Delimiters as math symbols (and not delimiters)

Question

I am currently using delimiters (brackets, [ and ], to be precise) as symbols in math equations. Of course, the compilator considers the brackets as delimiters, and the spacing is thus not very pleasant. See for example

$a=]_ib$

against a more aesthetically pleasing (but very ad-hoc)

$a=\ ]_i\,b$

Is there a way to define a command that will print [ and ] as regular symbols (and so add spacing accordingly)?

Before anyones points me to this question, the correct answer in this case was to reverse the order of delimiters. I would like to define them so they are not delimiters at all. I still use regular brackets as delimiters sometimes, so defining a new command would be better (symbols brackets always have an index).

Thanks!

Answer 1

A math symbol can be turned into an ordinary symbol by just enclosing it in braces. So

$a = {]}_{i}b$

should do what you want. Perhaps you should define your own command:

\newcommand{\orbrack}{{]}}

and type

$a = \orbrack_{i}b$