What are the possible dimensions / sizes / units LaTeX understands?
From the plain TeX reference:
pt
: Pointpc
: pica (12pt
)in
: inch (72.27pt
)bp
: Big point (72bp
= 1in
)cm
: Centimetermm
: Millimeterdd
: Didot point (1157dd
= 1238pt
)cc
: cicero (12dd
)sp
: Scaled point (65536sp
= 1pt
), the smallest TeX unitex
: Nominal x-heightem
: Nominal m-width
Available in math mode:
mu
: math unit, 1em
= 18mu
, whereem
is taken from the math symbols family, various lengths are derived from it (thinspace
,thickspace
, etc.)
Additionally available in pdfTeX and LuaTeX:
px
: "pixel", the dimension given to the\pdfpxdimen
primitive; default value is 1bp
, corresponding to a pixel density of 72 dpi
See also here on TeX.SX:
- What are the various units (ex, in, pt, etc.) expressed in mm?
- Conversion pt to mm or cm
- Which measurement units should one use in LaTeX?
The meanings of the various points are described here:
- Wikipedia: Point (typography)
I made visual overview for all units available in TeX. Including a comparison and the definitions/conversions.
The complete code and PDFs (EN, DE; b/w, color) are available at GitHub: https://github.com/tweh/tex-units