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In this excellent answer, one of the tools used is to redefine \normallineskiplimit. I cannot find this macro in any reference, although it does show up in this answer. Where is this length originally defined, and what exactly does this macro control?

A good answer may need to address related macros (if they exist) such as \normallineskip.

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Charles Staats
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    LaTeX defines the registers \normalbaselineskip, \normallineskip and \normallineskiplimit to store the standard values (defined by the font size option) in order to have those value still available when \baselineskip, \lineskip and \lineskiplimit change. For instance, in tabular, \baselineskip is set to zero, but you can always refer to \normalbaselineskip for using the normal value in spacing commands. I'd be wary of resetting their values. – egreg Jul 08 '14 at 14:25
  • Why I set \normallineskiplimit in my macro? Because I traced {align*} macro and I found that there is \vskip-\lineskiplimit immediatelly followed by \vskip\normallineskiplimit. We need zero \vskip as the result. – wipet Jul 08 '14 at 15:43

1 Answers1

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\normallineskiplimit (and friends) are used in two places in latex,

they are used in \@arrayparboxrestore

\lineskip\normallineskip
\baselineskip\normalbaselineskip

so that inside \parbox and minipage and tabular p columns the baselineskip is restored to a normal state even if used in a context where they ave non standard values.

\displaylines compensates for non standard values of \lineskiplimit

\def\displ@y{\global\dt@ptrue\openup\jot\m@th
  \everycr{\noalign{\ifdt@p \global\dt@pfalse \ifdim\prevdepth>-1000\p@
      \vskip-\lineskiplimit \vskip\normallineskiplimit \fi
      \else \penalty\interdisplaylinepenalty \fi}}}

but that is really a hangover from plain TeX and not used much in LaTeX.

However the AMS alignments all reset this in a similar way amsmath has

\def\@display@init#1{%
    \global\dt@ptrue \spread@equation
    \everycr{%
        \noalign{%
            #1%
            \ifdt@p
                \global\dt@pfalse
                \vskip-\lineskiplimit
                \vskip\normallineskiplimit
            \else
                \penalty\@eqpen \global\dspbrk@lvl\m@ne
            \fi
        }%
    }%
}

to adjust for the difference between the current value of \lineskiplimit and the saved \normallineskiplimit

You can also use \normalbaselines to explicitly reset the values to defaults

\def\normalbaselines{\lineskip\normallineskip
  \baselineskip\normalbaselineskip \lineskiplimit\normallineskiplimit}

but I'm pretty sure I've never needed to do that:-)

Charles Staats
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David Carlisle
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  • The \normalbaselines macro is very known in plain TeX. It is used in \cases and \matrix macros. – wipet Jul 08 '14 at 15:46