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But now that the cat has got off and I am wearing the right glasses,
I can confirm that my suggestion does not work as-is; even when
\futurelet has changed \nexttoken into the character '*', the \ifx
fails, for reasons that temporarily escape me ...<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">{changing \nextoken=the letter a}
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{into
\nextoken=the character *}</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote type="cite">\treatasteriskspecially -> \ifx
*\nexttoken \item \else \char `\* \fi
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{blank
space }</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{\ifx:
(level 1) entered on line 7}</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{false}</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{\else:
\ifx (level 1) entered on line 7}</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{\char}</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px;
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px;">{\fi: </p>
</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Philip Taylor wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:2a90cf99-ebdb-0968-c696-67210ea7518f@Rhul.Ac.Uk">
<pre wrap=""> \def \treatasteriskspecially { \ifx *\nexttoken \item \else \char `\* \fi}
\catcode `\^^M = \active \def ^^M{\futurelet \nextoken \treatasteriskspecially}</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<img src="cid:part1.D0942B15.5E081709@Rhul.Ac.Uk"><br>
Philip Taylor</div>
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