8.12 @noindent: Omitting Indentation

An example or other inclusion can break a paragraph into segments. Ordinarily, the formatters indent text that follows an example as a new paragraph. You can prevent this on a case-by-case basis by writing @noindent at the beginning of a line, preceding the continuation text. You can also disable indentation for all paragraphs globally with @paragraphindent (see @paragraphindent).

Here is an example showing how to eliminate the normal indentation of the text after an @example, a common situation:

@example
This is an example
@end example

@noindent
This line is not indented.  As you can see, the
beginning of the line is fully flush left with the
line that follows after it.

produces:

This is an example

This line is not indented.  As you can see, the
beginning of the line is fully flush left with the
line that follows after it.

The standard usage of @noindent is just as above: at the beginning of what would otherwise be a paragraph, to eliminate the indentation that normally happens there. It can either be followed by text or be on a line by itself. There is no reason to use it in other contexts, such as in the middle of a paragraph or inside an environment (see Quotations and Examples).

You can control the number of blank lines in the Info file output by adjusting the input as desired: a line containing just @noindent does not generate a blank line, and neither does an @end line for an environment.

Do not put braces after a @noindent command; they are not used, since @noindent is a command used outside of paragraphs (see Command Syntax).