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I found the post on Small cross and small upside down cross symbols but this did not work for me using the default font in LaTeX. I am hoping for a way to print a special character that is a cross. Alt+0134 does not display, I already tried that. I am open to another font just for the cross (not for the entire document), but I don't know which one will display the symbol. I am most interested in how to make a cross similar to the one circled in the image below, but it would be neat to learn to make any others also.

Cross pictures

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Dan
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4 Answers4

11

As Alan-munn suggested "Finding out whether the font has the symbol depends on your OS. There are many tools that can display all the symbols in a font. Using a particular font for part of a document is covered here: How do I use a particular font for a small section of a document"

Any of my symbol search starts at http://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html and later symbols-a4.pdf. I got it from symbols-a4.pdf link.

Table 293: Other marvosym Symbols: Page 90

\Cross in \usepackage{marvosym}. It is important to note that this symbol only works in text mode.

\documentclass[12pt,convert=false,border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{marvosym}
%\usepackage{bbding}
\begin{document}
\Cross 
\end{document}

Cross symbol

Table 248: bbding Crosses and Plusses: Page 76

\documentclass[12pt,convert=false,border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{bbding}
\begin{document}
\Cross  ~\CrossOpenShadow  ~\PlusOutline
 ~\Plus   ~\CrossMaltese     ~\PlusCenterOpen
\end{document}

Several cross symbols

Table 249: pifont Crosses and Plusses:Page 77

\documentclass[12pt,convert=false,border=5pt]{standalone}
\usepackage{pifont}
\begin{document}
\ding{57}  ~\ding{59} ~\ding{61} ~\ding{63}
~\ding{58}  ~\ding{60} ~\ding{62} ~\ding{64}
\end{document}

enter image description here

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texenthusiast
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8

Build your own. You can change the dimensions based on the four parameters I provide.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine}
\def\thickness{.2ex}
\def\crossheight{1.6ex}
\def\crosswidth{1ex}
\def\barheight{1ex}
\def\plaincross{\bottominset{\rule{\crosswidth}{\thickness}}
                       {\rule{\thickness}{\crossheight}}{\barheight}{0ex}}
\begin{document}
x\plaincross X
\end{document}

enter image description here

Steven B. Segletes
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  • How do you add more horizontal space so that the cross is not so close to the next letter? – R. B. Jawad Aug 20 '20 at 22:06
  • @R.B.Jawad Immediately before the closing brace of the definition of \plaincross, you can add \kern1pt or some other suitable length. For space on the left side, add the kern immediately after the opening brace of the definition. – Steven B. Segletes Aug 25 '20 at 00:49
5

Overlaying elements using \ooalign you can build the cross as a horizontal and vertical bar/\rule:

enter image description here

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\cross}[1][1pt]{\ooalign{%
  \rule[1ex]{1ex}{#1}\cr% Horizontal bar
  \hss\rule{#1}{.7em}\hss\cr}}% Vertical bar
\begin{document}
This is a cross \cross. This is a thinner cross \cross[.4pt].
\end{document}

The default width of the cross is 1pt, but this can be changed through a simple optional argument.

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Werner
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  • \ooalign is buggy, it only takes the height of the first symbol and the depth of the second for the composed character. In this case, it is fixed by using the vertical bar first, because the composed symbol does not have a depth. – Heiko Oberdiek Aug 13 '13 at 21:37
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In order to draw your symbol, follow the code below. 

\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper]{article}
\usepackage{marvosym}
\begin{document}
\Cross 
\end{document}

This symbol only works in text mode.

An important resource that you might want to check out is Detexify. It allows you to draw different symbols, and the program compiles the list of symbols similar to the image that has been drawn. The link is below.
http://detexify.kirelabs.org/classify.html

azetina
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Mathematician
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    This does not add value, since evreything of your answer is already included in Texenthusiast’s answer (one line could perhaps be added as comment: “\Cross from package marvosym works only in text mode.”). – Speravir Apr 04 '14 at 22:38
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    I would respectfully disagree. By your own admission, Texenthusiast’s answer does not contain important information that my answer does. Also, Texenthusiast’s answer is more difficult to read and understand than my answer. Thus, my comment does add value. – Mathematician Apr 05 '14 at 17:49