Using command parameters to use another command

Question

Say I have written two commands, CommandA and CommandB. I wish to have a third command that takes inputs to determines which of the two previous commands to execute. Very naively this how I would try and accomplish this as shown below, however, it does not work.

\newcommand{CommandA}{
    \hspace{5mm}
}
\newcommand{CommandB}{
    \vspace{5mm}
}
\newcommand{C}[1]{
    \Command#1
}

So if I call \C{A}, as written I would really execute \CommandA.

Note that \CommandA will make a space considerably larger that 5mm since it has a word space either side (so typically you'll get around 2/3 of an em extra space unless you put % at ends of the lines in thse definitions. — David Carlisle, Jul 17 '15 at 09:40
Note that you have to use backslashes in \newcommand{\CommandA}. You need a \csname .. \endcsname construct: \newcommand{\C}[1]{\csname Command#1\endcsname} — Arash Esbati, Jul 17 '15 at 09:40
Thank you @DavidCarlisle, I didn't know that and explains some funny spacing I am getting in my commands.
And Thanks @ArashEsbati, I've already implemented the first answer and got it to work. Originally I was trying to use \csname .. \endcsname but I failed to use the correct syntax it seems, thanks for showing how to properly use it. Also, yes completely failed to post correct code—sorry about that. — Novice C, Jul 17 '15 at 09:47
See also: macros - Defining a newcommand, with variable name, inside another newcommand - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange — user202729, Jun 15 '22 at 14:05

score 11 · Accepted Answer · edited Jul 17 '15 at 09:41

11

For a normal user, this is probably the easiest to understand

\usepackage{etoolbox}
\newcommand{\CommandA}{%
    \hspace{5mm}%
}
\newcommand{\CommandB}{%
    \vspace{5mm}%
}
\newcommand\C[1]{%
   \csuse{Command#1}%
}

\csuse builds a macro name, and calls it

edited Jul 17 '15 at 09:41

David Carlisle

757,742

answered Jul 17 '15 at 09:36

daleif

54,450

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 04 '18 at 21:11

It makes sense to define families of such commands.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xparse}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand{\defineobject}{mm}
 {
  \prop_new:c { g_garth_#1_prop }
  \prop_gset_from_keyval:cn { g_garth_#1_prop } { #2 }
 }

\NewDocumentCommand{\getobject}{mm}
 {% #1 = object name, #2 = variable or string
  \prop_item:cf { g_garth_#1_prop } { #2 }
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \prop_item:Nn { cf }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\defineobject{C}{
  A=\hspace{5mm},
  B=\vspace{5mm}
}
\newcommand{\C}[1]{\getobject{C}{#1}}

\begin{document}

X\C{A}Y\C{B}

XYZ

\end{document}

This might turn to be useful for the similar problem in Can you create concatenate variable names in LaTex?

\documentclass[12pt]{exam}
\usepackage{xparse}

\ExplSyntaxOn
\NewDocumentCommand{\defineobject}{mm}
 {
  \prop_new:c { g_garth_#1_prop }
  \prop_gset_from_keyval:cn { g_garth_#1_prop } { #2 }
 }

\NewDocumentCommand{\getobject}{mm}
 {% #1 = object name, #2 = variable or string
  \prop_item:cf { g_garth_#1_prop } { #2 }
 }
\cs_generate_variant:Nn \prop_item:Nn { cf }
\ExplSyntaxOff

\defineobject{fun}{
  A={$s(t) = 12t^2 -7t + 16$},
  B={$s(t) = 16t^2 +3t + 10$},
  C={$s(t) = 12t^2 + t + 10.$}
}

\newcommand{\exam}{A}

\begin{document}

\begin{questions}

\question
The position of an object moving along a straight line is given by 
\getobject{fun}{\exam}. Find the average velocity of the object over 
the interval $[1,1+h]$ where $h>0$ is a real number.

\renewcommand{\exam}{B} % just for testing

\question
The position of an object moving along a straight line is given by 
\getobject{fun}{\exam}. Find the average velocity of the object over 
the interval $[1,1+h]$ where $h>0$ is a real number.

\end{questions}

\end{document}

The second question has a modified \exam just to test whether the expected output is obtained. You can define as many objects as you want. If one has just one variable \exam, it also makes sense to define a shorthand:

\newcommand{\obj}[1]{\getobject{#1}{\exam}}

and then the calls above can be more simply \obj{fun}.

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 04 '18 at 21:36

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand\exchange[2]{#2#1}%
\newcommand\name{}%
\long\def\name#1#{\romannumeral0\innername{#1}}%
\newcommand\innername[2]{%
   \expandafter\exchange\expandafter{\csname#2\endcsname}{ #1}%
}%

\name\newcommand{CommandA}{%
    \hspace{5mm}%
}

\name\newcommand{CommandB}{%
    \vspace{5mm}%
}

\name\newcommand{C}[1]{%
    \name{Command#1}%
}

\begin{document}

\hbox{\hbox{X}\C{A}\hbox{X}}%
\C{B}%
\hbox{\hbox{X}\C{A}\hbox{X}}%

\end{document}

Using command parameters to use another command

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