Latex Paste Cleaner

Latex Paste Cleaner

中文说明

An Obsidian plugin that automatically cleans up LaTeX formulas when you paste content from web pages or AI chats. It fixes broken formulas (\\(...\\) → $...$, \\[...\\] → $$...$$, double escapes, HTML entities, Unicode math symbols, nested corrupted escapes, split command names) while preserving the formatting of your normal text.

Status: submitted to the Obsidian community plugin marketplace (pending review). Until it's listed, install manually with the steps below.

Features

• Smart paste interception: only triggers when the content contains LaTeX math signals; plain text and code pass through completely untouched
• HTML surgery mode (default): replaces only formula nodes with clean LaTeX, preserving bold/lists/etc. of the surrounding text
• Plain text mode: inserts everything as plain text (most reliable, no formatting)
• "Clean up current note" command: fixes existing broken notes (selection first, otherwise the whole note)
• Unicode math symbols (≥ × α etc.) are converted only inside math regions — never in normal text
• \\[0,2π] style escaped brackets in headings (not math) are preserved
• Bilingual UI: English / 中文, switch in the first settings option

Install (manual, until marketplace approval)

This plugin needs only two files: main.js and manifest.json (all code lives in main.js, no build step).

Option A — from release assets (recommended)

1. Go to the Releases page (e.g. release 0.1.1)
2. Under Assets, download the two files: main.js and manifest.json
3. Create a folder inside your vault: <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/latex-paste-cleaner/
   • (The .obsidian folder is hidden — enable "show hidden files" if you can't see it)
4. Put both downloaded files into that folder
5. Restart Obsidian (or reload: Settings → Community plugins → click "Reload plugins")
6. Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins → enable Latex Paste Cleaner

Option B — from the repository ZIP

1. On the repo page, click Code → Download ZIP (or download a release's Source code zip)
2. Extract it — note the extracted folder is named like latex-paste-cleaner-main (or latex-paste-cleaner-0.1.1)
3. Rename the extracted folder to exactly latex-paste-cleaner (the folder name must match the plugin id, otherwise Obsidian won't load it)
4. Move the folder into <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/
5. Restart Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins → enable Latex Paste Cleaner

If the plugin doesn't appear in the list, restart Obsidian completely.

Usage

Just paste. When the clipboard contains LaTeX math signals, the plugin cleans the formulas automatically — that's it.

Fix existing broken notes

1. Open the note with corrupted formulas
2. Open the command palette (Ctrl+P / Cmd+P)
3. Run "Clean up current note's LaTeX" (中文：清理当前笔记的 LaTeX 公式)
   • With a selection: only the selection is cleaned
   • Without a selection: the whole note is cleaned

Settings

Open Settings → Community plugins → Latex Paste Cleaner:

Known limitation (HTML paste & $ escaping)

Obsidian's built-in "Convert pasted HTML to Markdown" escapes $ signs in pasted HTML, which breaks inline math rendering even with this plugin. If formulas don't render after an HTML paste:

• Switch "Paste mode" to Plain text in the plugin settings, or
• Disable "Convert pasted HTML to Markdown" in Obsidian → Settings → Editor

Development

cd <plugin-dir>
node tests/test-cleaner.cjs   # 67 tests, no dependencies

The plugin is a single main.js file (Obsidian's plugin loader does not support relative requires). Core functions are additionally exported for Node testing via a mock obsidian module.

Notes

• Only triggers when the content contains LaTeX command signals (\frac, \\(, $$ etc.); plain text pasting is completely unaffected
• The core logic is defensive by design: unknown or ambiguous content is left untouched rather than risk damaging it

License

MIT