[Tex/LaTex] How to use visual studio code LaTex Workshop with xelatex

visual-studio-codexetex

I want to compile a tex document using xelatex in LaTeX Workshop extension in visual studio code. How can I change compiler from default one to xetex? I put my current setting.json file bellow.

{
    "latex-workshop.latex.tools": [

        {
            "name": "latexmk",
            "command": "latexmk",
            "args": [
                "-synctex=1",
                "-interaction=nonstopmode",
                "-file-line-error",
                "-pdf",
                "-outdir=%OUTDIR%",
                "%DOC%"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "lualatexmk",
            "command": "latexmk",
            "args": [
                "-synctex=1",
                "-interaction=nonstopmode",
                "-file-line-error",
                "-lualatex",
                "-outdir=%OUTDIR%",
                "%DOC%"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "latexmk_rconly",
            "command": "latexmk",
            "args": [
                "%DOC%"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "pdflatex",
            "command": "pdflatex",
            "args": [
                "-synctex=1",
                "-interaction=nonstopmode",
                "-file-line-error",
                "%DOC%"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "bibtex",
            "command": "bibtex",
            "args": [
                "%DOCFILE%"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "rnw2tex",
            "command": "Rscript",
            "args": [
                "-e",
                "knitr::opts_knit$set(concordance = TRUE); knitr::knit('%DOCFILE_EXT%')"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "jnw2tex",
            "command": "julia",
            "args": [
                "-e",
                "using Weave; weave(\"%DOC_EXT%\", doctype=\"tex\")"
            ],
            "env": {}
        },
        {
            "name": "jnw2texmintex",
            "command": "julia",
            "args": [
                "-e",
                "using Weave; weave(\"%DOC_EXT%\", doctype=\"texminted\")"
            ],
            "env": {}
        }
    ]
}

Best Answer

Maybe all you were looking for was:

{
    "latex-workshop.latex.recipe.default": "name of recipe",
}

which sets the default build recipe for LaTeX-Workshop. But I came across this question when trying to figure out how to build my file with xelatex, which I have now figured out:

I use latexmk with -xelatex option, which I have installed on Windows via MiKTeX. I used the command line in my project folder to find what arguments got me the result I wanted. In my case, the following did the trick:

D:\path\to\project>latexmk -xelatex -outdir=out file.tex

Since this result is usually fixed for a certain project, I just override tools and recipes in

D:\path\to\project\.vscode\settings.json:

{
    "latex-workshop.latex.recipe.default": "latexmk (xelatex)",
    "latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
        {
            "name": "xelatexmk",
            "command": "latexmk",
            "args": [
                "-xelatex",
                "-outdir=out",
                "file.tex"
            ]
        }
    ],
    "latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
        {
            "name": "latexmk (xelatex)",
            "tools": [
                "xelatexmk"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

I have chosen to just hard-code my root file and output directory in the tool, but you can also use Placeholders.

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