LaTeX Text Protector

Wrap text in protective braces to prevent LaTeX from interpreting or modifying it.

Usage

npx tsx scripts/protect.ts [options] <text-or-file>

Options

• --file - Read input from file instead of command line argument
• --output <file> - Write output to file
• --mode <type> - Protection mode: acronyms (default), all, or custom
• --pattern <regex> - Custom regex pattern for what to protect

Examples

Protect acronyms in title

npx tsx scripts/protect.ts "The RNA World Hypothesis"
# Output: The {RNA} World Hypothesis

Protect multiple acronyms

npx tsx scripts/protect.ts "DNA and RNA in COVID-19"
# Output: {DNA} and {RNA} in {COVID-19}

Protect from file

npx tsx scripts/protect.ts --file titles.txt --output protected.txt

Protect all uppercase words

npx tsx scripts/protect.ts --mode all "IMPORTANT Notice"
# Output: {IMPORTANT} {Notice}

Custom protection pattern

npx tsx scripts/protect.ts --pattern "[A-Z]{2,}" "DNA RNA ATP"
# Output: {DNA} {RNA} {ATP}

Protection Modes

acronyms (default)

Protects words with 2+ consecutive uppercase letters:

• RNA → {RNA}
• COVID-19 → {COVID-19}
• DNA → {DNA}

Single uppercase letters are NOT protected: A Study → A Study

all

Protects any word starting with uppercase:

• Important → {Important}
• Notice → {Notice}

custom

Protects text matching a custom regex pattern

Why Protect Text?

BibTeX Title Capitalization

BibTeX automatically lowercases titles except for protected text:

title = {The RNA World}  % → "The rna world" (wrong!)
title = {The {RNA} World}  % → "The RNA World" (correct!)

Preserving Acronyms

Protects technical terms and acronyms from case changes:

• DNA, RNA, HTTP, API
• COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2

Chemical Formulas

Protects chemical notation:

• H2O → {H2O}
• CO2 → {CO2}

Unprotect

To remove protective braces:

npx tsx scripts/unprotect.ts "{RNA} and {DNA}"
# Output: RNA and DNA

Technical Details

Protection works by wrapping matched text in single-level braces {...}. LaTeX treats braced text as a single unit and doesn't modify its capitalization.

The default pattern /\b([A-Z]{2,})\b/g matches:

• 2+ consecutive uppercase letters
• Word boundaries (doesn't match mid-word uppercase)
• Hyphens and numbers within words: COVID-19 matches

Single uppercase letters at word boundaries are intentionally NOT protected to allow normal sentence capitalization.