Next: \indent & \noindent, Up: Making paragraphs [Contents][Index]
\parSynopsis (note that while reading the input TeX converts two
consecutive newlines to a \par):
\par
End the current paragraph. The usual way to separate paragraphs is with
a blank line but the \par command is entirely equivalent. This
command is robust (see \protect).
This example uses \par rather than a blank line simply for
readability.
\newcommand{\syllabusLegalese}{%
\whatCheatingIs\par\whatHappensWhenICatchYou}
In LR mode or a vertical mode the \par command does nothing but
it terminates paragraph mode, switching LaTeX to vertical mode
(see Modes).
You cannot use the \par command in a math mode. You also cannot
use it in the argument of many commands, such as the \section
command (see Making paragraphs and \newcommand & \renewcommand).
The \par command is not the same as the \paragraph
command. The latter is, like \section or \subsection, a
sectioning unit used by the standard LaTeX documents
(see \subsubsection & \paragraph & \subparagraph).
The \par command is not the same as \newline or the line
break double backslash, \\. The difference is that \par
ends the paragraph, not just the line, and also triggers the addition of
the between-paragraph vertical space \parskip (see \parindent & \parskip).
The output from this example
xyz
\setlength{\parindent}{3in}
\setlength{\parskip}{5in}
\noindent test\indent test1\par test2
is: after ‘xyz’ there is a vertical skip of 5 inches and then ‘test’ appears, aligned with the left margin. On the same line, there is an empty horizontal space of 3 inches and then ‘test1’ appears. Finally. there is a vertical space of 5 inches, followed by a fresh paragraph with a paragraph indent of 3 inches, and then LaTeX puts the text ‘test2’.