xmark that complements the ams checkmark

Question

I am looking to have a xmark that complements the \checkmark symbol in the amsmath package. I've had a look at some in symbols-a4.pdf but can't seem to find the matching one! What symbol works well?

Answer 1

I would think your best bet might come from pifont's dingbats:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}% http://ctan.org/pkg/amssymb
\usepackage{pifont}% http://ctan.org/pkg/pifont
\newcommand{\cmark}{\ding{51}}%
\newcommand{\xmark}{\ding{55}}%
\begin{document}
\verb|\checkmark|: \checkmark \par
\verb|\cmark|: \cmark \par
\verb|\xmark|: \xmark
\end{document}

\cmark is defined as \ding{51}, while \xmark is defined as \ding{55}. Here is a list of the dingbat symbols, taken from the pifont quick reference guide:

Answer 2

If using XeLaTex is an option, then you could use one of Unicode's X mark (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_mark for a complete list). All characters may not be available in your favorite font, but, as noted in this answer, DejaVu Sans has a pretty good support.

On my installation, when I compile the following with XeLaTeX,

% !TeX TXS-program:compile = txs:///xelatex/
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{xltxtra,xunicode}
\setmainfont{DejaVu Sans}
\begin{document}
    \begin{tabular}{c c c}
        Symbol & Unicode Codepoint (Hex) & Name\\
        ☐ & U+2610 & BALLOT BOX (checkbox)\\
        ☒ & U+2612 & BALLOT BOX WITH X (square with cross)\\
        ✗ & U+2717 & BALLOT X (cross)\\
        ✘ & U+2718 & HEAVY BALLOT X (bold cross)\\
        × & U+00D7 & MULTIPLICATION SIGN (z notation Cartesian product)\\
        ╳ & U+2573 & BOX DRAWINGS LIGHT DIAGONAL CROSS\\
        ☓ & U+2613 & SALTIRE (St Andrew's Cross)\\
        ✕ & U+2715 & MULTIPLICATION X\\
        ✖ & U+2716 & HEAVY MULTIPLICATION X\\
        ❌ & U+274C & CROSS MARK\\
        ❎ & U+274E & NEGATIVE SQUARED CROSS MARK\\
        ⨉ & U+2A09 & N-ARY TIMES OPERATOR\\
        ⨯ & U+2A2F & VECTOR OR CROSS PRODUCT\\
        🗙 & U+1F5D9 & CANCELLATION X\\
        🗴 & U+1F5F4 & BALLOT SCRIPT X\\
        🞩 & U+1F7A9 & LIGHT SALTIRE
    \end{tabular}
\end{document}

I obtain:

Note that it is possible to set the font to DejaVu Sans only for those symbols: again, follow the explanations at https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/291955/34551.

Answer 3

I thought drawing an xmark in tikz might be an elegant option. Here is my best attempt, together with a drawing of a checkmark.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amssymb}

\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand{\tikzxmark}{%
\tikz[scale=0.23] {
    \draw[line width=0.7,line cap=round] (0,0) to [bend left=6] (1,1);
    \draw[line width=0.7,line cap=round] (0.2,0.95) to [bend right=3] (0.8,0.05);
}}
\newcommand{\tikzcmark}{%
\tikz[scale=0.23] {
    \draw[line width=0.7,line cap=round] (0.25,0) to [bend left=10] (1,1);
    \draw[line width=0.8,line cap=round] (0,0.35) to [bend right=1] (0.23,0);
}}

\begin{document}
\[
    \checkmark
    \tikzxmark
    \tikzcmark
\]
\end{document}

Answer 4

Following @Werner's answer, try

\usepackage{pifont}
\newcommand{\cxmark}{\ding{51}\hspace{-1.75mm}\ding{55}}