Convert xecyr cyrillic letters to uppercase

Question

How can I convert cyrillic letters defined in xecyr (for example, \cyra, \cyrb) to uppercase in XeLaTeX? I've tried \uppercase, \MakeUppercase, \MakeTextUppercase and neither of them worked, the text remains in lowercase.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{textcase}
\usepackage{xecyr}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage[spelling=modern]{russian}
\newfontfamily{\cyrillicfont}{cmunrm.otf}[
      BoldFont = cmunbx.otf,
      ItalicFont = cmunti.otf,
  BoldItalicFont = cmunbi.otf]

\begin{document}
\uppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\MakeUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\MakeTextUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}
\end{document}

\cyra is defined as \DeclareUTFcharacter[\UTFencname]{x0430}{\cyra}, other letters are defined similarly.

Answer 1

You will have to add the commands to the list used by \MakeUppercase:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{textcase}
\usepackage{xecyr}
\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage[spelling=modern]{russian}
\newfontfamily{\cyrillicfont}{cmunrm.otf}[
      BoldFont = cmunbx.otf,
      ItalicFont = cmunti.otf,
  BoldItalicFont = cmunbi.otf]

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\appto\@uclclist{\cyra\CYRA\cyrb\CYRB}
\makeatother
\begin{document}

\MakeUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}
\MakeTextUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\end{document}

As requested in the comment here a way to redefine \cyra to a simpler command which works in \MakeUppercase. But if could have side-effects, so use it with care. To avoid that it changes all commands defined by xunicode, xunicode is loaded directly:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{textcase}

\usepackage{polyglossia}
\setmainlanguage[spelling=modern]{russian}
\newfontfamily{\cyrillicfont}{cmunrm.otf}[
      BoldFont = cmunbx.otf,
      ItalicFont = cmunti.otf,
  BoldItalicFont = cmunbi.otf]

\usepackage{xunicode}
\usepackage{expl3}
\ExplSyntaxOn
\let\OldDeclareUTFcharacter\DeclareUTFcharacter
\renewcommand\DeclareUTFcharacter[3][]{%
 \tl_set:Nx\l_tmpa_tl{\tl_tail:n{#2}}
 \tl_set:Nx #3 {\char_generate:nn{"\l_tmpa_tl}{11}} 
 }
\ExplSyntaxOff 
\usepackage{xecyr} 
\let\DeclareUTFcharacter\OldDeclareUTFcharacter



\begin{document}
\uppercase{\cyra\cyrb}
\MakeUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}
\MakeTextUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\end{document}

Answer 2

XeLaTeX expects Unicode input, so polyglossia doesn't bother to load a correspondence between upper and lower case for the “old style” LICR specifications. However, I understand that legacy documents might have some problems.

A simple workaround is to load the T2A encoding and then immediately override it:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[T2A,TU]{fontenc}
\usepackage{textcase}
\usepackage{xecyr}
\usepackage{polyglossia}

\setmainlanguage[spelling=modern]{russian}

\setmainfont{cmun}[
  Extension      = .otf,
  UprightFont    = *rm,
  BoldFont       = *bx,
  ItalicFont     = *ti,
  BoldItalicFont = *bi
]

\begin{document}

\MakeUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\MakeTextUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\end{document}

