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I'm looking for a way to compile only what's inside a given command (or an environment). I'm doing a PhD and this way, I'll be able to have a full document with some poorly written sections, for myself, and a version with only the proper sections, for my advisor.

In the beginning, I started with

\newcommand{\blank}[1]{}

but it would be far more practical to specify what's fine rather than the opposite.

I had two ideas.

The first one was:

\documentclass{article}

\long\def\blank#1\endblank{}
\long\def\keep#1{\endblank#1\blank}

\begin{document}    
\blank

XXX
\keep{AAA}
XXX

\endblank
\end{document}

But it seems that LaTex don't expand \keep when it looks for \endblank and eventually everything is avoided and there is nothing to print.

The second idea I had was:

\documentclass{article}

\long\def\blank#1\keep{\next}

\long\def\next#1{
  \def\foo{#1}
  \ifx\foo\empty\else
    #1\blank
  \fi
}

\begin{document}
\blank

XXX
\keep{AAA}
XXX

\keep{}
\end{document}

This one seems to work, but because \keep is supposed to work with pretty big chunks of text, I'm afraid I have done something really wrong.

So my questions are:

  • Is there a way to make the first idea work and ask LaTeX to expand some commands to look for the delimiters?

  • Is the second solution "stable" and proper to use in large files?

  • Is there a better/proper way to do that or is it something I'll have to do with some external preprocessing?

  • A bonus question: Is there a simple way I can make the second idea work with an environment \begin{keep}?

After writing this, I notice I should maybe have divided this question in two parts, sorry for that... Please, tell me if I should do it!

Vinzza
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    Do you know packages like comment or multiaudience, which allow you to basically produce two versions of your document? – TeXnician Aug 23 '18 at 17:25
  • You could use the environments defined in https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/250024/how-to-toggle-displaying-english-and-chinese-content-and-always-showing-math-co/250541#250541 –  Aug 23 '18 at 20:54
  • I saw them, but if I haven't miss anything and understood them correctly, all these packages and environments are made to make some texts appears or disappear. But in my case, I want to keep only the content inside the command/environment and make the rest appear or disappear. – Vinzza Aug 24 '18 at 08:58
  • The usual way to achieve this is to use \input and to comment out for your advisor all the drafts. – Keks Dose Aug 26 '18 at 16:38

0 Answers0