[XeTeX] XeTeX and Makeindex

[Ulrike Fischer]

Am Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:47:44 +0100 schrieb André Bellaïche:

> Hi,
> 
> I am new to XeTeX, and I use XeLaTeX with the command  
> \XeTeXinputencoding csMacintosh .
> 
> I have tried to use UTF-8, but most of my source files are mac  
> encoded, and continuously shifting form one encoding to the other with  
> TeXShop causes many errors (you also have to close and reopen TeXShop  
> for the encoding change to take effect).
> 
> At first sight, the index seems to print well. When you look to  
> the .ind file, you see many horrors like anémie à  
> hématies, what is the unmistakable sign that the file is UTF-8  
> encoded. However, since the \XeTeXinputencoding csMacintosh is not  
> repeated at the beginning of the .ind file, XeLaTeX reads the .ind  
> file as UTF-8 and all is for the best, or would be, but a little  
> drawback.
> 
> The drawback is: the index does not keep the French alphabetical order.
> 
> For example, the accented é is placed after the z.
> 
> What should I do? Would Makeindex keep the correct alphabetical order  
> (i.e., the accents do not count) if all the files were encoded in  
> UTF-8? 

I doubt it. makeindex is 8-bit orientated. I also doubt that xindy
can handle utf-8 natively. I don't know if makeindex can handle
french alphabetical order together with normal pdflatex. If yes your
best bet is probably to insert the accents with LaTeX-commands:
\index{\`e\'e}. If no you will probably have to force makeindex to
do the correct sorting by using @ to separate the sorting name from
the printed representation: \index{ee@\`e\'e}


-- 
Ulrike Fischer