Questions tagged [syntax]

{syntax} is about the principles and construction of the (La)TeX language.

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Expl3: When to define a variable as \l_... or as \g_... type variable?

Is the choice whether a variable should be a \g_ or l_ type variable something a programmer can more or less freely decide on? Or are there some strict rules or at least some best-practices that a ...
Jasper Habicht's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
56 views

Conditional expressions look always false

Experimenting with conditional expressions, namely with this trivial if... \def\testvar{testvalue} \if\testvar{testvalue}{istrue}\else{isfalse}\fi I get always isfalse. I think I did everything as I ...
peterh's user avatar
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1 answer
90 views

How to write the dash of discrete math in latex?

I don't know how to use dash like this. It's not \bar{}.
Đàm Tiến Đạt's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
87 views

Stacking multiple TikZ tree labels?

I have a question related to the labelling of TikZ circles within a forest tree. Is it possible to stack multiple labels below the circle so that they would appear under one another, like this? ...
ally69710's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
156 views

Capital R with whitespace padding

I'm a math and latex novice, and I'm trying to write out the following rule with latex: I'm having a hard time with this capital R. In the textbook, it has that nice side padding but when I type ...
chocojunkie's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
73 views

TikZ math library syntax problem

I am using TikZ math library which is great. However, I can't get my head around this (see MWE). I missed something from the documentation (https://tikz.dev/library-math)? \documentclass[tikz]{...
17tmh's user avatar
  • 91
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1 answer
96 views

Can any character be used in place of a backslash?

In Chapter 3 of The TeXbook, Knuth writes: TeX allows any character to be used for escapes, but the “backslash” character ‘\’ is usually adopted for this purpose... This has me confused, for I have ...
Atom's user avatar
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24 views

Syntax of LaTeX macros [duplicate]

The TeX primitive \over has syntax {… \over …}. Is it possible to define a macro \foo, say, with syntax {…}\foo{…} without enclosing brackets?
Alois Pichler's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
341 views

What was the reason behind using sqrt (square root) to name the nth root command? [closed]

Clearly talking about: \sqrt[n]{x} here!
Hamza Nouar's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
93 views

How to draw a curve to indicate syntactic domain in the qtree?

How to draw a curved line in the qtree and add a description like the following picture? \Tree [.n,v,aP [.n,v,a ] [.$\sqrt{P}$ [.$\sqrt{\alpha}$ ] [.$\sqrt{\beta}$ ] ] ] Thanks!
user296028's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
35 views

Is the preferred use of tilde command with braces?

It looks like the standard way of using the \tilde is as in $\tilde{a}$. However, I saw a latex document in which the usage was $\tilde a$. Will the two ways of defining a tilde produce the same ...
Andre's user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
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"\setlength" vs "equal" [duplicate]

This is a very general question. Apparently a duplicate of: Other than syntax what is the difference between \dimen0= and \setlength{}{}? What is the difference between \fboxsep=1cm and \setlength{\...
Vincent Krebs's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
88 views

Problem with the alignment in systeme package

When I type this: \usepackage{systeme} \begin{document} \systeme[xyzt]{x-iy+3t=0,ix-z-(2-i)t=0,(1+i)x+(2-i)y+(3i-5)t=0,-ix+(1+i)y+z-it=0} \end{document} I'm ending up with this: Which, as you see, ...
NairD's user avatar
  • 31
1 vote
2 answers
265 views

Cross reference not working as intended, the entire name of reference and label gets printed?

So something weird is happening when I installed latex + textstudio on my new machine and tried to compile an old paper: When I write something like In Sec. \ref{sec:Background}, for some reason the ...
OneAndOnly's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
305 views

Is it possible to use multiple sub- or superscript syntax in math mode?

I often have to write expressions like this in math mode: L_t^pL_x^q For some reason, I am not always satisfied with typing this and I would like to define some new command with the same output. I ...
Lorenzo Pompili's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
495 views

How to solve "Package tikz Error: Giving up on this path. Did you forget a semicolon?."?

