LaTeX: indent from second line

Ricibald picture Ricibald · Jul 15, 2010 · Viewed 56.7k times · Source

I want to indent from the second line.

I want to write in LaTeX something like this:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Proin eu tempor velit. Fusce accumsan ultrices fringilla. Praesent sed odio mi. Mauris non ligula turpis. Duis posuere lacus nec diam interdum dictum suscipit magna molestie. Vestibulum nibh dolor, interdum eget rhoncus ut, sodales eget justo. Morbi blandit lorem sit amet nulla egestas aliquam. Nunc pharetra est at nibh ullamcorper in commodo erat dignissim. Cras et suscipit enim. 

Nunc adipiscing ligula at ligula egestas id ullamcorper felis luctus. Aliquam tincidunt turpis sed eros pellentesque iaculis. Nulla imperdiet cursus enim condimentum congue.

And I want to produce:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
    Proin eu tempor velit. Fusce accumsan ultrices fringilla. Praesent 
    sed odio mi. Mauris non ligula turpis. Duis posuere lacus nec diam 
    interdum dictum suscipit magna molestie. Vestibulum nibh dolor, 
    interdum eget rhoncus ut, sodales eget justo. Morbi blandit lorem 
    sit amet nulla egestas aliquam. Nunc pharetra est at nibh ullamcorper 
    in commodo erat dignissim. Cras et suscipit enim. 
Nunc adipiscing ligula at ligula egestas id ullamcorper felis luctus. 
    Aliquam tincidunt turpis sed eros pellentesque iaculis. Nulla 
    imperdiet cursus enim condimentum congue.

Answer

Norman Gray picture Norman Gray · Jul 15, 2010

Depending on why you want to do this, you might be better off using the built-in TeX support for hanging indentation, which the hanging package sugars. If it's a one-off, use the package, but if it's built in to some other layout, the package might just confuse things. Up to you.

The \hangindent dimension gives the size of the indentation, and the \hangafter number indicates when that indentation should start or stop. If the \hangafter number is positive, then indentation starts after that number of lines; if it's negative, then it starts immediately and stops after (minus) that many lines.

These apply only to the immediately following paragraph. The hanging package handles this by using \everypar. That's an occasionally problematic technique, which is why the package includes a 'word of caution' about it.

\documentclass{article}

\parindent=0pt
\parskip=\medskipamount

\begin{document}

\hangindent=2em
\hangafter=2
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Proin eu tempor velit. Fusce accumsan ultrices fringilla. Praesent 
sed odio mi. Mauris non ligula turpis. Duis posuere lacus nec diam 
interdum dictum suscipit magna molestie. Vestibulum nibh dolor, 
interdum eget rhoncus ut, sodales eget justo. Morbi blandit lorem 
sit amet nulla egestas aliquam. Nunc pharetra est at nibh ullamcorper 
in commodo erat dignissim. Cras et suscipit enim. 

\hangindent=2em
\hangafter=-2
Nunc adipiscing ligula at ligula egestas id ullamcorper felis luctus. 
Aliquam tincidunt turpis sed eros pellentesque iaculis. Nulla 
imperdiet cursus enim condimentum congue.

\end{document}