LATEX 2ε Commands

July 14, 2003

Contents
1 Overview of LATEX and Local Guide 5

2 Counters 6
2.1 \addtocounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2 \alph, \Alpha . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.3 \arabic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 \fnsymbol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.5 \newcounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.6 \refstepcounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.7 \roman \Roman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.8 \stepcounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.9 \setcounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.10 \usecounter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.11 \value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

3 Cross References 8
3.1 \label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.2 \pageref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3.3 \ref . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

4 Definitions 9
4.1 \newcommand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 \newenvironment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.3 \newtheorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.4 \newfont . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

5 Document Classes:\documentclass,\usepackage 10
5.1 \flushbottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.2 \onecolumn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
5.3 \raggedbottom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
5.4 \twocolumn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

1
6 Environments 12
6.1 array . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
6.2 center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.2.1 \centering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.3 description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.4 enumerate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
6.5 itemize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.6 list . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.7 eqnarray . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
6.8 equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.9 figure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.10 flushleft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.10.1 \raggedright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
6.11 flushright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.11.1 \raggedleft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.12 minipage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.13 picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
6.13.1 \circle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.13.2 \dashbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.13.3 \frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.13.4 \framebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.13.5 \line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.13.6 \linethickness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.13.7 \makebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.13.8 \multiput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.13.9 \oval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.13.10 \put . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.13.11 \shortstack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.13.12 \vector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.14 quotation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.15 quote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.16 tabbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
6.17 table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6.18 tabular . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.18.1 \cline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.18.2 \hline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.18.3 \multicolumn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.18.4 \vline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.19 \thebibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.19.1 \bibitem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.19.2 \cite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.19.3 \nocite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.19.4 Using BibTeX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.20 theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.21 titlepage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.22 verbatim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.22.1 \verb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2
 6.23 verse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

7 Footnotes 26
7.1 \footnote . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.2 \footnotemark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
7.3 \footnotetext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

8 Lengths 26
8.1 \newlength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
8.2 \setlength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.3 \addtolength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.4 \settodepth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.5 \settoheight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.6 \settowidth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
8.7 Predefined lengths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

9 Letters 28
9.1 \address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.2 \cc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.3 \closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
9.4 \encl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.5 \location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.6 \makelabels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.7 \name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.8 \opening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.9 \ps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.10 \signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.11 \startbreaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
9.12 \stopbreaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
9.13 \telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

10 Line & Page Breaking 30

10.1 \\ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10.2 \- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10.3 \cleardoublepage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10.4 \clearpage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10.5 \enlargethispage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.6 \fussy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.7 \hyphenation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.8 \linebreak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.9 \newline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.10\newpage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
10.11\nolinebreak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.12\nopagebreak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.13\pagebreak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
10.14\sloppy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3
11 Making Paragraphs 32
11.1 \indent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
11.2 \noindent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
11.3 \par . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

12 Margin Notes 33

13 Math Formulae 33
13.1 Subscripts & Superscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
13.2 Math Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
13.3 Spacing in Math Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
13.4 Math Miscellany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

14 Modes 35

15 Page Styles 35
15.1 \maketitle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
15.1.1 \author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
15.1.2 \date . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
15.1.3 \thanks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
15.1.4 \title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
15.1.5 \pagenumbering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
15.1.6 \pagestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
15.1.7 \markboth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
15.1.8 \markright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
15.1.9 \thispagestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

16 Sectioning 37
16.1 \appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

17 Spaces & Boxes 38

17.1 \dotfill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
17.2 \hfill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
17.3 \hrulefill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
17.4 \hspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.5 \addvspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.6 \bigskip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.7 \medskip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.8 \smallskip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.9 \vfill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.10\vspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
17.11\fbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
17.12\framebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
17.13\lrbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
17.14\makebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
17.15\mbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
17.16\newsavebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
17.17\parbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
4
 17.18\raisebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
17.19\rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
17.20\savebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
17.21\sbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
17.22\usebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

18 Special Characters 42

19 Splitting the Input 43

19.1 \include . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
19.2 \includeonly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
19.3 \input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

20 Starting & Ending 43

21 Table of Contents 44
21.1 \addcontentsline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
21.2 \addtocontents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

22 Terminal Input/Output 45
22.1 \typein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
22.2 \typeout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

23 Typefaces 45
23.1 \Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
23.2 Sizes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
23.3 Low-level font commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

1 Overview of LATEX and Local Guide

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:

1. A “Device Independent”, or .dvi file. This contains commands that can be translated
into commands for a variety of output devices. You can view the output of LATEX by
using a program such as dvips, which actually uses the .dvi file.

