Character -> command substitution...

Character -> command substitution...

[Joop Susan]

Hello,

I need te be able to substitute certain characters in a parameter string 
for commands as a sortof shorthand notation. For example:

	' ' -> {\kern 10mm}
	'-' -> {\kern 0.5mm ---\kern 0.5mm}
	'.' -> { ... }
	'x' -> { ... }

Can anyone tell me if this is possible in ConTEXt and if so how?

Joop

Re: Character -> command substitution...

[Hans Hagen]

At 05:31 PM 7/30/00 +0200, Joop Susan wrote:
>
>Hello,
>
>I need te be able to substitute certain characters in a parameter string 
>for commands as a sortof shorthand notation. For example:
>
>	' ' -> {\kern 10mm}
>	'-' -> {\kern 0.5mm ---\kern 0.5mm}
>	'.' -> { ... }
>	'x' -> { ... }
>
>Can anyone tell me if this is possible in ConTEXt and if so how?

You need some tex trickery here: 

(1) For simple cases you may use something: 

\def\DoReplaceToken#1{\doifelse{#1}{-}{\kern1em}{#1}}
\def\ReplaceToken  #1{\handletokens#1\with\DoReplaceToken}

\ReplaceToken{abc-def}

(2) For more complicate ones, the following will do. 

\bgroup
  \catcode`\-=\active
  \gdef\ReplaceMinus#1{\catcode`\-=\active \def-{#1}}
\egroup

\def\ReplaceToken#1%
  {\bgroup
   \ReplaceMinus{\kern1em}%
   \def\TheTokens{#1}%
   \expandafter\scantokens\expandafter{\TheTokens}%
   \egroup}

\ReplaceToken{abc-def}

Hans 

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