The LaTeX command typesets a file of text using the TeX program and the LaTeX Macro package for TeX. To be more specific, it processes an input file containing the text of a document with interspersed commands that describe how the text should be formatted. It produces at least three files as output:
xdvi,
which actually uses the `.dvi' file.
For a description of what goes on inside TeX, you should consult The TeXbook by Donald E. Knuth, ISBN 0-201-13448-9, published jointly by the American Mathematical Society and Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
For a description of LaTeX, you should consult:
LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, by Leslie Lamport, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 2nd edition, 1994.
The LaTeX Companion, by Michel Goossens, Frank Mittelbach, and Alexander Samarin, Addison-Wesley, 1994.
A LaTeX command begins with the command name, which consists of a
\ followed by either (a) a string of letters or (b) a single
non-letter. Arguments contained in square brackets, [], are
optional while arguments contained in braces, {}, are required.
NOTE: LaTeX is case sensitive. Enter all commands in lower case unless explicitly directed to do otherwise.
Everything LaTeX numbers for you has a counter associated with it. The
name of the counter is the same as the name of the environment or
command that produces the number, except with no \. (enumi -
enumiv are used for the nested enumerate environment.) Below is a list
of the counters used in LaTeX's standard document classes to control
numbering.
part paragraph figure enumi chapter subparagraph table enumii section page footnote enumiii subsection equation mpfootnote enumiv subsubsection
\addtocounter{counter}{value}
The \addtocounter command increments the counter by the
amount specified by the value argument. The value
argument can be negative.
\alph{counter}
This command causes the value of the counter to be printed in
alphabetic characters. The \alph command uses lower case
alphabetic alphabetic characters, i.e., a, b, c... while the
\Alph command uses upper case alphabetic characters, i.e.,
A, B, C....
\arabic{counter}
The \arabic command causes the value of the counter to be
printed in Arabic numbers, i.e., 3.
\fnsymbol{counter}
The \fnsymbol command causes the value of the counter to
be printed in a specific sequence of nine symbols that can be used for
numbering footnotes.
eg. From 1-9:
NB. counter must have a value between 1 and 9 inclusive.
\newcounter{foo}[counter]
The \newcounter command defines a new counter named foo.
The counter is initialized to zero.
The optional argument [counter] causes the counter foo to
be reset whenever the counter named in the optional argument is
incremented.
\refstepcounter{counter}
The \refstepcounter command works like \stepcounter
See section \stepcounter, except it also defines the current \ref
value to be the result of \thecounter.
\roman{counter}
This command causes the value of the counter to be printed in
Roman numerals. The \roman command uses lower case Roman
numerals, i.e., i, ii, iii..., while the \Roman command
uses upper case Roman numerals, i.e., I, II, III....
\stepcounter{counter}
The \stepcounter command adds one to the counter and
resets all subsidiary counters.
\setcounter{counter}{value}
The \setcounter command sets the value of the counter to
that specified by the value argument.
\usecounter{counter}
The \usecounter command is used in the second argument of the
list environment to allow the counter specified to be used to
number the list items.
\value{counter}
The \value command produces the value of the counter named
in the mandatory argument. It can be used where LaTeX expects an
integer or number, such as the second argument of a \setcounter
or \addtocounter command, or in:
\hspace{\value{foo}\parindent}
It is useful for doing arithmetic with counters.
One reason for numbering things like figures and equations is to refer the reader to them, as in "See Figure 3 for more details."
\label{key}
A \label command appearing in ordinary text assigns to the
key the number of the current sectional unit; one appearing
inside a numbered environment assigns that number to the key.
A key can consist of any sequence of letters, digits, or
punctuation characters. Upper and lowercase letters are different.
To avoid accidentally creating two labels with the same name, it is common to use labels consisting of a prefix and a suffix separated by a colon. The prefixes conventionally used are
cha
for chapters
sec
for lower-level sectioning commands
fig
for figures
tab
for tables
eq
for equations
Thus, a label for a figure would look like fig:bandersnatch.
\pageref{key}
The \pageref command produces the page number of the place in the
text where the corresponding \label command appears. ie. where
\label{key} appears.
\ref{key}
The \ref command produces the number of the sectional unit,
equation number, ... of the corresponding \label command.
\newcommand{cmd}[args]{definition}
\newcommand{cmd}[args][default]{definition}
\renewcommand{cmd}[args]{definition}
\renewcommand{cmd}[args][default]{definition}
These commands define (or redefine) a command.
cmd
\. For \newcommand it
must not be already defined and must not begin with \end; for
\renewcommand it must already be defined.
args
def
def.
definition
cmd; a
parameter of the form #n in cmd is replaced by the text of
the nth argument when this substitution takes place.
\newenvironment{nam}[args]{begdef}{enddef}
\newenvironment{nam}[args][default]{begdef}{enddef}
\renewenvironment{nam}[args]{begdef}{enddef}
These commands define or redefine an environment.
nam
\newenvironment there must be
no currently defined environment by that name, and the command
\nam must be undefined. For \renewenvironment the
environment must already be defined.
args
default
default
gives the default value for that argument.
begdef
\begin{nam}; a
parameter of the form #n in cmd is replaced by the text of
the nth argument when this substitution takes place.
enddef
\end{nam}. It may
not contain any argument parameters.
\newtheorem{env_name}{caption}[within]
\newtheorem{env_name}[numbered_like]{caption}
This command defines a theorem-like environment.
env_name
caption
within
numbered_like
The \newtheorem command may have at most one optional argument.
\newfont{cmd}{font_name}
Defines the command name cmd, which must not be currently
defined, to be a declaration that selects the font named
font_name to be the current font.
Valid LaTeX document classes include:
Other document classes are often available. See section Overview of LaTeX and Local Guide, for details. They are selected with the following command:
\documentclass [options] {class}
All the standard classes (except slides) accept the following options for selecting the typeface size (10 pt is default):
10pt, 11pt, 12pt
All classes accept these options for selecting the paper size (default is letter):
a4paper, a5paper, b5paper, letterpaper, legalpaper, executivepaper
Miscellaneous options:
These options are not available with the slides class:
The slides class offers the option clock for printing the time at
the bottom of each note.
If you specify more than one option, they must be separated by a comma.
Additional packages are loaded by a
command. If you specify more than one package, they must be separated by a comma.
Any options given in the \documentclass command that are unknown
by the selected document class are passed on to the packages loaded with
\usepackage.
Miscellaneous commands for controlling the general layout of the page.
The \flushbottom declaration makes all text pages the same
height, adding extra vertical space when necessary to fill out the page.
This is the standard if twocolumn mode is selected.
The \onecolumn declaration starts a new page and produces
single-column output.
