pyinstantref/README.md

pyinstantref

This is a Python rewrite of Gilles Castel's Instant Reference tool. (I was not a fan of needing NPM rather than the system package manager to install some dependencies.)

pyinstantref allows you to copy a link to a specific page or header in a PDF with a single keybind in Zathura. You can then paste this reference in your notes and other documents.

For now, it only works with my own templates for Typst, but it should be easy to get the script to format in LaTeX instead using Castel's original code as reference, or even in plain-text.

installation

These instructions are for Arch Linux based distributions. Package names will probably differ for other distros, especially with Python packages.

First, install the necessary packages:

sudo pacman -S xsel xdotool xorg-xprop python-pydbus rofi

(Rofi is needed for section references.)

Then, clone this repo:

git clone https://github.com/dogeystamp/pyinstantref
cd pyinstantref

Install the .desktop file:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/applications
cp pdfref.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/
xdg-mime default pdfref.desktop x-scheme-handler/pdfref
sudo update-desktop-database

Ensure this directory is in $PATH by adding this line to the bottom of ~/.profile (change the location to point to this directory):

export PATH="$HOME/pyinstantref:$PATH"

You might need to sign out then sign in to apply this change.

shortcut

You can either set up a shortcut in your window manager/desktop environment, or add the following to your .config/zathura/zathurarc:

map <C-l> exec copy_ref
map <C-g> exec "copy_ref --section"
map <C-k> exec "copy_ref --destination"

This will make Ctrl-L copy a reference to the current page, Ctrl-G copy a reference to a specific section title, and Ctrl-K copy a reference to a named destination. Destinations and sections will show up in a rofi menu for you to select.

limitations

Currently, the following features are missing compared to Castel's version:

• ArXiv support
• LaTeX output
• Support for other PDF readers (e.g. Evince)

Feel free to send pull requests, although this project is primarily for my own usage and I can not make any guarantees.

Also:

• Section references are unreliable because titles might change, and there might be sections with the same title. Use named destinations for documents that you built yourself (e.g. using Typst, LaTeX), and page numbers for external documents. Only use section title references if your type-setting system does not support named destinations.