# Not equal sign (≠) with a vertical bar

Is it possible to get a \neq but with a vertical bar instead of a slanted one? There are inequality operators like AMS's \gvertneqq that feature this kind of "not equal" but not without mixing it with other signs.

\documentclass[a5paper]{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
a&\gvertneqq b\\
C&\neq \varnothing
\end{align*}
\end{document}


So what I basically would like to have is the isolated symbol under the > in the \gvertneqq above. Particularly because I don't like the different slopes of the slashes in the second line and "≠∅" is quite a common combination.

## Equal sign with vertical line

The vertical line | is a little tall for my taste. The following definition for \vneq decreases the total height of the vertical line to match the total height of \neq. Resizing vertical height will not change the line thickness in horizontal direction.

• The final witdh and height of the vertical line can be fine-tuned by redefining macros \vneqxscale and \vneqyscale. The default is 1.
• \mathpalette allows the symbol to resize automatically.

Example file:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{amssymb}% \varnothing

\usepackage{graphicx}% \resizebox
\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\vneq}{%
\mathrel{%
\mathpalette\@vneq{=}%
}%
}
\newcommand*{\@vneq}[2]{%
% #1: math style (\displaystyle, \textstyle, ...)
% #2: symbol (=, ...)
\sbox0{\raisebox{\depth}{$#1\neq$}}%
\sbox2{\raisebox{\depth}{$#1|\m@th$}}%
\ifdim\ht2>\ht0 %
\sbox2{\resizebox{\vneqxscale\width}{\vneqyscale\ht0}{\unhbox2}}%
\fi
\sbox2{$\m@th#1\vcenter{\copy2}$}%
\ooalign{%
\hfil\phantom{\copy2}\hfil\cr
\hfil$#1#2\m@th$\hfil\cr
\hfil\copy2\hfil\cr
}%
}
\newcommand*{\vneqxscale}{1}
\newcommand*{\vneqyscale}{1}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
$% Comparison \neq vs. vneq \varnothing \neq \emptyset \vneq \varnothing \\$
$% Check sizes: \vneq^{\vneq^{\vneq}} \\$
$% Bounding box checks: \setlength{\fboxsep}{0pt} \setlength{\fboxrule}{.1pt} \fbox{\neq}\,\fbox{\vneq}\,\fbox{|}$
\end{document}


The height can be further decreased, e.g.

\renewcommand*{\vneqyscale}{.8}


Result for mathabx:

Result for txfonts:

Result for MnSymbol:

Here the vertical line is too thick and the horizontal resizing needs shrinking:

\renewcommand*{\vneqxscale}{.67}


Result for MnSymbol and \vneqxscale = .67:

## Alternative to varnothing

Instead of changing \neq, the empty set symbol \varnothing could be constructed using \not to match the slope of the slanted vertical lines. However, \circ is too small and \bigcirctoo big. Therefore this method is shown for txfonts that provides \medcirc and MnSymbol with \medcircle.

\documentclass{article}

%\usepackage{txfonts}
%\newcommand*{\varemptysetcircle}{\medcirc}

\usepackage{MnSymbol}
\newcommand*{\varemptysetcircle}{\medcircle}

\makeatletter
\newcommand*{\varemptyset}{%
{% mathord
\vphantom{\not=}% correct height and depth of the final symbol
\mathpalette\@varemptyset\varemptysetcircle
}%
}
\newcommand*{\@varemptyset}[2]{%
% #1: math style (\displaystyle, \textstyle, ...)
% #2: circle
\ooalign{%
\hfil$\m@th#1\not\hphantomeq$\hfil\cr
\hfil$\m@th#1#2$\hfil\cr
}%
}
% \not can be redefined to take an argument
\newcommand*{\hphantomeq}{%
\mathrel{\hphantom{=}}%
}
\makeatother

\usepackage{color}

\begin{document}
$\not=\; \color{blue}\neq \varemptyset\; \color{black}\varnothing$
\end{document}


Result for txfonts:

Result for MnSymbol:

• This is just an amazing answer! I hope Werner won't mind that I couldn't but change the accepted answer to this one. I'm having some trouble when trying to \renewcommand \neq to this version of \vneq though. More specifically, I get a "TeX capacity exceeded". Any idea why? – Christian Aug 29 '13 at 15:47
• \vneq is using \neq in macro \@vneq. Thus you can store the old meaning: \let\ltxneq=\neq and use \ltxneq in \@vneq. Then you should be able to redefine \neq. – Heiko Oberdiek Aug 29 '13 at 16:04

Yes:

\documentclass[a5paper]{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\newcommand\vneq{\mathrel{\ooalign{$=$\cr\hidewidth$|$\hidewidth\cr}}}
\begin{document}
\begin{align*}
a&\gvertneqq b\\
C&\neq \varnothing \\
d&\vneq f
\end{align*}
\end{document}


For a motivation behind the commands in \vneq, read egreg's excellent tutorial on \ooalign in \subseteq + \circ as a single symbol (“open subset”)

• Great, thanks! I added  around the = as well which becomes important when you have a different text than math font. Other than that this is a most elegant solution :) – Christian Apr 11 '13 at 20:42

A simplistic solution would be

\usepackage{mathabx}
\changenotsign


but this would mean changing a great part of the math symbols, which is not desirable as, in my opinion, some of the symbols provided by mathabx are badly designed.

A solution with standard tools is

\documentclass{article}

\renewcommand\neq{\mathrel{\vphantom{|}\mathpalette\xsneq\relax}}
\newcommand\xsneq[2]{%
\ooalign{\hidewidth$#1|$\hidewidth\cr$#1=$\cr}%
}

\begin{document}
$a\neq b$
\end{document}


I used \renewcommand because it will be simply a matter of removing that code in order to revert \neq to its usual shape.

By using \mathpalette`, the created symbol will become smaller in subscripts or superscripts.

• both this symbol and an equals sign with a back-slanted cancellation are included in the stix fonts. – barbara beeton Aug 25 '13 at 20:50
• @barbarabeeton Yes, but those fonts don't mix well with Computer Modern and other fonts. – egreg Aug 25 '13 at 20:53
• sad but true. they were designed to mix with times, which was the consensus typeface of the stipub consortium members. – barbara beeton Aug 25 '13 at 20:55