The \raggedbottom declaration makes all pages the height of the
text on that page. No extra vertical space is added.
\twocolumn[text]
The \twocolumn declaration starts a new page and produces
two-column output. If the optional text argument is present, it
is typeset in one-column mode.
LaTeX provides a number of different paragraph-making environments. Each environment begins and ends in the same manner.
\begin{environment-name}
.
.
.
\end{environment-name}
\begin{array}{col1col2...coln}
column 1 entry & column 2 entry ... & column n entry \\
.
.
.
\end{array}
Math arrays are produced with the array environment. It has a single
mandatory argument describing the number of columns and the alignment
within them. Each column, coln, is specified by a single letter
that tells how items in that row should be formatted.
c -- for centred
l -- for flush left
r -- for flush right
Column entries must be separated by an &. Column entries may
include other LaTeX commands. Each row of the array must be terminated
with the string \\.
Note that the array environment can only be used in math mode, so
normally it is used inside an equation environment.
\begin{center}
Text on line 1 \\
Text on line 2 \\
.
.
.
\end{center}
The center environment allows you to create a paragraph consisting of
lines that are centred within the left and right margins on the current
page. Each line must be terminated with the string \\.
This declaration corresponds to the center environment. This
declaration can be used inside an environment such as quote or in
a parbox. The text of a figure or table can be centred on the
page by putting a \centering command at the beginning of the
figure or table environment.
Unlike the center environment, the \centering command does
not start a new paragraph; it simply changes how LaTeX formats paragraph
units. To affect a paragraph unit's format, the scope of the
declaration must contain the blank line or \end command (of an
environment like quote) that ends the paragraph unit.
\begin{description}
\item [label] First item
\item [label] Second item
.
.
.
\end{description}
The description environment is used to make labelled lists. The
label is bold face and flushed right.
\begin{enumerate}
\item First item
\item Second item
.
.
.
\end{enumerate}
The enumerate environment produces a numbered list. Enumerations
can be nested within one another, up to four levels deep. They can also
be nested within other paragraph-making environments.
Each item of an enumerated list begins with an \item command.
There must be at least one \item command within the environment.
The enumerate environment uses the enumi through
enumiv counters (see section Counters). The type of numbering can be
changed by redefining \theenumi etc.
\begin{eqnarray}
math formula 1 \\
math formula 2 \\
.
.
.
\end{eqnarray}
The eqnarray environment is used to display a sequence of
equations or inequalities. It is very much like a three-column
array environment, with consecutive rows separated by \\
and consecutive items within a row separated by an &.
An equation number is placed on every line unless that line has a
\nonumber command.
The command \lefteqn is used for splitting long formulas across
lines. It typesets its argument in display style flush left in a box of
zero width.
\begin{equation}
math formula
\end{equation}
The equation environment centres your equation on the page and places
the equation number in the right margin.
\begin{figure}[placement]
body of the figure
\caption{figure title}
\end{figure}
Figures are objects that are not part of the normal text, and are usually "floated" to a convenient place, like the top of a page. Figures will not be split between two pages.
The optional argument [placement] determines where LaTeX will try
to place your figure. There are four places where LaTeX can possibly
put a float:
h (Here) - at the position in the text where the figure
environment appears.
t (Top) - at the top of a text page.
b (Bottom) - at the bottom of a text page.
p (Page of floats) - on a separate float page, which is a page
containing no text, only floats.
The standard report and article classes use the default placement
tbp.
The body of the figure is made up of whatever text, LaTeX commands, etc.
you wish. The \caption command allows you to title your figure.
\begin{flushleft}
Text on line 1 \\
Text on line 2 \\
.
.
.
\end{flushleft}
The flushleft environment allows you to create a paragraph
consisting of lines that are flushed left, to the left-hand margin.
Each line must be terminated with the string \\.
This declaration corresponds to the flushleft environment. This
declaration can be used inside an environment such as quote or in
a parbox.
Unlike the flushleft environment, the \raggedright command
does not start a new paragraph; it simply changes how LaTeX formats
paragraph units. To affect a paragraph unit's format, the scope of the
declaration must contain the blank line or \end command (of an
environment like quote) that ends the paragraph unit.
\begin{flushright}
Text on line 1 \\
Text on line 2 \\
.
.
.
\end{flushright}
The flushright environment allows you to create a paragraph
consisting of lines that are flushed right, to the right-hand margin.
Each line must be terminated with the string \\.
This declaration corresponds to the flushright environment. This
declaration can be used inside an environment such as quote or in
a parbox.
Unlike the flushright environment, the \raggedleft command
does not start a new paragraph; it simply changes how LaTeX formats
paragraph units. To affect a paragraph unit's format, the scope of the
declaration must contain the blank line or \end command (of an
environment like quote) that ends the paragraph unit.
\begin{itemize}
\item First item
\item Second item
.
.
.
\end{itemize}
The itemize environment produces a "bulleted" list. Itemizations
can be nested within one another, up to four levels deep. They can also
be nested within other paragraph-making environments.
Each item of an itemized list begins with an \item command.
There must be at least one \item command within the environment.
The itemize environment uses the itemi through
itemiv counters (see section Counters). The type of numbering can be
changed by redefining \theitemi etc.
This environment is used for creating letters. See section Letters.
The list environment is a generic environment which is used for
defining many of the more specific environments. It is seldom used in
documents, but often in macros.
\begin{list}{label}{spacing}
\item First item
\item Second item
.
.
.
\end{list}
The {label} argument specifies how items should be labelled.
This argument is a piece of text that is inserted in a box to form the
label. This argument can and usually does contain other LaTeX commands.
The {spacing} argument contains commands to change the spacing
parameters for the list. This argument will most often be null, i.e.,
{}. This will select all default spacing which should suffice
for most cases.
\begin{minipage}[position]{width}
text
\end{minipage}
The minipage environment is similar to a \parbox command.
It takes the same optional position argument and mandatory
width argument. You may use other paragraph-making environments
inside a minipage.
Footnotes in a minipage environment are handled in a way that is
particularly useful for putting footnotes in figures or tables. A
\footnote or \footnotetext command puts the footnote at
the bottom of the minipage instead of at the bottom of the page, and it
uses the mpfootnote counter instead of the ordinary
footnote counter See section Counters.
NOTE: Don't put one minipage inside another if you are using footnotes; they may wind up at the bottom of the wrong minipage.
\begin{picture}(width,height)(x offset,y offset)
.
.
picture commands
.
.