2. A “transcript” or .log file that contains summary information and diagnostic messages
for any errors discovered in the input file.

3. An “auxiliary” or .aux file. This is used by LATEX itself, for things such as sectioning.

A LATEX command begins with the command name, which consists of a \ followed by
either (1) a string of letters or (2) 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 di-
rected to do otherwise.
5
2 Counters
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

2.1 \addtocounter
\addtocounter{counter}{value}
The \addtocounter command increments the counter by the amount specified by the
value argument. The value argument can be negative.

2.2 \alph, \Alpha

\alph{counter} \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....

2.3 \arabic
\arabic{counter}
The \arabic command causes the value of the counter to be printed in Arabic numbers,
i.e., 3.

2.4 \fnsymbol
\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:∗ † ‡ § ¶ k ∗ ∗ †† ‡‡
NB. counter must have a value between 1 and 9 inclusive.

2.5 \newcounter
\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.
6
2.6 \refstepcounter
\refstepcounter{counter}

The \refstepcounter command works like \stepcounter, except it also defines the
current \ref value to be the result of \thecounter.

2.7 \roman \Roman

\roman{counter} \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....

2.8 \stepcounter
\stepcounter{counter}

The \stepcounter command adds one to the counter and resets all subsidiary counters.

2.9 \setcounter
\setcounter{counter}{value}

The \setcounter command sets the value of the counter to that specified by the value
argument.

2.10 \usecounter
\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.

2.11 \value
\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.

7
3 Cross References
One reason for numbering things like figures and equations is to refer the reader to them,
as in “See Figure 3 for more details.” This is called cross reference, is done by the following
commands:
• \label: Assign a symbolic name, or label, to a piece of text.
• \pageref: Refer to a page number.
• \ref: Refer to a section, figure or similar.
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
Suppose the first figure in Section 1, Chapter2, is labelled as \label{fig:2.1.1}. Then
we can refer this figure in any place through the input Fig. \ref{fig:2.1.1} in page
\pageref{fig:2.1.1}.

3.1 \label
\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.

3.2 \pageref
\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.

3.3 \ref
\ref{key}
The \ref command produces the number of the sectional unit, equation number, ... of
the corresponding \label command.
8
4 Definitions
The following commands define some new commands:
• \newcommand: Define a new command.

• \newenvironment: Define a new environment.

• \newtheorem: Define a new theorem-like environment.

• \newfont: Define a new font name.

Note that LATEX will automatically check whether the name of the newly-defined command
is the same as some known command; if so, the system will emit an error message. So the
definition here is safer than using \def.

4.1 \newcommand
\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: a command name beginning with a \. For \newcommand it must not be already
defined and must not begin with \end; for \renewcommand it must already be defined.

• args: an integer from 1 to 9 denoting the number of arguments of the command being
defined. The default is for the command to have no arguments.

• def: if this optional parameter is present, it means that the command’s first argument
is optional. The default value of the optional argument is def.

• definition: The text to be substituted for every occurrence of cmd; a parameter of

the form #n in cmd is replaced by the text of the n-th argument when this substitution
takes place.

4.2 \newenvironment
\newenvironment{nam}[args]{begdef}{enddef}
\newenvironment{nam}[args][default]{begdef}{enddef}
\renewenvironment{nam}[args]{begdef}{enddef}

These commands define or redefine an environment.

