Re: (LaTeX) This doesn't work -- \mbox{ First Line \\ Second Line}

[Follow-up to: comp.text.tex]

HenHanna wrote:

i want 2 lines to stay together... How do i do it?
>
This apparently doesn't work.
>
             \mbox{ First Line \
                    Second Line}

[ de.comp.pdf and de.comp.tex actually are German-language newsgroups. ]

\mbox creates a box.

TeX switches the typesetting-mode to "restricted horizontal mode" for
creating the content of the box.
TeX switches the typesetting-mode to "horizontal mode" for placing the
created box into the surrounding text.

The further typesetting-mode is the typesetting-mode where TeX does no
line-breaking at all but creates a box where material is typeset
horizontally/from left to right.
The latter typesetting-mode is the typesetting-mode where TeX creates
paragraphs and hereby breaks text into lines automatically.

The circumstance that the content of the box produced by \mbox is
typeset in restricted horizontal mode implies that no things are done
that concern vertical adjustment as is the case, e.g., with line-breaking.
Thus no line-breaking is done with things that are typeset in the
typesetting-mode "restricted horizontal mode".

Different commands for producing boxes and switching the typesettig-mode
when placing them into the document's surrounding text are explained at
Tex - LaTeX Stack Exchange - question "What are the different kinds of
boxes in (La)TeX?":
https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/83936


With your scenario I suggest placing two \hboxes holding single lines of
text into \vtop or \vcenter or \vbox. Due to \vtop/\vcenter/\vbox the
single \hboxes are typeset in internal vertical mode, i.e. atop each other.

The box itself, whose content consists of the two \hboxes that are
typeset atop each other, is to be placed into the surrounding text.

With \vtop the baseline of the first line/the baseline of the top line
of that box itself is aligned with the baseline of the line of the
surrounding text which TeX is about to produce.
With \vbox the baseline of the last line/the baseline of the bottom line
of that box itself is aligned with the baseline of the line of the
surrounding text which TeX is about to produce.
With \vcenter the vertical center of that box itself is aligned with the
math-axis of the line of the surrounding text which TeX is about to
produce. (The math axis of a line of text, simplified speaking, is the
vertical position where in the line of text in question the bar of a
fraction would occur.)
Although the box produced by `\vcenter` is typeset in internal vertical
mode (where you can use \hbox{...} for having Tex switch to restricted
horizontal mode), you need to have TeX to switch to math-mode for
placing that box into the line of ttext of the surrounding text.



\documentclass {article}

\begin{document}

Text
\fbox{%
  \vtop{%
    \hbox{First Line}%
    \hbox{Second Line}%
  }%
} Text

Text
\fbox{%
  $\vcenter{%
    \hbox{First Line}%
    \hbox{Second Line}%
  }$%
} Text

Text
\fbox{%
  \vbox{%
    \hbox{First Line}%
    \hbox{Second Line}%
  }%
} Text

\end{document}

___________________________
in Comp.Text.Tex   ...  i only see CTAN (update) announcements
>
             can i ask   LaTeX  questions?

Yes, of course you can ask questions related to LaTeX at comp.text.tex.

The traffic at comp.text.tex has reduced over the years because many
people nowadays ask their LaTeX-related questions at
TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange: https://tex.stackexchange.com/ .

Many of the regulars of comp.text.tex and many developers of LaTeX
packages and members of the LaTeX Project Team also are at
TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange.

TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange in my humble opinion is much more welcoming
than other communities of the Stack Exchange netwok. Also the
downvoting-policy is different from that of many other communities of
the Stack Exchange netwok: At TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange people are
rather reluctant in the matter of downvoting because a harsh
downvoting-policy would scare off people unnecessarily.

However, TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange is a question-answer platform and
not intended for dialogue while when starting out with LaTeX, you might
like to have the opportunity to have dialogues and ask questions that
are related to answers you have received. There is a chat at Tex - LaTeX
Stack Exchange also, which is sort of separate from the
question-answer-thingie, but I think I think comp.text.tex is more
suitable for this.

Sincerely

Ulrich