To data.tex}
\end{document}

Can't the information be put in a .tex file that is inputted in all your other documents ? — Jérôme Dequeker, May 27 '16 at 15:29
@touhami I know about this packages, but I did not see the possibility of parameters passing to filecontents in documentation — sergiokapone, May 27 '16 at 15:29
why all the \writes? you could write the whole thing with a single write (^^J makes a newline) — David Carlisle, May 27 '16 at 15:35
sorry it seems i am not understanding the question. Can you explain it a bit (if you think it's clear just don't care, it's my english) — touhami, May 27 '16 at 15:36
@DavidCarlisle Yes, thanks. This it is simplifies the task, but \string is still here. — sergiokapone, May 27 '16 at 15:40
It isn't clear why you can't just use filecontents (which doesn't need a package) the \macroPass command you define doesn't seem to be related in any way to the file writing? — David Carlisle, May 27 '16 at 15:42
@DavidCarlisle I do not completely understand your comment. I have add second MWE with filecontents, but it is does not work. Where is my mistake? — sergiokapone, May 27 '16 at 15:58
{data.tex} should be an argument to filecontents not to \documentclass then either filecontents needs to be at the start of the file, or use the filecontens package version — David Carlisle, May 27 '16 at 16:14
but what do you want \macroPass{To data.tex} to do? currently it just defines an unused macro, after the data.tex file is written out. — David Carlisle, May 27 '16 at 16:15
@David Carlisle {data.tex} - my stupied mistake. But I need to be \macroPrint expanded in data.tex to text from within \macroPass. My firs MWE work correct. You could to see the data.tex from it. — sergiokapone, May 27 '16 at 16:20

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 27 '16 at 18:39

You can cheat and use a different escape character for defining the macro.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T2A,T1]{fontenc}

\newcommand\macroPass[1]{%
  \if\relax\detokenize{#1}\relax
  \else
    \def\macroPrint{#1}%
  \fi
}

\newwrite\regformfile
\begingroup
\catcode`?=0 \catcode`\\=12
?endlinechar=`^^J
?gdef?writeregformfile{%
  ?immediate?openout?regformfile=data.tex%
  ?immediate?write?regformfile{%
    \documentclass{article}
    \begin{document}
    \begin{center} \bfseries
    \begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
    \hline
    Field & ?unexpanded?expandafter{?macroPrint} \\ \hline
    \end{tabular}
    \end{center}
    \end{document}
  }%
}%
?endgroup%

\begin{document}

\macroPass{To data.tex}
\writeregformfile
\end{document}

The output file is as follows.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{center} \bfseries
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|}
\hline
Field & To data.tex \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{document}

TeX-file output another TeX-file

1 Answers1