[Tex/LaTex] Using custom symbols

symbols

As comprehensive as the existing set of symbols is, it doesn't have every possible symbol that could exist, and it really takes the fun out of inventing a new symbol if you can't typeset it nicely.

One option I know of is "combining" existing symbols in some fashion, such as negative spaces. So I could write something like m \gg\!\!= k, but that technique has obvious limitations.

What's the best approach here? ("Stop making up new symbols for no good reason" is a valid answer.)

Edit: For a bit of context my actual interest is in nicer display for typeset source code, particularly making common operators written as multiple ASCII characters look more like a single symbol. This often results in symbols not otherwise used–but recognizable to other programmers–and for which the negative spacing technique suffices. As mentioned in a comment on vanden's answer, I was curious about the more general case.

Best Answer

Whilst I wouldn't go so far as to define completely new symbols, I do occasionally find myself wanting slightly different ones than the standard set. Where I've encountered this is with arrows when lecturing: I find that I want the ⇔ to look a little more important, for example. For those cases, I redraw it using TikZ:

\newcommand{\textIff}{\tikz \draw (-3ex,.25ex) -- (-.25ex,.25ex) (-3ex,-.25ex) -- (-.25ex,-.25ex) (-.5ex,.5ex) -- (0,0) -- (-.5ex,-.5ex) (-2.75ex,.5ex) -- (-3.25ex,0) -- (-2.75ex,-.5ex);\xspace}
\newcommand{\mathIff}{\mathrel{\textIff}}
\newcommand{\Iff}{\ifmmode\mathIff\else\textIff\fi\xspace}

I guess that using TikZ rather than MetaFont for this is that I already know how to use TikZ for my other diagrams.

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