#!C:/Perl/bin
# type 'which perl' in a terminal to see if the above is the correct path to perl

# A small perl script, which takes as input a postscript figure, and prints
# a tex file containing a psfrag entry for every piece of text encountered in the 
# figure. Usage: mypsfrag somefigure.eps

use strict;                # 'strict' insists that all variables be declared
use diagnostics;           # 'diagnostics' expands the cryptic warnings

# the preamble
print '
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\pagestyle{empty}                    % don\'t show the page number
\usepackage{psfrag}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\begin{document}
\begin{figure}

';

undef $/; # enables reading all the input file in one line

# read the postscript figure (which is a text file) into the variable $contents
open (FILE, "<$ARGV[0]") || die "Cannot open the file \'$ARGV[0]\'. Check if the file exists and has right permissions!"; 
my $contents=<FILE>;
close(FILE);

my @matches= ($contents =~ /\((..*?)\)/g);
# this uses the fact that all pieces of text in a postscript figure will be in parantheses,
# that is, looking like this: (some text)

print '%The psfrag entries are below. They need to be modified to reflect correctly the replacements you intend.' . "\n";
# create an entry of every piece of text
foreach (@matches) {
  print '\psfrag{' , $_ , '}[c][][1][0]{$' , $_ , '$}' , "\n";
}

# one would want to modify the width of the figure (that is, the scaling)
print "\n" , '\includegraphics[width=1.0\textwidth]{' , $ARGV[0] , '}' , "% to scale the picture, change width here\n";

# the end of the tex file
print '
\end{figure}
\end{document}
';