Box equivalent to shortstack but allowing to change line spacing

Solution 1

You can do that easily with the stackengine package. The Shortunderstack command aligns it at top, and there's an optional argument for the horizontal argument of the contents.

The vertical spacing of line used set with \setstackgap[S]{some value} (default: 3pt)

\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{ebgaramond}
\usepackage[usestackEOL]{stackengine}

\begin{document}

She puzzled over this for some time, but at last a bright thought struck
her. ‘Why, it’s a Looking-glass book, of course! And if I hold it up to
a glass, the words will all go the right way again.’

This was the poem that Alice read:
%
\Shortunderstack[l]{Beware the Jabberwock, my son!\\
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!\\
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun\\
The frumious Bandersnatch!\\}

‘It seems very pretty,’ she said when she had finished it, ‘but it’s
RATHER hard to understand!’ (You see she didn’t like to confess, even
to herself, that she couldn’t make it out at all.) ‘Somehow it seems
to fill my head with ideas--only I don’t exactly know what they are!
However, SOMEBODY killed SOMETHING: that’s clear, at any rate--’

\end{document} 

Solution 2

You can use \shortstack using \strut so that it is affected by the baseline, or use tabular.

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}



\begin{picture}(10,10)


\put(0,0){x
{\shortstack{a\\b\\C\\1}} 
{\shortstack{\strut a\\\strut b\\\strut C\\\strut 2}} 
{\linespread{1.5}\selectfont\shortstack[t]{\strut a\\\strut b\\\strut C\\\strut 3}} 
{\linespread{2}\selectfont\shortstack[t]{\strut a\\\strut b\\\strut C\\\strut 4}} 
{\begin{tabular}[b]{@{}l@{}}a\\b\\C\\5\end{tabular}} 
{\renewcommand\arraystretch{1.5}\begin{tabular}[b]{@{}l@{}}a\\b\\C\\6\end{tabular}} 
{\renewcommand\arraystretch{2}\begin{tabular}[b]{@{}l@{}}a\\b\\C\\7\end{tabular}} 
}
\end{picture}
\end{document}

Solution 3

Here is a \Shotstack macro that is essentially the same as the usual \shortstack, but has an additional mandatory argument that is the value of the \baselineskip for the contents of the stack:

\makeatletter
\gdef\Shortstack{\@ifnextchar[\@Shortstack{\@Shortstack[c]}}
\gdef\@Shortstack[#1]#2{%
  \leavevmode
  \vbox\bgroup
    \baselineskip-\p@\lineskip 3\p@
    \let\mb@l\hss\let\mb@r\hss
    \expandafter\let\csname mb@#1\endcsname\relax
    \let\\\@stackcr\setlength{\baselineskip}{#2}%
    \@ishortstack}
\makeatother

Syntax:

\Shortstack[<alignment>]{<baselineskip>}{<contents>}

Example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\makeatletter
\gdef\Shortstack{\@ifnextchar[\@Shortstack{\@Shortstack[c]}}
\gdef\@Shortstack[#1]#2{%
  \leavevmode
  \vbox\bgroup
    \baselineskip-\p@\lineskip 3\p@
    \let\mb@l\hss\let\mb@r\hss
    \expandafter\let\csname mb@#1\endcsname\relax
    \let\\\@stackcr\setlength{\baselineskip}{#2}%
    \@ishortstack}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\lipsum[1]

\def\MidSeasonEpisodes{Some filler to occupy space}

\Shortstack[l]{1.5em}{\MidSeasonEpisodes\\\MidSeasonEpisodes\\\MidSeasonEpisodes\\\MidSeasonEpisodes}

\lipsum[2]
\end{document}

I don't know why, but the space before and after the \Shortstack seems messed up... If someone knows, please do tell...

Author by

Patrick Storz

Updated on January 11, 2020