Name arrangement macro

Question

I'm trying to write a c.v. macro. I've got a first, middle and last name and I would like to arrange these as either "first middle last" or as "first last" if middle is unknown

The code I have so far is as follows (which works) :

\def\@normalname{
 \@ifundefined{@middlename}
 {
  \@firstname\ \@lastname
 }{
 \@firstname\ \@middlename\ \@lastname
}}

and a shorter version that doesn't

\def\@normalname{
 \@firstname\
 \@ifundefined{@middlename}{}{\@middlename\ }
 \@lastname
}

Any reason why the code would fail in the second case ?

(using pdfLatex if it helps)

Answer 1

As @Gonzalo said, if your problem is extra spaces then

\def\@normalname{%
 \@firstname\ %(not strictly necessary)
 \@ifundefined{@middlename}{}{\@middlename\ }%
 \@lastname
}

is what you need (there are extra spaces in your other version as well). A shorter version is

\let\@middlename\@gobble
\def\@normalname{\@firstname\ \@middlename\  \@lastname}

as then if you don't define a middle name the default definition eats the extra space, but if you do define it to be a name the following \ will make a space.