% $Id: faq-how-do-i.tex,v 1.47 2014/01/28 18:17:23 rf10 Exp $ \section{How do I do\dots{}?} \subsection{Mathematics} \Question[Q-proof]{Proof environment} It was long thought impossible to make a \environment{proof} environment which automatically includes an `end-of-proof' symbol. Some proofs end in displayed maths; others do not. If the input file contains % ! line break \texttt{...\csx{]} }\cmdinvoke{end}{proof} then \LaTeX{} finishes off the displayed maths and gets ready for a new line before it reads any instructions connected with ending the proof, so the code is very tricky. You \emph{can} insert the symbol by hand, but the (apparently) original `automatic' solution came with Paul Taylor's \Package{QED}. Nowadays, the \Package{ntheorem} package now solves the problem for \LaTeX{} users: it provides an automatic way of signalling the end of a proof. The \AMSLaTeX{} package \Package{amsthm} also provides a \environment{proof} environment that does the job; though you need to insert a \csx{qedhere} command if the proof ends with a displayed equation: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{proof} text... \begin{equation*} maths... \tag*{\qedhere} \end{equation*} \end{proof} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \cmdinvoke{tag*}{\csx{qedhere}} construction may be used in any of \AMSLaTeX{}'s numbering environments. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[amsthm.sty]Distributed as part of the \AMSLaTeX{} bundle \CTANref{amslatex}[amsthm] \item[ntheorem.sty]\CTANref{ntheorem} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-03-09} \Question[Q-theoremfmt]{Theorem bodies printed in a roman font} If you want to take advantage of the powerful \csx{newtheorem} command without the constraint that the contents of the theorem is in a sloped font (for example, you may want to use it to create remarks, examples, proofs, \dots{}) then you can use the \AMSLaTeX{} \Package{amsthm} package (which now supersedes the \Package{theorem} package previously recommended in these answers). Alternatively, the following sets up an environment \environment{remark} whose content is in the default roman font. \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \newtheorem{preremark}{Remark} \newenvironment{remark}% {\begin{preremark}\upshape}% {\end{preremark}} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \newtheorem{preremark}{Remark} \newenvironment{remark}% {\begin{preremark}\upshape}{\end{preremark}} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} The \Package{ntheorem} package provides control of the fonts used by theorems, directly. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[amsthm.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{amslatex}[amsthm] \item[ntheorem.sty]\CTANref{ntheorem} \item[theorem.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[theorem] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-newfunction]{Defining a new log-like function in \LaTeX{}} Use the \csx{mathop} command, as in: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \newcommand{\diag}{\mathop{\mathrm{diag}}} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} Subscripts and superscripts on \csx{diag} will be placed below and above the function name, as they are on \csx{lim}. If you want your subscripts and superscripts always placed to the right, do: \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \newcommand{\diag}% {\mathop{\mathrm{diag}}\nolimits} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \newcommand{\diag}{\mathop{\mathrm{diag}}\nolimits} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} \AMSLaTeX{} (in its \Package{amsopn} package, which is automatically loaded by \Package{amsmath}) provides a command \csx{DeclareMathOperator} that takes does the same job as the first definition above. To create our original \csx{diag} command, one would say: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \DeclareMathOperator{\diag}{diag} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \csx{DeclareMathOperator*} declares the operator always to have its sub- and superscripts in the % ! line break ``\Qref*{\csx{limits} position}{Q-limits}''. The \Package{amsopn} command \csx{operatorname} allows you to introduce \emph{ad hoc} operators into your mathematics, so \begin{quote} \csx{[} \cmdinvoke{operatorname}{foo}\texttt{(bar)} \csx{]} \end{quote} typesets the same as \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \DeclareMathOperator{\foo}{foo} ... \[ \foo(bar) \] \end{verbatim} \end{quote} As with \csx{DeclareMathOperator} there's a starred version \csx{operatorname*} for sub- and superscripts in the limits position. (It should be noted that ``log-like'' was reportedly a \emph{joke} on Lamport's part; it is of course clear what was meant.) \begin{ctanrefs} \item[amsopn.sty]Distributed as part of the \AMSLaTeX{} distribution \CTANref{amslatex}[amsopn] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-braket]{Set specifications and Dirac brackets} One of the few glaring omissions from \TeX{}'s mathematical typesetting capabilities is a means of setting separators in the middle of mathematical expressions. \TeX{} provides primitives called \csx{left} and \csx{right}, which can be used to modify brackets (of whatever sort) around a mathematical expression, as in: % beware line wrap \csx{left(}\texttt{ }\csx{right)}~--- the size of the parentheses is matched to the vertical extent of the expression. However, in all sorts of mathematical enterprises one may find oneself needing a \csx{middle} command, to be used in expressions like \begin{quote} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \left\{ x \in \mathbb{N} \middle| x \mbox{ even} \right\} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \left\{ x\in \mathbb{N} \middle| x \mbox{ even} \right\} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \end{quote} to specify the set of even natural numbers. The % ! line break \Qref*{\eTeX{} system}{Q-etex} defines just such a command, but users of Knuth's original need some support. Donald Arseneau's \Package{braket} package provides commands for set specifications (as above) and for Dirac brackets (and bras and kets). The package uses the \eTeX{} built-in command if it finds itself running under \eTeX{}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[braket.sty]\CTANref{braket} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-cancellation]{Cancelling terms in maths expressions} A technique used when explaining the behaviour of expressions or equations (often for pedagogical purposes). The \Package{cancel} package provides several variants of cancellation marks (``\texttt{\textbackslash }'', ``\texttt{/}'' and ``\texttt{X}''), and a means of cancelling `to' a particular value. Documentation of \Package{cancel} is in the package file. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[cancel.sty]\CTANref{cancel} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-mathsize]{Adjusting maths font sizes} In \plaintex{}, when you introduce a new font size you must also declare what size fonts are to be used in mathematics with it. This is done by declaring \csx{textfont}, \csx{scriptfont} and \csx{scriptscriptfont} for the maths families you're using; all such things are described in chapter~17 of the % line wrap! \Qref*{\TeX{}book}{Q-tex-books} and in other books and \Qref*{tutorials}{Q-man-tex} that discuss \plaintex{} in sufficient detail. In \LaTeX{}, of course, all this stuff is automated: there is a scheme that, for each (text) font size, determines what maths font sizes are to be used. The scheme first checks a set of ``known'' text sizes, for each of which maths sizes are declared in advance. If the text size isn't ``known'', the script- and scriptscriptfont sizes are calculated as fixed ratios of the tex font size. (The values used are \csx{defaultscriptratio}\ensuremath{=}0.7, and \csx{defaultscriptscriptratio}\ensuremath{=}0.5.) The fixed-ratio formula is capable of producing inconvenient results (particularly if you are using fonts which \LaTeX{} believes are only available in a fixed set of sizes). You may also want to replace \LaTeX{}'s ideas altogether, for example by setting maths noticeably larger or smaller than its surrounding text. For this purpose, the \LaTeX{} command \cmdinvoke{DeclareMathSizes}{\meta{tfs}}{\meta{ts}}{\meta{ss}}{\meta{sss}} may be used (this is the same command that \LaTeX{} itself uses to define its own set of sizes). This establishes (or re-establishes) the maths font sizes to be used when the surrounding text font size is \texttt{\meta{tfs}}; (\texttt{\meta{ts}} being the size used for \csx{textfont}, \texttt{\meta{ss}} for \csx{scriptfont} and \texttt{\meta{sss}} for \csx{scriptscriptfont}). For example, you might want to use a font with a smaller body height than Computer Modern, but still prefer \acro{CM} math to any of the alternatives. In this case, you might use: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \DeclareMathSizes{10}{9}{7}{5} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} to get 9pt maths when the surrounding body text is (nominal) 10pt. \csx{DeclareMathSizes} may only be used in the preamble of the document: only one association is available for each text font size for the whole document. The default settings are specified in \File{fontdef.dtx} in the latex distribution, and are compiled into \File{fontmath.ltx}; the arguments to the command are just numbers (`\texttt{pt}' is assumed), but some of them are written using \Qref*{\LaTeX{} abbreviations}{Q-ltxabbrv} for standard font sizes. Beware simply copying (parts of) the \LaTeX{} definitions~--- since they contain those internal abbreviations, they need to be treated as \Qref{internal commands}{Q-atsigns}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[fontdef.dtx]\CTANref{fontdef} \item[fontmath.ltx]\CTANref{fontmath} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-06-01} \Question[Q-mathlips]{Ellipses} \keywords{\csx{dots} \csx{cdots} \csx{vdots} \csx{ddots}} Ellipses are commonly required, and \LaTeX{} natively supplies a fair range (\csx{dots}, \csx{cdots}, \csx{vdots} and \csx{ddots}). By using the \Package{graphics} package, one can change the slope of the \csx{ddots} command, as in \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $ ... \reflectbox{$\ddots$} ... $ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} While this works, it is not a recommended way of achieving the desired result (see below). Moreover, \LaTeX{}'s range is not adequate to everyone's requirements, and at least three packages provide extensions to the set. The \AMSLaTeX{} bundle provides a range of ``semantically-named'' ellipses, for use in different situations: \csx{dotsb} for use between pairs of binary operators, \csx{dotsc} for use between pairs of commas, and so on. The \Package{yhmath} package defines an \csx{adots} command, which is the analogue of \csx{ddots}, sloping forwards rather than backwards. The \Package{yhmath} package comes with a rather interesting font that extends the standard \Package{cmex}; details are in the documentation. The \Package{mathdots} package (besides fixing up the behaviour of \AllTeX{} \csx{ddots} and \csx{vdots} when the font size changes) provides an ``inverse diagonal'' ellipsis \csx{iddots} (doing the same job as \Package{yhmath}'s \csx{adots}, but better). Documentation of \Package{yhmath} appears, processed, in the distribution (thus saving you the bother of installing the package before being able to read the documentation). Documentation of \Package{mathdots} appears at the end the package file itself. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[amslatex]\CTANref{amslatex} \item[graphics.sty]Part of the \CTANref{graphics} bundle \item[mathdots.sty]\CTANref{mathdots} \item[yhmath]\CTANref{yhmath} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2013-08-21} \Question[Q-limits]{Sub- and superscript positioning for operators} The commonest hand-written style for expressions is to place the limit expressions on operators such as \csx{sum} and \csx{int} physically above and below the operator. In \AllTeX{}, we write these limit expressions using sub- and superscripts applied to the operator, but they don't always appear in the ``handwritten'' way in \TeX{}'s output. The reason is, that when an expression appears in non-display maths, in running text (and is therefore in \TeX{} \csx{textstyle}), placing the limits thus could lead to ragged line spacing (and hence difficult-to-read text). It is therefore common (in \csx{textstyle}) to place the limits as one would sub- and superscripts of variables. This is not universally satisfactory, so the primitive \csx{limits} is provided: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $\sum\limits_{n=1}^{m} ...$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which will place the limits right above and below the symbol (and be blowed to the typography\dots{}). Contrariwise, you may wish to change the arrangement of the limits when in \csx{displaystyle}. For this purpose, there's a corresponding \csx{nolimits}: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \[\sum\nolimits_{n=1}^{m} ...\] \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which will place the limits as they would be in \csx{textstyle}. Alternatively, one can manipulate the \csx{textstyle}/\csx{displaystyle} state of the mathematics. To get ``\csx{limits} placement'' in inline maths, \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $\displaystyle\sum_{n=1}^{m} ...$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} and for ``\csx{nolimits} placement'' in display maths, \csx{nolimits}: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \[\textstyle\sum_{n=1}^{m} ...\] \end{verbatim} \end{quote} will serve. Either of these forms may have effects other than on the operator you're considering, but there are still those who prefer this formulation. Remember, if you're % ! line break \Qref*{declaring a special operator of your own}{Q-newfunction}, the \AMSLaTeX{} functions (that you ought to be using) allow you to choose how limits are displayed, at definition time. (Note that the macro \csx{int} normally has \csx{nolimits} built in to its definition. There is an example in the \TeX{}book to show how odd \csx{int}\csx{limits} looks when typeset.) \Question[Q-mathstext]{Text inside maths} When we type maths in \AllTeX{}, the letters from which we make up ordinary text assume a special significance: they all become single-letter variable names. The letters appear in italics, but it's not the same sort of italics that you see when you're typing ordinary text: a run of maths letters (for example ``here'') looks oddly ``lumpy'' when compared with the word written in italic text. The difference is that the italic text is kerned to make the letters fit well together, whereas the maths is set to look as if you're multiplying \emph{h} by \emph{e} by \emph{r} by \emph{e}. The other way things are odd in \TeX{} maths typing is that spaces are ignored: at best we can write single words in this oddly lumpy font. So, if we're going to have good-looking text in amongst maths we're writing, we have to take special precautions. If you're using \LaTeX{}, the following should help. The simplest is to use \csx{mbox} or \csx{textrm}: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $e = mc^2 \mbox{here we go again}$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The problem is that, with either, the size of the text remains firmly at the surrounding text size, so that \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $z = a_{\mbox{other end}}$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} can look quite painfully wrong. The other simple technique, \csx{textrm}, is no more promising: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $z = a_{\textrm{other end}}$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} does the same as \csx{mbox}, by default. (The maths-mode instance of your roman font (\csx{mathrm}) gets the size right, but since it's intended for use in maths, its spaces get ignored~--- use \csx{mathrm} for upright roman alphabetic variable names, but not otherwise.) You can correct these problems with size selectors in the text, as: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $z = a_{\mbox{\scriptsize other end}}$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which works if your surrounding text is at default document size, but gives you the wrong size otherwise. The \csx{mbox} short cut is (just about) \acro{OK} for ``occasional'' use, but serious mathematics calls for a technique that relieves the typist of the sort of thought required. As usual, the \AMSLaTeX{} system provides what's necessary~--- the \csx{text} command. (The command is actually provided by the \Package{amstext} package, but the ``global'' \Package{amsmath} package loads it.) Thus anyone using \AMSLaTeX{} proper has the command available, so even this author can write: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{amsmath} ... $z = a_{\text{other end}}$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} and the text will be at the right size, and in the same font as surrounding text. (The \Package{amstext} package also puts \csx{textrm} to rights~--- but \csx{text} is easier to type than \csx{textrm}!) \AMSLaTeX{} also makes provision for interpolated comments in the middle of one of its multi-line display structures, through the \csx{intertext} command. For example: \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{align} A_1&=N_0(\lambda;\Omega')- \phi(\lambda;\Omega'),\\ A_2&=\phi(\lambda;\Omega')- \phi(\lambda;\Omega),\\ \intertext{and} A_3&=\mathcal{N}(\lambda;\omega). \end{align} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{align} A_1&=N_0(\lambda;\Omega')-\phi(\lambda;\Omega'),\\ A_2&=\phi(\lambda;\Omega')-\phi(\lambda;\Omega),\\ \intertext{and} A_3&=\mathcal{N}(\lambda;\omega). \end{align} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} places the text ``and'' on a separate line before the last line of the display. If the interjected text is short, or the equations themselves are light-weight, you may find that \csx{intertext} leaves too much space. Slightly more modest is the \csx{shortintertext} command from the \Package{mathtools} package: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{align} a =& b \shortintertext{or} c =& b \end{align} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} To have the text on the same line as the second equation, one can use the \environment{flalign} environment (from \Package{amsmath}) with lots of dummy equations (represented by the double \texttt{\&} signs): \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{flalign} && a =& b && \\ \text{or} && c =& b && \end{flalign} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[amsmath.sty]Distributed as part of \AMSLaTeX{} \CTANref{amslatex}[amsmath] \item[amstext.sty]Distributed as part of \AMSLaTeX{} \CTANref{amslatex}[amstext] \item[mathtools.sty]Distributed as part of the \Package{mh} bundle \CTANref{mh}[mathtools] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-reuseq]{Re-using an equation} To repeat an existing equation, one wants not only to have the same mathematics in it, one also wants to re-use the original label it had. The \Package{amsmath} package comes to our help, here: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{amsmath} ... \begin{equation} a=b \label{eq1} \end{equation} ... Remember that \begin{equation} a=b \tag{\ref{eq1}} \end{equation} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} Here, the second instance of \ensuremath{a=b} will be typeset with a copy, made by the \csx{tag} command, of the label of the first instance. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[amsmath.sty]Distributed as part of \AMSLaTeX{} \CTANref{amslatex}[amsmath] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-brkinline]{Line-breaking in in-line maths} \TeX{}, by default, allows you to split a mathematical expression at the end of the line; it allows breaks at relational operators (like ``='', ``\textless'', etc.) and at binary operators (like ``+'', ``-'', etc.). In the case of large expressions, this can sometimes be a life-saver. However, in the case of simple expressions like \ensuremath{a=b+c}, a break can be really disturbing to the reader, and one would like to avoid it. Fortunately, these breaks are controllable: there are ``penalties'' associated with each type of operator: the penalty says how undesirable a break at each point is. Default values are: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \relpenalty = 500 \binoppenalty = 700 \end{verbatim} \end{quote} You make the break progressively less attractive by increasing these values. You can actually forbid all breaks, everywhere, by: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \relpenalty = 10000 \binoppenalty = 10000 \end{verbatim} \end{quote} If you want just to prevent breaks in a single expression, write: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} {% \relpenalty = 10000 \binoppenalty = 10000 $a=b+c$ } \end{verbatim} \end{quote} and the original values will remain undisturbed outside the braces. This is tedious: there is often value in an alternative approach, in which you say which parts of the expression may not break whatever happens, and fortunately this is surprisingly easy. Suppose we want to defer a break until after the equality, we could write: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ${a+b+c+d} = z+y+x+w$ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The braces say ``treat this subformula as one atom'' and (in \TeX{} at least) atoms don't get split: not a \csx{binoppenalty} change in sight. \Question[Q-mathonlyref]{Numbers for referenced equations only} There are those who consider that papers look untidy with numbers on every equation; there is also a school of thought that claims that there should be numbers everywhere, in case some reader wants to make reference an equation to which the author made no cross-reference. If you hold to the ``only cross-referenced'' school of thought, you can (using the \csx{nonumber} command on the relevant equations, or by using the \AMSLaTeX{} unnumbered environments such as \environment{equation*}) mark those of your equations to which you make no reference. In a long or complex paper, this procedure could well become deeply tedious. Fortunately, help is at hand: the \Package{mh} bundle's \Package{mathtools} package offers a `\pkgoption{showonlyrefs}' switch through its \csx{mathtoolsset} command; when that's in operation, only those equations to which you make reference will be numbered in the final output. See the package's documentation for details of how to make references when the switch is in effect. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[mathtools.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{mh}[mathtools] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-subheight]{Even subscript height} Other things being equal, \TeX{} will aim to position subscripts and superscripts in places that ``look good''. Unfortunately, it only does this for the sub- and superscripts of each atom at a time, so if you have \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $ X^{1}_{2} X_{2} $ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} the second subscript will appear higher, since the first has moved down to avoid the superscript; the effect can be noticeably distracting: \begin{quote} \begin{typesetversion} $ X^{1}_{2} X_{2} $ \end{typesetversion} \begin{htmlversion} \includegraphics{faq-images1.png} \end{htmlversion} \end{quote} You can avoid the problem, for a single instance, by \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} $ X^{1}_{2} X^{}_{2} $ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} here, the dummy superscript has the requisite ``pushing down'' effect: \begin{quote} \begin{typesetversion} $ X^{1}_{2} X^{}_{2} $ \end{typesetversion} \begin{htmlversion} \includegraphics{faq-images2.png} \end{htmlversion} \end{quote} While this technique does what is necessary, it is tedious and potentially error-prone. So, for more than one or two equations in a document, the \LaTeX{} user is advised to use the \Package{subdepth} package, which forces the lower position for all subscripts. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[subdepth.sty]\CTANref{subdepth} \end{ctanrefs} \subsection{Lists} \Question[Q-enumerate]{Fancy enumeration lists} The \Package{enumerate} package allows you to control the display of the enumeration counter. The package adds an optional parameter to the \environment{enumerate} environment, which is used to specify the layout of the labels. The layout parameter contains an enumeration type (`\texttt{1}' for arabic numerals, `\texttt{a}' or `\texttt{A}' for alphabetic enumeration, and `\texttt{i}' or `\texttt{I}' for Roman numerals), and things to act as decoration of the enumeration. So, for example \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumerate} ... \begin{enumerate}[(a)] \item ... ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} starts a list whose labels run (a), (b), (c), \dots{}; while \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumerate} ... \begin{enumerate}[I/] \item ... ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} starts a list whose labels run I/, II/, III/, \dots{} The \Package{paralist} package, whose primary purpose is % beware line break \Qref*{compaction of lists}{Q-complist}, provides the same facilities for its \environment{enumerate}-like environments. If you need non-stereotyped designs, the \Package{enumitem} package gives you most of the flexibility you might want to design your own. The silly roman example above could be achieved by: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumitem} ... \begin{enumerate}[label=\Roman{*}/] \item ... ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} Note that the `\texttt{*}' in the key value stands for the list counter at this level. You can also manipulate the format of references to list item labels: \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumitem} ... \begin{enumerate}[label=\Roman{*}/, ref=(\roman{*})] \item ... ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumitem} ... \begin{enumerate}[label=\Roman{*}/, ref=(\roman{*})] \item ... ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} to make references to the list items format appear as (i), (ii), (iii), etc. The \Class{memoir} class includes functions that match those in the \Package{enumerate} package, and has similar functionality for \environment{itemize} lists. %% It is possible (if not particularly convenient) to do the same thing %% yourself. Suppose you want your top-level \environment{enumerate}s to %% be labelled I/, II/, III/, \dots{}, then give these commands: %% \begin{verbatim} %% \renewcommand{\theenumi}{\Roman{enumi}} %% \renewcommand{\labelenumi}{\theenumi/} %% \end{verbatim} %% The possible styles of numbering are given in Section~6.3 of Lamport's %% book (see \Qref[question]{\TeX{}-related books}{Q-book-lists}). Both %% \csx{theenumi} and \csx{labelenumi} must be changed, since %% \csx{theenumi} is used in cross-references to the list. %% %% For lower level \environment{enumerate}s, replace |enumi| by |enumii|, %% |enumiii| or |enumiv|, according to the level. If your label is much %% larger than the default, you should also change \csx{leftmargini}, %% \csx{leftmarginii}, \emph{etc}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[enumerate.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[enumerate] \item[enumitem.sty]\CTANref{enumitem} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \item[paralist.sty]\CTANref{paralist} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-complist]{How to adjust list spacing} \Qref*{Lamport's book}{Q-latex-books} lists various parameters for the layout of list (things like \csx{topsep}, \csx{itemsep} and \csx{parsep}), but fails to mention that they're set automatically within the standard (\latex{}-defined) lists. This happens because each list executes a command \csx{@list}\texttt{\meta{depth}} (the depth appearing as a lower-case roman numeral); what's more, the top-level \csx{@listi} is usually reset when the font size is changed. As a result, it's rather tricky for the user to control list spacing. Of course, the real answer is to use a document class designed with more modest list spacing, but we all know such things are hard to come by. The \Class{memoir} class doesn't provide more compact lists, but offers the user control over the list spacing using \csx{firmlist} and \csx{tightlist} (and \texttt{*}-ed versions of them); see section~8.6 of the memoir manual. There are packages that provide some control of list spacing, but they seldom address the separation from surrounding text (defined by \csx{topsep}). The \Package{expdlist} package, among its many controls of the appearance of \environment{description} lists, offers a compaction parameter (see the documentation); the \Package{mdwlist} package offers a \csx{makecompactlist} command for users' own list definitions, and uses it to define compact lists \environment{itemize*}, \environment{enumerate*} and \environment{description*}. In fact, you can write lists such as these commands define pretty straightforwardly~--- for example: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \newenvironment{itemize*}% {\begin{itemize}% \setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}% \setlength{\parskip}{0pt}}% {\end{itemize}} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \Package{paralist} package provides several approaches to list compaction: \begin{itemize} \item its \environment{asparaenum} environment formats each item as if it were a paragraph introduced by the enumeration label (which saves space if the item texts are long); \item its \environment{compactenum} environment is the same sort of compact list as is provided in \Package{expdlist} and \Package{mdwlist}; and \item its \environment{inparaenum} environment produces a list ``in the paragraph'', i.e., with no line break between items, which is a great space-saver if the list item texts are short. \end{itemize} The package will manipulate its \environment{enumerate} environment labels just like the \Qref*{\Package{enumerate} package}{Q-enumerate} does. \Package{Paralist} also provides \environment{itemize} equivalents (\environment{asparaitem}, etc.), and \environment{description} equivalents (\environment{asparadesc}, etc.). The \Package{multenum} package offers a more regular form of \Package{paralist}'s \environment{inparaenum}; you define a notional grid on which list entries are to appear, and list items will always appear at positions on that grid. The effect is somewhat like that of the `tab' keys on traditional typewriters; the package was designed for example sheets, or lists of answers in the appendices of a book. The \Package{expdlist}, \Package{mdwlist} and \Package{paralist} packages all offer other facilities for list configuration: you should probably not try the ``do-it-yourself'' approaches outlined below if you need one of the packages for some other list configuration purpose. For ultimate flexibility (including manipulation of \csx{topsep}), the \Package{enumitem} package permits adjustment of list parameters using a ``\emph{key}\latexhtml{\ensuremath{=}}{=}\meta{value}'' format. For example, one might write \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumitem} ... \begin{enumerate}[topsep=0pt, partopsep=0pt] \item ... \item ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} to suppress all spacing above and below your list, or \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{enumitem} ... \begin{enumerate}[itemsep=2pt,parsep=2pt] \item ... \item ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} to set spacing between items and between paragraphs within items. \Package{Enumitem} also permits manipulation of the label format in a more ``basic'' (and therefore more flexible) manner than the % ! line break \Qref*{\Package{enumerate} package}{Q-enumerate} does. The ultimate in compaction (of every sort) is offered by the \Package{savetrees} package; compaction of lists is included. The package's prime purpose is to save space at every touch and turn: don't use it if you're under any design constraint whatever! \begin{ctanrefs} \item[enumerate.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[enumitem] \item[enumitem.sty]\CTANref{enumitem} \item[expdlist.sty]\CTANref{expdlist} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \item[memoir \nothtml{\rmfamily}manual]\CTANref{memoir-man} \item[mdwlist.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{mdwtools}[mdwlist] \item[multenum.sty]\CTANref{multenum} \item[paralist.sty]\CTANref{paralist} \item[savetrees.sty]\CTANref{savetrees} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2012-10-30} \Question[Q-interruptlist]{Interrupting enumerated lists} It's often convenient to have commentary text, `outside' the list, between successive entries of a list. In the case of \environment{itemize} lists this is no problem, since there's never anything to distinguish successive items, while in the case of \environment{description} lists, the item labels are under the user's control so there's no automatic issue of continuity. For \environment{enumerate} lists, the labels are generated automatically, and are context-sensitive, so the context (in this case, the state of the enumeration counter) needs to be preserved. The belt-and-braces approach is to remember the state of the enumeration in your own counter variable, and then restore it when restarting enumerate: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \newcounter{saveenum} ... \begin{enumerate} ... \setcounter{saveenum}{\value{enumi}} \end{enumerate} \begin{enumerate} \setcounter{enumi}{\value{saveenum}} ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} This is reasonable, in small doses\dots{} Problems (apart from sheer verbosity) are getting the level right (``should I use counter \texttt{enumi}, \texttt{enumii}, \dots{}'') and remembering not to nest the interruptions (i.e., not to have a separate list, that is itself interrupted) in the ``commentary text''). The \Package{mdwlist} package defines commands \csx{suspend} and \csx{resume} that simplify the process: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{enumerate} ... \suspend{enumerate} \resume{enumerate} ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The package allows an optional name (as in \cmdinvoke{suspend}[id]{enumerate}) to allow you to identify a particular suspension, and hence provide a handle for manipulating nested suspensions. If you're suspending a \Qref*{fancy-enumeration list}{Q-enumerate}, you need to re-supply the optional ``item label layout'' parameters required by the \Package{enumerate} package when resuming the list, whether by the belt-and-braces approach, or by the \Package{mdwlist} \cmdinvoke{resume}{enumerate} technique. The task is a little tedious in the \Package{mdwlist} case, since the optional argument has to be encapsulated, whole, inside an optional argument to \csx{resume}, which requires use of extra braces: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{enumerate}[\textbf{Item} i] ... \suspend{enumerate} \resume{enumerate}[{[\textbf{Item} i]}] ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \nothtml{\noindent}The \Package{enumitem} package, in its most recent release, will also allow you to resume lists: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{enumerate} ... \end{enumerate} \begin{enumerate}[resume] ... \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which feels just as ``natural'' as the \Package{mdwtools} facility, and has the advantage of playing well with the other excellent facilities of \Package{enumitem}. \Package{Expdlist} has a neat way of providing for comments, with its \csx{listpart} command. The command's argument becomes a comment between items of the list: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{enumerate} \item item 1 \item item 2 \listpart{interpolated comment} \item item 3 \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} This, you will realise, means it doesn't even have to think about suspending or resuming the list, and of course it works equally well in any of the list environments (thought it's not actually \emph{necessary} for any but \environment{enumerate}). \Package{Enumitem} also allows multi-level suspension and resumption of lists: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{enumerate} \item outer item 1 \end{enumerate} \begin{enumerate}[resume] \item outer item 2 % nested enumerate \begin{enumerate} \item inner item 1 \end{enumerate} % resume nested enumerate \begin{enumerate}[resume] \item inner item 2 \end{enumerate} \item outer item 3 % end outer enumerate \end{enumerate} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} However, the `nested comment' interpolated in the nested enumeration appears as if it were a second paragraph to ``outer item 2'', which is hardly satisfactory. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[enumerate.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[enumerate] \item[enumitem.sty]\CTANref{enumitem} \item[expdlist.sty]\CTANref{expdlist} \item[mdwlist.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{mdwtools}[mdwlist] \end{ctanrefs} \subsection{Tables, figures and diagrams} \Question[Q-destable]{The design of tables} In recent years, several authors have argued that the examples, set out by Lamport in his \Qref*{\LaTeX{} manual}{Q-latex-books}, have cramped authors' style and have led to extremely poor table design. It is in fact difficult even to work out what many of the examples in Lamport's book ``mean''. The criticism focuses on the excessive use of rules (both horizontal and vertical) and on the poor vertical spacing that Lamport's macros offer. The problem of vertical spacing is plain for all to see, and is addressed in several packages~--- see % beware line breaks ``\Qref*[question]{spacing of lines in tables}{Q-struttab}''. The argument about rules is presented in the excellent essay that prefaces the documentation of Simon Fear's \Package{booktabs} package, which (of course) implements Fear's scheme for `comfortable' rules. (The same rule commands are implemented in the \Class{memoir} class.) Lamport's \LaTeX{} was also inflexibly wrong in ``insisting'' that captions should come at the bottom of a table. Since a table may extend over several pages, traditional typography places the caption at the top of a table float. The \csx{caption} command will get its position wrong (by \texttt{10pt}) if you simply write: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{table} \caption{Example table} \begin{tabular}{...} ... \end{tabular} \end{table} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \Package{topcapt} package solves this problem: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{topcapt} ... \begin{table} \topcaption{Example table} \begin{tabular}{...} ... \end{tabular} \end{table} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \Class{KOMA-script} classes provide a similar command \csx{captionabove}; they also have a class option \pkgoption{tablecaptionabove} which arranges that \csx{caption} \emph{means} \csx{captionabove}, in table environments. The \Package{caption} package may be loaded with an option that has the same effect: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[tableposition=top]{caption} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} or the effect may be established after the package has been loaded: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{caption} \captionsetup[table]{position=above} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (Note that the two ``position'' options are different: actually, ``above'' and ``top'' in these contexts mean the same thing.) Doing the job yourself is pretty easy: \Package{topcapt} switches the values of the \LaTeXe{} parameters \csx{abovecaptionskip} (default value \texttt{10pt}) and \csx{belowcaptionskip} (default value \texttt{0pt}), so: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{table} \setlength{\abovecaptionskip}{0pt} \setlength{\belowcaptionskip}{10pt} \caption{Example table} \begin{tabular}{...} ... \end{tabular} \end{table} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} does the job (if the length values are right; the package and classes are more careful!). \begin{ctanrefs} \item[booktabs.sty]\CTANref{booktabs} \item[caption.sty]\CTANref{caption} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}KOMA script bundle]\CTANref{koma-script} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \item[topcapt.sty]\CTANref{topcapt} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-08-19} \Question[Q-fixwidtab]{Fixed-width tables} There are two basic techniques for making fixed-width tables in \LaTeX{}: you can make the gaps between the columns stretch, or you can stretch particular cells in the table. Basic \LaTeX{} can make the gaps stretch: the \environment{tabular*} environment takes an extra argument (before the \texttt{clpr} layout one) which takes a length specification: you can say things like ``\texttt{15cm}'' or ``\csx{columnwidth}'' here. You must also have an \csx{extracolsep} command in the \texttt{clpr} layout argument, inside an \texttt{@\{\}} directive. So, for example, one might have \begin{quote} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular*}{\columnwidth}{@{\extracolsep{\fill}}lllr} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular*}{\columnwidth}% {@{\extracolsep{\fill}}lllr} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \end{quote} The \csx{extracolsep} applies to all inter-column gaps to its right as well; if you don't want all gaps stretched, add \cmdinvoke{extracolsep}{0pt} to cancel the original. The \Package{tabularx} package defines an extra \texttt{clpr} column specification, \texttt{X}; \texttt{X} columns behave as \texttt{p} columns which expand to fill the space available. If there's more than one \texttt{X} column in a table, the spare space is distributed between them. The \Package{tabulary} package (by the same author) provides a way of ``balancing'' the space taken by the columns of a table. The package defines column specifications \texttt{C}, \texttt{L}, \texttt{R} and \texttt{J}, giving, respectively, centred, left, right and fully-justified versions of space-sharing columns. The package examines how long each column would be ``naturally'' (i.e., on a piece of paper of unlimited width), and allocates space to each column accordingly. There are ``sanity checks'' so that really large entries don't cause everything else to collapse into nothingness (there's a ``maximum width'' that any column can exert), and so that tiny entries can't get smaller than a specified minimum. Of course, all this work means that the package has to typeset each row several times, so things that leave ``side-effects'' (for example, a counter used to produce a row-number somewhere) are inevitably unreliable, and should not even be tried. The \Package{ltxtable} package combines the features of the \Package{longtable} and \Package{tabularx} packages. It's important to read the documentation, since usage is distinctly odd; the distribution contains no more than a file \File{ltxtable.tex}, which you should process using \LaTeX{}. Processing will give you a \File{.sty} file as well as the \File{.dvi} or \File{.pdf} output containing the documentation. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[ltxtable.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{carlisle}[ltxtable] \item[tabularx.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[tabularx] \item[tabulary.sty]\CTANref{tabulary} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-varwidcol]{Variable-width columns in tables} This is a slightly different take on the problem addressed in ``\Qref*[question]{fixed-width tables}{Q-fixwidtab}''~--- here we have a column whose size we can't absolutely predict when we design the document. While the basic techniques (the \Package{tabularx}, \Package{tabulary} and \Package{ltxtable} packages) are the same for this problem as for the fixed-width \emph{table} problem, there's one extra tool that we can call to our aid, which may be preferable in some situations. Suppose we have data in one column which we read from an external source, and the source itself isn't entirely predictable. The data in the column may end up pretty narrow in every row of the table, or it may be wide enough that the table would run over the edge of the page; however, we don't want to make the column as wide as possible ``just in case'', by defining a fixed size for the table. We would like the column to be as small as possible, but have the possibility to spread to a maximum width and (if even that width is exceeded) turn into a \texttt{p}-style column. The \Package{varwidth} package, discussed in % ! line break ``\Qref*[question]{automatic sizing of minipages}{Q-varwidth}'', provides a solution. If you load it together with the \LaTeX{} ``required'' \Package{array} package, i.e.: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{array} \usepackage{varwidth} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \Package{varwidth} defines a new column-type ``\texttt{V}'', which you can use as follows: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{l V{3.5cm} r} foo & blah & bar \\ foo & blah blah & bar \\ \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} when the second column ends up less than 3.5cm wide; or you can use it as follows: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{l V{3.5cm} r} foo & blah & bar \\ foo & blah blah & bar \\ foo & blah blah blah blah blah blah & bar \\ \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} where the second column will end up noticeably wider, and will wrap to a second line in the third row. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[array.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[array] \item[varwidth.sty]\CTANref{varwidth} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-struttab]{Spacing lines in tables} \AllTeX{} mechanisms for maintaining the space between lines (the ``\emph{leading}'') rely on \TeX{}'s paragraph builder, which compares the shape of consecutive lines and adjusts the space between them. These mechanisms can't work in exactly the same way when \AllTeX{} is building a table, because the paragraph builder doesn't get to see the lines themselves. As a result, tables sometimes typeset with lines uncomfortably close together (or occasionally ridiculously far apart). Traditional (moving metal type) typographers would adjust the spacing between lines of a table by use of a ``\emph{strut}'' (a metal spacer). A \TeX{} user can do exactly the same thing: most macro packages define a \csx{strut} command, that defines a space appropriate to the current size of the text; placing a \csx{strut} command at the end of a troublesome row is the simplest solution to the problem~--- if it works. Other solutions below are \LaTeX{}-specific, but some may be simply translated to \plaintex{} commands. If your table exhibits a systematic problem (i.e., every row is wrong by the same amount) use \csx{extrarowheight}, which is defined by the \Package{array} package: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{array}% in the preamble ... \setlength{\extrarowheight}{length} \begin{tabular}{....} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} To correct a single row whose maladjustment isn't corrected by a \csx{strut} command, you can define your own, using \cmdinvoke{rule}{0pt}{length}~--- which is a near approximation to the command that goes inside a \csx{strut}. The \Package{bigstrut} package defines a strut command that you can use for this purpose: \csx{bigstrut} on its own opens up both above and below the current line; \cmdinvoke{bigstrut}[t] opens up above the line, \cmdinvoke{bigstrut}[b] opens up below the line. General solutions are available, however. The \Package{tabls} package automatically generates an appropriately-sized strut at the end of each row. Its disadvantages are that it's really rather slow in operation (since it gets in the way of everything within tables) and its (lack of) compatibility with other packages. The \Package{makecell} package provides a command \csx{gape} that may be used to apply strut expansion for a single cell of a table: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{lll} ... & \gape{cell contents} & ... \\ ... \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The package's similar \csx{Gape} command provides the same function, but with optional arguments that allow you to adjust the top and bottom adjustment. To adjust every cell in whole tables, the \cmdinvoke{setcellgapes}{\meta{value}} sets the adjustment value (an optional argument of ``\texttt{t}'' or ``\texttt{b}'' restricts adjustment to the top or bottom of each cell, respectively). Having issued \csx{setcellgapes}, the command \csx{makegapedcells} switches cell expansion on, and \csx{nomakegapedcells} switches it off again. The \Package{cellspace} package does a (possibly inferior) job by defining a new table/array column type ``S'', which you apply to each column specification. So, for example, \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke{begin}{tabular}{l l l p{3cm}} \end{quote} would become \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke{begin}{tabular}{Sl Sl Sl Sp{3cm}} \end{quote} and so on. This technique shows promise of not interfering so much with other packages, but this author has heard of no reports from the field. The \Package{booktabs} package comes with a thought-provoking essay about how tables should be designed. Since table row-spacing problems most often appear in collisions with rules, the author's thesis, that \LaTeX{} users tend too often to rule their tables, is interesting. The package provides rule commands to support the author's scheme, but deals with inter-row spacing too. The most recent release of \Package{booktabs} sports compatibility with packages such as \Package{longtable}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[array.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[array] \item[bigstrut.sty]\CTANref{bigstrut} \item[booktabs.sty]\CTANref{booktabs} \item[cellspace.sty]\CTANref{cellspace} \item[makecell.sty]\CTANref{makecell} \item[tabls.sty]\CTANref{tabls} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-05-02} \Question[Q-longtab]{Tables longer than a single page} Tables are, by default, set entirely in boxes of their own: as a result, they won't split over a page boundary. Sadly, the world keeps turning up tables longer than a single page that we need to typeset. For simple tables (whose shape is highly regular), the simplest solution may well be to use the \environment{tabbing} environment, which is slightly tedious to set up, but which doesn't force the whole alignment onto a single page. The \Package{longtable} package builds the whole table (in chunks), in a first pass, and then uses information it has written to the \extension{aux} file during later passes to get the setting ``right'' (the package ordinarily manages to set tables in just two passes). Since the package has overview of the whole table at the time it's doing ``final'' setting, the table is set ``uniformly'' over its entire length, with columns matching on consecutive pages. \Package{longtable} has a reputation for failing to interwork with other packages, but it does work with \Package{colortbl}, and its author has provided the \Package{ltxtable} package to provide (most of) the facilities of \Package{tabularx} (see % beware line wrap \Qref[question]{fixed-width tables}{Q-fixwidtab}) for long tables: beware of its rather curious usage constraints~--- each long table should be in a file of its own, and included by \cmdinvoke*{LTXtable}{width}{file}. Since \Package{longtable}'s multiple-page tables can't possibly live inside floats, the package provides for captions within the \environment{longtable} environment itself. A seeming alternative to \Package{ltxtable} is \Package{ltablex}; but it is outdated and not fully functional. Its worst problem is its strictly limited memory capacity (\Package{longtable} is not so limited, at the cost of much complication in its code); \Package{ltablex} can only deal with relatively small tables, it doesn't seem likely that support is available; but its user interface is much simpler than \Package{ltxtable}, so if its restrictions aren't a problem for you, it may be worth a try. The \Package{supertabular} package starts and stops a \environment{tabular} environment for each page of the table. As a result, each `page worth' of the table is compiled independently, and the widths of corresponding columns may differ on successive pages. However, if the correspondence doesn't matter, or if your columns are fixed-width, \Package{supertabular} has the great advantage of doing its job in a single run. Both \Package{longtable} and \Package{supertabular} allow definition of head- and footlines for the table; \Package{longtable} allows distinction of the first and last head and foot. The \Package{xtab} package fixes some infelicities of \Package{supertabular}, and also provides a ``last head'' facility (though this, of course, destroys \Package{supertabular}'s advantage of operating in a single run). The \Package{stabular} package provides a simple-to-use ``extension to \environment{tabular}'' that allows it to typeset tables that run over the end of a page; it also has usability extensions, but doesn't have the head- and footline capabilities of the major packages. Documentation of \Package{ltablex} is to be found in the package file. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[longtable.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[longtable] \item[ltablex.sty]\CTANref{ltablex} \item[ltxtable.sty]Generate by running \CTANref{ltxtable} \item[stabular.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{sttools}[stabular] \item[supertabular.sty]\CTANref{supertabular} \item[xtab.sty]\CTANref{xtab} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-tabcellalign]{How to alter the alignment of tabular cells} One often needs to alter the alignment of a tabular \texttt{p} (`paragraph') cell, but problems at the end of a table row are common. With a \texttt{p} cell that looks like: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ... & \centering blah ... \\ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} one is liable to encounter errors that complain about a ``misplaced \csx{noalign}'' or ``\Qref*{extra alignment tab}{Q-altabcr}'', or the like. The problem is that the command \texttt{\bsbs } means different things in different circumstances: the \environment{tabular} environment switches the meaning to a value for use in the table, and \csx{centering}, \csx{raggedright} and \csx{raggedleft} all change the meaning to something incompatible. Note that the problem only arises in the last cell of a row: since each cell is set into a box, its settings are lost at the \texttt{\&} (or \texttt{\bsbs }) that terminates it. In the old days, the actual value of \texttt{\bsbs } that the \environment{tabular} environment uses was only available as an internal command. Nowadays, the value is a public command, and you can in principle use it explicitly: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ... & \centering blah ... \tabularnewline \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (but that's a rather verbose way of doing things). The \Package{array} package provides a command \csx{arraybackslash} which restores \texttt{\bsbs } to its correct (within table) meaning; the command may be used in \Package{array}'s ``field format'' preamble specifications: \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{...% >{\centering\arraybackslash}% p{50mm}} ... \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{... >{\centering\arraybackslash}p{50mm}} ... \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} The \csx{tabularnewline} and \csx{arraybackslash} commands are (somewhat) modern additions to \LaTeX{} and the \Package{array} package, respectively. In the unlikely event that neither is available, the user may try the (old) solution which preserves the meaning of \texttt{\bsbs }: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \newcommand\PBS[1]{\let\temp=\\% #1% \let\\=\temp } \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which one uses within a table as: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ... & \PBS\centering blah ... \\ \end{verbatim} \end{quote} or in the preamble as: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{...>{\PBS\centering}p{5cm}} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[array.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[array] \end{ctanrefs} \nothtml{\vskip 0pt plus 4ex} \Question[Q-rulethk]{The thickness of rules in \LaTeX{} tables} The rules in a \LaTeX{} table are by default \texttt{0.4pt} thick; this is in fact a default built in at the lowest level, and applies to all rules (including those separating blocks of running text). Sometimes, however, we look at a table and find we want the rules to stand out~--- perhaps to separate the text from the rest of the body text, or to make the sections of the table stand out from one another. However, a quick review of any \LaTeX{} manual will reveal no technique for making any one rule stand out, and a little experimentation shows that it is indeed pretty difficult to prevent a change ``bleeding'' out to affect other rules in the same table. If you look at what we have to say on the % ! line break \Qref*{design of tables}{Q-destable}, elsewhere among these \acro{FAQ}s, and you may sense that the design of \LaTeX{} simply skipped the issues surrounding table design: \emph{that's} presumably why there's no facilities to help you. Specifically, the length \csx{arrayrulewidth} affects the thickness of the rules (both horizontal and vertical) within both \environment{tabular} and \environment{array} environments. If you change from the default (see above) only as far as \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \setlength{\arrayrulewidth}{1pt} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} the change is remarkably striking. However, really quite subtle user level programming proves incapable of changing just \emph{one} rule: it's necessary to delve into the (rather tricky) code of \csx{hline} and \csx{cline} themselves. Fortunately, this job has already been done for the community: the \Package{booktabs} package defines three different classes of rule (\csx{toprule}, \csx{midrule} and \csx{bottomrule}), and the package documentation offers hints on how to use them. You are \emph{strongly} advised to read the documentation pretty carefully. The \Class{memoir} class includes the \Package{booktabs} package, and repeats the documentation in its compendious manual. Note that none of the above mentions the issue of the weight of vertical rules (except in passing). For the reasons, see the documentation of the \Package{booktabs} package (again); vertical rules in tables are in any case even more trickily coded than are horizontal rules, and if their lack of configurability makes them still less attractive, so much the better for the design of your document. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[booktabs.sty]\CTANref{booktabs} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-textflow]{Flowing text around figures} There are several \LaTeX{} packages that purport to do this, but they all have their limitations because the \TeX{} machine isn't really designed to solve this sort of problem. Piet van Oostrum has conducted a survey of the available packages; he recommends: \begin{description} \item[\texttt{floatflt}] \Package{floatflt} is an improved version (for \LaTeXe{}) of \File{floatfig.sty}, and its syntax is: \begin{wideversion} \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{floatingfigure}[options]{width of figure} figure contents \end{floatingfigure} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke{begin}{floatingfigure}[\emph{options}]{\emph{figure width}}\\ \mbox{}\qquad\emph{figure contents}\\ \cmdinvoke{end}{floatingfigure} \end{quote} \end{narrowversion} There is a (more or less similar) \environment{floatingtable} environment. The tables or figures can be set left or right, or alternating on even/odd pages in a double-sided document. The package works with the \texttt{multicol} package, but doesn't work well in the neighbourhood of list environments (unless you change your \LaTeX{} document). \item[\texttt{wrapfig}] \Package{wrapfig} has syntax: \begin{wideversion} \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{wrapfigure}[height of figure in lines]{l,r,...}[overhang]{width} figure, caption, etc. \end{wrapfigure} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke{begin}{wrapfigure}\texttt{\%}\\ \mbox{}% \qquad\qquad\texttt{[\emph{figure height in lines}]\%}\\ \mbox{}% \qquad\qquad\texttt{\{l,r,\emph{etc}\}[\emph{overhang}]\{\emph{width}\}}\\ \mbox{}\qquad\emph{figure, caption, etc.}\\ \cmdinvoke{end}{wrapfigure} \end{quote} \end{narrowversion} The syntax of the \environment{wraptable} environment is similar. The \emph{\texttt{height}} may be omitted, in which case it will be calculated from the size of the figure; the package will use the greater of the specified and the actual width. The \texttt{\{l,r,\emph{etc}.