latex2mathml/latex2mathml-php

Pure PHP library for LaTeX to MathML and OMML conversion

v1.5.0 2026-03-09 14:33 UTC

Requires

• php: >=8.4
• ext-dom: *

Requires (Dev)

• phpunit/phpunit: ^11.0

MIT

• snorky22

• php
• word
• converter
• latex
• MathML
• omml

README

Pure PHP 8.4 library for LaTeX to MathML conversion. This is a port of the Python library latex2mathml.

Features

• No external dependencies (only PHP 8.4+ and ext-dom).
• Supports a wide range of LaTeX commands and symbols.
• Outputs clean MathML.
• Supports inline and block display modes.

Installation

composer require latex2mathml/latex2mathml-php

Usage

Simple conversion

By default, the converter produces inline MathML.

use Latex2MathML\Converter;

$latex = 'a^2 + b^2 = c^2';
$mathml = Converter::convert($latex);
echo $mathml;
// <math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline">...</math>

Display Mode

You can specify the display mode (inline or block) as the second argument. For clarity and to ensure future compatibility, using named arguments (PHP 8.0+) is recommended.

// Recommended: Named argument (PHP 8.0+)
$mathml = Converter::convert($latex, display: 'block');

// Also possible: Positional argument
$mathml = Converter::convert($latex, 'block');

Custom XML namespace

The third argument allows you to specify a custom XML namespace. It defaults to the standard MathML namespace (http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML). Pass an empty string if you don't want a namespace attribute. Again, named arguments are recommended.

// Recommended: Named argument
$mathml = Converter::convert($latex, xmlns: 'http://custom-namespace.org');

// Also possible: Positional arguments
$mathml = Converter::convert($latex, 'inline', 'http://custom-namespace.org');

Integration with DOMDocument

If you are already working with a DOMDocument, you can use convert_to_element to get a DOMElement instead of a string.

$dom = new DOMDocument();
$mathElement = Converter::convert_to_element($latex, $dom, display: 'block');
$dom->appendChild($mathElement);
echo $dom->saveXML();

Visualization Script

A helper script display_math.php is included to visualize LaTeX conversion from .tex files.

1. Place one or more .tex files in the tests/ directory.
2. Run the script and redirect the output to an HTML file:

   php display_math.php > output.html
   

3. Open output.html in your web browser to see the rendered MathML.

The script automatically:

• Finds the first .tex file in the tests/ directory.
• Extracts math expressions delimited by $, $$, or various LaTeX environments (e.g., equation, align, split).
• Converts them to MathML and displays them in a side-by-side view.

Architecture

The project is structured as follows:

• Latex2MathML\Converter: Main entry point for conversion.
• Latex2MathML\Tokenizer: Breaks LaTeX string into tokens.
• Latex2MathML\Walker: Parses tokens into a tree of Node objects.
• Latex2MathML\SymbolsParser: Handles conversion of LaTeX symbols to Unicode MathML entities using unimathsymbols.txt.
• Latex2MathML\Commands: Contains definitions and maps for LaTeX commands.

Requirements

• PHP 8.4 or higher.
• dom extension.

License

MIT