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I have used the \hrulefill command to create a horizontal rule, along with some other commands. In each case I have the rules extended up to the margin.

I want the rule width to be controllable, i.e. I want them to span the entire page. How can this be done? The existing help on Internet looks pretty scarce. Thanks for your help.

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6 Answers 6

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268

To get horizontal lines of any fixed length you can use the \rule command. To get a horizontal line spanning the whole page width you can use a \makebox command and then a \rule with a width equal to \paperwidth:

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

Below is a Line spanning the entire width of the page

\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\paperwidth}{0.4pt}}

Below is a 2cm long line

\noindent\rule{2cm}{0.4pt}

Below is a 4cm long line

\noindent\rule{4cm}{0.4pt}

Below is a 8cm long line

\noindent\rule{8cm}{0.4pt}

\end{document}

Output: enter image description here Rules in LaTeX are 0.4pt "thick", by default.

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  • 7
    Maybe you could also include a rule of length \textwidth, for comparison with the one of \paperwidth placed in a '\makebox`.
    – Davor Cubranic
    Commented Sep 1, 2016 at 18:33
  • Is there a way to modify this to set the top and bottom margin/padding of the line? It could be useful to set the space between paragraphs above and below, respectively.
    – tukusejssirs
    Commented Apr 26, 2019 at 18:57
  • In addition, the color can be adjusted with \color like \noindent{\color{gray} \rule{\textwidth}{.5pt}}.
    – SnzFor16Min
    Commented Aug 4 at 8:01
166

Another option is this one, which makes a horizontal line stretch the entire page. I prefer this one, because it's short, easy to remember and exactly what I need. I hope this works for you too. 

\noindent\rule{\textwidth}{1pt}
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  • 22
    +1 It helped me to get a gray horizontal line: \textcolor[RGB]{220,220,220}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.2pt}}
    – Paul Vargas
    Commented Apr 13, 2015 at 6:22
  • 3
    Where's the \noindent? :-(
    – einpoklum
    Commented Jun 10, 2017 at 18:07
  • 7
    This behaviour is exactly the same as \noindent\hrulefill. Sadly, OP wants the line to ignore margin.
    – Mateus Felipe
    Commented Nov 15, 2017 at 19:31
20

I used the \line command: \line(x slope, y slope){length}.

\begin{center}
\line(1,0){450}
\end{center}
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    It was useful for me to define it as its own command: \newcommand{\hr}{\begin{center} \line(1,0){450} \end{center}}.
    – NuclearPeon
    Commented Dec 29, 2016 at 21:17
6

\underline{\hspace{ x in}} gives you a line of length x inches.

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  • 3
    Welcome to TeX.SX! Don't be so chatty! ;-) I don't think that this answers the (old) question
    – user31729
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 14:07
3

Old question, but the most voted answer doesn't really solve the problem.

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage[a6paper]{geometry}% just to make a smaller picture

\begin{document}

\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\paperwidth}{0.4pt}}

\clearpage

\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\paperwidth}{0.4pt}}

\end{document}

enter image description here

You can note that the rule does not cover the whole paper width, because the margins are asymmetric. The trick only works if the margins are equal.

The real solution is very simple: use 2\paperwidth. The PDF translation will truncate the part that goes beyond the MediaBox. Even better, use \maxdimen, so there aren't edge cases for sure.

\documentclass{book}

\usepackage[a6paper]{geometry}% just to make a smaller picture

\begin{document}

\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\maxdimen}{0.4pt}}

\clearpage

\noindent\makebox[\linewidth]{\rule{\maxdimen}{0.4pt}}

\end{document}

enter image description here

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0

Attending the horizontal line problem I used the \rule as other has mentioned. Although, if you want to have a centered line that separates your paragraphs you can use this simple code. You can add another \bigskip in order to add empty spacing :)

    \documentclass{article}
    \begin{document}
    
    Some random text above \\
    
    \centerline{\rule{13cm}{0.4pt}}
    \bigskip
    
    Some random text below 
    
    \end{document}
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