On 18/02/2009, at 10:42 AM, Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard wrote:

> Will Robertson a écrit :
>> So here, while \the isn't a macro, it will expand when used  
>> correctly in
>> an edef (e.g., \edef\foo{\the\baselineskip} ).  I've explicitly  
>> caught
>> undefined macros to return "F" because it just seemed more logical  
>> that
>> way.
>>
> In my understanding of the term, macros are always "expandable". I  
> think
> in the context of this function, "expandable" should mean the same  
> as in
> the TeXbook, (p. 212-214 in my edition) after the text

Ah, okay. Foolishly, I don't have a copy handy.
That naming makes more sense now.

>> Now let's consider the control sequences that are expanded whenever
>> expansion has not been inhibited. Such control sequences fall into
>> several classes:
>
> Here macros are described as "expandable" regardless of whether they  
> are
> defined or not.

Odd. I suppose it's understandable, though.

Thanks for the help,
Will