Apply command on range of characters of a word

Question

This is a complement of my last question Apply command on nth character of a word, I need to color a range of characters like this \ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination} which color from second to the fifth character of the word.

If the first number is greater then the length of word no coloring is done.

Coloring of characters should be done at one time with a single \textcolor command not with \textcolor for every char. @David Carlisle

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}

\begin{document}

\makeatletter
\def\ColorRgChar#1#2{\xColorRgChar{#1}#2\@empty}
\def\xColorRgChar#1#2{\ifnum\ifx\@empty#21\else#1\fi=1 \textcolor{red}{#2}\expandafter\@gobbletwo
    \else#2\fi\xColorRgChar{\numexpr#1-1\relax}}
\makeatother

\ColorRgChar{2}{examination} 

%\ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination}  % desired macro 

\end{document}

Answer 1

The bulk of the code is managing the input. The second argument can be

1. a single number, meaning just one character to color;
2. -, meaning color everything;
3. m-, meaning color from the m-th character to the end;
4. -n, meaning color from the start up to the n-th character;
5. m-n, meaning color from the m-th up to the n-th character.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xparse,xcolor}

\ExplSyntaxOn

\NewDocumentCommand{\colorrange}{>{\SplitArgument{1}{-}}mm}
 {
  % #1 is passed as two braced arguments
  \salim_colorrange:nnn #1 { #2 }
 }

\cs_new_protected:Nn \salim_colorrange:nnn
 {
  % let's analyze the first two args
  \tl_if_novalue:nTF { #2 }
   {% no hyphen in the argument
    \__salim_colorrange:nnn { #1 } { #1 } { #3 }
   }
   {
    \bool_lazy_or:nnTF { \tl_if_blank_p:n { #1 } } { \tl_if_blank_p:n { #2 } }
     {% argument is -n or m- or -
      \tl_if_blank:nTF { #1 }
       {
        \tl_if_blank:nTF { #2 }
         {% argument is -
          \textcolor{red}{#3}
         }
         {% argument is -n
          \__salim_colorrange:nnn { 1 } { #2 } { #3 }
         }
       }
       {% argument is m-
        \__salim_colorrange:nnn { #1 } { -1 } { #3 }
       }
     }
     {% argument is m-n
      \__salim_colorrange:nnn { #1 } { #2 } { #3 }
     }
   }
 }

\cs_new_protected:Nn \__salim_colorrange:nnn
 {
  \int_compare:nTF { #1 > #2 > 0 }
   {
    #3
   }
   {
    \tl_range:nnn { #3 } { 1 } { #1 - 1 }
    \textcolor{red}{ \tl_range:nnn { #3 } { #1 } { #2 } }
    \tl_range:nnn { #3 } { #2 + 1 } { -1 }
   }
 }

\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

\colorrange{4}{examination} (4)

\colorrange{4-6}{examination} (4-6)

\colorrange{1-3}{examination} (1-3)

\colorrange{-3}{examination} (-3)

\colorrange{4-11}{examination} (4-11)

\colorrange{4-}{examination} (4-)

\colorrange{-}{examination} (-)

\colorrange{5-4}{examination} (5-4)

\colorrange{12-4}{examination} (12-4)

\colorrange{12-}{examination} (12-)

\colorrange{-15}{examination} (-15)

\end{document}

Wrong input is allowed. Changing the color with an optional argument can be easily added.

Answer 2

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\newcounter{pft}
\begin{document}

\makeatletter
\def\pft#1-#2;{\edef\lower@pft{\the\numexpr#1-1}\edef\upper@pft{\the\numexpr#2+1}}%
\def\ColorRgChar#1#2{\pft#1;%
\setcounter{pft}{0}%
\@tfor\next:=#2\do{\stepcounter{pft}%
\ifnum\value{pft}>\lower@pft
 \ifnum\value{pft}<\upper@pft
  \textcolor{red}{\next}%
 \else
  \next
 \fi
\else
 \next
\fi
}}%
\makeatother

\ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination} \ColorRgChar{4-7}{hibernation} \ColorRgChar{1-3}{catcode}  

\end{document}

Or without an explicit counter.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\colorlet{SalimBouColor}{red}
\begin{document}

\makeatletter
\def\pft#1-#2;{\edef\lower@pft{\the\numexpr#1-1}\edef\upper@pft{\the\numexpr#2+1}}%
\def\ColorRgChar#1#2{\pft#1;%
\edef\n@pft{0}%
\@tfor\next:=#2\do{\edef\n@pft{\the\numexpr\n@pft+1}%
\ifnum\n@pft>\lower@pft
 \ifnum\n@pft<\upper@pft
  \textcolor{SalimBouColor}{\next}%
 \else
  \next
 \fi
\else
 \next
\fi
}}%
\makeatother

\ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination} \ColorRgChar{4-7}{hibernation} \ColorRgChar{1-3}{catcode}  

This includes, of course, your case of just coloring one character: \ColorRgChar{3-3}{examination}

\colorlet{SalimBouColor}{blue}%
\ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination}

\end{document}

Or without wrapping single characters into \textcolor.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\colorlet{SalimBouColor}{red}
\begin{document}

\makeatletter
\def\pft#1-#2-#3;{\edef\lower@pft{#1}\edef\upper@pft{#2}}%
\def\ColorRgChar#1#2{\pft#1-0-0;%
\ifnum\upper@pft=0
\edef\upper@pft{\lower@pft}%
\fi
\colorlet{orig@color}{.}%
\edef\n@pft{0}%
\@tfor\next:=#2\do{\edef\n@pft{\the\numexpr\n@pft+1}%
\edef\tmp@pft{}%
\ifnum\n@pft=\lower@pft
\color{SalimBouColor}%
\fi
\next
\ifnum\n@pft=\upper@pft
\color{orig@color}%
\fi
}}%
\makeatother

\ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination} \ColorRgChar{4-7}{hibernation} \ColorRgChar{1-3}{catcode}  

This includes, of course, your case of just coloring one character: \ColorRgChar{3}{examination}

\colorlet{SalimBouColor}{blue}%
\ColorRgChar{2-5}{examination}

\end{document}

Answer 3

Here's a LuaLaTeX-based solution. It provides a Lua function that does the actual work and a LaTeX utility macro, called \ColorRangeChar, which passes its three arguments to the Lua function. The three arguments are (a) and (b) integers that indicate the positions of the first and last characters to be colored and (c) the word itself.

This solution satisfies the OP's requirement that "Coloring of characters should be done at one time with a single \textcolor command." The Lua function is set up to handle non-ASCII characters, such as öäüßÖÄÜ. Of course, no coloring is done if the first number exceeds the number of characters in the word.

% !TEX TS-program = lualatex
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
%% set up the Lua function that does the actual work:
\directlua{

function color_range_char ( m , n , s )
  local t
  t = unicode.utf8.sub(s,1,m-1) ..
      "\string\\textcolor{red}{" .. unicode.utf8.sub(s,m,n) .. "}" ..
      unicode.utf8.sub(s,n+1) 
  tex.sprint ( t )
end

}
%% set up a LaTeX macro that invokes the Lua function:
\newcommand\ColorRangeChar[3]{\directlua{color_range_char(#1,#2,"#3")}}  

\begin{document}
\ColorRangeChar{3}{5}{examination}

\ColorRangeChar{2}{4}{öäüßÖÄÜ}
\end{document}

Answer 4

Here is an extension of egreg's first code in this answer to support ranges of the form min-max, where min means “start” if not given, and max means “end” if not provided. My code uses l3regex to parse the range expression.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{xparse}

\ExplSyntaxOn

\msg_new:nnn { salim } { invalid-range-expression }
  { Invalid~range~expression:~'\exp_not:n {#1}'. }

\msg_new:nnn { salim } { zero-bound-in-range-expression }
  { Range~expression~contains~zero~bound:~'\exp_not:n {#1}'. }

\tl_new:N \l__salim_startexpr_tl
\tl_new:N \l__salim_endexpr_tl
\int_new:N \l__salim_start_int
\int_new:N \l__salim_end_int
\regex_const:Nn \l__salim_range_regex { \A (\d*) \- (\d*) \Z }

% Internal function that handles non-degenerate, ready-to-use input
\cs_new_protected:Npn \__salim_colorrange:nnn #1#2#3
  {
    % Deliver all characters before the chosen range
    \tl_range:nnn { #3 } { 1 } { \l__salim_start_int - 1 }
    % Deliver the characters in the chosen range with the desired color
    \textcolor {#1}
      { \tl_range:nnn { #3 } { \l__salim_start_int } { \l__salim_end_int } }
    % Deliver all characters after the chosen range
    \tl_range:nnn { #3 } { \l__salim_end_int + 1 } { -1 }
  }

\cs_new_protected:Npn \salim_colorrange:nnn #1#2#3
  {
    \regex_extract_once:NnNTF \l__salim_range_regex {#2} \l_tmpa_seq
      {
        \tl_set:Nx \l__salim_startexpr_tl { \seq_item:Nn \l_tmpa_seq { 2 } }
        \tl_set:Nx \l__salim_endexpr_tl { \seq_item:Nn \l_tmpa_seq { 3 } }

        \int_set:Nn \l__salim_start_int
          {
            \tl_if_empty:NTF \l__salim_startexpr_tl { 1 }
              { \l__salim_startexpr_tl }
          }
        \int_set:Nn \l__salim_end_int
          {
            \tl_if_empty:NTF \l__salim_endexpr_tl { -1 }
              { \l__salim_endexpr_tl }
          }

        \bool_lazy_any:nTF
          {
            { \int_compare_p:nNn { \l__salim_start_int } = { 0 } }
            { \int_compare_p:nNn { \l__salim_end_int } = { 0 } }
          }
          { \msg_error:nnn { salim } { zero-bound-in-range-expression } {#2} }
          {
            \bool_if:nTF
              {
                \int_compare_p:nNn
                  { \l__salim_start_int } > { \tl_count:n {#3} }
                ||
                ! \int_compare_p:nNn { \l__salim_end_int } = { -1 }
                && \int_compare_p:nNn { \l__salim_start_int } >
                                      { \l__salim_end_int }
              }
              {#3}
              { \__salim_colorrange:nnn {#1} {#2} {#3} }
          }
      }
      { \msg_error:nnn { salim } { invalid-range-expression } {#2} }
  }

\NewDocumentCommand \colorrange { O{red} m m }
  {% #1 = color to use, #2 = range, #3 = word
    \salim_colorrange:nnn {#1} {#2} {#3}
  }

\ExplSyntaxOff

\begin{document}

\colorrange{4-6}{examination}

\colorrange[blue]{1-3}{examination}

\colorrange[blue]{-3}{examination}

\colorrange[green!50!black]{4-11}{examination}

\colorrange[green!50!black]{4-}{examination}

\colorrange{-}{examination}

\bigskip

% Cases with degenerate input
\colorrange{5-4}{examination}

\colorrange{12-4}{examination}

\colorrange{12-}{examination}

\colorrange{-15}{examination}

\end{document}