Questions tagged [primitives]
{plain-tex} commands used for macro {programming}.
75
questions
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3
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Testing "sequentiality" of \expandafter (plain Tex) - weird results
Trying to have a better understanding/controlling over \expandafter, I wrote this code.
\count100 = 0
\count101 = 1
\def\c{%
\the \count100
\advance \count100 by \count101\relax}%
%
\everypar{\...
- 809
0
votes
0
answers
30
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How to use \newlinechar and \endlinechar primitives to output position information at the beginning and end of each line of text?
If I want to use the \newlinechar and \endlinechar primitives to output the position information at the beginning and end of each line of text, what should I do?
- 149
0
votes
1
answer
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MetaPost: mpost and plain.mp
Am I right that 'pure' MetaPost (mpost), without plain.mp, knows only primitive commands? So that MetaPost compiler + plain.mp is like a pure TeX + PlainTeX or TeX + any other macros package?
Is it ...
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1
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0
answers
34
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How to output the name of a command at the same time when calling a command
I know that using everypar can print some information every time everypar command is called. I want to know whether it is possible to print the name of the command at the same time when the command is ...
- 149
9
votes
3
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Syntax of TeX for primitives that demand braces
TeX defines some primitives which some of them expand (or try) the following tokens before execute itself; others even require argument between braces. But I couldn't get the point in this case.
\...
- 809
4
votes
2
answers
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Statements about \noexpand in source3.pdf and in the TeXbook
The LaTeX3 sources, released 2021-07-12, says in section "23.7 Description of all possible tokens" of "Chapter 23: The l3token package /Token manipulation":
Expanding \noexpand ⟨...
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How to typeset ordered pairs?
I'd like to typeset ordered pairs with comma-separated components while \langle and \rangle as their delimiters. I want line breaks at commas for an ordered pair in inline math mode.
So I came up with ...
- 198
5
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2
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How to create a paragraph that show the number of line it contains?
Trying being brief...
How can I create a paragraph that shows meta information, e.g., mentioning the number of lines or words it contains, using TeX primitives only? It's very important that such ...
- 809
3
votes
2
answers
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Redefine \pdfouput=1 to be ignored
How I can redefine the command \pdfoutput=1 to be ignored?
I need to compile a file with lualatex (see https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/586129/33634) but it contains the command \pdfoutput=1. I cannot ...
- 1,597
1
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0
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Getting the name of control sequence token - which values of \escapechar besides 32 require special attention?
I'd like to get the name of a control sequence token as sequence of character tokens.
With \relax I'd like to get relax.
The preceeding escape character is to be removed from the result of \string\...
1
vote
4
answers
370
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Minutes command in TeX
Someone told me, minutes were accessible in TeX, but I cannot find a command to call this.
How do I call minutes in TeX?
Please do not tell me about the construction of minutes out of \the\time, I ...
user186178
4
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0
answers
93
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What is the essential/crucial difference between \scantokens/\tex_scantokens:D and \tl_rescan:nn?
Part III The l3names package—Namespace for primitives, Section 1 Setting up the LaTeX3 programming language of interface3.pdf says:
This module is entirely dedicated to primitives (and emulations of ...
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2
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Glue not needed in alignment templates?
Consider this simple alignment (note lack of \hfil in template)
\halign{#&#\cr
a&b\cr
aaaaaaaa&bbbbbbbbb\cr
}
To my surprise, this does not give Underfull \hbox in alignment error! The ...
2
votes
1
answer
178
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\vadjust example on Tug.org
I was on Tug.org reading about some of TeX's primitives. I came across this example usage of \vadjust.
1. \def\strutA#1#2{\vrule height#1 depth#2 width0pt}
2. \def\ta#1%
3. {%
4. \strutA{8.5pt}{3....
- 139
0
votes
1
answer
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Multiple glossaries on a single page with a chapter-title
The setting is that I need to have two glossaries. They should be separated just by a \medskip and not by a \newpage-break. To stow them properly, I thought of putting them in a single chapter List of ...
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1
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1
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Why does unhboxing seem to ignore vertical mode and why does unvboxing seem to ignore horizontal mode?
First question
Why does unhboxing seem to ignore vertical mode and why does unvboxing seem to ignore horizontal mode?
The MWE after the next two pictures
both delivers the text of the first question
...
