Create an invisible character or text in LaTeX

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create an invisible character or text in LaTeX. You can do this in three different ways.

• Horizontal phantom (\hphantom)
• Vertical phantom (\vphantom)
• Horizontal and vertical space (\phantom)

Horizontal phantom in LaTeX

If you want to produce an invisible character or text with a width matching a specific character, use the \hphantom{<text>} command. This command generates horizontal space equivalent to the specified argument (<text>).

In the example below I’ve used \fbox so you can see how much space the invisible character is taking up.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
  \noindent This text will be visible.\\
  \hphantom{This text will be invisible}\\
  This text will be visible.\\
  \fbox{\hphantom{Only horizontal space will matter}}\\
  This text will be visible too.
\end{document}

Output:

Vertical phantom in LaTeX

To generate an invisible character with the same height as a specific character or occupying identical vertical space, use the \vphantom{<text>} command. This command creates vertical space equivalent to the provided argument (<text>). Take a look.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
  \noindent This text will be visible.\\
  \vphantom{This text will be invisible}\\
  This text will be visible.\\
  \fbox{\vphantom{Only vertical space will matter}}\\
  This text will be visible too.
\end{document}

Output:

Horizontal and vertical space of an invisible text

If you want to get equivalent horizontal and vertical space based on the invisible text then you have to use the \phantom{<text>} command. This command generates equivalent vertical and horizontal space based on the provided argument (<text>).

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
  \noindent This text will be visible.\\
  \phantom{This text will be invisible}\\
  This text will be visible.\\
  \fbox{\phantom{Both vertical and horizontal space will matter}}\\
  This text will be visible too.\\[6pt]
  
  \underline{Here is the comparison:}\\[4pt]
  With \verb|\hphantom|:\\
  \fbox{\hphantom{Only horizontal space will matter}}\\

  With \verb|\vphantom|:\\
  \fbox{\vphantom{Only vertical space will matter}}\\
  
  With \verb|\phantom|:\\
  \fbox{\phantom{Both vertical and horizontal space will matter}}\\
\end{document}

Output: