Is there a vertical equivalent for \rlap?

Question

I'm looking for some sort of vertical equivalent for \rlap, which can be used to typeset maybe one or more paragraphs (or minipages), but do not advance vertically the content that would appear immediately following this command. Are there anywhere some implementations of \tlap and \blap?

Answer 1

Usually I define those by hand. I don't know any package that provides them. Roughly something like:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\tlap}[1]{\vbox to 0pt{\vss\hbox{#1}}}
\newcommand{\blap}[1]{\vbox to 0pt{\hbox{#1}\vss}}

\begin{document}

\hrulefill\blap{\shortstack{haha\\huhu}}\hrulefill
\tlap{\shortstack{haha\\huhu}}\hrulefill\par

\end{document}

Answer 2

You can use \raisebox for this:

\raisebox{-\height}[0pt][0pt]{<content>}% blap
\raisebox{0pt}[0pt][0pt]{<content>}% tlap, without changing the baseline
\raisebox{+\depth}[0pt][0pt]{<content>}% tlap, with lapping it completely upwards

As Stephane pointed out you can also use \vbox to 0pt and \vss for this. See also my post and the discussion about this on comp.text.tex:
Vertical versions of \llap and \rlap: \tlap and \blap

I would write it now as follows to avoid any issues if used at the begin or between paragraphs:

\newcommand{\tlap}[1]{\mbox{\vbox to 0pt{\vss\hbox{#1}}}}
\newcommand{\blap}[1]{\mbox{\vbox to 0pt{\hbox{#1}\vss}}}

Answer 3

You can use \smash Here a small introduction: TUGboat, Volume 22 (2001), No. 4