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From: eijkhout@s41.csrd.uiuc.edu (Victor Eijkhout)
Newsgroups: comp.text.tex
Subject: Re: \the \baselineskip
Message-ID: <1991Feb17.201517.27802@csrd.uiuc.edu>
Date: 17 Feb 91 20:15:17 GMT
References: <9102170805.AA03692@autarch.acsu.buffalo.edu>
Sender: news@csrd.uiuc.edu (news)
Organization: UIUC Center for Supercomputing Research and Development
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xiaofei@ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU writes:

>What is wrong with the way I am thinking?

Dunno, but let's think like TeX:

>\the\baselineskip

No problem. Print 12.0pt

>\baselineskip=2.0\baselineskip

Ha! We're doing a <glue> assignment. Lessee...
The right hand side can be a glue parameter (e.g. \parskip),
no that's not the case, it starts with 2.0.
So maybe it's a glue denotation:
    <dimen> plus <fildimen> minus <fildimen>
            ^ optional      ^ optional
First 2.0/baselineskip. That's a <dimen> all right
(note (this is me, VE, talking) that if \baselineskip=12pt plus 1pt,
then 2.0\baselineskip is just 12pt, because it's a <dimen>;
back to TeX:)
now let's see if there's a `plus' or `minus' spec after this.

>\the\baselineskip

Hm ... `\the' ... I can expand that. Let's see
what comes out. No. This just prints 12.0pt. Does not
look like a `plus' or `minus'. Pity. I'll just assign the
2.0\baselineskip.

So far \TeX.

Now if you'd written once more \the\baselineskip,
you would have gotten 24.0pt. The second one was
just printed too early.

Victor.