{syntax} is about the principles and construction of the (La)TeX language.
84
votes
4answers
2k views
What is the use of percent signs (%) at the end of lines?
I see that the code in many packages and examples contains percent signs % at the end of (many) lines. What are they used for? Do they affect the parsing of those lines?
3
votes
1answer
34 views
my equation breaks into two rows
I have the following problem: These equations don't compose into a single line, instead, they break into two lines each of them. There must be a problem with my syntax but I can't seem to find it, I ...
1
vote
0answers
32 views
Label on grammar enviroment
I want to have a caption and label on my grammar environment, and have implemented the solution here: How to use caption and label in grammar environment? got my grammar displayed with a caption and a ...
7
votes
1answer
161 views
How to use caption and label in grammar environment?
I can't manage to add a caption and a label to my grammar environment:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{syntax}
\grammarindent 80pt
\begin{document}
\begin{grammar}
<condition> ::= "$" ...
119
votes
8answers
4k views
Are \( and \) preferable to dollar signs for math mode?
Along the lines of Why is \[ ... \] preferable to $$?, what reasons are there (if any) to favor \( ... \) over $ ... $?
2
votes
1answer
45 views
Parts of the text code are grey and missing in the pdf
Hi I am an absolute beginner and so far I was able to solve all problems with the help of this platform and some other forums.
But for this one I could not find a fitting thread.
I pasted some text ...
141
votes
7answers
6k views
Why is \[ … \] preferable to $$ … $$?
I've heard that you should use \[ ... \] for displayed equations instead of $$ ... $$, but why is that?
I'd assumed that it's so that you can more easily tell which are starting and which are ending ...
3
votes
1answer
211 views
Custom Command Highlighting in TeXstudio
I have defined several macros in my LaTeX report. For instance, following is a macro I defined for writing bold letter H. I have several macros like this I use throughout my work.
...
2
votes
1answer
199 views
Disable syntax highlighting in Texmaker
Sorry for an obvious one, but I'm using Texmaker as my editor and the syntax highlighting has broken down after adding a tikzpicture and is making it very hard to actually see the content. (Everything ...
11
votes
6answers
1k views
How to convert mediawiki syntax to latex?
I think I've seen a script for converting mediawiki syntax to Latex. Also, in case there are more than one solution for this, it might be nice to summarize them here.
69
votes
4answers
2k views
Techniques and packages to keep up with good practices
Question
What techniques and packages are there to keep up with good practices?
What I already know
I already know of the following packages for this kind of purpose:
...
4
votes
2answers
103 views
What's the correct syntax for accents?
I've found that writing "Sáenz":
S\'{a}enz
S\'aenz
S{\'a}enz
S{\'{a}}enz
Produces the same output.
It gets even trickier when you have two accents in a row, such as in "comunicação" (portuguese):
...
9
votes
2answers
2k views
What is the difference between \fboxsep=1cm and \setlength{\fboxsep}{1cm}?
Question has been written above.
2
votes
0answers
49 views
Regular expressions in listings
I'm looking for a possibility to use regular expression in listings. I'd like to highlight each N thats followed by 4 decimal numbers for example N1234. How can I achieve that?
Here is an example:
...
25
votes
7answers
1k views
What's a good editor for (La)TeX programming?
I've found several questions about editors for writing LaTeX documents ( LaTeX Editors/IDEs seems to be the definitive one). But I'd like to know which editors are out there that help you develop ...
15
votes
2answers
498 views
New language - hyphenation
I'm working in a project (Ubuntu Manual, if you're curious) which requires TeX to create a PDF document. But when we have almost all translated, I've found that there wasn't an hyphenation pattern for ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
Syntax highlighting for different programming languages [duplicate]
In my paper I want to include some source codes with colored sytax. For syntax highlighting I use the listings package:
\lstset{frame=tb,
language={[Visual]Basic},
aboveskip=3mm,
belowskip=3mm,
...
5
votes
2answers
81 views
How to use limits and nolimits together?
