Horizontal line spanning the entire document in LaTeX

Question

I have used the \hrulefill command to create a horizontal rule, along with some other commands. In each case I have the rules extended up to the margin.

I want the rule width to be controllable, i.e. I want them to span the entire page. How can this be done? The existing help on Internet looks pretty scarce. Thanks for your help.

score 263 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 18 '13 at 05:42

263

To get horizontal lines of any fixed length you can use the \rule command. To get a horizontal line spanning the whole page width you can use a \makebox command and then a \rule with a width equal to \paperwidth:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

Below is a Line spanning the entire width of the page

\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\paperwidth}{0.4pt}}

Below is a 2cm long line

\noindent\rule{2cm}{0.4pt}

Below is a 4cm long line

\noindent\rule{4cm}{0.4pt}

Below is a 8cm long line

\noindent\rule{8cm}{0.4pt}

\end{document}

Output: enter image description here Rules in LaTeX are 0.4pt "thick", by default.

edited Jun 18 '13 at 05:42

puk

3,061
5
30
41

answered Jun 01 '11 at 01:47

Gonzalo Medina

505,128

6

Maybe you could also include a rule of length \textwidth, for comparison with the one of \paperwidth placed in a '\makebox`. – Davor Cubranic Sep 01 '16 at 18:33
Is there a way to modify this to set the top and bottom margin/padding of the line? It could be useful to set the space between paragraphs above and below, respectively. – tukusejssirs Apr 26 '19 at 18:57

score 162 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 19 '17 at 07:36

162

Another option is this one, which makes a horizontal line stretch the entire page. I prefer this one, because it's short, easy to remember and exactly what I need. I hope this works for you too.

\noindent\rule{\textwidth}{1pt}

edited Sep 19 '17 at 07:36

Majora320

103

answered Jun 23 '14 at 12:11

martijnn2008

1,877

21

+1 It helped me to get a gray horizontal line: \textcolor[RGB]{220,220,220}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.2pt}} – Paul Vargas Apr 13 '15 at 06:22
3

Where's the \noindent? :-( – einpoklum Jun 10 '17 at 18:07
7

This behaviour is exactly the same as \noindent\hrulefill. Sadly, OP wants the line to ignore margin. – Mateus Felipe Nov 15 '17 at 19:31

score 20 · Answer 3 · edited Jun 04 '13 at 15:34

20

I used the \line command: \line(x slope, y slope){length}.

\begin{center}
\line(1,0){450}
\end{center}

edited Jun 04 '13 at 15:34

Werner

603,163

answered Jun 04 '13 at 15:16

Antonio Pugliese

201

2

It was useful for me to define it as its own command: \newcommand{\hr}{\begin{center} \line(1,0){450} \end{center}}. – NuclearPeon Dec 29 '16 at 21:17

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Sep 26 '14 at 14:24

6

\underline{\hspace{ x in}} gives you a line of length x inches.

edited Sep 26 '14 at 14:24

Claudio Fiandrino

63,575

answered Sep 26 '14 at 14:02

carlos

61

3

Welcome to TeX.SX! Don't be so chatty! ;-) I don't think that this answers the (old) question – Sep 26 '14 at 14:07

score 3 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 20 '22 at 15:37

Old question, but the most voted answer doesn't really solve the problem.

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage[a6paper]{geometry}% just to make a smaller picture
\begin{document}
\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\paperwidth}{0.4pt}}
\clearpage
\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\paperwidth}{0.4pt}}
\end{document}

You can note that the rule does not cover the whole paper width, because the margins are asymmetric. The trick only works if the margins are equal.

The real solution is very simple: use 2\paperwidth. The PDF translation will truncate the part that goes beyond the MediaBox. Even better, use \maxdimen, so there aren't edge cases for sure.

\documentclass{book}
\usepackage[a6paper]{geometry}% just to make a smaller picture
\begin{document}
\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\maxdimen}{0.4pt}}
\clearpage
\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\maxdimen}{0.4pt}}
\end{document}

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 13:46

Attending the horizontal line problem I used the \rule as other has mentioned. Although, if you want to have a centered line that separates your paragraphs you can use this simple code. You can add another \bigskip in order to add empty spacing :)

    \documentclass{article}
    \begin{document}
Some random text above \\

\centerline{\rule{13cm}{0.4pt}}
\bigskip

Some random text below 

\end{document}

Horizontal line spanning the entire document in LaTeX

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