Spacing after defined word: beginner's question
This must be a beginner's question, but I can't find the answer to it in the manuals... Take this ConTeXt source: -- \def\Acme{% {\ss\sc ACME}} Welcome from \Acme. \Acme make fine products. -- When this is made into a PDF, it looks like this: -- Welcome from ACME. ACMEmake fine products. -- - because I didn't have a space in the definition, I don't get a space in the second sentence, but the period didn't interfere with the execution of the first occurrence. But if I put a space in the definition after the 'E', I get this: -- Welcome from ACME . ACME make fine products. -- - and there's a space after the first 'E', which I don't want, even though there is now a space after the second... What am I doing wrong?
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006, cormullion@mac.com wrote:
This must be a beginner's question, but I can't find the answer to it in the manuals...
:) Read below.
Take this ConTeXt source:
-- \def\Acme{% {\ss\sc ACME}}
Welcome from \Acme. \Acme make fine products.
When this is made into a PDF, it looks like this: -- Welcome from ACME. ACMEmake fine products.
[snip]
What am I doing wrong?
You are not doing anything wrong. This is how TeX operates. A macro with no argument gobbles the spaces after it. One way to ensure that you get a space is to tell TeX that you are done with the macro, for example Welcome from \Acme. \Acme{} makes fine products. or Welcome from \Acme. \Acme\ makes fine products. After a while you get used to adding a \ where you want. There is an automated way, but it is (and will remain) undocumented. You can append \autoinsertnextspace at the end of your macro. So, something like \def\Acme{{\ss\sc ACME}\autoinsertnextspace} The reason that this is undocumented is because it makes it harder for other parsers to parse TeX. BTW, ConTeXt has a sorting and "abbreviation" mechanism for the kind of thing that you are doing. With \definesorting or \abbreviation, you can also get a list of logos or list of abbreviations free of cost :). Look up the manual for details. And as a futher incentive, you can use \setupsorting[logo][next=\autoinsertnextspace] to get the behaviour you want. Aditya
On Mon, 25 Dec 2006 16:45:15 +0000 cormullion@mac.com wrote:
This must be a beginner's question, but I can't find the answer to it in the manuals...
Take this ConTeXt source:
-- \def\Acme{% {\ss\sc ACME}}
Welcome from \Acme. \Acme make fine products. --
When this is made into a PDF, it looks like this:
-- Welcome from ACME. ACMEmake fine products. --
- because I didn't have a space in the definition, I don't get a space in the second sentence, but the period didn't interfere with the execution of the first occurrence. But if I put a space in the definition after the 'E', I get this:
-- Welcome from ACME . ACME make fine products. --
- and there's a space after the first 'E', which I don't want, even though there is now a space after the second...
What am I doing wrong?
Hi ???, TeX ignores spaces after commands. This is now problem when your command is before an period, comma ...,but it will it up the next space in a sentence. You can write you sentence in the following ways: Welcome from \Acme. \Acme\ make fine products. Welcome from \Acme. \Acme{} make fine products. Welcome from \Acme. {\Acme} make fine products. There is also a predefined command to define and setup your own abbreviations and syonyms. You can find an example at page 55 in the beginners manual (ma-cb-en.pdf). Wolfgang
participants (3)
-
Aditya Mahajan -
cormullion＠mac.com -
Wolfgang Schuster