General ⇒ Boxes in plain TeX

[blindax]

Hi,

I´m new to TeX and I am trying to create a chessboard 8x8 using boxes. I use this code

Code: Select all

\hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm 

\vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax 

\hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \par

\vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax 

\hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \par

\vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax 

\hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \par

\vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax \hskip 2cm \vrule width 2cm height 2cm \relax 

\bye

My question is why is the last black square (on right side) longer? And is there a way to draw lines around every column/row to make it look like chessboard? thanks

[Stefan Kottwitz]

Do you know the chessboard package? Or do you really want to create it on your own?

Stefan

[cgnieder]

Hi blindax,

welcome to the LaTeX community!

I'm not really sure why the last vrule isn't a square but it must have to to with the parindent since saying \parindent=0pt fixes the issue. I rarely use plain TeX so use the following at you own risk

Code: Select all

\def\squarelength{2cm}
\def\white{%
  \vrule width 0pt\relax
  \vbox{%
    \hrule height .5pt\relax
    \hbox{%
      \vrule width .5pt\relax\kern\squarelength\relax\kern-1pt\relax
      \vbox{\kern\squarelength\relax\kern-1pt\relax}\vrule width.5pt\relax}%
    \hrule height .5pt\relax
  }}
\def\black{\vrule width \squarelength height \squarelength\relax}
\def\wbline{\white\black\white\black\white\black\white\black\vskip-1pt\relax}
\def\bwline{\black\white\black\white\black\white\black\white\vskip-1pt\relax}
\def\chessboard{%
  \begingroup
    \parindent=0pt\relax
    \wbline\bwline\wbline\bwline\wbline\bwline\wbline\bwline
  \endgroup}

\chessboard

\bye

Regards

[blindax]

Thanks, this is exactly what i didn´t get. I knew about the package but I just wanted to do it my way.