scitex-str 0.1.5

Text processing utilities for scientific workflows — LaTeX formatting, colored output, string parsing, and plot text helpers

SciTeX Str (scitex-str)

Text processing utilities for scientific workflows

pip install scitex-str

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Problem and Solution

#	Problem	Solution
1	LaTeX labels crash matplotlib when TeX isn't installed -- CI runners, laptops without MacTeX, Colab without !apt install texlive all fail	safe_latex_render(s) -- auto-detects LaTeX; falls back to mathtext then unicode silently
2	ANSI color codes + grep/parse sprinkled as ad-hoc re patterns -- each script reinvents the wheel	Grab-bag of helpers -- printc, color_text, grep, parse, replace, mask_api, readable_bytes — boring but consistent across 33 packages

Problem

Scientific Python code frequently needs LaTeX-style formatting for axis labels, colored terminal output for debugging, and structured string parsing for file paths and templates. These are scattered across ad-hoc helper functions in every project.

Solution

scitex-str provides a single package for text utilities commonly needed in scientific workflows:

• LaTeX formatting -- convert variable names to LaTeX style, with automatic fallback when LaTeX is unavailable
• Colored terminal output -- printc and color_text for styled console messages
• String parsing -- bidirectional parse() to extract variables from path patterns
• Plot text helpers -- format axis labels, titles, and tick labels for publication figures
• Numeric formatting -- factor out common digits, human-readable byte sizes

Installation

Requires Python >= 3.10.

pip install scitex-str

SciTeX users: pip install scitex already includes this. Use import scitex then scitex.str.

Quick Start

import scitex_str as ss

# LaTeX-style formatting
ss.to_latex_style("theta")        # r"$\theta$"
ss.safe_to_latex_style("unknown") # "unknown" (no error)

# Colored terminal output
ss.printc("Success!", color="green")
ss.ct("Warning", color="yellow")  # returns colored string

# Parse structured paths
result = ss.parse("./data/Patient_23/Hour_12", "./data/Patient_{id}/Hour_{hour}")
# {'id': 23, 'hour': 12}

# Format plot text
ss.format_plot_text("amplitude_mv")  # "Amplitude [mV]"

# Human-readable bytes
ss.readable_bytes(1_500_000)  # "1.43 MB"

Part of SciTeX

scitex-str is part of SciTeX, a Python framework for scientific research automation.

Module	Package	Role
scitex.str	scitex-str	Text processing utilities
scitex.stats	scitex-stats	Statistical testing
scitex.io	scitex-io	Universal file I/O
scitex.plt	figrecipe	Publication-ready figures

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scitex.ai