LaTeX Conceal

LaTeX Conceal replaces common LaTeX math commands with Unicode glyphs directly in the editor while keeping your original source unchanged. (e.g., \alpha is displayed as α)

Example

Before

After

In math mode:

• \alpha → α
• \mathbb{R} / \R → ℝ (depending on replacement table)
• _{123} → ₁₂₃

Your file content is not modified; this is visual decoration only.

Features

• Conceals LaTeX commands only inside math environments (inline and block).
• Reveals source text around the cursor for easier editing.
• Supports multiple reveal modes: token, environment, and line.
• Supports custom replacements via settings.
• Provides a status bar toggle (Conceal: ON/OFF) for quick runtime enable/disable.

Supported Math Environments

Conceal is applied inside:

• $...$
• $$...$$
• \(...\)
• \[...\]
• \begin{equation} ... \end{equation}
• align, alignat, flalign, multline, gather, math, displaymath, tikzcd (including * variants)

Commands

• LaTeX Conceal: Toggle (UI only) (latex-conceal.toggle)

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• latex-conceal.enable (boolean, default: true)
  • Enables or disables conceal rendering.
• latex-conceal.targetLanguageIds (string array, default: ['latex', 'tex', 'markdown'])
  • Language IDs where conceal rendering is applied
• latex-conceal.customReplacements (object)
  • Adds or overrides replacement mappings.
• latex-conceal.revealBehavior (token | environment | line, default: environment)
  • Controls how much text is revealed when the cursor is inside concealed content.

Known Issues

• Nested math environments are not handled correctly (e.g., $ ... \text{ $ ... $ } ... $).
• Clicking the right side of a concealed glyph (e.g., α) may still place the caret on the left side of the original source token (e.g., \alpha). This is a limitation of decoration-based rendering.

Credits

• The default LaTeX-to-Unicode mapping data is based on unicodeit (MIT License).
• Inspired by Vim's conceal feature and similar extensions.