Remove `glossaries` comma after the entries description if no units are provided

Question

I have created a glossaries nomenclature style that, in my main document, works perfectly and within my space constraints. However, I am facing an issue when a \newglossaryentry{...} doesn't have a symbol field i.e. the nomenclature is unitless.

See this MWE image:

I tried to remove it using etoolbox's \ifstrempty using this answer by GLemyre like so:

\newglossarystyle{nomenS}{%
    \setglossarystyle{long}%
    \renewenvironment{theglossary}%
    {\begin{supertabular}[l]{@{}%
    p{\dimexpr.1\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}p{\dimexpr.8\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}@{}}}%
    {\end{supertabular}}%
    \renewcommand{\glossentry}[2]{%
        \glstarget{##1}{\glossentryname{##1}}%
        & \glossentrydesc{##1}\ifstrempty{\glossentrysymbol{##1}}{}{, \glossentrysymbol{##1}}%
        \tabularnewline%
    }%
}

but I am unsure if the symbol field is even a string nor am I comfortable yet with \ifx etc with LaTeX. How can I change my nomenS glossary style to only include the comma if the symbol field exists please?

MWE:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{glossaries}
\newglossary{nomen}{nom}{ntn}{Nomenclature}
\newglossarystyle{nomenS}{%
    \setglossarystyle{long}%
    \renewenvironment{theglossary}%
    {\begin{supertabular}[l]{@{}%
    p{\dimexpr.1\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}p{\dimexpr.8\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}@{}}}%
    {\end{supertabular}}%
    \renewcommand{\glossentry}[2]{%
        \glstarget{##1}{\glossentryname{##1}}%
        & \glossentrydesc{##1}, \glossentrysymbol{##1}%
        \tabularnewline%
    }%
}
\makeglossaries
\newglossaryentry{units}
    {%
    name={$\Delta\Phi_0$},
    description={Superhelical phase offset},
    symbol={°},
    sort={abp},
    type=nomen,
    }
\newglossaryentry{nounits}
    {%
    name={$C_\alpha$},
    description={No units},
    sort={ca},
    symbol={},
    type=nomen,
    }
\begin{document}
\glsaddall
\printglossary[type=nomen,style=nomenS]
\end{document}

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered May 10 '23 at 13:23

glossaries offers a dedicated test:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{glossaries}
\newglossary{nomen}{nom}{ntn}{Nomenclature}
\newglossarystyle{nomenS}{%
    \setglossarystyle{long}%
    \renewenvironment{theglossary}%
    {\begin{supertabular}[l]{@{}%
    p{\dimexpr.1\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}p{\dimexpr.8\columnwidth-2\tabcolsep}@{}}}%
    {\end{supertabular}}%
    \renewcommand{\glossentry}[2]{%
        \glstarget{##1}{\glossentryname{##1}}%
        & \glossentrydesc{##1}\ifglshassymbol{##1}{, \glossentrysymbol{##1}}{}%
        \tabularnewline%
    }%
}
\makeglossaries
\newglossaryentry{units}
    {%
    name={$\Delta\Phi_0$},
    description={Superhelical phase offset},
    symbol={°},
    sort={abp},
    type=nomen,
    }
\newglossaryentry{nounits}
    {%
    name={$C_\alpha$},
    description={No units},
    sort={ca},
    symbol={},
    type=nomen,
    }
\begin{document}
\glsaddall
\printglossary[type=nomen,style=nomenS]
\end{document}

Remove `glossaries` comma after the entries description if no units are provided

1 Answers1