2
votes
1
answer
58
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The effect of triggering the re-writing/creating anew of a text file which currently is processed via `\input` puzzles me?
I tried to create a .tex-file fileb.tex which can be \input by filea.tex and which - when being input - stops being input and triggers rewriting itself.
In my first attempts I erroneously omitted \...
- 22.9k
6
votes
2
answers
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Why does `\endinput` bring TeX into interactive mode while there are still tokens to process?
Minimal example consists of two files:
fileA.tex:
\def\foo#1{#1}
\foo{\endinput\input fileB.tex}%
fileB.tex:
This is file B.
\bye
I assumed that compiling fileA.tex would lead to a file fileA.pdf ...
- 61
22
votes
1
answer
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Difference between \hfil and \hfill
I am trying to understand the difference between \hfil and \hfill. I always thought that these commands were roughly equivalent except that \hfill was "stronger" than \hfil. As a result, I thought ...
user30471
12
votes
1
answer
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what is \kern good for
What is \kern instruction good for and how is it defined?
I cannot find it in Knuth's book TeXbook.
- 1,838
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102
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Get correct results for overwritten font identifier
How can I get a correct font identifier with \showthe and \the after it is overwritten? The MWE is below (Same result with all of Knuth TeX, pdfTeX, XeTeX, (e-)pTeX, (e-)upTeX and Aleph. Only LuaTeX ...
4
votes
3
answers
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Overriding control sequences for accessing TeX's integer-/dimension-/glue-/..-parameters
In TeX there are a lot of parameters which you can adjust for changing the behavior of TeX.
Example 1:
By assigning \baselineskip=... you change distance between lines.
Why TeX's breaking-paragraphs-...
- 85
1
vote
1
answer
169
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What is "# Notation"? How does the # syntax work?
Closely Related: How to implement \expandbefore, similarly to \expandafter?
In the related question, a reference is made to the "# Notation". How does the syntax work?
From an answer on the other ...
- 277
3
votes
1
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Different file opened by \openin (was: between 2017 and 2018)
Short version:
It seems that some trivial behavior of file opening (\openin) changed between TeX Live 2017 and 2018 differs between environment. Only Overleaf one behaves differently. I did not see ...
19
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3
answers
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Is there a list of expandable TeX primitives? LaTeX? e-TeX? others?
According to Christian Hupfer's comment I understood that calculations are possible in a keyval list when the macro is expandable. The macro \numexpr being expandable, calculations are possible.
...
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vote
1
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TeX macro/primitive vs Plain TeX macro
I know there are TeX primitives and Plain TeX macros created (directly/indirectly) by TeX primitives. My question is are there TeX macro?
E. g. I can use \break in pdfTeX without defining it and \...
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\string-primitive works in unexpected ways in LuaTeX -- Where can I find exact documentation of the \string-primitive in LuaTeX?
This question refers to LuaTeX-engines prior to luatex 1.10.0 in texlive 2019.
With luatex 1.10.1 in texlive 2019 and later the \string-primitive works as expected.
Where can I find exact ...
- 22.9k
1
vote
1
answer
530
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Changing text in Console output
I am finding that I am writing more and more packages/commands for other people these days and have started writing some nice default utility commands to use. However, there is always the concern for ...
- 929
3
votes
1
answer
562
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Error of \begin{problem} ended by \end{problem}... huh?
So, I know if I get a mismatch error like error: \begin{problem} ended by \end{document}, that means I have mismatched number of \begin and \end commands. But here, I am getting the following error:
!...
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1
vote
1
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201
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Swap many pair of command names in a row
I've learnt from this post how to swap two commands using the let primitive:
\let\temp\first
\let\first\second
\let\second\temp
\let\temp\undefined
Now, in order not to flood my preamble with this ...
- 1,423
0
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0
answers
319
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Conditional to execute alternative code when error detected
I would like to be able to build a conditional to execute one set of code if the conditional would compile, versus another if the code would generate an error. Take the following code block which ...
- 929
6
votes
2
answers
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hide/show complete row of tabular
I need to toggle on/off full rows of a tabular via changing my preamble. My workflow only permits me to alter the first cell of each table in order to make it toggleable.
My idea was to use the ...
- 3,414
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votes
2
answers
1k
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What's the difference between \hfil and \hskip0cm plus 1fil?
