Essential LaTeX commands for text formatting, structure, and document elements
This reference covers the fundamental LaTeX commands you’ll use in almost every document. Commands in LaTeX start with a backslash \ and can take optional and required arguments.
Commands for changing text size (from smallest to largest):
{\tiny Tiny text}{\scriptsize Script size text}{\footnotesize Footnote size text}{\small Small text}{\normalsize Normal size text}{\large Large text}{\Large Larger text}{\LARGE Even larger text}{\huge Huge text}{\Huge Largest text}
Font size commands affect all text until the end of the current group. Always use braces {} to limit their scope.
\vspace{1cm} % Add vertical space\vspace*{1cm} % Force vertical space (even at page start)\smallskip % Small vertical skip\medskip % Medium vertical skip\bigskip % Large vertical skip\vfill % Fill remaining vertical space
\\ % Line break\\[1cm] % Line break with extra space\newline % Alternative line break\linebreak % Line break (justified)\newpage % Start new page\clearpage % Flush floats and start new page\pagebreak % Page break (can be ignored)\nopagebreak % Prevent page break
\mbox{Text that won't break}\fbox{Framed text}\framebox[5cm][c]{Centered in 5cm box}\makebox[5cm][r]{Right-aligned in 5cm}\parbox{5cm}{Paragraph in 5cm box}