[OS X TeX] Initial indentation in footnotes

["Néstor E. Aguilera"]

> On 31 Aug 2016, at 20:07, Michael Sharpe <msharpe at ucsd.edu> wrote:
> 
> 
>> On Aug 31, 2016, at 12:54 PM, Stephen Anderson <sra at yale.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> I am trying to produce a new edition of an old publication, with a translation on facing pages. In the original, some footnotes are continued on a following page, with no number and no initial indentation.  I would like to reproduce this format as faithfully as possible. The unnumbered footnote I can produce with the following macro:

[...]

> which is equivalent, in more familiar LaTeX, to
> 
> \newcommand\@makefntext[1]{%
>   \setlength \parindent{1em}%
>    \noindent
>    \makebox[1.8em][r]{\@makefnmark}#1}
> 
> The last line tells the indentation story. The footnote marker is set inside a box of fixed width 1.8em, right aligned in the box. To change the indentation, you need to redefine how the footnote marker is set. For example, to get the marker flush left with a space between it and the footnote text, the last line should be
> 
> \@makefnmark\space #1}
> 
> If you wish this definition to apply to only a couple of footnotes rather than all, you have to be careful to place the redefinition inside a group, along with the \footnote.
> 
> Michael

I don't know how to use TeX commands in a sensible way, but here goes a sloppy solution. Notice that eliminating the indentation might make undistinguishable an unnumbered footnote from a second line of a numbered one (uncomment the indicated lines, one at a time):

   \documentclass{article}
   %----------------------------------------------
   \newcommand{\ftn}[1]{%
      \begingroup
      \renewcommand{\thefootnote}{}%
      \footnotetext{%
   %      \mbox{}\par\vspace{-\baselineskip}% un/comment this line
   %      \hspace{-.8em}%                     un/comment this line
         #1}%
   %% \addtocounter{footnote}{-1}% don't touch this line
      \endgroup}
   \newcommand{\sometext}{Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer
      adipiscing elit. Etiam lobortis facilisis sem. Nullam nec mi et
      neque pharetra sollicitudin.}
   %----------------------------------------------
   \begin{document}
   A first footnote,\footnote{First footnote.\par\sometext}
   now a ftn,\ftn{No numbers here.\par\sometext}
   and a second footnote.\footnote{Second footnote.\par\sometext}
   \end{document}

I would appreciate comments on this.

Nestor