How to make a graphic fill the rest of a given space?

Question

Sometimes I use a figure numbering style in which each number is placed to the left of a figure. When using this formatting, I try to make sure that the space occupied by a given number and figure is confined by the same margins as those set for the main text. This creates a nice alignment effect. I have tried to achieve it in LaTeX by using two minipage environments inside a figure environment and some simple mathematics:

\begin{figure}[htp]
\begin{minipage}{\1cm}
{\Large(3)}
\end{minipage}%
\newlength{\pic}
\setlength{\pic}{\columnwidth}
\addtolength{\pic}{-\1cm}
\begin{minipage}{\pic}
\includegraphics[width=\pic]{blue}
\caption{Caption}
\label{blue}
\end{minipage}%
\end{figure}

This code, however, didn't work quite as I expected: as you can see in the picture below, the figure sticks out onto the right margin.

How can I ensure that the figure fills up the space next to the number while being neatly aligned with the body of the text?

(Incidentally, I would also be very grateful for some suggestions on how to make the number and the picture aligned at the top.)

Also check out Is there a way to measure the remaining space of a line of text? for the automatic measuring of the remaining space. — Martin Scharrer, Jul 01 '11 at 19:26

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 01 '11 at 19:18

This is caused by spurious spaces in your code. Line endings are taken as spaces which add a little bit more distance between the minipages. Simply place % at the lines ending with } or {. Alternatively place an \unskip direct before the second minipage. The following code should work:

\begin{figure}[htp]
  \begin{minipage}{1cm}
    {\Large(3)}
  \end{minipage}%
  \newlength{\pic}%   % should be in the preamble!
  \setlength{\pic}{\columnwidth}%
  \addtolength{\pic}{-1cm}%
  \begin{minipage}{\pic}
    \includegraphics[width=\pic]{blue}%
    \caption{Caption}
    \label{blue}
  \end{minipage}%
\end{figure}

You can also write it a little simpler by using \dimexpr (introduced by eTeX):

\begin{figure}[htp]
  \begin{minipage}{1cm}
    {\Large(3)}
  \end{minipage}%
  \begin{minipage}{\dimexpr\columnwidth-1cm\relax}
    \includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{blue}%
    \caption{Caption}
    \label{blue}
  \end{minipage}%
\end{figure}

Note that inside a minipage the \textwidth refers to the minipage width.

@Marin Scharrer It works like a charm, thank you so much! In fact, I experimented with % before but obviously didn't put enough percent signs ;) And I'm sorry about the sloppy code. — jemp, Jul 01 '11 at 20:33

How to make a graphic fill the rest of a given space?

1 Answers1