How to get a separator symbol longer than emdash (maybe a quadruple hyphen)?

Question

I am trying to typeset a table, wherein some headers do not apply to a particular row, i.e. for certain cells.

I do not want to use "N.A". According to the package author of booktabs, it is sufficient to draw a blank, but in my IMHO, for this specific table, these gaps looks glaring more pronounced.

An emdash seems to be doing 90% of the job, and to my eyes seems a satisfactory solution. But latex does not seem to have anything longer than emdash. How can one obtain ---- typeset as one long separator of the size of 4 hyphens joined?

PS: A mechanism for possible extensions (with an argument) to longer widths would be a bonus, e.g. maybe a macro like \crazyconjoinedhyphen{5} for typesetting 5 hyphens back to back as a single symbol.

You might be interested in the following: Horizontal line of custom length like an — — leandriis, Jul 01 '18 at 14:10
If you’re using a unicode font with xetex or luatex, check whether it has U+2E3A, the two-em dash, also known as the ‘omission dash.’ — Thérèse, Jul 01 '18 at 14:22
@leandriis Yes. that does seem to be a solution. Should I close this question? — Dr Krishnakumar Gopalakrishnan, Jul 01 '18 at 14:22

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 01 '18 at 14:42

You can make your own using the \rule-command:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
  a b c \rule[.5ex]{4em}{0.5pt}
\end{document}

The first, optional argument is how much to raise. Set to .5ex to be half way up. The second (first "real") argument is the length of the rule (set to 4em) and the last is how thick it should be.

How to get a separator symbol longer than emdash (maybe a quadruple hyphen)?

1 Answers1