texdoc

View TeX/LaTeX package documentation from TeX Live

TLDR

Open the documentation for a package

$ texdoc [package-name]

List matching docs without opening anything

$ texdoc -l [package-name]

Full-text search across documentation

$ texdoc -s [query]

Open in a specific PDF viewer

$ texdoc --viewer=[evince] [package-name]

Show file paths instead of opening

$ texdoc -f [package-name]

Interactively pick between matches

$ texdoc -I [package-name]

Open multiple packages at once

$ texdoc [package1] [package2] [package3]

texdoc finds and displays documentation for TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and related packages installed in a TeX Live distribution. It searches TEXMF trees for files associated with a package — usually a PDF manual but sometimes README, .txt, or .html — and opens the best match in a configured viewer.When multiple matches exist, -l prompts for a selection and -s broadens the search to the documentation contents (using the texdoc-fulltext index). The viewer is selected from configuration (**~/.texlive*/texmf-config/texdoc/texdoc.cnf) or from the PDFVIEWER / BROWSER** environment variables.

PARAMETERS

-l, --list

Show numbered list of matches; prompt to choose one.

-s, --search

Full-text search across the documentation tree.

-I, --interact

Force interactive mode (opposite of --nointeract).

-M, --machine

Machine-readable output: one line per match (file path, score, name).

-f, --files

Print matching file paths instead of opening them.

-w, --view

View documentation (default action).

-m, --mixed

Combine name search and full-text search (useful when names overlap with content).

--viewer CMD

Override the configured PDF viewer.

-D, --debug

Print debug output to stderr.

-q, --quiet

Suppress informational messages.

-v, --verbose

Increase verbosity.

-V, --version

Show texdoc version.

CONFIGURATION

texdoc.cnf

Per-user configuration controlling viewer selection, mode aliases, and language preferences. Searched in TEXMFCONFIG, TEXMFVAR, TEXMFHOME, etc.

TEXDOCS

kpathsea variable controlling where texdoc looks for documentation files.

CAVEATS

Requires a TeX Live (or MiKTeX) installation with documentation packages installed; minimal "scheme-small" installs ship without docs. Not all packages provide documentation in PDF form. Full-text search depends on the texdoc-fulltext package being installed.

HISTORY

texdoc is part of TeX Live, written in Lua and bundled with luatex. Earlier shell-script versions were superseded by the Lua implementation in TeX Live 2009.