\newlength

Synopsis:

\newlength{arg}

Allocate a new length register (see Lengths). The required argument arg must begin with a backslash, \. The new register holds rubber lengths such as 72.27pt or 1in plus.2in minus.1in (a LaTeX length register is what plain TeX calls a skip register). The initial value is zero. The control sequence \arg must not be already defined.

An example:

\newlength{\graphichgt}

If you forget the backslash then you get ‘Missing control sequence inserted’. If the command sequence already exists then you get something like ‘LaTeX Error: Command \graphichgt already defined. Or name \end... illegal, see p.192 of the manual’.