delimiters are characters used to specify the boundary between separate blocks/groups of text. Typically used in {macros} or {math-mode} constructions.

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9
votes
1answer
59 views

Scan argument for parentheses

I'd like to define a macro which expands to (#1) if #1 does not contain any parentheses, but expands to \big(#1\big) if it does. I'd choose simplicity over generality: if a solution works in the most ...
2
votes
1answer
29 views

New table-environment, spaces and enclosing { } in a new environment

It was hard for me to find a proper title (feel free to change it) for my question which I want to introduce with an example: Situation In my document I sometimes use tabus directly in the document ...
6
votes
2answers
77 views

Less aggressive automatic paren stretching with \left

\left and \right are convenient but sometimes they're a bit overeager in stretching the parentheses. In that case we can manually use \bigl, \Bigl, etc. I have defined a new command like this ...
16
votes
3answers
344 views

How can I create a new extensible symbol?

Given an arbitrary thin vertical symbol, can I create a new math delimiter from it (and if so, how)? Edit: Ideally, I would like to be able to create an extensible symbol, either built out an ...
7
votes
3answers
125 views

Can \left( … \right) be instructed to ignore nonexistent upper or lower limits of summation? [duplicate]

In a formula such as \[ \left( \sum_{n\in\mathbf{N}} \right) \] the left and right delimiters extend not only downwards to cover the lower limit of the sum, but upwards an equal amount as if to ...
6
votes
1answer
111 views

How can I put large parentheses around a figure?

Around an image, I would like to place parentheses that are large enough to enclose an image. To give you an idea, I tried: \[ \left( \includegraphics[width=0.2\textwidth]{figurename} \right) \] ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views

How to automatically scale `\mid` within delimiters

\mid within \left and \right delimiters is expected to be automatically scaled, but today I noticed such behavior: L = \sup \left\{ \sum_{x \in F} a(x) \mid F \subset X,\, |F| < \infty \right\}, ...
10
votes
1answer
82 views

(Re)definition of commands that use delimiters other than braces (e.g. \underbrace)

How do you go about redefining a command such as \underbrace, which uses an "uncommon" delimiter, i.e. _, between its two arguments, so that the redefined command be usable in exactly the same way as ...
5
votes
1answer
94 views

How to get big \{ and \} braces for an equation

How to type big \{ and \} braces in this sentence: $$P_{n,k}=\{\{x,y\}\in [X]^2: n=\min \{m\in \omega: B_m(x)\cap B_m(y)=\emptyset\}; (x,y)\notin G_k\}$$ Could somebody help me?
11
votes
2answers
111 views

Manually controlled size of delimiters in macros

I am using the amsmath package and I'd like to control the size of my delimiters manually, i.e. using the \bigl, \Bigl, ... , \Bigr, \bigr commands, instead of \left, \middle, \right. Now I want to ...
0
votes
1answer
87 views

Producing \right and \left not related [closed]

I used the commands \right and \left to produce an linear systems using array (putting a period immediately after the \right): \documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article} \usepackage{amssymb} ...
4
votes
1answer
92 views

Issue with delimiters of small matrix

I am using the mathtools package in order to right-align entries in small matrices. My code is below. The issue is that the delimiters in the first matrix are not the appropriate size; they should be ...
34
votes
2answers
2k views

automatic size adjustment for nested parentheses

As I prefer outer parentheses to grow larger in nested expressions, I happen to insert \bigl and \bigr and its larger cousins a lot. I have always wondered whether there is a way to do this ...
18
votes
1answer
172 views

Sloppy \left and \right?

The \left and \right commands often produce improvidently large delimiters. It almost always looks better to use delimiters that are just slightly too small than delimiters that are too large. With ...
9
votes
3answers
595 views

Spacing between triple vertical lines

I would like to create a norm-like operator with 3 verticals bars instead of two. It has to look like $|||\cdot|||$. I would like to know how to decrease the spacing between the vertical bars such ...
6
votes
2answers
79 views

Space added after \right

I have a problem regarding the space added by \right.. I have read this answer regarding the topic, where @egreg proposes a macro that deletes this space. However, when using this in my own ...
6
votes
1answer
252 views

Easily change behavior of \DeclarePairedDelimiter

After seeing the answer to this question I realized that I preferred the way of working of Juan A. Navarro's answer: I.e., \DeclarePairedDelimiter{\parens}{\lparen}{\rparen} from mathtools is a ...
7
votes
2answers
383 views

In exponents, parenthesis too small, \big too big

When something big (a fraction, a sum, an integral...) appears within a pair of parenthesis, one can typically use \left(...\right) to get delimiters large enough to surround the contents. The ...
10
votes
4answers
425 views

Is there a package for warning about unbalanced delimiters?

