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## A minimal class file

Most of the work of a class or package is in defining new commands, or changing the appearance of documents. This is done in the body of the package, using commands such as `\newcommand` or `\setlength`.

LATEX2e provides several new commands to help class and package writers; these are described in detail in Section 4.

There are three things that every class file must contain: these are a definition of `\normalsize` and values for `\textwidth` and `\textheight`. So a minimal document class file looks like this:

       \NeedsTeXFormat{LaTeX2e}
       \ProvidesClass{minimal}[1995/10/30 Standard LaTeX minimal class]
       \renewcommand{\normalsize}{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont}
       \setlength{\textwidth}{6.5in}
       \setlength{\textheight}{8in}

However, this class file will not support footnotes, marginals, floats, etc., nor will it provide any of the 2-letter font commands such as `\rm`; thus most classes will contain more than this minimum!