file:line:error style messages enabled.
i've never seen that one
It's very useful. Here's a sample run of pdftex with that option, which makes the error output match the format that most language compilers use (e.g. gcc). So you can run tex in an Emacs *compilation* buffer (with M-x compile<CR>) and Emacs can parse all the errors (C-x `) and take you to them one by one. $ pdftex --file-line-error-style -interaction nonstopmode c This is pdfeTeXk, Version 3.141592-1.30.6-2.2 (Web2C 7.5.5) file:line:error style messages enabled. entering extended mode (./c.tex ./c.tex:4: Undefined control sequence. l.4 \abc [1{/var/lib/texmf/fonts/map/pdftex/updmap/pdftex.map}] ) (see the transcript file for additional information) Output written on c.pdf (1 page, 5134 bytes). Transcript written on c.log. -Sanjoy `Never underestimate the evil of which men of power are capable.' --Bertrand Russell, _War Crimes in Vietnam_, chapter 1.