In some case limits and nolimits need to be used together, e.g. an expression \prod\nolimits^{B}\limits_{x \in X}, in which B is in the right-upper corner and x \in X under the \prod, is not displayed ...
4
votes
1answer
102 views
Grammar with numbered rules
I'd like to represent a grammar where rules are numbered (for example, the following grammar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LR_parser#Additional_Example_1.2B1), in order to refer to those rules later ...
0
votes
0answers
41 views
$*$ versus \(*\), which is better? [duplicate]
In LaTeX, $*$ and \(*\) both introduce inline math mode; but are they identical?
By this question \[*\] is better than $$*$$, so do $*$ and \(*\) in the same story?
7
votes
2answers
224 views
LaTeX for loop \@for
In user700902's answer to this thread, a for-loop with the syntax \@for is used. How does this syntax work? I tried searching about for-loops on other websites, but I could only find something like ...
2
votes
1answer
108 views
How to set italics and bold shortcuts like *bold* or _italic_
I remember seeing a possible solution here, but can't find it.
Is there any way to simplify bold and italics so that instead of \textbf{bold text} and \textit{italics text} I use simple marks like ...
18
votes
1answer
306 views
] inside an optional argument
I accidentally discovered (here) that a closing square bracket within an optional argument delimited by [ ] can cause problems.
Here is example code illustrating the issue:
\documentclass{article}
...
7
votes
1answer
657 views
\varepsilon vs. \epsilon
I cannot remember anyone writing the letter epsilon in any other way than \varepsilon in any math class; but in LaTeX \epsilon and \varepsilon are different symbols. Do anyone of you know why there ...
2
votes
0answers
73 views
tikz: code just keeps compiling? [closed]
I was trying to draw arcs in tikz, and I was using code from
this site
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{decorations.pathreplacing}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw ...
4
votes
2answers
160 views
Warnings and errors highlighting when compiling in Bash environment
I'm processing a large document, using Latexmk in a Bash environment. It would be very helpful if error and warning messages were somehow highlighted or coloured, in order to facilitate spotting them. ...
3
votes
1answer
112 views
Expanding subscript and subscript capabilities
Well, I liked the idea expressed in the question alternative syntax of subscripts using tex. But I want it to work in a sightly different way.
I just want to expand the usual _ and ^. How? So that ...
4
votes
2answers
156 views
alternative syntax of subscripts using tex
I would like to sometimes write subscripts using different syntax, instead of $u_{xx} blahblah$ write something like
$u⎵xx blah blah$, or even
$u⎵xx+blah blah$
where either space following the x ...
2
votes
4answers
238 views
Problems with % percent sign in fancyvrb inline \Verb
I have some programming language code examples in a fancyvrb \Verb!...! expression. This includes the modulus operator which happens to be a percent sign, e.g.
\Verb!(1..100) select: { arg i; i % 7 ...
6
votes
2answers
109 views
Enhancing a table
I am writing to get your suggestion about how I could enhance a table. Please do not suggest changing color or fonts.
Code:
\begin{table}
\caption{Temporal Outliers that are detected with respect to ...
5
votes
1answer
91 views
What's going on with this syntax “somename/.style={…}”
I'm finding the following preference loading syntax popping up a lot in the newer packages:
From tikz
\tikzset{help lines/.style=very thin}
From tcolorbox
\tcbset{noparskip/.style={before....}}
...
7
votes
1answer
83 views
Automatic Way of Searching for Syntax Inconsistencies
I have a large .tex file, and when ran am receiving error messages about missing $ or extra delimiter/missing {. It tells me in the log file where the error is "supposed" to be located, but it is not ...
10
votes
3answers
3k views
Which package can be used to write BNF grammars?
I googled and found two packages:
mdwtools
bnf
Unfortunately, both of them have extremely poor documentation. There are only one to two examples for each one, which makes it hard to follow. ...
31
votes
8answers
2k views
Why do people use unnecessary braces?
