Problem putting answers in a macro

Question

I want to put the \begin{sol} and \end{sol} from the answers package in a macro like

\newcommand{\assignment}[2]
{
\item #1
\begin{sol} #2 \end{sol}
}

###

\assignment{question}{answer}

It's just that answers use a verbatim environment that makes it miss the \end{sol} if it isn't written in the 'main' function. Is there any way to use the \expandafter,\csname or such commands to let it just print the \begin{sol} #2 \end{sol} and then expand it after it has been printed in the main document?

Answer 1

You can try

\newcommand{\assignment}[2]{\item #1\scantokens{\begin{sol}#2\end{sol}}}

Answer 2

You can't use verbatim in macro arguments. I would make assignment an environment with one argument for the item instead. Alternatively you can use the following trick to place \end{sol} automatically after the } behind the answer:

\newcommand{\assignment}[1]{%
   \item #1
   \begin{sol}
    \def\endassignment{\end{sol}}%
    \bgroup
    \aftergroup\endassignment
    \let\dummy=%
}



\assignment{question}{answer}

Here the { in front of the answer is removed, so the } will match the internal \bgroup. Then \aftergroup is used to insert the \end{sol} afterwards.

(Using \sol and \endsol instead would be simpler, but I don't know if this environment relies on the extra group. Having to add it manually wouldn't make the code shorter.)