• nam: The name of the environment. For \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: An integer from 1 to 9 denoting the number of arguments of the newly-defined

environment. The default is no arguments.
9
 • default: If this is specified, the first argument is optional, and default gives the
default value for that argument.
• begdef: The text substituted for every occurrence of \begin{nam}; a parameter of
the form #n in cmd is replaced by the text of the n-th argument when this substitution
takes place.
• enddef: The text substituted for every occurrence of \end{nam}. It may not contain
any argument parameters.

4.3 \newtheorem
\newtheorem{env_name}{caption}[within]
\newtheorem{env_name}[numbered_like]{caption}
This command defines a theorem-like environment. The \newtheorem command may have
at most one optional argument.
• env_name: The name of the environment to be defined. A string of letters. It must
not be the name of an existing environment or counter.
• caption: The text printed at the beginning of the environment, right before the
number. This may simply say ”Theorem”, for example.
• within: The name of an already defined counter, usually of a sectional unit. Provides
a means of resetting the new theorem counter within the sectional unit.
• numbered_like: The name of an already defined theorem-like environment.

4.4 \newfont
\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.

5 Document Classes:\documentclass,\usepackage
LATEX has the following standard document classes: article, report, letter, book,
slides. You can find other document classes in your local TEX directories. Document
classes do many things for typesetting a particular document, including controlling its for-
mat. A document class is selected with the following command:
\documentclass[options] {class}
class is in fact a file name with extension .cls.
All the standard classes (except slides) accept the following options for selecting the
typeface size (10 pt is default) for main text: 10pt, 11pt, 12pt.
All classes accept the following options for selecting the paper size (default is letter):
a4paper, a5paper, b5paper, letterpaper, legalpaper, executivepaper.
Miscellaneous options:
10
 • landscape: selects landscape format. Default is portrait.

• titlepage, notitlepage: selects if there should be a separate title page.

• leqno: equation number on left side of equations. Default is right side.

• fleqn: displayed formulas flush left. Default is centred.

• openbib: use “open” bibliography format.

• draft, final: mark/do not mark overfull boxes with a rule. Default is final.

The following options are not available with the slides class:

• oneside, twoside: selects one- or twosided layout. Default is oneside, except for the
book class.

• openright, openany: determines if a chapter should start on a right-hand page. Default

is openright for book.

• onecolumn, twocolumn: one or two columns. Defaults to one column.

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

\usepackage[options]{packages}

command. A package is a file with extension .sty. Such files add some useful tool for
your typesetting task. 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 control the general layout of a page:

• \flushbottom: Make all text pages the same height.

• \onecolumn: Use one-column layout.

• \raggedbottom: Allow text pages of differing height.

• \twocolumn: Use two-column layout.

5.1 \flushbottom
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.

5.2 \onecolumn
The \onecolumn declaration starts a new page and produces single-column output.

11
5.3 \raggedbottom
The \raggedbottom declaration makes all pages the height of the text on that page. No
extra vertical space is added.

5.4 \twocolumn
The declaration

\twocolumn[text]

starts a new page and produces two-column output. If the optional text argument is
present, it is typeset in one-column mode.

6 Environments
LATEX provides a number of different paragraph-making environments. Each environment
begins and ends in the same manner.

\begin{environment-name}
... ...
\end{environment-name}

6.1 array
Math arrays are produced with the array environment:

\begin{array}{col1col2...coln}
column 1 entry & column 2 entry &... & column n entry \\
.
.
.
\end{array}

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 com-
mands. Each row of the array must be terminated with the string \\, or cr, crcr.
Note that the array environment can only be used in math mode, so normally it is used
inside an equation environment.

12
6.2 center
The center environment

\begin{center}
Text on line 1 \\
Text on line 2 \\
. . .
\end{center}

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 \\.

6.2.1 \centering
This declaration corresponds to the center environment. It can be used inside an environ-
ment 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 para-
graph; 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.

6.3 description
\begin{description}
\item [label] First item
\item [label] Second item
. . .
\end{description}

The description environment is used to make labelled lists. The label is boldface and
flushed right.

6.4 enumerate
\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. The type of numbering can be
changed by redefining \theenumi etc.

13
6.5 itemize
\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. The type of numbering can be changed by redefining
\theitemi etc. 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.

6.6 list
\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.

