RaggedLeft

Raggedleft is a typographic directive used in TeX/LaTeX to typeset a block of text with a flush right edge and a ragged left edge. In this mode, lines are aligned to the right margin, while the left margin varies from line to line. It is the counterpart of raggedright, which creates a flush left edge and a ragged right edge, and of full justification, which aligns both edges.

In LaTeX, raggedleft can be applied as a primitive command within a group or paragraph. For example, one may write a block of text as {\raggedleft This paragraph is aligned to the right with a ragged left edge. \par} to produce the desired effect. For more flexible control, the ragged2e package provides dedicated environments such as \begin{raggedleft} ... \end{raggedleft}, which are commonly used for quotations, epigraphs, or decorative blocks.

Use and impact: Raggedleft is often chosen for stylistic reasons, such as epigraphs, captions, or short blocks of text where a right-aligned appearance is desired. The left edge will appear irregular because line breaks can create uneven starting positions for lines.

Relation to other formatting: Raggedleft is distinct from justified text, which smooths both edges, and from raggedright, which aligns text to the left with an uneven right edge. While raggedleft is a standard tool in LaTeX, similar effects in other environments (such as web pages) are typically achieved using different mechanisms, like right alignment, combined with additional spacing or indentation.