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Today I am using \hfill to make two column in one page, when the code write like this:

\begin{minipage}[t]{0.25\textwidth}
\end{minipage} 
\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.73\textwidth}
\end{minipage}

the document works fine, but when I put a new line like this:

\begin{minipage}[t]{0.25\textwidth}
\end{minipage}

\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.73\textwidth}
\end{minipage}

the two columns did not work. why the docs command \hfill could not handle the space of the docs?

Dolphin
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    a empty line creates a new paragraph, and spaces at the begin of a paragraph are ignored. Use \mbox{}\hfill ... – Ulrike Fischer Jun 18 '23 at 08:40
  • with the second you are forcing a paragraph break,with the first you may get linebreak depending if 0.2\textwidth is smaller or larger than one inter-word space as you have a space and \hfill between the boxes – David Carlisle Jun 18 '23 at 08:46

1 Answers1

4

You say that the first works, but it really doesn't.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum} % to provide content
\usepackage{showframe} % to show the page margins

\begin{document}


\begin{minipage}[t]{0.25\textwidth}
\lipsum[1][1-2]
\end{minipage}
\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.73\textwidth}
\lipsum[2][1-5]
\end{minipage}


\end{document}

enter image description here

You get Overfull \hbox (10.32074pt too wide), because the left minipage is preceded by the standard indent. What you get is a normal interword space between the two minipages and an overfull line. The interword space is due to the endline after the first \end{minipage}. Compare with

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum} % to provide content
\usepackage{showframe} % to show the page margins

\begin{document}


\noindent
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.25\textwidth}
\lipsum[1][1-2]
\end{minipage}\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.73\textwidth}
\lipsum[2][1-5]
\end{minipage}


\end{document}

enter image description here

Note that the endline is no more, because \hfill will ignore the following endline.

What happens if you leave a blank line before \hfill? This ends a paragraph consisting of the indentation and the first minipage. Then a new paragraph is started, with the standard indent, the \hfill and the second minipage.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum} % to provide content
\usepackage{showframe} % to show the page margins

\begin{document}


\begin{minipage}[t]{0.25\textwidth}
\lipsum[1][1-2]
\end{minipage}


\hfill
\begin{minipage}[t]{0.73\textwidth}
\lipsum[2][1-5]
\end{minipage}


\end{document}

enter image description here

Never leave a blank line if you don't want to end a paragraph. And keep a careful watch on spaces and endlines.

egreg
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