Auto adjustable brackets “[], {}, (), ||, 〈〉” in LaTeX

In this tutorial, I will show you how to convert different types of brackets into auto-adjustable brackets. This means a bracket that will automatically increase or decrease its size according to the height of the content inside it.

In LaTeX, you use different types of brackets which are:

• Parentheses ( )
• Square brackets [ ]
• Curly brackets { }
• Angle brackets ⟨ ⟩

To make these brackets auto-adjustable you need to write extra commands \left and \right while writing these brackets. As you normally write parentheses as (x), now they should be written as \left(x\right).

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
    \section*{All types of Auto-adjustable brackets}
\end{center}

Parentheses:
$$ 2\left(\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right) $$

Square bracket:
$$ 2\left[\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right] $$

Curly bracket:
$$ 2\left\{\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right\} $$

Angle bracket:
$$ 2\left\langle\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right\rangle $$

Absolute value (pipe):
$$ 2\left|\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right| $$

Floor function:
$$ 2\left\lfloor\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right\rfloor $$

Ceiling function:
$$ 2\left\lceil\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right\rceil $$

\end{document}

Output:

Brackets on one side

Now there might be a case where you just need a bracket to show up on one side not the other. In this case, to not display the bracket symbol you have to use a period (.) with \left or \right, It matters which side bracket you don’t want to display.

If I want to get an output like [x then I have to write like this \left[ x \right., and to get this x] I have to use \left. x \right].

\documentclass{article}

\begin{document}

\begin{center}
    \section*{Auto-adjustable brackets on one side}
\end{center}

Parentheses:
$$ 2\left(\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right. $$

Square bracket:
$$ 2\left[\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right. $$

Curly bracket:
$$ 2\left\{\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right. $$

Angle bracket:
$$ 2\left\langle\frac{1}{x^2 - 1}\right. $$

Calculus:
$$ \left. \frac{dy}{dx} \right|_{x=1} $$

\end{document}

Output: