If you already know what sticky and non-sticky commands are, skip down to the header REAL QUESTION

A sticky command remains in effect until you explicitly turn it off.

For example, $ to enter math mode is sticky. Math mode will stay on for almost all future characters until something like another $ is encountered. Also, it is a sticky command.

it oh mY GOURD! THE ENTIRE REMAINDER OF THIS DOCUMENT IS IN ITALICS!

The scope of sticky command can be limited by one of the following methods:

• 
  

  by putting an end-delimiter where you want the effect to stop

  
  
  

  not-italic it ITALIC ITALIC em not-italic, not-italic
  
  

  
  


• 
  

  by only executing the sticky command in very small contained environment

  
  
  

  not-italic {it ITALIC ITALIC} not-italic, not-italic
  
  

  
  

A non-sticky command affects only the next item on the input stream, and then turns itself off automatically. Either the input is its own end-delimiter, you you never give the non-sticky command the whole stream in the first place. _ in math-mode is almost a sticky-command, but not quite. If '_' was sticky, then following two lines of code would have the same effect:

    $thing_s_u_b_s_c_r_i_p_t$

    $thing_{subscript}$

math-mode '_' is sticky in the sense that the following only makes teh first letter of subscript be subscripted:

    $thing_subscript$

For non-sticky commands, if you want the next several inputs to all be affected, you have to do one of the following:

• 
  

  use the non-sticky command repeatedly

  
  
  

  CMD input CMD input CMD input CMD input [...]
  
  

  
  



• lump together the many inputs into a single input and give the single input to the
  non-sticky command.
  CMD {input input input input}



• use a different command

REAL QUESTION

When we use nolinebreak, how long does it last? Next character only? Up until the next white-space character? Up until ... when exactly? Does nolinebreak affect the previous characters? (characters to the left of the command or above the command?)

I suppose it might depend on how nolinebreak is used. Pick any one or more of the following examples,

HAM HAM  nolinebreak STEAK STEAK 



ORANGE ORANGE  nolinebreak{STRAWBERRY STRAWBERRY } KIWI KIWI



AZALEA AZALEA AZALEA AZALEA AZALEA AZALEA 

begin{nolinebreak}

    CHRYSANTHEMUM CHRYSANTHEMUM 

end{nolinebreak}