Mrthfx

For a specific biblatex style, I have declared a bibliography option which takes a name, as in

DeclareBibliographyOption{myname}{edefsomename{#1}}

Now LaTeX yields an error if the value of this option consists of braces, such as myname=M{"u}ller:

! You can't use `macro parameter character #' in horizontal mode.

@removeelement #1#2#3->def reserved@a ##1,#1,##

                                                  2reserved@a {##1,##2rese...



l.59 ProcessOptionsrelax

Is there a way to work around this? If not, is there a way to expand a macro in such a way that braces disappear? My aim is to test for string equivalence via ifdefstring, and the test returns false if M{"u}ller is compared to M"uller, as in

edefx{M{"u}ller}

edefy{M"uller}

ifdefstrequal{x}{y}{TRUE}{FALSE}

which will return FALSE.

You can't use edef in this context: edefx{..."u...} will always fail.

If you are using UTF-8 for your files and your author can appear in the three forms

M{"u}ller

M"uller

Müller

then these macros can be what you want:

documentclass{article}

usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}

usepackage{etoolbox}



makeatletter

defstripbraces#1#2{%

  begingroup

  defIeC##1{##1}%

  protected@edef@tempa{#1}%

  gdef@gtempa{}%

  expandafter@stripbraces@tempa@nil

  endgroup

  let#2@gtempa

}

def@stripbraces#1{%

  ifx#1@nilelse

    expandaftergdefexpandafter@gtempaexpandafter{@gtempa#1}%

    expandafter@stripbraces

  fi

}



makeatother



begin{document}



stripbraces{M"uller}{x}

stripbraces{M{"u}ller}{y}

stripbraces{Müller}{z}



ifdefstrequal{x}{y}{TRUE}{FALSE}



ifdefstrequal{x}{z}{TRUE}{FALSE}



ifdefstrequal{y}{z}{TRUE}{FALSE}



stripbraces{Øre}{x}

stripbraces{{O}re}{y}

stripbraces{O re}{z}



ifdefstrequal{x}{y}{TRUE}{FALSE}



ifdefstrequal{x}{z}{TRUE}{FALSE}



ifdefstrequal{y}{z}{TRUE}{FALSE}



stripbraces{Gauß}{x}

stripbraces{Gau{ss}}{y}

stripbraces{Gauss}{z}



ifdefstrequal{x}{y}{TRUE}{FALSE}



ifdefstrequal{x}{z}{TRUE}{FALSE}



ifdefstrequal{y}{z}{TRUE}{FALSE}



end{document}

All the tests yield "TRUE".

However this would fail for Fran{c{c}}ais and Fran{c c}ais. So the final answer depends on your needs.

Trying out unicode bib options with

newcommandtestuni{}

DeclareBibliographyOption[boolean]{test-unicode}[false]{

ifstrequal{#1}{𐎑𓀀ຢഓæçøûüŧũǻΦ}{renewcommandtestuni{𐎑𓀀ຢഓæçøûüŧũǻΦ has matched}}{renewcommandtestuni{𐎑𓀀ຢഓæçøûüŧũǻΦ has not matched}}

}

and setting the biblatex option to

  test-unicode=𐎑𓀀ຢഓæçøûüŧũǻΦ,

and compiling in xelatex with the file in utf-8 format, and suitable font (usepackage{fontspec} and newfontfacefunicode{Code2003})

Result of textbackslash testuni: {funicode testuni}.

gives

Changing the bib option to

test-unicode=𐎑𓀀ຢഓæçѾѬøûüŧũǻΦ,

produces

So looks OK now.

The old-style escapes are no longer really needed.