Align sans-serif text with TikZ

Question

Consider the following MWE

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{positioning}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\node[anchor=west, inner sep=0pt, draw, very thin, rectangle] (a) at (0,0) {\scalebox{15}{\sffamily LARGE}};
\node[anchor=west, inner sep=0pt, draw, very thin, rectangle] (b) at (0,-4) {\scalebox{3}{\sffamily smaller text}};
\draw[blue] (a.west) ++ (0,-2cm) -- ++(0,4cm);
\draw[red] (a.west) ++ (-0.2cm,0) -- ++(0.4cm,0);
\draw[red] (a.west) ++ (0,-0.2cm) -- ++(0,0.4cm);
\draw[blue] (b.west) ++ (0,-2cm) -- ++(0,4cm);
\draw[red] (b.west) ++ (-0.2cm,0) -- ++(0.4cm,0);
\draw[red] (b.west) ++ (0,-0.2cm) -- ++(0,0.4cm);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}

which produces this result:

Why is there some space between the "bounding box" and the letter L? I want to remove the white space around the text exactly, such that the vertical line of the L and the smaller text below align perfectly.

Further, I want to scale the smaller text such that it becomes exactly as wide as the top text. How is that possible?

duplicate -- https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/504878/how-to-remove-all-space-around-a-text — js bibra, Jul 28 '20 at 13:03

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 28 '20 at 15:39

6

It has nothing to do with tikz. tikz can only use the font metrics, it doesn't see the ink and the letters do have side bearings:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage[showframe]{geometry}
\parindent=0pt
\begin{document}
\fontsize{1cm}{1.3cm}\selectfont \sffamily
LARGE
TEST
XXX
\tikz[overlay]\drawred--++(0,5);
\end{document}

answered Jul 28 '20 at 15:39

Ulrike Fischer

327,261

2

You are only viewing it as a problem because you are trying to use the letter as a graphic, in running text you actually expect letters to have side bearings and not to touch each other. – Ulrike Fischer Jul 28 '20 at 15:43

Align sans-serif text with TikZ

1 Answers1