Questions tagged [plain-tex]
Plain TeX is Knuth's original default format for TeX documents.
787
questions
3
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0
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How to install LuaMetaTeX to MikTeX on Windows 11?
On GitHub you can find the Plain and LaTeX format for LuaMetaTeX. I am a Plain LuaTeX user and would like to switch to Plain LuaMetaTeX for some reasons. Examples: unpacking the contents of \left and \...
- 950
3
votes
2
answers
78
views
Using `\<char> notation to work in replacement text (macro argument) - plain TeX
I'm still trying (again) to not succumb to the TeX syntax.
I'd like to create a "if/when" that checks if a character is letter (catcode 11).
\def\whenletter#1{\expandafter\expandafter\...
- 861
0
votes
0
answers
50
views
Two-column macro in PlainTeX
While reading the TeXbook, I became curious to make my own double-column macro. I have tried to split content with \vsplit and boxes, but I have had no success thus far. Using a LaTeX package is a ...
1
vote
1
answer
25
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extra vertical space in edge
i wrote this code to get output without margin spaces.
but i saw there is some extra vertical space between charater A and up edge of pdf file.
1 inch vertical and horizontal extra space is the ...
- 11
2
votes
2
answers
86
views
weird error (again) in plain TeX
Sorry all... the "missing number, treated as zero" error again. I can usually find it and fix it, but this time I need help.
I have a macro \twoup to produce output consisting of two A5 ...
- 151
1
vote
2
answers
65
views
pstricks won't even start in new TeX installation - Plain TeX
Did a clean install via TeX-Live 2022 onto a new mac. None of my old TeX files would compile. Reduced to the following and still won't compile.
Plain TeX using TeXShop, TeX+DVI.
\input pstricks
\...
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
40
views
horizontal centering within \valign cells
I'm trying to use \valign to make an array of items. (See my self-answer to another question.) I'm doing this because I want to specify the items per column instead of per row, and because I want ...
- 3,327
1
vote
1
answer
49
views
Prevent parskip after special at beginning of vbox
If I understand correctly, when entering unrestricted horizontal mode, TeX inserts a parskip if the containing vertical list is non-empty. That applies even when the only item on the list is not ...
- 113
2
votes
2
answers
80
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How to get width of parameter in plain TeX?
I am trying to get the width of a macro parameter using
\def\getwidthof#1{%
\newdimen\myl%
\settowidth\myl{#1}%
\the\myl%
}
where \settowidth is defined as
\catcode`\@=11
\newbox\@...
- 545
3
votes
1
answer
147
views
What's the easiest way to define an inline verbatim with |...| and display verbatim with ||...|| in plain TeX?
I have been trying to define a verbatim environment in plain TeX with |...| for inline and ||...|| for display. Optimally, with an easy way to alter so that the visibility of spaces can be toggled (e....
- 545
1
vote
2
answers
58
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How might one print the \tt prime character while in taocpmac's begintt mode?
I am using \begintt and \endtt from Knuth's taocpmac.tex and I would like to typeset the prime character, not the apostrophe. My code looks something like this:
\input taocpmac
\begintt
a' = a + 1
\...
- 135
0
votes
3
answers
55
views
Changing spaces into dashes in Plain-TeX
In Plain-TeX, how can I change a string that is stored in a macro so that each space in that string is turned into a dash? E.g. if \def\a{This little example}, I will like to have some procedure that ...
- 1
2
votes
1
answer
48
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\widehat in text mode in Plain (Xe)TeX?
Is there a way to emulate the behaviour of \widehat in text mode in Plain (Xe)TeX? That is, take a single accent1 and “stretch” it over two or more letters. I need it in text mode, because it's not ...
- 237
0
votes
2
answers
43
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Vertically align first image in a 3 image combination [optex]
Following the tip from the answer here, I could align three (sub)figures:
\def\figure#1#2{\vbox{\hbox{\picw=.45\hsize \inspic{#1.jpg}}\medskip\hbox{\qquad#2}}}
\hbox to\hsize{\figure{S10} {(a) Bird}\...
- 284
16
votes
2
answers
659
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Is there microtype support for plain TeX?
Is there code to make the microtypography primitives, particularly font expansion, usable with the plain TeX format running with native PDF-output engines (namely pdfTeX and LuaTeX)?
I don't think the ...
- 1,728
2
votes
1
answer
55
views
Need help wih \expandafter
In OpTeX there is a macro \addto which adds some text to the definition of another macro. It is defined like this: \long\def \addto #1#2{\expandafter\def\expandafter#1\expandafter{#1#2}}. Why are all ...
- 69
1
vote
1
answer
51
views
Text along a curve in Metapost
Does anyone have any suggestions on how I might get text along a curve in Metapost?