6.7 eqnarray
\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.
eqnarray* is equivalent to eqnarray with each line ended by \nonumber\\.

14
6.8 equation
\begin{equation}
math formula
\end{equation}
The equation environment centres your equation on the page and places the equation
number in the right margin.

6.9 figure
\begin{figure}[placement]
body of the figure
\caption{figure title}
\end{equation}
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.

6.10 flushleft
\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 \\.

6.10.1 \raggedright
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.
15
6.11 flushright
\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 \\.

6.11.1 \raggedleft
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.

6.12 minipage
\begin{minipage}
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.
NOTE: Don’t put one minipage inside another if you are using footnotes; they may wind
up at the bottom of the wrong minipage.

6.13 picture
\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, e.g., 5, 2.3, -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 2.54cm. You can change the value of \unitlength anywhere you
16
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 spec-
ifies 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 100mm and height 200mm, 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 (hbox ). 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.

6.13.1 \circle
\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.

6.13.2 \dashbox
\dashbox{dash_length}(width,height){...}
This command draws a box with a dashed line. It 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.
17
6.13.3 \frame
\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.

6.13.4 \framebox
\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.

6.13.5 \line
\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.

6.13.6 \linethickness
\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.

6.13.7 \makebox
\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

18
6.13.8 \multiput
\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.

6.13.9 \oval
\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.

6.13.10 \put
\put(x coord,y coord){ ... }

The \put command places the item specified by the mandatory argument at the given
coordinates.

6.13.11 \shortstack
\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)

6.13.12 \vector
\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.

19
6.14 quotation
\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.

6.15 quote
\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.

6.16 tabbing
\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:

• \=: Sets a tab stop at the current position.

• \>: Advances to the next tab stop.

• \<: This command allows you to put something to the left of the local margin without
changing the margin. Can only be used at the start of the line.

• \+: Moves the left margin of the next and all the following commands one tab stop to
the right.

• \-: Moves the left margin of the next and all the following commands one tab stop to
the left.

• \’: Moves everything that you have typed so far in the current column, i.e. everything
from the most recent \>, \<, \’, \\, or \kill command, to the right of the previous
column, flush against the current column’s tab stop.

20
 • \‘: Allows you to put text flush right against any tab stop, including tab stop 0.
However, it can’t move text to the right of the last column because there’s no tab
stop there. The \‘ 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 en-
vironment. There must be no \> or \’ command between the \‘ and the command
that ends the line.

• \kill: Sets tab stops without producing text. Works just like \\ 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: Saves all current tab stop positions. Useful for temporarily changing tab
stop positions in the middle of a tabbing environment.

• \pushtabs: Restores the tab stop positions saved by the last \pushtabs.

• \a: In a tabbing environment, the commands \=, \’ and \‘ do not produce accents
as normal. Instead, the commands \a=, \a’ and \a‘ are used.
The following example typesets a Pascal function in a traditional format:
\begin{tabbing}
function \= fact(n : integer) : integer;\\
\&#62; begin \= \+ \\
\&#62; if \= n $&#62;$ 1 then \+ \\
fact := n * fact(n-1) \- \\
else \+ \\
fact := 1; \-\- \\
end;\\
\end{tabbing}

6.17 table
\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.
21
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.

6.18 tabular
\begin{tabular}[pos]{cols}
column 1 entry & column 2 entry & ... & column n entry \\
. . .
\end{tabular}
or
\begin{tabular*}[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 verti-
cally in columns. The mandatory and optional arguments consist of:
1. width: Specifies the width of the tabular* environment. There must be rubber space
between columns that can stretch to fill out the specified width.

2. pos: Specifies the vertical position; default is alignment on the centre of the environ-
ment.

• t - align on top row

• b - align on bottom row

3. cols: Specifies the column formatting. It consists of a sequence of the following

specifiers, corresponding to the sequence of columns and intercolumn material.

• 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 be-
tween 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 an-
other \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:
(a) inside an environment like minipage, array, or tabular.
22
 (b) inside an explicit \parbox.
(c) in the scope of a \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.
The following commands can be used inside a tabular environment: \cline, \hline,
\multicolumn, \vline.

