Acronyms in LaTeX
Especially in scientific literature many acronyms pop up. To deal with them in a consistent way, the acronym package has been created. This package will write out the acronym the first time it is used and write it as an acronym for the rest of the article. A short introduction follows, with a link to the full manual at the bottom.
Introduction
Loading the package
To load the package, add \usepackage{acronym} after the documentclass and before \begin{document}.
Defining the acronyms
You can define acronyms with \acrodef{label}[acronym]{written out form}, for example \acrodef{etacar}[$\eta$ Car]{Eta Carinae}, with the restriction that the label should be simple ASCII. If label and acronym are the same, just use \acronym{SN}{supernova}.
Using the acronyms
The standard command to use an acronym is \ac{label}. The first time you use this, the acronym will be written in full with the acronym in parentheses: supernova (SN). At later times it will just print the acronym: SN.
Other commands
- \acresetall
- resets all acronyms to not used. Useful after the abstract to redefine all acronyms in the introduction.
- \acf{label}
- written out form with acronym in parentheses, irrespective of previous use
- \acs{label}
- acronym form, irrespective of previous use
- \acl{label}
- written out form without following acronym
- \acp{label}
- plural form of acronym by adding an s. \acfp. \acsp, \aclp work as well.
Manual
Acronym package manual