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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.

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Command Syntax

LaTeX commands follow this general pattern: 
\commandname[optional arguments]{required arguments}
Note: Commands are case-sensitive. \Section is different from \section.

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Text Formatting Commands

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Font 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}

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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.

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Text Alignment

\centering  % Center alignment
\raggedright  % Left alignment
\raggedleft   % Right alignment

% Example usage
{\centering
This text is centered.
}

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Spacing Commands

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Document Structure Commands

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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}

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Title Commands

\title{Document Title}
\author{Author Name \and Second Author}
\date{\today}  % or \date{January 2024}
\maketitle     % Generate title

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Reference Commands

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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}...

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Footnotes

\footnote{Footnote text}
\footnote[3]{Custom numbered footnote}
\footnotemark           % Just the mark
\footnotetext{Text}     % Just the text

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List Commands

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Item Commands

\item              % Basic item
\item[--]         % Custom bullet
\item[(a)]        % Custom label

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Box Commands

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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}

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Margin Notes

\marginpar{Note in margin}
\marginpar[Left text]{Right text}

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Utility Commands

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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)

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Conditional Text

\today              % Current date
\LaTeX              % LaTeX logo
\TeX                % TeX logo

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Common Command Combinations

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Emphasized Quotations

\emph{``This is an emphasized quote''}

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Centered Title

{\centering\Large\textbf{Document Title}\\[1cm]}

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Custom Spacing

Text\hspace{1cm}with\hspace{1cm}gaps

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Best Practices

Command usage tips:
  1. Use semantic commands - \emph{} for emphasis, not \textit{}
  2. Group formatting - {\large Some text} to limit scope
  3. Non-breaking spaces - Use ~ between references: Figure~\ref{fig:1}
  4. Consistent style - Define custom commands for repeated formatting
  5. Check package requirements - Some commands need specific packages

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Quick Reference Table

CommandPurposeExample
\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 breakFirst line\\Second line
\todayCurrent dateDate: \today
Next: Learn about Document Structure components or explore Text Formatting in detail.