Info Node: (texinfo)@frenchspacing

CFHT HOME texinfo: @frenchspacing


up: Inserting Space next: @dmn prev: Ending a Sentence Back to Software Index

14.3.4 '@frenchspacing' VAL: Control Sentence Spacing
-----------------------------------------------------

In American typography, it is traditional and correct to put extra space
at the end of a sentence.  This is the default in Texinfo (implemented
in Info and printed output; for HTML, we don't try to override the
browser).  In French typography (and others), this extra space is wrong;
all spaces are uniform.

  Therefore Texinfo provides the '@frenchspacing' command to control the
spacing after punctuation.  It reads the rest of the line as its
argument, which must be the single word 'on' or 'off' (always these
words, regardless of the language of the document).  Here is an example:

     @frenchspacing on
     This is text. Two sentences. Three sentences. French spacing.

     @frenchspacing off
     This is text. Two sentences. Three sentences. Non-French spacing.

produces:

  This is text. Two sentences. Three sentences. French spacing.

  This is text.  Two sentences.  Three sentences.  Non-French spacing.

  '@frenchspacing' also affects the output after '@.', '@!', and '@?'
(Note: Ending a Sentence).

  '@frenchspacing' has no effect on the HTML or Docbook output; for XML,
it outputs a transliteration of itself (Note: Output Formats).


automatically generated by info2www version 1.2