endgroup

Endgroup is a TeX primitive used to end a group that was started by begingroup (or by an opening brace). Grouping creates a local scope for assignments and definitions, and endgroup marks the point at which that local scope ends. When a group ends, most changes made inside it are discarded unless they were made global.

In TeX, many operations are scoped by groups. Within a group, changes to registers such as counts, dimen registers, and token definitions are local to the group. If you want a change to affect the outside world, you must use the global modifier (for example, \global\advance\count0 by 1). Endgroup itself does not automatically make changes global; it simply closes the current local scope.

Syntax and related terms: The primitive end of a group is \endgroup. Its synonym is \egroup, and its opening partner is \begingroup (with synonyms \bgroup). Closing a group with endgroup is equivalent in effect to closing a brace-delimited block, but endgroup is a dedicated TeX primitive that can be used in macro programming and lower-level code where explicit scoping matters.

Typical uses: Endgroup is used in macro and package development to confine temporary changes to a small, well-defined region. It helps prevent side effects from leaking into the surrounding document. In LaTeX, grouping with braces is common, but endgroup provides a precise, explicit way to terminate a group when writing low-level code or complex macro definitions.

Example (conceptual): A count is set inside a group, and without global, its new value does not affect the outside. With a global assignment inside the group, the value persists after endgroup. This illustrates how endgroup controls local versus global effects within TeX’s scoping model.