Simplified texcount results display

Question

Writing a proposal with strict character limits.

Using the following in the preamble

% Compile with  --enable-write18 or --shell-escape options   
\immediate\write18{texcount -char -inc -tex -sum <file> > <path>/count.tex}

The following throughout the document as necessary

%TC:ignore 
%TC:endignore 

As well as the following at the end

% display information on document
\section{Document info}
\verbatiminput{<path>/count}

Here is an mwe:

\documentclass{article}     
\usepackage{moreverb}

% Compile with  --enable-write18 or --shell-escape options   
\immediate\write18{texcount -char -inc -tex -sum mwe.tex > count.tex}

\begin{document}
   
\section*{Section A}

Content for section A


\section*{Another section with subsections}

Introduction to section


\subsection*{The first subsection}

This subsection has somewhat more voluminous content which tends to go on and on...

\subsection*{The second subsection }

Content aimed at testing whether math and symbols are counted: $\int$, $\Sigma$.


\section*{An section with externalized content}

\input{externalized.tex}


%TC:ignore 

\section*{An ignored section}

\input{externalized.tex}

%TC:endignore 

% display information on document
\section{Document info}
\verbatiminput{count.tex}


\end{document}

Problem is, too much time spent deciphering results.

Here is what a good solution looks like in my view:

1. User specifies constraint / max number of characters for each section, stored in \def\thecharacterlimit{<limit>}

2. Output looks like: <section name>: <actual chars> / <limit no. chars>. I think that a common use case may be the equivalent measured by words instead of characters.

3. The expression <actual chars> / <limit no. chars> is colored red or green conditionally based being above or below limit, respectively.

4. Ideally the results for a given section would be displayed at the end of the corresponding section.

5. Could easily display the over limit delta.

That said, a quick fix or a few tricks would be hugely valuable.

** UPDATE **

I am now getting the output:

This is pdfTeX, Version 3.14159265-2.6-1.40.21 (MiKTeX 20.12)
entering extended mode
(mwe.tex
LaTeX2e <2020-10-01> patch level 2
L3 programming layer <2020-12-07> xparse <2020-03-03>
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/base\article.cls"
Document Class: article 2020/04/10 v1.4m Standard LaTeX document class
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/base\size10.clo"))

("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/filecontents\filec
ontents.sty"

Package filecontents Warning: This package is obsolete. Disabling it and
(filecontents)                passing control to the filecontents environment
(filecontents)                defined by the LaTeX kernel.

)'texcount' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.


LaTeX Warning: File `texcountinc.tex' already exists on the system.
               Not generating it from this source.


("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/xstring\xstring.st
y"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/generic/xstring\xstring.
tex"))
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/base\ifthen.sty")
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/xcolor\xcolor.sty"

("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/graphics-cfg\color
.cfg")
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/graphics-def\pdfte
x.def"))
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/hyperref\nameref.s
ty"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/refcount\refcount.
sty"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/generic/ltxcmds\ltxcmds.
sty")
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/generic/infwarerr\infwar
err.sty"))
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/generic/gettitlestring\g
ettitlestring.sty"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/kvoptions\kvoption
s.sty"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/graphics\keyval.st
y")
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/generic/kvsetkeys\kvsetk
eys.sty"))))
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/lipsum\lipsum.sty"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/l3kernel\expl3.sty
"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/l3backend\l3backen
d-pdftex.def"))
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/l3packages/xparse\
xparse.sty"
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/l3packages/xparse\
xparse-generic.tex"))
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/latex/lipsum\lipsum.ltd.
tex")) (mwe.aux)
("C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\tex/context/base/mkii\supp-p
df.mkii"
[Loading MPS to PDF converter (version 2006.09.02).]
) (texcountinc.tex)
\sectioncount=

Are there any hints within as two why the implementation is no longer working? Any dependent packages out of date?