\end{picture}
The picture environment allows you to create just about any kind
of picture you want containing text, lines, arrows and circles. You
tell LaTeX where to put things in the picture by specifying their
coordinates. A coordinate is a number that may have a decimal point and
a minus sign -- a number like 5, 2.3 or -3.1416. A
coordinate specifies a length in multiples of the unit length
\unitlength, so if \unitlength has been set to 1cm,
then the coordinate 2.54 specifies a length of 2.54 centimetres. You
can change the value of \unitlength anywhere you want, using the
\setlength command, but strange things will happen if you try
changing it inside the picture environment.
A position is a pair of coordinates, such as (2.4,-5), specifying
the point with x-coordinate 2.4 and y-coordinate -5.
Coordinates are specified in the usual way with respect to an origin,
which is normally at the lower-left corner of the picture. Note that
when a position appears as an argument, it is not enclosed in braces;
the parentheses serve to delimit the argument.
The picture environment has one mandatory argument, which is a
position. It specifies the size of the picture. The environment
produces a rectangular box with width and height determined by this
argument's x- and y-coordinates.
The picture environment also has an optional position
argument, following the size argument, that can change the
origin. (Unlike ordinary optional arguments, this argument is not
contained in square brackets.) The optional argument gives the
coordinates of the point at the lower-left corner of the picture
(thereby determining the origin). For example, if \unitlength
has been set to 1mm, the command
\begin{picture}(100,200)(10,20)
produces a picture of width 100 millimetres and height 200 millimetres, whose lower-left corner is the point (10,20) and whose upper-right corner is therefore the point (110,220). When you first draw a picture, you will omit the optional argument, leaving the origin at the lower-left corner. If you then want to modify your picture by shifting everything, you just add the appropriate optional argument.
The environment's mandatory argument determines the nominal size of the picture. This need bear no relation to how large the picture really is; LaTeX will happily allow you to put things outside the picture, or even off the page. The picture's nominal size is used by LaTeX in determining how much room to leave for it.
Everything that appears in a picture is drawn by the \put
command. The command
\put (11.3,-.3){...}
puts the object specified by ... in the picture, with its
reference point at coordinates (11.3,-.3). The reference points for
various objects will be described below.
The \put command creates an LR box. You can put anything
in the text argument of the \put command that you'd put into the
argument of an \mbox and related commands. When you do this, the
reference point will be the lower left corner of the box.
Picture commands:
\circle[*]{diameter}
The \circle command produces a circle with a diameter as close to
the specified one as possible. If the *-form of the command is
used, LaTeX draws a solid circle.
Note that only circles up to 40 pt can be drawn.
Draws a box with a dashed line.
\dashbox{dash_length}(width,height){...}
The \dashbox has an extra argument which specifies the width of
each dash. A dashed box looks best when the width and
height are multiples of the dash_length.
\frame{...}
The \frame command puts a rectangular frame around the object
specified in the argument. The reference point is the bottom left
corner of the frame. No extra space is put between the frame and the
object.
\framebox(width,height)[position]{...}
The \framebox command is exactly the same as the \makebox
command, except that it puts a frame around the outside of the box that
it creates.
The framebox command produces a rule of thickness
\fboxrule, and leaves a space \fboxsep between the rule
and the contents of the box.
\line(x slope,y slope){length}
The \line command draws a line of the specified length and
slope.
Note that LaTeX can only draw lines with slope = x/y, where x and y have integer values from -6 through 6.
\linethickness{dimension}
Declares the thickness of horizontal and vertical lines in a picture
environment to be dimension, which must be a positive length. It
does not affect the thickness of slanted lines and circles, or the
quarter circles drawn by \oval to form the corners of an oval.
\makebox(width,height)[position]{...}
The \makebox command for the picture environment is similar to
the normal \makebox command except that you must specify a
width and height in multiples of \unitlength.
The optional argument, [position], specifies the quadrant that
your text appears in. You may select up to two of the following:
t - Moves the item to the top of the rectangle
b - Moves the item to the bottom
l - Moves the item to the left
r - Moves the item to the right
See section \makebox.
\multiput(x coord,y coord)(delta x,delta y){number of copies}{object}
The \multiput command can be used when you are putting the same
object in a regular pattern across a picture.
\oval(width,height)[portion]
The \oval command produces a rectangle with rounded corners. The
optional argument, [portion], allows you to select part of the
oval.
t - Selects the top portion
b - Selects the bottom portion
r - Selects the right portion
l - Selects the left portion
Note that the "corners" of the oval are made with quarter circles with a maximum radius of 20 pt, so large "ovals" will look more like boxes with rounded corners.
\put(x coord,y coord){ ... }
The \put command places the item specified by the mandatory
argument at the given coordinates.
\shortstack[position]{... \\ ... \\ ...}
The \shortstack command produces a stack of objects. The valid
positions are:
r - Moves the objects to the right of the stack
l - Moves the objects to the left of the stack
c - Moves the objects to the centre of the stack (default)
\vector(x slope,y slope){length}
The \vector command draws a line with an arrow of the specified
length and slope. The x and y values must lie between -4
and +4, inclusive.
\begin{quotation}
text
\end{quotation}
The margins of the quotation environment are indented on the left
and the right. The text is justified at both margins and there is
paragraph indentation. Leaving a blank line between text produces a new
paragraph.
\begin{quote}
text
\end{quote}
The margins of the quote environment are indented on the left and
the right. The text is justified at both margins. Leaving a blank line
between text produces a new paragraph.
\begin{tabbing}
text \= more text \= still more text \= last text \\
second row \> \> more \\
.
.
.
\end{tabbing}
The tabbing environment provides a way to align text in columns.
It works by setting tab stops and tabbing to them much the way you do
with an ordinary typewriter.
It is best suited for cases where the width of each column is constant and known in advance.
This environment can be broken across pages, unlike the tabular
environment.
The following commands can be used inside a tabbing enviroment:
\=
\>
\<
\+
\-
\'
\>,
\<, \', \\, or \kill command, to the right
of the previous column, flush against the current column's tab stop.
\`
\` command moves all the
text that follows it, up to the \\ or \end{tabbing}
command that ends the line, to the right margin of the tabbing
environment. There must be no \> or \' command between
the \` and the command that ends the line.
\kill
\\ except that it throws away the
current line instead of producing output for it. The effect of any
\=, \+ or \- commands in that line remain in
effect.
\pushtabs
tabbing environment.
\pushtabs
\pushtabs.
\a
tabbing environment, the commands \=, \' and
\` do not produce accents as normal. Instead, the commands
\a=, \a' and \a` are used.
This example typesets a Pascal function in a traditional format:
\begin{tabbing}
function \= fact(n : integer) : integer;\\
\> begin \= \+ \\
\> if \= n $>$ 1 then \+ \\
fact := n * fact(n-1) \- \\
else \+ \\
fact := 1; \-\- \\
end;\\
\end{tabbing}
\begin{table}[placement]
body of the table
\caption{table title}
\end{table}
Tables are objects that are not part of the normal text, and are usually "floated" to a convenient place, like the top of a page. Tables will not be split between two pages.
