The macro tt(NOTRANS) copies its one argument literally to the output file, 
without expanding macros in it (except for tt(CHAR), which is expanded) and 
without translating the characters with the current translation table. The 
tt(NOTRANS) macro is typically used to send commands for the output format to 
the output file.

For example, consider the following code fragment:

verb(\
COMMENT(--- Define character translations for \{} in LaTeX. ---)
DEFINECHARTABLE(standard)(
    '\\'    =    "$\\backslash$"
    '{'     =    "\\verb+{+"
    '}'     =    "\\verb+}+"
)

COMMENT(--- Activate the translation table. ---)
USECHARTABLE(standard)

COMMENT(--- Now two tests: ---)

NOEXPAND(\input{epsf.tex})
NOTRANS(\input{epsf.tex}))

The tt(NOEXPAND) macro in this example will send 

verb($\backslash$input\verb+{+epsf.tex\verb+}+)

since the characters in its argument are translated with the tt(standard) 
translation table. In contrast, the tt(NOTRANS) macro, will send literally 
tt(\input{epsf.tex}).

The parameter list of the tt(NOTRANS) macro must be balanced in respect to its 
parentheses. When using an unbalanced number of parentheses, use 
tt(CHAR(C)HAR(40)) to send a literal CHAR(40), or tt(CHAR(C)HAR(41)) to send 
a tt(CHAR(41)).

