[Tex/LaTex] Curly Brackets – How to change the space between text and brackets

brackets

\documentclass[fleqn,12pt,a4paper]{article}
\usepackage{amstext, amsmath}
\newcommand{\lcurly}[1]{$\left\{\begin{array}{l}  #1   \end{array} \right.$}
\newcommand{\rcurly}[1]{$\left. \begin{array}{l}  #1   \end{array} \right  \}$}
\newcommand{\slcurly}[1]{$\left\{   \shortstack{#1} \right.$}
\newcommand{\srcurly}[1]{$\left. \shortstack{#1} \right  \}$}

   \begin{document}
   \lcurly{1 \\ 2} \rcurly{Line 1 \\ Line 2} \vspace{1cm} \\    
   \slcurly{1 \\ 2}  \srcurly{Line 1\\ Line 2} \\
   \end{document}

I have a need to create curly brackets, I managed to do that with above shown code. I am attaching a screenshot. When I use array the text is evenly distributed vertically but the bracket appears little bit farther. When I change array to stack the bracket appears closer but the text is not nicely aligned.

I was wondering if there is way to align the text as shown in the top image and make the bracket appear close like shown in the second part of the image.
Thanks for your help alt text

Best Answer

A quick fix would be to insert just some negative space before respectively after the array:

\newcommand{\lcurly}[1]{$\left\{\hspace{-0.5em}%
  \begin{array}{l}  #1   \end{array} \right.$}
\newcommand{\rcurly}[1]{$\left.
  \begin{array}{l}  #1   \end{array}\hspace{-0.5em}\right  \}$}

In cases such as your second example \vcenter comes handy to vertically center objects:

\newcommand{\slcurly}[1]{$\left\{\vcenter{\hbox{$\shortstack{#1}$}}\right.$}
\newcommand{\srcurly}[1]{$\left.\vcenter{\hbox{$\shortstack{#1}$}}\right \}$}

alt text

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Dynamically sized brackets/parentheses for text

You can use \vphantom to adjust the size so that max is used. The macro below has 4 parameters:

The width of the parbox. If you want to allow for different widths you could adjust this macro to take two paramters, one for each width. This parameter is optional and defaults to 0.425\textwidth.
The brace that you want to use.
The content of the left \parbox
The content of the right \parbox

Here is what it looks like with a curly brace: \RelatedText{\}}{\lipsum[2]}{\lipsum[3]}

enter image description here

\documentclass[12pt]{memoir}
\usepackage{lipsum}

\newcommand{\RelatedText}[4][0.425\textwidth]{%
\begin{math}%
  \left.% 
  \parbox{#1}{#3}\vphantom{\parbox{#1}{#4}}%
  \right#2%
  \parbox{#1}{#4}\vphantom{\parbox{#1}{#3}}%
\end{math}
}%

\begin{document}
    \RelatedText{)}{\lipsum[2]}{\lipsum[3]}% Use a round )

    \RelatedText{\}}{\lipsum[2]}{\lipsum[3]}% Use a curly }

    \RelatedText{]}{\lipsum[2]}{\lipsum[3]}% Use a square ]
\end{document}

[Tex/LaTex] two sets of curly brackets around text with text in between on the left

Is this something like you'd like to obtain?

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
Some text on the left
$\begin{array}{@{}l@{}c@{}}
\quad&\left\{
  \begin{tabular}{@{}l@{}}
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  Another
  \end{tabular}
\right\}
\\
\cmidrule{1-1}
&\left\{
  \begin{tabular}{@{}l@{}}
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  Another
  \end{tabular}
\right\}
\end{array}$
\end{center}

\end{document}

enter image description here

A better implementation (but using low level commands), that should have no problems even when the two parts have different number of lines.

\documentclass{article}

\newcommand{\topbottombraced}[2]{%
  \raise.5ex\vtop{
    \vbox{%
      \hbox{$\left\{\begin{tabular}{@{}l@{}}#1\end{tabular}\right\}$}
      \vskip1pt
    }
    \vbox{%
      \vskip1pt
      \hbox{$\left\{\begin{tabular}{@{}l@{}}#2\end{tabular}\right\}$}
    }
  }%
}

\begin{document}

Some text on the left
\topbottombraced{
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  And another
}{
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  Another
}
\topbottombraced{
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  A longer line \\
  A longer line \\
  And another
}{
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  Another
}
\topbottombraced{
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  And another
}{
  A line \\
  A longer line \\
  A longer line \\
  A longer line \\
  Another
}

\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] Dynamically sized brackets/parentheses for text

[Tex/LaTex] two sets of curly brackets around text with text in between on the left

Related Question