# Can LaTeX be used to make a sheet of blank lines?

Specifically, a bunch of them; for a sign-in sheet, list of signatures for a petition or a worksheet with short answer essay style questions.

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Would anything from this document be suitable? svenhartenstein.de/uploads/latex-questionnaire.pdf If yes, continue here: svenhartenstein.de/Software/LaTeX-Questionnaires –  Harold Cavendish Jul 30 '11 at 21:28
@Harrold: Is there a bubble-sheet form created with LaTeX? –  xport Jul 30 '11 at 21:57
@xport I am not aware of any particular. –  Harold Cavendish Jul 31 '11 at 9:54
@Harrold Is there a way to make this into two columns? –  Charlie Aug 2 '11 at 22:08
@Charlie Absolutely. You can use for example the class option twocolumn or the package multicol. –  Harold Cavendish Aug 2 '11 at 22:17

The exam document class offers you ready-to-use environments and commands for essay-questions; a little example:

\documentclass{exam}

\begin{document}

\begin{EnvFullwidth}
\Large \textbf{Essay questions}
\end{EnvFullwidth}

\begin{questions}
\question
Explain how the cooling of matter in the centuries following the big
bang has influenced the British parliamentary system of government
\fillwithlines{2in}
\question
What changes to the van Allen radiation belt are needed to make
the earth into a regular icosahedron?
\fillwithlines{1in}
\end{questions}

\end{document}


The distance between the lines can be changed by setting the length \linefillheight (default value 0.25in); the thickness of the lines can be changed by setting the length \linefillthickness (default value 0.1pt). The remaining space on the page can be filled with linesby using

\fillwithlines{\stretch{1}}
\newpage

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LaTeX never ceases to amaze me. +1 –  Reid Jul 31 '11 at 4:59
This is great, thanks. Is there a way to make this two columns? –  Charlie Aug 2 '11 at 21:55
@Charlie: I am not sure that I understand your question. You can use the twocolumn class option: \documentclass[twocolumn]{exam}. If this is not what you need, please give a more detailed explanation of what you need. –  Gonzalo Medina Aug 2 '11 at 23:17

I have the following:

\newenvironment{rules}[1][1]
{\flushleft\minipage{\textwidth}
\def\\{\begingroup\leavevmode\parfillskip=0pt
\hrulefill\endgraf\endgroup}}
{\endminipage\endflushleft}


Here is an example

Some text before.
\begin{rules}[1.5]
Give a short proof of Fermat's last theorem  \\ \\ \\
\end{rules}
Some text after.


The optional argument is a factor for vertically spacing the rules (acts on \baselinestretch.

Minimal example

\documentclass{article}

\newenvironment{rules}[1][1]
{\flushleft\minipage{\textwidth}
\def\\{\begingroup\leavevmode\parfillskip=0pt
\hrulefill\endgraf\endgroup}}
{\endminipage\endflushleft}

\begin{document}

Some text before.

\begin{rules}[1.5]
Give a short proof of Fermat's last theorem  \\ \\ \\
\end{rules}

Some text after.

\end{document}


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"I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this, which this margin is too narrow to contain." So two and a half lines should be sufficient. :) –  Alexander Oct 23 '12 at 12:23
@Alexander Cubum autem in duos cubos, aut quadratoquadratorum in duos quadratoquadratos, et generaliter nullam in infinitum ultra quadratum potestatem in duos eiusdem nominis fas est dividere. Cuius rei demonstrationem mirabilem sane detexi hanc marginis exiguitas non caperet. –  egreg Oct 23 '12 at 12:27

The \hrule command creates horizontal lines. Other commands, such as \bigskip or \smallskip separate the lines. Here are 3 lines (each 5 inches in length) and two different separations between them.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\hrule width 5.0in
\bigskip
\bigskip
\hrule width 5.0in
\bigskip
\hrule width 5.0in
\end{document}


The \hrule command has several arguments but only the width of the line is mentioned here. For more information on lines and their arguments consider "A Gentle Introduction to TeX" which can be downloaded by clicking here: Gentle. The pages 70-72 are most relevant to your question.

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