The optional argument [placement] determines where LaTeX will try
to place your table. There are four places where LaTeX can possibly put
a float:
h : Here - at the position in the text where the table
environment appears.
t : Top - at the top of a text page.
b : Bottom - at the bottom of a text page.
p : Page of floats - on a separate float page, which is a page
containing no text, only floats.
The standard report and article classes use the default
placement [tbp].
The body of the table is made up of whatever text, LaTeX commands, etc.,
you wish. The \caption command allows you to title your table.
\begin{tabular}[pos]{cols}
column 1 entry & column 2 entry ... & column n entry \\
.
.
.
\end{tabular}
or
\begin{tabular*}{width}[pos]{cols}
column 1 entry & column 2 entry ... & column n entry \\
.
.
.
\end{tabular*}
These environments produce a box consisting of a sequence of rows of items, aligned vertically in columns. The mandatory and optional arguments consist of:
width
tabular* environment. There must be
rubber space between columns that can stretch to fill out the specified
width.
pos
t - align on top row
b - align on bottom row
cols
l - A column of left-aligned items.
r - A column of right-aligned items.
c - A column of centred items.
| - A vertical line the full height and depth of the environment.
@{text} - This inserts text in every row. An @-expression
suppresses the intercolumn space normally inserted between columns; any
desired space between the inserted text and the adjacent items must be
included in text. An \extracolsep{wd} command in an
@-expression causes an extra space of width wd to appear to the
left of all subsequent columns, until countermanded by another
\extracolsep command. Unlike ordinary intercolumn space, this
extra space is not suppressed by an @-expression. An
\extracolsep command can be used only in an @-expression in the
cols argument.
p{wd} - Produces a column with each item typeset in a parbox of
width wd, as if it were the argument of a \parbox[t]{wd}
command. However, a \\ may not appear in the item, except in the
following situations:
minipage, array, or tabular.
\parbox.
\centering, \raggedright, or \raggedleft
declaration. The latter declarations must appear inside braces or an
environment when used in a p-column element.
*{num}{cols} - Equivalent to num copies of
cols, where num is any positive integer and cols is
any list of column-specifiers, which may contain another
*-expression.
These commands can be used inside a tabular environment:
\cline{i-j}
The \cline command draws horizontal lines across the columns
specified, beginning in column i and ending in column j,
which are identified in the mandatory argument.
The \hline command will draw a horizontal line the width of the
table. It's most commonly used to draw a line at the top, bottom, and
between the rows of the table.
\multicolumn{cols}{pos}{text}
The \multicolumn is used to make an entry that spans several
columns. The first mandatory argument, cols, specifies the
number of columns to span. The second mandatory argument, pos,
specifies the formatting of the entry; c for centred, l
for flushleft, r for flushright. The third mandatory argument,
text, specifies what text is to make up the entry.
The \vline command will draw a vertical line extending the full
height and depth of its row. An \hfill command can be used to
move the line to the edge of the column. It can also be used in an
@-expression.
\begin{thebibliography}{widest-label}
\bibitem[label]{cite_key}
.
.
.
\end{thebibliography}
The thebibliography environment produces a bibliography or
reference list. In the article class, this reference list is
labelled "References"; in the report class, it is labelled
"Bibliography".
widest-label: Text that, when printed, is approximately as wide
as the widest item label produces by the \bibitem commands.
\bibitem[label]{cite_key}
The \bibitem command generates an entry labelled by label.
If the label argument is missing, a number is generated as the
label, using the enumi counter. The cite_key is
any sequence of letters, numbers, and punctuation symbols not containing
a comma. This command writes an entry on the `.aux' file
containing cite_key and the item's label. When this
`.aux' file is read by the \begin{document} command, the
item's label is associated with cite_key, causing the
reference to cite_key by a \cite command to produce the
associated label.
\cite[text]{key_list}
The key_list argument is a list of citation keys. This command
generates an in-text citation to the references associated with the keys
in key_list by entries on the `.aux' file read by the
\begin{document} command.
The optional text argument will appear after the citation,
i.e. \cite[p. 2]{knuth} might produce `[Knuth, p. 2]'.
\nocite{key_list}
The \nocite command produces no text, but writes key_list,
which is a list of one or more citation keys, on the `.aux' file.
If you use the BibTeX program by Oren Patashnik (highly recommended if
you need a bibliography of more than a couple of titles) to maintain
your bibliography, you don't use the thebibliography
environment. Instead, you include the lines
\bibliographystyle{style}
\bibliography{bibfile}
where style refers to a file style.bst, which defines how
your citations will look. The standard styles distributed with BibTeX
are:
alpha
plain
unsrt
plain, but entries are in order of citation.
abbrv
plain, but more compact labels.
In addition, numerous other BibTeX style files exist tailored to the demands of various publications.
The argument to \bibliography refers to the file
bibfile.bib, which should contain your database in BibTeX
format. Only the entries referred to via \cite and \nocite
will be listed in the bibliography.
\begin{theorem}
theorem text
\end{theorem}
The theorem environment produces "Theorem x" in boldface followed
by your theorem text.
\begin{titlepage}
text
\end{titlepage}
The titlepage environment creates a title page, i.e. a page with no
printed page number or heading. It also causes the following page to be
numbered page one. Formatting the title page is left to you. The
\today command comes in handy for title pages.
Note that you can use the \maketitle (see section \maketitle) command to
produce a standard title page.
\begin{verbatim}
text
\end{verbatim}
The verbatim environment is a paragraph-making environment that
gets LaTeX to print exactly what you type in. It turns LaTeX into a
typewriter with carriage returns and blanks having the same effect that
they would on a typewriter.
\verb char literal_text char
\verb*char literal_text char
Typesets literal_text exactly as typed, including special
characters and spaces, using a typewriter (\tt) type style.
There may be no space between \verb or \verb* and
char (space is shown here only for clarity). The *-form
differs only in that spaces are printed
as `\verb*| |'.
\begin{verse}
text
\end{verse}
The verse environment is designed for poetry, though you may find
other uses for it.
The margins are indented on the left and the right. Separate the lines
of each stanza with \\, and use one or more blank lines to
separate the stanzas.
Footnotes can be produced in one of two ways. They can be
produced with one command, the \footnote command. They can also
be produced with two commands, the \footnotemark and the
\footnotetext commands. See the specific command for information
on why you would use one over the other.
\footnote[number]{text}
The \footnote command places the numbered footnote text at
the bottom of the current page. The optional argument, number,
is used to change the default footnote number. This command can only be
used in outer paragraph mode; i.e., you cannot use it in sectioning
commands like \chapter, in figures, tables or in a tabular
environment.
