[Tex/LaTex] Long Squiggly Arrows in LaTeX

arrows

Is there some way for me to get long squiggly arrows of length comparable to \longrightarrow or \longmapsto in LaTeX?

Best Answer

Well, if you don't mind using Xy-pic, you can type

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\usepackage[cmtip,all]{xy}
\newcommand{\longsquiggly}{\xymatrix{{}\ar@{~>}[r]&{}}}
\begin{document}
\thispagestyle{empty}

$X \longrightarrow Y$

$X \longmapsto Y$

$X \longsquiggly Y$

$X \xymatrix@C=1.5em{{}\ar@{~>}[r]&{}} Y$

\end{document}

and it will give you

enter image description here

Related Solutions

[Tex/LaTex] How to put text over a squiggly arrow

EDITED to provide 2 REVISED solutions, one with default symbol set and the other with imported glyphs from MnSymbol (not the whole glyph set).

This gives the gist of how you might do it. The key is finding a symbol that is periodic. I used the \sim character, but there might be better. Also, I used the \! symbol for backspacing, but there may be more precise ways of doing it (you'll note the overlap is not perfect in my example).

I created three commands, for the squiggle, the left squig end, and the right squig end. One can just repeat invocations of \squig to make the squiggle longer.

Or one can use \squigs with an argument to get the desired number of squiggles. Next step was to create the commands that allow text to go over the squiggle.

So the real commands you would in general use are \rsquigarrow and \lsquigarrow, each with two arguments: the text to go atop the squiggle, and the squiggle length.

REVISED SOLUTION (DEFAULT GLYPHS)

This revised solution uses math mode consistently and is compatible with amsmath.

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
%%%%% REMOVE THESE FROM A GENERAL DOCUMENT
\parindent 0pt
\parskip 1ex
\textwidth 2in
%%%%%
\usepackage{amssymb,amsmath,stackengine}
\stackMath
\usepackage{ifthen}

\newcommand{\squig}{{\scriptstyle\sim\mkern-3.9mu}}
\newcommand{\lsquigend}{{\scriptstyle\lhd\mkern-3mu}}
\newcommand{\rsquigend}{{\scriptstyle\rule{.1ex}{0ex}\rhd}}
\newcounter{sqindex}
\newcommand\squigs[1]{%
  \setcounter{sqindex}{0}%
  \whiledo {\value{sqindex}< #1}{\addtocounter{sqindex}{1}\squig}%
}
\newcommand\rsquigarrow[2]{%
  \mathbin{\stackon[2pt]{\squigs{#2}\rsquigend}{\scriptscriptstyle\text{#1\,}}}%
}
\newcommand\lsquigarrow[2]{%
  \mathbin{\stackon[2pt]{\lsquigend\squigs{#2}}{\scriptscriptstyle\text{\,#1}}}%
}
\begin{document}
Here are the commands to make periodic squiggles, with no text above
them:

$2H_2 + O_2 \mathbin{\squig\squig\squig\rsquigend} 2H_2O $\\
$2H_2 + O_2 \mathbin{\lsquigend\squig\squig\squig} 2H_2O $

I can automate a group of squiggles

$\squigs{7}$

Now I will create commands to place text over them

$2H_2 + O_2 \rsquigarrow{exothermic}{7} 2H_2O $\\
$2H_2 + O_2 \lsquigarrow{heat}{3} ~ 2H_2O $
\end{document}

REVISED SOLUTION (IMPORTING 3 MnSymbol GLYPHS)

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
% =============================================
%Import symbols from font MnSymbol without importing the whole package
% =============================================
\DeclareFontFamily{U} {MnSymbolC}{}

\DeclareFontShape{U}{MnSymbolC}{m}{n}{
  <-6> MnSymbolC5
  <6-7> MnSymbolC6
  <7-8> MnSymbolC7
  <8-9> MnSymbolC8
  <9-10> MnSymbolC9
  <10-12> MnSymbolC10
  <12-> MnSymbolC12}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{MnSymbolC}{b}{n}{
  <-6> MnSymbolC-Bold5
  <6-7> MnSymbolC-Bold6
  <7-8> MnSymbolC-Bold7
  <8-9> MnSymbolC-Bold8
  <9-10> MnSymbolC-Bold9
  <10-12> MnSymbolC-Bold10
  <12-> MnSymbolC-Bold12}{}

\DeclareSymbolFont{MnSyC} {U} {MnSymbolC}{m}{n}

\DeclareMathSymbol{\MNrhd}{\mathbin}{MnSyC}{76}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\MNlhd}{\mathbin}{MnSyC}{78}
% =============================================
\DeclareFontFamily{U} {MnSymbolD}{}

