LATEX source.
This package in fact provides a enhanced \verb
command that
can appear inside other command arguments.
This command is named ``\url
'',
but it can be used for any verbatim text, including DOS-like path
names.
Hence, one can insert urls in one's document without worrying about
LATEX active characters :
This is a complicated url: \url{http://foo.com/~user#label%coucou}.
which gets typeset as: ``This is a complicated url: http://foo.com/~user#label%coucou.''
Main use for the \url
command is to specify urls as arguments to
HEVEA commands for hyperlinks (see section 8.1.1) :
\hevea{} home page is
\ahrefurl{\url{http://pauillac.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/}}
It yields : ``HEVEA home page is
http://pauillac.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/''.
However the \url
command is fragile, as a consequence it
cannot be used inside \footahref
first argument (This is a
LATEX problem, not an HEVEA one).
The url package solves this problem by providing the
\urldef
command
for defining commands whose body is typeset by using \url
:
\urldef{\heveahome}{\url}{http://pauillac.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/}
Such a source defines the robust command \heveahome
as the
intended url.
Hence the following source works as expected :
Have a look at \footurl{\heveahome}{\hevea{} home page}
It yields: ``Have a look at HEVEA home page''.
Using \url
inside command definitions with a
#
i argument is a bad idea, since
it gives ``verbatim'' a rather random meaning.
Unfortunately, in some situations (e.g, no %
, no #
),
it may work in LATEX. By
contrast, it does not work in HEVEA. In such situations,
\urldef
should be used.
HEVEA implementation is somehow compatible at the ``programming level''.
Thus, users can define new commands whose argument is understood
verbatim. The urlhref.hva style file
from the distribution
takes advantage of this to define the \url
command, so that it both
typesets an url and inserts a link to it.
\input{urlhref.hva}
Have a look at \url{http://pauillac.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/}
It yields ``Have a look at http://pauillac.inria.fr/~maranget/hevea/''.
The urlhref.hva
style file (which is an HEVEA style file and not a LATEX
style file) can be adequate for bibliographic references,
which often use \url
for its typesetting power.
Of course, loading urlhref.hva only makes sense when
all arguments to \url
are urls...