The \footnotemark command puts the footnote number in the
text. This command can be used in inner paragraph mode. The text of
the footnote is supplied by the \footnotetext command.
This command can be used to produce several consecutive footnote markers referring to the same footnote by using
\footnotemark[\value{footnote}]
after the first \footnote command.
\footnotetext[number]{text}
The \footnotetext command produces the text to be placed
at the bottom of the page. This command can come anywhere after the
\footnotemark command. The \footnotetext command must
appear in outer paragraph mode.
The optional argument, number, is used to change the default
footnote number.
A length is a measure of distance. Many LaTeX commands take a
length as an argument.
\newlength{\gnat}
The \newlength command defines the mandatory argument,
\gnat, as a length command with a value of 0in. An
error occurs if a \gnat command already exists.
\setlength{\gnat}{length}
The \setlength command is used to set the value of a
length command. The length argument can be expressed in
any terms of length LaTeX understands, i.e., inches (in),
millimetres (mm), points (pt), etc.
\addtolength{\gnat}{length}
The \addtolength command increments a "length command" by the
amount specified in the length argument. It can be a negative
amount.
\settodepth{\gnat}{text}
The \settodepth command sets the value of a length command
equal to the depth of the text argument.
\settoheight{\gnat}{text}
The \settoheight command sets the value of a length command
equal to the height of the text argument.
\settowidth{\gnat}{text}
The \settowidth command sets the value of a length command
equal to the width of the text argument.
These length parameters can be used in the arguments of the box-making
commands See section Spaces & Boxes. They specify the natural width etc. of
the text in the box. \totalheight equals \height +
\depth. To make a box with the text stretched to double the
natural size, e.g., say
\makebox[2\width]{Get a stretcher}
You can use LaTeX to typeset letters, both personal and business. The
letter document class is designed to make a number of letters at
once, although you can make just one if you so desire.
Your `.tex' source file has the same minimum commands as the other document classes, i.e., you must have the following commands as a minimum:
\documentclass{letter}
\begin{document}
... letters ...
\end{document}
Each letter is a letter environment, whose argument is the name
and address of the recipient. For example, you might have:
\begin{letter}{Mr. Joe Smith\\ 2345 Princess St.
\\ Edinburgh, EH1 1AA}
...
\end{letter}
The letter itself begins with the \opening command. The text of
the letter follows. It is typed as ordinary LaTeX input. Commands that
make no sense in a letter, like \chapter, do not work. The letter
closes with a \closing command.
After the closing, you can have additional material. The
\cc command produces the usual "cc: ...". There's also a similar
\encl command for a list of enclosures. With both these commands,
use \\ to separate the items.
These commands are used with the letter class:
\address{Return address}
The return address, as it should appear on the letter and the envelope.
Separate lines of the address should be separated by \\ commands.
If you do not make an \address declaration, then the letter will
be formatted for copying onto your organisation's standard letterhead.
(See section Overview of LaTeX and Local Guide, for details on your local implementation). If you
give an \address declaration, then the letter will be formatted
as a personal letter.
\cc{Kate Schechter\\Rob McKenna}
Generate a list of other persons the letter was sent to. Each name is printed on a separate line.
\closing{text}
The letter closes with a \closing command, i.e.,
\closing{Best Regards,}
\encl{CV\\Certificates}
Generate a list of enclosed material.
\location{address}
This modifies your organisation's standard address. This only appears
if the firstpage pagestyle is selected.
\makelabels{number}
If you issue this command in the preamble, LaTeX will create a sheet of address labels. This sheet will be output before the letters.
\name{June Davenport}
Your name, used for printing on the envelope together with the return address.
\opening{text}
The letter begins with the \opening command. The mandatory
argument, text, is whatever text you wish to start your letter,
i.e.,
\opening{Dear Joe,}
\ps
Use this command before a postscript.
\signature{Harvey Swick}
Your name, as it should appear at the end of the letter underneath the
space for your signature. Items that should go on separate lines should
be separated by \\ commands.
\startbreaks
Used after a \stopbreaks command to allow page breaks again.
\stopbreaks
Inhibit page breaks until a \startbreaks command occurs.
\telephone{number}
This is your telephone number. This only appears if the
firstpage pagestyle is selected.
The first thing LaTeX does when processing ordinary text is to
translate your input file into a string of glyphs and spaces. To
produce a printed document, this string must be broken into lines, and
these lines must be broken into pages. In some environments, you do the
line breaking yourself with the \\ command, but LaTeX usually
does it for you.
\\[*][extra-space]
The \\ command tells LaTeX to start a new line. It has an
optional argument, extra-space, that specifies how much extra
vertical space is to be inserted before the next line. This can be a
negative amount.
The \\* command is the same as the ordinary \\ command
except that it tells LaTeX not to start a new page after the line.
The \- command tells LaTeX that it may hyphenate the word at that
point. LaTeX is very good at hyphenating, and it will usually find all
correct hyphenation points. The \- command is used for the
exceptional cases.
Note that when you insert \- commands in a word, the word will
only be hyphenated at those points and not at any of the hyphenation
points that LaTeX might otherwise have chosen.
The \cleardoublepage command ends the current page and causes all
figures and tables that have so far appeared in the input to be printed.
In a two-sided printing style, it also makes the next page a right-hand
(odd-numbered) page, producing a blank page if necessary.
The \clearpage command ends the current page and causes all
figures and tables that have so far appeared in the input to be printed.
\enlargethispage{size}
\enlargethispage*{size}
Enlarge the \textheight for the current page by the specified
amount; e.g. \enlargethispage{\baselineskip} will allow one
additional line.
The starred form tries to squeeze the material together on the page as
much as possible. This is normally used together with an explicit
\pagebreak.
\fussy
This declaration (which is the default) makes TeX more fussy about line breaking. This can avoids too much space between words, but may produce overfull boxes.
This command cancels the effect of a previous \sloppy command. section \sloppy
\hyphenation{words}
The \hyphenation command declares allowed hyphenation points,
where words is a list of words, separated by spaces, in which
each hyphenation point is indicated by a - character.
\linebreak[number]
The \linebreak command tells LaTeX to break the current line at
the point of the command. With the optional argument, number,
you can convert the \linebreak command from a demand to a
request. The number must be a number from 0 to 4. The higher the
number, the more insistent the request is.
The \linebreak command causes LaTeX to stretch the line so it
extends to the right margin.
The \newline command breaks the line right where it is. It can
only be used in paragraph mode.
The \newpage command ends the current page.
