{spacing} is about both horizontal and vertical white space, e.g. space between letters or words, or space between paragraphs. For adjusting the space between the lines of a document, use {line-spacing} or -- if your question is specifically about the package of the same name -- {setspace}.
82
votes
4answers
11k views
Space after LaTeX commands
I have a definition
\newcommand{\arnold}{Arnold Schwarzenegger}
when I refer to it by
\arnold is a
it is rendered as
Arnold Schwarzeneggeris a
In order to have a space in front of "is" I ...
52
votes
4answers
3k views
Is there an easy way to have my whole document with a space between paragraphs rather than indentation?
I would like to have my whole document showing a blank line (or space) between paragraphs and no indentation. I know how to do it line by line, but is there a way to change that with just one or a few ...
43
votes
2answers
17k views
How do I create an invisible character?
I cannot remember how to create an invisible character in LaTeX, i.e. I want to put a space the that has the width of a particular character, say `M'. I know there is a command for this, and this is ...
43
votes
4answers
721 views
Why does \vspace, after section heading, sometimes jump/snap in discrete steps?
Well, this is one question that I've had for a long time, and one that always gets me extremely irritated. However, this time I'm even somewhat happy - that I can ask the question at all; and that is ...
41
votes
3answers
2k views
Spacing around \left and \right
Why does the addition of a \left and \right introduces an extra space around the formula? Specifically, why do $\cos(\theta)$ and $\cos\left(\theta\right)$ render differently?
Is there a way to use ...
40
votes
16answers
7k views
Squeezing scientific paper to fit within page limits
I am submitting a paper to a conference that has a limit of 10 pages. I have edited and edited the text, but the paper still fills 11 pages, and I am reluctant to remove anything. What tricks can I ...
40
votes
3answers
31k views
\vspace vs. \vskip
What is the difference between \vspace{-1em} and \vskip -1em, for example? I guess the first is LaTeX, and the latter is TeX. When is the proper time to use one and not the other, and why?
40
votes
5answers
4k views
Good practice on spacing
In various places, in passing, I've seen mention of various good practices regarding well-behaved spacing in LaTeX. For example, Dr. Who should really be written Dr.\ Who or Dr.~Who to get the right ...
37
votes
2answers
3k views
Is a period after an abbreviation the same as an end of sentence period?
Does latex do anything special with periods? If so, is there a way to differentiate end-of-sentence periods from periods indicating abbreviation?
36
votes
2answers
10k views
Lengths and when to use them
There are many lengths in LaTeX. For instance, \enskip, \enspace, \quad, \parskip, \smallskip, ... Some of them are mostly used for vertical spacing, some others are mostly used for horizontal ...
31
votes
2answers
4k views
Two letter variable names
In math mode, TeX assumes "hidden multiplication" (so that two variable names put nearby have invisible multiplication between), so that, AFAICT, expressions like $ABC$ are rendered with small ...
31
votes
2answers
2k views
\newcommand and spacing
How can I define my own shorthand command, but making sure that the spacing afterwards is correct?
\newcommand{\abc}{\textsc{abc}} produces 'ABC,' but has the problem 'ABCmoretexthere' (i.e. no space ...
28
votes
11answers
4k views
Double space between sentences.
I've been reading a question on spaces between sentences on a sister site. The answers there seem to imply that the days of double spacing between sentences are over, and that this was a relic of the ...
28
votes
3answers
7k views
Vertical space in lists
What is the best way to globally change the amount of vertical space between items in list environments?
28
votes
1answer
409 views
Drawbacks of xspace
I'm certain I have read that xspace can cause more problems than it solves. But I cannot find anything to that effect either on this site or the web. Are there any drawbacks or risks associated with ...
28
votes
2answers
1k views
Macros for common abbreviations
Common abbreviations are surprisingly tricky to format correctly. I'd like some simple macros for them, to be used like so:
You should eat more fruit, \eg apples, bananas, oranges, \etc.
