[Tex/LaTex] How to insert a non-stretching but line-breaking thin space

line-breakingspacing

How do I insert a small space that looks like the space I get with \, but allows a line break like a normal space does? I.e., I'm looking for a non-stretching, non-non-breaking space whose width is identical to \,.

I have already tried some\,\allowbreak{}text but, in case of a line break, this keeps the \, space at the end of the line which is not what I want.

Best Answer

The biblatex package provides the \addthinspace macro which "[a]dds a breakable thin space" (manual, section 4.7.4). Here's a variant that omits the biblatex-specific stuff. (Note that \, in text mode uses \thinspace which is defined as \kern 0.16667em.)

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand*{\addthinspace}{\hskip0.16667em\relax}

\textwidth=52pt

\begin{document}

\noindent xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx\addthinspace aaa\addthinspace aaa

\bigskip

\noindent xxx xxx xxx xxx xxx\,aaa\,aaa

\end{document}

enter image description here

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[Tex/LaTex] Optional but encouraged line break + \hfill

This solution checks if the url is longer than the line width. If it is, then it inserts \\ (since there is no way it can fit on a line) and then typesets the url. If it isn't larger, then it will fit on a line, so we typeset it as a box with a stretchable space before it. If the box does not fit on the line, then the space will stretch to fill the rest of the line so the line won't be underfull and the url will appear on the next line.

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{url}

\let\oldurl\url
\makeatletter
\renewcommand*\url{%
        \begingroup
        \let\do\@makeother
        \dospecials
        \catcode`{1
        \catcode`}2
        \catcode`\ 10
        \url@aux
}
\newcommand*\url@aux[1]{%
        \setbox0\hbox{\oldurl{#1}}%
        \ifdim\wd0>\linewidth
                \strut
                \\
                \vbox{%
                        \hsize=\linewidth
                        \kern-\lineskip
                        \raggedright
                        \strut\oldurl{#1}%
                }%
        \else
                \hskip0pt plus\linewidth
                \penalty0
                \box0
        \fi
        \endgroup
}
\makeatother
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]

Here is some text
\url{http://www.example.com/~example/foo/bar/baz/index%20here.html}

Here is some text \url{http://example.org/index.html}

Short \url{http://example.org}
\end{document}

Edit:
I modified it to try to prevent the underfull hbox as well as deal with specials in the argument better than just using \detokenize.

[Tex/LaTex] Use non-breaking space after name initials with biblatex macros

There are now a series of different flexible delimiters between the parts of a name (when using Biber). They are \bibnamedelima, to \bibnamedelimd plus \bibnamedelimi and the marker command \revsdnamepunct. Their full use cases are described in the manual: basically, \bibnamedelima/\bibnamedelimb go between first names or between surnames (i.e. for gaps within the same 'part' of the name) while \bibnamedelimc/\bibnamedelimd between the first name(s) and surnames (between 'parts'). \bibnamedelimi goes after initials in the first name part, replacing \bibnamedelima/\bibnamedelimb, when conversion to initials is active. Thus depending on the settings, either \bibnamedelimc or \bibnamedelimd applies in the current case (see the manual): it's just a question of altering the definitions

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[backend=biber,natbib=true]{biblatex}

\newcommand*{\person}[2]{\citename{#1}[#2]{author}}

\DeclareNameFormat{firstinits-last}{%
  \usebibmacro{name:first-last}{#1}{#4}{#5}{#7}%
  \usebibmacro{name:andothers}}

\DeclareNameAlias{sci}{firstinits-last}

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@misc{latour,
    AUTHOR      = {Latour, Bruno},
    OPTIONS     = {dataonly=true}
}
\end{filecontents}
\renewcommand*\bibnamedelimc{\addnbspace}
\renewcommand*\bibnamedelimd{\addnbspace}
\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\begin{document}
Foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar foo bar. 
\person{latour}{sci} says about the ``new object'' that emerges\ldots
\end{document}

I've altered both setting here, but it's d that applies in the current case.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Optional but encouraged line break + \hfill

[Tex/LaTex] Use non-breaking space after name initials with biblatex macros

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