@Section
    @Title { Plain text tables }
    @Tag { tbl_plai }
@Begin
@PP
@Code "@Tbl" changes the default values of several options when
printing plain text (Section {@NumberOf plain}):
@ID @OneRow @Code @Verbatim {
@Tbl
    marginvertical { 2f }
    marginhorizontal { 2s }
    rulehorizontalwidth { 1f }
    ruleverticalwidth { 1s }
    rulehorizontalgap { 0f }
    ruleverticalgap { 0s }
}
When using plain text it is best to make vertical distances whole
multiples of {@Code "1f"}, and horizontal distances whole multiples of
{@Code "1s"}, since this avoids fractional spacing which cannot be
successful in plain text files and produces quite messy results.
If this is done, the results can be good:
tables. @RawIndex { tables }
tables.plaintext @SubIndex { plain text output }
plain.text.tables @Index { plain text tables }
@CD @OneRow 0.9 @Scale 1.0fx @Break @F @Verbatim {
...................................................
.                .                                .
. Johnson        . Johnson suddenly uttered, in   .
. suddenly       . a strong determined tone, an   .
. uttered,       . apophegm, at which many will   .
. in a strong    . start:  `Patriotism is the     .
. determined     . last refuge of a scoundrel.'   .
. tone, an       .                                .
. apophegm, at   .                                .
. which many     ..................................
. will start:    .               .                .
. `Patriotism    . Johnson       . Johnson        .
. is the last    . suddenly      . suddenly       .
. refuge of a    . uttered,      . uttered,       .
. scoundrel.'    . in a strong   . in a strong    .
.                . determined    . determined     .
.                . tone, an      . tone, an       .
.                . apophegm, at  . apophegm, at   .
.                . which many    . which many     .
.                . will start:   . will start:    .
.                . `Patriotism   . `Patriotism    .
.                . is the last   . is the last    .
.                . refuge of a   . refuge of a    .
.                . scoundrel.'   . scoundrel.'    .
.                .               .                .
.                .               .                .
..................................                .
.                                .                .
. Johnson suddenly uttered, in   .                .
. a strong determined tone, an   .                .
. apophegm, at which many will   .                .
. start:  `Patriotism is the     .                .
. last refuge of a scoundrel.'   .                .
.                                .                .
.                                .                .
...................................................
}
This table was produced by a separate run of Lout and pasted into this
document.
@PP
A @Code ruleplainchar option for changing the character used to
tables. @RawIndex { tables }
tables.ruleplainchar @SubIndex { @Code "ruleplainchar" option }
ruleplainchar.tables @Index { @Code "ruleplainchar" option (tables) }
draw rules.  For example,
@ID @Code @Verbatim {
@Tbl
    ruleplainchar { - }
}
would be good if you draw only horizontal rules.  This option can be
set anywhere as usual.
@PP
If you use rules it is worth pondering the implications of the last
part of Section {@NumberOf tbl_rule}.  Right and below rules are
drawn outside the boundary of the cell, which is unimportant in
ordinary output, but means that they will appear one space to the
right and one line below the cell in plain text output.  This explains
the slight asymmetry in the example above; you can correct it with
@ID @Code @Verbatim {
@Tbl
    marginright { 1s }
    marginbelow { 1f }
}
but rules at the extreme right of the page will still go off the edge,
and rules below the last line will bump into whatever follows the table.
The first can be fixed by not using full width tables with right rules;
the second by inserting an extra @Code "@DP" after a table that ends
with a below rule.
@End @Section
