A more wedge-like symbol instead of a caret in typewriter-font text?

Question

I'm trying to typeset some computer code which involves a caret (for powers); for example

\verb!x^3+x^2-1!

The trouble here is that the caret produced is rather flat. I could use a wedge instead:

\newcommand{\pwr}{${}^\wedge}$}
\texttt{x\pwr 3+x\pwr 2-1}

but the wedge here is too pointy, as well as being the wrong weight for the typewriter font. What I want to know is: is there a symbol, which comes halfway between caret and wedge in shape, and is the same weight as a typewriter caret (so can be used within \texttt{})?

I've tried replacing \verb!^! with {{}\large\textasciicircum} and this sort of works, but is still clearly not an optimum solution.

Answer 1

The appearance of the care symbol depends on the used font. For example, Courier or TeX Gyre Cursor has a symbol that is something between the caret of the Computer Modern fonts and the \wedge solution.

The following example uses \lstinline instead of \verb, because a symbol can more easily be replaced via option literate:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{listings}
\newcommand*{\caret}{%
  \begingroup
    \fontencoding{T1}%
    \fontfamily{qcr}% TeX Gyre Cursor
    %\fontfamily{pcr}% Courier
    \selectfont
    \string^%
  \endgroup
}
\lstdefinestyle{caret}{
  basicstyle=\ttfamily,
  literate={^}{\caret}{1},
}
\newcommand*{\lstverb}{\lstinline[style=caret]}

\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{ll}
\verb|\verb|: &
  \verb|x^3+x^2-1| \\
\verb|\wedge|: &
  \texttt{x$^\wedge$3+x$^\wedge$2-1} \\
\verb|\lstinline| + \verb|\caret|: &
  \lstverb|x^3+x^2-1| \\
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Answer 2

An admittedly complicated attempt for automatic use of a different symbol in verbatim modes; I use a vertically scaled circumflex in a "bold non extended font".

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\newcommand\scalecircum{%
  \leavevmode\smash{%
    \ooalign{%
      \hidewidth
      \raisebox{-.75ex}{%
        \scalebox{1}[1.5]{\normalfont\fontseries{b}\selectfont\char`\^}%
      }%
      \hidewidth\cr
      \hphantom{n}\cr
    }%
  }%
}
\makeatletter
\def\activate@scalecircum{%
  \begingroup\lccode`\~=`\^
  \lowercase{\endgroup\def~}{\scalecircum}%
  \catcode`\^=\active}
\expandafter\def\expandafter\@noligs\expandafter{\@noligs\activate@scalecircum}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\verb|x^2+y^2| --- \texttt{x\textasciicircum2+y\textasciicircum2}

\verb|x_1+y_1|
\end{document}

You can compare the result with the usual one (first line right) and see that the symbol occupies the correct amount of space.

Answer 3

You can use the scalerel package to stretch the wedge symbol to the desired height. In the example below, I first show your two original attempts, followed by the wedge at 60% of its original height. Obviously, any fractional setting can be used.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{scalerel}
\begin{document}

\verb!x^3+x^2-1!

\newcommand{\pwr}{${{}^\wedge}$}
\texttt{x\pwr 3+x\pwr 2-1}

\renewcommand{\pwr}{${{}^{\vstretch{.6}{\wedge}}}$}
\texttt{x\pwr 3+x\pwr 2-1}

\end{document}

Answer 4

Thanks, folks. I ended up making my own character with a tikz kludge:

\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand{\crt}{\tikz[baseline=0ex]{%
    \draw[color=white] (0,0) rectangle (1.3ex,1.5ex);%
    \draw[line width=1pt,line cap=round] (0.15ex,1.2ex) -- (0.65ex,1.7ex) -- (1.15ex,1.2ex);}}

and then in the body of the document:

\texttt{x\crt 3+x\crt 2-1}

Clearly my kludge is not very portable; I would need to be smarter in having TiKZ use the dimensions of the current characters, so it would always be the correct size.