Point Sizes; Line Spacing
so 6-point characters are at most 1/12 inch high,
and 36-point characters are \(12 inch.
There are 15 point sizes, listed below.
6 point: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
7 point: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
8 point: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
9 point: Pack my box with five dozen liquor jugs.
10 point: Pack my box with five dozen liquor
11 point: Pack my box with five dozen
12 point: Pack my box with five dozen
14 point: Pack my box with five
\s1616 point\s18 18 point\s20 20 point
\s2222\s24 24\s28 28\s36 36
it is rounded up to the next valid value,
reverts to the previous size, whatever it was.
begins with point size 10,
This document is in 9 point.
The point size can also be changed in the middle of a line
\s8UNIX\s10 runs on a \s8PDP-\s1011/45
\es8UNIX\es10 runs on a \es8PDP-\es1011/45
should be followed by a legal point size,
causes the size to revert to
can be understood correctly as `size 10, followed by an 11', if the size is legal,
Be cautious with similar constructions.
Relative size changes are also legal and useful:
temporarily decreases the size, whatever it is, by two points, then
Relative size changes have the advantage that the size difference
is independent of the starting size of the document.
The amount of the relative change is restricted
The other parameter that determines what the type looks like
is the spacing between lines,
which is set independently of the point size.
Vertical spacing is measured from the bottom of one line to
The command to control vertical spacing is
For running text, it is usually best to set the vertical spacing
about 20% bigger than the character size.
For example, so far in this document, we have used
the running text would look like this.
After a few lines, you will agree it looks a little cramped.
The right vertical spacing is partly a matter of taste, depending on how
much text you want to squeeze into a given space,
and partly a matter of traditional printing style.
Point size and vertical spacing make a substantial difference in the amount of text
Point size and vertical spacing make a substantial difference in the amount of text
10 on 12 uses about twice as much space as 7 on 8.
This is 6 on 7, which is even smaller.
It packs a lot more words per line,
but you can go blind trying to read it.
When used without arguments,
revert to the previous size and vertical spacing
is used to get extra vertical space.
it gives you one extra blank line (one
whatever that has been set to).
Typically, that's more or less than you want,
information about how much space you want _
means `two inches of vertical space'.
means `two points of vertical space';
means `two vertical spaces' _ two of whatever
(this can also be made explicit with
also understands decimal fractions in most places,
is a space of 1.5 inches.
These same scale factors can be used after
to define line spacing, and in fact after most commands
that deal with physical dimensions.
It should be noted that all size numbers are converted internally
to `machine units', which are 1/432 inch
For most purposes, this is enough resolution
that you don't have to worry about the accuracy of the representation.
The situation is not quite so good vertically,
where resolution is 1/144 inch