Section should automatically start new page if the whole section does not fit on current page

Question

I would like my sections to start on a new page if they do not fit on the current page. In other words: if a section fits on the current page print it, if it does not fit start printing it on the next page.

I would like this to be done automatically.

\usepackage{titlesec} seems to be the solution, but I can not get it to do the job.

• Should it be done with titlesec? how ?
• Is there a better approach?

Answer 1

There is a simple solution that does require only a single pass ...

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand\mysection{\vfil\penalty-9999\vfilneg\section}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}
\mysection{A} \lipsum[3]
\mysection{B} \lipsum[1-2]
\mysection{C} \lipsum[5] 
\end{document}

Answer 2

Some ideas:

1. Set \labels at the start and end of the section and check if they are on the same page. You'll need multiple runs and you have to mark the end of sections.
2. Typeset the content of the section e.g. in a minipage and check its length. This will be quite fragile. And you will have to catch the content.

Answer 3

If the sections will never be longer than one page, you could wrap them in some unbreakable environment (e.g. minipage) and they will automatically be moved to the next page if they don't fit.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\begin{document}

\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\section{title}
\lipsum[1-2]
\end{minipage}

\bigskip
\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\section{title}
\lipsum[1]
\end{minipage}

\bigskip
\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\section{title}
\lipsum[1-2]
\end{minipage}

\bigskip
\noindent\begin{minipage}{\textwidth}
\section{title}
\lipsum[1-2]
\end{minipage}

\end{document}