\}} parameter may also be specified as \texttt{i}\emph{(nside)} or \texttt{o}\emph{(utside)} for two-sided documents, and uppercase may be used to indicate that the picture should float. The overhang allows the figure to be moved into the margin. The figure or table will entered into the list of figures or tables if you use the \csx{caption} command. The environments do not work within list environments that end before the figure or table has finished, but can be used in a parbox or minipage, and in twocolumn format. \item[\texttt{picins}] \Package{Picins} is part of a large bundle that allows inclusion of pictures (e.g., with shadow boxes, various \MSDOS{} formats, etc.). The command for inserting a picture at the start of a paragraph is: \begin{wideversion} \begin{quote} \csx{parpic}\texttt{(width,height)(x-off,y-off)[Options][Position]\{Picture\}}\\ \emph{Paragraph text} \end{quote} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke*{picins}(width,height)(x-off,y-off)\texttt{\%}\\ \mbox{\qquad\qquad}\texttt{[\emph{options}][\emph{position}]\%}\\ \mbox{\qquad\qquad}\texttt{\{\emph{Picture}\}}\\ \emph{Paragraph text} \end{quote} \end{narrowversion} All parameters except the \emph{Picture} are optional. The picture can be positioned left or right, boxed with a rectangle, oval, shadowbox, dashed box, and a caption can be given which will be included in the list of figures. Unfortunately (for those of us whose understanding of German is not good), the documentation is in German. Piet van Oostrum has written a summary in English. \end{description} All of the above deal insertions at one or other margin; they are able to take advantage of the \tex{} \csx{parshape} primitive that allows you to adjust the margins of the text of a paragraph, by line (Knuth provides an example of such use, with text typeset in a circle, half-overlapping the margin, in chapter~14 of the \tex{}book). To place insertions in the middle of a paragraph requires effort of an entirely different sort; the \Package{cutwin} package does this for you. It requires a set of ``part line widths'' (two per line), and typesets the ``cutout'' section of the paragraph line by line. The examples in the package documentation look enticing. \plaintex{} users only have one option: \Package{figflow} (which doesn't work in \LaTeX{}). \Package{Figflow} only offers flowed figures at the start of the paragraph, but it seems perfectly functional. Syntax is \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke*{figflow}{\meta{width}}{\meta{height}}{\meta{figure}} \end{quote} (the user is responsible for having the dimensions correct, and for ensuring the figure fits on the page). \begin{ctanrefs} \item[cutwin.sty]\CTANref{cutwin} \item[figflow.tex]\CTANref{figflow} \item[floatflt.sty]\CTANref{floatflt} \item[picins.sty]\CTANref{picins} \item[picins \nothtml{\rmfamily}documentation summary]\CTANref{picins-summary} \item[wrapfig.sty]\CTANref{wrapfig} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2009-06-11} \Question[Q-slashbox]{Diagonal separation in corner cells of tables} \keywords{tabular} You want to label both the top or bottom row and the left- or rightmost column, somewhere at the corner of the table where the row and column meet. A simple way to achieve the result is to construct the table with an arrangement of rules (and possibly \csx{multicolumn} entries), to look like: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ----------------- x y -------------- 1 2 3 4 5 ----------------- 1 2 3 4 5 ----------------- \end{verbatim} \end{quote} However, this doesn't satisfy everyone: many want the labelling in a single cell at the top left of the table. It sounds a simple enough requirement, yet it calls for some slightly tricky \LaTeX{} coding. The \Package{diagbox} package does this job for you: it defines a command \csx{diagbox} whose two arguments provide the texts to be used; an optional argument may be used for fine tuning of the result. It draws a picture with the two labels on either side of a slanting line; the command (and hence the picture) may be placed in the corner cell, where the labelled row and column meet. The \Package{diagbox} package supersedes \Package{slashbox}; the older package's commands \csx{slashbox} and \csx{backslashbox} are provided in a compatible way in the newer package, to ease transition. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[diagbox.sty]\CTANref{diagbox} \item[slashbox.sty]\CTANref{slashbox} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2010-11-22} \Question[Q-wholerow]{How to change a whole row of a table} Each cell of a table is set in a box, so that a change of font style (or whatever) only lasts to the end of the cell. If one has a many-celled table, or a long one which needs lots of rows emphasising, putting a font style change command in every cell will be impossibly tedious. With the \Package{array} package, you can define column modifiers which will change the font style for a whole \emph{column}. However, with a bit of subtlety, one can make such modifiers affect rows rather than columns. So, we set things up by: \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{array} \newcolumntype{$}{>{% \global\let\currentrowstyle\relax}% } \newcolumntype{^}{>{\currentrowstyle}} \newcommand{\rowstyle}[1]{% \gdef\currentrowstyle{#1}% #1\ignorespaces } \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage{array} \newcolumntype{$}{>{\global\let\currentrowstyle\relax}} \newcolumntype{^}{>{\currentrowstyle}} \newcommand{\rowstyle}[1]{\gdef\currentrowstyle{#1}% #1\ignorespaces } \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} Now, we put `\texttt{\$}' before the first column specifier; and we put `\texttt{\textasciicircum }' before the modifiers of subsequent ones. We then use \csx{rowstyle} at the start of each row we want to modify: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{|$l|^l|^l|} \hline \rowstyle{\bfseries} Heading & Big and & Bold \\ \hline Meek & mild & entry \\ Meek & mild & entry \\ \rowstyle{\itshape} Strange & and & italic \\ Meek & mild & entry \\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \Package{array} package works with several other \environment{tabular}-like environments from other packages (for example \environment{longtable}), but unfortunately this trick won't always work. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[array.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[array] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-multirow]{Merging cells in a column of a table} It's easy to come up with a table design that requires a cell that spans several rows. An example is something where the left-most column labels the rest of the table; this can be done (in simple cases) by using % beware line break \Qref*{diagonal separation in corner cells}{Q-slashbox}, but that technique rather strictly limits what can be used as the content of the cell. The \Package{multirow} package enables you to construct such multi-row cells, in a very simple manner. For the simplest possible use, one might write: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{|c|c|} \hline \multirow{4}{*}{Common g text} & Column g2a\\ & Column g2b \\ & Column g2c \\ & Column g2d \\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} and \Package{multirow} will position ``Common g text'' at the vertical centre of the space defined by the other rows. Note that the rows that don't contain the ``multi-row'' specification must have empty cells where the multi-row is going to appear. The ``\texttt{*}'' may be replaced by a column width specification. In this case, the argument may contain forced line-breaks: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{|c|c|} \hline \multirow{4}{25mm}{Common\\g text} & Column g2a\\ & Column g2b \\ & Column g2c \\ & Column g2d \\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} A similar effect (with the possibility of a little more sophistication) may be achieved by putting a smaller table that lines up the text into a \texttt{*}-declared \csx{multirow}. The \csx{multirow} command may also used to write labels vertically down one or other side of a table (with the help of the \Package{graphics} or \Package{graphicx} package, which provide the \csx{rotatebox} command): \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{|l|l|} \hline \multirow{4}{*}{\rotatebox{90}{hi there}} & Column g2a\\ & Column g2b \\ & Column g2c \\ & Column g2d \\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (which gives text going upwards; use angle \texttt{-90} for text going downwards, of course). To make a \csx{multicolumn} multi-row ``cell'' in a table, you have to enclose a \csx{multirow} inside a \csx{multicolumn}~--- the other way around does not work, so: \begin{quote} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}\hline \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{combined cells}} &top right\\ \cline{3-3} \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{} &middle right\\ \hline bottom left &bottom center &bottom right\\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{tabular}{|c|c|c|}\hline \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}% {combined cells}} &top right\\ \cline{3-3} \multicolumn{2}{|c|}{} &middle right\\ \hline bottom left &bottom center &bottom right\\ \hline \end{tabular} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \end{quote} \Package{Multirow} is set up to interact with the \Package{bigstrut} package (which is also discussed in the answer to % beware line break \Qref[question]{spacing lines in tables}{Q-struttab}). You use an optional argument to the \csx{multirow} command to say how many of the rows in the multi-row have been opened up with \csx{bigstrut}. The documentation of both \Package{multirow} and \Package{bigstrut} is to be found, as comments, in the package files themselves. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[bigstrut.sty]\CTANref{bigstrut} \item[multirow.sty]\CTANref{multirow} \end{ctanrefs} \subsection{Floating tables, figures, etc.} \Question[Q-floatpages]{Floats on their own on float pages} It's sometimes necessary to force a float to live on a page by itself. (It's sometimes even necessary for \emph{every} float to live on a page by itself.) When the float fails to `set', and waits for the end of a chapter or of the document, the natural thing to do is to declare the float as \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke{begin}{figure}[p!] \end{quote} but the overriding \texttt{!} modifier has no effect on float page floats; so you have to make the float satisfy the parameters. \Qref[Question]{Moving tables and figures}{Q-floats} offers some suggestions, but doesn't solve the one-float-per-page question. The `obvious' solution, using the counter \texttt{totalnumber} (``total number of floats per page'') doesn't work: \texttt{totalnumber} only applies to floats on `text' pages (pages containing text as well as one or more float). So, to allow any size float to take a whole page, set \csx{floatpagefraction} really small, and to ensure that no more than one float occupies a page, make the separation between floats really big: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \renewcommand\floatpagefraction{.001} \makeatletter \setlength\@fpsep{\textheight} \makeatother \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \Question[Q-wideflt]{Centring a very wide figure or table} The normal means of centring a figure or table object is to include \csx{centering} at the top of the float. This doesn't help if the object is wider than \csx{textwidth}~--- the object starts at the left margin and juts out into the right margin (which is actually doubly unsatisfactory, since as well as looking bad, the float won't be placed until the next \csx{clearpage} or the like.) You can avoid the problem by rescaling the figure or table to fit, but this is often not satisfactory, for several reasons. Otherwise, if the object is wider than the printable area of the page, you've no choice other than to \Qref*{rotate it}{Q-landscape}. If, however, the object is \emph{just} wider than the text block, you can make it pretend to be the right size by: \begin{quote} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure} \noindent \makebox[\textwidth]{\includegraphics{my-wide-figure}}% \caption{This figure juts out into both margins} \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure} \noindent \makebox[\textwidth]{% \includegraphics{my-wide-figure}% }% \caption{This figure juts out into both margins} \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \end{quote} Note the \csx{noindent}: the \csx{makebox} starts a paragraph, and you really don't want that indented by \csx{parindent}. \Question[Q-2colfloat]{Placing two-column floats at bottom of page} You specified placement `\texttt{[htbp]}' for your full-width figure or table, but they always get placed at the top of the page\dots{} Well, it \emph{is} what the documentation says: \LaTeX{}, unadorned, only allows full-width floats at the top of a page, or occupying (part of) a float page. The \Package{stfloats} package ameliorates the situation somewhat, and makes \LaTeX{} honour `[b]' placement as well; the \Package{dblfloatfix} package combines a tidied version of the changes made in \Package{stfloats} with the \begin{narrowversion} % non-hyper float ordering corrections defined in \Package{fixltx2e} (\Qref{}{Q-2colfltorder}). \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} % hyper \Qref{float ordering corrections}{Q-2colfltorder} defined in \Package{fixltx2e}. \end{wideversion} A particular problem with \Package{stfloats} and \Package{dblfloatfix} is that the float will appear, at its earliest, on the page after it is specified. This has two undesirable side-effects: first, there may be no bottom float on the first page of a document, and second, float numbers may become ``entangled'' (particularly if you're using \Package{dblfloatfix} that ensures that the early-specified bottom float is set \emph{before} any single column floats). (The \acro{FAQ} team doesn't know of any package that will make \LaTeX{} honour `[h]' placement of double-column floats, but the \Package{midfloat} package can be pressed into service to provide something approximating the effect it would have.) \begin{ctanrefs} \item[dblfloatfix.sty]\CTANref{dblfloatfix} \item[midfloat.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{sttools}[midfloat] \item[stfloats.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{sttools}[stfloats] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-mcfloat]{Floats in multicolumn setting} If you use \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure} ... \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} in a \environment{multicols} environment, the figure won't appear. If instead you use \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure*} ... \end{figure*} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} the figure will stretch right across the page (just the same as a \environment{figure*} in standard \LaTeX{}'s \pkgoption{twocolumn} option). It's possible to have single-column figures and tables with captions, using the `\texttt{[H]}' placement option introduced by the \Package{float} package but you might have to fiddle with the placement because they won't `float', and exhibit other strange behaviours (such as silently running off the end of the column at the end of the \environment{multicols} environment). \begin{ctanrefs} \item[float.sty]\CTANref{float} \item[multicol.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[multicol] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-dpfloat]{Facing floats on 2-page spread} If a pair of floats need to be forced to form a 2-page spread (in a book, or whatever), the first must lie on the left side of the spread, on an even-numbered page. The \Package{dpfloat} package provides for this: the construction to use is: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure}[p] \begin{leftfullpage} \end{leftfullpage} \end{figure} \begin{figure}[p] \begin{fullpage} \end{fullpage} \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The construction has no effect on documents with class option \pkgoption{oneside} (\pkgoption{twoside} is the default for \Class{book} class). A special case of this requirement places the caption for a float on the next page. (This is useful if you have a float that ``only just'' fits the page.) You can (with a certain amount of twiddling) make this work with \Package{dpfloat}, but the \Package{fltpage} package is specially designed for the job: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \documentclass[twoside]{article} \usepackage[leftFloats]{fltpage} \begin{document} ... \begin{FPfigure} \includegraphics{my-huge-figure} \caption{Whew! That was a big one!} \end{FPfigure} ... \end{document} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} That example should produce a caption \begin{quote} Figure \meta{n} \emph{(facing page)}: Whew! \dots{} \end{quote} (Note, however, that the package is an old one, and declares itself to be a beta release, and contains no valid licence statement so that it is not in \texlive{}. It seems to work, but\dots{}) A alternative route is the ``continued'' mechanism of the \Package{caption} package. The \csx{ContinuedFloat} macro makes a small tweak to the next \csx{caption} command, so that the command makes no increment to the caption number. This does not (of course) have any effect on actual placement of the float, but it makes the caption texts read `sensibly': \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{table} \caption{A table} ... \end{table} ... \begin{table}\ContinuedFloat \caption{A table (cont.)} ... \end{table} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which would produce: \begin{quote} Table 3: A table \dots Table 3: A table (cont.) \end{quote} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[caption.sty]\CTANref{caption} \item[dpfloat.sty]\CTANref{dpfloat} \item[fltpage.sty]\CTANref{fltpage} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2013-02-01} \Question[Q-vertposfp]{Vertical layout of float pages} By default, \LaTeX{} vertically centres the floats on a float page; the present author is not alone in not liking this arrangement. Unfortunately, the control of the positioning is ``buried'' in \LaTeX{}-internal commands, so some care is needed to change the layout. Float pages use three \LaTeX{} lengths (i.e., \TeX{} skips) to define their layout: \begin{description} \item[\nothtml{\normalfont}\csx{@fptop}] defines the distance from the top of the page to the top of the first float, \item[\nothtml{\normalfont}\csx{@fpsep}] defines the separation between floats, and \item[\nothtml{\normalfont}\csx{@fpbot}] defines the distance from the bottom of the last float on the page to the bottom of the page. \end{description} (In fact, the output routine places a skip of \csx{@fpsep} above each float, so the \csx{@fptop} skip is always followed by a correction for that.) The \LaTeX{} defaults are: \begin{quote} \csx{@fptop} = \texttt{0pt + 1fil}\\ \csx{@fpsep} = \texttt{8pt + 2fil}\\ \csx{@fpbot} = \texttt{0pt + 1fil}\\ \end{quote} so that the gaps expand to fill the space not occupied by floats, but if there is more than one float on the page, the gap between them will expand to twice the space at top and bottom. Those who understand this stuff will be able to play elaborate games, but the commonest requirement, that the floats start at the top of the page, is a simple thing to do: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \makeatletter \setlength{\@fptop}{0pt} \makeatother \end{verbatim} \end{quote} Surprisingly, you may find this setting leaves your floats too high on the page. One can justify a value of \texttt{5pt} (in place of \texttt{0pt})~--- it's roughly the difference between \csx{topskip} and the height of normal (\texttt{10pt}) text. Note that this is a ``global'' setting (best established in a class file, or at worst in the document preamble); making the change for a single float page is likely (at the least) to be rather tricky. \Question[Q-figurehere]{Figure (or table) \emph{exactly} where I want it} This is of course a contradiction: \environment{figure} and \environment{table} are \emph{designed} to float, and will always have the potential to appear away from where you asked for them. Therefore you need something that behaves like a \environment{figure} or \environment{table} environment, except that it doesn't allow the figure or table to float. The most straightforward way is to use of the \Package{float} package; it gives you a \texttt{[H]} float placement option that prevents floating: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure}[H] \centering \includegraphics{foo} \caption{caption text} \label{fig:nonfloat} \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} As the example suggests, such a `\texttt{[H]}' figure (or corresponding table) offers all you need to cross-reference as well as typeset. (The package \Package{here} provides the same function, but is no longer recommended.) However, you don't actually \emph{have} to use \Package{float} (or \Package{here}) since it is, in fact, doing rather little for you. You can place your figure as you please, with a sequence like \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{center} \includegraphics{foo} \captionof{figure}{caption text} \label{fig:nonfloat} \end{center} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which relies on the \csx{captionof} command to place a caption without benefit of an enclosing float. That command may be had from the extremely simple-minded package \Package{capt-of} or from the highly sophisticated \Package{caption} package. Using either method, you have to deal with the possibility of the figure or table being too large for the page. (Floating objects will float away in this circumstance; ``doing it by hand'', like this, you take upon yourself the responsibility for avoiding % ! line break `\textit{Overfull \csx{vbox}}' errors. A further problem is the possibility that such ``fixed floats'' will overtake ``real floats'', so that the numbers of figures will be out of order: figure 6 could be on page 12, while figure 5 had floated to page 13. It's best, therefore, either to stay with floating figures throughout a document, or to use fixed figures throughout. If it's really impossible to follow that counsel of perfection, you can use the \Package{perpage} package's command \csx{MakeSorted} command: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ... \usepackage{float} \usepackage{perpage} \MakeSorted{figure} \MakeSorted{table} ... \end{verbatim} \end{quote} and the sequence of float numbers is all correct. