Python: Insert variable in string for LaTeX pdf generation

Question

Hello i am fairly new to Python and i would like to automate some latex pdf report generation. So i want to make a function that takes x numbers of string variables as input and insert them into a predefined latex text, such that it can be compiled as a report pdf. I really hope that someone can help me with this problem. I have tried doing like shown below, which obviously does not work:

def insertVar(site, turbine, country):
 site = str(site)
 turbine = str(turbine)
 country = str(country)

 report = r'''On %(site)s there are 300 %(turbine)s wind turbines, these lies in %(country)s'''

 with open('report.tex','w') as f:
  f.write(report)


 cmd = ['pdflatex', '-interaction', 'nonstopmode', 'report.tex']
 proc = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
 proc.communicate()

 retcode = proc.returncode
 if not retcode == 0:
    os.unlink('report.pdf')
    raise ValueError('Error {} executing command: {}'.format(retcode, ' '.join(cmd))) 

 os.unlink('report.tex')
 os.unlink('report.log')

insertVar('atsumi', 'ge', 'japan')

So i want the output of the PDF to read:
“On atsumi there are 300 ge wind turbines, these lies in japan”

Asked By: Nicklas Koldkjær

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Source

Answer 1

Here’s a start:

report = r'''On %(site)s there are 300 %(turbine)s wind turbines, these lies in %(country)s'''

with open('report.tex','w') as f:
   f.write(report)

Should be:

report = r'''On {a}s there are 300 {b}s wind turbines, these lies in {c}s'''.format(a=site, b=turbine, c=country)

with open('report.txt','w') as f:
       f.write(report)

Answered By: James

Answer 2

Try using str.format():

report = "On {} there are 300 {} wind turbines, these lies in {}".format(site, turbine, country)

If you like you can use % instead, note, however, this is the old style:

report = "On %s there are 300 %s wind turbines, these lies in %s" % (site, turbine, country)

Note: I do not see the need for using a raw string in your case.

Answered By: Sash Sinha

Python: Insert variable in string for LaTeX pdf generation

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