[Tex/LaTex] Horizontal Spacing: double \hspace removal

spacing

\addvspace can be used to create commands which can be stacked together without creating unnecessary padding. This is useful for creating commands which start and end with \addvspace so that they can be placed adjacent to each other without using up twice as much padding space as they need. Does anyone know of a similar command for horizontal space? I have a number of commands of the form

\newcommand{\fooAnd}{\hspace{1ex}\texttt{and}\hspace{1ex}}

that I would like to string together, but I only want them separated from each other by 1ex each. (And I want to use commands in the interim that don't have \hspace in them, so just cutting the space down to 0.5ex is not a solution.) Any thoughts?

Best Answer

I don't know about an \addvspace version for horizontal spacing but in your case you could add an \unskip at the begin of the macro to remove any prior \hspace or other skips caused by normal spaces:

\newcommand{\fooAnd}{\unskip\hspace{1ex}\texttt{and}\hspace{1ex}}

Example:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\oldfooAnd}{\hspace{1ex}\texttt{and}\hspace{1ex}}
\newcommand{\fooAnd}{\unskip\hspace{1ex}\texttt{and}\hspace{1ex}}

\begin{document}

Text \oldfooAnd\oldfooAnd\oldfooAnd text

Text \fooAnd\fooAnd\fooAnd text

\end{document}

Compare the results:

Result

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Table padding in LyX

You may want to change the value of \tabcolsep, a length variable that equals (half) the width of the whitespace that separates columns. You use the command \setlength to change the value of this length variable. The default value of this variable is 6pt (if the main text's font size is 10pt); a value of 3pt will give you a rather tightly-set group of columns.

Separately, you may also want to consider eliminating the vertical rules between columns entirely. When one has a lot of columns, the vertical rules tend to take up a lot of space while not adding appreciably to the table's readability.

The following code and the associated image illustrate the effects that reducing the value of \tabcolsep from 6pt to 4, 3, and 2pt has. In all cases, I've eliminated all vertical rules.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs} % for well-spaced horizontal rules
\newcommand{\quicktabular}{%  this construct will be used several times
\begin{tabular}{*{10}{c}}
\toprule
A & B & C & D & E & F & G & H & I & J \\
A & B & C & D & E & F & G & H & I & J \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}}
\begin{document}
\begin{itemize}
\item Default value of \texttt{\textbackslash tabcolsep} (6pt)

 \quicktabular

\item \texttt{\textbackslash tabcolsep} = 4pt
 \setlength\tabcolsep{4pt}

 \quicktabular

\item \texttt{\textbackslash tabcolsep} = 3pt
 \setlength\tabcolsep{3pt}

 \quicktabular

\item \texttt{\textbackslash tabcolsep} = 2pt
 \setlength\tabcolsep{2pt}

 \quicktabular

\end{itemize}
\end{document}

enter image description here

[Tex/LaTex] Question about spacing \hspace and \vspace

When TeX breaks a line it discards white space (glue) that would come at the start of a line. This is why you get an inter-word space or a line break between words, not both. So if the \hspace comes at the beginning of a line the space gets added by LaTeX but discarded by the TeX paragraph breaker. The * version arranges to put a non-discardable invisible item in fromt of the space so the space is never first thing on the line (even though it looks like it is). \vspace and \vspace* the same with respect to vertical space discarded at a page break.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Table padding in LyX

[Tex/LaTex] Question about spacing \hspace and \vspace

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