[texhax] adding different amounts of dots for formatting

[Philip G. Ratcliffe]

> Jeremy C. Reed wrote:
> > I want output like this (using random text):
> > 
> >          Vim modus	tractatos suscipiantur at . . . . . . . . ius
> > cu homero nominati	mediocrem feugait nusquam per et  . . . 
> . sanctus 
> >          consulatu	concludaturque  . . . . . . . . . . . . . mei
> >     Dicat legendos	concludaturque ne ius tale  . . . . . . . dicit 
> 
> Maybe something like this (sorry, I do not know how
> to force \begin {tabular} to create the equivalent
> of an \halign to \hsize {}) --
> 
> \documentclass {minimal}
> \begin {document}
> \begin {tabular}{ r l l }
>                      & \hbox to 0,6 \hsize {} & \\
>           Vim modus  &   tractatos suscipiantur at \dotfill & ius \\
> cu homero nominati  &   mediocrem feugait nusquam per et 
> \dotfill &  sanctus \\
>           consulatu  &   concludaturque \dotfill & mei \\
>      Dicat legendos  &   concludaturque ne ius tale \dotfill 
> & dicit \\
> \end {tabular}
> \end {document}
> 
> I'm sure a wizard could get the \dotfill into the preamble,
> but LaTeX remains more-or-less impenetrable to me :-(

And here's how to do it:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}
\begin{document}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{0.5em}
\begin{tabular}{rp{0.6\hsize}<{\space\dotfill}@{\space}l}
           Vim modus & tractatos suscipiantur at         & ius     \\
  cu homero nominati & mediocrem feugait nusquam per et  & sanctus \\
           consulatu & concludaturque                    & mei     \\
      Dicat legendos & concludaturque ne ius tale        & dicit   \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

The \setlength{\tabcolsep}{0.5em} command is just a reminder of how to
change intercolumn space and the @{\space} in the table preamble is a
reminder pf how to do it "per column".

As a final comment, let me once again advertise Robin Fairbairns' "The UK
TeX FAQ", usually linked at the bottom of every single posting to this list.

Cheers, Phil