How to make a single word look as some code?

Question

I would like to be able to make a single word in a text look like a coded word. Is there any command such as \code{...} which allows me to do so?

(basically, I want to produce something like above for the "\code{...}" part)

Answer 1

Normally a monospaced font is used for this. This is accomplished with \texttt{...}. If you want to use code, you can use \def\code#1{\texttt{#1}}. From that point on you can write \code{...} to get monospaced output.

Answer 2

If you want a single word to look like a coded word and also to have a light-gray background as in StackExchange you can predefine a color \definecolor{light-gray}{gray}{0.95} and then define a new command: \newcommand{\code}[1]{\colorbox{light-gray}{\texttt{#1}}}.

From this point on you can use \code{word} to get mono-spaced words with gray background.

Of course for this to work you will need to load the xcolor package before \definecolor.

A full example would look like this:

% Better inline directory listings
\usepackage{xcolor}
\definecolor{light-gray}{gray}{0.95}
\newcommand{\code}[1]{\colorbox{light-gray}{\texttt{#1}}}

Answer 3

I can't believe nobody mentioned the listings package. It provides a command called \lstinline{your_code} which can even highlight keywords for you.

See also this question: Should I use \lstinline for the language keywords embedded in text?

Answer 4

\verb|code| or \verb#code# also works. It creates characters in monospace, although its primary utility to enter commands that the compiler wont confuse as tex commands.

Answer 5

I would recommend my package ffcode, which makes it as simple as this:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ffcode}
\begin{document}
The function \ff{foo} can be used in a loop:
\begin{ffcode}
while (true) {
  foo(i++);
}
\end{ffcode}
\end{document}

The package uses minted for code blocks and tcolorbox for individual words.