6.18.1 \cline
\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.

6.18.2 \hline
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.

6.18.3 \multicolumn
\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.

6.18.4 \vline
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.

6.19 \thebibliography
\begin{thebibliography}{widest-label}
\bibitem[label]{cite_key}
. . .
\end{thebibliography}
The thebibliography environment produces a bibliography or reference list. In the ‘ar-
ticle’ 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.
23
6.19.1 \bibitem
\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.

6.19.2 \cite
\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]’.

6.19.3 \nocite
\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.

6.19.4 Using BibTeX

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: Sorted alphabetically. Labels are formed from name of author and year of
publication.
• plain ¡DD¿ Sorted alphabetically. Labels are numeric.
• unsrt: Like plain, but entries are in order of citation.
• abbrv: Like 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.
24
6.20 theorem
\begin{theorem}
theorem text
\end{theorem}

The theorem environment produces “Theorem x” in boldface followed by your theorem text.

6.21 titlepage
\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 command to produce a standard title page.

6.22 verbatim
\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.

6.22.1 \verb
\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
‘ ’.

6.23 verse
\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.
25
7 Footnotes
Footnotes can be produced in one of two ways. They can be produced with one com-
mand, the \footnote command. They can also be produced with two commands, the
\footnotemark and the \footnotetext commands. See the specific command for informa-
tion on why you would use one over the other.

7.1 \footnote
\footnote[number]{text}

The \footnote command places the numbered footnote text at the bottom of the cur-
rent 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 section-
ing commands like \chapter, in figures, tables or in a tabular environment.

7.2 \footnotemark
\footnote[number]{text}

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}]

7.3 \footnotetext
\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.

8 Lengths
A length is a measure of distance. Many LATEX commands take a length as an argument.

8.1 \newlength
\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.

26
8.2 \setlength
\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.

8.3 \addtolength
\addtolength{\gnat}{length}

The \addtolength command increments a ”length command” by the amount specified in

the length argument. It can be a negative amount.

8.4 \settodepth
\settodepth{\gnat}{text}

The \settodepth command sets the value of a length command equal to the depth of the
text argument.

8.5 \settoheight
\settoheight{\gnat}{text}

The \settoheight command sets the value of a length command equal to the height of
the text argument.

8.6 \settowidth
\settowidth{\gnat}{text}

The \settowidth command sets the value of a length command equal to the width of the
text argument.

8.7 Predefined lengths

\width \height \depth \totalheight

These length parameters can be used in the arguments of the box-making commands. 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}

27
9 Letters
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.

9.1 \address
\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 organization’s standard letterhead.
If you give an \address declaration, then the letter will be formatted as a personal letter.

9.2 \cc
\cc{Kate Schechter\\Rob McKenna}

Generate a list of other persons the letter was sent to. Each name is printed on a separate
line.

9.3 \closing
\closing{text}

The letter closes with a \closing command, i.e., \closing{Best Regards,}.

28
9.4 \encl
\encl{CV\\Certificates}

Generate a list of enclosed material.

9.5 \location
\location{address}

This modifies your organization’s standard address. This only appears if the firstpage
pagestyle is selected.

9.6 \makelabels
\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.

9.7 \name
\name{June Davenport}

Your name, used for printing on the envelope together with the return address.

9.8 \opening
\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,}.

9.9 \ps
Use \ps before a postscript.

9.10 \signature
\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.

9.11 \startbreaks
\startbreaks is used after a \stopbreaks command to allow page breaks again.

29
9.12 \stopbreaks
\stopbreaks inhibits page breaks until a \startbreaks command occurs.

9.13 \telephone
\telephone{number}

This is your telephone number. This only appears if the firstpage pagestyle is selected.

10 Line & Page Breaking

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.

10.1 \\
\\[*][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.

10.2 \-
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.

10.3 \cleardoublepage
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.

10.4 \clearpage
The \clearpage command ends the current page and causes all figures and tables that have
so far appeared in the input to be printed.

30
10.5 \enlargethispage
\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.

10.6 \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.

10.7 \hyphenation
\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.

10.8 \linebreak
\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.

