It's also a very insightful example of how to use and inject Lua code in the TeX output routine.
This is injecting Lua code before the paragraph builder, not in the output routine. Something like https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/644613/270600 or my module "lua-widow-control" would be an example of Lua code in the output routine.
Do you mind if I add it to the wiki? (Probably under "Wrapping".)
Sure
However, tex.localhsize (or tex.dimen["localhsize"]) is 0 when the document is initialized. (Maybe a more sensible default would be textwidth rather than 0?)
So, I added:
local localhsize = tex.dimen["textwidth"]
if tex.dimen["localhsize"] > 0 then localhsize = tex.dimen["localhsize"] end
if chars >= max_length or width > localhsize then
I don't think that's necessary. \hsize is a primitive TeX parameter that sets the width of the paragraph. It may be zero at the start of the document, but it is definitely non-zero by the end of every paragraph. The Lua function gets the current value of \hsize at the end of every paragraph, so it should be using the exact same value that TeX's paragraph builder uses, meaning that it should account for itemizations and such. I'm not really sure what \localhsize is, but it's probably similar to \hsize.
(2) I'm (now?) running into trouble with hyphenation.
In my own document, I also get lines with only a single character or hboxed group. I assume, this is because the hyphen is not counted and pushes the remainder to a new line where the intended breakpoint again starts another one.
Try this: \startluacode local max_length = 112 local glyph_id = node.id "glyph" local disc_id = node.id "disc" local glue_id = node.id "glue" function userdata.limiter(head) language.hyphenate(head) local hyphen = node.new "glyph" hyphen.char = language.prehyphenchar(0) hyphen.font = font.current() local width = hyphen.width node.free(hyphen) local chars = 0 local n = head while n do if n.id == glyph_id or n.id == glue_id then chars = chars + 1 width = width + n.width - (n.shrink or 0) end if chars >= max_length or width > tex.hsize then local back_chars = 0 local end_disc = nil while n do if n.id == glue_id then local penalty = node.new "penalty" penalty.penalty = -10000 node.insertbefore(head, n, penalty) break end if not end_disc and n.id == disc_id then end_disc = n end if end_disc and back_chars >= 5 then end_disc.penalty = -10000 break end if n.id == glyph_id then back_chars = back_chars + 1 end n = n.prev end width = 0 chars = 0 end n = n.next end return head end nodes.tasks.appendaction( "processors", "before", "userdata.limiter" ) \stopluacode I've just added the width of a hyphen to the accumulated width. Let me know if this works; if not, there's a more complex fix that I can try.
Unfortunately, I don't know what to change; I know a bit about "glyph" and "glue", but what is "disc" and would it help here?
"disc" nodes are "discretionaries", which are usually potential hyphens. See "The TeXbook" (page 95) or "TeX by Topic" (https://texdoc.org/serve/texbytopic/0#subsection.19.3.1) for details on the TeX side, or the LuaMetaTeX manual (https://www.pragma-ade.com/general/manuals/luametatex.pdf#%231205) for details on the Lua side. -- Max