# \strut

Used to insert a vertical space with standard height and depth without affecting horizontal spacing, often useful inside tabular environments or fractions to prevent layout collapsing.

https://texform.dev/latex/commands/strut

## Metadata

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Topic | [Spacing](https://texform.dev/latex/topics/spacing) |
| Packages | base |
| Allowed mode | math |
| Tags | invisible, spacing |
| Commonality | medium |
| Kind | prefix |

## Syntax

### base

Argument specification: ``

Used to insert a vertical space with standard height and depth without affecting horizontal spacing, often useful inside tabular environments or fractions to prevent layout collapsing.

## Examples

```latex
\strut
```

[Open in Playground](https://play.texform.dev/?input=%5Cstrut)

## Renderer support

| Package | MathJax | KaTeX | XeTeX |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| base | full | none | full |

## Usage frequency

<0.01% of formulas in the measured corpus contain this entry, rank 187 of 263 entries with frequency data.

## In TeXForm

TeXForm parses this entry as prefix syntax; the package determines its argument specification.

### [base/strut-drop](https://texform.dev/rules/base/strut-drop)

Drop the fixed empty strut node in cleanup-oriented normalization.

Level: corpus. Fidelity: reading.

```latex
\strut
```

→

```latex

```

```latex
x_1 + y^2\strut + z_3
```

→

```latex
x_1 + y^2 + z_3
```

## Test cases

### base

| Input | Case | MathJax | KaTeX | XeTeX |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| \strut | Positive: baseline | Pass | Fail | Pass |