LaTeXM...:State(3pm)

💅 LaTeXML::Core::State — User Contributed Perl Documentation

okay bestie, welcome to LaTeXML::Core::State(3pm), the perl module that literally holds the entire vibe of your document-while-it's-being-processed 🎀

---

✨ NAME ✨

"LaTeXML::Core::State" — stores the current state of processing. that's it, that's the whole name 💖

---

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

A "LaTeXML::Core::State" object stores the current state of processing. no cap. it keeps track of catcodes, variables values, definitions and so forth — like a little diary of everything TeX is thinking rn 📓 — and on top of that it's out here mimicking TeX's scoping rules. iconic behavior honestly 👑

🫶 Access to State and Processing

• $STATE->getStomach; — Returns the current Stomach used for digestion. yes it's really called that. it's the tummy that eats your tokens 🍓
• $STATE->getModel; — Returns the current Model representing the document model. the blueprint of the whole thing 💜

🎀 Scoping

so the assignment methods (they're all down below, keep reading bestie) generally take a $scope argument, and that's what decides how the assignment gets made. the allowed values and their whole implications are:

 global   : global assignment.
 local    : local assignment, within the current grouping.
 undef    : global if \global preceded, else local (default)
 <name>   : stores the assignment in a `scope' which
            can be loaded later.

and if no scoping is specified at all? then the assignment goes global if a preceding "\global" has set the global flag — otherwise the value gets assigned within the current grouping. simple as that ✨

• $STATE->pushFrame; — Starts a new level of grouping. heads up though: this is lower level than "\bgroup". See LaTeXML::Core::Stomach 👀
• $STATE->popFrame; — Ends the current level of grouping. also lower level than "\egroup". again, See LaTeXML::Core::Stomach.
• $STATE->setPrefix($prefix); — Sets a prefix (eg. "global" for "\global", etc) for the next operation, if applicable. little pre-game ritual 🧚
• $STATE->clearPrefixes; — Clears any prefixes. reset era 💅

💖 Values

• $value = $STATE->lookupValue($name); — Lookup the current value associated with the the string $name.
• $STATE->assignValue($name,$value,$scope); — Assign $value to be associated with the the string $name, according to the given scoping rule.

and yes, values are also used to specify most configuration parameters (which means those can be scoped too, slay). the recognized configuration parameters are:

 STRICT            : whether errors (eg. undefined macros)
                     are fatal.
 INCLUDE_COMMENTS  : whether to preserve comments in the
                     source, and to add occasional line
                     number comments. (Default true).
 PRESERVE_NEWLINES : whether newlines in the source should
                     be preserved (not 100% TeX-like).
                     By default this is true.
 SEARCHPATHS       : a list of directories to search for
                     sources, implementations, etc.

• $STATE->pushValue($name,$value); — This is like ->assign, but pushes a value onto the end of the stored value, which should be a LIST reference. Scoping is not handled here (yet?), it simply pushes the value onto the last binding of $name. lowkey unhinged but okay 😭
• $boole = $STATE->isValuebound($type,$name,$frame); — Returns whether the value $name is bound. If $frame is given, check whether it is bound in the $frame-th frame, with 0 being the top frame. counting from zero, as one does 💀

🦋 Category Codes

• $value = $STATE->lookupCatcode($char); — Lookup the current catcode associated with the the character $char.
• $STATE->assignCatcode($char,$catcode,$scope); — Set $char to have the given $catcode, with the assignment made according to the given scoping rule.

this method is also used to specify whether a given character is active in math mode — you do that by using "math:$char" for the character, and using a value of 1 to specify that it is active. math girlies rise 🌈

👑 Definitions

• $defn = $STATE->lookupMeaning($token); — Get the "meaning" currently associated with $token, either the definition (if it is a control sequence or active character) or the token itself if it shouldn't be executable. (See LaTeXML::Core::Definition)
• $STATE->assignMeaning($token,$defn,$scope); — Set the definition associated with $token to $defn. If $globally is true, it makes this the global definition rather than bound within the current group. (See LaTeXML::Core::Definition, and LaTeXML::Package)
• $STATE->installDefinition($definition, $scope); — Install the definition into the current stack frame under its normal control sequence. put it on the shelf, it lives there now 🫶

⭐ Named Scopes

Named scopes can be used to set variables or redefine control sequences within a scope other than the standard TeX grouping. for example: the LaTeX implementation will automatically activate any definitions that were defined with a named scope of, say "section:4", during the portion of the document that has the section counter equal to 4 🔥. similarly, a scope named "label:foo" will be activated in portions of the document where "\label{foo}" is in effect. it's giving ✨context-aware✨

• $STATE->activateScope($scope); — Installs any definitions that were associated with the named $scope. note that these are placed in the current grouping frame and will disappear when that grouping ends. fleeting, like all things 💜
• $STATE->deactivateScope($scope); — Removes any definitions that were associated with the named $scope. Normally not needed, since a scopes definitions are locally bound anyway. so like, don't bother, but it's there 🙈
• $sp = $STATE->convertUnit($unit); — Converts a TeX unit of the form '10em' (or whatever TeX unit) into scaled points. (Defined here since in principle it could track the size of ems and so forth (but currently doesn't)) — honest queen, love the transparency 😭

---

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Bruce Miller <bruce.miller@nist.gov> — the main character who wrote all this 💖

🌈 COPYRIGHT 🌈

Public domain software, produced as part of work done by the United States Government & not subject to copyright in the US. literally free, no strings, periodt 👑

---

and that's the whole page bestie!! this one's from perl v5.40.1, dated 2025-11-16 — see you in the next manpage, mwah 😘💅✨