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From: eao@shape.mps.ohio-state.edu (Ed Overman)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: letA=3 edefB{A} does not put 3 into B ?????
Message-ID: <1990Nov22.001531.7022@zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu>
Date: 22 Nov 90 00:15:31 GMT
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Organization: Dept of Mathematics, The Ohio State University
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I want to do
  \let\A=3 \edef\B{\A}
and have \B contain 3.  This does not happen as can be seen from
  \let\A=3 \edef\B{\A} \let\A=9 \A
where  9  will be printed out.
The reason is that I want to search through a sequence of characters using
\let\next=  and then put the contents of \next into different control
sequences depending on SOMETHING (for example, all letters go in \letters
and all numbers go in \numbers).  I must admit that I have never understood
TeX's anatomy very well - which is why this has me confused (any references
or good explanations would be greatly appreciated).
The only solution I have found is to use  \message\A  since the third word
in the output of this control squence, which is the character in question, can
be grabbed and put into a control sequence.  This does not seem a very elegant
solution to me.
                              Thanks, Ed Overman