evil-tex-ts is a modern, tree-sitter based toolkit for LaTeX editing in Evil mode. It is a re-imagining of the classic evil-tex package, utilizing Emacs 29+ built-in tree-sitter capabilities for superior performance and accuracy.

Why a new package? The original `evil-tex` has not seen updates in years and relies on regular expressions for text object detection. This approach can be brittle, inaccurate in complex cases, and inefficient on large files. evil-tex-ts leverages the structural understanding of the `tree-sitter-latex` parser to provide precise text objects, efficient toggles, and robust surround integration.

This is the first release of the package. While functional, it may contain bugs or rough edges. If you encounter any issues, please report them on GitHub.

If you find evil-tex-ts useful, please consider giving it a star on GitHub — it helps others discover the project!

• Showcase
  • Text object examples
  • Toggle examples
  • Surround examples
• Installation
  • Requirements
  • Setup
• Overview
  • Text Objects
  • Toggles
  • Surround
  • Navigation
• Configuration
  • User Options
• Differences from evil-tex
• Acknowledgements
• Appendix
  • Keymaps

| marks point.

   \foobar{barbaz}     \foobar{barbaz}    \foobar     \foobar    \foobar{}     \foobar{}
   └─────────────┘             └────┘     └─────┘            ┆   └───────┘             ┆
          ac                     ic         ac      ic (empty)      ac            ic (empty)

  ┌\begin{foobar}     \begin{foobar}
  │                  ┌
ae│ baz            ie│ baz
  │                  └
  └\end{foobar}       \end{foobar}

  \(foobar\)    \(foobar\)    \[foobar\]    \[foobar\]
  └────────┘      └────┘      └────────┘      └────┘
      am            im            am            im

  (foobar)    (foobar)    \left(foobar\right)    \left(foobar\right)  \Bigl(foobar\Bigr)    \Bigl(foobar\Bigr)
  └──────┘     └────┘     └─────────────────┘          └────┘         └────────────────┘          └────┘
     ad          id               ad                     id                   ad                    id

   ┌\section{foo}          \section{foo}
   │                      ┌
 aS│ baz                iS│ baz
   │\subsection*{}        │\subsection*{}
   └ qux                  └ qux
    \chapter*{bar}         \chapter*{bar}

   a^{foo}    a^{foo}    a^b    a^b    a^\bar    a^\bar
    └────┘       └─┘      └╵      ╵     └───┘      └──┘
      a^          i^      a^     i^      a^         i^

   a_{foo}    a_{foo}    a_b    a_b    a_\bar    a_\bar
    └────┘       └─┘      └╵      ╵     └───┘      └──┘
      a_          i_      a_     i_      a_         i_

   & foobar &    & foobar &    & foobar \\    & foobar \\
   └───────┘      └──────┘     └───────┘       └──────┘
       aT            iT            aT             iT

    `foobar'      `foobar'     ``foobar''     ``foobar''
    └──────┘       └────┘      └────────┘       └────┘
       aq            iq            aQ             iQ

• die (delete inner environment)

  Before:

  \begin{equation}
    x^2 + y^2 = z^2|
  \end{equation}
      

  Press die

  After:

  \begin{equation}
  \end{equation}
      

• cic (change inner command)

  Point can be anywhere inside the command:

  Before: \textbf{hel|lo}

  Press cic

  After: \textbf{|}

  Before: \tex|tbf{hello}

  Press cic

  After: \textbf{|}

  If point is outside a command, seeks the nearest command to the right on the same line:

  Before: s|ome text \textbf{hello}

  Press cic

  After: some text \textbf{|}

• dam (delete around math)

  Before: \(x + y| = z\)

  Press dam

  After: (empty)

  If point is outside math, seeks the nearest math to the right on the same line:

  Before: some te|xt \(x + y\)

  Press dam

  After: some text|

• viS (select inner section)

  Select the content of a section until the next section (excluding the \section{...} header).

  Before:

  \section{Introduction}
  This is the intro.|
  More text here.
  
