1LYX(1) LyX 2.3.6.1 LYX(1)
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6 LyX - A Document Processor
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9 lyx [ command-line switches ] [ name[.lyx] ... ]
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12 LyX is too complex to be described completely in the "man" page format.
13 If your system is properly configured, you can access the full documen‐
14 tation within LyX under the Help menu.
15 LyX is a document preparation system. It excels at letting you create
17 complex technical and scientific articles with mathematics, cross-ref‐
18 erences, bibliographies, indices, etc. It is very good at documents of
19 any length in which the usual processing abilities are required: auto‐
20 matic sectioning and pagination, spellchecking, and so forth. It can
21 also be used to write a letter to your mom, though granted, there are
22 probably simpler programs available for that. It is definitely not the
23 best tool for creating banners, flyers, or advertisements, though with
24 some effort all these can be done, too. Some examples of what it is
25 used for: memos, letters, dissertations and theses, lecture notes, sem‐
26 inar notebooks, conference proceedings, software documentation, books
27 (on PostgreSQL, remote sensing, cryptology, fictional novels, poetry,
28 and even a children's book or two), articles in refereed scientific
29 journals, scripts for plays and movies, business proposals... you get
30 the idea.
31 Currently, LyX uses the Qt4 library as a toolkit. LyX should run every‐
33 where, where this library runs. This is on all major Unix platforms as
34 well as Windows and Mac OS X (which actually is a unix platform).
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37 LyX supports the following command-line switches.
38 -help summarizes LyX usage
40 -version
42 provides version information on the build of LyX.
43 -sysdir directory
45 sets system directory. Normally not needed.
46 -userdir directory
48 sets user directory. Needed if you want to use LyX with different
49 lyxrc settings.
50 -geometry WxH+X+Y
52 set geometry of the main window.
53 -dbg feature[,feature...]
55 where feature is a name or number. Use "lyx -dbg" to see the
56 list of available debug features.
57 -x [--execute] command
59 where command is a lyx command.
60 -e [--export] fmt
62 where fmt is the export format of choice (latex, pdflatex, lua‐
63 tex, xetex, xhtml, text, lyx, ps, pdf, ...). Note that the order
64 of -e and -x switches matters.
65 -E [--export-to] fmt filename
67 where fmt is the export format of choice (see --export), and
68 filename is the destination filename. Note that any additional
69 external file needed by filename (such as image files) will be
70 exported as well to the folder containing filename (preserving
71 the relative path embedded within the original LyX document, if
72 any).
73 -i [--import] fmt file.xxx
75 where fmt is the import format of choice and file.xxx is the file
76 to be imported.
77 -f [--force-overwrite] what
79 where what is is either "all", "main" or "none". Specify "all"
80 to allow overwriting all files during a batch export, "main" to
81 allow overwriting the main file only, or "none" to disallow over‐
82 writing any file. When this switch is followed by anything else
83 other than "all", "main" or "none", the behavior is as if "all"
84 was specified, but what follows is left on the command line for
85 further processing.
86 --ignore-error-message which
88 allows you to ignore specific LaTeX error messages. Do not use
89 for final documents! Currently supported values: "missing_glyphs"
90 Fontspec "missing glyphs" error.
91 -n [--no-remote]
93 open documents passed as arguments in a new instance, even if
94 another instance of LyX is already running.
95 -r [--remote]
97 by using the lyxpipe, ask an already running instance of LyX to
98 open the documents passed as arguments and then exit. If the lyx‐
99 pipe is not set up or is not working, a new instance is created
100 and execution continues normally.
101 -v [--verbose]
103 print on terminal all spawned external commands.
104 -batch
106 causes LyX to run the given commands without opening a GUI win‐
107 dow. Thus, something like:
108 lyx -batch -x "buffer-print printer default dvips" myfile.lyx
109 will cause LyX to print myfile.lyx to the default printer, using
110 dvips and the default print settings (which, of course, have to
111 have been configured already).
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115 LYX_DIR_23x
116 can be used to specify which system directory to use.
117 The system directory is determined by searching for the file "chkcon‐
119 fig.ltx". Directories are searched in this order:
120 1) -sysdir command line parameter
121 2) LYX_DIR_23x environment variable
122 3) Maybe <path of binary>/TOP_SRCDIR/lib
123 4) <path of binary>/../share/<name of binary>/
124 5) hardcoded lyx_dir (at build time: /usr/share/lyx)
125 LYX_USERDIR_23x
127 can be used to specify which user directory to use.
128 The user directory is, in order of precedence:
130 1) -userdir command line parameter
131 2) LYX_USERDIR_23x environment variable
132 3) $HOME/.<name of binary> if no explicit setting is made
133 LYX_LOCALEDIR
136 can be used to tell LyX where to look for the translations of
137 its GUI strings in other languages.
138 LYX_FORCE_OVERWRITE
141 can be used to change the default behavior when exporting from
142 command line.
143 By default, LyX overwrites the main file when exporting from command
145 line but not the ancillary files. This behavior can be changed by set‐
146 ting this environment variable, which relieves the need of using the -f
147 switch. Allowed values are either "all", "main" or "none", with same
148 meaning as for the -f switch.
149
151 ~/.lyx/preferences Personal configuration file
152 ~/.lyx/lyxrc.defaults Personal autodetected configuration file
153 LIBDIR/lyxrc.dist System wide configuration file
154 LIBDIR/configure.py Updates LyX if config has changed
155 LIBDIR/bind/ Keybindings
156 LIBDIR/clipart/ Clipart pictures
157 LIBDIR/doc/ Documentation in LyX format.
158 LIBDIR/examples/ Example documents
159 LIBDIR/images/ Images used as icons or in popups
160 LIBDIR/kbd/ Keyboard mappings
161 LIBDIR/layouts/ Layout descriptions
162 LIBDIR/templates/ Templates for documents
163 LIBDIR/tex/ Extra TeX files
164 LIBDIR is the system directory. This was at build time /usr/share/lyx.
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169 tex2lyx(1), latex(1).
170 Full documentation in either native LyX or postscript format.
172
174 There are still some bugs in LyX. To report one, read if possible the
175 Introduction found under the Help menu in LyX. You'll find detailed
176 info on submitting bug reports there. If you can't do that, send
177 details to the LyX Developers mailing list lyx-devel@lists.lyx.org, or
178 use the LyX bug tracker at http://www.lyx.org/trac/wiki/BugTrackerHome.
179 Don't forget to mention which version you are having problems with!
180 LaTeX import is still not perfect and may produce buggy *.lyx files.
182 Consult the tex2lyx documentation.
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186 LyX is Copyright (C) 1995 by Matthias Ettrich, 1995-2017 LyX Team
187Version 2.3.6.1 2020-12-29 LYX(1)