[XeTeX] Fake italics for some characters only

Wed Dec 5 16:17:38 CET 2018

I think I can do the same by
\def\overstrike#1#2{\setbox0=\hbox{#1}\rlap{\copy0}\hbox to \wd0{\hss #2\hss}}

For better versatility I would also add \ifhmode \leavevmode \fi to
the beginning of the macro.

Zdeněk Wagner
http://ttsm.icpf.cas.cz/team/wagner.shtml
http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz

st 5. 12. 2018 v 16:07 odesílatel John Was <johnoxuk at gmail.com> napsal:
>
> Ah, another quirk of LaTeX.  In plain one just says e.g. (to superimpose two characters):
>
> \def\overstrike#1#2{\setbox0=\hbox{#1}\setbox1=\hbox{#2}\copy0
>    \kern -0.5\wd0 \kern -0.5\wd1 \copy1 \kern -0.5\wd1 \kern 0.5\wd0}
>
> Maybe I'll learn LaTeX in my next life...
>
> Best
>
>
> John
>
> On Wed, 5 Dec 2018 at 14:18, Zdenek Wagner <zdenek.wagner at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>> you need braces around #1, otherwise \textit takes just the first
>> token (character) and the rest will remain unchanged.
>>
>> Zdeněk Wagner
>> http://ttsm.icpf.cas.cz/team/wagner.shtml
>> http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz
>>
>> st 5. 12. 2018 v 15:12 odesílatel John Was <john.was at ntlworld.com> napsal:
>> >
>> > Hello
>> >
>> > I didn't realize that textit took an argument, but my solution will work
>> > (I've used the \ifitalic trick for years for different purposes!), at least
>> > in plain XeTeX language, if one just adds the argument to the definition:
>> >
>> > \def\Textit#1{{\italictrue \textit #1}}
>> >
>> > Anyway, I hope that helps in the search for an elegant solution which
>> > doesn't clutter up the input file.
>> >
>> >
>> > John
>> >
>> > -----Original Message-----
>> > From: Zdenek Wagner
>> > Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2018 12:10 PM
>> > To: Unicode-based TeX for Mac OS X and other platforms
>> > Subject: Re: [XeTeX] Fake italics for some characters only
>> >
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > this will not work. \textit is a macro which requires a parameter,
>> > thus \textit} will report an unbalaced brace. Returning to my solution
>> > I forgot to write that the active characters must first be defined.
>> > You either activate them, define them and then deactivate them which
>> > is tedious. It is better to define them inside a group but the
>> > definition must be global, it cannot be done with \newcommand. If you
>> > define just one character (i.e. A), \gdef is not needed, it can be
>> > done by:
>> >
>> > \begingroup \catcode`\A=13
>> > \expandafter\endgroup\expandafter\def\noexpand A{{\fakeslantfont A}}
>> >
>> > If you need several characters, i.e. A and B, you can either repet the
>> > block or do it like that:
>> >
>> > \begingroup
>> > \uccode`\x=A
>> > \uccode`\y=B
>> > \catcode`\A=13
>> > \catcode`\B=13
>> > \uppercase{
>> >   \gdef A{{\fakeslantfont x}}
>> >   \gdef B{{\fakeslantfont y}}
>> > }
>> > \endgroup
>> >
>> > Notice that the characters remain inactive, with chategory 11
>> > (letter). They will be activated inside a group defined by \mytextit
>> > from my previous mail. \mytextit must not have a parameter because
>> > once set tha categories cannot be changed (unless you use lua or
>> > possibly eTeX). \dotextit will then take the parameter with active A
>> > anb B and closes the group so that the categories return to 11. There
>> > is no need to use \if.
>> >
>> > Zdeněk Wagner
>> > http://ttsm.icpf.cas.cz/team/wagner.shtml
>> > http://icebearsoft.euweb.cz
>> > st 5. 12. 2018 v 12:39 odesílatel John Was <john.was at ntlworld.com> napsal:
>> > >
>> > > Hello
>> > >
>> > > I work in plain XeTeX, but I hope the following will work (and make sense)
>> > > in XeLaTeX too.
>> > >
>> > > You could redefine \textit, but to keep things simple, set up a new
>> > > command,
>> > > say \Textit, and change all occurrences of \textit to \Textit in your
>> > > document (or a copy thereof!).
>> > >
>> > > Thus:
>> > >
>> > > \def\Textit{{\italictrue \textit}} (double braces to keep things local).
>> > >
>> > > You will also need a new \if:
>> > >
>> > > \newif\ifitalic
>> > >
>> > > Now, supposing the character you want to influence as you describe is ć
>> > > (Unicode 0107).
>> > >
>> > > Make that active:
>> > >
>> > > \catcode"0107=\active
>> > > \defć{{\ifitalic  {\fakeslantfont \char"0107} \else \char"0107 \fi}}
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > Obviously, change \fakeslantfont to whatever you have used to define the
>> > > faked italic font.  Again I have used double {{ }} for safety.
>> > >
>> > > ć will then appear with artificial slanting whenever it occurs within
>> > > \Textit.
>> > >
>> > > And so on for all the characters to be treated this way.
>> > >
>> > > (More elegantly, redefine \textit itself but I'm not experienced with the
>> > > LaTeX \renewcommand etc. features.)
>> > >
>> > > Hope this helps (and I hope XeTeX picks up on the fact that I'm actually
>> > > now
>> > > at johnoxuk at gmail.com!)
>> > >
>> > > Best
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > John
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > -----Original Message-----
>> > > From: Benct Philip Jonsson
>> > > Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2018 7:57 PM
>> > > To: xetex at tug.org
>> > > Subject: [XeTeX] Fake italics for some characters only
>> > >
>> > > I have a somewhat unusual problem. In a document produced using
>> > > XeLaTeX I need to use four Unicode letters with scarce font
>> > > support in italicized words and passages but the font which I have
>> > > to use supports these characters only in roman. The obvious
>> > > solution is to use the FakeSlant feature of fontspec but I don’t
>> > > want to enclose these characters in a command argument, in the
>> > > hope that a future version of the document can use an italic font
>> > > which supports these characters, but neither do I (perhaps
>> > > needless to say) want to use fake italics except for these four
>> > > characters. In other words I would like to perform some kind of
>> > > “keyhole surgery” in the preamble and use these characters
>> > > normally in the body of the document, which I guess means having
>> > > to make them active and somehow detect when they are inside the
>> > > argument of `\textit`. (Note: it is appropriate to use `\textit`
>> > > rather than `\emph` here because the purpose of the italicization
>> > > is to mark text as being in an object language in a linguistic
>> > > text.) Is that at all possible? I guess I could wrap `\textit` in
>> > > a macro which locally redefines the active characters, but I’m not
>> > > sure how to do that, nor how to access the glyphs corresponding to
>> > > the characters once the characters are active. I am a user who
>> > > isn’t afraid of using and making the most of various packages or
>> > > of writing an occasional custom command to wrap up some repeatedly
>> > > needed operation, but I am no expert. I am aware of all the
>> > > arguments against fake italics — that is why I want to limit the
>> > > damage as much as possible! — but I have no choice here. Waiting
>> > > for the/an appropriate font to include italic versions of these
>> > > characters is not an option at the moment.
>> > >
>> > > /Benct
>> > >
>> > >
>> > >
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