  \section{Methods}
      

  Press viS

  After (selected region marked with ##):

  \section{Introduction}
  ##This is the intro.
  ##More text here.
  ##
  \section{Methods}
      

  The empty line before \section{Methods} is included. Use vaS to also include the \section{...} header.

All toggle commands use the mt prefix by default (mnemonic: “magnificent toggle”).

Note: The mt prefix overrides the m (set-marker) command for the t character. You have 25 other marks available. To change this behavior, see User Options.

• mte (toggle environment *)

  Toggle the asterisk on environments. Useful for switching between numbered and unnumbered equations.

  \begin{equation}|  →  \begin{equation*}
      

  Works with any environment:

  \begin{align}    ↔  \begin{align*}
  \begin{figure}   ↔  \begin{figure*}
  \begin{table}    ↔  \begin{table*}
      

• mtm (toggle math mode)

  Toggle between inline and display math modes.

  \(x + y|\)  →  \[x + y\]  →  \(x + y\)
  $x + y|$    →  \[x + y\]  →  $x + y$
      

  The inline math format is controlled by evil-tex-ts-preferred-inline-math: dollar ($...$, default) or paren (\(...\)).

• mtM (toggle math align)

  Toggle between display math and align* environment.

  Before:

  \[
    x + y|
  \]
      

  Press mtM

  After:

  \begin{align*}
    x + y
  \end{align*}
      

  Press mtM again

  \[
    x + y
  \]
      

  Also works starting from inline math (one-way to align*):

  Before: $x + |y$

  Press mtM

  After:

  \begin{align*}
    x + y
  \end{align*}
      

  Then toggles between align* and \[...\].

• mtd (toggle delimiter sizing)

  Toggle automatic delimiter sizing with \left=/\right=.

  (x + y|)      ↔  \left(x + y\right)
  [a, b|]       ↔  \left[a, b\right]
  \{1, 2|\}     ↔  \left\{1, 2\right\}
      

  Also removes \bigl=/\bigr= and similar sizing commands (one-way):

  \bigl(x + y\bigr)   →  (x + y)
  \Bigl[a, b\Bigr]    →  [a, b]
      

• mtc (toggle command *)

  Toggle the asterisk on commands. Useful for switching between numbered and unnumbered sections.

  \section{Title|}  →  \section*{Title}
      

  Works with various sectioning commands:

  \chapter{Title}      ↔  \chapter*{Title}
  \subsection{Title}   ↔  \subsection*{Title}
  \paragraph{Title}    ↔  \paragraph*{Title}
      

• mtS (change section type)

  Change the type of the current section. A prompt appears with available section types.

  Before:

  \section{My Title|}
  Some content here.
      

  Press mtS, select subsection from prompt

  After:

  \subsection{My Title}
  Some content here.
      

  Available types: part, chapter, section, subsection, subsubsection, paragraph, subparagraph

Surround commands follow the evil-surround patterns:

• ys<text-object><surround-type> — add surround (e.g., ysiwe wraps inner word with environment)
• cs<old><new> — change surround (e.g., csee changes environment to environment)
• ds<type> — delete surround (e.g., dsd deletes delimiter)

When <new> or <type> opens a keymap (like e for environment or d for delimiter), press the corresponding key to select (see Keymaps).

• ysiwe (surround word with environment)

  Before: |word

  Press ysiwe, then type equation

  After:

  \begin{equation}
    word
  \end{equation}
      

• Se (visual surround with environment)

  Before: |1 + 2

  Select the expression with v$ (or any visual selection), press S, then e for environment, then a for align (see Environment Keymap)

  After:

  \begin{align}
    1 + 2
  \end{align}
      

  Content is automatically indented inside the environment.

