\newline in p-column with extra vertical space?
Get yourself a copy of the macro that does the real work when \\
is found in normal circumstances:
\documentclass{article}
\expandafter\let\expandafter\pnewline\csname\string\ \endcsname
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|p{5cm}|l|}
some text with\pnewline[1cm]
a forced line break
&
Second
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
Explanation. The usual definition of \\
is
\DeclareRobustCommand{\\}{...}
so the macro doing the real work is named \\⍽
(with a trailing space in the name). We can access that macro with \csname\string\ \endcsname
.
I don't think it's necessary to make \pnewline
robust, as long as you use it only in tabular cells.
This works (but is obviously not for general use):
\makeatletter\@newline[1.1mm]\makeatother
\@newline
is the internal macro that does the \\[foo]
stuff.
Use \par \vpsace{1ex}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{p{25em}}
\lipsum[1] \par \vspace{5ex} \lipsum[1] \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}