[OS X TeX] Math mode in TikZ question

[Morten Høgholm]

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:03:00 +0100, Dietrich, Daniel L wrote:


> I can work around it using the other two, but I
> don't know why '\:' gives an error.  I'm not that proficient in LaTeX
> and tikz, so I'm probably missing something simple.

The solution is to grab a more recent version.

But I will shed some light on it (if you want, else just stop reading :-).  
Modelled on the LaTeX kernel definition of \@ifnextchar, the version you  
have includes the following piece of code:

\long\def\pgf at ifnextchar#1#2#3{%	
   \let\reserved at d=#1%	
   \def\reserved at a{#2}%	
   \def\reserved at b{#3}%	
   \futurelet\pgf at let@token\pgf at ifnch}	
\def\pgf at ifnch{%	
   \ifx\pgf at let@token\pgf at sptoken	
     \let\reserved at c\pgf at xifnch	
   \else	
     \ifx\pgf at let@token\reserved at d	
       \let\reserved at c\reserved at a	
     \else	
       \let\reserved at c\reserved at b	
     \fi	
   \fi	
   \reserved at c}	
\def\:{\global\let\pgf at sptoken= } \:	
\def\:{\pgf at xifnch} \expandafter\def\: {\futurelet\pgf at let@token\pgf at ifnch}

The purpose of the last two lines is to make the control sequence  
\pgf at xifnch also remove a space token so that the \futurelet doesn't see  
the same space token over and over again.
   \def\pgf at xifnch {\futurelet\pgf at let@token\pgf at ifnch}
doesn't work, therefore \: is used because a space after it is not  
ignored. This works in the LaTeX kernel because \: is given a new  
definition afterwards but is is rather bad coding style: If you want to  
use temporary variables also used elsewhere ensure a) it all happens in a  
group, b) they are erased immediately or c) the user can't use the  
temporary variable.

A better method IMNSHO is something such as
   \@firstofone{\global\let\pgf at sptoken= } % space, not EOL
   \@firstofone{\def\pgf at xifnch} {\futurelet\pgf at let@token\pgf at ifnch}

A more generic method allowing to gobble any kind of token is found in the  
l3token module in the expl3 code from the LaTeX Project web site.

Cheers,
-- 
Morten