\nolinebreak[number]
The \nolinebreak command prevents LaTeX from breaking the current
line at the point of the command. With the optional argument,
number, you can convert the \nolinebreak command from a
demand to a request. The number must be a number from 0 to 4. The
higher the number, the more insistent the request is.
\nopagebreak[number]
The \nopagebreak command prevents LaTeX from breaking the current
page at the point of the command. With the optional argument,
number, you can convert the \nopagebreak command from a
demand to a request. The number must be a number from 0 to 4. The
higher the number, the more insistent the request is.
\pagebreak[number]
The \pagebreak command tells LaTeX to break the current page at
the point of the command. With the optional argument, number,
you can convert the \pagebreak command from a demand to a
request. The number must be a number from 0 to 4. The higher the
number, the more insistent the request is.
\sloppy
This declaration makes TeX less fussy about line breaking. This can prevent overfull boxes, but may leave too much space between words.
Lasts until a \fussy command is issued. section \fussy.
A paragraph is ended by one or more completely blank lines -- lines not
containing even a %. A blank line should not appear where a new
paragraph cannot be started, such as in math mode or in the argument of
a sectioning command.
\indent
This produces a horizontal space whose width equals the width of the paragraph indentation. It is used to add paragraph indentation where it would otherwise be suppressed.
\noindent
When used at the beginning of the paragraph, it suppresses the paragraph indentation. It has no effect when used in the middle of a paragraph.
Equivalent to a blank line; often used to make command or environment definitions easier to read.
The command \marginpar[left]{right} creates a note in the margin.
The first line will be at the same height as the line in the text where
the \marginpar occurs.
When you only specify the mandatory argument right, the text will
be placed
By issuing the command \reversemarginpar, you can force the marginal
notes to go into the opposite (inside) margin.
When you specify both arguments, left is used for the left
margin, and right is used for the right margin.
The first word will normally not be hyphenated; you can enable
hyphenation by prefixing the first word with a \hspace{0pt}
command.
There are three environments that put LaTeX in math mode:
math
displaymath
equation
The math environment can be used in both paragraph and LR mode,
but the displaymath and equation environments can be used
only in paragraph mode. The math and displaymath
environments are used so often that they have the following short forms:
\(...\) instead of \begin{math}...\end{math}
\[...\] instead of \begin{displaymath}...\end{displaymath}
In fact, the math environment is so common that it has an even
shorter form:
$ ... $ instead of \(...\)
To get an expression exp to appear as a subscript, you just type
_{exp}. To get exp to appear as a superscript, you type
^{exp}. LaTeX handles superscripted superscripts and all of
that stuff in the natural way. It even does the right thing when
something has both a subscript and a superscript.
LaTeX provides almost any mathematical symbol you're likely to need. The
commands for generating them can be used only in math mode. For
example, if you include $\pi$ in your source, you will get the
symbol
in your output.
In a math environment, LaTeX ignores the spaces you type and puts
in the spacing that it thinks is best. LaTeX formats mathematics the
way it's done in mathematics texts. If you want different spacing,
LaTeX provides the following four commands for use in math mode:
\; - a thick space
\: - a medium space
\, - a thin space
\! - a negative thin space
\cdots
\ddots
\frac{num}{den}
num divided by den.
eg.
\ldots
\overbrace{text}
\overline{text}
\sqrt[root]{arg}
root, determines what root to produce, i.e.,
the cube root of x+y would be typed as $\sqrt[3]{x+y}$.
eg.
\underbrace{text}
\underline{text}
\vdots
When LaTeX is processing your input text, it is always in one of three modes:
LaTeX changes mode only when it goes up or down a staircase to a different level, though not all level changes produce mode changes. Mode changes occur only when entering or leaving an environment, or when LaTeX is processing the argument of certain text-producing commands.
"Paragraph mode" is the most common; it's the one LaTeX is in when
processing ordinary text. In that mode, LaTeX breaks your text into
lines and breaks the lines into pages. LaTeX is in "math mode" when
it's generating a mathematical formula. In "LR mode", as in paragraph
mode, LaTeX considers the output that it produces to be a string of
words with spaces between them. However, unlike paragraph mode, LaTeX
keeps going from left to right; it never starts a new line in LR mode.
Even if you put a hundred words into an \mbox, LaTeX would keep
typesetting them from left to right inside a single box, and then
complain because the resulting box was too wide to fit on the line.
LaTeX is in LR mode when it starts making a box with an \mbox
command. You can get it to enter a different mode inside the box - for
example, you can make it enter math mode to put a formula in the box.
There are also several text-producing commands and environments for
making a box that put LaTeX in paragraph mode. The box make by one of
these commands or environments will be called a parbox. When
LaTeX is in paragraph mode while making a box, it is said to be in
"inner paragraph mode". Its normal paragraph mode, which it starts out
in, is called "outer paragraph mode".
The \documentclass command determines the size and position of
the page's head and foot. The page style determines what goes in them.
\maketitle
The \maketitle command generates a title on a separate title page
- except in the article class, where the title normally goes at
the top of the first page. Information used to produce the title is
obtained from the following declarations:
See section Page Styles for the commands to give the information.
\author{names}
The \author command declares the author(s), where names is
a list of authors separated by \and commands. Use \\ to
separate lines within a single author's entry -- for example, to give
the author's institution or address.
\date{text}
The \date command declares text to be the document's date. With
no \date command, the current date is used.
\thanks{text}
The \thanks command produces a \footnote to the title.
\title{text}
The \title command declares text to be the title. Use
\\ to tell LaTeX where to start a new line in a long title.
\pagenumbering{num_style}
Specifies the style of page numbers. Possible values of num_style are:
arabic - Arabic numerals
roman - Lowercase Roman numerals
Roman - Uppercase Roman numerals
alph - Lowercase letters
Alph - Uppercase letters
\pagestyle{option}
The \pagestyle command changes the style from the current page on
throughout the remainder of your document.
The valid options are:
plain - Just a plain page number.
empty - Produces empty heads and feet - no page numbers.
headings - Puts running headings on each page. The document
style specifies what goes in the headings.
myheadings - You specify what is to go in the heading with the
\markboth or the \markright commands.
\markboth{left head}{right head}
The \markboth command is used in
conjunction with the page style myheadings for setting
both the left and the right heading. You should note that a "left-hand
heading" is generated by the last \markboth command before the
end of the page, while a "right-hand heading" is generated by the first
\markboth or \markright that comes on the page if there is
one, otherwise by the last one before the page.
\markright{right head}
The \markright command is used in conjunction with the page style
myheadings for setting the right heading, leaving the left
heading unchanged. You should note that a "left-hand heading" is
generated by the last \markboth command before the end of the
page, while a "right-hand heading" is generated by the first
\markboth or \markright that comes on the page if there is
one, otherwise by the last one before the page.