10.9 \newline
The \newline command breaks the line right where it is. It can only be used in paragraph
mode.

10.10 \newpage
\linebreak[number]

The \newpage command ends the current page.

31
10.11 \nolinebreak
\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.

10.12 \nopagebreak
\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.

10.13 \pagebreak
\pagebreak[number]

The \pagebreak command tells LATEX to break the current page at the point of the com-
mand. 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.

10.14 \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.

11 Making Paragraphs
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.

11.1 \indent
This command 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.

11.2 \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.
32
11.3 \par
Equivalent to a blank line; often used to make command or environment definitions easier
to read.

12 Margin Notes
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
• in the right margin for one-sided layout
• in the outside margin for two-sided layout
• in the nearest margin for two-column layout.
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.

13 Math Formulae
There are three environments that put LATEX in math mode:
• math: For Formulae that appear right in the text.
• displaymath: For Formulae that appear on their own line.
• equation: The same as the displaymath environment except that it adds an equation
number in the right margin.
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 \(...\)

13.1 Subscripts & Superscripts

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.
33
13.2 Math Symbols
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.

13.3 Spacing in Math Mode

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

13.4 Math Miscellany

• \cdots: Produces a horizontal ellipsis where the dots are raised to the centre of the
line, e.g., · · ·.
.
• \ddots: Produces a diagonal ellipsis, e.g., . . .

• \frac{num}{den}: Produces the fraction num divided by den, e.g., 41 .

• \ldots: Produces an ellipsis. This command works in any mode, not just math mode,
e.g., . . ..

• \overbrace{text}: Generates a brace over text.

• \overline{text}: Causes the argument text to be overlined.

• \sqrt[root]{arg}: Produces the square root of its argument. The optional argu-
ment, root, determines what root to produce, i.e., the cube root of x+y would be
typed as $\sqrt[3]{x+y}$.

• \underbrace{text}: Generates text with a brace underneath.

• \underline{text}: Causes the argument text to be underlined. This command can

also be used in paragraph and LR modes.

• \vdots: Produces a vertical ellipsis.

34
14 Modes
When LATEX is processing your input text, it is always in one of three modes:

• Paragraph mode (vertical mode)

• Math mode

• Left-to-right mode, called LR mode for short (horizontal mode)

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”.

15 Page Styles
The \documentclass command determines the size and position of the page’s head and
foot. The page style determines what goes in them.

15.1 \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.

15.1.1 \author
\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.

35
15.1.2 \date
\date{text}

The \date command declares text to be the document’s date. With no \date command,
the current date is used.

15.1.3 \thanks
\thanks{text}

The \thanks command produces a \footnote to the title.

15.1.4 \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.

15.1.5 \pagenumbering
\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

15.1.6 \pagestyle
\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.
36
15.1.7 \markboth
\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.

15.1.8 \markright
\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.

15.1.9 \thispagestyle
\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.

16 Sectioning
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:
37
 • The table of contents

• The running head at the top of the page

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.

16.1 \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}

17 Spaces & Boxes

All the predefined length parameters can be used in the arguments of the box-making
commands.

17.1 \dotfill
\thispagestyle{option}

The \dotfill command produces a ”rubber length” that produces dots instead of just
spaces.

17.2 \hfill
The \hfill fill command produces a ”rubber length” which can stretch or shrink horizon-
tally. It will be filled with spaces.

17.3 \hrulefill
The \hrulefill fill command produces a ”rubber length” which can stretch or shrink
horizontally. It will be filled with a horizontal rule.

38
17.4 \hspace
\hspace[*]{length}

\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.

17.5 \addvspace
\addvspace{length}

The \addvspace command normally adds a vertical space of height length. However, if ver-
tical 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.

17.6 \bigskip
The \bigskip command is equivalent to \vspace{bigskipamount} where bigskipamount
is determined by the document class.

17.7 \medskip
The \medskip command is equivalent to \vspace{medskipamount} where medskipamount
is determined by the document class.

17.8 \smallskip
The \smallskip command is equivalent to \vspace{smallskipamount} where
smallskipamount is determined by the document class.

