The longtwocolumn LaTeX Package

Providing \longtwocolumn similar to LaTeX's \twocolumn but allowing the optional argument to span several pages.

LaTeX package longtwocolumn

Copyright (c) 2013—2025 Markus Kohm

Release: 2025-07-21 v0.1

License: LPPL 1.3c (see LICENSE)

CTAN Location: https://www.ctan.org/pkg/longtwocolumn

Summary

longtwocolumn is the result of a question on komascript.de, which is no longer available. It provides a command \longtwocolumn similar to the LaTeX kernel command \twocolumn, but it allows the optional argument to span several pages.

Status

This is an early release of an experimental package.

Installation

We recommend to use the package manager of your TeX distribution to install packages. However, if you need to install longtwocolumn manually, you can either use a semi-manual installation or a completely manual installation.

Semi-manual Installation

For a semi-manual installation you can first create a local clone of the repository:

git clone https://gitlab.com/latex9343737/packages/longtwocolumn.git

Then enter the directory created while cloning the repository:

cd longtwocolumn

Last, but not least use l3build to install it locally with manual and sources:

l3build install --full

or without manual and sources:

l3build install

Completely Manual Installation

To do a completely manual installation, download longtwocolumn.dtx. Then extract it using:

tex longtwocolumn.dtx

To create the manual use:

pdflatex longtwocolumn-example.tex
pdflatex longtwocolumn.dtx
mkindex longtwocolumn
pdflatex longtwocolumn.dtx
mkindex longtwocolumn
pdflatex longtwocolumn.dtx

Now, you can either install it in the proper directory (see the documentation of your TeX distribution) or copy longtwocolumn.sty to your document directory.

How to Report Issues

If you think you have found a bug (or another kind of issue) using longtwocolumn you should use the issue tracker. Please first search for similar issues already reported and maybe also already solved and closed. Maybe the replies to such similar reports would help you too.

If your issue is new, you should report it also isung the issue tracker. Please be kind, not only when writing the report but also when reading replies and commenting or answering. And please always add a minimal working example and usually the relevant parts of the log-file to your report. Please use the markdown for code to add such files into the text of your report. The correct language identifier for LaTeX code would be latex. For log-files you won't need any language identifier. Usually you should not use attachments for code or log-files unless you've been asked to do so. And please note, reports should always be self-containing. External links often break and so the report become useles.

How to Say Thank You for my Work

Hey, I'm doing this as a hobby. So no need to say thank you. But I'm a vain fop, so I'm certainly up for a quick thank you by email. On komascript.de you can find an explanation of my wishes if you want to give more. If you don't understand German, just click to links at that page.