Home > LaTeX > Page margins and the \footheight command

## Page margins

There are a few commands to redefine the page layout:

Command
\baselinestretch A decimal value for the spacing.

Example:

To set double-spacing on your document, use the command: \renewcommand{\baselinestretch}{2}

\textwidth The normal width of the text on the page.

Example:

To change this, use the command: \setlength{\textwidth}{x}
where x is a length.

NOTE: If you change the textwidth, you will almost certainly want to change the evenside- and oddsidemargin.

\textheight The normal height of the body of a page.
\oddsidemargin
One inch less than the distance from the left edge of the paper to the left margin of the text on right-hand pages.
\evensidemargin The same as \oddsidemargin except for left-hand pages.
\marginparwidth The width of marginal notes.
\marginparsep The amount of horiz. space between the outer margin and a marginal note.
\topmargin One inch less than the distance from the top edge of the paper to the top of the page’s head.
\headsep The amount of vertical space between the header and the body of a page.
\toskip The minimum distance from the top of the body to the bottom of the first line of text.
\footheight The height of a box containing the page’s footer.
\footskip The distance from the bottom of the last line of text in the body to the bottom of the footer.

You can use the commands like this:

Command
\newlength{cmd} define cmd to be a length
\setlength{cmd}{len} set length of cmd to be len
\settowidth{cmd}{txt} set cmd to width of txt

### Units

Unit
cm Centimetres
em
The width of the letter M in the current font
ex
The height of the letter x in the current font
in
Inches
pc
Picas (1pc = 12pt)
pt
Points (1in = 72.27pt)
mm
Millimetres

## \footheight

The `\footheight` command will not affect the way the style works with LaTeX2.09.  You can use the other commands like `\textheight25.5cm` instead to format your page.