Smart parentheses?

Question

Is there a way of smartly nesting parentheses and square brackets (in text mode), so that LaTeX detects nesting relations and typesets them accordingly? I'm thinking in something like csquotes does with quotation marks. Something like:

\enparent{My outer layer \enparent{my inner lever \enparent{my innermost level}}}

with the result being:

(My outer layer [my inner level {my innermost level}])

I wonder if there is already an out-of-the-box solution for that.

[Note] I posted a follow up question on this: Very smart parentheses? — Tobi, Oct 08 '14 at 15:12

score 22 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 25 '13 at 19:50

22

A package? The following simple macro does it:

\documentclass{article}

\newcount\smcount
\def\smart#1{\ifcase\smcount(\or[\or\{\else TOO DEEP!\fi%
\advance\smcount by1 #1\ifcase\smcount\or)\or]\or\}\else TOO DEEP!\fi%
\advance\smcount by-1 }

\begin{document}

\smart{Ala \smart{ma \smart {kota}}}

\end{document}

(Or, if you wish, not \smart but \enparent). Usage:

\smart{Ala \smart{ma \smart {kota}}}

enter image description here

edited Apr 25 '13 at 19:50

azetina

28,884

answered Apr 25 '13 at 02:32

Przemysław Scherwentke

37,268

Nice try, but I get: (My outer layer [my inner lever {my innermost level}}]. – NVaughan Apr 25 '13 at 02:38
I get: (Ala [ma {kota}}]. Any ideas? – NVaughan Apr 25 '13 at 02:48
@NVaughan Fixed. The final space disappeared during copying. – Przemysław Scherwentke Apr 25 '13 at 02:49
Do you really need all that extra white space in the image output? – azetina Apr 25 '13 at 19:35
@azetina No, but I still have problems with trimming my PDF's and tranforming them onto PNG's. – Przemysław Scherwentke Apr 25 '13 at 19:39
I use a software call faststone capture, small and precise, and I take snapshots of the output. Allow me to demonstrate. – azetina Apr 25 '13 at 19:42
I would be very grateful. Faststone capture? – Przemysław Scherwentke Apr 25 '13 at 19:43
@azetina Thank you! Now it looks beautiful. And the suggested program is here http://www.faststone.org/FSCaptureDetail.htm, isn't it? – Przemysław Scherwentke Apr 25 '13 at 19:56
@PrzemysławScherwentke Yes that's it! – azetina Apr 25 '13 at 19:59

score 20 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 25 '13 at 04:31

For comparison I am posting a ConTeXt solution.

Such a macro already exists, albeit for quotes. One of the good things about ConTeXt is that a feature is never defined in a one-off basis. For example, instead of defining a macro for quotations that changes the quote symbol depending on the level of nesting, ConTeXt defines a generic delimitedtext mechanism and quotation is a special case of delimited text. The desired parenthesis macro is also a delimited text where the left and right symbol change depending on the level of nesting. So, use delimited text to define this macro as follows:

\definedelimitedtext[parenthesis]   [location=text]
\setupdelimitedtext [parenthesis:1] [left={(}, right={)}]
\setupdelimitedtext [parenthesis:2] [left={[}, right={]}]
\setupdelimitedtext [parenthesis:3] [left={\{},right={\}}]

This can be used as

\starttext
\parenthesis{My outer layer \parenthesis{my inner layer \parenthesis{my innermost layer}}}
\stoptext

which gives

enter image description here

How I envy the ConTeXt interface! – Gonzalo Medina Apr 25 '13 at 04:38 — Gonzalo Medina, Apr 25 '13 at 04:38

Niel de Beaudrap · Answer 3 · 2013-04-25T17:39:37.923

16

Here is an approach which is somewhat more modular than alexurba's approach, which accomodates indefinite levels of nesting.

\makeatletter
  \def\@enparen#1{\bgroup\let\enparen\@@enparen(#1)\egroup}
  \def\@@enparen#1{\bgroup\let\enparen\@@@enparen[#1]\egroup}
  \def\@@@enparen#1{\bgroup\let\enparen\@enparen\{#1\}\egroup}
  \let\enparen\@enparen
\makeatother

Sample

\enparen{one \enparen{two \enparen{three \enparen{four} levels} levels} level}

Result

$sample code for <code>\enparen</code>$

edited Apr 25 '13 at 17:39

answered Apr 25 '13 at 12:49

Niel de Beaudrap

14,253

Shouldn't the second \makeatletter be a \makeatother? If not, why not? – Pål GD Apr 25 '13 at 17:38
@PålGD: yes indeed, fixed. – Niel de Beaudrap Apr 25 '13 at 17:39
Nice one also. Cheers! – NVaughan Apr 25 '13 at 18:38

score 13 · Answer 4 · edited Jun 16 '17 at 16:21

13

Maybe nested definitions:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\enparent}[1]{{%
\def\enparent##1{{\def\enparent####1{\{####1\}}[##1]}}(#1)%
}}

\begin{document}

\noindent
\enparent{My outer layer \enparent{my inner lever \enparent{my innermost level}}}\\
\enparent{My outer layer \enparent{my inner lever \enparent{my innermost level}}}

\end{document}

enter image description here

edited Jun 16 '17 at 16:21

Moriambar

11,466

answered Apr 25 '13 at 02:48

alexurba

1,648

Smart parentheses?

4 Answers4

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