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Suppose I have a length \mylength, defined to be 

\setlength{\mylength}{5pt plus 1pt minus 2pt}

I'd like to make \mylength a fixed length, but keep the default length. In this example, I'd like 

\setlength{\mylength}{5pt}

But what if I didn't know the definition of \mylength? I know I can use \the\mylength to have it printed in the document, which I then can inspect, but I was wondering whether there is a simple way to strip out the glue of a length.

Hugh
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1 Answers1

5

If you use a factor in front of \mylength, the stretch and shrink components are discarded. With

\newlength{\lenA}
\newlength{\lenB}

\setlength{\lenA}{5pt plus 1pt minus 1pt}
\setlength{\lenB}{1\lenA}

the length \lenB will be set to 5pt.

If you just need to use \lenA without stretch and shrink components, the same holds:

\hspace{1\lenA}

will make a nonflexible space.

egreg
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