it is loaded by expl3.sty on which xparse is based. The reason is mentioned in texdoc expl3 /Lars Madsen Institut for Matematik / Department of Mathematics Aarhus Universitet / Aarhus University Mere info: http://au.dk/daleif@imf / More information: http://au.dk/en/daleif@imf ________________________________________ From: Mailing list for the LaTeX3 project [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Alexander Grahn [[log in to unmask]] Sent: 17 October 2013 16:19 To: [log in to unmask] Subject: xparse loads graphics Consider the following example: \documentclass{article} \usepackage{xparse} \begin{document} \ifdefined\includegraphics \typeout{Package `graphics' was loaded.} \fi \end{document} Why das xparse load graphics? What is it used for? Alexander -- Dr.-Ing. Alexander Grahn Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf e. V. Institut für Ressourcenökologie PF 51 01 19 01314 Dresden Allemagne m a i l t o : A . G r a h n @ h z d r . d e Tel.: +49 (0)3 51-2 60 23 31 Fax.: +49 (0)3 51-2 60 12 33 1