Hello,

How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to
include a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
\end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this
using the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that
"there's no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?

Thank you,
Ray Levitt

Ray wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to
> include a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
> \end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this
> using the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that
> "there's no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?
> 
> Thank you,
> Ray Levitt

in general \\ should NEVER be used in normal text (in most cases users 
do not need to do manual line breaks in normal text)

\end{center} already adds blank space after its contents, do you need more?

-- 

/daleif (remove RTFSIGNATURE from email address)

LaTeX FAQ:      http://www.tex.ac.uk/faq
LaTeX book:     http://www.imf.au.dk/system/latex/bog/    (in Danish)
Remember to post minimal examples, see URL below
http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=minxampl
http://www.minimalbeispiel.de/mini-en.html

On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:13:03 -0800 (PST)
Ray <rr44yy@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>=20
> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to
> include a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
> \end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this
> using the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that
> "there's no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?
>=20
> Thank you,
> Ray Levitt

To achieve your purpose, I have defined:

\def\wl{\par \vspace{\baselineskip}}

Then you just use \wl to have a blank line.

Olive

Dnia Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:13:03 -0800, Ray napisał(a):

> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to include
> a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
> \end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this using
> the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that "there's
> no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?

LaTeX (and TeX for that matter) doesn't let you insert ,,blank lines''. 
That's because it's a bad practice to separate the body of the text by 
blanks. It's simply not the philosophy of TeX to do that and it's an 
indicator of an MS Word user. To insert some space in between a title and 
the underneath text you can do one of the following:

1. Insert a \smallskip, \medskip or \bigskip which basically are equal to 
some default amount of glue, which is capable of streatch -- they differ 
in the amount of glue.
2. Leave a blank line in the source (*.tex) file, which TeX should 
interpret as some glue -- this is AFAIK the same as \medskip.
3. The most hideous way is to place a \vspace{} which lets you place 
exactly the amount of glue you want -- but I wouldn't do that if I were 
you.

There may be more methods, but they are less standard.

> Dnia Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:13:03 -0800, Ray napisał(a):
>
>> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to include
>> a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
>> \end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this using
>> the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that "there's
>> no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?
> LaTeX (and TeX for that matter) doesn't let you insert ,,blank lines''.
> That's because it's a bad practice to separate the body of the text by
> blanks.

Where does that come from?

> It's simply not the philosophy of TeX to do that and it's an
> indicator of an MS Word user.

White space in the middle of a text? I didn't know MS Word was as old as 
typography.


> To insert some space in between a title and
> the underneath text you can do one of the following:
>
> 1. Insert a \smallskip, \medskip or \bigskip which basically are equal to
> some default amount of glue, which is capable of streatch -- they differ
> in the amount of glue.
> 2. Leave a blank line in the source (*.tex) file, which TeX should
> interpret as some glue -- this is AFAIK the same as \medskip.

A blank line in the source is a paragraph, hence \parskip is inserted. 
Which is not sure to produce any space, and if it does, the amount can 
change from page to page.

> 3. The most hideous way is to place a \vspace{} which lets you place
> exactly the amount of glue you want -- but I wouldn't do that if I were
> you.
>
> There may be more methods, but they are less standard.

The \vspace method, i.e. \vskip method in TeX, is basically the best 
one, if the user is asking for a blank line, which is an amount of glue 
taking as much space as a line. Which is still one of the most used 
methods (not only by MS Word users) to separate paragraphs if needed, 
and the best (as far as I'm concerned), since it avoids unpredictable 
space between paragraphs.

Of course, the \vskip\baselineskip is best wrapped in a macro, because 
that makes life simpler.

Paul

Dnia Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:00:06 +0100, zappathustra napisał(a):

>> LaTeX (and TeX for that matter) doesn't let you insert ,,blank lines''.
>> That's because it's a bad practice to separate the body of the text by
>> blanks.
> 
> Where does that come from?

