A TeXstudio macro that gives you a rough idea as to where in a LaTeX document's body your current cursor position is.
In short, this macro first stores the current cursor position (column, row) in variables, as well as the content of the line on which the cursor is currently located. By design, this macro only works if the user is on a line with some kind of text, and which does not contain a \begin{} or \end{} command, for reasons that will be detailed below.
Second, the macro finds the line positions of the \begin{document} and \end{document} commands, and also stores these in variables. Third, it runs a loop from the former line to the latter, checking whether lines contain only comments. If not, it adds to a counter of the number of lines. Forth, it calculuates the rough position by determining the relative position of the user by comparing the number of lines before and after the relative cursor position (which is also determined during the loop) before giving the user values for how many lines came before the position, how many come after it, and the percentage values relative to the number of lines in the body.
Finally, the macro searches for the line that the user was on, and returns the user to the exact cursor position that they were previously at, meaning that the macro should generally not interrupt the workflow by requiring the user to re-find their original position.
It's a bit hard to gauge how accurate the calculations actually are for what I was trying to achieve with this, but even if not perfect, they're likely close enough to accurate that inaccuracies probably shouldn't have any impact on the user experience.
Further, standard document metrics often fail in LaTeX because preambles, formatting packages, and extensive back-matter artificially inflate line counts. This macro solves that problem by dynamically isolating the structural text body (from \begin{document} to \end{document}), ignoring commented-out editorial notes, and calculating the user's exact relative position within the functional text. To ensure a seamless user experience, the macro caches and restores the editor's precise cursor state, running entirely in the background without disrupting the writing or proofreading workflow.
The macro executes its analysis through a five-stage process:
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State and Input Validation: The script captures the user's exact cursor coordinates (row and column) and the text of the current line. It features built-in guardrails that halt execution if triggered on an empty line or a generic environmental tag (such as
\beginor\end). Because the macro relies on text-matching at the end of the script to safely return the user to their starting point, these non-unique lines are filtered out to prevent the editor from losing the user's original place. -
Boundary Detection: Using the editor's native search API, the macro programmatically locates the absolute line numbers for both
\begin{document}and\end{document}to establish the true boundaries of the manuscript's content body. -
Content Filtering Loop: The script iterates sequentially through the document body. It evaluates whitespace and identifies the LaTeX comment character (
%). Lines designated as comments are filtered out, ensuring that hidden editorial notes or legacy drafts do not skew the progress metrics. -
Relative Analytics Calculation: By comparing the filtered line counts before and after the user’s current validated position, the script generates a highly accurate snapshot of completion. It outputs a native alert detailing:
- Total functional lines in the body text.
- The current relative line position.
- Remaining lines left to review.
- Exact percentages for completed versus remaining work (formatted to two decimal places).
- Seamless Workflow Restoration: Because the API's search functions temporarily shift the editor's focus during boundary detection, the macro concludes by automatically returning the cursor and view selection to the exact row and column where the user started, maintaining a zero-interruption workflow.
A core design priority of this macro is workflow continuity. Because standard editor APIs search by text matching, common or duplicate strings (such as empty lines or generic structural commands like \begin or \end) lack the unique signatures required to reliably return the cursor and window view to its origin. The input validation step explicitly addresses this limitation, guaranteeing that whenever the macro executes successfully, the user's position is perfectly preserved and they are immediately returned directly to it, not interrupting their workflow.
In typesetting and publishing environments, a line can vary based on editor word-wrapping and geometry. This tool is purposefully engineered as a relative progress tracker. By stripping out non-text structural elements and code comments, the resulting percentage calculations provide a highly reliable, consistent metric for gauging pace while editing documents.
The script is optimized to run directly within TeXstudio's QCodeEdit API, and utilizes globally exposed editor and cursor objects provided by the host application's runtime engine.