Use of \NoAutoSpacing inside a macro

Question

I would like to locally deactivate the colon character (made active by babel package used with frenchb option). But it appears to not work within a macro:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[frenchb]{babel}

\begin{document}
In normal text: {\NoAutoSpacing 20:20}. % working

In a macro: \textsuperscript{\NoAutoSpacing 20:20} % not working

\end{document}

This appears to be the same using \shorthandoff{:} and \shorthandon{:} (as a consequence, this is linked to this topic but I don't clearly see how it applies here.).

Thank you for your help.

It works for me, if by "work", you mean it removes space padding around the :. — Steven B. Segletes, Aug 13 '18 at 14:11
Yes, that's what I mean by "work", but I'm really surprised you don't have the problem. I'll add a screenshot of the result. — Tobard, Aug 13 '18 at 14:13
I can reproduce the issue with TeX Live 2015. Update your TeX distribution. Or use 20\string:20 — egreg, Aug 13 '18 at 14:16

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 13 '18 at 14:19

2

Your issue can only be reproduced with TeX Live 2015 or earlier.

If you can't update your TeX distribution, use

\textsuperscript{20\string:20}

answered Aug 13 '18 at 14:19

egreg

1,121,712

This indeed solved it (and many other issues, supposedly)! – Tobard Aug 13 '18 at 17:51

Use of \NoAutoSpacing inside a macro

1 Answers1