![](https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/827052f669b9f47b628e827349301697.jpg?s=120&d=mm&r=g)
Maurice Diamantini wrote:
Well I agree that it's no more "typing" any more! So a special option for \setuplines would be more appropriate?
Exactly, \starttyping does exactly that what you don't want: it disables math and expansion of TeX commands.
Also, perhaps my request is simply an option of \startlines which keep not only the lines break, but also the first spaces of each line (in a verbatim font fors these space)
In plain TeX you have a command \obeyspaces (apart from \obeylines). Nevertheless, whitespaces at the beginning of line are ignored when using \obeyspaces, so you additionally need to write an escaped whitespace '\ ' or \strut at the beginning of line (I guess there's a more efficient solution for that, but I'm no expert). But if you really only need whitespace at the beginning of line, probably make something like: \def\tab{\strut\hbox to 3em{}} % or any other size instead 3em instead of using \obeyspaces and simply put \tab where you need a certain amount of white space. Mojca