[pdftex] Interrobang

[Chris Moller]

Except that it's something way down deep in the docbook processing that 
produces the \Character{...} code and if I tinker with that it would 
basically become my own private docbook fork.  As bad as the sed kluge 
is, at least I can bury it in a Makefile and maybe no one will notice.

On 2020-05-24 18:40, Ross Moore wrote:
> Hello Chris,
>
>> On 25 May 2020, at 7:44 am, Chris Moller <moller at mollerware.com 
>> <mailto:moller at mollerware.com>> wrote:
>>
>> My word, what a kiuge!  But it works: docbook2tex to create the .tex 
>> file, sed to translate every instance of \Character{8253} into 
>> \textinterrobang and then pdfjadetex to turn the modified TeX into a PDF.
>
> That should be totally unnecessary, as you say.
>
> One approach that can be easily implemented is to examine the argument 
> of \Character  first.
> If it is  8253  then use  \textinterrobang ,  otherwise let the real 
> expansion of  \Character  take place.
>
> Coding for this is easy:
>
>>>> % save a pointer to the original expansion
>>>> \let\realCharacter\Character
>>>>
>>>> % create a macro to compare with
>>>> \def\codeofinterrobang{8253}
>>>>
>>>> % define a personalised macro to do what is needed
>>>> \def\myCharacter#1{%
>>>>  \begingroup
>>>>   \def\thiscode{#1}%
>>>>   \ifx\thiscode\codeofinterrobang
>>>>    \def\next{\endgroup \textinterrobang}%
>>>>   \else
>>>>    \def\next{\endgroup \realCharacter{#1}}%
>>>>   \fi
>>>>  \next }%  close group and take the chosen path
>>>>
>>>> %  rebind the system-generated macro to the personalised version
>>>> \let\Character\myCharacter
>
>
> Of course these definitions must come *after* having loaded the coding 
> file
> that produces the normal expansion of  \Character .
>
> Using LaTeX, the expansion-capture and rebinding can be delayed
> until later, using  \AtBeginDocument .
>
> If there are more character codes that cause problems, the \myCharacter
> coding can be extended with a nested  \ifx  for each case.
> This could also be done using \ifnum  tests of the code number of the 
> characters.
> But there’s no real reason to do it that way, so far as I’m aware.
>
>>
>> But it would be cool if someone, someday, tinkered the right code to 
>> make the kluge unnecessary.
>
> Give the above a test.
>
> Hope this helps.
> Stay safe.
>
> Ross
>
>>
>> --cm
>>
>>
>> On 2020-05-24 16:58, Peter Schmitt wrote:
>>> On Sun, 24 May 2020, Peter Schmitt wrote:
>>>
>>>> I do not know about this conversion, but since the result is a 
>>>> valid LaTeX file \rlap{?}! should work if you can pass it verbatim 
>>>> (as part of your text) -- the simulation may not be perfect but it 
>>>> should be sufficient.
>>>>
>>>> From the documentation I learned that there is also a
>>>   docbook2tex
>>> If you use this and indicate interrobangs by simply writing this word
>>> (or an abbreviation) in your text than you can search it in the 
>>> resulting .tex-file and replace by TeX code before using pdf(la)tex 
>>> on it.
>>> (This procedure could also be automatized by script.)
>>>
>>> Peter
>>>
>>
>
>
> Dr Ross Moore
> Department of Mathematics and Statistics
> 12 Wally’s Walk, Level 7, Room 734
> Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
> T: +61 2 9850 8955  |  F: +61 2 9850 8114
> M:+61 407 288 255  |  E: ross.moore at mq.edu.au 
> <mailto:ross.moore at mq.edu.au>
> http://www.maths.mq.edu.au
>
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