I'm copy-editing a rather lengthy set theory book. One thing I'd like to check systematically is whether all left-right unambiguous delimiters (parentheses brackets curly, square and angle) are ...
1
vote
2answers
105 views

Why does \left break TeX rendering?

The following TeX breaks rendering, but if I remove the \left function, the TeX renders (but without the stretchy brace). I'm helping a colleague and I'm too new to LaTeX and TeX to know how to ...
6
votes
3answers
88 views

Oversized parentheses around tabular

I'm having the following problem. I'm using a tabular environment to create a phrase structure rule (linguistics stuff, don't care about it) and I need parentheses for those parts in the rule which ...
6
votes
0answers
93 views

Spacing around \left and \right: When is it needed? [closed]

There have been a few questions (such as this and more recently this) regarding the "extra" spacing around \left and \right. And there are various options for fixing it, including the mleftright ...
11
votes
1answer
121 views

Compatibility between amsmath and exscale

Both the amsmath package and the exscale package define the delimiter macros \big, \Big, \bigg and \Bigg based on the internal macro \bBigg@. However, as the following minimal example reveals the ...
3
votes
1answer
187 views

Systems of equations in ConTeXt

In LaTeX+amsmath, I can say \documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath} \begin{document} \begin{equation*} \left\{ \begin{aligned} px-y-4&=0\\ 2x-2y-6m&=0 ...
3
votes
1answer
417 views

Error: Extra }, or forgotten \right in align environment

I'm getting errors in the align environment that I'm not getting for the exact same line that compiles without error in the equation one and I can't figure it out. Can someone shed some light on this? ...
5
votes
3answers
75 views

Having inside delimiters same size as outside ones

I want to define a set $S= \left\{ \left[\matrix{ a &b \cr a^2 & b^2\cr }\right] \left| \right. a, b {\rm \ real \ numbers} \right\} $ How do I make the separating bar | same size ...
1
vote
1answer
457 views

“Missing Delimiter” in Beamer-class [closed]

I got a problem when trying to change the fontsize within a beamer-class frame. \documentclass{beamer} \begin{document} \begin{frame}{First frame} {\big Just some content} \end{frame} \end{document} ...
5
votes
1answer
216 views

bigger parentheses in equations

I have the following TeX equation: r = (I_n - (.85) M^T)^{-1} (\frac{1 - (.85)}{5}) \cdot 1 \\ I want bigger parentheses around the term (1-(.85)/5), how can I achieve this? How can I get large ...
8
votes
3answers
223 views

How to make pipe to grow with both sides?

How to make pipe (vertical bar) symbol to grow like in Dirac product notation but without outer angle brackets?
15
votes
2answers
391 views
3
votes
0answers
140 views

Character combination and horizontal spacing [closed]

Thanks for this awesome website that helped me countless times! I need to use double square brackets. I know about those in the stmaryrd and MnSymbol packages, and I heard about unicode-math—but for ...
4
votes
1answer
176 views

listings: closing parenthesis as delimiter not matched when linebreaks=true

I want code in parentheses and in brackets to appear in different colors. In the following document, the words brackets again appear in green as intended, and outside again is black as intended, but ...
8
votes
2answers
214 views

Matching the delimiters \{ and \} in AUCTeX

I'm using AUCTeX and would like the delimiters \{ and \} to be matched. How can I (permanently) achieve matching of these delimiters? The link I provided indicates that I should edit a syntax table, ...
13
votes
1answer
96 views

\( \) don't work with TOC?