The code that gives this error message is \documentclass[dvipsnames]{standalone} \usepackage{pgfplots} \usepackage{tikz-3dplot} \usepackage{tikz} \usetikzlibrary{decorations.markings} \pgfplotsset{...
Fractal Admirer's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
45 views

Syntax: use second argument leaving the first argument as default in a macro

I use this command to abbreviate my notation \NewDocumentCommand{\Lp}{O{p}O{\mathbb{R}^d}O{[- \infty, \infty]}}% {L^{#1}(#2, #3)} I've set one default for each argument, in most cases I need just ...
Fral's user avatar
  • 79
0 votes
1 answer
236 views

How to insert table.tex into my latex document

I am trying to figure out how to insert the table I generated in Stata in tex format into my latex document. Currently, I get errors when I copy-paste and after I did modifications to the code. Below ...
ddocc's user avatar
  • 37
3 votes
2 answers
197 views

Constructing \newcommand with caret ('^') or underscore ('_')

I was just wondering if anyone out there was familiar with some apparently less-than-conventional syntax for creating a \newcommand... Sorry if this is kind of basic, but I just wanted to make small ...
Wai-Ga D. Ho's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
62 views

How do syntax and coordinate calculations work with the Tikz library `calc`?

I'd like to annotate an image in LaTeX using Tikz. I'm rather new to Tikz, so I have been following a tutorial which breaks it down quite nicely. In the tutorial they add an image to a node and then ...
PaulMndn's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
311 views

\def with number in macro works?

I know that numbers cannot be used in macros, e.g., in \def/\newcommand definitions. Can anybody explain to me why this \documentclass{article} \def\i2{\frac{i}{2}} \begin{document} $\i2$ \end{...
Nico Schlömer's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
61 views

undefined environment vmatrix

I am an absolute beginner in LaTeX... I am trying to learn it so that I can use it to ask question in websites. I have faced the following problem... I have learned some syntax which is used to ...
Florian Geyer's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
220 views

help with latex syntax parsing errors

Could anyone help to fix the syntax parsing error ? \documentclass{article} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \begin{document} \begin{aligned} \rho &= \begin{pmatrix} ae^{i\...
kevin's user avatar
  • 111
1 vote
1 answer
60 views

How does \special know which output driver it's addressing?

The TeXbook says that \special{…}is a special instruction to the output driver. But how do you know when you write the instruction which output driver will be reading it?
Marnanel Thurman's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
48 views

I want a code to rep a big matrix in row wise

\begin{align} \begin{bmatrix} \big| & \big| & \cdots & \big| \\ x_1 & x_2 & \cdots & x_{m-1} \\ \big| & \big| & \cdots & \big| \\ ...
Cutie's user avatar
  • 45
2 votes
0 answers
649 views

Abstract Syntax Tree (AST) for LaTeX

I would like to manipulate a LaTeX document in a program, e.g. add/change used packages or their options and adding environments. Instead of doing this purely on the text level, it would be great to ...
J Fabian Meier's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
94 views

How to collect texts and place all them together?

I am trying to create two commands: A command \collect that stores a string/text. A command \callcollection that call all these stored texts placed before the command (without any configuration, just ...
TheEndofTheWorld's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
79 views

Is it a good practice to leave space before mathematical text? [duplicate]

I used to write equations in the following way: Text %Empty line \[ code \] %Empty line Text I have noticed that with this syntax there is more space above the maths than beneath them. Is that ...
ado sar's user avatar
  • 203
2 votes
1 answer
105 views

What is correct? `(-1)^a` or `{(-1)}^a`? [duplicate]

Essentially the title says it all. The TeX linter ChkTeX recommends to group parentheses if sub-/superscripting. It makes the grouped content into an atom (my TeX knowledge is minimal), so it is ...
Gargantuar's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
44 views

Good code style introduces whitespace in LaTeX [duplicate]

Suppose I have the following in a test1.tex file: \documentclass{article} \begin{document} \section{A section with a very long title which goes beyond seventy-two columns in text editor} \end{...
user32882's user avatar
  • 1,594
0 votes
0 answers
798 views

How to insert an image in this particular template (ICLR 2022)

Link to overleaf template: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/template-for-iclr-2021-conference-submission/mmpfhsxmqdkp I tried this code: \begin{figure} \centering \includegraphics{pipe....
Academic's user avatar
  • 131
2 votes
1 answer
243 views

plus sign not shown in exponent [closed]

I am writing in Latex in the github markdown as shown below. Why is the plus sign not working in this example? <img src="https://render.githubusercontent.com/render/math?math=P(X^{t + 1}) \...
kiriloff's user avatar
  • 121
4 votes
3 answers
152 views

Infix syntax with Unicode characters

Tex (and XeLaTeX) use what I would call prefix syntax for user-defined macros. For example, the macro \newcommand{\identity}[1]{#1} is used with the variables prefixed by the macro: \identity{vars}. ...
Hector's user avatar
  • 1,100
4 votes
1 answer
766 views

How is TeX syntactically organised?