There are ...
27
votes
3answers
566 views
Removing the spaces between words
Is there any way to remove spaces from in between the words in a text? Something like
\RemoveSpaces{This is my sentence.}
which will be converted to
Thisismysentence.
27
votes
3answers
2k views
Bad spacing of math letters within italic text
I use the standard AMS theorem style, which means that my theorems are set in italic. In combination with math variables, this sometimes gives horrible spacing: The input If $U$ or $V$ \dots yields
...
27
votes
2answers
313 views
Why is there a \, space at the beginning of the “aligned” environment?
Near the beginning of the definition of the amsmath environments aligned and gathered (and also mathtools' multlined) there's an explicit thin space \,. This often has to be cancelled with \!, as ...
25
votes
4answers
16k views
Column padding in tables
How do you guys go about controlling column padding in tables?
UPDATE
To clarify, I'm looking for a way to control both vertical and horizontal padding. So, if I had a simple table like this
...
25
votes
4answers
5k views
When one should use spacing line \quad or \,
In general, in most places, it is said that using TeX defaults is the best. However, TeX does provide things like \, and \quad etc. When one should use them? Both in general and in math mode in ...
25
votes
1answer
688 views
When should I use intersentence spacing (`\@')?
I've got a sentence that ends on an acronym:
blah blah WORD. Next sentence blah
Running this through chktex, I'm informed that:
Warning 13 in ./file.tex line 9: Intersentence spacing (`\@') ...
24
votes
7answers
739 views
How to replace a large block of text by an empty block of the same size?
I know there exists the \phantom command, but does it work on large blocks of text (containing several paragraphs or even several pages)?
What I want is to have some commands, call them \hide and ...
24
votes
2answers
497 views
Ensure minimal length of last line
This question led to a new feature in a package:
impnattypo
One rule in French typography is that the last line of a paragraph should not be shorter than the double of the indentation of the ...
24
votes
1answer
1k views
What, if anything, is the advantage of \bigskip and friends over \vspace?
What are the advantages to using \bigskip, \medskip, and \smallskip instead of just using \vspace{somelength}?
23
votes
3answers
5k views
Adding vertical space at the start of a page
I'd like to, first thing before writing anything on a page, add some vertical space.
Minimal (non)working example:
\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\vspace{250px}
I want to be further down ...
23
votes
1answer
631 views
What is glue stretching?
I had a question about dynamic vspaces (Dynamic vspace depending on text height) and there was a hint I should use a stretchable glue.
Searching with Google didn't give me a helpful answer.
I would ...
23
votes
2answers
697 views
What is the proper use of \@ (i.e., backslash-at)?
In this answer, \@ is used after a period and before an \xspace, presumably to indicate that the preceding period (in "etc.") was not sentence-final.
In these tips, \@ is used before a period and ...
22
votes
2answers
2k views
Large negative spaces
I know about \! which creates a thin negative space but is there any native command for large negative spaces (like quad or qquad for positive spaces) ?
22
votes
2answers
271 views
Two rules directly under each other
I'm trying to make two rules of different length directly under each other, something like:
--------------------
====================
Where = is a fatter line than -. The vertical space inbetween ...
22
votes
1answer
4k views
Vertical Spacing within align environment accounting for fractions
The default vertical spacing within an align environment seems very tight when there are fractions in the lines.
I am aware of three manual tweaks that can be applied:
Adjust the value \jot.
...
21
votes
1answer
5k views
What is the difference between \vskip and \vspace?
I found myself writing:
\vspace 1 \baselineskip
and then when not compiling changing without thinking to:
\vskip 1 \baselineskip
but what is the difference? Perhaps knowing this will make me ...
21
votes
1answer
5k views
Remove space around bullet points in itemized or enumerated list
How can I reduce the amount of space around items in an itemized or enumerated list? I would like to reduce the vertical space between items, the space to the left of the bullet, and the space ...
20
votes
2answers
545 views
Why does \xspace behave differently for parenthesis vs. braces/brackets?
