AUCTeX: ` a inserts \alpha{}: How can one omit the curly braces to be inserted?

Question

According to an AUCTeX reference card, ` a inserts \alpha{} and this works well in my setup. I just don't see any reason I ever used a greek letter with curly braces. This means I always have to delete them. Is there a way to have AUCTeX insert just \alpha when typing ` a?

Answer 1

There may not be any reason to disable this behavior since the braces are omitted if used inside math mode. When you do ` a inside any structure that enables math mode, such as inside \( \), $ $, equation or align, AUCTeX will omit the braces. For example the behavior for equation is the following:

1. (cursor) is not really in the code but just to mark where the cursor is.

   \begin{equation}
     (cursor)
   \end{equation}
   

2. You press ` a.

   \begin{equation}
     \alpha
   \end{equation}
   

Answer 2

You can also put the line

(setq TeX-insert-braces nil)

into your init file to keep the braces from ever being inserted when AUCTeX inserts a macro.