From good practice I suppose? Placing empty lines isn't the right way to 
have a vertical white space in a text. Lines are for writing not for 
separating. That's why TeX doesn't give you an easy way to insert blank 
lines in text. Of course you can do almost anything in TeX -- therefore 
this as well -- but that doesn't make it the right thing to do.

> White space in the middle of a text? I didn't know MS Word was as old as
> typography.

It's not. That's why it lets you use a BLANK LINE as a white space. For 
inserting WHITE SPACE TeX has different tools.

>> 2. Leave a blank line in the source (*.tex) file, which TeX should
>> interpret as some glue -- this is AFAIK the same as \medskip.
> 
> A blank line in the source is a paragraph, hence \parskip is inserted.
> Which is not sure to produce any space, and if it does, the amount can
> change from page to page.

I admit, I got a little confused on this one.

> The \vspace method, i.e. \vskip method in TeX, is basically the best
> one, if the user is asking for a blank line, which is an amount of glue
> taking as much space as a line. Which is still one of the most used
> methods (not only by MS Word users) to separate paragraphs if needed,
> and the best (as far as I'm concerned), since it avoids unpredictable
> space between paragraphs.

OK, so maybe \vspace isn't the most hideous way, but still it's not the 
tool for a standard white space because it takes any amount of glue you 
feed it with. It's intended for non-standard spaces, like a reservation 
for something to be added later in it's place. Of course Ray may want a 
strange effect, like text starting halfway through the page...

> Of course, the \vskip\baselineskip is best wrapped in a macro, because
> that makes life simpler.

I agree, macros are useful...

Zeissmann

On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:46:06 +0000 (UTC), Zeissmann
<Zeissmann@gmail.com> wrote:

>Dnia Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:13:03 -0800, Ray napisa?(a):
>
>> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to include
>> a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
>> \end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this using
>> the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that "there's
>> no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?
>
>LaTeX (and TeX for that matter) doesn't let you insert ,,blank lines''. 
>That's because it's a bad practice to separate the body of the text by 
>blanks. It's simply not the philosophy of TeX to do that and it's an 
>indicator of an MS Word user. To insert some space in between a title and 
>the underneath text you can do one of the following:
>
>1. Insert a \smallskip, \medskip or \bigskip which basically are equal to 
>some default amount of glue, which is capable of streatch -- they differ 
>in the amount of glue.

Most article and chapter titles are separated from the 
text by considerably more than \bigskip. I hold in my 
hand a math text from Springer-Verlag that puts 1cm 
space below each chapter title. And now another that 
puts 2cm below chapter titles (and 1cm below even
section titles).

>2. Leave a blank line in the source (*.tex) file, which TeX should 
>interpret as some glue -- this is AFAIK the same as \medskip.

It adds \parskip of space, which is 0pt plus 1pt by 
default. Much less than \medskip.

>3. The most hideous way is to place a \vspace{} which lets you place 
>exactly the amount of glue you want -- but I wouldn't do that if I were 
>you.

This is actually THE way (the only way) to put space 
after a title. Most LaTeX document classes have a 
\maketitle command which, as expected, contains the
relevant \vspace as part of its definition.

Dan
To reply by email, change LookInSig to luecking

On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:17:56 +0100, Lars Madsen
<daleif@RTFMSIGNATUREimf.au.dk> wrote:

>Ray wrote:
>> Hello,
>> 
>> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. Specifically, I would like to
>> include a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
>> \end{center}) and the first line of text. When I tried to do this
>> using the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that
>> "there's no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> Ray Levitt
>
>in general \\ should NEVER be used in normal text (in most cases users 
>do not need to do manual line breaks in normal text)

He is talking about a "centered title", which almost
always *requires* a user to use \\ for best appearance.

Of course, \\ is for breaking lines, not adding space. 
Between paragraphs it doesn't work. At the end of a 
paragraph it works, but creates an "underfull hbox" 
warning.


