# Manually Aligning Formula Parts

/text/smath/guide/align.xhp
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
converted from old format - fpe
aligning; characters in %PRODUCTNAME Math
formula parts; manually aligning
Manually Aligning Formula Parts
How do you align characters in $[officename] Math quickly and easily?
To accomplish this, you must define empty groups and character strings. They do not require any space, but carry information that helps in the alignment process.
To create empty groups, enter curly brackets {} in the Commands window. In the following example, the goal is to achieve a line break so that the plus signs are beneath one another, even though one less character is entered in the upper line:
a+a+a+{} newline {}{}{}{}{}a+a+a+a
Empty character strings are a simple way to ensure that texts and formulas are left-aligned. They are defined using double inverted commas "" . Make sure you do not use any typographic inverted commas. Example:
"A further example." newline a+b newline ""c-d