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How to make a symbol like this? Due to the reputation limit, I can't upload an image. So I decribe the symbol by word, I hope you can understand it. My symbol is:

a phi with an underscore. phi is \niphi.

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does the symbol have a standard meaning? If yes, it may help if you give that meaning if you cannot find a link on the internet showing that symbol. –  Willie Wong Feb 1 '11 at 3:47
You can upload the image to imgur.com and add a link to it. Also, have a look at “How to look up a math symbol?” for ideas how you can easily find a particular symbol. –  Caramdir Feb 1 '11 at 4:00
for civil engineer, it means the second grade steel bar. –  warem Feb 1 '11 at 8:42
\underline{\niphi} is that what you mean or \niphi_{_} ? –  percusse Feb 4 '11 at 20:52
sorry, just read your answer. no, it is not what i want because there is some space between phi and underline. please read the below Alan Munn's answer. it is exactly what i want. –  warem Feb 7 '11 at 3:50
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2 Answers

Perhaps this does what you want. (Adapted from the Comprehensive Symbols Guide (available in your TeX Distribution.)


enter image description here


A similar question has been asked on the site with some more general solutions:

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thanks a lot. this is exactly what i want. you are a really superman. you also answered my last question. you mentioned "Comprehensive Symbols Guide". where can i find it? i also have another symbol which is very similar to this one. the only difference is that it has two vertical lines. can you show me how to do it? thanks. –  warem Feb 1 '11 at 8:37
The Comprehensive Symbols Guide is part of the standard TeX documentation. If you use the command line: texdoc symbols should find it. If you look at package documentation from within your editor, then enter symbols as the package name. –  Alan Munn Feb 1 '11 at 15:06
could you please help me make the symbol i mentioned in the above comment? –  warem Feb 2 '11 at 0:26
could you please help me make this symbol? [1]: i.imgur.com/qUVlE.jpg –  warem Feb 10 '11 at 3:42
@AlanMunn -- the requested symbols are indeed the same as for the question you cited. (it may or may not be a coincidence that the posters of both questions are located in china.) in any event, i've tried to locate the symbols in unicode, and failed. i couldn't find any on-line reference (other than this forum) in which the symbols are shown as individual symbols, not as part of a structural drawing. if such a reference can be found, the symbols can be submitted for consideration by unicode, and i'm willing to do that. but i need an example in a published document. –  barbara beeton Dec 31 '12 at 18:28
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This link has probably been posted in response to various other "How do I get xxx symbol" questions, but anyway here it is again:


Draw your symbol there, and the system will try to identify it (together with the LaTeX package and command that produces it).

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the link is cool although i can't find my symbol there. it is an easy way to find some symbol in TEX. thank you. –  warem Feb 1 '11 at 9:09
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