Save counter value inside command?

Question

I'm trying to automatically generate commands based on the value of a counter:

\documentclass{article}

\newcounter{count}

\newcommand\generator[1]%
{%
  \stepcounter{count}%
  \expandafter\def\csname#1\endcsname{\thecount}%
}

\generator{one}
\generator{two}

\begin{document}
  \one
  \two
\end{document}

the expected output would be "12" instead of "22".

Answer 1

It's an expansion problem; \thecount needs to be expanded first:

\documentclass{article}

\newcounter{count}

\newcommand\generator[1]%
{%
  \stepcounter{count}%
  \expandafter\edef\csname#1\endcsname{\thecount}%
}

\generator{one}
\generator{two}

\begin{document}
  \one
  \two
\end{document}

This was similar to a problem I had and motivated A problem with counters; I inititially used basically egreg's approach from his answer there, but egreg himself has pointed out in a comment that in this case it's enough to use \edef; I've updated my answer accordingly.

Answer 2

if you need only the value and not its representation use :

\newcommand\generator[1]{%
  \stepcounter{count}%
  \expandafter\edef\csname#1\endcsname{\arabic{count}}}