{tex-core} is for questions that are independent of formats and macro packages. Such questions usually relate to low-level TeX programming or the behaviour of TeX at an underlying level. Note that even Plain TeX is a format in itself; for questions about it, use {plain-tex}.
16
votes
2answers
273 views
When is it good practice to use \unskip
One sees in source2e the command \unskip used in various places. My understanding in general terms is that the macro is the equivalent of \ignorespacesbehind.
Where would it be recommended to use ...
26
votes
5answers
737 views
When does it make sense to use TeX only and skip LaTeX?
In what applications doesn't LaTeX give you much?
22
votes
1answer
246 views
What does list mean in relation to skip? (What is David on about?)
In two previous question When is it good practice to use \unskip and What is a token? the default meaning of token in LaTeX and the behaviour of \unskip were asked. However in the first question was ...
30
votes
2answers
365 views
What is a token?
Please forgive such a basic question, but I did some Google searching and looked around on this site, and while there are many threads and online resources that involve tokens, I can't seem to find a ...
42
votes
3answers
1k views
What is the difference between \relax and {}?
As I understand it, the point of \relax is to stop a macro from swallowing up subsequent material (such as whitespace). But {} (\bgroup\egroup) serves the same function. Why do we need both?
15
votes
4answers
350 views
Selectively suppress generation of typeset output
Is it possible put TeX into a "mute" mode in which all typesetting is suppressed?
\documentclass{article}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
\suppress
This text will not be seen in the generated ...
10
votes
1answer
82 views
(Re)definition of commands that use delimiters other than braces (e.g. \underbrace)
How do you go about redefining a command such as \underbrace, which uses an "uncommon" delimiter, i.e. _, between its two arguments, so that the redefined command be usable in exactly the same way as ...
14
votes
1answer
177 views
Can one determine the first character of a given math list?
I'm still pursuing my quest to code a better \widebar command. I can do bars over single characters quite well already, but I have problems when it comes to letter combinations such as AW. ...
1
vote
0answers
39 views
How to break long expressions automatically in displaymode? [duplicate]
Whenever an expression is too long, it will be broken automatically in inline mode but done nothing in displaymode
E.g.
MWE:
\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\begin{document}
...
14
votes
3answers
184 views
Parsing strings containing diacritical marks (macros?)
I apologize that this question may seem very much like several other recent ones I have asked (Parsing leading hardspaces, Parsing a \$ as part of an improved \getargs command). They are all related ...
6
votes
1answer
77 views
Macros in \special
I tried to compute a bounding box in LaTeX and pass the value on to dvisvgm via DVI specials. The resulting code (which I copy-and-pasted together from all over the internet) looked as follows:
...
0
votes
2answers
3k views
Error Latex TeX capacity exceeded, sorry [input stack size=5000]
I want to test this template http://students.engr.scu.edu/~sschaeck/latexforthesis/.
when i run the makefile i get this error .Please what does it mean this error
here the code :
...
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?
42
votes
0answers
1k views
A LaTeX log analyzer application (visualizing TeX expansion)
Consider the following MWE, test.tex:
\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\begin{document}
\tracingassigns=1
\tracingmacros=1
\def\aaa{something}
\def\bbb{else \aaa, else}
\edef\ccc{third \bbb, level}
...
5
votes
2answers
97 views
Variadic arguments macro
I am trying to make macro with variadic arguments, iterating over them.
The final result is supposed to be:
\foreach[x]((var = \x )){foo}{bar}{baz}\null
evals to
var = foo var = bar var = baz
My ...
7
votes
2answers
105 views
Is there a way of defining a command \nullifyifmoved{arg} that will normally act like its argument but act like a no-op if the macro is “moved”?
I'm interested in a macro \nullifyifmoved that takes one argument arg and acts like arg in normal contexts, except it acts like a no-op wherever it is written to a file. Some background:
Martin ...
