Is there any more convenient way to insert Math-mode Accents?

Question

Is there any more convenient (concise) way to insert Math-mode Accents? For example is it possible to use a syntax like following:

a\^ %instead of \hat{a} 
a\- %instead of \bar{a}
a\~ %instead of \tilde{a}

or

\^a %instead of \hat{a} 
\-a %instead of \bar{a}
\~a %instead of \tilde{a}

Answer 1

You can do this by redefining the accent macros only for mathmode, using the \everymath token list. You can do this as follows:

\everymath=\expandafter{%
  \the\everymath
  \let\^\hat
  \let\-\bar
  \let\~\tilde
  % etc.
  }

Note that this will only be sufficient if you use amsmath environments, such as align and gather, for displayed equations. (You should be doing that anyway, but this does bear noting.) This should also preserve the normal meanings of the accent macros for text mode.

edit: for your revised question, there is no mechanism to define a new macro to accept an argument which immediately precedes it, as in the examples you give.