Basic LaTeX Commands 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.
Command Syntax LaTeX commands follow this general pattern:
\commandname [optional arguments]{required arguments} Note : Commands are case-sensitive. \Section is different from \section.
Text Formatting Commands Font Styles Basic Styles
Nested Styles
\textbf { Bold text } \textit { Italic text } \texttt {Monospace text} \textrm {Roman text} \textsf {Sans serif text} \textsc {Small Capitals} \emph { Emphasized text } \underline {Underlined text}
Font Sizes 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.
Text Alignment \centering % Center alignment \raggedright % Left alignment \raggedleft % Right alignment % Example usage { \centering This text is centered. } Spacing Commands Horizontal Spacing \quad % 1em space \qquad % 2em space \, % Thin space (3/18 em) \: % Medium space (4/18 em) \; % Thick space (5/18 em) \! % Negative thin space \hspace {1cm} % Custom horizontal space \hfill % Fill remaining horizontal space Vertical Spacing \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 Breaks and Page Breaks \\ % 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 Special Characters Some characters have special meaning in LaTeX and need to be escaped:
\% % Percent sign \$ % Dollar sign \& % Ampersand \# % Hash/pound sign \_ % Underscore \{ % Left brace \} % Right brace \textbackslash % Backslash \~ {} % Tilde \^ {} % Caret Accents and Special Letters \' e % é - acute accent \` e % è - grave accent \^ e % ê - circumflex \" e % ë - umlaut/dieresis \~ n % ñ - tilde \c {c} % ç - cedilla \= {o} % ō - macron \. {e} % ė - dot accent \u {o} % ŏ - breve \v {c} % č - caron Document Structure Commands Sectioning \part { Part Title } \chapter { Chapter Title } % Only in book/report class \section { Section Title } \subsection { Subsection Title } \subsubsection { Subsubsection Title } \paragraph { Paragraph Title } \subparagraph { Subparagraph Title } % Unnumbered versions \section* { Unnumbered Section } \subsection* { Unnumbered Subsection } Title Commands \title {Document Title} \author {Author Name \and Second Author} \date { \today } % or \date{January 2024} \maketitle % Generate title Reference Commands Labels and References \label { key } % Create label \ref { key } % Reference number \pageref { key } % Page number reference \eqref { key } % Equation reference (with parentheses) % Example \section { Introduction } \label { sec:intro } As discussed in Section~ \ref { sec:intro } on page~ \pageref { sec:intro }... \footnote { Footnote text } \footnote [ 3 ]{ Custom numbered footnote } \footnotemark % Just the mark \footnotetext {Text} % Just the text List Commands Item Commands \item % Basic item \item [--] % Custom bullet \item [(a)] % Custom label Box Commands Text Boxes \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} Margin Notes \marginpar {Note in margin} \marginpar [ Left text ]{Right text} Utility Commands Counters and Numbering \stepcounter {page} % Increment counter \setcounter {page}{5} % Set counter value \arabic {page} % Arabic numerals \roman {page} % Roman numerals (i, ii, iii) \Roman {page} % Roman numerals (I, II, III) \alph {section} % Letters (a, b, c) \Alph {section} % Letters (A, B, C) Conditional Text \today % Current date \LaTeX % LaTeX logo \TeX % TeX logo Common Command Combinations Emphasized Quotations \emph { ``This is an emphasized quote'' } Centered Title { \centering\Large\textbf { Document Title } \\ [1cm]} Custom Spacing Text \hspace {1cm}with \hspace {1cm}gaps Best Practices Command usage tips:
Use semantic commands - \emph{} for emphasis, not \textit{}Group formatting - {\large Some text} to limit scopeNon-breaking spaces - Use ~ between references: Figure~\ref{fig:1}Consistent style - Define custom commands for repeated formattingCheck package requirements - Some commands need specific packages Quick Reference Table Command Purpose Example \textbf{}Bold text \textbf{Important}\section{}Create section \section{Methods}\label{}Set reference \label{sec:intro}\ref{}Reference label \ref{sec:intro}\footnote{}Add footnote \footnote{Note}\\Line break First line\\Second line\todayCurrent date Date: \today
Next: Learn about Document Structure components or explore Text Formatting in detail.
