Title: \newcommand and \def not working
Last modified: January 25, 2017

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# \newcommand and \def not working

 *  [gabehigginbotham](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gabehigginbotham/)
 * (@gabehigginbotham)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/newcommand-and-def-not-working/)
 * I am trying to create new commands and definitions in my preamble, but they are
   not working when I use the commands within my pages.
 * Examples:
    \def\vx{\vec{x}} \newcommand{\beq}{\begin{displaymath}}
 * Any ideas?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Plugin Author [advanpix](https://wordpress.org/support/users/advanpix/)
 * (@advanpix)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/newcommand-and-def-not-working/#post-8699598)
 * Please provide complete code example you are using, with the tags ([preamble]…[/
   preamble]), etc, so that situation can be reproduced.
 *  Thread Starter [gabehigginbotham](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gabehigginbotham/)
 * (@gabehigginbotham)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/newcommand-and-def-not-working/#post-8699640)
 * Preamble:
 *     ```
       %PREAMBLE:
   
       \textwidth 6.5in
       \textheight 9.0in
       \voffset=-.8in
       \hoffset=-.5in
   
       \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
       \usepackage{mathptmx}
       \usepackage{graphicx}
       \usepackage{color}
       \usepackage{amsmath}
       \usepackage{xspace}
       \usepackage{latexsym}
       \usepackage[margin=10pt,width=3.0in,font=small,labelfont=bf]{caption}
       \usepackage{natbib} \bibpunct[, ]{(}{)}{;}{a}{}{,}
       \usepackage{esint}
       %\usepackage{undertilde}
       \def\undertilde#1{\mathord{\vtop{\ialign{##\crcr
          $\hfil\displaystyle{#1}\hfil$\crcr \noalign{\kern1.5pt\nointerlineskip}
          $\hfil\tilde{}\hfil$\crcr\noalign{\kern1.5pt}}}}}
       \newcommand{\utilde}{\undertilde}% replaces undertilde for the mac
       \usepackage{cancel}
       \usepackage{float}
       \usepackage{xcolor}
       \usepackage{subfiles}
       \usepackage{sidecap}
       \sidecaptionvpos{figure}{c}
       \usepackage{enumitem}
       \usepackage{empheq}
       \usepackage{hyperref}
       \usepackage[toc,page]{appendix}
       \usepackage{boxedminipage}
       \usepackage{capt-of}
       \usepackage[export]{adjustbox}
       \usepackage{makeidx}
       %\usepackage{showidx}
       \usepackage[totoc]{idxlayout}
   
       \newcommand{\s}{\, \text{s}}
       \newcommand{\m}{\, \text{m}}
       \newcommand{\ps}{\, \text{s}^{-1}}
       \newcommand{\kv}{\kappa_v}
   
       %\def\lc{\it}
       \def\lc{\color{blue}}
   
       \def\kh{\kappa_h}
       \def\eps{\varepsilon}
       \def\del { {\vec\nabla}}
       \def\delt{\Delta_h}
       \def\ni{\noindent}
   
       \def\haf{\frac{1}{2}}
   
       \def\vx{\vec{x}}
       \def\vy{\vec{y}}
       \def\vu{\vec{u}}
       \def\vv{\vec{v}}
       \def\vw{\vec{w}}
       \def\vz{\vec{z}}
       \def\vo{\vec{\omega}}
       \def\di{\partial}
       \def\ue{\utilde\epsilon}
       \def\uA{\utilde{A}}
       \def\uB{\utilde{B}}
       \def\uC{\utilde{C}}
       \def\uD{\utilde{D}}
       \def\uI{\utilde{I}}
       \def\udelta{\utilde{\delta}}
       \def\ur{\utilde{r}}
       \def\tk{\tilde{k}}
       \def\hw{\hat{w}}
       \def\hu{\hat{u}}
       \def\hv{\hat{v}}
       \def\hb{\hat{b}}
       \def\hp{\hat{\pi}}
   
       \def\prm{^\prime}
       \def\prmm{^{\prime\prime}}
       \def\prmmm{^{\prime\prime\prime}}
       \def\prmmmm{^{\prime\prime\prime\prime}}
   
       \def\sta{^\star}
       \def\dag{^\dagger}
       \def\limx{\lim_{|\Delta\vx |\rightarrow 0}~}
   
