How can I format strings gotten from a dictionary?

Questions
1

I have a simple dictionary that stores short strings and would like to use it to insert those in the text like:

Here’s some text #mydict.key and more text

I would like to get all the inserted text from the dictionary formatted in bold (ideally a show rule) but can’t figure it out.

Of course it works with a function that accepts a string representing the key, but I loose the autocompletion capability (and therefore is prone to typos in the keys).

Any ideas or hacks?

2

Hi @AMendoza, thank you for your question! I have changed your post’s title to bring it in line with the question guidelines and thus make it easier to understand from the title:

Good titles are questions you would ask your friend about Typst.

I also added the scripting tag, as it makes your question easier to find.

3

I would recommend preparing a dictionary in which the strings are already formatted:

#let mydict = (key: "something")

#let mydict = {
  mydict
    // convert the tict into an array of (key, value) pairs
    .pairs()
    // replace each pair ...
    .map(pair => {
      // by making the second item (the value) *strong*
      pair.last() = strong(pair.last())
      // return that pair, so that it is used for the replacement
      pair
    })
    // convert back to a dict
    .to-dict()
}

Here’s some text #mydict.key and more text

The values in this dictionary will no longer be strings but content. If you need the original strings, you can of course use a different name for the variable instead of redefining let mydict.

1 Like
4

I think you really should just use destructuring of the pair and then creating a new one. Or, to save 1 extra character, you can create a dictionary instead and join them:

#let mydict = (key: "something")

#let mydict = mydict.pairs().map(((a, b)) => (a, strong(b))).to-dict()
#let mydict = mydict.pairs().map(((a, b)) => ((a): strong(b))).join()

Here’s some text #mydict.key and more text
5

I do that in my code, but for the explanation I wasn’t sure what would be the easiest to read (I’m not always going for maximum conciseness here). I’ll leave it as-is, but your reply is helpful in showing additional ways to write the same thing.

6

Thank you this is great. Also a great lesson how these objects work :blush:

7

Thanks @Andrew in the end I opted for the first one, as it seemed succint but a bit more readable of what´s going on (for me) than the second option.

#let mydict = mydict.pairs().map(((a, b)) => (a, strong(b))).to-dict()

I also love that it can be extended for more advanced formatting with elaborate functions. Typst is really great and deserves more love.