What's the difference between \hfil and \hskip0cm plus 1fil? In both cases, a glue token is created that skips by zero, but with 1fil of stretchability. If you use \hbox spread 4cm{\hfil test \...
3
votes
1
answer
93
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How to test if a macro is being expanded between \csname ... \endcsname, in (e-)upTeX?
pdfTeX added some new primitives, based on e-TeX, including \ifincsname. When this primitive is being expanded between a pair of \csname ... \endcsname, the result of expansion will be true, otherwise ...
- 3,733
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2
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How to fix the Underfull \vbox badness has occurred while \output is active on my memoir chapter style?
After some hours studying the warning Underfull \vbox (badness 2573) has occurred while \output is active on the question how to suppress "Underfull \vbox (badness 10000) ... while \output is ...
- 4,325
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votes
2
answers
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Documentation of \mathop
The Dirac delta distribution is ubiquitous in physics. Since it is a special object I wanted to give it some extra spacing by using \mathop. I know that single letters inside \mathop are centred ...
- 105k
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votes
2
answers
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Practical consequences of using \over vs. \frac?
This question explains the difference between \over and \frac and it seems as though the most experienced members unanimously agree that \over is inferior (if not something to be outright regretted); ...
- 1,587
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List of Plain TeX macros [duplicate]
Where can I get a list of all Plain TeX macros. In the TeXbook, it is said that Plain TeX adds about 600 macros (to the ~300 TeX primitives). Where are they listed (with their documentation)?
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How to use @ifstar with arguments
I want to use @ifstar to define a command, whose non-star version stores a value in a variable and whose star version reads the value from the variable. I tried the following. It doesn't produce an ...
- 101
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5
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Error trying to use \edef
Feel free to skip past this explanation to the code below. My issue is trying to get \Q@Selection to work with edef.
I have a macro that uses a for loop to assign some dynamic macros that I am toying ...
- 929
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votes
2
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119
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How to detect the range of possible character codes?
Please forgive me if this question is too basic for this forum.
I came into touch with TeX three weeks ago.
I learned that there are different TeX engines.
E.g., there are TeX, eTeX, pdfTeX, pdfeTeX, ...
0
votes
1
answer
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How can I redefine \\ (\tabularcr) such that a space character afterward is ignored?
Here I append code to \\ that looks ahead to see whether the \end in \end{tabular} is up next to bat. This code is hidden within a \noalign. The \\ has code that looks for a star and then a [ before ...
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1
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1
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Is there a way to have \show not behave like an error? [duplicate]
Everybody loves the \show tex primitive.
Sadly it so happens that whenever I \show something the execution/compilation which I call using pdftex -halt-on-error also stops, which was quite supprising ...
- 257
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votes
3
answers
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The "^'' glyph in the TeXBook
TeX, plain TeX, within the source of the Texbook of Don Knuth, there is use of ^ in different command sequences, and in text bites.
Is there a special meaning to ^ in TeX primitives, in plain TeX, ...
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1
answer
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computing md5sum of file content in XeTeX
PdfTeX has \pdfmdfivesum{...} and \pdfmdfivesum file {...} for inline text and external file content, respectively.
On the other hand, XeTeX seems to provide only \mdfivesum. Is there a means to ...
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0
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Where should I specify pdftex primitives? [duplicate]
I would like to suppress this type of warning by pdftex:
PDF inclusion: multiple PDFs with page group
So one solution proposed here is to use this primitive:
\pdfsuppresswarningpagegroup=1
Where ...
- 1,102
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vote
0
answers
75
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Append code to the \directlua primitive
LuaTeX provides the primitive \directlua, which is described in detail in section 1.6.1 of the LuaTeX reference manual. Basically, this primitive runs Lua code. Its syntax is:
\directlua ⟨general ...
- 660
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votes
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answers
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What is a primitive, a macro, and how do they compare?
The title pretty much says it all. If it helps, I found myself asking this question when reading this post about \par vs. \\.
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1
answer
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Can one safely redefine \jobname?
I want to access labels from an external document -- in general this is not a problem with the xr package. But in this case both documents are compiled on sharelatex, and there \jobname is always set ...
- 292k
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Somewhat versatile usage of \@gobble and \@firstofone found in several macros
I was doing search about my question (see here for more detail) and found a thread commath and \ifinner. In the thread, there is a macro named \spx , the definition and usage of which are extracted ...
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