[texhax] Can I invoke some tex command at commank like this?

[E. Krishnan]

On Fri, 26 Sep 2003, Chakrit Nimmanant wrote:

>     As you can see, TeX is very useful to determine
> the dimension of my "Evam". So,I want to invoke some
> TeX commands on standard input which can receive
> "Evam" as a parameter and returns a value of \wd0 to
> my standard output.

This is how I'd go about it in LaTeX:

Make a file named boxdim.tex contining the lines

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\newlength{\boxwd}
\newlength{\boxht}
\newlength{\boxdp}

\typeout{}
\typein[\boxname]{Please type the box content}
\typeout{}

\settowidth{\boxwd}{\boxname}
\settowidth{\boxht}{\boxname}
\settodepth{\boxdp}{\boxname}

\typeout{}
\typeout{These are the dimensions of the box}
\typeout{}
\typeout{width  = \the\boxwd}
\typeout{}
\typeout{height = \the\boxht}
\typeout{}
\typeout{depth  = \the\boxdp}
\typeout{}

\end{document}

and compile the file with LaTeX. 
(The empty "typeouts" are just cosmetic.)

-- 
Krishnan