Dan
To reply by email, change LookInSig to luecking

> Dnia Fri, 10 Dec 2010 19:00:06 +0100, zappathustra napisał(a):
>
>>> LaTeX (and TeX for that matter) doesn't let you insert ,,blank lines''.
>>> That's because it's a bad practice to separate the body of the text by
>>> blanks.
>> Where does that come from?
>  From good practice I suppose? Placing empty lines isn't the right way to
> have a vertical white space in a text. Lines are for writing not for
> separating. That's why TeX doesn't give you an easy way to insert blank
> lines in text. Of course you can do almost anything in TeX -- therefore
> this as well -- but that doesn't make it the right thing to do.
>
>> White space in the middle of a text? I didn't know MS Word was as old as
>> typography.
> It's not. That's why it lets you use a BLANK LINE as a white space. For
> inserting WHITE SPACE TeX has different tools.

Ok, let's say we got confused over white space/blank line. For me blank 
line is an accurate description of a white space when it is supposed to 
take the space of a line.

>>> 2. Leave a blank line in the source (*.tex) file, which TeX should
>>> interpret as some glue -- this is AFAIK the same as \medskip.
>> A blank line in the source is a paragraph, hence \parskip is inserted.
>> Which is not sure to produce any space, and if it does, the amount can
>> change from page to page.
> I admit, I got a little confused on this one.
>
>> The \vspace method, i.e. \vskip method in TeX, is basically the best
>> one, if the user is asking for a blank line, which is an amount of glue
>> taking as much space as a line. Which is still one of the most used
>> methods (not only by MS Word users) to separate paragraphs if needed,
>> and the best (as far as I'm concerned), since it avoids unpredictable
>> space between paragraphs.
> OK, so maybe \vspace isn't the most hideous way, but still it's not the
> tool for a standard white space because it takes any amount of glue you
> feed it with. It's intended for non-standard spaces, like a reservation
> for something to be added later in it's place. Of course Ray may want a
> strange effect, like text starting halfway through the page...

No, \vspace is used to add vertical space. The \bigskip, etc., you 
mentionned, are nothing but \vspace's with fixed values (if \vspace is 
just a wrapper for \vskip, that is, which I think it is). And you don't 
need non-standard space to use it. There are three ways to add vertical 
space: an empty box, a kern, or a vskip. An empty box doesn't make 
sense, a kern makes sense in some situations, and a vskip is used 
anywhere else. Again, \bigskip and others are just \vskip with 
predefined lengths.


Paul

Dnia Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:47:37 +0100, zappathustra napisał(a):

> No, \vspace is used to add vertical space. The \bigskip, etc., you
> mentionned, are nothing but \vspace's with fixed values (if \vspace is
> just a wrapper for \vskip, that is, which I think it is). And you don't
> need non-standard space to use it. There are three ways to add vertical
> space: an empty box, a kern, or a vskip. An empty box doesn't make
> sense, a kern makes sense in some situations, and a vskip is used
> anywhere else. Again, \bigskip and others are just \vskip with
> predefined lengths.

That's true, \bigskip et al. are the same as \vskip to Xpt, etc. What I 
mean to say is they were defined to use them for white spaces in the 
first place. Their intended for the job. So of course you can put a \vskip 
or \vspace. Still I consider putting a blank LINE something 
unprofessional -- and that's precisely why the command "\\" doesn't work 
on its own. Come to think of it, it's really more the question of 
understanding what you're doing.

And an empty box does make sense. In fact \strut is an empty box.

Yours,
Zeissmann

On 10/12/10 15:13, Ray wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> How do you "skip lines" in LaTex. 

You specify them as part of a macro.

> Specifically, I would like to
> include a blank line between a centered title (using \begin{center}...
> \end{center}) and the first line of text.

A title for what? A section or subsection? Table? Figure? All of these
have their own special names, and packages to let you adjust the spacing
underneath them. Don't try to do it by hand...use a package.

> When I tried to do this
> using the "\\" as a line skip, LaTex gave me an error indicating that
> "there's no line here to end." What am I doing wrong?

Using \\. This is for prematurely ending a line in mid-paragraph, not
for inserting vertical white-space between paragraphs.

Tell us what kind of title it is, as there is probably a prewritten answer.

///Peter

Thanks Olive! I found your reply to be the most helpful!