- 47
4
votes
1
answer
188
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Create macro with variable number of comma separated arguments in plain TeX?
I wish to create two macros: one that takes a known number, and another that takes an unknown number of arguments that are comma-separated and does something with them. There have been a few answers ...
- 545
0
votes
3
answers
67
views
Putting a brace across multiple lines with text in Plain TeX
I'm changing a document prepared in Plain TeX and I'm trying to get a brace to cover multiple lines for example:
S is P { cannot both be true (L. of Contradiction)
S is not P { cannot both be ...
- 47
3
votes
1
answer
128
views
Why are \showboxbreadth and \showboxdepth set to 2^{30}-1 in \loggingall?
The plain TeX format defines
\def\loggingall{\tracingcommands\tw@\tracingstats\tw@
\tracingpages\@ne\tracingoutput\@ne\tracinglostchars\@ne
\tracingmacros\tw@\tracingparagraphs\@ne\tracingrestores\...
- 9,348
1
vote
0
answers
53
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Where is the reference point of a VBOX?
From the TeXbook,
Therefore, the actual rules for the depth of a constructed vbox a somewhat TeXnical. Here they are: Given a vertical list that is being wrapped up via \vbox, the problem is to ...
- 2,639
2
votes
1
answer
260
views
Why double curly brackets in `\long\def\bold#1{{\bf#1}}`
I'm reading The TeXbook by Knuth.
Page 205 has
If you actually want a control sequence to allow arguments with \par
tokens, you can define it to be a “long” macro by saying ‘\long’ just
before ‘\def’. ...
- 449
2
votes
2
answers
114
views
Plain TeX simple horizontal alignment in table
Beginner's question: Why doesn't horizontal alignment work as I expect in this simple table?
I just have a set of variables with values in the left column which I want to align under the heading "...
1
vote
0
answers
23
views
adding footnotes to columns in plain-tex / optex
Accorging to this answer, it's possible to add footnotes to columns in optex/plain tex.
Although I have a vague idea about what the author has in mind, where/how exactly do I add \penalty-10013 and \...
- 284
0
votes
1
answer
41
views
Under what circumstances does TeX produce a series of tokens with space after a control sequence?
On page 39 of The TeXbook, Knuth said,
Furthermore, spaces
are not ignored after control sequences inside a token list; the ignore-space rule applies
only in an input file, during the time that ...
- 2,639
3
votes
2
answers
177
views
How to use mlmodern fonts with Plain TeX or OpTeX?
I would like to systematically use mlmodern fonts with Plain TeX and even OpTeX, but I am unable to convert the code of mlmodern.sty into a code which could be understood by the tex or optex ...
- 531
3
votes
1
answer
145
views
\if compares text literal?
Knuth's tex book introduced \if<token1><token2>. I wrote the following to test it
\def\tOne{abc}
\def\tTwo{abc}
\ifx\tOne\tTwo
True
\else
False
\fi
\if\tOne{abc}
True
\else
False
\fi
\...
- 449
0
votes
0
answers
92
views
How to align = symbol of several equations vertically?
I want to do something quite particular with PlainTeX, though I'm not one hundred percent sure it's possible.
Say I have a few equations, each on a separate line, which represent the simplification of ...
- 1
4
votes
2
answers
109
views
How to typeset the numero sign in Plain TeX?
I want to typeset the numero sign № in Plain TeX.
My first guess is to use
\def\numero{$\rm N^{\underline o}$}
but the line under the o is too long and I don't really want to mess up with arbitrary ...
user227615
1
vote
1
answer
48
views
Table column spacing in Plain TeX with \settabs
In Plain TeX I need to reduce the space between 2 columns in a 2 column
table. How to do this? I am simply using \settabs 2 \columns, but one column is
at the left of the page, but the second is on ...
4
votes
2
answers
278
views
How to define a math bold font in Plain TeX?
Consider the following code:
\font\rm=ecrm1000\rm
\font\bf=ecbx1000
R{\bf R} $R{\bf R}$
\bye
The result I get is RR RR.
However I was expecting RR RR
Why the second R in the math formula not ...
user227615
-4
votes
3
answers
203
views
Left \mapsto arrow
I am looking for a way to make a command for left version of \mapsto arrow with (AMS)TeX
.
This is what I tried to do:
\mathchardef\mapstochar="322F
\def\leftmapsto{\leftarrow\mapstochar}
\def\...
- 215
4
votes
1
answer
131
views
Is this way of defining \section in Plain TeX correct?
I am relatively new to Plain TEX and I wanted to define a \section command to typeset a bold and centered text with some spacing around it.
Here is what I came up with.
\def\section#1{\bigbreak\...
user227615
0
votes
0
answers
68
views
Why doesn't \hfil work to right align?