• VjSeA (linewise surround multiple lines with environment)

  Before:

  |1 + 2
  3 + 4
      

  Vj selects both lines, S starts surround, e for environment, A for align*

  After:

  \begin{align*}
    1 + 2
    3 + 4
  \end{align*}
      

• cseea (change environment to align)

  Before:

  \begin{equation}
    x^2 + y^2| = z^2
  \end{equation}
      

  Press cs (change surround), e (old: environment), e (new: environment keymap), a (align)

  After:

  \begin{align}
    x^2 + y^2 = z^2
  \end{align}
      

• dsd (delete surrounding delimiter)

  Before: \left(x + y|\right)

  Press dsd

  After: |x + y

  Also works with simple delimiters:

  Before: (a + b|)

  Press dsd

  After: |a + b

• Emacs 29.1 or later (with tree-sitter support enabled)
• evil
• evil-surround (optional, but highly recommended)
• A generic `tree-sitter-latex` grammar (usually installed via `M-x treesit-install-language-grammar`)

(use-package evil-tex-ts
  :ensure t
  :after (evil)
  :hook ((LaTeX-mode . evil-tex-ts-mode)
         (latex-mode . evil-tex-ts-mode))
  :init
  ;; Register tree-sitter grammar source
  (add-to-list 'treesit-language-source-alist
               '(latex "https://github.com/latex-lsp/tree-sitter-latex"))
  :config
  ;; Auto-install grammar if not available
  (unless (treesit-language-available-p 'latex)
    (treesit-install-language-grammar 'latex))

  ;; IMPORTANT: Set preferred inline math format
  ;; 'dollar for $...$ (default), 'paren for \(...\)
  (setq evil-tex-ts-preferred-inline-math 'dollar))

Or install manually with M-x package-install RET evil-tex-ts RET.

Clone the repository and add it to your load-path:

(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/evil-tex-ts")
(require 'evil-tex-ts)

;; Hook into LaTeX modes
(add-hook 'latex-ts-mode-hook #'evil-tex-ts-mode)
(add-hook 'LaTeX-mode-hook #'evil-tex-ts-mode) ;; If using AUCTeX

Important: The variable evil-tex-ts-preferred-inline-math controls which format is used when toggling math modes (mtm) and surrounding with inline math (m). Default value is 'dollar ($...$). Set to 'paren for \(...\).

This package defines precise text objects based on the AST:

Default prefix is mt (“magnificent toggle”).

If `evil-surround` is installed, `evil-tex-ts` adds specific surround pairs.

See Keymaps for full keymaps.

Works in both normal and visual modes. Recognizes chapter, section, subsection, etc.

Customize these variables via M-x customize-group RET evil-tex-ts.

• evil-tex-ts-select-newlines-with-envs (default: t)
  Include newlines when selecting/deleting environments. Makes dae remove the whole block cleanly.
• evil-tex-ts-toggle-override-m (default: t)
  Bind toggles to mt. Set to nil to preserve the m marker key.
• evil-tex-ts-toggle-override-t (default: nil)
  Bind toggles to ts (vimtex style). Can be used alongside or instead of mt.
• evil-tex-ts-preferred-inline-math (default: 'dollar)
  Preferred format for inline math toggles: dollar ($...$) or paren (\(...\)).

Add your own environments, accents, and delimiters using these functions:

;; Add "quote" environment on "q"
(evil-tex-ts-bind-to-env-map '(("q" . "quote")))

;; Add figure with default [!ht] position
(evil-tex-ts-bind-to-env-map '(("F" "\\begin{figure}[!ht]" . "\\end{figure}")))

;; Add custom accent
(evil-tex-ts-bind-to-cdlatex-accents-map '(("B" . "fbox")))

;; Add custom delimiter
(evil-tex-ts-bind-to-delim-map '(("h" "\\huge(" . "\\huge)")))

See docstrings of evil-tex-ts-bind-to-env-map for the complete format.

Bind your function to evil-tex-ts-toggle-map, it’s a normal keymap:

(define-key evil-tex-ts-toggle-map "x" #'my-custom-toggle-function)

• evil-tex by iyefrat for the original concept, features, and the visual reference diagram.
• vimtex for inspiration on toggles and text objects.
• evil-latex-textobjects for laying the groundwork.

Press t then the second key to select theorem-like environment.

Example: ysiwetd wraps word in \begin{definition}...\end{definition}

Uppercase = simple, lowercase = sized (\left~/\right~).

Context sensitive: uses \mathbf in math, \textbf in text.

Useful for controlling formula size, e.g. in fractions.

Example: ysiw;1 wraps word in {\displaystyle ...}