# Decrease symbol's box without changing its graphical view

I need to make symbols borders tighter and closer to each other. But I don't want to make symbol smaller or taller with \scalebox{}[].

For example: It must be looking like A, but the next symbol must starts in the middle of A.

Use a box half the width of the character:

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\half}[1]{\makebox[.5\width][l]{#1}}

\begin{document}

x\half{A}\half{B}\half{C}

\end{document}


• Whoa, can you explain what \width does and how it works? I can't seem to \show it and it's not listed in this command glossary. – wchargin Dec 19 '15 at 16:27
• @WChargin When in the context of \makebox (or \framebox, or \savebox) one can use \width, \height and \depth in the width optional argument, which refer to the natural width, height or depth of the material. Also \raisebox can profit of them: \height and \depth are for this, of course. – egreg Dec 19 '15 at 16:38
\makebox[0pt][c]{A}


is an A that takes up no space, centred on that zero size box, change the width or alignment to fit your needs.