new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libinterp/corefcn/oct-tex-lexer.ll
@@ -0,0 +1,149 @@
+/*
+
+Copyright (C) 2013 Michael Goffioul
+
+This file is part of Octave.
+
+Octave is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the
+Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.
+
+Octave is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
+ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU General Public License
+for more details.
+
+You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+along with Octave; see the file COPYING.  If not, see
+<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+*/
+
+%option prefix = "octave_tex_"
+%option noyywrap
+%option reentrant
+%option bison-bridge
+
+%top {
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include <config.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "txt-eng.h"
+#include "oct-tex-parser.h"
+}
+
+%x	NUM_MODE
+%x	MAYBE_NUM_MODE
+%x	COMMAND
+
+D       [0-9]
+ID	[a-zA-Z]
+NUM	(({D}+\.?{D}*)|(\.{D}+))
+
+%%
+
+%{
+// Numeric values
+%}
+
+<NUM_MODE>{NUM}		{
+    int nread;
+
+    nread = sscanf (yytext, "%lf", &(yylval->num));
+    if (nread == 1)
+      return NUM;
+  }
+<NUM_MODE>[ \t]+	{ }
+<NUM_MODE>.		{ yyless (0); BEGIN (INITIAL); }
+
+<MAYBE_NUM_MODE>"{"	{ BEGIN (NUM_MODE); return START; }
+<MAYBE_NUM_MODE>.	{ yyless (0); BEGIN (INITIAL); }
+
+%{
+// Simple commands
+%}
+
+"\\bf"		{ return BF; }
+"\\it"		{ return IT; }
+"\\sl"		{ return SL; }
+"\\rm"		{ return RM; }
+
+%{
+// Generic font commands
+%}
+
+"\\fontname"	{ return FONTNAME; }
+"\\fontsize"	{ BEGIN (MAYBE_NUM_MODE); return FONTSIZE; }
+"\\color[rgb]"	{ BEGIN (MAYBE_NUM_MODE); return COLOR_RGB; }
+"\\color"	{ return COLOR; }
+
+%{
+// Special characters
+%}
+
+"{"	{ return START; }
+"}"	{ return END; }
+"^"	{ return SUPER; }
+"_"	{ return SUB; }
+
+"\\{"	|
+"\\}"	|
+"\\^"	|
+"\\_"	|
+"\\\\"	{ yylval->ch = yytext[1]; return CH; }
+
+%{
+// Symbols
+%}
+
+"\\"		{ BEGIN(COMMAND); return CMD; }
+<COMMAND>{ID}	{ yylval->ch = yytext[0]; return ID; }
+<COMMAND>.	{ BEGIN(INITIAL); yyless (0); }
+
+%{
+// Generic character
+%}
+
+.	{ yylval->ch = yytext[0]; return CH; }
+
+%%
+
+bool
+text_parser_tex::init_lexer (const std::string& s)
+{
+  if (! scanner)
+    octave_tex_lex_init (&scanner);
+
+  if (scanner)
+    {
+      if (buffer_state)
+        {
+          octave_tex__delete_buffer (reinterpret_cast<YY_BUFFER_STATE> (buffer_state),
+                                     scanner);
+          buffer_state = 0;
+        }
+
+      buffer_state = octave_tex__scan_bytes (s.data (), s.length (), scanner);
+    }
+
+  return (scanner && buffer_state);
+}
+
+void
+text_parser_tex::destroy_lexer (void)
+{
+  if (buffer_state)
+    {
+      octave_tex__delete_buffer (reinterpret_cast<YY_BUFFER_STATE> (buffer_state),
+                                 scanner);
+      buffer_state = 0;
+    }
+
+  if (scanner)
+    {
+      octave_tex_lex_destroy (scanner);
+      scanner = 0;
+    }
+}