What is the difference between \hspace*{\fill} and \hfill?

Question

In the memoir manual on page 183 ,this example is given:

\begin{figure}
\centering
\hspace*{\fill}
{ILLUSTRATION 1} \hfill {ILLUSTRATION 2}
\hspace*{\fill}
\caption{Example float with two illustrations}
\label{fig:mult1}
\end{figure}

I have tried to figure out, what the difference between \hspace*{\fill} and \hfill is!?

The \hfill definition and \hspace definition did not help me much.

You can use: a\hfill b\hfill \hspace{0.01mm} – Aug 11 '15 at 06:23 — , Aug 11 '15 at 06:23

score 95 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 10 '20 at 12:32

Using your code snippet as an example, \centering only has an impact on the \caption. However,

\hspace*{\fill}
{ILLUSTRATION 1} \hfill {ILLUSTRATION 2}
\hspace*{\fill}

is meant to set ILLUSTRATION 1 and ILLUSTRATION 2 even distributed across \textwidth:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{showframe}% http://ctan.org/pkg/showframe
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\hspace*{\fill}
{ILLUSTRATION 1} \hfill {ILLUSTRATION 2}
\hspace*{\fill}
\caption{Example float with two illustrations}
\label{fig:mult1}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

However, replacing \hspace*{\fill} with \hfill, the space from the right margin is "gobbled":

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{showframe}% http://ctan.org/pkg/showframe
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\hfill%\hspace*{\fill}
{ILLUSTRATION 1} \hfill {ILLUSTRATION 2}%
\hfill%\hspace*{\fill}
\caption{Example float with two illustrations}
\label{fig:mult1}
\end{figure}
\end{document}

giving value to the command definition for \hspace*:

LaTeX removes horizontal space that comes at the end of a line. If you don't want LaTeX to remove this space, include the optional * argument. Then the space is never removed.

An alternative to use if \hfill is more intuitive than \hspace*{\fill}, is to insert dummy text (like \null or \mbox{}) at the (start and) end of the line. That way the \hfill will always have "something to infinitely stretch against":

\null\hfill%
{ILLUSTRATION 1} \hfill {ILLUSTRATION 2}%
\hfill\null%

In the above examples, showframe merely highlighted the text block.

Is \hspace{\fill} and \hfill the same? Why is there no \hfill*? — hpekristiansen, Feb 27 '12 at 22:53
Why do you need \null at the start of the line? I can't see the difference with or without. — adl, Apr 15 '14 at 14:24
@adl: You don't need it at the start of the line. It just provides for symmetrical coding. — Werner, Apr 15 '14 at 20:27

score 14 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:34

There is a very good discussion and answers at What is the difference between 'fil' and 'fill'?.

As related to the specifics in your question \hfill is a TeX primitive that expands to,

 \hfill = \hskip 0pt plus 1fill minus 0pt

whereas \hspace*{\fill}, is a LaTeX macro, which leaves a space equal to a 1fill. The star version of the command is used if the glue is to be inserted at the beginning of a line.

What is the difference between \hspace*{\fill} and \hfill?

2 Answers2

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