12

Why does this minimal example code:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[francais]{babel}
\begin{document}

\def\names{Toto,Titi,Tete,Tutu}
\makeatletter
\@for\next:=\names\do{\textbf{\next} }
\makeatother

\end{document}

lead to this error message:

Runaway argument?
\next :=\names \do {\textbf {\next } } \makeatother \par \end {docume\ETC.
! File ended while scanning use of \@for.

but the same code works perfectly if I delete the line

\usepackage[francais]{babel}

and of course, is there any solution that preserves the use of the [french] option?

Alan Munn
  • 218,180
Cristo
  • 647
  • 1
    I would add to the answers below that if you use \@for at a document level, you're probably doing something wrong. It should presumably be wrapped inside macros with a better semantic. Then just define that macro before \usepackage[francais]{babel}. – Bruno Le Floch Jul 18 '12 at 19:12

3 Answers3

11

The problem is that french makes : into an active character (after \begin{document}.

Solutions.

  1. Define your own list processor in the preamble

    \makeatletter
\newcommand{\bflist}[1]{\@for\next:=#1\do{\textbf{\next}}}
\makeatother

    and use \bflist{\names}

  2. Force : to have the correct category code:

    \documentclass{article}
\usepackage[francais]{babel}
\begin{document}

\def\names{Toto,Titi,Tete,Tutu}
\makeatletter
\expandafter\@for\expandafter\next\string:=\names\do{\textbf{\next} }
\makeatother

\end{document}

The package etoolbox defines some list processing macros that shouldn't have this problem.

egreg
  • 1,121,712
6

French babel uses active characters. You must disable this before use :=:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[francais]{babel}
\begin{document}

\def\names{Toto,Titi,Tete,Tutu}
\makeatletter
\shorthandoff{:}
\@for\next:=\names\do{\textbf{\next} }
\shorthandon{:}
\makeatother

\end{document}
Paul Gaborit
  • 70,770
  • 10
  • 176
  • 283
1

You can define your own loop, which, unlike LaTeX's \@for, is even expandable:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[francais]{babel}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\def\amfor#1#2{\doam{#2}#1,\doam,}
\def\doam#1#2,{\ifx\doam#2\amend\fi#1{#2}\doam{#1}}
\def\amend#1\doam#2{\fi}

\begin{document}
% The equivalent of Cristo's original example:
\amfor{Toto,Titi,Tete,Tutu}\textbf
\par\bigskip

% More tests:
\def\dspace#1{\def\cspace{\def\cspace{\space#1\space}}}
\dspace\textbullet
\amfor{Toto,Titi,Tete,Tutu}{\cspace\textbf}
\par\bigskip

\dspace{\textcolor{red}\textasteriskcentered}
\def\do#1{\cspace\textbf{#1}}
\amfor{Toto,Titi,Tete,Tutu}\do
\par\bigskip

% Building a stack in an expandable fashion:
\newcount\nr\nr=2\relax
\def\eat#1{}
\def\do#1{%
  \let\noexpand#1%
  \expandafter\noexpand\csname\expandafter\eat\string#1/\romannumeral\nr\endcsname
}
\edef\x{\amfor{\cmda,\cmdb,\cmdc}\do}
\def\strippref#1>{}
{\tt\expandafter\strippref\meaning\x}
\end{document}
Ahmed Musa
  • 11,742