Via TeXworks with MiKTeX, I configure the typsetting as follows

I uninstalled, and re-installed texcount. I can confirm that the texcount.exe is installed here:

C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\miktex\bin\x64

and texcount.pl is installed here:

C:\Users\Chris\AppData\Local\Programs\MiKTeX 2.9\scripts\texcount

Answer 1

The obvious answer (to me at least) is to slip | scriptingprogram in before >. But let's assume you want an entirely TeX based solution. I made the following changes:

• The hardest part (for me) ended up being that texcount puts a # in its output. I finally decided to ignore that line and simply only use lines with section in them (I also couldn't get grep -v '#' to work).
• It seemed like -inc wasn't showing section counts of input files; -merge does.
• I'm using \jobname to make this a bit more portable (but \input{\jobname suffix} confuses texcount).

After each [sub]section, you can use the command \withlimit{#} to set a limit for that region. If you don't, you'll end up with -1 at the end. texcount gets confused if \withlimit is on the same line as the section command. TeX doesn't really work with associative arrays, so \withlimit defines some commands based on the section title. This means that the section titles are really fragile. Anything strange (math, other commands, etc) in them will mess things up.

I adapted reading a file line by line from https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/137198/107497 and used a fair bit of string manipulation. This (and the associative arrays) suggests to me that a LaTeX3 (or any other programming language) approach would be simpler.

\documentclass{article}     

\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents*}{texcountinc.tex}
Input contents.

\subsection*{Input section title}
\withlimit{40}
File contents that will get input elsewhere. $a^2+b^2=c^2$.
\[\frac{\sin A}a=\frac{\sin B}b=\frac{\sin C}c\]
\end{filecontents*}

% Compile with  --enable-write18 or --shell-escape options   
\immediate\write18{texcount -char -merge -tex -sum \jobname.tex | grep -i section > \jobname Count.txt} % counts characters
%\immediate\write18{texcount -merge -tex -sum \jobname.tex | grep -i section > \jobname Count.txt} % counts words
\newcommand{\limitcount}{-1}

\usepackage{xstring}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{nameref}

\newcommand{\processCount}{%
 \newread\counts
 \def\zpar{\par}
 \openin\counts=\jobname Count.txt
 \loop
 \read\counts to \sectioncount
 \ifx\sectioncount\zpar\else
 \showcount{\sectioncount}\\
 \fi
 \ifeof\counts
 \else
 \repeat
}

\newcommand*{\showcount}[1]{%
 % e.g. 67+18+0 (1/0/0/0) S[ubs]ection: The first subsection
 \StrBehind{#1}{ection: }[\sectiontitleplusspace]
 \StrGobbleRight{\sectiontitleplusspace}{1}[\sectiontitle]
 \StrBefore{#1}{+}[\thiscount]
 \expandafter\ifcsname\sectiontitle limit\endcsname%
  \renewcommand{\limitcount}{\csname\sectiontitle limit\endcsname}%
 \else%
  \renewcommand{\limitcount}{-1}%
 \fi%
 \sectiontitle:
 {%
  \ifthenelse{\thiscount>\limitcount}{%
   \textcolor{red}{\thiscount/\limitcount}%
   \ifthenelse{\limitcount>-1}{%
    \ (over by \number\numexpr\thiscount-\limitcount\relax)%
   }{}%
  }{%
   \textcolor{green}{\thiscount/\limitcount}%
  }%
 }
}

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\withlimit}[1]{%
 \expandafter\newcommand\csname\@currentlabelname limit\endcsname{#1}
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\section*{Section A Under Limit}
\withlimit{25}

Content for section A

\section*{Another section with subsections over limit}
\withlimit{15}

Introduction to section

\subsection*{The first subsection no stated limit}

This subsection has somewhat more voluminous content which tends to go on and on...

\subsection*{Extra spaces ignored  }
\withlimit{50}

Content aimed at testing whether math and symbols are counted: $\int$, $\Sigma$.


\section*{texcount doesn't understand lipsum}
\withlimit{1}

\lipsum[1]

\subsection*{Inputing Content}
\withlimit{18}

\input{texcountinc}

%TC:ignore 

\section*{An ignored section}

\lipsum[2]

%TC:endignore 

% display information on document
\section{Document info}
\processCount

\end{document}