Synopsis:
\settodepth{len}{text}
Set the length len to the depth of box that LaTeX gets on typesetting the text argument. The length name len must begin with a backslash, \
.
This will show how low the character descenders go.
\newlength{\alphabetdepth} \settodepth{\alphabetdepth}{abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz} \the\alphabetdepth
If you did not set aside the length len, if for example you mistype the above as \settodepth{\aplhabetdepth}{abc...}
, then you get something like ‘Undefined control sequence. <argument> \aplhabetdepth’. If you leave the backslash out of len, as in \settodepth{alphabetdepth}{...}
then you get something like ‘Missing number, treated as zero. <to be read again> \setbox’.
© 2007–2018 Karl Berry
Public Domain Software
http://latexref.xyz/_005csettodepth.html