Universe

Manages acronyms so you don’t have to.

Usage

The main goal of Acrostiche is to keep track of which acronym to define.

Define acronyms and proxy functions

First, define the acronyms in a dictionary, with the keys being the acronyms and the values being arrays of their definitions. If there is only a singular version of the definition, the array contains only one value (don’t forget the trailing comma to force typst to consider it as an array). If there are both singular and plural versions, define the definition as an array where the first item is the singular definition and the second item is the plural. Then, initialize Arostiche with the acronyms you just defined with the #init-acronyms(...) function:

Here is a sample of the acronyms.typ file:

#import "@preview/acrostiche:0.2.0": *

#init-acronyms((
  "NN": ("Neural Network",),
  "OS": ("Operating System",),
  "BIOS": ("Basic Input/Output System", "Basic Input/Output Systems"), 
))

Call Acrostiche functions

Once the acronyms are defined, you can use them in the text with the #acr(...) function. The argument is the acronym as a string (for example, “BIOS”). On the first call of the function, it prints the acronym with its definition (for example, “Basic Input/Output System (BIOS)”). On the next calls, it prints only the acronym.

To get the plural version of the acronym, you can use the #acrpl(...) function that adds an ‘s’ after the acronym. If a plural version of the definition is provided, it will be used if the first use of the acronym is plural. Otherwise, the singular version is used, and a trailing ‘s’ is added.

At any point in the document, you can reset acronyms with the functions #reset-acronym(...) (for a single acronym) or reset-all-acronyms() (to reset all acronyms). After a reset, the next use of the acronym is expanded.

You can also print an index of all acronyms used in the document with the #print-index() function. The index is printed as a section for which you can choose the heading level and outline parameters (with respectively the level: int and outlined: bool parameters). You can also choose their order with the sorted: string parameter that accepts either an empty string (print in the order they are defined), “up” (print in ascending alphabetical order), or “down” (print in descending alphabetical order). The index contains all the acronyms you defined. Finally, you can use the title: string parameter to change the name of the heading for the index section. The default value is “Acronyms Index”. Passing an empty string for title results in the index having no heading (i.e., no section for the index).

Finally, you can call the #display-def(...) function to display the definition of an acronym. Set the plural parameter to true to get the plural version.

Possible Errors:

  • If an acronym is not defined, an error will tell you which one is causing the error. Simply add it to the dictionary or check the spelling.
  • For every acronym “ABC” that you define, the state named “acronym-state-ABC” is initialized and used. To avoid errors, do not try to use this state manually for other purposes. Similarly, the state named “acronyms” is reserved to Acrostiche; avoid using it.
  • display-def leverages the state display function and only works if the return value is actually printed in the document. For more information on states, see the Typst documentation on states.

Have fun Acrostiching!