\newcommand and spacing

Question

How can I define my own shorthand command, but making sure that the spacing afterwards is correct?

\newcommand{\abc}{\textsc{abc}} produces 'ABC,' but has the problem 'ABCmoretexthere' (i.e. no space before the next word).

Vice versa

\newcommand{\abc}{\textsc{abc} } produces 'ABC moretexthere' but has the problem 'ABC ,' (i.e. one space before the comma).

How can I make both work?

Answer 1

You can use the package xspace:

\usepackage{xspace} 
\newcommand{\abc}{\textsc{abc}\xspace}

This command decides whether to insert a space or not, usually this works well.

Answer 2

You can use the package xspace. To avoid the known bug you have to use

\usepackage{xspace}[2006/05/08]
\makeatletter
% usually \check@icr is \@empty and therefore
% not appropriate for \xspaceaddexceptions.
\begingroup
  \text@command\relax
  \global\let\xspace@check@icr\check@icr
\endgroup
\xspaceaddexceptions{\xspace@check@icr}
\makeatother 

See latex bug report tools/3895