# Spacing in headline between number and text

How do I change the spacing between the number and the title of a section? I would like to have the following:

1.(1cm space)Section name

The "1.", "(1cm space)" and "Section name" are each components of the sectional command and, the titlesec package provides commands for manipulating this, and much more. Specifically, titlesec provides

\titleformat{<command>}[<shape>]{<format>}{<label>}{<sep>}{<before-code>}[<after-code>]


to change the format of a sectional title. You could use the latter in the following way:

\usepackage{titlesec}% Http://ctan.org/pkg/titlesec
...
\titleformat{\section}{\bfseries\sffamily\large}{\thesection.}{\hspace{1cm}}{}%


which typesets \section in \bfseries (bold), \sffamily (sans serif) and \large, with a period . after the section number \thesection, followed by a 1cm gap and then the title. This is what it looks like if you only modify the \section format as given above:

• Using titlesec with a KOMA-Script class (see the koma-script tag of the question) is not longer recommended. – Schweinebacke Jun 5 '17 at 8:56

This adjusts the space for all section headings, and also for sub(sub)sections to 1cm:

\makeatletter
\renewcommand*{\@seccntformat}[1]{\csname the#1\endcsname\hspace{1cm}}
\makeatother


You can modify this redefinition as you desire. It works with KOMA-Script classes as well, as I notice your tag.

• Thanks for your answer. Is there any way to make \hspace{1cm} start at the beginning of the line rather than after the section number? – Moked Aug 24 '11 at 13:32
• @Sebastian: I also have Sebastian's question - did you find a solution? – Christoph Mar 22 '12 at 10:54
• Ha, found the solution. You will find that using \renewcommand*{\@seccntformat}[1]{\hbox to 1cm{\csname the#1\endcsname}} will do the trick. – Christoph Mar 22 '12 at 11:19
• @Christoph Use \renewcommand*\sectionformat{\makebox[1cm][l]{\thesection\autodot \hfil}}. – esdd Jun 5 '17 at 19:42

With a KOMA-Script class you can redefine the KOMA-Script command \sectionformat:

\renewcommand*\sectionformat{\thesection\autodot\hspace{1cm}}


Example:

\documentclass{scrbook}
\renewcommand*\sectionformat{\thesection\autodot\hspace{1cm}}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\chapter{A chapter}
\lipsum[1]
\section{A section}
\lipsum[2]
\subsection{A subsection}
\lipsum[3]
\section{Another section}
\lipsum[4]
\end{document}


Note that this suggestion needs at least KOMA-Script version 3.17. Current version is 3.23.

Because of the comments to Stephans answer: If there should be a static width of eg. 1cm for the section number including the space, then

\renewcommand*\sectionformat{\makebox[1cm][l]{\thesection\autodot\hfil}}


can be used.

• And if number and space should have static width (see the comment to Johannes' answer), e.g., again \renewcommand*\sectionformat{\makebox[1cm][l]{\thesection\autodot\hfil}} can be used. – Schweinebacke Jun 5 '17 at 9:00