I often see people creating new macros where the macro token is surrounded by braces. For example,
\newcommand{\foo}{foo}
This is unnecessary and I find the extra braces make it harder to read. Why ...
4
votes
0answers
60 views
Should I put the name of a new command in braces? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why do people use unnecessary braces?
In so far as I know, the open and close braces around the command name for
\newcommand{\commandname}{...}
versus
...
11
votes
1answer
269 views
Should two pictures side by side have 0.5 or 0.49999 textwidth?
Two pictures should be next to each other. What is their perfect width?
Is 0.5 + 0.5 = 1 for TeX, or does the compiler need a tiny space between the objects?
Should
...
17
votes
2answers
402 views
The rhyme and reason of function argument syntax (brackets versus braces)
I'd like to gain some intuition as to the choices of brackets versus braces in function arguments. As in [...yadda...] versus {...yadda...}.
I'm a long-time user of LaTeX but am poorly educated as to ...
3
votes
1answer
112 views
Include one TeX file into another
I have main.tex file with:
\documentclass[]{report}
\begin{document}
\input{filename.tex}
\end{document}
Let say filename.tex have the following content:
\begin{abstract}
text
\end{abstract}
...
8
votes
2answers
1k views
How to highlight Python syntax in LaTeX Listings \lstinputlistings command
I am using package listings to import my Python source code into my LaTeX document. I use the command \lstinputlistings. I have a Python source like
class MyClass(Yourclass):
def __init__(self, ...
1
vote
2answers
201 views
lstinputlistings syntax highlighting
I am using package listings to import my Python source code into my LaTeX document. I use the command \lstinputlistings. I have a Python source like
class MyClass(Yourclass):
def __init__(self, ...
2
votes
0answers
106 views
The meaning of the percent sign in LaTeX coding [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What is the use of percent signs (%) at the end of lines?
I know that % is commonly used to uncomment parts of the code, but recently I read that there is another use ...
33
votes
2answers
1k views
When to use \par and when \\
What is the difference between \par and \\ and when should I use \par instead of \\?
11
votes
5answers
514 views
How do I print a syntax-highlighted LaTeX source file?
I want to print an example source file so that I can study it. How do I print it with syntax highlighting? I'm currently using TeXShop in MacTeX; apparently it doesn't have this ability. What program ...
8
votes
1answer
536 views
How to use symbols such as \delta and \lambda
I'm trying to use symbols such as \lambda and \delta but for some reason it's not compiling. I've reproduced the problem in the following code:
\documentclass[12pt,a4paper,oneside]{article}
...
2
votes
1answer
800 views
\lstdefinestyle syntax highlighting
I´m new to latex and got the following problem. I defined a listing style for XML Syntax highlighting like this:
How can I get also the equals symbol in the attribute color (orange)? I want to do ...
8
votes
2answers
511 views
How do I put text over symbols?
This is difficult for me to explain, but how do I put words over a symbol? For instance, I want to add words over an equal sign. Anyone know the command/syntax for that?
Also adding ^ doesn't cut ...
7
votes
4answers
508 views
How can I display two single quotes in LaTeX?
I need to display two single quotes without anything between them (I'm preparing computer science lecture slides and I want to display '\''), but of course LaTeX wants to translate '' to closing ...
4
votes
1answer
215 views
Syntax error; pgfuseimage [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Include figure (from macro) with underscore in filename
I am trying to make first presentation in LaTeX using Beamer environment. In order to include some graphics, I ...
8
votes
2answers
257 views
How to highlight (colorize) the syntax of configuration files (like .ini or .conf)?
I need to highlight the syntax of files containing lines with parameters and their values in LaTeX. Let's say I have a following file:
# some comment
parameter1 = value of parameter1
parameter2 = ...
20
votes
4answers
22k views
How to escape the & (ampersand) character in BibTeX?
I would like to put a & character in a BibTeX publisher tag. Thus far I have tried:
\&
{&}
{\&}
"&"
with the full value enclosed in curly braces and double quotes. No matter ...
