Many problems in science and engineering are related to the analytic continuation and in particular infinitesimal analytic continuation to the upper or lower complex plane, i.e., a generic *complex* function $f(\omega)$ with real $\omega$ is changed to $$F(\omega)=\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}f(\omega\pm i\eta).$$ In many applications, only the part introduced by $\eta$ is necessary, which is $$A(\omega)=\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}[f(\omega+i\eta)-f(\omega-i\eta)].$$ **Question**: How to symbolically obtain $A(\omega)$? A related [question][1] here deals with the simplest case (the first formula below), but I am asking about more general cases when symbolic Fourier transform or integral does not work. Simple `Limit` does not work, because the [Sokhotski–Plemelj][2] formula $$\lim_{\eta\to0^{+}} \frac{1}{x\pm i\eta}= \mp i\pi\delta(x) + {\mathcal{P}} {\Big(\frac{1}{x}\Big)}$$ plays a role in the calculation. Here $\delta$ denotes Dirac delta function (`DiracDelta`), $\mathcal{P}$ denotes the Cauchy principal value. A more general version of this formula is $$\lim_{\eta\to0^{+}} \frac{1}{(x\pm i\eta)^{n+1}}= \mp i\pi(-1)^n\frac{\delta^{(n)}(x)}{n!} + {\mathcal{P}} {\Big(\frac{1}{x^{n+1}}\Big)}$$ where $\delta^{(n)}$ denotes the $n$-th derivative of $\delta$-function. But note that all these will just appear as convenient symbols, *not* to be evaluated anywhere. ---------- Two examples are given below, where all parameters are real. Therefore only the imaginary part is purely generated by $\eta$. For $f_1(\omega)=\frac{a\omega+\sqrt{c+\omega^2}}{e}$, we have \begin{equation} \begin{split} A(\omega)&=2i\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}\Im f(\omega+i\eta)\\ &=2i\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}\Im\frac{a(\omega+i\eta)+\sqrt{c+(\omega+i\eta)^2}}{e}\\ &\approx2i\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}\Im\frac{a(\omega+i\eta)+c+\omega^2+i\eta\frac{\omega}{c+\omega^2}}{e}\\ &=2i\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}\frac{ai\eta+i\eta\frac{\omega}{c+\omega^2}}{e}\\ &=0. \end{split} \end{equation} For $f_2(\omega)=\frac{a+b\omega}{\omega-c}$ we have \begin{equation} \begin{split} A(\omega)&=\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+} f(\omega+i\eta)-f(\omega-i\eta)\\ &=\lim_{\eta\rightarrow0^+}(a + b c)(\frac{1}{\omega-c+i\eta}-\frac{1}{\omega-c-i\eta})\\ &=[-i\pi\delta(\omega-c)+\mathcal{P}(\frac{1}{\omega-c})]-[+i\pi\delta(\omega-c)+\mathcal{P}(\frac{1}{\omega-c})]\\ &=-2i\pi(a+bc)\delta(\omega-c). \end{split} \end{equation} **Here, simple `Limit` does not work, which merely gives 0 as shown below.** f[ω_] := (a + b ω)/(ω - c); Limit[f[ω + I η] - f[ω - I η], η -> 0, Direction -> "FromAbove"] Edit ---- We aim at generic functions $f(\omega)$ that can be more complicated than the above minimal examples, but let's assume the denominator, if `x` is involved, can always be factorized. For instance (use `x` as the variable), f[x_] := (a - b x)/(c^3 + 3 c^2 d + 3 c d^2 + d^3) + Sqrt[x + b]/( x - e) + ( b x + Sqrt[x + b^2])/((x - c)^2 (x - Sqrt[d + c^2]) (x^2 + g^2)); In the result, there should be $\delta(x-e),\delta(x-\sqrt{d+c^2}),\delta(x-c),\delta^{(1)}(x-c)$. I thought about this for some time, but due to my very limited MMA skill, I don't see how to realize such a calculation. [1]: https://mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/148734 [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokhotski%E2%80%93Plemelj_theorem#Version_for_the_real_line