Questions tagged [active-characters]

57 questions
6
votes
1 answer

Why is \active defined as \char13 (and not 13)?

In plain TeX, we have \chardef\active=13 \catcode`\~=\active I thought a catcode should be assigned a number between 0 and 15, but \active is \char13. So how does it work? Would \catcode`\~=13 also work?
Gradient
  • 489
4
votes
2 answers

Code redefining ampersand stops working when put in command

I want to redefine & in a command. I tried to adapt this code that redefines ^ in an environment but couldn't make it work. \documentclass[]{article} \begin{document} \newcommand{\myampersand}{?} %…
xavierm02
  • 787
3
votes
2 answers

Active character can be defined, but not within \def?

This is a follow up to my earlier question here: Detect catcode of next character? What I want to do: Count the number of " used in the document body. I am not using " for purposes such as math, babel shortcuts, or Unicode characters. Just dialog…
rallg
  • 2,379
2
votes
1 answer

Make <: ... :> acts like one macro

I use jinja to write templates. This makes me work with files like the one below. \documentclass[a4paper, 12pt]{article} \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \newcommand\devtool[1]{\fbox{#1}} \begin{document} $f(x) = <:f:>$…
projetmbc
  • 13,315
1
vote
1 answer

What characters are active by default in TeX?

Since the character ~ has a catcode of 13, it is considered active. I can (ab)use this by executing something like the code \let~\catcode ~`a8 which assigns the character a a catcode of 8 (for subscript), without having to do \catcode`~13…
btshepard
  • 680
1
vote
1 answer

\lccode to be activate in latex command

Why does \lccode`~=`, with an active , work only in an environment definition but not in a LaTeXcommand? We are using an active , to produce bullets: Here is an…
Rajesh N
  • 829