Line and page breaks

Line breaks

//           Line break
//5          Line break with an explicit number

The compiled output is <lb/> or <lb n="5"/>.

Whether a bare // is numbered depends on the template’s Auto line numbers option. The built-in Menota template numbers line breaks consecutively; the plain TEI P5 template does not. Explicit numbers (//5) are always written as given.

// is only a line break when followed by nothing or by digits. //2Text is a line break numbered 2 followed by the word Text; the digits are consumed as the number.

Page breaks

///1r        Page break, folio 1 recto
///12        Page break numbered 12

The compiled output is <pb n="1r"/>.

A page break takes everything up to the next whitespace as its number. Write ///1v for the verso of folio 1, ///12 for page 12, or any other designation your edition uses. The number is escaped as XML, so it should be a plain page or folio designation rather than markup.

Paragraphs

.p           New paragraph

.p starts a new paragraph. It has to stand on its own between spaces, so word.p is ordinary text. A paragraph can begin anywhere, also mid-line:

//4 ſina . .p þer vitið …

The compiled output is a paragraph boundary: the current <p> is closed and a new one opened. With the Menota template, which wraps pages in paragraphs, a page break also opens a paragraph; a .p immediately after a page break therefore does not produce an empty paragraph.

Caution

The pilcrow ¶ is not a paragraph break. It is a character written by the scribe, entered as the entity :para:.

Folding pages in the editor

Pages can be folded at their /// markers, using the markers in the editor’s margin or the keyboard. This is a display convenience: folding does not change the shorthand. See Keyboard shortcuts.

Pages in the preview

Manuscripts with page breaks are shown one page at a time in the Text and XSLT views. Use the navigation bar to move between pages. The page number comes from the /// marker, so choose designations that make sense in the page list.

In imported files

When a TEI file is imported, its <lb/> elements become // and its <pb/> elements become ///, and each paragraph is shown with .p. A paragraph can be split by adding .p and joined by removing one. A split has to fall between elements such as sentences (<s>), not inside one; if it would break the XML, the change is reported instead of written.