Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!lll-winken!uunet!mcsun!unido!laura!tommy!klute
From: klute@tommy.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer Klute)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: Need non-fixed-width parbox in LaTeX
Message-ID: <2855@laura.UUCP>
Date: 12 Dec 90 08:34:34 GMT
Sender: news@laura.UUCP
Reply-To: klute@tommy.informatik.uni-dortmund.de (Rainer Klute)
Organization: University of Dortmund, Germany
Lines: 32

In article <1568@abekrd.UUCP>, garyb@abekrd.UUCP (Gary Bartlett) writes:
|> I need to format a piece of text in a parbox (because I need to specify
|> where the line breaks are to occur) but I want the final box to be only as
|> wide as the largest line of text.  I cannot figure out how to achieve this.
|> 
|> eg - the text to be formatted:
|> 
|> 	this is line 1 \\
|> 	this is a longer line 2 \\
|> 	the end

Not really a solution, but an ugly hack that works:

\newlength{\longestline}
\settowidth{\longestline}{this is a longer line 2}
\parbox{\longestline}{
this is line 1 \\
this is a longer line 2 \\
the end
}

The problem is that you have to find out which of your line is the longest
one and then paste it into the \settowidth command. This task must be
carried out by running latex at least once over your document.

If someone has a better idea please let me know!

-- 
  Dipl.-Inform. Rainer Klute      klute@irb.informatik.uni-dortmund.de
  Univ. Dortmund, IRB             klute@unido.uucp, klute@unido.bitnet
  Postfach 500500         |)|/    Tel.: +49 231 755-4663
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