Rules and Struts

Rules

The \rule command in normal use produces a simple black box:

\rule[raise]{width}{thickness}

The parameter thickness determines the height, whereas width determines the width of the produced rule. With the optional parameter raise, you can optionally raise or lower the produced rule above or below the baseline.

Here is an example (the thin lines are located at the baseline):

\rule{3mm}{.1pt}%
\rule[-1mm]{5mm}{1cm}%
\rule{3mm}{.1pt}%
\rule[1mm]{1cm}{5mm}%
\rule{3mm}{.1pt}

This is useful for drawing vertical and horizontal lines.

Struts

A special case is a rule with no width but a certain height. In professional typesetting, this is called a strut. It is used to guarantee that an element on a page has a certain minimal height. You could use it in a tabular environment or in boxes to make sure a row has a certain minimum height.

In LaTeX a strut is defined as:

\rule[-.3\baselineskip]{0pt}{\baselineskip}

Stretched Rules

LaTeX provides several fill commands that create stretched horizontal rules:

\hrulefill Examples

Name: \hrulefill Date: \hrulefill

Produces: "Name: _______________ Date: _______________"

\dotfill Example

Table of Contents \dotfill Page

Produces: "Table of Contents ............... Page"

Custom Fill Rules

\renewcommand{\hrulefill}{\leavevmode\leaders\hrule height 1pt\hfill\kern0pt}

Practical Uses

Decorative Separators

\begin{center}
\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.4pt}
\end{center}

Underlining with Rules

\underline{Important text}

% Or with custom thickness:
\underline{\rule{2cm}{0.4pt}}

Rules in Tables

\begin{tabular}{l}
\hline
Content \\
\rule{0pt}{12pt} % Adds minimum row height
More content \\
\hline
\end{tabular}

Signature Lines

Signature: \hrulefill \hspace{2cm} Date: \hrulefill