17.9 \vfill
The \vfill fill command produces a rubber length which can stretch or shrink vertically.

17.10 \vspace
\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.
39
17.11 \fbox
\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.

17.12 \framebox
\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.

17.13 \lrbox
\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.

17.14 \makebox
\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.

17.15 \mbox
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.

17.16 \newsavebox
\newsavebox{cmd}

Declares cmd, which must be a command name that is not already defined, to be a bin for
saving boxes.
40
17.17 \parbox
\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.

17.18 \raisebox
\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.

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17.19 \rule
\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)

17.20 \savebox
\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.

17.21 \sbox
\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.

17.22 \usebox
\usebox{cmd}
Prints the box most recently saved in bin cmd by a \savebox command.

18 Special Characters
The following characters play a special role in LATEX and are called “special printing char-
acters”, 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 \char‘\\ 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}.
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19 Splitting the Input
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.

19.1 \include
\include{file}
The \include command is used in conjunction with the \includeonly command for selec-
tive 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.

19.2 \includeonly
\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 ex-
actly a filename specified in a \include command. This command can only appear in the
preamble.

19.3 \input
\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.

20 Starting & Ending

Your input file must contain the following commands as a minimum:
\documentclass{class}
\begin{document}
... your text goes here ...
\end{document}
43
where the class selected is one of the valid classes for LATEX. You may include other LATEX
commands between the \documentclass and the \begin{document} commands (i.e., in the
‘preamble’).

21 Table of Contents
A table of contents is produced with the \tableofcontents command. You put the com-
mand 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 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.

21.1 \addcontentsline
\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.

21.2 \addtocontents
\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.

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22 Terminal Input/Output
22.1 \typein
\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.

22.2 \typeout
\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.

23 Typefaces
The typeface is specified by giving the “size” and “style”. A typeface is also called a
“font”.

23.1 \Styles
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): Roman.

• \textit (\itshape):

• \emph: Emphasis (toggles between \textit and \textrm).

• \textmd (\mdseries): Medium weight (default). The opposite of boldface.

• \textbf (\bfseries): Boldface.

• \textup (\upshape): Upright (default). The opposite of slanted.

• \textsl (\slshape): Slanted.

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 • \textsf (\sffamily):Sans serif.

• \textsc (\scshape): Small caps.

• \texttt (\ttfamily): Typewriter.

• \textnormal (\normalfont): Main document font.

• \mathrm: Roman, for use in math mode.

• \mathbf: Boldface, for use in math mode.

• \mathsf: Sans serif, for use in math mode.

• \mathtt: Typewriter, for use in math mode.

• \mathit: Italics, for use in math mode, e.g. variable names with several letters.

• \mathnormal: For use in math mode, e.g. inside another type style declaration.

• \mathcal: ‘Calligraphic’ letters, for use in math mode.

In addition, the command \mathversion{bold} can be used for switching to bold letters
and symbols in formulas. \mathversion{normal} restores the default.

23.2 Sizes
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: (default)

• \large

• \Large

• \LARGE

• \huge

• \Huge

46
23.3 Low-level font commands
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}: Select font encoding. Valid encodings include OT1 and T1.

\fontfamily{family}: Select font family. Valid families include:

• cmr for Computer Modern Roman

• cmss for Computer Modern Sans Serif
• cmtt for Computer Modern Typewriter

and numerous others.

\fontseries{series}: font series. Valid series include:

• m: Medium (normal)
• b: Bold
• c: Condensed
• bc: Bold condensed
• bx Bold extended

and various other combinations.

\fontshape{shape}:Select font shape. Valid shapes are:

• n: Upright (normal)
• it Italic
• sl: Slanted (oblique)
• sc: Small caps
• ui: Upright italics
• ol: Outline

The two last shapes are not available for most font families.

\fontsize{size}{skip}: Set font size. The first parameter is the font size to switch to;
the second is the \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: The changes made by calling the four font commands described above do
not come into effect until \selectfont is called.

\usefont{enc}{family}{series}{shape}: Equivalent to calling \fontencoding, \fontfamily,

\fontseries and \fontshape with the given parameters, followed by \selectfont.

47