Consider:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xspace}
\begin{document}
(something\xspace)
[something\xspace]
\{something\xspace\}
\end{document}
Or more to the point:
\documentclass{article}
...
19
votes
3answers
16k views
Removing vertical space inside \maketitle
In \documentclass{article}, the \maketitle command results in a lot of wasted vertical space. Is there any way for me to remove it? In other words, I'd like the author to appear directly below the ...
19
votes
2answers
402 views
Too much space before digit “1”
In many fonts, the digit 1 contains a lot of empty space on its left side. Maybe this is desirable inside a number like 512, but it looks wrong to me when the 1 appears at the beginning of a word, as ...
19
votes
3answers
1k views
Canonical way to typeset spacing in abbreviations
In a comment to When one should use spacing line \quad or \, Herbert claims that e.\,g. is the canonical way to typeset spacing in abbreviations (this is not about spacing before or after ...
19
votes
1answer
5k views
What commands are there for horizontal spacing?
I know that \: in LaTeX produces a space when rendered.
Are there any alternatives, because my LaTeX renderer doesn't support \: (it renders it as text), and there is no help / FAQ that I can find.
19
votes
1answer
314 views
When to use a \mbox or a tilde for words that have to stay together
I am new to La Tex and wondering when to use a tilde, or a \mbox? A tilde prohibits a line break and so does \mbox, so when to use one or the other? For example, should I use:
\mbox{words to kept ...
19
votes
2answers
815 views
Proper use of \mathchoice
I am trying to learn how to use \mathchoice.
Before the solution was posted for Non-invasive replacement for \fbox?, I attempted to use mathchoice to adjust the size of the parameter before ...
18
votes
4answers
14k views
Have new line between paragraphs, no indentation [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there an easy way to have my whole document with a space between paragraphs rather than indentation?
I am sure that this must be a dup, but I can't find the right ...
18
votes
6answers
547 views
How to increase row height while using booktabs?
I'm making a table using booktabs. One of the columns contains a series of fractions.
\documentclass[12pt, letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage{nag}
\usepackage[margin=1.0in]{geometry}
...
18
votes
4answers
2k views
Using display style fraction in a matrix environment
I'd like use the \dfrac command in a bmatrix environment as follows:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\[
\begin{bmatrix}
\dfrac{\partial f}{\partial x}
\\
...
18
votes
2answers
2k views
Why should I put a ~ before \ref or \cite?
My question is in the title of this post, but extends to other referencing commands like \eqref, \citep, \citet (and the like) as well.
18
votes
1answer
1k views
How can I put more space between bibliography entries (biblatex)
My bibliography (made with biblatex) has all items close to each other. I would like to introduce some space between them, e.g. half a line.
How can I do this?
18
votes
3answers
2k views
When should we use a blank line?
I only know that we have to make at least one blank line between two adjacent paragraphs.
My question is:
What is the proper way to make use of a blank line ?
For example:
Is it recommended to ...
17
votes
5answers
2k views
Increasing Letterspace for words in caps or small caps
Some typographers say it's a good habit to increase the letterspace when writing words in caps or small caps. So my question is, how to do it with pdflatex and/or xelatex? And while we're at it, which ...
17
votes
3answers
1k views
Get the size that a figure is being rendered
Suppose I have a figure in my LaTeX document:
\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{some_graphic}
\end{figure}
My question is pretty simple: Is there a way to get the size that some_graphic ...
17
votes
2answers
490 views
How do you create .+?
I would like to display a = b .+ 1
But it is displayed as a = b. + 1 (moves . next to b).
17
votes
2answers
1k views
How can I use something like \vspace{\baselineskip plus 10pt}
Is it possible to use \baselineskip with some extra glue inside of \vspace?
\documentclass{scrartcl}
\begin{document}
Text
\vspace{\baselineskip}
Works
\vspace{12pt plus 10pt minus 5pt}
Works
...
