TeX/penalty

Synopsis

\penalty<number>
\binoppenalty=<number>
\brokenpenalty=<number>
\clubpenalty=<number>
\displaywidowpenalty=<number>
\exhyphenpenalty=<number>
\floatingpenalty=<number>
\hyphenpenalty=<number>
\interlinepenalty=<number>
\linepenalty=<number>
\postdisplaypenalty=<number>
\predisplaypenalty=<number>
\relpenalty=<number>
\widowpenalty=<number>

Description

\penalty sets the penalty for a line or page break at that point.

Some penalties are built in to the TeX system and inserted automatically:

\binoppenalty for a line break in math mode after a binary operator.
\brokenpenalty for a page break, where the last line of the previous page contains a hyphenation.
\clubpenalty for a broken page, with a single line of a paragraph (called “club”) remaining on the bottom of the preceding page.
\displaywidowpenalty for a break before last line of a paragraph.
\exhyphenpenalty for hyphenating a word which already contains a hyphen.
\floatingpenalty for splitting an insertion.
\hyphenpenalty for line breaking at an automatically inserted hyphen.
\interlinepenalty for the penalty added after each line of a paragraph.
\linepenalty the badness of each line within a paragraph.
\postdisplaypenalty for a break after a display.
\predisplaypenalty for a break before a display.
\relpenalty for a line break at a relation.
\widowpenalty for a broken page, with a single line of a paragraph (called “widow”) remaining on the top of the succeeding page.

Default

LaTeX for example sets these default values for built in penalties:

\binoppenalty=700
\brokenpenalty=100
\clubpenalty=150
\displaywidowpenalty=50
\exhyphenpenalty=50
\floatingpenalty=20000
\hyphenpenalty=50
\interlinepenalty=0
\linepenalty=10
\postdisplaypenalty=0
\predisplaypenalty=10000
\relpenalty=500
\widowpenalty=150