61

What is the difference between \vspace{\fill} and \vfill? What about the starred version of them?

|improve this question
57

\vspace{\fill} and \vfill are not exactly equivalent. They are if they appear between paragraphs, but not if they appear in a paragraph.

  • \vspace{\fill} in a paragraph will add the filling vertical space below the line in which it eventually appears;

  • \vfill ends the paragraph at the spot and adds the filling vertical space.

Indeed \vfill is a TeX primitive, while \vspace is defined by LaTeX to have the described effect when found in a paragraph. In vertical mode, \vspace{<glue>} is equivalent to the primitive \vskip<glue>. See \vspace vs. \vskip for more information.

There is no \vfill*, if you're asking about this. The difference between \vspace{<glue>} and \vspace*{<glue>} is that the latter is not discarded at page breaks. See Question about spacing \hspace and \vspace.

|improve this answer
  • 2
    I didn't know there is no \vfill*, but I was also interested about \vspace*{\vfill} – Mario S. E. Jun 12 '13 at 11:02
  • 3
    @MarioS.E. You probably mean \vspace*{\fill}: it exists and has a similar behaviour to \vspace*, only using \fill as the length for the vertical space. One of the uses is to put a paragraph at the bottom of the page, e.g. a colophon, when there is no other text on the page (hence the use of the *). – tricasse Mar 21 '15 at 15:05

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.