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[capt-of.sty]\CTANref{capt-of} \item[caption.sty]\CTANref{caption} \item[float.sty]\CTANref{float} \item[here.sty]\CTANref{here} \item[perpage.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{bigfoot}[perpage] \end{ctanrefs} \subsection{Footnotes} \Question[Q-footintab]{Footnotes in tables} The standard \LaTeX{} \csx{footnote} command doesn't work in tables; the tabular environment (and its ``relations'') traps footnotes, and they can't escape to the bottom of the page. As a result, you get footnote marks in the table, and nothing else. This accords with common typographic advice: footnotes and tables are reckoned not to mix. The solution, if you accept the advice, is to use ``table notes''. The package \Package{threeparttable} provides table notes, and \Package{threeparttablex} additionally supports them in \environment{longtable}s. \Package{Threeparttable} works happily in ordinary text, or within a \environment{table} float. The \Package{ctable} package extends the model of \Package{threeparttable}, and also uses the ideas of the \Package{booktabs} package. The \csx{ctable} command does the complete job of setting the table, placing the caption, and defining the notes. The ``table'' may consist of diagrams, and a parameter in \csx{ctable}'s optional argument makes the float that is created a ``figure'' rather than a ``table''. If you really want ``real'' footnotes in tables, despite the expert advice, you can: \begin{itemize} \item Use \csx{footnotemark} to position the little marker appropriately, and then put in \csx{footnotetext} commands to fill in the text once you've closed the \environment{tabular} environment. This is described in Lamport's book, but it gets messy if there's more than one footnote. \item Stick the \environment{tabular} environment in a \environment{minipage}. Footnotes in the table then ``work'', in the \environment{minipage}'s style, with no extra effort. (This is, in effect, somewhat like table notes, but the typeset appearance isn't designed for the job.) \item Use \Package{tabularx} or \Package{longtable} from the \LaTeX{} tools distribution; they're noticeably less efficient than the standard \environment{tabular} environment, but they do allow footnotes. \item Use \Package{tablefootnote}; it provides a command \csx{tablefootnote}, which does the job without fuss. \item Use \Package{footnote}, which provides an \environment{savenotes} which collects all footnotes and emits them at the end of the environment; thus if you put your \environment{tabular} environment inside a \environment{savenotes} environment, the footnotes will appear as needed. Alternatively, you may use \cmdinvoke{makesavenoteenv}{tabular} in the preamble of your document, and tables will all behave as if they were inside a \environment{savenotes} environment. \item Use \Package{mdwtab} from the same bundle; it will handle footnotes as you might expect, and has other facilities to increase the beauty of your tables. Unfortunately, it may be incompatible with other table-related packages, though not those in the standard `tools' bundle. \end{itemize} All the techniques listed will work, to some extent, whether in a float or in ordinary text. The author of this \acro{FAQ} answer doesn't actually recommend any of them, believing that table notes are the way to go\dots{} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[ctable.sty]\CTANref{ctable} \item[footnote.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{mdwtools}[footnote] \item[longtable.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[longtable] \item[mdwtab.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{mdwtools}[mdwtab] \item[tablefootnote.sty]\CTANref{tablefootnote} \item[threeparttable.sty]\CTANref{threeparttable} \item[threeparttablex.sty]\CTANref{threeparttablex} \item[tabularx.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[tabularx] \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2013-03-11} \Question[Q-ftnsect]{Footnotes in \LaTeX{} section headings} The \csx{footnote} command is fragile, so that simply placing the command in \csx{section}'s arguments isn't satisfactory. Using \csx{protect}\csx{footnote} isn't a good idea either: the arguments of a section command are used in the table of contents and (more dangerously) potentially also in page headers. While footnotes will work in the table of contents, it's generally not thought a ``good thing'' to have them there; in the page header, footnotes will simply fail. Whatever the desirability of the matter, there's no mechanism to suppress the footnote in the page header while allowing it in the table of contents, so the footnote may only appear in the section heading itself. To suppress the footnote in headings and table of contents: \begin{itemize} \item Take advantage of the fact that the mandatory argument doesn't `move' if the optional argument is present: \cmdinvoke{section}[title]% \texttt{\{title}\cmdinvoke{footnote}{title ftnt}\texttt{\}} \item Use the \Package{footmisc} package, with package option \texttt{stable}~--- this modifies footnotes so that they softly and silently vanish away if used in a moving argument. With this, you simply need: \begin{verbatim} % in the document preamble \usepackage[stable]{footmisc} ... % in the body of the document \section{title\footnote{title ftnt}} \end{verbatim} \end{itemize} \begin{ctanrefs} \item[footmisc.sty]\CTANref{footmisc} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-ftncapt]{Footnotes in captions} Footnotes in captions are especially tricky: they present problems of their own, on top of the problems one experiences with \Qref*{footnotes in section titles}{Q-ftnsect} (footnotes migrating to to the list of figures or tables, or % ! line break \Qref{apparently random errors}{Q-extrabrace} because \csx{footnote} is a fragile command), and with % ! line break \Qref*{footnotes in tables}{Q-footintab} (typically, the footnote simply disappears). Fortunately, the requirement for footnotes in captions is extremely rare: if you are experiencing problems, it is worth reviewing what you are trying to say by placing this footnote: other options are to place text at the bottom of the float, or to place a footnote at the point where you refer to the float. Note that the \Package{threeparttable} scheme (see, again, % ! line break \Qref[question]{footnotes in tables}{Q-footintab}) also applies to notes in captions, and may very well be preferable to whatever you were thinking of. If you \emph{are} going to proceed: \begin{itemize} \item use an optional argument in your \csx{caption} command, that doesn't have the footnote in it; this prevents the footnote appearing in the ``List of \dots{}'', and \item put your whole float in a \environment{minipage} so as to keep the footnotes with the float. \end{itemize} so we have: \begin{quote} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure} \begin{minipage}{\textwidth} ... \caption[Compact Routing Example]% {Compact Routing\footnote{something} Example} \end{minipage} \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \begin{figure} \begin{minipage}{\textwidth} ... \caption[Compact Routing Example]% {Compact Routing\footnote{something} Example} \end{minipage} \end{figure} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \end{quote} So, we make an entry for the List of Figures, which doesn't hold troublesome commands, such as \csx{footnote}. However, \emph{as well as} all of the above, one \emph{also} has to deal with the tendency of the \csx{caption} command to produce the footnote's text twice. For this last problem, there is no tidy solution this author is aware of. If you're suffering the problem, a well-constructed \csx{caption} command in a \environment{minipage} environment within a float (as in the example above) can produce \emph{two} copies of the footnote body ``something''. (In fact, the effect only occurs with captions that are long enough to require two lines to be typeset, and so wouldn't appear with such a short caption as that in the example above.) The documentation of the \Package{ccaption} package describes a really rather awful work-around for this problem. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[ccaption.sty]\CTANref{ccaption} \item[threeparttable.sty]\CTANref{threeparttable} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2012-04-12} \Question[Q-repfootnote]{Footnotes whose texts are identical} If the \emph{same} footnote turns up at several places within a document, it's often inappropriate to repeat the footnote in its entirety over and over again. We can avoid repetition by semi-automatic means, or by simply labelling footnotes that we know we're going to repeat and then referencing the result. There is no completely automatic solution (that detects and suppresses repeats) available. If you know you only have one footnote, which you want to repeat, the solution is simple: merely use the optional argument of \csx{footnotemark} to signify the repeats: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ...\footnote{Repeating note} ... ...\footnotemark[1] \end{verbatim} \end{quote} \dots{}\@ which is very easy, since we know there will only ever be a footnote number 1. A similar technique can be used once the footnotes are stable, reusing the number that \LaTeX{} has allocated. This can be tiresome, though, as any change of typesetting could change the relationships of footnote and repeat: labelling is inevitably better. Simple hand-labelling of footnotes is possible, using a counter dedicated to the job: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \newcounter{fnnumber} ... ...\footnote{Text to repeat}% \setcounter{fnnumber}{\thefootnote}% ... ...\footnotemark[\thefnnumber] \end{verbatim} \end{quote} but this is somewhat tedious. \LaTeX{}'s labelling mechanism can be summoned to our aid, but there are ugly error messages before the \csx{ref} is resolved on a second run through \LaTeX{}: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ...\footnote{Text to repeat\label{fn:repeat}} ... ...\footnotemark[\ref{fn:repeat}] \end{verbatim} \end{quote} Alternatively, one may use the \csx{footref} command, which has the advantage of working even when the footnote mark isn't expressed as a number. The command is defined in the \Package{footmisc} package and in the \Class{memoir} class (at least); \csx{footref} reduces the above example to: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ...\footnote{Text to repeat\label{fn:repeat}} ... ...\footref{fn:repeat} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} This is the cleanest simple way of doing the job. Note that the \csx{label} command \emph{must} be inside the argument of \csx{footnote}. The \Package{fixfoot} package takes away some of the pain of the matter: you declare footnotes you're going to reuse, typically in the preamble of your document, using a \csx{DeclareFixedFoot} command, and then use the command you've `declared' in the body of the document: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \DeclareFixedFootnote{\rep}{Text to repeat} ... ...\rep{} ...\rep{} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The package ensures that the repeated text appears at most once per page: it will usually take more than one run of \LaTeX{} to get rid of the repeats. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[fixfoot.sty]\CTANref{fixfoot} \item[footmisc.sty]\CTANref{footmisc} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-multfoot]{More than one sequence of footnotes} The need for more than one series of footnotes is common in critical editions (and other literary criticism), but occasionally arises in other areas. Of course, the canonical critical edition package, \Package{edmac}, offers the facility, as does its \LaTeX{} port, the \Package{ledmac} package. Multiple ranges of footnotes are offered to \LaTeX{} users by the \Package{manyfoot} package. The package provides a fair array of presentation options, as well. Another critical edition \Package{ednotes} package is built upon a basis that includes \Package{manyfoot}, as its mechanism for multiple sets of footnotes. The \Package{bigfoot} package also uses \Package{manyfoot} as part of its highly sophisticated structure of footnote facilities, which was also designed to support typesetting critical editions. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[bigfoot]\CTANref{bigfoot} \item[edmac]\CTANref{edmac} \item[ednotes]\CTANref{ednotes} \item[ledmac]\CTANref{ledmac} \item[manyfoot.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{ncctools}[manyfoot] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-footnpp]{Footnotes numbered ``per page''} The obvious solution is to make the footnote number reset whenever the page number is stepped, using the % ! line break \Qref*{\LaTeX{} internal mechanism}{Q-addtoreset}. Sadly, the place in the document where the page number is stepped is unpredictable, not (``tidily'') at the end of the printed page; so changing the footnote number only ever works by `luck'. As a result, resetting footnotes is inevitably a complicated process, using labels of some sort. It's nevertheless important, given the common requirement for footnotes marked by symbols (with painfully small symbol sets). There are four packages that manage it, one way or another. The \Package{perpage} and \Package{zref-perpage} packages provide a general mechanism for resetting counters per page, so can obviously be used for this task. The interface is pretty simple: \cmdinvoke{MakePerPage}{footnote} (in \Package{perpage}) or \cmdinvoke{zmakeperpage}{footnote} (in \Package{zref-perpage}). If you want to restart the counter at something other than~1 (for example to avoid something in the \LaTeX{} footnote symbol list), you can use: \cmdinvoke{MakePerPage}[2]{footnote} (in \Package{perpage}) or \cmdinvoke{zmakeperpage}[2]{footnote} (in \Package{zref-perpage}). Note that you can also load \Package{zref-perpage} \Package{Perpage} is a compact and efficient package; \Package{zref-perpage}, being a \Package{zref} ``module'', comes with \Package{zref}'s general mechanism for extending the the \csx{label}---\csx{[page]ref} of \latex{}, which can offer many other useful facilities. The \Package{footmisc} package provides a variety of means of controlling footnote appearance, among them a package option \pkgoption{perpage} that adjusts the numbering per page; if you're doing something else odd about footnotes, it means you may only need the one package to achieve your ends. The \Package{footnpag} package also does per-page footnotes (and nothing else). With the competition from \Package{perpage}, it's probably not particularly useful any more. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[footmisc.sty]\CTANref{footmisc} \item[footnpag.sty]\CTANref{footnpag} \item[perpage.sty]Distributed as part \CTANref{bigfoot}[perpage] %\item[zref.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{oberdiek}[zref] \item[zref-perpage.sty]Distributed as part of \Package{zref} in \CTANref{oberdiek}[zref] \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-run-fn-nos]{Not resetting footnote numbers per chapter} Some classes (for example, \Class{book} and \Class{report}) set up a different set of footnotes per chapter, by resetting the footnote number at the start of the chapter. This is essentially the same action as that of % ! line break \Qref*{equation, figure and table numbers}{Q-running-nos}, except that footnote numbers don't get ``decorated'' with the chapter number, as happens with those other numbers. The solution is the same: use the \Package{chngcntr} package; since the numbers aren't ``decorated'' you can use the \csx{counterwithout*} variant; the code: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \counterwithout*{footnote}{chapter} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} is all you need \begin{ctanrefs} \item[chngcntr.sty]\CTANref{chngcntr} \end{ctanrefs} \subsection{Document management} \Question[Q-filename]{What's the name of this file} One might want this so as to automatically generate a page header or footer recording what file is being processed. It's not easy\dots{} \TeX{} retains what it considers the name of the \emph{job}, only, in the primitive \csx{jobname}; this is the name of the file first handed to \TeX{}, stripped of its directory name and of any extension (such as \extension{tex}). If no file was passed (i.e., you're using \TeX{} interactively), \csx{jobname} has the value \texttt{texput} (the name that's given to \extension{log} files in this case). This is fine, for the case of a small document, held in a single file; most significant documents will be held in a bunch of files, and \TeX{} makes no attempt to keep track of files input to the \emph{job}. So the user has to keep track, himself~--- the only way is to patch the input commands and cause them to retain details of the file name. This is particularly difficult in the case of \plaintex{}, since the syntax of the \csx{input} command is so peculiar. In the case of \LaTeX{}, the input commands have pretty regular syntax, and the simplest \Qref*{patching techniques}{Q-patch} can be used on them. (Note that latex{}'s \csx{input} command is itself a patch on top of the \plaintex{} command. Our patches apply to the \latex{} version of the command, which is used as \cmdinvoke*{input}{file}) %% If you only have one level of input (you never input things from a %% file that was itself input), the job is almost trivial: %% \begin{quote} %% \begin{verbatim} %% \def\ThisFile{\jobname} %% \let\OldInput\input %% \renewcommand{\input}[1]{% %% \renewcommand{\ThisFile}{#1}% %% \OldInput#1% %% } %% \end{verbatim} %% \end{quote} %% With that, the macro \csx{ThisFile} always contains the last thing %% input: it starts pointing at the base file of your document %% (\csx{jobname}), and thereafter changes every time you use %% \cmdinvoke*{input}{file}. Note that this is not satisfactory if your %% document contains things \emph{other} than \csx{input} commands. For %% example, in: %% \begin{quote} %% \begin{verbatim} %% \documentclass{article} %% ... (macros above) %% \begin{document} %% \input{preamble} %% %% \input{postamble} %% \end{document} %% \end{verbatim} %% \end{quote} %% \csx{ThisFile} contains ``\texttt{preamble}'' throughout the % !line break %% \meta{body of document}. %% Most ordinary users will quickly become irritated with the simplicity %% of of the \csx{ThisFile} mechanism above. The following code is more %% cunning: it maintains details of the files you've `come through' to %% get to where you are, and it restores \csx{ThisFile} to what the %% previous file was before returning. %% \begin{quote} %% \begin{verbatim} %% \def\ThisFile{\jobname} %% \newcounter{FileStack} %% \let\OrigInput\input %% \renewcommand{\input}[1]{% %% \stackinput{#1}{\OrigInput}% %% } %% \newcommand{\stackinput}[2]{% %% \stepcounter{FileStack}% %% \expandafter\let %% \csname NameStack\theFileStack\endcsname %% \ThisFile %% \def\ThisFile{#1}% %% #2#1% %% \expandafter\let\expandafter %% \ThisFile %% \csname NameStack\theFileStack\endcsname %% \addtocounter{FileStack}{-1}% %% } %% \end{verbatim} %% \end{quote} %% To do the same for \csx{include}, we need the simple addition: %% \begin{quote} %% \begin{verbatim} %% \let\OrigInclude\include %% \renewcommand{\include}[1]{% %% \stackinput{#1}{\OrigInclude}% %% } %% \end{verbatim} %% \end{quote} %% Remember, both examples of patching \csx{input} assume you always use %% \LaTeX{} syntax, i.e., always use braces around the argument. It is possible to keep track of the name of the file currently being processed, but it's surprisingly difficult (these \acro{FAQ}s offered code, for a long time, that just didn't work in many cases). The \Package{currfile} package provides a