\thispagestyle{option}
The \thispagestyle command works in the same manner as the
\pagestyle command except that it changes the style for the
current page only.
Sectioning commands provide the means to structure your text into units.
\part
\chapter (report and book class only)
\section
\subsection
\subsubsection
\paragraph
\subparagraph
All sectioning commands take the same general form, i.e.,
\chapter[optional]{title}
In addition to providing the heading in the text, the mandatory argument of the sectioning command can appear in two other places:
You may not want the same thing to appear in these other two places as
appears in the text heading. To handle this situation, the sectioning
commands have an optional argument that provides the text for
these other two purposes.
All sectioning commands have *-forms that print a title,
but do not include a number and do not make an entry in the table of
contents.
\appendix
The \appendix command changes the way sectional units are
numbered. The \appendix command generates no text and does not
affect the numbering of parts.
The normal use of this command is something like
\chapter{The First Chapter}
...
\appendix
\chapter{The First Appendix}
All the predefined length parameters See section Predefined lengths can be used in the arguments of the box-making commands.
The \dotfill command produces a "rubber length" that produces dots
instead of just spaces.
The \hfill fill command produces a "rubber length" which can
stretch or shrink horizontally. It will be filled with spaces.
The \hrulefill fill command produces a "rubber length" which can
stretch or shrink horizontally. It will be filled with a horizontal
rule.
\hspace[*]{length}
The \hspace command adds horizontal space. The length of the
space can be expressed in any terms that LaTeX understands, i.e.,
points, inches, etc. You can add negative as well as positive space
with an \hspace command. Adding negative space is like
backspacing.
LaTeX removes horizontal space that comes at the end of a line. If you
don't want LaTeX to remove this space, include the optional *
argument. Then the space is never removed.
\addvspace{length}
The \addvspace command normally adds a vertical space of height
length. However, if vertical space has already been added to the same
point in the output by a previous \addvspace command, then this
command will not add more space than needed to make the natural length
of the total vertical space equal to length.
The \bigskip command is equivalent to
\vspace{bigskipamount} where bigskipamount is determined
by the document class.
The \medskip command is equivalent to
\vspace{medskipamount} where medskipamount is determined
by the document class.
\smallskip
The \smallskip command is equivalent to
\vspace{smallskipamount} where smallskipamount is
determined by the document class.
The \vfill fill command produces a rubber length which can
stretch or shrink vertically.
\vspace[*]{length}
The \vspace command adds vertical space. The length of the space
can be expressed in any terms that LaTeX understands, i.e., points,
inches, etc. You can add negative as well as positive space with an
\vspace command.
LaTeX removes vertical space that comes at the end of a page. If you
don't want LaTeX to remove this space, include the optional *
argument. Then the space is never removed.
\fbox{text}
The \fbox command is exactly the same as the \mbox
command, except that it puts a frame around the outside of the box that
it creates.
\framebox[width][position]{text}
The \framebox command is exactly the same as the \makebox
command, except that it puts a frame around the outside of the box that
it creates.
The framebox command produces a rule of thickness \fboxrule, and
leaves a space \fboxsep between the rule and the contents of the
box.
\begin{lrbox}{cmd} text \end{lrbox}
This is the environment form of \sbox.
The text inside the environment is saved in the box cmd, which
must have been declared with \newsavebox.
\makebox[width][position]{text}
The \makebox command creates a box just wide enough to contain
the text specified. The width of the box is specified by the
optional width argument. The position of the text within the box
is determined by the optional position argument.
c -- centred (default)
l -- flushleft
r -- flushright
s -- stretch from left to right margin. The text must contain
stretchable space for this to work.
See section \makebox.
\mbox{text}
The \mbox command creates a box just wide enough to hold the text
created by its argument.
Use this command to prevent text from being split across lines.
\newsavebox{cmd}
Declares cmd, which must be a command name that is not already
defined, to be a bin for saving boxes.
\parbox[position][height][inner-pos]{width}{text}
A parbox is a box whose contents are created in paragraph
mode. The \parbox has two mandatory arguments:
width - specifies the width of the parbox, and
text - the text that goes inside the parbox.
LaTeX will position a parbox so its centre lines up with the centre of
the text line. The optional position argument allows you
to line up either the top or bottom line in the parbox (default is top).
If the height argument is not given, the box will have the natural height of the text.
The inner-pos argument controls the placement of the text inside the box. If it is not specified, position is used.
t -- text is placed at the top of the box.
c -- text is centred in the box.
b -- text is placed at the bottom of the box.
s -- stretch vertically. The text must contain
vertically stretchable space for this to work.
A \parbox command is used for a parbox containing a small piece
of text, with nothing fancy inside. In particular, you shouldn't use
any of the paragraph-making environments inside a \parbox
argument. For larger pieces of text, including ones containing a
paragraph-making environment, you should use a minipage
environment See section minipage.
\raisebox{distance}[extend-above][extend-below]{text}
The \raisebox command is used to raise or lower text. The first
mandatory argument specifies how high the text is to be raised (or
lowered if it is a negative amount). The text itself is processed in
LR mode.
Sometimes it's useful to make LaTeX think something has a different
size than it really does - or a different size than LaTeX would
normally think it has. The \raisebox command lets you tell
LaTeX how tall it is.
The first optional argument, extend-above, makes LaTeX think
that the text extends above the line by the amount specified. The
second optional argument, extend-below, makes LaTeX think that
the text extends below the line by the amount specified.
\rule[raise-height]{width}{thickness}
The \rule command is used to produce horizontal lines. The
arguments are defined as follows:
raise-height - specifies how high to raise the rule (optional)
width - specifies the length of the rule (mandatory)
thickness - specifies the thickness of the rule (mandatory)
\savebox{cmd}[width][pos]{text}
This command typeset text in a box just as for \makebox.
However, instead of printing the resulting box, it saves it in bin
cmd, which must have been declared with \newsavebox.
\sbox{text}
This commands typeset text in a box just as for \mbox.
However, instead of printing the resulting box, it saves it in bin
cmd, which must have been declared with \newsavebox.
\usebox{cmd}
Prints the box most recently saved in bin cmd by a
\savebox command.
The following characters play a special role in LaTeX and are called "special printing characters", or simply "special characters".
# $ % & ~ _ ^ \ { }
Whenever you put one of these special characters into your file, you are
doing something special. If you simply want the character to be printed
just as any other letter, include a \ in front of the character.
For example, \$ will produce $ in your output.
One exception to this rule is the \ itself because \\ has
its own special meaning. A \ is produced by typing
$\backslash$ in your file.
Also, \~ means `place a tilde accent over the following letter',
so you will probably want to use \verb instead.
