Sstrhsrtj

When writing tex documents, I often create and include a file that contains a number of user defined macros, e.g., newcommand{pstar}{ensuremath{mathcal{P}^star}}.

I'd like to set up emacs syntax highlighting so that every time I use one of my user defined macros, e.g., pstar, the macro is highlighted in a default color. How can I do this without having to specify a list of my macros up front (as in this answer)?

It is possible to do what you're asking for, but I'm not recommending it. Hence, I show 2 solutions:

Not recommended solution

I presume you're not byte-compiling your init file. Put this function somewhere in your init file:

(defun LaTeX-fontify-parsed-macros ()

  "Add fontification support for parsed macros by AUCTeX."

  (let ((TeX-grop-string (string-to-char TeX-grop))

        macs macname args)

    ;; Process elements from `LaTeX-auto-optional' which look like

    ;; ("PSTAR" "1" "x")

    (dolist (mac LaTeX-auto-optional)

      (setq macname (car mac)

            args (string-to-number (cadr mac)))

      (push (list macname (concat LaTeX-optop

                                  (make-string (1- args)

                                               TeX-grop-string)))

            macs))

    ;; Process elements from `LaTeX-auto-arguments' which look like

    ;; ("PStar" "1")

    (dolist (mac LaTeX-auto-arguments)

      (setq macname (car mac)

            args (string-to-number (cadr mac)))

      (push (list macname (make-string args TeX-grop-string))

            macs))

    ;; Process only string elements from `TeX-auto-symbol' and ignore

    ;; lists inside the list

    (dolist (mac TeX-auto-symbol)

      (unless (listp mac)

        (push (list mac "") macs)))

    ;; Fontify the macros:

    (when (and macs

               (featurep 'font-latex)

               (eq TeX-install-font-lock 'font-latex-setup))

      (font-latex-add-keywords macs

                               'textual)) ))

Now in your .tex file, add this line to your file local variables at the end of the file:

%%% eval: (add-hook 'TeX-update-style-hook #'LaTeX-fontify-parsed-macros t)

It should look like this:

%%% Local Variables:

%%% mode: latex

%%% TeX-master: t

%%% eval: (add-hook 'TeX-update-style-hook #'LaTeX-fontify-parsed-macros t)

%%% End:

Now hit C-c C-n, and you should get proper fontification for your macros.

Recommended solution

Move your definitions into a separate package, say mymathmacros.sty which looks like this:

ProvidesPackage{mymathmacros}

newcommand{pstar}{ensuremath{mathcal{P}^star}}

newcommand{Pstar}{ensuremath{mathcal{P}^star}}



newcommand{PStar}[1]{ensuremath{mathcal{P}^star}}



newcommand{PSTar}[1][x]{ensuremath{mathcal{P}^star}}

newcommand{PSTAR}[3][x]{ensuremath{mathcal{P}^star}}

endinput

Customize the variable TeX-style-private to a directory of your choice, e.g. with a line like this in your init file:

(setq TeX-style-private (expand-file-name "~/.emacs.d/my-auctex-styles/"))

Save this piece of code in that directory as mymathmacros.el:

(TeX-add-style-hook

 "mymathmacros"

 (lambda ()

   ;; Macros:

   (TeX-add-symbols

    '("pstar" 0)

    '("Pstar" 0)

    '("PStar"  1)

    '("PSTar" [ "argument" ] 1)

    '("PSTAR" [ "argument" ] 2))



   ;; Fontification:

   (when (and (featurep 'font-latex)

              (eq TeX-install-font-lock 'font-latex-setup))

     (font-lock-add-keywords '(("pstar" "")

                               ("Pstar" "")

                               ("PStar" "{")

                               ("PSTar" "[{")

                               ("PSTAR" "[{{"))

                             'textual)))

 LaTeX-dialect)

Restart your Emacs, add the line usepackage{mymathmacros} to your .tex file and hit C-c C-n, if necessary.