You can redefine the LICR to point to a character, say

\def\cyra{^^^^0430}

This can be done by using the code in t2aenc.dfu, which contains line such as

\DeclareUnicodeCharacter{0410}{\CYRA}

It's easy, with a good editor, to change that file into cyrlicr.tex

\newcommand{\RedefineLICR}[2]{\def#2{#1}}

\RedefineLICR{^^^^0401}{\CYRYO}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0402}{\CYRDJE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0404}{\CYRIE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0405}{\CYRDZE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0406}{\CYRII}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0407}{\CYRYI}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0408}{\CYRJE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0409}{\CYRLJE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^040a}{\CYRNJE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^040b}{\CYRTSHE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^040e}{\CYRUSHRT}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^040f}{\CYRDZHE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0410}{\CYRA}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0411}{\CYRB}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0412}{\CYRV}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0413}{\CYRG}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0414}{\CYRD}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0415}{\CYRE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0416}{\CYRZH}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0417}{\CYRZ}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0418}{\CYRI}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0419}{\CYRISHRT}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^041a}{\CYRK}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^041b}{\CYRL}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^041c}{\CYRM}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^041d}{\CYRN}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^041e}{\CYRO}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^041f}{\CYRP}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0420}{\CYRR}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0421}{\CYRS}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0422}{\CYRT}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0423}{\CYRU}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0424}{\CYRF}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0425}{\CYRH}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0426}{\CYRC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0427}{\CYRCH}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0428}{\CYRSH}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0429}{\CYRSHCH}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^042a}{\CYRHRDSN}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^042b}{\CYRERY}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^042c}{\CYRSFTSN}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^042d}{\CYREREV}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^042e}{\CYRYU}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^042f}{\CYRYA}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0430}{\cyra}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0431}{\cyrb}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0432}{\cyrv}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0433}{\cyrg}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0434}{\cyrd}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0435}{\cyre}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0436}{\cyrzh}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0437}{\cyrz}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0438}{\cyri}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0439}{\cyrishrt}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^043a}{\cyrk}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^043b}{\cyrl}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^043c}{\cyrm}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^043d}{\cyrn}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^043e}{\cyro}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^043f}{\cyrp}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0440}{\cyrr}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0441}{\cyrs}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0442}{\cyrt}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0443}{\cyru}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0444}{\cyrf}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0445}{\cyrh}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0446}{\cyrc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0447}{\cyrch}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0448}{\cyrsh}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0449}{\cyrshch}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^044a}{\cyrhrdsn}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^044b}{\cyrery}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^044c}{\cyrsftsn}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^044d}{\cyrerev}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^044e}{\cyryu}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^044f}{\cyrya}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0451}{\cyryo}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0452}{\cyrdje}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0454}{\cyrie}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0455}{\cyrdze}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0456}{\cyrii}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0457}{\cyryi}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0458}{\cyrje}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0459}{\cyrlje}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^045a}{\cyrnje}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^045b}{\cyrtshe}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^045e}{\cyrushrt}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^045f}{\cyrdzhe}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0490}{\CYRGUP}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0491}{\cyrgup}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0492}{\CYRGHCRS}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0493}{\cyrghcrs}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0496}{\CYRZHDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0497}{\cyrzhdsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0498}{\CYRZDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^0499}{\cyrzdsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^049a}{\CYRKDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^049b}{\cyrkdsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^049c}{\CYRKVCRS}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^049d}{\cyrkvcrs}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04a0}{\CYRKBEAK}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04a1}{\cyrkbeak}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04a2}{\CYRNDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04a3}{\cyrndsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04a4}{\CYRNG}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04a5}{\cyrng}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04aa}{\CYRSDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04ab}{\cyrsdsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04ae}{\CYRY}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04af}{\cyry}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b0}{\CYRYHCRS}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b1}{\cyryhcrs}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b2}{\CYRHDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b3}{\cyrhdsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b6}{\CYRCHRDSC}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b7}{\cyrchrdsc}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b8}{\CYRCHVCRS}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04b9}{\cyrchvcrs}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04ba}{\CYRSHHA}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04bb}{\cyrshha}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04c0}{\CYRpalochka}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04d4}{\CYRAE}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04d5}{\cyrae}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04d8}{\CYRSCHWA}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04d9}{\cyrschwa}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04e8}{\CYROTLD}
\RedefineLICR{^^^^04e9}{\cyrotld}
\endinput

Note that only the “simple” commands can be used (not the composed ones), and that letters (actually hexadecimal digits) in the first argument must be lowercased. With this file in the working directory, you can do

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{textcase}
\usepackage{xecyr}
\usepackage{polyglossia}

\setmainlanguage[spelling=modern]{russian}

\setmainfont{cmun}[
  Extension      = .otf,
  UprightFont    = *rm,
  BoldFont       = *bx,
  ItalicFont     = *ti,
  BoldItalicFont = *bi,
]

\input{cyrlicr}

\begin{document}

\MakeUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\MakeTextUppercase{\cyra\cyrb}

\end{document}