Can Latex copy external files around the computer's file system

Question

I have a latex document like the below

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\newcommand{\plott}[1]{
\begin{figure}
        \includegraphics{#1}
\end{figure}
}
\begin{document}
\plott{"c:\documents\chart1.pdf"}
\plott{"c:\downloads\chart2.pdf"}
\end{document}

Now as well as chart1.pdf and chart2.pdf I have files chart1.csv and chart2.csv (which live in the same folders as these charts) which contains the data that went into make the chart.

I want to add logic to \plott to copy these csvs to a third folder so that when I compile the document I get not only a document but also a folder containing all of the input data. Is it possible for latex to copy external files like this?

Is it possible? Yes. Is it feasible? No. Better add this to your build process than letting LaTeX do it. — Skillmon, Mar 01 '21 at 10:50
I was hoping latex could do it as with xstring and IfFileExists it has most of what is needed - I just need to be able to copy files. If possible I don't want to use a batch file or something as that is additional dependencies, need to grep to see what charts are included, etc. — Stuart, Mar 01 '21 at 11:01
Let your macro write the file names used to another temporary file which is used by your batch file to copy the correct csvs. — Skillmon, Mar 01 '21 at 11:02
There's also tex core - File copy without expansion - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange but for text files only and trailing newlines may be added/trailing spaces may be stripped. — user202729, Dec 11 '22 at 08:38

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 01 '21 at 13:02

Using \immediate\write18 you can run an external program from a .tex file, so

\newcommand{\plott}[2][]{
  \immediate\write18{cp #2 plott}
   \begin{figure}
    \includegraphics[#1]{#2}
   \end{figure}
}

(1) will include #2 in the output and

(2) will copy it into the plott folder.

Requirements for this solution:

(1) You are using a Unix-like OS.

(2) A TeX Live distribution is installed on your system.

(3) A folder named plott exists in the same directory of the main .tex file. You can create it automatically with \immediate\write18{mkdir plott} if you prefer.

A minimal working example

I used two images from TeX Live, but you can change the path, of course, and use other files:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\newcommand{\plott}[2][]{
\immediate\write18{cp #2 plott}
 \begin{figure}
  \includegraphics[#1]{#2}
 \end{figure}
}
\begin{document}
 \plott{/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/mwe/example-image-a.jpg}
 \plott{/usr/local/texlive/2020/texmf-dist/tex/latex/mwe/example-image-b.jpg}
\end{document}

Thanks. I am not using Unix but I ended up doing something similar — Stuart, Mar 02 '21 at 22:14
write18 doesn't work in LuaTeX however. There's shellesc package and expl3's sys_shell_now command. — user202729, Dec 11 '22 at 15:42

Can Latex copy external files around the computer's file system

1 Answers1

Requirements for this solution:

A minimal working example

Linked