Getting "Use fo \line doesen't match definitions" Errors

[Skip Rye]

Help!! - I'm new to TeX.

getting

! Use of \line doesn't match its definition.
l.390 \line{
Introduction \dotfill{} i}
! Too many }'s.
l.390 \line{Introduction \dotfill{} i}

document looks like this

\section{Contents}
\line{Introduction \dotfill{} i} - line 390
\line{Contents \dotfill{} iii}

Got these paths defined:

TEXFONTS=/usr/lib/texmf/fonts
FMTDIR=/usr/lib/texmf/ini
TEXINPUTDIR=/usr/lib/texmf/tex/etex/macros

These probably arn't close - Help!!!!

running Linux 1.3.13 Slackware 3.0

[Robin Fairbairns]

In article <4mt9g4$l...@swlab1.msd.ray.com>,

Skip Rye <root@brspc_0064.msd.ray.com> wrote:
>Help!! - I'm new to TeX.

>! Use of \line doesn't match its definition.
>l.390 \line{
> Introduction \dotfill{} i}
>

>document looks like this
>
>\section{Contents}
>\line{Introduction \dotfill{} i} - line 390
>\line{Contents \dotfill{} iii}

That looks like a (somwhat curious) LaTeX document. This is
consistent: \line with just one argument is a plain TeX macro, but
LaTeX defines \line(#1,#2)#3, which would produce the effect you're
observing.

If you *must* do this (one occasionally has to) you need to write out
the original definition in full:

\hbox to \hsize{Introduction \dotfill{} i}

OTOH, I wouldn't try and write out the code to do a table of contents,
since LaTeX defines a \tableofcontents command that does it all for
you, automatically (though it does require you to run LaTeX at least
twice to get the answers right.

>Got these paths defined:
>
>TEXFONTS=/usr/lib/texmf/fonts
>FMTDIR=/usr/lib/texmf/ini
>TEXINPUTDIR=/usr/lib/texmf/tex/etex/macros

This is something of a puzzle. You're presumably using LaTeX, but if
so, how is it managing to find *any* of LaTeX's macro files? Hmmm
... it could be interesting for you to submit a bit more of your log
file.

>These probably arn't close - Help!!!!
>
>running Linux 1.3.13 Slackware 3.0

Which I'm not acquainted with ... which TeX implementation is it
(teTeX, NTeX, or something else again)?
--
Robin (Campaign for Real Radio 3) Fairbairns r...@cl.cam.ac.uk
U of Cambridge Computer Lab, Pembroke St, Cambridge CB2 3QG, UK
Home page: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/rf/robin.html

[Mark Wooding]

Skip Rye <root@brspc_0064.msd.ray.com> wrote:
> Help!! - I'm new to TeX.
>

> getting

>
>
>
> ! Use of \line doesn't match its definition.
> l.390 \line{
> Introduction \dotfill{} i}

> ! Too many }'s.

> l.390 \line{Introduction \dotfill{} i}
>
> document looks like this
>
> \section{Contents}
> \line{Introduction \dotfill{} i} - line 390
> \line{Contents \dotfill{} iii}

You're almost certainly running LaTeX, which has its own \line command.
If you must just fix this problem, an incantation like the following,
put into the document preamble, may help...

\makeatletter
\let\latex@@line\line
\def\line{\@ifnextchar(\latex@@line{\hbox to\hsize}}
\makeatother

I'm not entirely sure why this wasn't done anyway. <sigh>
--
(` t r a y l i g h t / `Beware of bugs in the above code; I
,_) cs...@csv.warwick.ac.uk / have only proved it correct, not actually
/ tried it.'
Mark Wooding / Donald Knuth