Is it possible to have certain words in the document always in bold?

Question

I am writing an AWK programming book and when I explain things, I refer to special AWK variables all the time, such as ORS. Is it possible to set LaTeX up in such a way that these words are always in bold in the text, so I don't have to write \bf{ORS} all the time?

Answer 1

For a job like this I usually define a convenience macro:

\def\<#1>{\textbf{#1}}

Now you can say \<ORS> without much overhead and still don't need to define macros for all the terms that are special. In the context of a book you might want to think about how this macro can be also used to create an index. (This is a little trickier and might warrant a separate question.)

Answer 2

In lieu of a ton of \newcommands, I would rather define a macro that stores a number of words for which you require them to be bold. This is simply a comma delimited list.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xspace}
\begin{document}
\makeatletter
\def\boldcommandlist{\@elt FS,\@elt OFS,\@elt RS,\@elt ORS,\@elt NR,\@elt NF,\@elt FNR,}
\def\@elt#1,{%
 \expandafter\def\csname#1\endcsname{\textbf{#1}\xspace}
}
\boldcommandlist

Awk \OFS is an output equivalent of awk \FS variable. 
By default awk OFS is a single space character.
Following is an awk \OFS example. Use the command \OFS.

\makeatother
\end{document}

The \boldcommandlist holds the words to be typeset in bold:

 \boldcommandlist{FS,OFS,...}

You can always add another one if you wish at a later stage.

The \@elt is short for an element and is initially undefined. When we give it a definition, it picks up its argument as the next word (delimited by a comma) and creates a command for it. The xspace is a small package that correctly adjusts the spacing after a command catering correctly for such things as punctuation.

Answer 3

First of all, try to avoid \bf{}, use \textbf{} instead. More info here, or search for the New Font Selection Scheme

you could use \newcommand{\ORS}{\textbf{ORS}\xspace} at the preamble, and invoke it in your document with \ORS. For \xspace usage look at the link in the comments

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xspace}
\newcommand{\ORS}{\textbf{ORS}\xspace}

\begin{document}
Compare \ORS with ORS.

Sentence ending in \ORS.
\end{document}

Update

Updated the answer according to lockstep's suggestion.

Answer 4

With LuaTeX, you can translate your input before it is passed on to TeX. Here is an example of doing the automatic translation in ConTeXt:

\usemodule[translate]

% Notice the space before the words
\translateinput [ OFS][ \bold{OFS}]
\translateinput [ FS] [ \bold{FS}]

\enableinputtranslation

\starttext
Awk OFS is an output equivalent of awk FS variable. 
By default awk OFS is a single space character.
Following is an awk OFS example. Use the command OFS.

\stoptext

Answer 5

Combining Christian's answer with Yiannis, you can get a single \<...> markup which expands to different things (bold, italics,...) depending on the argument. It might be useful in some cases where you have different types of words to highlight.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{hyperref}% used for an example.

\def\<#1>{\csname keyword@@#1\endcsname}

\begingroup
\makeatletter
\def\do#1{\expandafter\doaux\expandafter{\keyword@style{#1}}{#1}}
\def\doaux#1#2{\global\@namedef{keyword@@#2}{#1}}   
\def\keyword@style#1{\textbf{#1}}
\do{FS}
\do{OFS}
\do{RS}
\do{ORS}
\do{NR}
\do{NF}
\do{FNR}
\def\keyword@style#1{#1\footnote{From the \<python> language.}}
\do{try}
\do{raise}
\def\keyword@style#1{\href{http://www.#1.org/}{#1}}
\do{python}
\do{CTAN}
\endgroup

\begin{document}
I don't know what \<OFS> is, nor \<RS>, but they seem to be parts 
of the awk language. On the other hand, I know a little bit about 
\<try> and \<raise>. There are many packages about \TeX\ on the
\<CTAN> website.
\end{document}