I'm just starting out on TeX, and I wanted to find a directory or table of how TeX is arranged in syntax. I can make educated guesses, but I figured I'd be better self taught if I understood how ...
yolo's user avatar
  • 169
1 vote
0 answers
212 views

How to define a command in latex for capitalizing following text?

In latex there are commands that change the appearance of their argument, e.g. \textit{foo}. Other commands change the appearance of the following text, without requiring an argument, e.g. \itshape ...
Roel's user avatar
  • 592
0 votes
1 answer
158 views

What are brackets do in new command definition?

In an article about defining new commands I saw an example \newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}} The set of real numbers are usually represented by a blackboard bold capital r: \( \R \). What do brackets \( ...
Dims's user avatar
  • 153
1 vote
1 answer
194 views

How to Make Index Recognize an Exclamation Point as Part of an Entry

I would like to add an entry in an index which makes use of an exclamation point as an article of grammar. However (of course), Latex treats it as if I want to begin a subentry. Consider the following ...
DDS's user avatar
  • 8,796
0 votes
0 answers
101 views

TeXmaker syntax highlighting problems

can anyone tell me why TeXmaker is not coloring my code correctly? For some reason everything below my \newcommandline is in text-colour. When i paste my code into overleaf it works normally (https://...
MichaelS's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
801 views

Missing number, treated as zero (\hspace, I think)

At the outset let me say I am not even a LaTeX beginner - I know almost nothing. I have an .tex file named title.tex which was developed on a Windows platform and is used in an R markdown document ...
bikeactuary's user avatar
1 vote
0 answers
90 views

Could anyone explain to me syntax for longtable? [closed]

What does \begin{longtable}{@{}l*{9}{c}@{}} exactly mean?
Bisu's user avatar
  • 33
3 votes
1 answer
204 views

Metapost: variable name with number at the end

Why can't I use variable names like a1, str2, x12? Does Metapost consider them as arrays so that a1 is like a[1] and so on? Even z-notation as z1, z2 and etc. does not work. The code is beginfig(1); # ...
Vladimir's user avatar
  • 589
5 votes
4 answers
615 views

How to make commands with mandatory braces?

Partly inspired by this question, I got interested in the question of whether we could (hypothetically) switch to a new LaTeX syntax where braces around arguments were mandatory. That is, no more \...
Gaussler's user avatar
  • 12.8k
1 vote
1 answer
2k views

MikTeX sources and LaTeX language

Am I right that MikTeX sources in C++ contain the code that opens .tex file (when I run latex.exe myfile.tex), reads it, parses commands, performs them if they are correct and logs error messages ...
Vladimir's user avatar
  • 589
0 votes
1 answer
107 views

Typing Brackets '[' ']' Within a Node in Tikz Q-Tree

I am trying to make a tree with Tikz Q-Tree wherein one of the nodes/the text shown needs to read: [+past]. However, brackets are used in the construction of the tree itself, so when I include them in ...
NLing's user avatar
  • 373
1 vote
1 answer
20 views

foreach syntax missing endcs.., tex cap exceeded

I want to draw points in a loop. x and y coordinates are given ( two variables). I think it is syntactically right, but tikz dont. Can anyone help? mwe: \documentclass[]{article} \usepackage{tikz} \...
gizeh's user avatar
  • 491
0 votes
2 answers
182 views

Issue with curly brackets in beamer - why?

I am struggling with a macro which auto-generates some frames in beamer. While doing so I came across a situation I do not fully understand. My pedagogical examples boils down to the following: \...
Nobody-Knows-I-am-a-Dog's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
295 views

Using \boxed{} in \newenvironment{envname}{here}{and here}

There's a type of environment (shown below) which I'm using very frequently. I would like to define a new environment to begin it and end it with single commands. \begin{equation}\boxed{\boxed{ \begin{...
Sisyphus's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
224 views

double subscript error from auto-generated latex

This auto-generated latex from sagemath software generates error Double subscript I wanted to report this to sagemath, but wanted to check first why this is showing up Inside sagemath on Linux, I type ...
Nasser's user avatar
  • 20.2k
3 votes
2 answers
275 views

Tikz-cd Crossing Over Issue

I'm drawing a diagram and I want one specific line to be crossed over by all others that pass by it. I'll put the picture of my diagram below for you to see what I want. So, the red arrow indicates ...
Fractal Admirer's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
128 views

Overbrace on Powers

How can I make an overbrace on powers without it being buggy. Example: \documentclass{article} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{...
Fractal Admirer's user avatar

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