How to insert two white spaces at the beginning of a line

Question

I want to insert two white space at the beginning of a line. How can I do that? I want something like this

This is first line
  This is second line
This is third line
This is fourth line

Are you talking about lines or paragraphs? Paragraphs are indented bu default. — Johannes_B, Aug 22 '14 at 17:03
Have you tried \indent at the beginning of the second line? — Thanos, Aug 22 '14 at 17:03
Why is this question rubbing people the wrong way? It's a very clear and valid question — percusse, Aug 22 '14 at 17:43
@percusse I originally downvoted it because the title was way off. — jub0bs, Aug 22 '14 at 18:20
@Jubobs That's the default text appears when you open a new question. Sometimes the browser doesn't delete it when you paste something. I would say it is a straightforward mistake. — percusse, Aug 22 '14 at 18:27
@percusse Ok, I didn't know that. I've seen reversed the downvote, anyway. — jub0bs, Aug 22 '14 at 18:29
I don't know what the use case for this is but, if relevant, you should look at something like verse rather than trying to do this manually. — cfr, Aug 22 '14 at 18:40
@Jubobs For future reference, you should rather fix an easily fixable problem with the question rather than downvoting it (without comment). The TeX.sX community strives to be friendly and helpful, and so we hold back on our downvotes (unlike Stack Overflow, for example). — Sverre, Aug 22 '14 at 19:58
@Sverre Yes, I was perhaps a bit quick at hitting the downvote button, but the title had nothing to do with the actual question. I downvoted to signal to the community that there was a problem (and a pretty obvious one) with the question, which is acceptable as long as the score isn't already negative. Besides, I usually downvote very sparingly and I do my best to be friendly and helpful. — jub0bs, Aug 22 '14 at 20:01

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 22 '14 at 17:23

2

If you want the space to match the width of the characters Th, do this:

\documentclass{article}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\begin{document}
This is first line\\
\phantom{Th}This is second line\\
This is third line\\
This is fourth line
\end{document}

enter image description here

I can't see why you would want to do this, but that's a way.

Or you can use \hspace:

\documentclass{article}
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\begin{document}
This is first line

\hspace{1em}This is second line

This is third line

This is fourth line
\end{document}

enter image description here

answered Aug 22 '14 at 17:23

Sverre

20,729

2

actually, at the beginning of a line, it should be \hspace* (if you're using that method). an ordinary \hspace is supposed to disappear at the beginning of a line, so why this is working is a mystery to me. – barbara beeton Aug 22 '14 at 19:13
@barbarabeeton That might explain why This is first line\\ \hspace{1em}This is second line didn't work. But I didn't bother to find out why ... :) – Sverre Aug 22 '14 at 19:36

How to insert two white spaces at the beginning of a line

1 Answers1