regular means of keeping track of the details of the current file (its name in \csx{currfilename}, directory in \csx{currfiledir}, as well as the file `base' name (less its extension) and its extension). \Package{Currfile} does this with the help of a second package, \Package{filehook}, which spots file operations that use \csx{input}, \csx{InputIfFileExists} and \csx{include}, as well as package and class loading. The \Package{FiNK} (``File Name Keeper'') package keeps track of the file name and extension, in a macro \csx{finkfile}. \Package{FiNK} is now deprecated, in favour of \Package{currfile}, but remains available for use in old documents. % %% If you need the %% unadorned file name (without its `\extension{tex}'), use the commands: %% \begin{quote} %% \begin{verbatim} %% \def\striptexext#1.tex{#1} %% ... %% \edef\ThisFile{\expandafter\stripext\finkfile} %% \end{verbatim} %% \end{quote} % The \Package{FiNK} bundle includes a \File{fink.el} that provides support under \ProgName{emacs} with \acro{AUC}-\TeX{}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[currfile.sty]\CTANref{currfile} \item[filehook.sty]\CTANref{filehook} \item[fink.sty]\CTANref{fink} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-filesused]{All the files used by this document} When you're sharing a document with someone else (perhaps as part of a co-development cycle) it's as well to arrange that both correspondents have the same set of auxiliary files, as well as the document in question. Your correspondent obviously needs the same set of files (if you use the \Package{url} package, she has to have \Package{url} too, for example). But suppose you have a bug-free version of the \Package{shinynew} package but her copy is still the unstable original; until you both realise what is happening, such a situation can be very confusing. The simplest solution is the \LaTeX{} \csx{listfiles} command. This places a list of the files used and their version numbers in the log file. If you extract that list and transmit it with your file, it can be used as a check-list in case that problems arise. Note that \csx{listfiles} only registers things that are input by the ``standard'' \LaTeX{} mechanisms (\csx{documentclass}, \csx{usepackage}, \csx{include}, \csx{includegraphics} and so on). The \csx{input} command, as modified by \LaTeX{} and used, with \LaTeX{} syntax, as: \begin{verbatim} \input{mymacros} \end{verbatim} records file details for \File{mymacros.tex}, but if you use \TeX{} primitive syntax for \csx{input}, as: \begin{verbatim} \input mymacros \end{verbatim} \File{mymacros.tex} \emph{won't} be recorded, and so won't listed by \csx{listfiles}~--- you've bypassed the mechanism that records its use. The \Package{snapshot} package helps the owner of a \LaTeX{} document obtain a list of the external dependencies of the document, in a form that can be embedded at the top of the document. The intended use of the package is the creation of archival copies of documents, but it has application in document exchange situations too. The \ProgName{bundledoc} system uses the \Package{snapshot} to produce an archive (e.g., \extension{tar.gz} or \extension{zip}) of the files needed by your document; it comes with configuration files for use with \texlive{}-\ProgName{Unix} and \ProgName{\miktex{}}. It's plainly useful when you're sending the first copy of a document. The \ProgName{mkjobtexmf} finds which files are used in a `job', either via the \texttt{-recorder} option of \tex{}, or by using the (Unix) command \ProgName{strace} to keep an eye on what \tex{} is doing. The files thus found are copied (or linked) to a directory which may then be saved for transmission or archiving. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[bundledoc]\CTANref{bundledoc} \item[mkjobtexmf]\CTANref{mkjobtexmf} \item[snapshot.sty]\CTANref{snapshot} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2014-01-26} \Question[Q-changebars]{Marking changed parts of your document} One often needs clear indications of how a document has changed, but the commonest technique, ``change bars'' (also known as ``revision bars''), requires surprisingly much trickery of the programmer. The problem is that \TeX{} `proper' doesn't provide the programmer with any information about the ``current position'' from which a putative start- or end-point of a bar might be calculated. \PDFTeX{} \emph{does} provide that information, but no \PDFTeX{}-based changebar package has been published, that takes advantage of that. The simplest package that offers change bars is Peter Schmitt's \Package{backgrnd.tex}; this was written as a \plaintex{} application that patches the output routine, but it appears to work at least on simple \LaTeX{} documents. Wise \LaTeX{} users will be alerted by the information that \Package{backgrnd} patches their output routine, and will watch its behaviour very carefully (patching the \LaTeX{} output routine is not something to undertake lightly\dots{}). The longest-established \LaTeX{}-specific solution is the \Package{changebar} package, which uses \csx{special} commands supplied by the driver you're using. You need therefore to tell the package which driver to you're using (in the same way that you need to tell the \Package{graphics} package); the list of available drivers is pretty wide, but does not include \ProgName{dvipdfm}. The package comes with a shell script \ProgName{chbar.sh} (for use on Unix machines) that will compare two documents and generate a third which is marked-up with \Package{changebar} macros to highlight changes. The shareware \ProgName{WinEDT} editor has a macro that will generate \Package{changebar} (or other) macros to show differences from an earlier version of your file, stored in an \ProgName{RCS}-controlled repository~--- see \URL{http://www.winedt.org/Macros/LaTeX/RCSdiff.php} The \Package{vertbars} package uses the techniques of the \Package{lineno} package (which it loads, so the \Package{lineno} itself must be installed); it's thus the smallest of the packages for change bar marking, since it leaves all the trickery to another package. \Package{Vertbars} defines a \environment{vertbar} environment to create changebars. The \Package{framed} package is another that provides bars as a side-effect of other desirable functionality: its \environment{leftbar} environment is simply a stripped-down frame (note, though, that the environment makes a separate paragraph of its contents, so it is best used when the convention is to mark a whole changed paragraph. Finally, the \Class{memoir} class allows marginal editorial comments, which you can obviously use to delimit areas of changed text. An even more comprehensive way to keep track of changes is employed by some word-processors~--- to produce a document that embodies both ``old'' and ``new'' versions. To this end, the package \Package{changes} allows the user to manually markup changes of text, such as additions, deletions, or replacements. Changed text is shown in a different colour; deleted text is crossed out. The package allows you to define additional authors and their associated colour; it also allows you to define a markup for authors or annotations. The documentation (very clearly) demonstrates how the various functions work. The \ProgName{Perl} script \ProgName{latexdiff} may also be used to generate such markup for \LaTeX{} documents; you feed it the two documents, and it produces a new \LaTeX{} document in which the changes are very visible. An example of the output is embedded in the documentation, \begin{narrowversion} % actually non-hyperversion \File{latexdiff-man.pdf}, in the distribution. \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} % actually hyperversion \href{http://mirrors.ctan.org/support/latexdiff/latexdiff-man.pdf}{latexdiff-man.pdf} (part of the distribution). \end{wideversion} A rudimentary revision facility is provided by another \ProgName{Perl} script, \ProgName{latexrevise}, which accepts or rejects all changes. Manual editing of the difference file can be used to accept or reject selected changes only. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[backgrnd.tex]\CTANref{backgrnd} \item[changebar.sty]\CTANref{changebar} \item[changes.sty]\CTANref{changes} \item[framed.sty]\CTANref{framed} \item[latexdiff, latexrevise]\CTANref{latexdiff} \item[lineno.sty]\CTANref{lineno} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \item[vertbars.sty]\CTANref{vertbars} \item[winedt]\CTANref{winedt} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-conditional]{Conditional compilation and ``comments''} While \LaTeX{} (or any other \TeX{}-derived package) isn't really like a compiler, people regularly want to do compiler-like things using it. Common requirements are conditional `compilation' and `block comments', and several \LaTeX{}-specific means to this end are available. The simple \cmdinvoke{newcommand}{\csx{gobble}}[1]\texttt{\{\}} and \csx{iffalse}\texttt{ ... }\csx{fi} aren't really satisfactory (as a general solution) for comments, since the matter being skipped is nevertheless scanned by \TeX{}, not always as you would expect. The scanning imposes restrictions on what you're allowed to skip; this may not be a problem in \emph{today's} job, but could return to bite you tomorrow. For an example of surprises that may come to bite you, consider the following example (derived from real user experience): \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \iffalse % ignoring this bit consider what happens if we use \verb+\iftrue+ -- a surprise \fi \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \csx{iftrue} is spotted by \TeX{} as it scans, ignoring the \csx{verb} command; so the \csx{iffalse} isn't terminated by the following \csx{fi}. Also, \csx{gobble} is pretty inefficient at consuming anything non-trivial, since all the matter to be skipped is copied to the argument stack before being ignored. If your requirement is for a document from which whole chapters (or the like) are missing, consider the \LaTeX{} \csx{include}/\csx{includeonly} system. If you `\csx{include}' your files (rather than \csx{input} them~--- see % line wrap! \Qref[question]{What's going on in my \csx{include} commands?}{Q-include}), \LaTeX{} writes macro traces of what's going on at the end of each chapter to the \extension{aux} file; by using \csx{includeonly}, you can give \LaTeX{} an exhaustive list of the files that are needed. Files that don't get \csx{include}d are skipped entirely, but the document processing continues as if they \emph{were} there, and page, footnote, and other numbers are not disturbed. Note that you can choose which sections you want included interactively, using the \Package{askinclude} package. A variant on the \csx{includeonly} mechanism is offered by the \Package{stampinclude} package, which takes advantage of the \pdftex{} \csx{pdffilemoddate} command. When an \csx{include}d file is processed in a \latex{} document, an \extension{aux} file is created holding data such as page-number ranges and chapter/section numbers. When \csx{stampinclude} is included in a document, it compares the file system modification times for each file and its corresponding \extension{aux} file; the file is only compiled in ``this run'' of the document if the file is newer than its corresponding \extension{aux} file. The package requires a current \pdftex{}, and will also run on \luatex{} if the \Package{pdftexcmds} package is available (\Package{pdftexcmds} emulates the requisite \pdftex{} commands using \texttt{lua}. Apart from this requirement, \Package{stampinclude} is a low-maintenace object; include it in your document and it silently does its job. When you want a final version of your document, delete all the \extension{aux} files, and and \Package{stampinclude} won't interfere.) The inverse can be done using the \Package{excludeonly} package: this allows you to exclude a (list of) \csx{include}d files from your document, by means of an \csx{excludeonly} command. If you want to select particular pages of your document, use Heiko Oberdiek's \Package{pagesel} or the \Package{selectp} packages. You can do something similar with an existing \acro{PDF} document (which you may have compiled using \ProgName{pdflatex} in the first place), using the \Package{pdfpages} package. The job is then done with a document looking like: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \documentclass{article} \usepackage[final]{pdfpages} \begin{document} \includepdf[pages=30-40]{yoursource.pdf} \end{document} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (To include all of the document, you write \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \includepdf[pages=-]{yoursource.pdf} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} omitting the start and end pages in the optional argument.) If you want flexible facilities for including or excluding small portions of a file, consider the \Package{comment}, \Package{version} or \Package{optional} packages. The \Package{comment} package allows you to declare areas of a document to be included or excluded; you make these declarations in the preamble of your file. The command \cmdinvoke*{includecomment}{version-name} declares an environment \environment{version-name} whose content will be included in your document, while \cmdinvoke*{excludecomment}{version-name} defines an environment whose content will be excluded from the document. The package uses a method for exclusion that is pretty robust, and can cope with ill-formed bunches of text (e.g., with unbalanced braces or \csx{if} commands). (These FAQs employ the \Package{comment} package to alter layout between the printed (two-column) version and the \acro{PDF} version for browsing; there are \environment{narrowversion} and \environment{wideversion} for the two versions of the file.) \Package{version} offers similar facilities to \File{comment.sty} (i.e., \csx{includeversion} and \csx{excludeversion} commands); it's far ``lighter weight'', but is less robust (and in particular, cannot deal with very large areas of text being included/excluded). A significant development of \Package{version}, confusingly called \Package{versions} (i.e., merely a plural of the old package name). \Package{Versions} adds a command \cmdinvoke*{markversion}{version-name} which defines an environment that prints the included text, with a clear printed mark around it. \Package{optional} defines a command \csx{opt}; its first argument is an `inclusion flag', and its second is text to be included or excluded. Text to be included or excluded must be well-formed (nothing mismatched), and should not be too big~--- if a large body of text is needed, \csx{input} should be used in the argument. The documentation (in the package file itself) tells you how to declare which sections are to be included: this can be done in the document preamble, but the documentation also suggests ways in which it can be done on the command line that invokes \LaTeX{}, or interactively. And, not least of this style of conditional compilation, \Package{verbatim} (which should be available in any distribution) defines a \environment{comment} environment, which enables the dedicated user of the source text editor to suppress bits of a \LaTeX{} source file. The \Class{memoir} class offers the same environment. An interesting variation is the \Package{xcomment} package. This defines an environment whose body is all excluded, apart from environments named in its argument. So, for example: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{xcomment}{figure,table} This text is not included \begin{figure} This figure is included \end{figure} This is not included, either \begin{table} This table also included \end{table} ... \end{xcomment} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The \Package{tagging} package offers another neat set of syntax, which allow the user to apply ``tags'' to chunks of text, and to include and exclude tagged text, according to the tags. For example, the user may `use' text marked with some tags, and to `drop' marked with others: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usetag{} \droptag{} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (the tag lists consist of comma-separated single words). There are then commands \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \tagged{}{} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which reproduces the text only if the \meta{tag list} contains at least one tag listed in the \csx{usetag} comand, and \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \untagged{}{} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which only reproduces the text unless the \meta{tag list} contains none of the tags mention in the \csx{droptag} command. Further commands offer an if-then-else setup, and specify \environment{taggedblock} and \environment{untaggedblock} environments that. Another valuable aspect of the problem is covered by the \Package{extract} package. The package allows you to produce a ``partial copy'' of an existing document: the package was developed to permit production of a ``book of examples'' from a set of lecture notes. The package documentation shows the following usage: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[ active, generate=foobar, extract-env={figure,table}, extract-cmd={chapter,section} ]{extract} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which will cause the package to produce a file \File{foobar.tex} containing all the \environment{figure} and \environment{table} environments, and the \csx{chapter} and \csx{section} commands, from the document being processed. The new file \File{foobar.tex} is generated in the course of an otherwise ordinary run on the `master' document. The package provides a good number of other facilities, including (numeric or labelled) ranges of environments to extract, and an \environment{extract} environment which you can use to create complete ready-to-run \LaTeX{} documents with stuff you've extracted. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[askinclude.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{oberdiek}[askinclude] \item[comment.sty]\CTANref{comment} \item[excludeonly.sty]\CTANref{excludeonly} \item[extract.sty]\CTANref{extract} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \item[optional.sty]\CTANref{optional} \item[pagesel.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{oberdiek}[pagesel] \item[pdfpages.sty]\CTANref{pdfpages} \item[selectp.sty]\CTANref{selectp} \item[stampinclude.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{oberdiek}[stampinclude] \item[tagging.sty]\CTANref{tagging} \item[verbatim.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{2etools}[verbatim] \item[version.sty]\CTANref{version} \item[versions.sty]\CTANref{versions} \item[xcomment.sty]\CTANref{xcomment} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2014-06-09} \Question[Q-docotherdir]{Bits of document from other directories} A common way of constructing a large document is to break it into a set of files (for example, one per chapter) and to keep everything related to each of these subsidiary files in a subdirectory. Unfortunately, \TeX{} doesn't have a changeable ``current directory'', so that all files you refer to have to be specified relative to the same directory as the main file. Most people find this counter-intuitive. It may be appropriate to use the ``path extension'' technique % beware line break \Qref[of question]{used in temporary installations}{Q-tempinst} to deal with this problem. However, if there several files with the same name in your document, such as \File{chapter1/fig1.eps} and \File{chapter2/fig1.eps}, you're not giving \TeX{} any hint as to which you're referring to when in the main chapter file you say \cmdinvoke{input}{sect1}; while this is readily soluble in the case of human-prepared files (just don't name them all the same), automatically produced files have a way of having repetitious names, and changing \emph{them} is a procedure prone to error. The \Package{import} package comes to your help here: it defines an \csx{import} command that accepts a full path name and the name of a file in that directory, and arranges things to ``work properly''. So, for example, if \File{/home/friend/results.tex} contains \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} Graph: \includegraphics{picture} \input{explanation} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} then \cmdinvoke{import}{/home/friend/}{results} will include both graph and explanation as one might hope. A \csx{subimport} command does the same sort of thing for a subdirectory (a relative path rather than an absolute one), and there are corresponding \csx{includefrom} and \csx{subincludefrom} commands. The \Package{chapterfolder} package provides commands to deal with its (fixed) model of file inclusion in a document. It provides commands \csx{cfpart}, \csx{cfchapter}, \csx{cfsection} and \csx{cfsubsection}, each of which takes directory and file arguments, e.g.: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \cfpart[pt 1]{Part One}{part1}{part} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} which command will issue a `normal' command % ! line break \cmdinvoke{part}[pt 1]{Part One} and then input the file \File{part1/part.tex}, remembering that \File{part1/} is now the ``current folder''. There are also commands of the form \csx{cfpartstar} (which corresponds to a \csx{part*} command). Once you're ``in'' a \Package{chapterfolder}-included document, you may use \csx{cfinput} to input something relative to the ``current folder'', or you may use \csx{input}, using \csx{cfcurrentfolder} to provide a path to the file. (There are also \csx{cfcurrentfolderfigure} for a \path{figure/} subdirectory and \csx{cfcurrentfolderlistings} for a \path{listings/} subdirectory.) Documentation of \Package{chapterfolder} is in French, but the \File{README} in the directory is in English. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[chapterfolder.sty]\CTANref{chapterfolder} \item[import.sty]\CTANref{import} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-RCS]{Version control using \acro{RCS}, \acro{CVS} or the like} If you use \acro{RCS}, \acro{CVS}, \ProgName{Subversion}, \ProgName{Bazaar} or \ProgName{Git} to maintain your \AllTeX{} documents under version control, you may need some mechanism for including the version details in your document, in such a way that they can be typeset (that is, rather than just hiding them inside a comment). The most complete solution for \acro{RCS} and \acro{CVS} is to use the (\LaTeX{}) package \Package{rcs}, which allows you to parse and display the contents of \acro{RCS} keyword fields in an extremely flexible way. The package \Package{rcsinfo} is simpler, but does most of what you want, and some people prefer it; it is explicitly compatible with \ProgName{LaTeX2HTML}. If, however, you need a solution which works without using external packages, or which will work in \plaintex{}, then you can use the following minimal solution: \begin{quote} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \def\RCS$#1: #2 ${\expandafter\def\csname RCS#1\endcsname{#2}} \RCS$Revision: 1.47 $ % or any RCS keyword \RCS$Date: 2014/01/28 18:17:23 $ ... \date{Revision \RCSRevision, \RCSDate} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \def\RCS$#1: #2 ${\expandafter \def\csname RCS#1\endcsname{#2}% } \RCS$Revision: 1.47 $ % or any RCS keyword \RCS$Date: 2014/01/28 18:17:23 $ ... \date{Revision \RCSRevision, \RCSDate} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \end{quote} If you are a user of \ProgName{Subversion}, the package \Package{svn} may be for you. It has explicit cleverness about dealing with dates: \begin{quote} \csx{documentclass}\texttt{\{\meta{foo}\}}\\ \texttt{...}\\ \cmdinvoke{usepackage}{svn}\\ \csx{SVNdate}\texttt{ \$Date\$}\\ \cmdinvoke{author}{...}\\ \cmdinvoke{title}{...}\\ \texttt{...}\\ \cmdinvoke{begin}{document}\\ \csx{maketitle}\\ \texttt{...}\\ \cmdinvoke{end}{document} \end{quote} will (once \ProgName{subversion} has committed a copy of the document) cause \csx{maketitle} use the date that has been written into the \texttt{\$Date\$} keyword. Another alternative for \ProgName{Subversion} users is the \Package{svninfo} package, which has much the same mechanisms as does \Package{svn} but with a rather different focus. \Package{Svninfo} does the date trick that \Package{svn} performs (controlled by a package option), and can set up page foot-lines using % ! line break \Qref*{package \Package{fancyhdr}}{Q-fancyhdr}. There isn't much to choose between the two packages: you should read the packages' documentation to see which suits you best. An alternative script-based approach to version control has been taken by the \Package{vc} bundle, that in certain situations might work more reliably than any of the packages mentioned above. The \Package{vc} bundle supports \ProgName{Bazaar}, \ProgName{Git} and \ProgName{Subversion} usage and works with both \LaTeX{} and \plaintex{}. Note that \Package{vc} is the only option that currently claims to support \ProgName{Bazaar}-controlled repositories. Finally, for now, the \Package{gitinfo} package supports \ProgName{Git}-controlled documents. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[gitinfo.sty]\CTANref{gitinfo} \item[rcs.sty]\CTANref{rcs} \item[rcsinfo.sty]\CTANref{rcsinfo} \item[svn.sty]\CTANref{svn} \item[svninfo.sty]\CTANref{svninfo} \item[vc]\CTANref{vc} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2011-08-31} \Question[Q-make]{Makefiles for \LaTeX{} documents} \LaTeX{} documents are tricky beasts for building using (\ProgName{Uni*x}) \ProgName{make} on: the need to instruct \LaTeX{} to run several times for essentially different reasons (for example, ``get the table of contents stable'', ``get the labels stable'', ``add the bibliography'', ``add the index'') is actually rather difficult to express in the `ordinary' sort of dependency graph that one constructs for \ProgName{make}. The \ProgName{latex-make} package offers help with this task (far more sophisticated techniques than in the script that builds these \acro{FAQ}s); it looks good, but reports of its use (other than by its author) are scarce. For a long time, the only \ProgName{make}-like package on \acro{CTAN} was \ProgName{latexmk}, which is a \ProgName{Perl} script that analyses your \LaTeX{} source for its dependencies, runs \BibTeX{} or \ProgName{makeindex} as and when it notices that those programs' input (parts of the \extension{aux} file, or the \extension{idx} file, respectively) has changed, and so on. \ProgName{Latexmk} is a fine solution (and was used in generating printable versions of these \acro{FAQ}s for some time); it has recently been upgraded and has many bells and whistles that allow it to operate as if it were a poor man's \WYSIWYG{} system. A recent strong contender is \ProgName{arara}, written in \ProgName{Java}. It is (the documentation says) based on ``rules'' and ``directives''; its aim is to determine what to do from explicit instructions in the document's source code, rather than secondary sources such as log file analysis. \ProgName{Arara} is relatively new on CTAN, and comes with recommendations from many of the great and good of the \latex{} world. Newer still is the Python script \ProgName{try}, which has a similar structure to \ProgName{arara}~--- it, too, reads instructions in the document source. Apparently along the same lines, is Auto\LaTeX{}. The \File{README} of the distribution is actual a Unix-type man-page output, and shows great attention to the details of the document production process. The (Ruby) script \ProgName{mk} (also, apparently, known as \ProgName{latex_maker}) works well with another of the author's scripts script called \ProgName{vpp} (View and Print \PS{}/\acro{PDF}). Windows users of the \miktex{} system may use that system's \ProgName{texify} application. \ProgName{Texify} deals with basic \LaTeX{} features, including generating a bibliography and an index; it makes no claim to deal with other things (such as multiple bibliographies or indexes, or lists of terminology, etc.), which Auto\LaTeX{} can be configured to process. The \Qref*{\Package{texinfo} system}{Q-texinfo} comes with a similar utility called \ProgName{texi2dvi}, which is capable of ``converting'' either \LaTeX{} or \Package{texinfo} files into \acro{DVI} (or into \acro{PDF}, using \PDFTeX{}). A later contribution is the bundle \Package{latexmake}, which offers a set of \ProgName{make} rules that invoke \ProgName{texi2dvi} as necessary. The curious may examine the rules employed to run the present \acro{FAQ} through \LaTeX{}: we don't present them as a complete solution, but some of the tricks employed are surely re-usable. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}arara]\CTANref{arara} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}AutoLaTeX]\CTANref{autolatex} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}\acro{FAQ} distribution]\CTANref{faq} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}latexmake]\CTANref{latexmake} \item[latex-make]\CTANref{latex-make} \item[latex\_make]\CTANref{latex_maker} \item[latexmk]\CTANref{latexmk} \item[texi2dvi]Distributed as part of \CTANref{texinfo} \item[try]\CTANref{try} \item[vpp]\CTANref{vpp} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2013-05-13} \Question[Q-howmanypp]{How many pages are there in my document?} Simple documents (those that start at page 1, and don't have any breaks in their page numbering until their last page) present no problem to the seeker after this truth. The number of pages is reported by the \Package{lastpage} package in its \texttt{LastPage} label. For more complicated documents (most obviously, books with frontmatter in a different series of page numbers) this simple approach will not do. The \Package{count1to} package defines a label \texttt{TotalPages}; this is the value of its copy of \csx{count1} (a reserved \TeX{} count register) at the end of the document. Package \Package{totpages} defines a label \texttt{TotPages}, but it also makes the register it uses available as a \LaTeX{} counter, \texttt{TotPages}, which you can also reference via \csx{theTotPages}. Of course, the counter |TotPages| is asynchronous in the same way that page numbers are, but snapshots may safely be taken in the output routine. The \Class{memoir} class defines two counters \texttt{lastpage} and \texttt{lastsheet}, which are set (after the first run of a document) to the equivalent of the \texttt{LastPage} label and the \texttt{TotalPages} labels. Both \Package{count1to} and \Package{totpages} need the support of the \Package{everyshi} package. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[count1to.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{ms}[count1to] \item[everyshi.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{ms}[everyshi] \item[lastpage.sty]\CTANref{lastpage} \item[memoir.cls]\CTANref{memoir} \item[totpages.sty]\CTANref{totpages} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-inclplain]{Including \plaintex{} files in \LaTeX{}} \LaTeX{}, though originally \Qref*{based on \plaintex{}}{Q-LaTeXandPlain}, does not contain all of \plaintex{}'s commands. Worse, some \plaintex{} command names appear in \LaTeX{}, with different semantics. As a result, special measures need to be taken to allow general \plaintex{} documents (or parts of documents) to be typeset within \LaTeX{}. The truly reliable way is to translate the \plaintex{} commands, to produce an equivalent of the original's semantics. However, this is not practical in many circumstances, and for those occasions, the \Package{plain} package will often come to your aid. The package defines a \environment{plain} environment, in which a \plaintex{} document may be processed: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \begin{plain} \input{plain-doc} \end{plain} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The package is known to fail, for example, with documents that use \AMSTeX{}; no doubt it would also fail if asked to load \Eplain{}. All these things can be overcome (although it's not often easy), but the environment saves a lot of work on many occasions. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[plain.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{carlisle}[plain-ltx] \end{ctanrefs} \subsection{Hyphenation} \Question[Q-nohyph]{My words aren't being hyphenated} Let's assume you've selected the right \TeX{} `language'~--- as explained in \Qref[question]{``how hyphenation works''}{Q-hyphen}, you're not likely to get the correct results typesetting one language using the hyphenation rules of another. (Select the proper language, using \Package{babel} if you're a \LaTeX{} user. This may reveal that you need another set of hyphenation patterns; see % beware line wrap \Qref[question]{``using a new language''}{Q-newlang} for advice on how to install it.) So what else can go wrong? \begin{itemize} \item Since \TeX{} version~3.0, the limits on how near to either end of a word hyphenation may take place have been programmable (see \Qref[question]{``weird hyphenation''}{Q-weirdhyphen}), and for some reason the values in question may have been corrupted in some macros you are using. \TeX{} won't hyphenate less than \csx{lefthyphenmin} characters after the start of a word, nor less than \csx{righthyphenmin} before the end of a word; thus it won't hyphenate a word shorter than the sum of the two minima, at all. For example, since the minima are 2 and 3 for English, \TeX{} won't hyphenate a word shorter than 5 letters long, if it believes the word to be English. \item \TeX{} won't hyphenate a word that's already been hyphenated. For example, the (caricature) English surname Smyth-Postlethwaite wouldn't hyphenate, which could be troublesome. This is correct English typesetting style (it may not be correct for other languages), but if needs must, you can replace the hyphen in the name with a \csx{hyph} command, defined \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \def\hyph{-\penalty0\hskip0pt\relax} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} This is \emph{not} the sort of thing this \acro{FAQ} would ordinarily recommend\dots{} The \Package{hyphenat} package defines a bundle of such commands (for introducing hyphenation points at various punctuation characters). \item There may be accent commands in the word. The causes of and remedies for this effect are discussed in % !line break \Qref[question]{accents and hyphens}{Q-hyphenaccents}. \item The hyphenation may simply not have been spotted; while \TeX{}'s algorithm is good, it's not infallible, and it does miss perfectly good hyphenations in some languages. When this happens, you need to give \TeX{} \emph{explicit} instructions on how to hyphenate. \end{itemize} The \csx{hyphenation} command allows you to give explicit instructions. Provided that the word will hyphenate at all (that is, it is not prevented from hyphenating by any of the other restrictions above), the command will override anything the hyphenation patterns might dictate. The command takes one or more hyphenated words as argument~--- \cmdinvoke{hyphenation}{ana-lysis pot-able}; note that (as here, for analysis) you can use the command to overrule \TeX{}'s choice of hyphenation (ana-lysis is the British etymological hyphenation; some feel the American hyphenation feels `unfortunate'\dots{}). \begin{ctanrefs} \item[hyphenat.sty]\CTANref{hyphenat} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2013-09-20} \Question[Q-weirdhyphen]{Weird hyphenation of words} If your words are being h-yphenated, like this, with jus-t single letters at the beginning or the end of the word, you may have a version mismatch problem. \TeX{}'s hyphenation system changed between version~2.9 and~3.0, and macros written for use with version~2.9 can have this effect with a version~3.0 system. If you are using \plaintex{}, make sure your \File{plain.tex} file has a version number which is at least~3.0, and rebuild your format. If you are using \LaTeXo{} your best plan is to upgrade to \LaTeXe{}. If for some reason you can't, the last version of \LaTeXo{} (released on 25 March 1992) is still available (for the time being at least) and ought to solve this problem. If you're using \LaTeXe{}, the problem probably arises from your |hyphen.cfg| file, which has to be created if you're using a multi-lingual version. A further source of oddity can derive from the 1995 release of \Qref*{Cork-encoded fonts}{Q-ECfonts}, which introduced an alternative hyphen character. The \LaTeXe{} configuration files in the font release specified use of the alternative hyphen, and this could produce odd effects with words containing an explicit hyphen. The font configuration files in the December 1995 release of \LaTeXe{} do \emph{not} use the alternative hyphen character, and therefore removed this source of problems; the solution, again, is to upgrade your \LaTeX{}. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}\LaTeXo{}]\CTANref{latex209-base} \item[plain.tex]\CTANref{plain} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-oddhyphen]{(Merely) peculiar hyphenation} You may have found that \TeX{}'s famed automatic word-division does not produce the break-points recommended by your dictionary. This may be because \TeX{} is set up for American English, whose rules for word division (as specified, for example, in Webster's Dictionary) are completely different from the British ones (as specified, for example, in the Oxford Dictionaries). This problem is being addressed by the \acro{UK} \TeX{} User community (see \BV{}, issue~4.4) but an entirely satisfactory solution will take time; the current status is to be found on \acro{CTAN} (see % beware line-wrap \Qref[question]{``using a new language''}{Q-newlang} for instructions on adding this new ``language''). \begin{ctanrefs} \item[UK patterns]\CTANref{ukhyph} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-hyphenaccents]{Accented words aren't hyphenated} \TeX{}'s algorithm for hyphenation gives up when it encounters an \csx{accent} command; there are good reasons for this, but it means that quality typesetting in non-English languages can be difficult. For \TeX{} macro packages, you can avoiding the effect by using an appropriately encoded font (for example, a Cork-encoded font~--- see \Qref[question]{the \acro{EC} fonts}{Q-ECfonts}) which contains accented letters as single glyphs. \LaTeX{} users can achieve this end simply by adding the command \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \end{verbatim} to the preamble of their document. Other encodings (notably \acro{LY}1, once promoted by \YandY{} inc) may be used in place of \acro{T}1. Indeed, most current 8-bit \TeX{} font encodings will `work' with the relevant sets of hyphenation patterns. With the advance of \xetex{} and \luatex{} to the mainstream, a new regime for generating hyphenation tables is in place. For each language, a table is written in Unicode, and ``8-bit'' versions are generated for use with various \latex{} font encodings. Original sets of patterns remain on \acro{CTAN}, for use when an older environment is needed. \Question[Q-newlang]{Using a new language with Babel} \Package{Babel} is capable of working with a large range of languages, and a new user often wants to use a language that her \TeX{} installation is not set up to employ. Simply asking Babel to use the language, with the command \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[catalan]{babel} \end{verbatim} provokes the warning message \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} Package babel Warning: No hyphenation patterns were loaded for (babel) the language `Catalan' (babel) I will use the patterns loaded for \language=0 instead. \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} Package babel Warning: No hyphenation patterns were loaded for (babel) the language `Catalan' (babel) I will use the patterns loaded for \language=0 instead. \end{verbatim} (The first and third lines above have been wrapped to fit in the column.) \end{narrowversion} The problem is that your \TeX{} system doesn't know how to hyphenate Catalan text: you need to tell it how before Babel can do its work properly. To do this, for \LaTeX{} installations, one needs to change \File{language.dat} (which is part of the Babel installation); it will contain a line \begin{verbatim} %catalan cahyphen.tex \end{verbatim} which, if you remove the comment marker, is supposed to instruct \LaTeX{} to load Catalan hyphenation patterns when you tell it to build a new format. Unfortunately, in many Babel distributions, the line just isn't right~--- you need to check the name of the file containing the patterns you're going to use. As you can see, in the author's system, the name is supposed to be \File{cahyphen.tex}; however the file actually present on the system is \File{cahyph.tex}~--- fortunately, the error should prove little more than an inconvenience (most of the files are in better distributions anyway, but an elusive one may be found on \acro{CTAN}; if you have to retrieve a new file, ensure that it's correctly installed, for which see \Qref[question]{installing a new package}{Q-inst-wlcf}). Finally, you need to regenerate the formats used (in fact, most users of Babel are using it in their \LaTeX{} documents, so regenerating the \LaTeX{}-related formats will ordinarily be enough; however, the author always generates the lot, regardless). \begin{description} \item[te\TeX{}]It's possible to do the whole operation in one go, by using the \ProgName{texconfig} command: \begin{verbatim} texconfig hyphen latex \end{verbatim} which first enters an editor for you to edit \File{language.dat}, and then regenerates the format you specify (\ProgName{latex} in this case). Otherwise, to regenerate all formats, do: \\ \texttt{fmtutil -\relax-all} If you're willing to think through what you're doing (this is \emph{not} for the faint-hearted), you can select a sequence of formats and for each one, run: \\ \texttt{fmtutil -\relax-byfmt \meta{formatname}}\\ where \emph{\texttt{formatname}} is something like `\texttt{latex}', or: \\ \texttt{fmtutil -\relax-byhyphen \meta{hyphenfile}}\\ where \emph{\texttt{hyphenfile}} is the file specifying hyphenation to the format~--- usually \texttt{language.dat} \item[\miktex{}] On a \Package{\miktex{}} distribution earlier than v2.0, do: \\ \texttt{Start}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{Programs}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{\miktex{}}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{Maintenance}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{Create all format files} % this sequence suggested for miktex 1.20e, 2000/12/22, by Giuseppe Bilotta or get a DOS window and run:\\ \texttt{initexmf -\relax-dump} On a \Package{\miktex{}} distribution v2.0 or later, the whole procedure can be done via the \acro{GUI}. To select the new language, do:\\ \texttt{Start}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{Programs}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{\miktex{} 2}\arrowhyph{}% \texttt{\miktex{} Options}, and select the \texttt{Languages} tab. Select your language from the list, press the \texttt{Apply} button, and then the \texttt{OK} button. Then select the \texttt{General} tab and press the \texttt{Update Now} button. Otherwise, edit the \File{language.dat} file (as outlined above), and then run:\\ \texttt{initexmf -\relax-dump}\\ just as for a pre-v2.0 system. \end{description} \nothtml{\noindent}\textbf{\emph{Caveat}:} It is (just) possible that your \TeX{} system may run out of ``pattern memory'' while generating the new format. Most \TeX{} implementations have fixed-size arrays for storing the details of hyphenation patterns, but although their size is adjustable in most modern distributions, actually changing the size is a fiddle. If you \emph{do} find you've run out of memory, it may be worth scanning the list of languages in your \File{language.dat} to see whether any could reasonably be removed. