[Tex/LaTex] How to typeset a file path

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I would like to properly typeset a file path, e.g.

C:\Program Files\Some program\bin\executable.exe

The first problem I encountered was that LaTeX tries to treat \Program as a command. I tried escaping it with another backslash which created a linebreak.

Then I found this package menukeys but I am not really happy because it typesets system-specific delimiters (i.e. \ for Windows and / for Unix-like) as some weird arrows.

Which leads to my question: what is the preferred way of typesetting a file path in LaTeX?

Best Answer

You could load the package url with the option obeyspaces and encase the fully qualified file name in a \url instruction:

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\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[obeyspaces]{url}
\begin{document}
\path{C:\Program Files\Some program\bin\executable.exe} % equivalent to \url{...}, but more semantic
\end{document}

Addendum: If you need or wish to allow line breaks at the spaces, choose the spaces option as well:

\usepackage[obeyspaces,spaces]{url}

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[Tex/LaTex] Canonical way to typeset spacing in abbreviations

The short answer is that you should follow your publisher's style guide. The spacing in this case is a matter of style and the rules vary from publisher to publisher.

The Chicago Manual of Style is used by a number of publishers in the United States. The sixteenth edition recommends setting e.g. without the space. Here are a few entries that are relevant:

10.6 Space or no space between elements. No space is left between the letters of initialisms and acronyms, whether lowercase or in capitals. Space is usually left between abbreviated words, unless an abbreviated word is used in combination with a single-letter abbreviation. For personal names, see 10.12.

RN, C-SPAN, YMCA, Gov. Gen., Mng. Ed., Dist. Atty., but S.Dak., S.Sgt.

10.12 Initials in personal names. Initials standing for given names are followed by a period and a space. A period is normally used even if the middle initial does not stand for a name (as in Harry S. Truman).

Roger W. Shugg, P. D. James, M. F. K. Fishner

If an entire name is abbreviated, space and periods are usually omitted.

FDR (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), MJ (Michael Jordan), but H.D. (pen name for Hilda Doolittle, with periods but no space between initials)

Robert Bringhurst's The Elements of Typographic Style has the following to say on the matter:

2.1.5 Add little or no space within strings of initials.

Names such as W.B. Years and J.C.L. Prillwitz need hair spaces, thin spaces or no spaces at all after the intermediary periods. A normal word space follows the last period in the string.

But remember that you should check with your publisher or find a commonly accepted style guide for your language/country to see how to handle it in your own situation.

[Tex/LaTex] How to typeset the symbols for charged particles

NIST's guide for the use of SI recommends (on page 35) that "symbols representing purely descriptive terms (for example, the chemical elements) are roman". This would most likely apply to subatomic particles as well. To do this, I would use \mathrm:

$\mathrm{e^-}$, $\mathrm{p^+}$, $\mathrm{n^0}$.

Of course, that looks like it might get tedious, so I'd probably define macros for them:

\newcommand\elec{\mathrm{e^-}}
\newcommand\prot{\mathrm{p^+}}
\newcommand\neut{\mathrm{n^0}}

which would allow you to quickly and universally change them if you decided that some other typesetting convention was better.

Personally, I'd prefer sans-serif, but then I'm no chemist or particle physicist.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Canonical way to typeset spacing in abbreviations

[Tex/LaTex] How to typeset the symbols for charged particles

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