Formatting text using `...` only in one specific environment

Question

I would like to make the character ` active in one environment so that `some text` will be formatted using black background and white for the text.

This feature must be activated only inside the environment.

Answer 1

You need to make ` active and read everything up to the next `. The colors can be set using \colorbox and \textcolor from the xcolor package.

You might also want to compensate for the added left/right space as shown below.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{xcolor}

\catcode96=\active
\newenvironment{myenv}{%
    \catcode96=\active% ASCII ` = 96
    \def`##1`{%
        \hspace{-\fboxsep}%
        \colorbox{black}{\textcolor{white}{##1}}%
        \hspace{-\fboxsep}%
    }%
}{%
}
\catcode96=12

\begin{document}

`text`

\begin{myenv}
    text text text

    text `text` text
\end{myenv}

`text`

\end{document}

With the \hspaces you get:

Without you get:

You could also just take half the \fboxsep away to get an intermediate result.