best practicesmacrostex-core
I am writing a long latex document and use many macros for defining mathematical symbols. I would like to ensure that there is no clash in the notation. For example, something like
\newcommand{\symbolone}{A}
\newcommand{\symboltwo}{A}
should not happen. Is there something like an assertion in latex such that I can do
\assert{\symbolone != \symboltwo}
?
You can display the definitions of this single-letter macros using:
$ texdef -t latex a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
The texdef command is available on CTAN.
Most of them seem to be diacritics. See https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Special_Characters for a table.
Here the post-formatted output of the above texdef:
Undefined:
\e \f \g \h \m \n \p \q \s \w \x \y \z
\A \B \C \D \E \F \G \I \J \K \M \N \Q \R \T \U \V \W \X \Y \Z
\a:
macro:#1->\expandafter \@changed@cmd \csname \string #1\endcsname \relax
\b:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \b \OT1\b
\c:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \c \OT1\c
\d:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \d \OT1\d
\i:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \i \OT1\i
\j:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \j \OT1\j
\k:
macro:->\T1-cmd \k \T1\k
\l:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \l \OT1\l
\o:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \o \OT1\o
\r:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \r \OT1\r
\t:
macro:->\OML-cmd \t \OML\t
\u:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \u \OT1\u
\v:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \v \OT1\v
\H:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \H \OT1\H
\L:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \L \OT1\L
\O:
macro:->\OT1-cmd \O \OT1\O
\P:
macro:->\protect \P
\P :
\long macro:->\ifmmode \mathparagraph \else \textparagraph \fi
\S:
macro:->\protect \S
\S :
\long macro:->\ifmmode \mathsection \else \textsection \fi
It is advisable to define a command to handle such notation preferences. As you said, if you ever change your mind in the future, it would be a headache to make sure all your changes were incorporated.
Consequently, I would recommend something like (in LaTeX2e):
\newcommand{\ointerval}[1]{\ensuremath{\left]#1\right[}}% \ointerval{<interval>} -> ]#1[
and use
The open interval \ointerval{a,b} looks better than $(a,b)$.
In future, a change to \ointerval will spread throughout the document. For example, if you wanted to modify (say) the delimiters to ) (, this change will propagate on the next compile.
The choice of using extensible delimiters \left] and \right[ is highlighted by viewing it in comparison to other possible delimiters under different scenarios:
Your editor might still recognize unmatched brackets (] and [) since it is hardwired to math left to right, not right to left. However, it removes clutter from your editor view and improves flexibility.
Best Answer
My solution introduces the macro
\singledefwhich defines control sequence (like\def) but provides two more features:\singledeflistinternal macro. When the next control sequence is defined via\singledefthen it is defined but it is checked if the same control sequence (equivalent via\ifx) was defined and saved in\singledeflist. If yes, then error message is printed and the new control sequence is kept undefined.The code: