Get a box with zero depth including some text

Question

How to get a box including some text in text mode, which depth 0pt?

Can you give a more precise question to adapt my answer? What you want to do exactly with your text ? — Alain Matthes, Apr 25 '11 at 06:53
"at" replies are only seen by the addressee if you use the first few characters of the username. So "@Martin" or "@MartinScharrer" will get noticed but not "@M.S." — Matthew Leingang, Apr 25 '11 at 11:34

score 29 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 25 '11 at 06:57

29

You can use \raisebox to modify the official height and depth of some text:

\raisebox{0pt}[\height][0pt]{<text>}

This raises the text by 0pt (so not at all), keeps the official height identical to the original height and sets the depth to 0pt.

answered Apr 25 '11 at 06:57

Martin Scharrer

262,582

@M.S.That is exactly what I want! Thank you. – Stufazi Hoqckt Apr 25 '11 at 08:54
3

Just a note to clarify that the first optional parameter specifies the height (that is, x-height), and the second the depth (distance to lowest descender). And \height is a command to get the natural height of <text>. – Micah Walter Jun 08 '15 at 16:11

score 13 · Answer 2 · 2017-03-07T19:25:01.997

13

\smash{great} is a box with zero height and no depth

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newsavebox\SBox
\begin{document}
\sbox\SBox{great}%
\the\wd\SBox\\
\the\ht\SBox\\
\the\dp\SBox

\sbox\SBox{\smash{great}}%
\the\wd\SBox\\
\the\ht\SBox\\
\the\dp\SBox

\sbox\SBox{\smash[b]{great}}%% Needs amsmath
\the\wd\SBox\\
\the\ht\SBox\\
\the\dp\SBox

\end{document}

edited Mar 07 '17 at 19:25

answered Apr 25 '11 at 08:32

@Herbert But if I use \smash{a} in text mode, the letter a turned a math italic shape. – Stufazi Hoqckt Apr 25 '11 at 08:53
no, that is not possible, only inside math you'll get an italic a. – Apr 25 '11 at 09:18
3

@Herbert: With amsmath you can also say \smash[b]{g} to get zero depth and unmodified height (there's also \smash[t]{...}. – egreg Apr 25 '11 at 10:03
@Herbert Ehh, I just put the \smash in \DeclareMathOperator, that is, \DeclareMathOperator*{\Sup}{su\smash{p}} and use $\Sup$ . While \DeclareMathOperator*{\Sup}{su\raisebox[0pt]{\height][0pt]{p}} is good. – Stufazi Hoqckt Apr 25 '11 at 11:33
@egred: I know ... there is also a [bt]. But this is not the problem here ... – Apr 25 '11 at 13:20
@Stufazi Hoqckt: \DeclareMathOperator*{\Sup}{su\smash{p}} this is set in math mode and the one with \raisebox is set in text mode! With \textrm{\smash{p}} you also have it in text mode. – Apr 25 '11 at 13:23
@Herbert Another solution! This is useful to me, thanks! – Stufazi Hoqckt Apr 25 '11 at 23:48

Alain Matthes · Answer 3 · 2011-04-25T06:52:03.640

3

I don't know exactly what you want to do but if you want a special box with special dim then you can try :

\newbox\mybox
\setbox\mybox=\hbox{}
\ht\mybox=10mm \dp\mybox=0pt \wd\mybox=20mm

But If you put some text in your initial \hbox, you can have some strange results ! When you make a box with some contents, height, depth and width depend of the context.

edited Apr 25 '11 at 06:52

answered Apr 25 '11 at 06:42

Alain Matthes

95,075

You should not modifiy the height and width, unless you are looking for "strange results"!!! – unbonpetit Apr 25 '11 at 08:09
1

Thanks, I just want a box, inside it is some text, and the box is no depth. – Stufazi Hoqckt Apr 25 '11 at 08:32

Get a box with zero depth including some text

3 Answers3

Linked