Automatic german quotation marks

Question

I would like to compile a file according to German standards, in which quotation marks are to be put like this: \glqq text \grqq

In my LaTeX document I use quotation marks in the standard way: ''text''

Is there a possibility to change in the preamble that '' will be compiled - depending on its location to \glqq or \grqq? Or an even simpler solution?

EDIT: Sorry for the incomplete desciption. I was referring to the german standards which are: „“

Answer 1

Probably this will cause some other troubles, but here it is.

Elaborating a bit on this answer of Martin Scharrer, this is the result:

Code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}

\let\oldquote'
\newif\ifquoteopen
\catcode`\'=\active
\makeatletter
\DeclareRobustCommand*{'}{%
   \@ifnextchar'{%
     \ifquoteopen
       \global\quoteopenfalse\grqq\expandafter\@gobble
     \else
       \global\quoteopentrue\glqq\expandafter\@gobble
     \fi
   }{\oldquote}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\section{Using ''quotes''}
A ''quote'' and one with a period that follows: ''quote''. And a single 'quote'.

\noindent
And this is the original one: \glqq quote\grqq.
\end{document} 

---

If the meaning of ' in math mode is to be preserved, some other hacks are needed:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}

\let\oldquote'
\newif\ifquoteopen
\catcode`\'=\active
\makeatletter
% we have to redefine \pr@m@s to use an active '
\def\pr@m@s{%
  \ifx'\@let@token
    \expandafter\pr@@@s
  \else
    \ifx^\@let@token
      \expandafter\expandafter\expandafter\pr@@@t
    \else
      \egroup
    \fi
  \fi}
\protected\def'{%
  \ifmmode
    \expandafter\active@math@prime
  \else
    \expandafter\active@text@prime
  \fi}
\def\active@text@prime{%
   \@ifnextchar'{%
     \ifquoteopen
       \global\quoteopenfalse\grqq\expandafter\@gobble
     \else
       \global\quoteopentrue\glqq\expandafter\@gobble
     \fi
   }{\oldquote}%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\section{Using ''quotes''}
A ''quote'' and one with a period that follows: ''quote''. And a single 'quote'.

\noindent
And this is the original one: \glqq quote\grqq.

\noindent
Some derivatives $f'(x)+g''(x)$.
\end{document} 

---

This last solution also transforms single quotes into German ones:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage{xspace}

\let\oldquote'
\newif\ifquoteopen
\catcode`\'=\active
\makeatletter
% we have to redefine \pr@m@s to use an active '
\def\pr@m@s{%
  \ifx'\@let@token
    \expandafter\pr@@@s
  \else
    \ifx^\@let@token
      \expandafter\expandafter\expandafter\pr@@@t
    \else
      \egroup
    \fi
  \fi}
\protected\def'{%
  \ifmmode
    \expandafter\active@math@prime
  \else
    \expandafter\active@text@prime
  \fi}
\def\active@text@prime{%
   \@ifnextchar'{%
     \ifquoteopen
       \global\quoteopenfalse\grqq\expandafter\@gobble
     \else
       \global\quoteopentrue\glqq\expandafter\@gobble
     \fi
   }{%
     \ifquoteopen
       \global\quoteopenfalse\grq\xspace
     \else
       \global\quoteopentrue\glq
     \fi
   }%
}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\section{Using ''quotes''}
A ''quote'' and one with a period that follows: ''quote''. A single 'quote' and one with a period that follows: 'quote'.

\noindent
And these are the original ones: \glqq quote\grqq{} and \glq quote\grq.

\noindent
Some derivatives $f'(x)+g''(x)$.
\end{document} 

Answer 2

I’d use csquotes, with " defined as outer quotation mark, like in

\documentclass[ngerman]{article}

\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage{csquotes}
\MakeOuterQuote{"}

\begin{document}
"Deutscher" Text
\end{document}

You can also define a symbol for inner quotations with \MakeInnerQuote{<symbol>} or an automated solution which decides wether to use outer or inner quote with \MakeAutoQuote{<open>}{<close>} where the two characters must be different, e.g. \MakeAutoQuote{<}{>} (use: <Deutscher> Text) …

---

Please note, that \MakeOuterQuote{"} overwrites some of babel’s shorthands in certain languages like "= in (n)german. In that was it might be better to use another character for active quotes or no active quotes and \enquote instead. Otherwise on could define own macros for babel shorthands like

\makeatletter
\newcommand{\diviswithhiphenation}{\penalty\@M-\hskip\z@skip}
% defined like "= in babel-contrib/german/ngermanb.dtx
\makeatother

Answer 3

The most portable way is to use the \enquote command which is defined in the csquotes package. Maybe you want to change the quote style later to guillemets (>> foo <<), then all you have to do is to change the package option to \usepackage[german=guillemets]{csquotes}.

\documentclass[a4paper]{scrartcl}

\usepackage[german]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
\usepackage[german=quotes]{csquotes}

\begin{document}
    Text without quotes. \enquote{Text with quotes}.
\end{document}

Answer 4

I don't think ''text'' is the standard way. Use the babel short hands. Here is an example which combines the short hands with the functionality of the csquotes package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[autostyle=true,german=guillemets,maxlevel=3]{csquotes}
\defineshorthand{"`}{\openautoquote}
\defineshorthand{"'}{\closeautoquote}

\begin{document}

Das ist ein "`deutscher Text"'.

\end{document}

...Rolf

Answer 5

I presume you are using babel, so another solution is (in the preamble):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\usepackage[ngerman,math=normal]{babel}

\useshorthands{'}

\newif\ifclosequote
\defineshorthand{''}{%
  \ifclosequote
    \closequotefalse\dq
  \else
    \closequotetrue\glqq
  \fi}

As a side effect, ' is a shorthand character and behaves as such -- for example, things like {'} raise an error.

Answer 6

I know this is not quite what you've been asking, but I can't comment, so I'll answer for completeness: For the future, do you know that ,,text'' (,,text'') will produce exactly the same output as \glqq text'' (\dq just looks weird when I compile it)? This is probably more convenient to type, if that is what you're looking for.