TeX has several commands for manipulating paragraphs. The \par command starts a new paragraph, which has the same effect as inserting a blank line.

From here \par to there

The preceding line is formatted as follows:

From here

to there

The \noindent command tells TeX not to indent the paragraph:

I grew up on Newcastle Street.



\noindent That was close to Hazlehurst.

This is output as follows:

        I grew up on Newcastle Street.

That was close to Hazlehurst.

You can also use the escape character before a space in order to force the insertion of an extra space:

I think that I need an extra\ \ \ space or two.

I’m sure   of it.

This becomes

I think that I need an extra   space or two.

I’m sure of it.

Fonts

Fonts are representations of characters that share similar size and style. The default font that TeX uses is roman. You can override this by using the internal names that TeX associates with fonts that are externally loaded. You can also add new font definitions. The definitions that TeX knows about by default are: \rm (roman), \tt (typewriter), \bf (bold), \sl (slanted), and \it (italic). TeX continues using whatever font was last specified (including the default) until it is instructed to do otherwise. Therefore, the text

This is roman, but I think I will switch to \tt typewriter for a while;

then again, maybe \it italic would be nice. Now back to \rm roman.

appears as follows:

This is roman, but I think I will switch to typewriter for a while; then again, maybe italic would be nice. Now back to roman.

You can add a font and change its size using a command like this:

\font \fontname=auxiliary font

To use a 12-point roman font, redefine the \rm definition to use the cmr12 auxiliary font, like this:

\font\rm=cmr12

We are changing from this font \rm to that font.

This formats as follows:

We are changing from this font to that font.

Fonts have up to 256 different symbols including the standard numeric, uppercase, and lowercase character symbols that you use most frequently. Symbols that are not represented on a standard keyboard can be accessed using the \char command. This command uses the integer that follows it as a character code index into a font’s character table. For example, the text

TeX would interpret \char 37 as a comment symbol

but it would not

care about a \char 43 sign.

is processed by TeX as follows:

TeX would interpret % as a comment symbol but it would not

care about a + sign.

Controlling Spacing

You’ve seen how you can insert individual extra spaces in TeX files. Now, let’s examine how you can have more control over the spacing of larger portions of text. TeX has a series of commands that recognize the following units of measurement:

These units are used with decimal numbers to specify the amount of spacing that you need. The \hskip command can insert a horizontal space on a line, like this:

\tt From here \hskip 0.5in to there

This produces the following output:

From here   to there

You can also supply a negative number, which moves the text following the \hskip command to the left (the negative direction). The\hfil command distributes horizontal space in a paragraph when space is available. The interesting thing about the \hfil command is the fact that TeX inserts one implicitly for each paragraph. Bearing this detail in mind, you can use this command to flush text left or right, or center it on a line, like this:

\noindent \hfil Some centered text. \par

This is output as follows:

                             Some centered text.

The \vskip command can insert a vertical space between paragraphs using a given unit of measurement (much like \hskip). The command

\vskip 40mm

places a vertical space of 40 millimeters between its preceding and succeeding paragraphs. TeX also provides vertical skipping commands in convenient units: \smallskip, \medskip, and \bigskip.

The vertical equivalent of \hfil is the \vfill command, which can distribute vertical spaces between paragraphs when extra space (nontext) is available. TeX assumes an implicit \vfill command at the end of a document.

You can also explicitly add line breaks and page breaks to your document with the \break command. If this command appears within a paragraph, TeX inserts a line break. If it appears between paragraphs, a page break is inserted. Conversely, you can specify points in your document where you want the text to be kept together and not broken across lines or pages. This is done by using the \nobreak command.