What is the variable that contains the source file name?

Question

I am writing a package that saves information to an external file. I would like to name that file according to the source one; something like foo.tex -> foo.bar But I cannot find any variable that contains 'foo'. I am pretty sure that there must be one because the table of contents is saved to foo.toc.

Any pointers?

For this purpose \jobname is always the right way to go. If you want to get the real main file name, which can be different from the job name if it is changed using the -jobname compiler argument, then see Macro to retrieve the real name of the source file if pdflatex is invoked with -jobname — Martin Scharrer, May 08 '12 at 07:53
since 2020 there are standard macros , documented in https://ctan.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/ctan/macros/latex-dev/base/ltfilehook-doc.pdf — am70, Apr 08 '22 at 07:26

score 43 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 29 '22 at 22:49

43

You want the macro \jobname. This isn't quite the filename; to quote from the TeX FAQ:

TeX retains what it considers the name of the job, only, in the primitive \jobname; this is the name of the file first handed to TeX, stripped of its directory name and of any extension (such as .tex). If no file was passed (i.e., you're using TeX interactively), \jobname has the value texput (the name that's given to .log files in this case).

So if you're processing foo.tex, \jobname will be foo (which, of course, is probably what you want anyway).

edited Sep 29 '22 at 22:49

David Carlisle

757,742

answered Dec 12 '10 at 20:05

Antal Spector-Zabusky

13,147

Curiously, TeX does retain the current line number, see inputlineno – Yossi Gil Feb 28 '11 at 03:58
This is correct. Nevertheless, if you input a tex file into another, \jobname will hold the name of the file which is importing the other file. – gies0r Jan 20 '19 at 14:13

lockstep · Answer 2 · 2010-12-12T20:19:33.247

10

You are looking for \jobname.

EDIT: To add some value to my answer - pages 288-289 of the LaTeX2e sources contain the definition of \@starttoc, the command that reads/writes ToC data from/to external files. This definition reveals the answer to your question.

edited Dec 12 '10 at 20:19

answered Dec 12 '10 at 20:04

lockstep

250,273

Thank you for the link. It is always nice to have good sources. – Hector Dec 13 '10 at 01:33

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 20 '19 at 14:22

9

\usepackage{currfile}
Filename: \currfilename

answered Jan 20 '19 at 14:22

gies0r

191
1
3

1

My use case was that I had a large main file with several other tex files included - this is what I needed! (the other suggestion gives only the "main.tex" file where I include the other .tex files. – user1941126 Aug 01 '21 at 09:47

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered May 05 '22 at 23:17

In LuaTeX, the equivalent of \jobname on the lua side is tex.jobname. In LaTeX3 we have

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\jobname\\
\ExplSyntaxOn
\g_file_curr_dir_str/
\g_file_curr_name_str.
\g_file_curr_ext_str
\ExplSyntaxOff
\end{document}

Some use case may benefit from the recent ltfilehook package which is built into LaTeX, one has \CurrentFile, \CurrentFilePath... available in the hook instructions.

What is the variable that contains the source file name?

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