\DeclareFontShape{U}{MnSymbolD}{m}{n}{
  <-6> MnSymbolD5
  <6-7> MnSymbolD6
  <7-8> MnSymbolD7
  <8-9> MnSymbolD8
  <9-10> MnSymbolD9
  <10-12> MnSymbolD10
  <12-> MnSymbolD12}{}
\DeclareFontShape{U}{MnSymbolD}{b}{n}{
  <-6> MnSymbolD-Bold5
  <6-7> MnSymbolD-Bold6
  <7-8> MnSymbolD-Bold7
  <8-9> MnSymbolD-Bold8
  <9-10> MnSymbolD-Bold9
  <10-12> MnSymbolD-Bold10
  <12-> MnSymbolD-Bold12}{}

\DeclareSymbolFont{MnSyD} {U} {MnSymbolD}{m}{n}
\DeclareMathSymbol{\MNsim}{\mathbin}{MnSyD}{2}

% =============================================

%%%%% REMOVE THESE FROM A GENERAL DOCUMENT
\parindent 0pt
\parskip 1ex
\textwidth 2in
%%%%%
\usepackage{amssymb,amsmath,stackengine}
\stackMath
\usepackage{ifthen}

\newcommand{\squig}{{\MNsim\mkern-3.6mu}}
\newcommand{\lsquigend}{{\MNlhd\mkern-4.3mu}}
\newcommand{\rsquigend}{{\mkern-1.2mu\MNrhd}}
\newcounter{sqindex}
\newcommand\squigs[1]{%
  \setcounter{sqindex}{0}%
  \whiledo {\value{sqindex}< #1}{\addtocounter{sqindex}{1}\squig}%
}
\newcommand\rsquigarrow[2]{%
  \mathbin{\stackon[1pt]{\squigs{#2}\rsquigend}{\scriptscriptstyle\text{\!\!#1}}}%
}
\newcommand\lsquigarrow[2]{%
  \mathbin{\stackon[1pt]{\lsquigend\squigs{#2}}{\scriptscriptstyle\text{#1\!\!}}}%
}

\begin{document}
Here are the commands to make periodic squiggles, with no text above
them:

$2H_2 + O_2 \mathbin{\squig\squig\squig\rsquigend} 2H_2O $\\
$2H_2 + O_2 \mathbin{\lsquigend\squig\squig\squig} 2H_2O $

I can automate a group of squiggles

$\squigs{7}$

Now I will create commands to place text over them

$2H_2 + O_2 \rsquigarrow{exothermic}{10} 2H_2O $\\
$2H_2 + O_2 \lsquigarrow{heat}{5} ~ 2H_2O $
\end{document}

LONGTIME ORIGINAL SOLUTION

This solution is sub-optimal because it mixes text and math modes indiscriminately. It is also incompatible with amsmath, I learned (the contents of \box0 were getting scrogged by amsmath).

\documentclass[12pt]{article}
\parskip 1ex
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{ifthen}
\textwidth 2in
\begin{document}
Here are the commands to make periodic squiggles, with no text above
them:

\newcommand{\squig}{$\scriptsize$\sim$\normalsize$\!}
\newcommand{\lsquigend}{$\scriptsize$\lhd\!$\normalsize$}
\newcommand{\rsquigend}{$\scriptsize\rule{.1ex}{0ex}$\rhd$\normalsize$}
\noindent
$2H_2 + O_2 ~\squig\squig\squig\rsquigend~ 2H_2O $\\    $2H_2 + O_2 ~\lsquigend\squig\squig\squig~ 2H_2O $

Now I will create commands to place text over them

\newcounter{index}

\newcommand\squigs[1]{%
  \setcounter{index}{0}%
  \whiledo {\value{index}< #1}
  {\addtocounter{index}{1}\squig}
}

\newcommand\rsquigarrow[2]{$
  \setbox0\hbox{$\squigs{#2}\rsquigend$}%
  \tiny$%
  \!\!\!\!\begin{array}{c}%
  \mathrm{#1}\\%
  \usebox0%
  \end{array}%
  $\normalsize$\!\!%
}

\newcommand\lsquigarrow[2]{$
  \setbox0\hbox{$\lsquigend\squigs{#2}$}%
  \tiny$%
  \!\!\!\!\begin{array}{c}%
  \mathrm{#1}\\%
  \usebox0%
  \end{array}%
  $\normalsize$\!\!%
}

\noindent
$2H_2 + O_2 \rsquigarrow{exothermic}{7} 2H_2O $\\    $2H_2 + O_2 \lsquigarrow{heat}{3} ~ 2H_2O $

\end{document}

enter image description here

Best Answer

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[Tex/LaTex] How to put text over a squiggly arrow

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