TeXStudio doesn't recognize \big( or \big[

Question

When I use \big( or \big[ in math mode I get a message unrecognized command, but I have no error and it gives me the desired result. However, the command \big| works fine. When I use the same commands with space between \big and ( or [ there is no problem. This has happened the last few days, when I upgraded TexStudio to 2.12.8 version.

I would like that TeXStudio recognize \big(, \big[, \bigg(,... without space. Thank you!

Answer 1

Fixed for TXS ≥ 2.12.9 (git b1157fa)

The issue has been fixed in the developmental snapshot, which can be downloaded from

• Windows: https://bintray.com/sunderme/texstudio/texstudio-win/2.12.9-201806161911-git_b1157fa#files
• MacOS: https://bintray.com/sunderme/texstudio/texstudio-osx/2.12.9-201806161913-git_b1157fa#files

Future released (official) versions from 2.12.10 onwards will not need the below workaround.

---

Workaround (TXS ≤ version 2.12.8)

Note: As suggested in the comments, \bigl( and \bigr) etc. are recommended instead. These are defined in latex-mathsymbols.cwl, so they may require a similar fix.

There's no elegant way about it now, if the other commands from latex-document.cwl are affected from disabling it, you can copy-paste its entire contents from the source code and proceed similarly with tempfix.cwl for now.

Seems to be a mis-categorization bug in the implementation of the classification format of commands in latex-document.cwl and latex-mathsymbols.cwl. You can't edit this directly because it is compiled into the executable. I'll offer an alternative for now:

1. Create a new tempfix.cwl file using notepad or some other text editor.

2. Go to the project page and copy the contents of latex-document.cwl and latex-mathsymbols.cwl into tempfix.cwl.

3. Then replace the relevant \big(, \bigl( etc. commands with: (Essentially remove the K and M classification from #mK or #mM.)

   \Big(%|\Big)#m
   \Big[%|\Big]#m
   \Big|%|\Big|#m
   \big(%|\big)#m
   \big[%|\big]#m
   \big|%|\big|#m
   \Bigg(%|\Bigg)#m
   \Bigg[%|\Bigg]#m
   \Bigg|%|\Bigg|#m
   \bigg(%|\bigg)#m
   \bigg[%|\bigg]#m
   \bigg|%|\bigg|#m
   
   \Bigl(%|\Bigr)#m
   \Bigl[%|\Bigr]#m
   \Bigl|%|\Bigr|#m
   \bigl(%|\bigr)#m
   \bigl[%|\bigr]#m
   \bigl|%|\bigr|#m
   \Biggl(%|\Biggr)#m
   \Biggl[%|\Biggr]#m
   \Biggl|%|\Biggr|#m
   \biggl(%|\biggr)#m
   \biggl[%|\biggr]#m
   \biggl|%|\biggr|#m
   \Bigr#m
   \bigr#m
   \Biggr#m
   \biggr#m
   

4. Place tempfix.cwl in the ./config/completion/user/ folder (see here if you're unsure where this is), and restart TeXstudio. Check the testfix.cwl in Configure TeXstudio -> Completion, and uncheck latex-document.cwl, latex-mathsymbols.cwl.

Close the options dialog, then from the top bar, Idefix -> Refresh structure if necessary to 'refresh' the commands recognition.

This should be fixed in the next release (> TXS version 2.12.8).

Test file:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
$
\Big(x+y\Big)
\Big[x+y\Big]
\Big|x+y\Big|
\big(x+y\big)
\big[x+y\big]
\big|x+y\big|
\Bigg(x+y\Bigg)
\Bigg[x+y\Bigg]
\Bigg|x+y\Bigg|
\bigg(x+y\bigg)
\bigg[x+y\bigg]
\bigg|x+y\bigg|
\Bigl(x+y\Bigr)
\Bigl[x+y\Bigr]
\Bigl|x+y\Bigr|
\bigl(x+y\bigr)
\bigl[x+y\bigr]
\bigl|x+y\bigr|
\Biggl(x+y\Biggr)
\Biggl[x+y\Biggr]
\Biggl|x+y\Biggr|
\biggl(x+y\biggr)
\biggl[x+y\biggr]
\biggl|x+y\biggr|
$
\end{document}