2
votes
0answers
159 views
How to edit the LaTeX path in LyX on Windows (x64)
I was using MiKTeX 2.9 (x64) on my Win 7 machine for some time with TeXnicCenter. Now I tried to install LyX on the same PC. The problem I get is Lyx does find neither latex.exe nor sees all the other ...
6
votes
3answers
172 views
Why are some characters not allowed in command sequences
From my understanding a control sequence is ended by any non-alphabetic character such that \mycsA is one token, but \mycs1 is two tokens. This means things like starred commands \mycs* are actually ...
4
votes
3answers
163 views
How are space tokens and empty lines processed by long commands (as their potential arguments)?
How are spaces and empty lines processed by long commands (i.e., those that do not accept paragraph breaks inside)? Are there different space tokens aside from " " and an empty line? It appears that ...
5
votes
3answers
97 views
Metacommand for commands that dynamically select a parameter?
Original question
I would like to create a metacommand for creating new projection commands. Specifically, \newproj{\cmd}{<n>}{<m>} should create \cmd as a new command of <n> ...
23
votes
4answers
294 views
unexpected interaction between \raggedright and \parshape
While answering Random start of line, I came upon a strange interaction between \raggedright and \parshape.
If a ragged-right paragraph ends in a short line, this line will be "the most ragged".
...
11
votes
2answers
219 views
How does math mode work?
When writing an a in TeX, it is typeset as an upright "a" by default. When writing an a in math mode it is typeset in italics. Furthermore, in math mode white spaces are ignored and no empty lines ...
12
votes
1answer
167 views
Am I programmatically tieing my hands behind my back by insisting on a particular engine?
I've read Differences between LuaTeX, ConTeXt and XeTeX, but still have a niggle at the back of my mind that I'd like to ask about.
I'm developing a LaTeX package/class/stuff with the aim of making ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How to install custom sty files where the LaTeX compiler can find them?
I created a custom beamer style. For this I have several .sty files. I am able to install this custom theme on my Ubuntu 12.04 with the standard tex-live provided distribution by putting it my home as ...
19
votes
3answers
242 views
If I redefine a command that has a starred variant, will that always disable the starred variant?
If I redefine a command that has a starred variant, will this always effectively disable the starred variant, as a side effect of redefining the unstarred variant?
A related question: Do starred ...
3
votes
1answer
73 views
FMT to CLS Creation in LaTeX
A Few years back we have created fmt format through PDFTEX. Now we have need to update some points in the class file. It is possible again to create fmt to .cls or .dtx files?
4
votes
3answers
291 views
Programmatically setting a counter to a substring
I'm trying to set a counter based on the name of the current job. I've got the number I need by doing something like \substring{\jobname}{5}{5}} using the stringstrings package, and if I just output ...
2
votes
0answers
53 views
font loading via URL for all TeX-en
Firstly, I'm not asking about typesetting URLs. What I am talking about is font resolution via a URL reference. My limited experience is in using XeLaTeX so I'll couch the question accordingly. If you ...
8
votes
1answer
121 views
Which commands exist to define new commands?
Which commands are there that one can use to define new commands in (La)TeX?
There are: \let, \def, \[re]newcommand[*], \DeclareRobustCommand[*], and ...?
(And I've seen things like ...
11
votes
2answers
106 views
Is there any reason to define a zero-argument macro using a starred defining command?
Is there any reason to define a 0-argument (read: zero-argument) macro with a starred command (\newcommand* instead of \newcommand or \DeclareRobustCommand* instead of \DeclareRobustCommand)? After ...
6
votes
5answers
267 views
What sequence of documents should I read to know “all of” TeX and then LaTeX?
I know that there are a already number of questions on this site about good instructional (La)TeX materials for users at different levels.
What I am interested in, though, is what set of documents ...
36
votes
1answer
1k views
The differences between TeX engines
I am confused about what TeX and its offspring (LaTeX, pdfTeX/pdfLaTeX, e-TeX, ConTeXt, LuaTeX, etc.) are.
