Hypertext Help with LaTeX
Comments in file

You can insert comments into the LaTeX input (*.tex) file. Anything following a percent sign (%) until the end of the line is ignored by the LaTeX processor.

In fact, the % ends a line without generating a space; an end-of-line in LaTeX input is normally equivalent to a space. Thus, for example, it allows one to split a word over lines without inserting a break. For example

   this is an extr%
       ordinarily long word
would produce "this is an extraordinarily long word" with no breaks. However, a command cannot be split over lines this way.
See also Special Characters, Input to LaTeX
Back to the Table of Contents
Revised: Sheldon Green, 1 Jun 1995.