Right Delimiter with Invisible Left in LaTeX (\left. x \right))

Where it is used

Prints only a resizable closing parenthesis; \left. acts as an invisible opening partner.

\left. is the invisible opener that lets \right) size itself to the content. A common use is the evaluation bar \left. \frac{df}{dx} \right|_{x=0}, where only the right-hand vertical line should appear and stretch. It also finishes a bracket that was opened on a previous line of a multiline equation. Since each half is sized separately, insert \vphantom{...} with the tallest piece from the other line to match heights. The period itself is not printed, but it does add the small null-delimiter space.

Minimal compilable example

Paste this into an empty .tex file and compile it with pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Right Delimiter with Invisible Left: $\left. x \right)$

\[ \left. \frac{d}{dx} x^2 \right|_{x=3} = 6 \]
\end{document}

Related symbols

• Half-Open Interval Brackets\left[ x \right)
• Left Delimiter with Invisible Right\left( x \right.
• Bigg Parentheses\Bigg( x \Bigg)
• Big Parentheses\Big( x \Big)
• Vertical Bar\left| x \right|
• Curly Braces\left\{ x \right\}

Frequently asked questions

How do I write Right Delimiter with Invisible Left in LaTeX?

Type \left. x \right) in math mode, for example $\left. \frac{d}{dx} x^2 \right|_{x=3} = 6$. It works in plain LaTeX without loading any package.

Which package do I need for \left. x \right)?

None. \left. x \right) is part of standard LaTeX, so it compiles with nothing in the preamble but the document class.

Can I use \left. x \right) in text mode, or only in math mode?

Only in math mode. Outside $...$ LaTeX stops with "Missing $ inserted", so write $\left. x \right)$ in running text.