3

This question follows this Applying TikZ options stored in a file. I just wonder why the following fails to read the file. Please ignore the content of filecontents; although it works, it's just for developing a MNWE. The problem is with my use of \input.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{myaux.tex}
\documentclass{article}
\makeatletter
\def\chapno{1}
\def\exno{1.1}
\chardef\other=12
\newwrite\ans
\immediate\openout\ans=answers
\def\answer{%
  \par\medbreak
  \immediate\write\ans{}%
  \immediate\write\ans{\string\ansno\chapno.\exno:}%
  \copytoblankline
}
\def\copytoblankline{\begingroup\setupcopy\copyans}
\def\setupcopy{%
  \def\do##1{\catcode`##1=\other}%
  \dospecials
  \catcode`\|=\other
  \obeylines%
}
\def\ifnextisspace{%
  \expandafter\futurelet\expandafter\next
  \expandafter\ifn@xtisspace\string
}
\def\ifn@xtisspace{%
  \ifx\next\@sptoken\expandafter\gobblespace
    \else\expandafter\writetofile\fi
}
\@namedef{gobblespace} {\ifnextisspace}
\def\writetofile#1\@nil{\immediate\write\ans{#1}}

{\obeylines %
  \gdef\copyans#1
  {\def\next{#1}%
    \ifx\next\@empty %
      \let\next=\endgroup %
    \else %
      \expandafter\ifnextisspace\next\@nil %
      \let\next=\copyans %
    \fi %
    \next %
  }%
}

\answer xxx
yyy \ifx xx
\fi zzz

\begin{document}
x
\end{document}
\end{filecontents}

\makeatletter
\begingroup
\lccode`\A=1 \lccode`\B=1 \catcode`\A=7
\lowercase{\endgroup\def\catch@marker{AB}}
\edef\reserved@a{%
  \long\def\noexpand\catchfile##1\catch@marker{%
    \noexpand\unexpanded\noexpand\expandafter{##1}%
  }%
}
\reserved@a
\def\catchfilecontent#1#2{%
  \begingroup
  \everyeof\expandafter{\catch@marker\noexpand}%
  \makeatletter
  \edef\reserved@a{\endgroup
    \long\def\noexpand#1{%
      \expandafter\catchfile\expandafter\@empty
      \@@input #2
    }%
  }%
  \reserved@a
}
\makeatother

% Test
\catchfilecontent\myauxfile{myaux.tex}

\begin{document}
x
\end{document}
Improve this question
6
  • Trying your example, I don't get any \input-related error, but a complaint about Illegal parameter number in definition of \myauxfile which is exactly the same as if I copy the contents of filecontents directly into \long\def\myauxfile{. So the problem does seem to lie inside filecontents. – Stephan Lehmke Jun 11 '12 at 4:04
  • If I replace # by ## inside filecontents, it works. As for the direct definition. So the file catching seems to work as expected (what else did you expect from Heiko? :) – Stephan Lehmke Jun 11 '12 at 4:33
  • The problem is exactly that TeX finds #1 when scanning the replacement text for \def\myauxfile{<contents of the file>}. The catchfile package takes precautions against this, so \CatchFileDef\myauxfile{myaux.tex}{} works perfectly. – egreg Jun 11 '12 at 7:23
  • @StephanLehmke: Thanks. I don't how Heiko came in here. I was torture-testing a scheme I saw by David Carlisle, on the expandability of TeX's original \input. I will fix the 'Illegal parameter' problem. – Ahmed Musa Jun 11 '12 at 16:18
  • Sorry for misattribution. The code looked very similar to Heiko's package, so I thought you had modified that. But it's also possible it went the other way round ;-) – Stephan Lehmke Jun 11 '12 at 16:23
2

I haven't looked at the implementation of catchfile package, but verbatimizing # solves the problem. I can't yet think of another way out.

\def\catchfilecontent#1#2{%
  \begingroup
  \def\do##1{\catcode`##1=12}%
  \dospecials
  \catcode`\|=12
  \obeylines%
  \everyeof\expandafter{\catch@marker\noexpand}%
  \makeatletter%
  \edef\reserved@a{\endgroup%
    \long\def\noexpand#1{%
      \expandafter\catchfile\expandafter\@empty%
      \@@input #2 %
    }%
  }%
  \reserved@a%
}
Improve this answer
2
  • Heiko Oberdiek uses a \toks register to store the file's contents, so that the # are doubled and the subsequent \edef works. – egreg Jun 11 '12 at 17:03
  • @egreg: That's why I tried \unexpanded, eTeX's expandable way of using \toks, but apparently it didn't work without verbatimizing special characters. In fact, I have also tried the \toks based approach. – Ahmed Musa Jun 11 '12 at 18:57

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