LaTeX is markup system used for typesetting documents. LaTeX was created to provide a complex, very descriptive markup language that employs the power of TeX.

In short, it's very different from the typical text formatting found on common text editors, as LaTeX describes both the content and the layout of documents.

My work doesn't involve working with LaTeX, but I distinctly remember trying to find one specific symbol (and I didn't even know its name) and feeling like trying to find the needle in the haystack.

I eventually landed on detexify, a web-based app that allows you to draw the symbol and provides all of its details. However, there's another way, a faster way, and it involves a tiny app called Hieroglyphic.

Hieroglyphic is a free and open-source application that's based on detexify. It's a GTK+/Libadwaita app that fully follows the GNOME Code of Conduct, and it's powered by a port of the detexify classifier.

This means that the app is totally secure and fully offline.

What we have here is a tiny app that looks perfectly at home on any GNOME desktop. Not only that, but it's also really lightweight, and easy to use.

By drawing the symbol you're looking for, the app searches through over 1000 different LaTeX symbols based on sketches (not surprising, considering it's based on detexify).

Once the symbol in question is found, you can instantly copy its name and code on your computer's clipboard by simply clicking on the entry.

Hierolphyphic is a great litle app, but I have to point out that it's not the only app of its kind (not even for Linux specifically). In fact, the app is very heavily inspired by a project called TeX Match. The main (potential) drawback of Hieroglyphic when compared to TeX Match is its lack of cross-platform support.