\DeclareFontEncoding

Synopsis:

\DeclareFontEncoding{encoding}{text-settings}{math-settings}

Declare the font encoding encoding. It also saves the value of encoding in \LastDeclaredEncoding (see \LastDeclaredEncoding).

The file t1enc.def contains this line (followed by many others).

\DeclareFontEncoding{T1}{}{}

The text-settings are the commands that LaTeX will run every time it switches from one encoding to another with the \selectfont or \fontencoding command. The math-settings are the commands that LaTeX will use whenever the font is accessed as a math alphabet.

LaTeX ignores any space characters inside text-settings and math-settings, to prevent unintended spaces in the output.

If you invent an encoding you should pick a two or three letter name starting with ‘L’ for ‘local’, or ‘E’ for ‘experimental’.

Note that output encoding files may be read several times by LaTeX so using, e.g., \newcommand may cause an error. In addition, such files should contain \ProvidesFile line (see Class and package commands).

Note also that you should use the \...Default commands only in a package, not in the encoding definition files, since those files should only contain declarations specific to that encoding.