If i write this line of code \subsection{Ranger \( n \) boules distinguables dans \( M \) boîtes} I obtain an error over the second \) (./Probabilité.toc ./Probabilité.toc:8: LaTeX Error: Bad ...
10
votes
4answers
225 views

How to change the item separator in TikZ foreach command

I want to cycle over several sentences using a foreach loop. Now sentences will prpbably contain commas, which are used by foreach as item separators. So I would like to change the item separator to ...
4
votes
2answers
71 views

Fence/delimiter stored inside in a macro

I'm wondering, say I have this definition \newcommand\restrictedTo{\vert\sb} to be used as $f \restrictedTo A$. This works fine, but $f \big \restrictedTo A$ fails, whereas $\left. f \right ...
7
votes
2answers
141 views

delimiters with exact size

I'm looking to get a delimiter at an exact and user specified (point) size, rather than the default "a discrete size big enough to hold the contents" of \left( etc. Is this possible? I've tried ...
3
votes
1answer
207 views

variable sized harpoon delimiter

I would like to have a variable sized delimiter version of the ams symbols \downharpoonleft, \downharpoonright and \upharpoonleft, \upharpoonright respectively, such that they work with \left and ...
41
votes
3answers
2k views

Spacing around \left and \right

Why does the addition of a \left and \right introduces an extra space around the formula? Specifically, why do $\cos(\theta)$ and $\cos\left(\theta\right)$ render differently? Is there a way to use ...
8
votes
3answers
773 views

Look for a bigger delimiter than \Bigg

\documentclass{article} \usepackage{amsmath} \begin{document} \[\left. \begin{vmatrix} a_{11}&a_{12}&a_{13}\\ a_{21}&a_{22}&a_{23}\\ a_{31}&a_{32}&a_{33} ...
8
votes
2answers
153 views

How to color delimiters

I have some special delimiters that I want to add to a glossary, those get hyperlinks and colors etc. However when i want to use those delimiters, using \left, \right and \middle becomes impossible. I ...
5
votes
3answers
193 views

Can I have a curly brace as macro argument delimiter?

Is there any trick that allows to have a { in argument delimiters of a macro ? for example, with this definition : \def\start#1\fin{+++#1+++} the call \start coucou\fin{3}4 will display ...
3
votes
2answers
167 views

Delimiter size \big not working with fourier, mathtools packages and 11pt option

I have a document using the fourier font package and mathtools. In mathmode the \big delimiters are the same size as normal sized. After some debugging I noticed that if I remove the 11pt document ...
5
votes
1answer
325 views

How to automatically add parentheses around fractions?

Is there any way to make LaTeX automatically put parentheses around a \frac if it is followed by a superscript expression?
33
votes
4answers
3k views

Latex: Nice abs

I have this expression: |x-|x-|x-4||| Now, every | sign has the same size, but I'd like to make the outward pairs bigger. Is it possible to do it automatically, or do I have to define the size of ...
4
votes
1answer
326 views

Algorithmicx — How to use latex maths delimiters

Today, I decided to migrate from using TeX [$..$] to LaTeX [\(..\)] delimiters for inline maths, and, as usual, fell off the cliff of my somewhat precarious understanding of TeXian gastroenterology, ...
6
votes
1answer
427 views

Extend double vertical bar

I'm trying to write an expression in math mode similar to this formula: My LaTeX expression looks like this: \min \| \begin{array}{c} ... \end{array} \| but it happens that the double lines are ...
7
votes
1answer
276 views

Left-middle-right delimiters and unicode-math

Consider the rendering of \middle| in the code below: \documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{article} \usepackage{unicode-math} \setmathfont{xits-math.otf} \begin{document} \[ \left\lbrace p_{i,j} \, \middle| ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views

Regarding sizing of delimiters

I'm currently writing my dissertation in civil engineering using LaTeX. I think LaTeX is really good. I have been slowly distancing myself now from Microsoft Word. LaTeX is good for me since my paper ...
2
votes
1answer
118 views

Sized delimiters (\left( \right)) are too tall for vertically aligned array (\begin{array}[t])

Please compile the below and the problem will be clear. \documentclass{article} \begin{document} \noindent Compare \[ \begin{array}{l} \land ~a\\ \land \left( \begin{array}[t]{l} \lor ...

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