Set the length of 1ex

Question

How can I set the length of 1ex? I tried \setlength{1ex}{4.40999pt} but I get errors.

ex is a font-dependent unit of measurement. See Which measurement units should one use in LaTeX? and What are the various units (ex, in, pt, etc.) expressed in mm? — percusse, Aug 12 '12 at 20:01
... and what exactly do you need it for? Maybe there is some other way than changing 1ex which is really impossible. — yo', Aug 12 '12 at 20:12
@PatrickGundlach You can change a \fontdimen only when the font has just been loaded into memory. With LaTeX it's very difficult unless the font is loaded before \documentclass. — egreg, Aug 12 '12 at 22:26
@egreg I'm not sure what you mean. A quick test suggests you can alter \fontdimen5. Whether it's a good idea is another thing entirely. — Joseph Wright, Aug 13 '12 at 07:53
@JosephWright You're right, indeed; I mistook the feature for adding font dimension parameters. — egreg, Aug 13 '12 at 11:30

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 13 '12 at 08:10

As already mentioned in the comments: ex is a font dependant value and you change it by changing \fontdimen5:

\documentclass[]{scrartcl}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}

\begin{document}
a\hspace{1ex}b

\fontdimen5\font=1cm
a\hspace{1ex}b

\fontdimen5\font=2cm
a\hspace{1ex}b

\bfseries 
a\hspace{1ex}b 

\normalfont
a\hspace{1ex}b

\large
a\hspace{1ex}b

\small
a\hspace{1ex}b

\end{document}

Set the length of 1ex

1 Answers1