Typing Python in LATEX

Senan Sekhon
April 10, 2023

This template provides environments for rendering aesthetic, professional-looking Python code in LATEX.

The code is rendered using the minted package, which is based on Pygments. The boxes surrounding them are cre-
ated using the tcolorbox package. Note that this package must be loaded with the minted library, e.g. by adding
\tcbuselibrary{minted} to the preamble, for these to work.

The pythonbox environment creates a box for Python code (just the box, not the code). The starred version
pythonbox* creates a “soft” box with no border.

\begin{pythonbox}
This is a \texttt{pythonbox}. This is a pythonbox.
\end{pythonbox}

\begin{pythonbox}[The title] The title

This is a \texttt{pythonbox} with a title.
\end{pythonbox} This is a pythonbox with a title.

\begin{pythonbox*}
This is a soft \texttt{pythonbox}. This is a soft pythonbox.
\end{pythonbox*}

\begin{pythonbox*}[The title] The title

This is a soft \texttt{pythonbox} with a title.
\end{pythonbox*}
This is a soft pythonbox with a title.

The python environment creates Python code inside a pythonbox. In this environment, you can directly enter Python
code and minted will color the text accordingly. Similarly, the starred version python* has no border.

\begin{python}
def next_two(x): def next_two(x):
lst=[x+i for i in range(3)] lst=[x+i for i in range(3)]
return lst return lst
\end{python}

\begin{python}[The function] The function

def next_two(x):
lst=[x+i for i in range(3)] def next_two(x):
return lst lst=[x+i for i in range(3)]
\end{python} return lst

\begin{python*}
def next_two(x): def next_two(x):
lst=[x+i for i in range(3)] lst=[x+i for i in range(3)]
return lst return lst
\end{python*}

\begin{python*}[The function] The function

def next_two(x):
def next_two(x):
lst=[x+i for i in range(3)]
return lst
lst=[x+i for i in range(3)]
\end{python*} return lst

1
 The python and python* boxes have three optional arguments:
• The first argument, delimited by brackets [ ], specifies the title.
• The second argument, delimited by parentheses ( ), specifies the options for the minted environment, i.e. the code
itself. These are handled by the minted package.
• The third argument, delimited by braces { }, specifies the options for the box containing the code. These are
handled by the tcolorbox package.

\begin{python}[How to calculate a factorial](style=one-dark){colback=gray!40!black,colframe=blue}

def factorial(n):
product=1 # Start with $1$
for k in range(2,n+1): # For each $k=2,3,\ldots,n$,
product*=k # Multiply by $k$
return product
\end{python}

How to calculate a factorial

def factorial(n):
product=1 # Start with 1
for k in range(2,n+1): # For each k = 2, 3, . . . , n,
product*=k # Multiply by k
return product

In the above example, the option style=one-dark is an option for the code, while the options colback=gray!40!black
and colframe=blue are options for the box. Note that the option style only specifies the style for the code itself, it does
not change the background color — this has to be done separately by specifying the tcolorbox option colback1 .

See https://pygments.org/styles/ for a list of available styles. You can also use other tcolorbox environments2 .

The pre-defined options for the code are autogobble (this removes any common indentation from all lines of code),
breaklines (to allow lines that are too long to be broken) and mathescape (to allow LATEX math to be rendered in code
comments). See the documentation for the minted package for a list of available options.

\begin{python}
def f(x): def f(x):
# This function takes a number $x$ # This function takes a number x and
,→ and returns $x^2$ ,→ returns x2
return x**2 return x**2
\end{python}

You can also typeset Python code by itself (without the box) using the pythoncode environment. This is based on
the \newminted command from the minted package, and contains the same pre-defined options as python.

\begin{pythoncode}
def least_square_above(x): def least_square_above(x):
return 0 if x<0 else (int(x**0.5)+1)**2 return 0 if x<0 else (int(x**0.5)+1)**2
\end{pythoncode}

You can overwrite these options or provide additional options by using pythoncode*, but it is better to use the
standard minted environment: \begin{minted}[⟨options⟩]{python} ... \end{minted}.

\begin{pythoncode*}{style=manni}
def least_square_above(x): def least_square_above(x):
return 0 if x<0 else (int(x**0.5)+1)**2 return 0 if x<0 else (int(x**0.5)+1)**2
\end{pythoncode*}

Finally, note that LATEX does not run the Python code, it only typesets it. If you want to run the code, you can paste
it into TutorialsPoint:
https://www.tutorialspoint.com/online_python_compiler.php
Or you can use any IDE, such as PyCharm or Visual Studio Code.

1 This cannot be achieved by specifying the minted option bgcolor — doing this would only create a colored box around the code, rather

than coloring the entire interior of the tcolorbox.

2 For example, the filingbox, railingbox and flagbox environments from this template.