New line and paragraph in TeX

Question

I have been a writing a simple program using TeX programming like

Hello, World!
How are you.
\bye

I want the two sentences to in different lines but they come in same line. Using \\ it gives an error undefined control sequence. How can it be shifted to new line and also how to start a new paragraph?

I am asking about TeX and not LaTeX, I know using \ will shift me to the next line in LaTeX and how this would be done in TeX? — Mistha, Jan 04 '15 at 07:20
By different lines you're probably referring to \par (after Hello, World!). — Werner, Jan 04 '15 at 07:26
Can you tell me where can I find a simple guide for TeX programming ? — Mistha, Jan 04 '15 at 07:32
@luneart - the query is about creating simple documents using Plain TeX, not LaTeX. — Mico, Jan 04 '15 at 08:54
The duplicate should be http://tex.stackexchange.com/q/53/15925 — Andrew Swann, Jan 04 '15 at 09:55

wipet · Answer 1 · 2015-01-04T09:28:09.877

The basic structural element of a typeset document is the paragraph. TeX separates paragraphs by \par command which is automatically inserted at each empty line in source document (when the common catcode settings are done). Thus, you can try two approaches:

separate paragraphs by empty lines
read some basics introduction to TeX, for example M. Doob: A gentle introduction to TeX or (if you understand Czech:) Olšák: TeX pro pragmatiky

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 04 '15 at 07:31

6

Use \par to start a new paragraph (or leave a blank line between text blocks):

Hello, World!

How are you.
\bye

or

Hello, World!\par
How are you.
\bye

Alternatively, but highly unlikely, use \obeylines:

\obeylines
Hello, World!
How are you.
\bye

answered Jan 04 '15 at 07:31

Werner

603,163

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

0

I advise you to consult the introduction on Latex, see this post or directly The (not so) short introduction to LaTeX2e.

The particular answer to your question is to use \\ or \newline.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:35

Community

1

answered Jan 04 '15 at 07:13

luneart

534

2

IMHO, OP needs the introduction to TeX, no to LaTeX. – wipet Jan 04 '15 at 07:17
@wipet After all, OP is specifically asking about Plain :) – Sean Allred Jan 04 '15 at 08:01
well, my answer was made before the edits :) – luneart Jan 04 '15 at 09:05
1

@luneart The MWE in version one is clearly for plain! – Joseph Wright Jan 04 '15 at 09:39

New line and paragraph in TeX

3 Answers3