I don't understand why
{\bf Title}\hfil A.\ Uthor
\bye
and
{\bf Title}\hfill A.\ Uthor
\bye
do not give the same result. Only \hfill works to right align text but there is not other infinity, I ...
user227615
1
vote
1
answer
74
views
Upper-case programmatic data with expl3 in TeX Live 2019
I use the following expl3 code to upper-case the first character of a programmatic string. The code is from the body of a control sequence definition and is not supposed to be fully expandable.
\...
- 1,089
0
votes
1
answer
54
views
Breaking lines of TikZ pictures
Doing a lot of pictures sequentially with TikZ, I would like a break line behavior, resulting in more uniform lines. But I couldn't.
\input{tikz}
\def\maxangle{30}
\pgfmathsetseed{7}
\foreach \...
- 861
0
votes
0
answers
55
views
How to use plain XeTeX for emoji and words of non-English alphabet?
I am trying to create documents with emojis and words of non-English alphabet (Farsi, Chinese, Korean etc), but I heard that plain TeX does not support this, but plain XeTeX does offer support. ...
- 359
2
votes
1
answer
92
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Plain TeX input Tikz package not found
I ran
\input tikz.tex
\bye
and the Tikz package is not found
This is pdfTeX, Version 3.141592653-2.6-1.40.22 (TeX Live 2021/MacPorts 2021.58693_2) (preloaded format=pdftex)
restricted \write18 ...
- 359
3
votes
1
answer
64
views
Why do log files show only the first letter of a word?
If I create hello.tex thus:
\tracingcommands 1
Hello world
then hello.log contains
This is TeX, [etc]
**hello.tex
(./hello.tex
{vertical mode: the letter H}
{horizontal mode: the letter H}
{blank ...
- 217
3
votes
2
answers
103
views
Bad positioning of slanted (italic) math accents
The math accents are usually taken from textfonts (only \vec from the math italic font). I would like to have an italic accent over an italic letter also in math mode. To present the problem quickly I ...
- 950
1
vote
1
answer
52
views
Question about TeXBook Exercise 8.6
In exercise 8.6 the characters ^^A, ^^B, ^^C, ^^M are defined to belong to categories 0, 7, 10, and 11 respectively. The question ist what tokens are produced from the input line ‘^^B^^BM^^A^^B^^C^^M^^...
- 69
0
votes
1
answer
55
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How to AMSTeX in TeXMaker
I am trying to TeX the following on texmaker in linux, however I'm running into errors, mainly for the first line. However I have pictex already downloaded. I used the default Quick Build in texmaker. ...
user263204
2
votes
2
answers
100
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Line numbers for Optex
I tried to run this answer (using edmac) with optex but it failed. I know that Optex has the \ttline macro, but still couldn't find out how to number text lines.
I started creating a simple macro that ...
- 284
3
votes
1
answer
88
views
Modify footnote properties in optex
How do I modify the behavior of the footnote line and text with optex?
I'd like to change the width and height of the rule, and the footnotes to hang thus:
¹ Text text text
text text text
text ...
- 284
3
votes
1
answer
137
views
macros from plain TeX fail to work in xelatex
I find some macros from plain TeX fail to work in XeLaTeX. The following MWE for example. Why?
\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{geometry}
\geometry{showframe}
\geometry{left=1cm,right=1cm,...
- 2,619
0
votes
1
answer
44
views
Change rules for spacing in formulas
The following note is given in Donald Knuth 's TeXbook (page 170):
How can I change these rules? More specifically, I am interested in changing the Punct line from (1) (1) * (1) ... to 1 1 * 1 ....
...
- 331
3
votes
2
answers
98
views
Detect end of \input-file (not \read-file) in Knuthian TeX?
In Knuthian-TeX I'd like to have a macro which switches to verbatim-category-code-régime and then calls another macro which processes characters from the current input-file one by one until reaching ...
- 31
5
votes
3
answers
168
views
Testing "sequentiality" of \expandafter (plain Tex) - weird results
Trying to have a better understanding/controlling over \expandafter, I wrote this code.
\count100 = 0
\count101 = 1
\def\c{%
\the \count100
\advance \count100 by \count101\relax}%
%
\everypar{\...
- 861
1
vote
1
answer
53
views
What is causing punctuation to appear around my matrices?
I have an input file called mathchar.tex, which I rely on pretty heavily:
\mathchardef\Gamma="7400
\mathchardef\Delta="7401
\mathchardef\Theta="7402
\mathchardef\Lambda="7403
\...
- 257
3
votes
1
answer
144
views
why is latex's ltluatex.sty required for plain luaotfload?
I tried (successfully) to compile a sober Plain LuaTeX format and discovered, with some surprise, that loading the standard luaotfloader in Plain requires a piece of code, ltluatex.tex which requires ...
- 4,003