How to join characters _vertically_?

Question

I want to show the way to draw certain consonant-consonant combined forms in the devanaagarii script. To illustrate that, I want to vertically combine the letters (c is used as a placeholder) and place a \downarrow such that the assembly look like this:

How may I achieve this? (Note, I use \makebox[0pt]{...} for horizontal merging of characters).

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 24 '20 at 00:24

I use a \Shortstack for the ccc with 0pt stacking gap, and I use scalerel to make the arrow match the vertical footprint of the c-stack.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stackengine,scalerel}
\newcommand\mystack[2]{\scaleleftright{.}{\Shortstack{#1}}{#2}}
\setstackgap{S}{0pt}
\begin{document}
\mystack{c c c}{\downarrow} xyz
\end{document}

How to join characters _vertically_?

1 Answers1