preview-latex is a handy function provided by AUCTeX for directly rendering LaTeX equations and inserted figures in a Emacs buffer under the latex-mode. lstlistings is LaTeX package for highlighting source code. According to my experience, when lstlistings package is used, preview-latex have the following problems, some of which can be overcome actually.

  • When \lstlistofalgorithms appears at the end of a LaTeX document, preview-latex will get stuck and consume 100% CPU.

    Solution: remove sections from the variable preview-default-option-list in preview-latex, which will stop processing \lstlistofalgorithms.

  • Preview of math symbols in a lstlistings algorithm is a mess.
  • Math symbols in an environment introduced by ntheorem, such as Theorem, Definition, Remark, etc., will become bold face in the preview.

  • A \mbox command appearing in the postbreak property of lstlistings configuration will make preview-latex fail.

    As shown below, the \mbox command should be replaced with \hbox. The difference between \mbox and \hbox is here.

    \makeatletter
\@ifclassloaded{beamer}{
  \newsavebox\redarrow
  \sbox\redarrow{\raisebox{0ex}[0ex][0ex]{\ensuremath{\color{red}\hookrightarrow\space}}}
  \lstset{postbreak=\usebox\redarrow}
}{\lstset{postbreak=\mbox{\textcolor{red}{$\hookrightarrow$}\space}}}
\makeatother