Re: Automatically escaping single spaces

[Marcin Borkowski <mbork@wmi.amu.edu.pl>]

Dnia 2013-03-18, o godz. 14:40:24
Suvayu Ali <fatkasuvayu+linux@gmail.com> napisał(a):

> Hi Orgers,
> 
> I use double spaces to demarcate end of sentences
> (sentence-end-double-space t).  Now when I use things like "e.g. " or
> "Fig. ", Emacs understands it is not the end of sentence and does the
> "right thing", say for filling.  However when I export a phrase like
> that from Org, say to LaTeX, I have to be mindful and write something
> like this instead: "e.g.\space{}"[1].  Although this works, it is very
> distracting while writing and prone to human error.  I would like some
> seamless way for Org to respect my sentence-end-double-space setting
> while exporting and export single spaces as single spaces.
> 
> Can someone suggest someway to get this to work?  It would be even
> more awesome if this can be included in Org, i.e. respect
> sentence-end-double-space in exported text by default.

Hi,

A simple workaround would be to use \frenchspacing in your LaTeX
document (which typographic authorities suggest anyway - at least
Bringhurst).  The thing is, the algorithm LaTeX uses to determine
whether a period ends a sentence or not is completely different from
Emacs' one: for the TeX parser, any number of spaces effectively
collapses into one (at least, if no special measures are taken).

Anyway, you may also try "e.g.\nbsp{}this" to get a nonbreakable
space.  I'd also suggest changing your org-entities-user so that \space
maps to either "\space" or "\ " in LaTeX - this way you get breakable
spaces, too.

As a feature request: what about including (1) \frenchspacing in the
exported LaTeX file by default and (2) "\ " mapped to "\ " in LaTeX
export?

Anyway, for all people interested in the subject (from both
typographical and TeXnical points of view), I'd strongly suggest reading
through e.g. http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/4705/5626 .

Best,

> 
> Thanks for any ideas.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> Footnotes:
> 
> [1] I have (org-entities-user '(("space" "~" nil " " " " " " " "))) in
>     my Org settings.
> 



-- 
Marcin Borkowski
http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski
Adam Mickiewicz University