Setting a flag to make text visible in LaTeX

Question

I am in the process of CV writing and some pieces of information are necessary to include in some applications, whilst in others they are unnecessary. For example, when applying for scientifically-oriented jobs the modules taken during my degree might be of importance and so should be included, but for other sectors they are irrelevant.

Is there a way of setting a flag at the top of a LaTeX document and using this make text wrapped in a block hide/unhide on document creation?

http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=conditional – texenthusiast Jul 15 '13 at 03:11 — texenthusiast, Jul 15 '13 at 03:11

score 14 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 14 '13 at 20:34

14

You can define your own switch with the \newif command like this:

\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}

\newif\ifimportant

\importanttrue % or \importantfalse
\begin{document}

 some stuff which will always be shown

\ifimportant
 % only shown if \importanttrue is set
 this is some important text
\fi
\end{document}

With this setting, the important stuff will be displayed. When you want to hide this part, you set \importantfalse instead of \importanttrue

answered Jul 14 '13 at 20:34

M.E.

425

Can I also do an if then else with such flags? – diviquery Nov 15 '23 at 07:00
1

@diviquery Sure, just use the \else command. See also this question for further, more modern options. – M.E. Nov 15 '23 at 10:58

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 14 '13 at 20:49

You could also use the comment package which is designed exactly for this purpose.

\usepackage{comment}
\begin{document}
\begin{comment}
something I might want to include, or maybe not
\end{comment}

Then, you use one of these switches in your preamble:

\includecomment{comment} %show comments
\excludecomment{comment} %do not show comments

Setting a flag to make text visible in LaTeX

2 Answers2