I don't want the .aux, .log and .synctex.gz files when using pdflatex

Question

I just want to have a .tex file which I compile with pdflatex and end up with a .pdf file. I don\'t want all the other .aux

Answer 1

I always build my PDF files like this:

pdflatex -aux-directory=/some/temp/dir <additional options>

That way, I don't have too see all the additional files. Those files should not be removed, as they are important for cross referencing, bibliographies, table of contents etc. To run pdflatex several times and then remove the files takes too much time.

The -aux-directory unfortunately does not exist in the linux version of pdflatex. Tested on Ubuntu Lucid.

Answer 2

For MikTeX:

texify -cp  file.tex

It will run pdflatex as many times as necessairy and clean temp files afterwards. Very useful.

Answer 3

How are you creating/editing your LaTex document? If you are using Sublime Text 2, you can edit the project file to suppress opening the file types of your choosing. They will still be created upon compile but won't be loaded into your project, keeping them invisible.

Answer 4

latexmk -c will remove the unnecessary files. latexmk is a great way to manage the compile too!

Answer 5

A well crafted wrapper script seems to be the best answer. Something along these lines, which I've tested on Ubuntu using texlive-latex (pdftex 1.40.10) :

#!/bin/bash
TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)
trap "rm -fr $TMPDIR; exit 255;" SIGINT SIGTERM SIGKILL

/usr/bin/latex -interaction=batchmode -output-directory=$TMPDIR $1
cp $TMPDIR/$1.dvi .
rm -fr $TMPDIR

Answer 6

If anyone using TeXnicCenter has the same desire to only get a *.pdf file for the given *.tex file (no *.aux, *.bbl, *.blg and *.log files), here is a quick solution: Choose from the menu: Build | Define Output Profiles, copy the "LaTeX => PDF" profile to a new profile "LaTeX => PDF ONLY", then on the Postprocessor tab create four new postprocessors:

Name: delete *.XXX

Executable: "C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe"

Arguments: /C del "%bm.XXX"

Replace XXX with aux, bbl, blg, log, respectively.