TeX

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

This book does not conform to Wikibooks' naming policy because: Some subpages of Programming:TeX need to be moved. For assistance, post a message in the Reading Room with the title of this book included. Please rename all pages of this book, and update all links including links on this page. See this module's talk page for discussion.

Contents 1 Introduction 1.1 Other sources 2 The Structure of TeX 3 Basic Definitions 4 TeX Primitives 5 Sources on the Web 6 Other wikibooks

[edit] Introduction

TeX is a language used to typeset documents, especially ones containing mathematics. It has both programming and mark-up features. In this book we will describe "primitive TeX"—the basic engine for the macro languages plain TeX, LaTeX, ConTeXt, and so on. If you are new to TeX, then this is probably not what you want to read: you may be looking for LaTeX, a macro package for TeX that makes it easier to produce standard documents.

TeX is Donald Knuth's macro language, written to typeset documents. TeX can in principle be used for any kind of program (it is a Turing complete programming language), although it's not particularly pleasant to program in.

[edit] Other sources

The canonical source for learning the TeX language, both to write documents and to program, is the TeXbook by Donald Knuth. There's also a comprehensive programmer's reference called TeX by topic which the author has generously made available free at his website.

[edit] The Structure of TeX

We describe the basic anatomy of TeX: the registers, the parameters, and other resource that affect the processing of a TeX source file.

[edit] Basic Definitions

Badness 

A measure of the quality of the spacing for a typeset line of text.

baseline

hbox 

overfull error 

underfull error 

[edit] TeX Primitives

Here we describe each of the 300 or so TeX primitives.

\ \- \/ \above \abovedisplayshortskip \abovedisplayskip \abovewithdelims \accent \adjdemerits \advance \afterassignment \aftergroup \atop \atopwithdelims \badness \baselineskip \batchmode \begingroup \belowdisplayshortskip \belowdisplayskip \binoppenalty \botmark \box \boxmaxdepth \brokenpenalty \catcode \char \chardef \cleaders \closein \closeout \clubpenalty \copy \count \countdef \cr \crcr \csname \day \deadcycles \def \defaulthyphen \defaultshewchar \decode \delimiter \delimiterfactor \delimitershortfall \dimen \dimendef \discretionary

\displayindent \displaylimits \displaystlye \displaywindowpenalty \displaywidth \divide \doublehyphendemerits \dp \dump \edef \else \emergencystretch \end \endcsname \endgroup \endinput \endlinechar \eqno \errhelp \errmessage \errorcontextlines \errorstopmode \escapechar \everycr \everydisplay \everyhbox \everyjob \everymath \everypar \everyvbox \exhyphenpenalty \expandafter \fam \fi \finalhyphendemerits \firstmark \floatingpenalty \font \fontdimen \fontname \futurelet \gdef \global \globaldefs \halign \hangafter \hbadness \hbox \hfil \hfill

\hfilneg \hfuzz \hoffset \holdinginsert \hrule \hsize \hskip \hss \ht \hyphenation \hyphenchar \hyphenpenalty \if \ifcase \ifcat \ifdim \ifeof \iffalse \ifhbox \ifhmode \ifinner \ifnmode \ifnum \ifodd \iftrue \ifvbox \ifmode \ifvoid \ifx \ignorespaces \immediate \includeonly \indent \input \inputlineno \insert \insertpenalties \interlinepenalty \jobename \kern \language \lastbox \lastkern \lastpenalty \lastskip \lccode \leaders \left \lefthyphenmin \leftskip \leqno

\let \limits \linepenalty \lineskip \lineskiplimit \long \loosenes \lower \lowercase \mag \mark \mathaccent \mathbin \mathchar \mathchardef \mathchoice \mathclose \mathcode \mathinner \mathop \mathopen \mathord \mathpunct \mathrel \mathsurround \maxdeadcycles \maxdepth \meaning \medmuskip \message \mkern \month \moveleft \moveright \mskip \multiply \muskip \muskipdef \newlinechar \noalign \noboundary \noexpand \noindent \nolimits \nonscript \nonstopemode \nulldelimiterspace \nullfont \number \omit

\openin \openout \or \outer \output \outputpenalty \over \overfullrule \overline \overwithdelims \pagedepth \pagefilllstretch \pagefillstretch \pagefilstretch \pagegoal \pageshrink \pagestretch \pagetotal \par \parfillskip \parindent \parshape \parskip \patterns \pausing \penalty \postdisplaypenalty \predisplaypenalty \pretolerance \prevdepth \prevgraph \radical \raise \read \relax \repenalty \right \righthyphenmin \rightskip \romannumeral \scriptfont \scriptscriptfont \scriptspace \scriptstyle \scrollmode \setbox \setlanguage \sfcode \shipout \show

\showbox \showboxbreadth \showboxdepth \showlists \showthe \skewchar \skip \skipdef \spacefactor \spaceskip \span \special \splitbotmark \splitfirstmark \splitmaxdepth \splittopskip \string \tabskip \textfont \textstyle \the \thickmuskip \thinmuskip \time \toks \toksdef \tolerance \topmark \topskip \tracingcommands \tracinglostchars \tracingmacros \tracingonline \tracingoutput \tracingpages \tracingparagraphs \tracingrestores \tracingstats \uccode \uchyph \underline \unhbox \unhcopy \unkern \unpenalty \unskip \unvbox \unvcopy \uppercase \vadjust

• \valign
• \vbadness
• \vbox
• \vcenter
• \vfil
• \vfill
• \vfilneg
• \vfuzz
• \voffset
• \vrule
• \vsize
• \vskip
• \vsplit
• \vss
• \vtop
• \wd
• \widowpenalty
• \write
• \xdef
• \xleaders
• \xspaceskip
• \year

[edit] Sources on the Web

• www.tug.org — TeX Users Group
• ctan.tug.org/tex-archive/info/gentle/gentle.pdf — Michael Doob's guide to TeX

[edit] Other wikibooks

• LaTeX
• TeX for the Impatient