Spaces ____________

The spacing commands are often used with the box-making commands.

Commands

• \addvspace
• \bigskip
• \dotfill
• \hfill
• \hrulefill
• \hspace
• \medskip
• \rule
• \smallskip
• \vfill
• \vspace

\addvspace

Command:

\addvspace{length}

The \addvspace command normally adds a vertical space of height length. However, if vertical space has already been added to the same point in the output by a previous \addvspace command, then this command will not add more space than needed to make the natural length of the total vertical space equal to length.

\bigskip

Command:

\bigskip

The \bigskip command is equivalent to \vspace{bigskipamount} where bigskipamount is determined by the document class.

\dotfill

Command:

\dotfill

The \dotfill command produces a "rubber length" that produces dots instead of just spaces.

\hfill

Command:

\hfill

The \hfill fill command produces a "rubber length" which can stretch or shrink horizontally. It will be filled with spaces.

\hrulespace

Command:

\hrulespace

The \hrulefill fill command produces a "rubber length" which can stretch or shrink horizontally. It will be filled with a horizontal rule.

\hspace

Command:

\hspace[*]{length}

The \hspace command adds horizontal space. The length of the space can be expressed in any terms that LaTeX understands, i.e., points, inches, etc. You can add negative as well as positive space with an \hspace command. Adding negative space is like backspacing.

LaTeX removes horizontal space that comes at the end of a line. If you don't want LaTeX to remove this space, include the optional * argument. Then the space is never removed.

\medskip

Command:

\medskip

The \medskip command is equivalent to \vspace{medskipamount} where medskipamount is determined by the document class.

\rule

Command:

\rule[raise-height]{width}{thickness}

The \rule command is used to produce horizontal lines. The arguments are defined as follows:

raise-height

specifies how high to raise the rule (optional)

width

specifies the length of the rule (mandatory)

thickness

specifies the thickness of the rule (mandatory)

\smallskip

Command:

\smallskip

The \smallskip command is equivalent to \vspace{smallskipamount} where smallskipamount is determined by the document class.

\vfill

Command:

\vfill

The \vfill fill command produces a rubber length which can stretch or shrink vertically.

\vspace

Command:

\vspace[*]{length}

The \vspace command adds vertical space. The length of the space can be expressed in any terms that LaTeX understands, i.e., points, inches, etc. You can add negative as well as positive space with an \vspace command.

LaTeX removes vertical space that comes at the end of a page. If you don't want LaTeX to remove this space, include the optional * argument. Then the space is never removed.