In addition, you can access any character of a font once you know its
number by using the \symbol command. For example, the character
used for displaying spaces in the \verb* command has the code
decimal 32, so it can be typed as \symbol{32}.
You can also specify octal numbers with ' or hexadecimal numbers
with ", so the previous example could also be written as
\symbol{'40} or \symbol{"20}.
A large document requires a lot of input. Rather than putting the whole input in a single large file, it's more efficient to split it into several smaller ones. Regardless of how many separate files you use, there is one that is the root file; it is the one whose name you type when you run LaTeX.
\include{file}
The \include command is used in conjunction with the
\includeonly command for selective inclusion of files. The
file argument is the first name of a file, denoting
`file.tex'. If file is one the file names in the file list
of the \includeonly command or if there is no \includeonly
command, the \include command is equivalent to
\clearpage \input{file} \clearpage
except that if the file `file.tex' does not exist, then a warning
message rather than an error is produced. If the file is not in the
file list, the \include command is equivalent to \clearpage.
The \include command may not appear in the preamble or in a file
read by another \include command.
\includeonly{file_list}
The \includeonly command controls which files will be read in by
an \include command. file_list should be a comma-separated
list of filenames. Each filename must match exactly a filename specified
in a \include command. This command can only appear in the
preamble.
\input{file}
The \input command causes the indicated file to be read and
processed, exactly as if its contents had been inserted in the current
file at that point. The file name may be a complete file name with
extension or just a first name, in which case the file `file.tex'
is used.
Your input file must contain the following commands as a minimum:
\documentclass{class}
\begin{document}
... your text goes here ...
\end{document}
where the class selected is one of the valid classes for LaTeX.
See section Document Classes (and see section Overview of LaTeX and Local Guide), for details of the
various document classes available locally.
You may include other LaTeX commands between the \documentclass
and the \begin{document} commands (i.e., in the `preamble').
A table of contents is produced with the
\tableofcontents
command. You put the command right where you want the table of contents
to go; LaTeX does the rest for you. It produces a heading, but it does
not automatically start a new page. If you want a new page after the
table of contents, include a \newpage command after the
\tableofcontents command.
There are similar commands
\listoffigures
and
\listoftables
for producing a list of figures and a list of tables, respectively.
Everything works exactly the same as for the table of contents.
NOTE: If you want any of these items to be generated, you cannot have
the
\nofiles
command in your document.
\addcontentsline{file}{sec_unit}{entry}
The \addcontentsline command adds an entry to the specified list
or table where:
file is the extension of the file on which information is to be
written: toc (table of contents), lof (list of figures),
or lot (list of tables).
sec_unit controls the formatting of the entry. It should be one
of the following, depending upon the value of the file argument:
toc -- the name of the sectional unit, such as part or subsection.
lof -- figure
lot -- table
entry is the text of the entry.
\addtocontents{file}{text}
The \addtocontents command adds text (or formatting commands) directly
to the file that generates the table of contents or list of figures or
tables.
file is the extension of the file on which information is to be
written: toc (table of contents), lof (list of figures),
or lot (list of tables).
text is the information to be written.
\typein[cmd]{msg}
Prints msg on the terminal and causes LaTeX to stop and wait for
you to type a line of input, ending with return. If the cmd
argument is missing, the typed input is processed as if it had been
included in the input file in place of the \typein command. If
the cmd argument is present, it must be a command name. This
command name is then defined or redefined to be the typed input.
\typeout{msg}
Prints msg on the terminal and in the log file. Commands
in msg that are defined with \newcommand or
\renewcommand are replaced by their definitions before being
printed.
LaTeX's usual rules for treating multiple spaces as
a single space and ignoring spaces after a command name apply to
msg. A \space command in msg causes a single space
to be printed. A ^^J in msg prints a newline.
The typeface is specified by giving the "size" and "style". A
typeface is also called a "font".
The following type style commands are supported by LaTeX.
These commands are used like \textit{italics text}. The
corresponding command in parenthesis is the "declaration form", which
takes no arguments. The scope of the declaration form lasts until the
next type style command or the end of the current group.
The declaration forms are cumulative; i.e., you can say
\sffamily\bfseries to get sans serif boldface.
You can also use the environment form of the declaration forms; e.g.
\begin{ttfamily}...\end{ttfamily}.
\textrm (\rmfamily)
\textit (\itshape)
\emph
\textmd (\mdseries)
\textbf (\bfseries)
\textup (\upshape)
\textsl (\slshape)
\textsf (\sffamily)
\textsc (\scshape)
\texttt (\ttfamily)
\textnormal (\normalfont)
\mathrm
\mathbf
\mathsf
\mathtt
\mathit
\mathnormal
\mathcal
In addition, the command
\mathversion{bold}
can be used for switching to bold letters and symbols in
formulas. \mathversion{normal} restores the default.
The following standard type size commands are supported by LaTeX.
The commands as listed here are "declaration forms". The scope of the declaration form lasts until the next type style command or the end of the current group.
You can also use the environment form of these commands; e.g.
\begin{tiny}...\end{tiny}.
\tiny
\scriptsize
\footnotesize
\small
\normalsize
\large
\Large
\LARGE
\huge
\Huge
These commands are primarily intended for writers of macros and packages. The commands listed here are only a subset of the available ones. For full details, you should consult Chapter 7 of The LaTeX Companion.
\fontencoding{enc}
OT1 and T1.
\fontfamily{family}
cmr for Computer Modern Roman
cmss for Computer Modern Sans Serif
cmtt for Computer Modern Typewriter
\fontseries{series}
m Medium (normal)
b Bold
c Condensed
bc Bold condensed
bx Bold extended
\fontshape{shape}
n Upright (normal)
it Italic
sl Slanted (oblique)
sc Small caps
ui Upright italics
ol Outline
\fontsize{size}{skip}
\baselineskip to use. The unit of both parameters
defaults to pt. A rule of thumb is that the baselineskip should be 1.2
times the font size.
\selectfont
\selectfont is called.
\usefont{enc}{family}{series}{shape}
\fontencoding, \fontfamily,
\fontseries and \fontshape with the given parameters, followed by \selectfont.
The input file specification indicates the file to be formatted; TeX uses `.tex' as a default file extension. If you omit the input file entirely, TeX accepts input from the terminal. You specify command options by supplying a string as a parameter to the command; e.g.
latex "\scrollmode\input foo.tex"
will process `foo.tex' without pausing after every error.
Output files are always created in the current directory. When you fail
to specify an input file name, TeX bases the output names on the file
specification associated with the logical name TEX_OUTPUT, typically
texput.log.
This document was generated on 12 January 1997 using the texi2html translator version 1.51.