General ⇒ Building command name from strings and expanding it

[migf]

I am trying to define a command that from a division name like section and a string S will, among other things, expand a command like \section*{S}.

I have two failed attempts on this after a couple of hours searching the web. The first uses \@nameuse like this

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\makeatletter
\newcommand{\mydiv}[2]{%
\@nameuse{\expandafter\csname #1*\endcsname {#2}}%
%...
}
\makeatother

and fails with a Missing \endcsname inserted..

The other tries to define a temporary command and use it:

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\newcommand{\mydiv}[2]{%
\edef\temp{\csname #1*\endcsname}%
\temp{#2}%
%...
}

but just expands to the second argument.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[rais]

Hi,
your first snippet reads a little like

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\@nameuse{\section*{S}}

i.e., trying to get a command out of the result of `\section*{S}'
(that's not the whole truth yet, `\section*' doesn't exist as a command, s.b.)
Your second snippet doesn't work, because you're trying to call `section*', but the * is not part of the command name. But \csname/\endcsname doesn't complain, if the constructed command isn't defined, that's why you just get the second argument (as it was given) in the output. Try

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\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\mydiv}[2]{%
  \csname#1\endcsname*{#2}%
}
\begin{document}
\mydiv{section}{S}
\section*{S}% for comparison
\end{document}

(note the placement of the * character outside the macro name)

KR
Rainer

[migf]

Hi,

Many thanks! Your suggestion works fine.

Best regards,
Miguel