texify.sh

#!/bin/sh

die() {
  echo "$*" 1>&2
  exit 1
}

export TMPDIR=${TMPDIR:=/tmp}
export PDFLATEX=$(which pdflatex)
export PDF2PS=$(which pdf2ps)
export PS2EPS=$(which ps2eps)
export CONVERT=$(which convert)

eqn="$*"
texify_dir="$TMPDIR/texify"

if [ -z "$eqn" ]; then
  echo "usage: $0 <equation>"
  echo "creates a .png of the equation"
  exit 1
fi

[ -n "${PDFLATEX}" ] || die "Don't know where pdflatex is!"
[ -n "${PDF2PS}" ] || die "Don't know where pdf2ps is!"
[ -n "${PS2EPS}" ] || die "Don't know where ps2eps is!"
[ -n "${CONVERT}" ] || die "Don't know where convert is!"

if [ ! -d "${texify_dir}" ] && ! mkdir -p "${texify_dir}"; then
  die "Could not create ${texify_dir}!"; fi

name=$(mktemp --dry-run "${texify_dir}/XXXXXXX")

input="$(echo "${eqn}" | sed 's/\\end{equation\*}//g')"
input="\documentclass[12pt]{article}
    \batchmode
    \usepackage{amsmath}
    \usepackage{amssymb}
    \usepackage{array}
    \begin{document}
      \pagenumbering{gobble}
      \begin{equation*}
        ${input}
      \end{equation*}
    \end{document}"
echo "${input}" > "${name}.tex"

"${PDFLATEX}" "-output-directory=${texify_dir}" "${name}.tex" >/dev/null
"${PDF2PS}" "${name}.pdf" "${name}.ps" >/dev/null
"${PS2EPS}" < "${name}.ps" > "${name}.eps" 2>/dev/null
"${CONVERT}" -density 500x500 -border 50x50 "${name}.eps" "${name}.png" >/dev/null

for ext in tex aux log pdf ps eps; do
  rm -f "${name}.${ext}"; done

echo "${name}.png"