latex2mathml

Install the latex2mathml library using pip to enable LaTeX to MathML conversion in your Python environment.

pip install latex2mathml

You can provide custom macro definitions to the walk function to handle non-standard LaTeX commands. The macros dictionary expects the following format:

{ "command_name": ( [list_of_tokens], number_of_arguments ) }

• command_name: The exact string of the command (e.g., "\\mycmd").
• list_of_tokens: The sequence of tokens that the command expands into.
• number_of_arguments: The integer count of arguments the macro accepts (used with #1, #2, etc., in the token list).

from latex2mathml import walker

# Define a macro \hello{text} that expands to \text{hello text}
custom_macros = {
    "\\hello": (["\\text", "hello"], 1)
}

# Note: If the macro uses arguments like #1, the expansion logic handles substitution
# Example: macro for \swap{a}{b} -> a b
swap_macros = {
    "\\swap": (["#1", "#2"], 2)
}

tree = walker.walk(r"\hello{world}", macros=swap_macros)

To convert LaTeX strings to MathML programmatically, import latex2mathml.converter and use the convert() function. Pass your LaTeX string as the input argument to receive the MathML output.

import latex2mathml.converter

latex_input = "<your_latex_string>"
mathml_output = latex2mathml.converter.convert(latex_input)

The following options are available when using the latex2mathml command-line tool:

Options:

• -h, --help: Show this help message and exit
• -V, --version: Show version
• -b, --block: Display block

Required Arguments:

• -t TEXT, --text TEXT: Provide the LaTeX text directly
• -f FILE, --file FILE: Provide a file containing LaTeX
• -s, --stdin: Read LaTeX from standard input

The latex2mathml CLI allows you to convert LaTeX to MathML from the terminal using text, files, or standard input (stdin).

# View help information
latex2mathml -h

# Example usage (based on available flags)
latex2mathml -t "\alpha"
latex2mathml -f input.tex
latex2mathml -s

The parse_symbols() function reads the unimathsymbols.txt file to build a mapping between LaTeX commands and Unicode hex strings. It handles various formats including direct LaTeX commands, Unicode math equivalents, and additional aliases defined in the symbol file. It also applies a set of hardcoded manual overrides for specific LaTeX commands (e.g., \And, \Box, \dots).

from latex2mathml.symbols_parser import parse_symbols

symbols_map = parse_symbols()
# symbols_map is a dict[str, str] where keys are LaTeX commands and values are Unicode hex strings

The latex2mathml package exposes its current version via the __version__ attribute, which is retrieved from the installed package metadata.

import latex2mathml
print(latex2mathml.__version__)

For simple use cases, you can use the standalone convert and convert_to_element functions. These functions instantiate a Converter internally with default settings.

• convert(latex, xmlns, display, parent): Returns a MathML string.
• convert_to_element(latex, xmlns, display, parent): Returns an XML Element.

from latex2mathml import convert, convert_to_element

# Quick conversion to string
result = convert(r"x^2")

# Quick conversion to Element
element = convert_to_element(r"x^2", display="block")

Use convert_symbol(symbol: str) to look up the Unicode hex string for a given LaTeX symbol. The function searches a pre-loaded dictionary of symbols. If the symbol is not found, it returns None.

from latex2mathml.symbols_parser import convert_symbol

unicode_hex = convert_symbol(r"\alpha")
if unicode_hex:
    print(f"Unicode hex: {unicode_hex}")
else:
    print("Symbol not found")