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[babel]\CTANref{babel} \item[hyphenation patterns]\CTANref{hyphenation} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-hyphoff]{Stopping all hyphenation} It may seem an odd thing to want to do (after all, one of \TeX{}'s great advertised virtues is the quality of its hyphenation) but it's sometimes necessary. The real problem is, that the quality of \TeX{}'s output is by default largely dependent on the presence of hyphenation; if you want to abandon hyphenation, something has to give. \TeX{} (slightly confusingly) offers four possible mechanisms for suppressing hyphenation (there were only two prior to the extensions that arrived with \TeX{} version~3). First, one can set the hyphenation penalties \csx{hyphenpenalty} and \csx{exhyphenpenalty} to an `infinite' value (that is to say, 10000). This means that all hyphenations will sufficiently penalise the line that would contain them, that the hyphenation won't happen. The disadvantage of this method is that \TeX{} will re-evaluate any paragraph for which hyphenations might help, which will slow \TeX{} down. Second, one can select a language for which no hyphenation patterns exist. Some distributions create a language \texttt{nohyphenation}, and the \Package{hyphenat} package uses this technique for its \csx{nohyphens} command which sets its argument without any hyphenation. You can load \Package{hyphenat} with the command \begin{quote} \cmdinvoke{usepackage}[none]{hyphenat} \end{quote} to prevent any hyphenation in a single-language document. The technique cannot work in a document in which \Package{babel} controls language selection, since \Package{babel} incorporates hyphenation change into its language change facilities. Third, one can set \csx{left-} and/or \csx{righthyphenmin} to a sufficiently large value that no hyphenation could possibly succeed, since the minimum is larger than the length of the longest word \TeX{} is willing to hyphenate (the appropriate value is 62). Fourth, one can suppress hyphenation for all text using the current font by the command \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \hyphenchar\font=-1 \end{verbatim} \end{quote} This isn't a particularly practical way for users to suppress hyphenation~--- the command has to be issued for every font the document uses~--- but it's how \LaTeX{} itself suppresses hyphenation in \texttt{tt} and other fixed-width fonts. Which of the techniques you should use depends on what you actually want to do. If the text whose hyphenation is to be suppressed runs for less than a paragraph, your only choice is the no-hyphens language: the language value is preserved along with the text (in the same way that the current font is); the values for penalties and hyphen minima active at the end of a paragraph are used when hyphenation is calculated. Contrariwise, if you are writing a multilanguage document using the \Package{babel} package, you \emph{cannot} suppress hyphenation throughout using either the no-hyphens language or the hyphen minima: all those values get changed at a \Package{babel} language switch: use the penalties instead. If you simply switch off hyphenation for a good bit of text, the output will have a jagged edge (with many lines seriously overfull), and your \AllTeX{} run will bombard you with warnings about overfull and underfull boxes (that is, really, lines). To avoid this you have two options. The simplest route is to use \csx{sloppy} (or its environment version \environment{sloppypar}), and have \TeX{} stretch what would otherwise be underfull lines to fill the space offered, while prematurely wrapping overfull lines and stretching the remainder. The better bet is to set the text \Qref*{ragged right}{Q-ragright}, and at least get rid of the overfull lines; this technique is `traditional' (in the sense that typists have always done it) and may be expected to appeal to the specifiers of eccentric document layouts (such as those for dissertations), but for once their sense conforms with typographic style. (Or at least, style constrained in this curious way.) \begin{ctanrefs} \item[hyphenat.sty]\CTANref{hyphenat} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2013-09-20} \Question[Q-wdnohyph]{Preventing hyphenation of a particular word} It's quite possible for (\emph{any}) hyphenation of a particular word to seem ``completely wrong'', so that you want to prevent it being hyphenated. If the word occurs in just one place, put it in a box: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \mbox{oddword} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (\plaintex{} users should use \csx{hbox}, and take care at the start of paragraphs.) However, boxing the word is not really advisable unless you are sure it only occurs once. If the word occurs commonly, the best choice is to assert an hyphenation exception for it: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \hyphenation{oddword} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} This hyphenation exception (with no break points) will be used in preference to what \TeX{}'s hyphenation algorithm may come up with. In a multilingual document, repeat the exception specification for each language the word may appear in. So: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[french,english]{babel} \selectlanguage{english} \hyphenation{oddword} \selectlanguage{french} \hyphenation{oddword} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (note that \Package{babel} will select the default language for the document~--- English, in this case~--- at \cmdinvoke{begin}{document}.) A particular instance of this requirement is avoiding the hyphenation of acronyms; a general rule for those that concoct acronyms seems to be to make the capital-letter sequence read as near as is possible like a ``real'' word, but hyphenating an acronym often looks silly. The \TeX{} control \csx{uchyph} is designed for suppressing such behaviour: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \uchyph=0 \end{verbatim} \end{quote} will stop hyphenation of upper-case words. (Note that \plaintex{} syntax is needed here: there's no \LaTeX{} alternative for setting this value.) \Question[Q-hyphexcept]{Hyphenation exceptions} While \TeX{}'s hyphenation rules are good, they're not infallible: you will occasionally find words \TeX{} just gets \emph{wrong}. So for example, \TeX{}'s default hyphenation rules (for American English) don't know the word ``\emph{manuscript}'', and since it's a long word you may find you need to hyphenate it. You \emph{can} ``write the hyphenation out'' each time you use the word: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} ... man\-u\-script ... \end{verbatim} \end{quote} Here, each of the \csx{-} commands is converted to a hyphenated break, if (\emph{and only if}) necessary. That technique can rapidly become tedious: you'll probably only accept it if there are no more than one or two wrongly-hyphenated words in your document. The alternative is to set up hyphenations in the document preamble. To do that, for the hyphenation above, you would write: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \hyphenation{man-u-script} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} and the hyphenation would be set for the whole document. Barbara Beeton publishes articles containing lists of these ``hyphenation exceptions'', in \textsl{TUGboat}; the hyphenation `man-u-script' comes from one of those articles. What if you have more than one language in your document? Simple: select the appropriate language, and do the same as above: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[french]{babel} \selectlanguage{french} \hyphenation{re-cher-cher} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} (nothing clever here: this is the ``correct'' hyphenation of the word, in the current tables). However, there's a problem here: just as words with accent macros in them won't break, so an \csx{hyphenation} commands with accent macros in its argument will produce an error: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[french]{babel} \selectlanguage{french} \hyphenation{r\'e-f\'e-rence} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} tells us that the hyphenation is ``improper'', and that it will be ``flushed''. But, just as hyphenation of words is enabled by selecting an 8-bit font encoding, so \csx{hyphenation} commands are rendered proper again by selecting that same 8-bit font encoding. For the hyphenation patterns provided for `legacy', the encoding is \Qref*{Cork}{Q-ECfonts}, so the complete sequence is: \begin{quote} \begin{verbatim} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage[french]{babel} \selectlanguage{french} \hyphenation{r\'e-f\'e-rence} \end{verbatim} \end{quote} The same sort of performance goes for any language for which 8-bit fonts and corresponding hyphenation patterns are available. Since you have to select both the language and the font encoding to have your document typeset correctly, it should not be a great imposition to do the selections before setting up hyphenation exceptions. Modern TeX variants (principally \xetex{} and \luatex{}) use unicode, internally, and distributions that offer them also offer \acro{UTF}-8-encoded patterns; since the hyphenation team do all the work ``behind the scenes'', the use of Unicode hyphenation is deceptively similar to what we are used to. \LastEdit{2013-09-20} \subsection{Odds and ends} \Question[Q-logos]{Typesetting all those \TeX{}-related logos} Knuth was making a particular point about the capabilities of \TeX{} when he defined the logo. Unfortunately (in some people's opinion) he thereby opened floodgates to give the world a whole range of rather silly `bumpy road' logos for \TeX{} entities such as \AMSTeX{}, \pictex{}, \BibTeX{}, and so on, produced in a flurry of different fonts, sizes, and baselines~--- indeed, everything one might hope to cause them to obstruct the reading process. In particular, Lamport invented \LaTeX{} (silly enough in itself, with a raised small `A' and a lowered `E') and marketing input from Addison-Wesley led to the even stranger current logo for \LaTeXe{}, which appends a lowered % !line break \latexhtml{\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}{single-stroke Greek letter ε}. Sensible users don't have to follow this stuff wherever it goes, but, for those who insist, a large collection of logos is defined in the \Package{texnames} package (but note that this set of macros isn't entirely reliable in \LaTeXe{}). The \MF{} and \MP{} logos can be set in fonts that \LaTeXe{} knows about (so that they scale with the surrounding text) using the \Package{mflogo} package; but be aware that booby-traps surround the use of the Knuthian font for \MP{} (you might get \begin{typesetversion} \textlogo{META\hphantom{P}O\hphantom{S}T}). \end{typesetversion} % the following htmlversion stuff seems to do roughly what's required, % which is nice, given the feebleness of representing all these silly % logos in html otherwise... \begin{htmlversion} something like `META\ \ O\ \ T'). \end{htmlversion} You needn't despair, however~--- most versions of the logo font distributed nowadays contain the missing letters, and the author himself uses just `MetaPost'. A well-designed set of macros is provided by package \Package{hologo}, which defines a command \csx{hologo}, which one uses as (for example) \cmdinvoke{hologo}{pdfLaTeX} for what you might get by typing ``\texttt{pdf}\csx{LaTeX}'', as well as a capitalised version \cmdinvoke{Hologo}{pdfLaTeX} for ``\texttt{Pdf}\csx{LaTeX}''. The package \Package{metalogo} deals with a problem of these myriad logos, that's often ignored nowadays: the geometry of characters from different fonts is (obviously) different, and they naturally fit together differently. The package makes it possible for you to adjust the spacing between the the letters of one of these odd logos (even the especially weird mirrored ``E'' in \xetex{}). For those who don't wish to acquire the `proper' logos, the canonical thing to do is to say \texttt{AMS-}\cmdinvoke{TeX}{} for \AMSTeX{}, \texttt{Pic}\cmdinvoke{TeX}{} for \pictex{}, \texttt{Bib}\cmdinvoke{TeX}{} for \BibTeX{}, and so on. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[hologo.sty]Distributed as part of \CTANref{oberdiek}[hologo] \item[metalogo.sty]\CTANref{metalogo} \item[mflogo.sty]\CTANref{mflogo} \item[texnames.sty]\CTANref{texnames} \end{ctanrefs} \LastEdit{2010-03-24} \Question[Q-bold-extras]{How to do bold-tt or bold-sc} \LaTeX{}, as delivered, offers no means of handling bold ``teletype'' or small-caps fonts. There's a practical reason for this (Knuth never designed such fonts), but there are typographical considerations too (the ``medium weight'' \texttt{cmtt} font is already pretty bold (by comparison with other fixed-width fonts), and bold small-caps is not popular with many professional typographers). There's a set of ``extra'' \MF{} files on \acro{CTAN} that provide bold versions of both \texttt{cmtt} and \texttt{cmcsc} (the small caps font). With modern \TeX{} distributions, one may bring these fonts into use simply by placing them in an % ! line break \Qref*{appropriate place in the \emph{texmf} tree}{Q-install-where} (these are \AllTeX{}-specific files, so the ``\emph{public}'' supplier would be an appropriate place). Once you've % ! line break, again \Qref*{rebuilt the file indexes as necessary}{Q-inst-wlcf}, \TeX{} (and friends) will automatically build whatever font files they need when you first make reference to them. There's a jiffy package \Package{bold-extra} that builds the necessary font data structures so that you can use the fonts within \LaTeX{}. Another alternative is to use the \Qref*{\acro{EC} fonts}{Q-ECfonts}, which come with bold variants of the small-caps fonts. If you need to use Type~1 fonts, you can't proceed with Knuth-style fonts, since there are no Type~1 versions of the \Package{mf-extra} set. There are, however, Type~1 distributions of the EC~fonts, so you can switch to EC and use them; alternatives are discussed in \Qref[question]{8-bit Type~1 fonts}{Q-type1T1}. Of course, commercial fixed-width fonts (even the default \FontName{Courier}) almost always come with a bold variant, so that's not a problem. Furthermore \Qref*{\acro{PSNFSS}}{Q-usepsfont} will usually provide ``faked'' small caps fonts, and has no compunctions about providing them in a bold form. \FontName{Courier} is (as we all know, to our cost) freely available; a far more presentable monospace font is \FontName{LuxiMono}, which is also freely available (monospace text in the typeset version of this \acro{FAQ} uses \FontName{LuxiMono}, with the metrics and \LaTeX{} support available on the archive. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[bold-extra.sty]\CTANref{bold-extra} \item[bold tt and small caps fonts]\CTANref{bold} \item[\nothtml{\rmfamily}LuxiMono fonts]\CTANref{luximono} \end{ctanrefs} \Question[Q-varwidth]{Automatic sizing of \environment{minipage}} The \environment{minipage} environment requires you to specify the width of the ``page'' you're going to create. This is sometimes inconvenient: you would like to occupy less space, if possible, but \environment{minipage} sets a box that is exactly the width you specified. The \Package{pbox} package defines a \csx{pbox} whose width is exactly that of the longest enclosed line, subject to a maximum width that you give it. So while \cmdinvoke{parbox}{2cm}{Hello\bsbs world!} produces a box of width exactly \texttt{2cm}, \cmdinvoke{pbox}{2cm}{Hello\bsbs world!} produces one whose width is \texttt{1.79cm} (if one's using the default \FontName{cmr} font for the text, at least). The package also provides a \cmdinvoke*{settominwidth}[min]{length}{text} (which looks (almost) like the standard \csx{settowidth} command), and a \csx{widthofpbox} function analogous to the \csx{widthof} command for use with the \Package{calc} package. The \Package{eqparbox} package extends \Package{pbox}'s idea, by allowing you to set a series of boxes, all with the same (minimised) width. (Note that it doesn't accept a limiting maximum width parameter.) The package documentation shows the following example drawn from a joke \emph{curriculum vitae}: \begin{quote} \begin{narrowversion} \begin{verbatim} \noindent% \eqparbox{place}% {\textbf{Widgets, Inc.}} \hfill \eqparbox{title}% {\textbf{Senior Widget Designer}} \hfill \eqparbox{dates}{\textbf{1/95--present}} ... \noindent% \eqparbox{place}% {\textbf{Thingamabobs, Ltd.}} \hfill \eqparbox{title}% {\textbf{Lead Engineer}} \hfill \eqparbox{dates}{\textbf{9/92--12/94}} \end{verbatim} \end{narrowversion} \begin{wideversion} \begin{verbatim} \noindent% \eqparbox{place}{\textbf{Widgets, Inc.}} \hfill \eqparbox{title}{\textbf{Senior Widget Designer}} \hfill \eqparbox{dates}{\textbf{1/95--present}} ... \noindent% \eqparbox{place}{\textbf{Thingamabobs, Ltd.}} \hfill \eqparbox{title}{\textbf{Lead Engineer}} \hfill \eqparbox{dates}{\textbf{9/92--12/94}} \end{verbatim} \end{wideversion} \end{quote} The code makes the three items on each of the heading lines have exactly the same width, so that the lines as a whole produce a regular pattern down the page. A command \csx{eqboxwidth} allows you to use the measured width of a group: the documentation shows how the command may be used to produce sensible-looking columns that mix \texttt{c}-, \texttt{r}- or \texttt{l}-rows, with the equivalent of a |p{...}| entry, by making the fixed-width rows an \Package{eqparbox} group, and making the last from a \csx{parbox} using the width that's been measured for the group. The \Package{varwidth} package defines a \environment{varwidth} environment which sets the content of the box to match a ``narrower natural width'' if it finds one. (You give it the same parameters as you would give \environment{minipage}: in effect, it is a `drop-in' replacement.) \Package{Varwidth} provides its own ragged text command: \csx{narrowragged}, which aims to make narrower lines and to put more text in the last line of the paragraph (thus producing lines with more nearly equal lengths than typically happens with \csx{raggedright} itself). The documentation (in the package file) lists various restrictions and things still to be done, but the package is already proving useful for a variety of jobs. \begin{ctanrefs} \item[eqparbox.sty]\CTANref{eqparbox} \item[pbox.sty]\CTANref{pbox} \item[varwidth.sty]\CTANref{varwidth} \end{ctanrefs}