How do I convert LaTeX to plain-text (ASCII)?

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Opendetex is available both for Windows and Linux (compiles fine on a Mac as well). It can be downloaded from https://github.com/pkubowicz/opendetex

Usage:

detex project

opens project.tex, reads all files included using \include or
\includeonly commands, outputs resulting text to standard output.

detex -n project > out.txt

opens project.tex, does not follow \include or \includeonly commands,
outputs resulting text to out.txt

detex --help

shows full help

Extract it to any directory of your choice.
Say you extracted it to your Downloads directory.

Create another directory of any name in that (this is optional but recommended). Let’s say the directory name is “my_paper”. Put your paper in the “my_paper” directory. Assume your paper name is project.tex.

Navigate to the path

    cd ~/Downloads/opendetex

Run the command 

    detex my_paper/project.tex  > out.txt

generic form

    detex -n full_path_to_tex_file.tex > output_text_file.txt

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