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\settowidthSynopsis:
\settowidth{len}{text}
Set the length len to the width of the box that LaTeX gets on
typesetting the text argument. The length name len must
begin with a backslash, \.
This measures the width of the lowercase ASCII alphabet.
\newlength{\alphabetwidth}
\settowidth{\alphabetwidth}{abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz}
\the\alphabetwidth
If no such length len has been set aside, if for example you
mistype the above as \settowidth{\aplhabetwidth}{abc...},
then you get something like ‘Undefined control sequence. <argument>
\aplhabetwidth’. If you leave the backslash out of len, as in
\settoheight{alphabetwidth}{...} then you get something like
‘Missing number, treated as zero. <to be read again> \setbox’.