Inverse search

Inverse search is a feature of some non-interactive typesetting programs, such as LaTeX and GNU LilyPond. These programs read an abstract, textual, definition of a document as input, and converts this into a graphical format such as DVI or PDF. In a windowing system, this typically means that the source code is entered in one editor window, and the resulting output is viewed in a different output window. Inverse search means that a graphical object in the output window works as a hyperlink, which brings you back to the line and column in the editor, where the clicked object was defined. The inverse search feature is particularly useful during proofreading.

Implementations

* In TeX and LaTeX, the package [http://tug.ctan.org/info?id=srcltx srcltx] provides an inverse search feature through DVI output files.
* GNU LilyPond provides an inverse search feature through PDF output files, since version 2.6. The program calls this feature "Point-and-click",
* Many integrated development environments for programming use inverse search to display compilation error messages, and during debugging when a breakpoint happens.

External links

* [http://xdvi.sourceforge.net/inverse-search.html How to set up inverse search with xdvi]