Cfrgtkky

I want to be able to format code with a monospaced font. Right now I'm using texttt{} but it's kind of a pain to keep typing that everywhere. Is there any way to use a shortcut instead? For example, for math, you can wrap it in $. So, for my situation, I'd like to be able to write something like:

`const WIDTH = 5`

and have it turn into:
const WIDTH = 5

I've tried looking for shortcuts (which gave me a bunch of editor stuff), new commands (which told me how to define a new backslash command) and macros (which I didn't really understand but aren't what I want).

You can turn | into inline verbatim like doc.sty does:

documentclass{article}



makeatletter

%Shamelessly copied from doc.sty

defMakeShortVerb{%>>>

  @ifstar

    {def@shortvrbdef{verb*}@MakeShortVerb}%

    {def@shortvrbdef{verb}@MakeShortVerb}}%<<<

def@MakeShortVerb#1{%>>>

  expandafterifxcsname ccstring#1endcsnamerelax

    @shortvrbinfo{Made }{#1}@shortvrbdef

    add@special{#1}%

    expandafter

    xdefcsname ccstring#1endcsname{thecatcode`#1}%

    begingroup

      catcode`~active  lccode`~`#1%

      lowercase{%

      globalexpandafterlet

         csname acstring#1endcsname~%

      expandaftergdefexpandafter~expandafter{@shortvrbdef~}}%

    endgroup

    globalcatcode`#1active

  else

    @shortvrbinfo@empty{#1 already}{@emptyverb(*)}%

  fi}%<<<

defDeleteShortVerb#1{%>>>

  expandafterifxcsname ccstring#1endcsnamerelax

    @shortvrbinfo@empty{#1 not}{@emptyverb(*)}%

  else

    @shortvrbinfo{Deleted }{#1 as}{@emptyverb(*)}%

    rem@special{#1}%

    globalcatcode`#1csname ccstring#1endcsname

    global expandafterlet csname ccstring#1endcsname relax

    ifnumcatcode`#1=active

      begingroup

        catcode`~active   lccode`~`#1%

        lowercase{%

          globalexpandafterletexpandafter~%

          csname acstring#1endcsname}%

      endgroup fi fi}%<<<

def@shortvrbinfo#1#2#3{%>>>

  PackageInfo{doc}{%

     #1expandafter@gobblestring#2 a short reference

                                          for expandafterstring#3}}%<<<

defadd@special#1{%>>>

  rem@special{#1}%

  expandaftergdefexpandafterdospecialsexpandafter

    {dospecials do #1}%

  expandaftergdefexpandafter@sanitizeexpandafter

    {@sanitize @makeother #1}}%<<<

defrem@special#1{%>>>

  defdo##1{%

    ifnum`#1=`##1 else noexpanddonoexpand##1fi}%

  xdefdospecials{dospecials}%

  begingroup

    def@makeother##1{%

      ifnum`#1=`##1 else noexpand@makeothernoexpand##1fi}%

    xdef@sanitize{@sanitize}%

  endgroup}%<<<

AtBeginDocument{MakeShortVerb |}

AtEndDocument{DeleteShortVerb |}

makeatother



begin{document}

|Test|



but also |Test$_{}|

end{document}

It looks like you want an inline verbatim environment. The fancyvrb package provides a simple way to do that. Note that, just like the Skillmon's solution, you cannot define the backtick to be the verbatim delimiter with this approach. Alternatively, if you just don't like having to type texttt all the time you could make a shorter replacement macro for it. Here I've used vrb. Notice how the fancyvrb version allows the use of reserved TeX characters without being escaped; the texttt solution does not.

documentclass{article}

usepackage{fancyvrb}

DefineShortVerb{|}

newcommand{vrb}{texttt}

begin{document}



Using the |fancyvrb| |foo|



Using a macro |vrb{foo}| vrb{foo}



end{document}

Not really complicated and, differently from other proposed answers, the object can go in the argument to another command.

Thus something like mbox{`const WIDTH = 5`} will work.

documentclass{article}



makeatletter

% define the active backquote

begingrouplccode`~=``lowercase{endgroup

  def~#1~{texttt{#1}}%

}

% delay activating at begin document

AtBeginDocument{catcode``=active}

makeatother



begin{document}



This is texttt{const WIDTH = 5}



This is `const WIDTH = 5`



end{document}

Beware it is quite fragile and finding a missing backquote could be difficult. It's simpler if you define some shortcut with your editor.

Even more fragile with double back quotes for denoting verbatim mode (however, the double back quotes cannot be used in the argument to another command, just like verb).

documentclass{article}



makeatletter

% define the active backquote

begingrouplccode`~=``lowercase{endgroup

  defjharodbackquote{@ifnextchar~jharodverbjharodtt}

  defjharodtt#1~{texttt{#1}}

  let~jharodbackquote

  defjharodverb{bgroupcatcode``=2 verb}

}

% delay activating at begin document

AtBeginDocument{catcode``=active}

makeatother



begin{document}



This is mbox{`const WIDTH = 5`}



This is `const WIDTH = 5`



This is ``verb{atim}``



This is `const WIDTH = 5`



end{document}