       \newcommand{\ddt}[1]{\frac{\di{#1}}{\dt}}
   
       % Abbreviations for unit vectors:
       \newcommand{\he}[1]{\hat{e}^{(#1)}}
       \newcommand{\hep}[1]{\hat{e}^{\prime(#1)}}
   
       % Abbreviation for k'th derivative:
       \newcommand{\fk}[1]{f^{(#1)}}
   
       % These abbreviations are useful for beginning and ending displayed equations:
       \newcommand{\beq}{\begin{displaymath}}
       \newcommand{\eeq}{\end{displaymath}}
       \newcommand{\beqn}{\begin{equation}}
       \newcommand{\eeqn}{\end{equation}}
       \newcommand{\be}{\begin{equation}}
       \newcommand{\ee}{\end{equation}}
   
       % Jeff added: -------------
       \def\pder#1#2{\frac{\partial #1}{\partial #2}}
       \def\md{\mathrm{d}}
       \def\oder#1#2{\frac{\md #1}{\md #2}}
       %-------------------------------
   
       \newcommand{\nl}{\newline}
   
       \newcommand{\bmat}{\begin{quote}\color{blue}}
       \newcommand{\emat}{\color{black}\end{quote}}
   
       \newcommand{\mat}[1]{{\color{blue}\bf{#1}\color{black}}}
       \newcommand{\rast}{{\color{red}*\color{black}}}
   
       \makeindex
   
       \makeatletter
       \g@addto@macro\@floatboxreset\centering
       \makeatother
   
       %DOUBLESPACE
       \renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{1.0}
       \numberwithin{equation}{section}
       \bibliographystyle{ametsoc}
   
       \parskip=0.1in
       \parindent = 0in
   
       \newcommand{\toc}{\parskip=0in\tableofcontents\parskip=.1in}
   
       \DeclareRobustCommand{\gobblefour}[4]{}
       \newcommand*{\SkipTocEntry}{\addtocontents{toc}{\gobblefour}}
   
       %\renewcommand{\theequation}{\thesection.\arabic{equation}}
                             %At end of section add \setcounter{equation}{0}
       % My ''Example'' environment
       \newcounter{exa}
       \newenvironment{example}
       {\begin{quote} \bf Example \stepcounter{exa}\arabic{exa}\rm:}{\end{quote}}
   
       % My ''Exercise'' environment
       \newcounter{exer}
       \newenvironment{exercise}
       {\bf Exercise \stepcounter{exer}\arabic{exer}\rm:}
   
       %\newcommand{\sect}[1]{ \setcounter{equation}{0} \section{#1}}
   
       \renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}
       ```
   
 * Example equation:
 *     ```
       \beq
       \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}
       x  \\
       y \\
       \end{array}} \right] \quad\textrm{to}\quad
       \left[ {\begin{array}{*{20}{c}}
       y  \\
       -x \\
       \end{array}} \right].
       \eeq
       ```
   
 *  Plugin Author [advanpix](https://wordpress.org/support/users/advanpix/)
 * (@advanpix)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/newcommand-and-def-not-working/#post-8699692)
 * Wrap equation code with [latex]...[/latex]. QuickLaTeX detects only standard 
   LaTeX environments, not custom defined. The ‘\beq’ will work fine if placed between
   the [latex]...[/latex].
 * Rely on standards environments, if you do not want to use [latex]...[/latex].
 *  Thread Starter [gabehigginbotham](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gabehigginbotham/)
 * (@gabehigginbotham)
 * [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/newcommand-and-def-not-working/#post-8704660)
 * Ok, thank you for your quick replies! It still does not work, but I think I will
   just use the normal environments. That works, at least. I took this project over
   from someone else, so the newcommands don’t really matter to me.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [gabehigginbotham](https://wordpress.org/support/users/gabehigginbotham/)
 * Last activity: [9 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/newcommand-and-def-not-working/#post-8704660)
 * Status: not resolved