Some, like LaTeX, seem like add ons to TeX (maybe a change to the eyes and mouth, but not ...
13
votes
2answers
254 views
What is “plain TeX”?
I occasionally see a statement that plain TeX is not the same as TeX, because plain TeX is already a format.
What is plain TeX, and what is the difference to TeX proper?
Some answers are here (The ...
4
votes
1answer
103 views
\vbox with some extra space below
I don't understand why when using \vbox of a certain height, there is some extra space added below it.
I'm trying - towards grid typesetting - to put for example graphics in the vbox of a certain ...
15
votes
3answers
260 views
When is it better to use \par than \endgraf?
Just yesterday I had to patch a package file (changing the description to indicate that the file had changed) to replace some \par to \endgraf because the code had bad interactions with non-\long ...
22
votes
3answers
519 views
How to know whether or not we need \expandafter?
The following is quoted from Peter Grill's answer on question LaTeX dynamic macro definition.
The \expandafter is requried as the \newcommand needs to be dealt
with after the \csname.
As a ...
7
votes
1answer
114 views
xcolor and everycr-Problem
I'm trying to insert some \noalign-code in every row of a tabular by using colortbl and \everycr or \CT@everycr. In most cases it works fine, but not if there is a \rowcolors-command (from xcolor) ...
15
votes
3answers
388 views
\string command behavior - Plain TeX
I would like to learn Plain TeX and I'm reading Knuth's "The TeXBook". At Chapter 7, Knuth talks about the \string command and how it converts control sequences into lists of characters tokens.
Why ...
28
votes
4answers
1k views
A critique of TeX?
Is there any informative critique of TeX along one or all the lines below:
TeX, the typesetting engine (including its algorithms)
TeX, the typesetting language
TeX, the programming language
TeX, the ...
10
votes
2answers
173 views
What does \relax do? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How can I speed up LaTeX compilation?
What is the difference between \relax and {}?
The title suggest the question. On and off, I see macros here in TeX.SE and I see ...
16
votes
1answer
449 views
Is it still worthwhile to let TeX try line-breaking without hyphenation?
Here's TeX's line-breaking approach (as I understand it) in a nutshell:
If \pretolerance is positive, try to break a paragraph into lines without inserting discretionary hyphens and without ...
3
votes
1answer
109 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
153 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 ...
15
votes
3answers
199 views
Is it possible to interact with TeX mid-process?
Quoting from an answer to Typesetting the entire Song That Never Ends
I ran this code once, and aborted the process after it reported producing something like 47,000 pages (in a very short amount ...
7
votes
4answers
393 views
How do I get mathematical fonts to Illustrator?
I am doing a thesis on graph theory, and I am currently drawing graphs with Illustrator. Vertexes and edges are easy to draw, but how about naming them? How do I get the symbols in image look like ...
10
votes
2answers
182 views
All (La)TeX warnings and errors
For testing purposes, I am looking for a comprehensive list of all errors and warnings that TeX, and LaTeX can output. I don't mean errors and warnings produced by all packages, as this would give an ...
8
votes
3answers
115 views
Questions on macro writing in TeX to modify an existing style file: fancybox.sty
I've decided that I must become more adept at TeX if I'm to become proficient with LaTeX. While this is probably obvious to most readers who pass by, my ability to muddle through has hidden this small ...
25
votes
2answers
745 views
What language is TeX implemented in?
I read on Wikipedia that the first version of TeX was written in SAIL. However, does anyone know what language later versions (i.e the current one) are implemented in?
22
votes
2answers
343 views
“That makes 100 errors” and one question
Although I never make any misteyk, occasionally I compile a TeX file in non-stop mode (that's how I roll) so wonderful that it just starts stuttering and spits out this
and provides some moral ...
58
votes
2answers
2k views
What are penalties and which ones are defined?
Very often you can find solutions by changing the penalty. One is widowpenalty. However what are penalties and is there a small list of every defined penalty.
There is a German site which does ...
