Shortcuts for align and equation?

Question

I've started using new command lately and I think it is great. For example

\newcommand{\QQQ}{~~,\quad\text{and}\qquad }  
\newcommand{\WW}{~~,\quad\text{with}\qquad } 
\newcommand{\WWW}{~~,\quad\text{where}\qquad }

I also want to have a shortcut for creating equation and align envornments, but newcommand won't let me do it. How can I make a shortcut for

\begin{equation}
\end{equation}?

I'm using TeXStudio if there's a non-latex way to do it in my editor.

For example, if I use

\newcommand{\ZZ }{\begin{align}} 
\newcommand{\ZZZ }{\end{align}}

and then type

\ZZ 
\pi
\ZZZ

I get the PDF compiler error:

Paragraph ended before \align was complete.

Why \newcommand would not work? What did you try that did not work? Can you add an example to show what you tried? — Vincent, Dec 28 '20 at 01:47
With equation it should work, but with align it doesn't because it scans for the \end{align} text, and with your attempt it fails to find it. I must say, though, \begin{align} tells a lot more than \ZZ to me, and with some decent tab completion you can type ba<TAB> and get \begin{align} ... \end{align} typed (even fewer keystrokes than \ZZ ... \ZZZ) — Phelype Oleinik, Dec 28 '20 at 02:00
My advice: don't use these shortcuts. They seem to save time, but they actually cost you a lot more than they save (for starters, the time you spent asking this question) — Phelype Oleinik, Dec 28 '20 at 02:02
The only option you have is to \long\def\ZZ#1\ZZZ{\begin{align}#1\end{align}}. This approach has been covered before. — Werner, Dec 28 '20 at 03:30

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 28 '20 at 03:33

This is only possible in LuaTeX.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{luacode}
\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb}
\begin{luacode*}
local uppercase = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
local lowercase = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
local numbers = "0123456789"
local char_set = uppercase .. lowercase .. numbers
function get_random_name(k)
    local tab = {}
    for i=1,k do
        local rand = math.random(char_set:len())
        table.insert(tab, char_set:sub(rand, rand))
    end
    return table.concat(tab,"")
end
function register_verbatim(cmd_e, env_name)
    local name = get_random_name(15)
    local env_s = string.format([[\begin{%s}]], env_name)
    local env_e = string.format([[\end{%s}]], env_name)
    tex.print(env_s)
    local callback = function(str)
        if string.find(str, cmd_e) then
            luatexbase.remove_from_callback("process_input_buffer" , name)
            return env_e
        else
            return str
        end
    end
    luatexbase.add_to_callback("process_input_buffer" , callback, name)
end
\end{luacode*}
\newcommand{\al}{
    \directlua{
        register_verbatim([[\string\eal]], "align")
    }
}
\newcommand{\als}{
    \directlua{
        register_verbatim([[\string\eals]], "align*")
    }
}
\begin{document}
\al
\int_a^b
\eal
\als
\frac{a}{b}
\eals
\end{document}

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 06 '21 at 20:05

It is not only possible in LuaTeX. It is possible in plain TeX or LaTeX too. For example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath, amssymb}
\def\al#1\eal{\begin{align}#1\end{align}}
\def\als#1\eals{\begin{align}#1\end{align}}
\begin{document}
\al
\int_a^b
\eal
\als
\frac{a}{b}
\eals
\end{document}

Shortcuts for align and equation?

2 Answers2