What commands are there for horizontal spacing?

Question

I know that \: in LaTeX produces a space when rendered.

Are there any alternatives, because my LaTeX renderer doesn't support \: (it renders it as text), and there is no help / FAQ that I can find.

Answer 1

There are a number of horizontal spacing macros for LaTeX:

1. \, inserts a .16667em space in text mode, or \thinmuskip (equivalent to 3mu) in math mode; there's an equivalent \thinspace macro;
2. \! is the negative equivalent to \,; there's an equivalent \negthinspace macro;
3. \> (or \:) inserts a .2222em space in text mode, or \medmuskip (equivalent to 4.0mu plus 2.0mu minus 4.0mu) in math mode; there's an equivalent \medspace;
4. \negmedspace is the negative equivalent to \medspace;
5. \; inserts a .2777em space in text mode, or \thickmuskip (equivalent to 5.0mu plus 5.0mu) in math mode; there's an equivalent \thickspace;
6. \negthickspace is the negative equivalent to \thickspace;
7. \enspace inserts a space of .5em in text or math mode;
8. \quad inserts a space of 1em in text or math mode;
9. \qquad inserts a space of 2em in text or math mode;
10. \kern <len> inserts a skip of <len> (may be negative) in text or math mode (a plain TeX skip); there's also a math-specific \mkern <math len>;
11. \hskip <len> (similar to \kern);
12. \hspace{<len>} inserts a space of length <len> (may be negative) in math or text mode (a LaTeX \hskip);
13. \hphantom{<stuff>} inserts space of length equivalent to <stuff> in math or text mode. \phantom{<stuff>} is similar, inserting a horizontal and vertical space that matches <stuff>. Should be \protected when used in fragile commands (like \caption and sectional headings);
14. \  inserts what is called a "control space" (in text or math mode);
15. inserts an inter-word space in text mode (and is gobbled in math mode). Similarly for \space and { }.
16. ~ inserts an "unbreakable" space (similar to an HTML  ) (in text or math mode);
17. \hfill inserts a so-called "rubber length" or stretch between elements (in text or math mode). Note that you may need to provide a type of anchor to fill from/to; see What is the difference between \hspace*{\fill} and \hfill?;

Your usage should work in math mode, so try $\:$.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage[margin=1in]{geometry}% Just for this example
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}% Just for this example

\begin{document}

There are a number of horizontal spacing macros for LaTeX:

\begin{tabular}{lp{5cm}}
  \verb|a\,b|                     & a\,b \quad $a\, b$ \\
  \verb|a\thinspace b|            & a\thinspace b \quad $a\thinspace b$ \\
  \verb|a\!b|                     & a\!b \quad $a\!b$ \\
  \verb|a\negthinspace b|         & a\negthinspace b \quad $a\negthinspace b$ \\
  \verb|a\:b|                     & a\:b \quad $a\:b$ \\
  \verb|a\>b|                     & a\>b \quad $a\>b$ \\
  \verb|a\medspace b|             & a\medspace b \quad $a\medspace b$ \\
  \verb|a\negmedspace b|          & a\negmedspace b \quad $a\negmedspace b$ \\
  \verb|a\;b|                     & a\;b \quad $a\;b$ \\
  \verb|a\thickspace b|           & a\thickspace b \quad $a\thickspace b$ \\
  \verb|a\negthickspace b|        & a\negthickspace b \quad $a\negthickspace b$ \\
  \verb|$a\mkern\thinmuskip b$|   & $a\mkern\thinmuskip b$ (similar to \verb|\,|) \\
  \verb|$a\mkern-\thinmuskip b$|  & $a\mkern-\thinmuskip b$ (similar to \verb|\!|) \\
  \verb|$a\mkern\medmuskip b$|    & $a\mkern\medmuskip b$ (similar to \verb|\:| or \verb|\>|) \\
  \verb|$a\mkern-\medmuskip b$|   & $a\mkern-\medmuskip b$ (similar to \verb|\negmedspace|) \\
  \verb|$a\mkern\thickmuskip b$|  & $a\mkern\thickmuskip b$ (similar to \verb|\;|) \\
  \verb|$a\mkern-\thickmuskip b$| & $a\mkern-\thickmuskip b$ (similar to \verb|\negthickspace|) \\
  \verb|a\enspace b|              & a\enspace b \\
  \verb|$a\enspace b$|            & $a\enspace b$ \\
  \verb|a\quad b|                 & a\quad b \\
  \verb|$a\quad b$|               & $a\quad b$ \\
  \verb|a\qquad b|                & a\qquad b \\
  \verb|$a\qquad b$|              & $a\qquad b$ \\
  \verb|a\hskip 1em b|            & a\hskip 1em b \\
  \verb|$a\hskip 1em b$|          & $a\hskip 1em b$ \\
  \verb|a\kern 1pc b|             & a\kern 1pc b \\
  \verb|$a\kern 1pc b$|           & $a\kern 1pc b$ \\
  \verb|$a\mkern 17mu b$|         & $a\mkern 17mu b$ \\
  \verb|a\hspace{35pt}b|          & a\hspace{35pt}b \\
  \verb|$a\hspace{35pt}b$|        & $a\hspace{35pt}b$ \\
  \verb|axyzb|                    & axyzb \\
  \verb|a\hphantom{xyz}b|         & a\hphantom{xyz}b (or just \verb|\phantom|) \\
  \verb|$axyzb$|                  & $axyzb$ \\
  \verb|$a\hphantom{xyz}b$|       & $a\hphantom{xyz}b$ (or just \verb|\phantom|) \\
  \verb|a b|                      & a b \\
  \verb|$a b$|                    & $a b$ \\
  \verb|a\space b|                & a\space b \\
  \verb|$a\space b$|              & $a\space b$ \\
  \verb|a\ b|                     & a\ b \\
  \verb|$a\ b$|                   & $a\ b$ \\
  \verb|a{ }b|                    & a{ }b \\
  \verb|$a{ }b$|                  & $a{ }b$ \\
  \verb|a~b|                      & a~b \\
  \verb|$a~b$|                    & $a~b$ \\
  \verb|a\hfill b|                & a\hfill b \\
  \verb|$a\hfill b$|              & $a\hfill b$
\end{tabular}

\end{document}