How can I get a limit arrow without modifying the current line's height?

Question

I'm using $f(x)\xrightarrow[x\to\infty] l$ to denote that a function tends to a certain value. However, this stretches the current line vertically. Is there any way to fix this?

Answer 1

Perhaps you meant to say $f(x) \xrightarrow{x\to\infty} l$ which produces better results.

Otherwise, \scriptstyle does what is asked for, but not sure you'll like the results:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
I'm using $f(x)  \scriptstyle \xrightarrow[x\to\infty] l$ to denote that a function tends to a certain value. However, this stretches the current line vertically. Is there any way to fix this?
\end{document}

Answer 2

This is a bad hack, but it seems to work:

\newcommand{\tendsto}[1]{%
  \xrightarrow{\smash{\raisebox{-2ex}{$\scriptstyle#1$}}}}

$f(x)\tendsto{x\to\infty}l$

You may have to adjust the "2ex" if the symbols used below the arrow are higher.