LaTeX - Wikibooks (2011)
LaTeX - Wikibooks (2011)
LaTeX - Wikibooks (2011)
Contents
Articles
Introduction
Absolute Beginners
Basics
11
Document Structure
15
20
Creating a Document
24
Title Creation
24
Page Layout
27
Formatting
37
Fonts
53
List Structures
55
Tables
60
Bibliography Management
73
Mathematics
Mathematics
90
90
Advanced Mathematics
107
Theorems
117
Linguistics
121
121
Indexing
126
132
140
Importing Graphics
140
Creating Graphics
149
172
Colors
182
Glossary
185
Letters
189
Teacher's Corner
195
Presentations
197
Hyperlinks
206
Packages
Advanced Topics
214
219
General Guidelines
219
Advanced Topics
222
Customizing LaTeX
225
Multiple files
231
236
Internationalization
243
Accents
255
Appendix
259
259
264
267
Command Glossary
271
Index
282
References
Article Sources and Contributors
287
289
Article Licenses
License
292
Introduction
Introduction
What is TeX?
TeX (X or chi is pronounced as in Scottish loch) is a low-level markup and programming language created by
Donald Knuth to typeset documents attractively and consistently. Its name originates from the Greek word
"" (technologa), which translates as "technology" in English; its first syllable is "", similar to TeX in
the Latin alphabet. According to a different approach the name originates from the Greek word "" (techni),
which translates as art in English. In the second case the first syllable is "" again.
Knuth started writing the TeX typesetting engine in 1977 to explore the potential of the digital printing equipment
that was beginning to infiltrate the publishing industry at that time, especially in the hope that he could reverse the
trend of deteriorating typographical quality that he saw affecting his own books and articles.
TeX is a programming language, in the sense that it supports the if-else construct, you can make calculations with it
(that are performed while compiling the document), etc., but you would find it very hard to do anything else but
typesetting with it. The fine control TeX offers makes it very powerful, but also difficult and time-consuming to use.
TeX is renowned for being extremely stable, for running on many different kinds of computers, and for being
virtually bug free.
Nowadays practically nobody uses plain TeX to produce documents in the TeX language. Instead, different TeX
distributions such as LaTeX are used to save time, automate certain tasks and reduce user introduced errors.
What is LaTeX?
LaTeX (pronounced either "Lah-tech" or "Lay-tech") is a macro package based on TeX created by Leslie Lamport.
Its purpose is to simplify TeX typesetting, especially for documents containing mathematical formulae.
Many later authors have contributed extensions, called packages or styles, to LaTeX. Some of these are bundled with
most TeX/LaTeX software distributions; more can be found in the Comprehensive TeX Archive Network (CTAN
[1]
).
Since LaTeX comprises a group of TeX commands, LaTeX document processing is essentially programming. You
create a text file in LaTeX markup. The LaTeX macro reads this to produce the final document.
This approach has some disadvantages in comparison with a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) program
such as Openoffice.org Writer or Microsoft Word.
In LaTeX:
You don't (usually) see the final version of the document when editing it.
You generally need to know the necessary commands for LaTeX markup.
It can sometimes be difficult to obtain a certain look for the document.
On the other hand, there are certain advantages to the LaTeX approach:
Document sources can be read with any text editor and understood, unlike the complex binary and XML formats
used with WYSIWYG programs.
You can concentrate purely on the structure and contents of the document, not get caught up with superficial
layout issues.
You don't need to manually adjust fonts, text sizes, line heights nor text flow for readability, as LaTeX takes care
of them automatically.
In LaTeX the document stucture is visible to the user, and can be easily copied to another document. In
WYSIWYG applications it is often not obvious how a certain formatting was produced, and it might be
impossible to copy it directly for use in another document.
Introduction
The layout, fonts, tables and so on are consistent throughout the document.
Mathematical formulae can be easily typeset.
Indexes, footnotes, citations and references are generated easily.
You are forced to structure your documents correctly.
The LaTeX-like approach can be called WYSIWYM, i.e. What You See Is What You Mean: you can't see what the
final version will look like while typing. Instead you see the logical structure of the document. LaTeX takes care of
the formatting for you.
The LaTeX document is a plain text file containing the content of the document, with additional markup. When the
source file is processed by the macro package, it can produce documents in several formats. LaTeX natively supports
DVI and PDF, but by using other software you can easily create PostScript, PNG, JPG, etc.
Prerequisites
At a minimum, you'll need a TeX distribution, a good text editor and a DVI or PDF viewer. But, if this is the first
time you are trying out LaTeX, you don't even need to install anything. Just create an user account at:
ScribTeX.com [2]
and continue this tutorial in the next chapter. ScribTeX is a web based online editor for LaTeX documents with
collaboration capabilities allowing you to experiment with LaTeX syntax without having to bother with installing
and configuring a distribution and an editor. When you later feel that you would benefit from having a standalone
LaTeX installation, you can return to this chapter and follow the instructions below.
Installing a distribution
If you want to use LaTeX locally on your computer, you generally need to install a TeX distribution. TeX
distributions are packaged collections of packages and programs that enable you to typeset without having to
manually fetch files and configure things. The recommended distributions for each of the major operating systems
are:
TeX Live [3] is a major TeX distribution for Unix/Linux, Mac OS and Windows.
MiKTeX [4] is a Windows-specific distribution.
MacTeX [5] is a Mac OS-specific distribution based on TeX Live.
Introduction
Windows
TeX live and MikTeX have easy installers that take care of setting up the environment and downloading packages.
TeX Live can be downloaded here [6].
MiKTeX can be downloaded here [7].
Linux
Ubuntu has a 2009 version of TeX Live in the repositories, so you can use: sudo apt-get install
texlive. Here [8] is a script to automate the installation of TeX Live 2010 on Ubuntu.
Fedora has only 2007 version of TeX Live, but luckily there is a good repository here [9] that you can use to
directly install the latest version: yum install texlive (plus yum install texlive-latex and
any of the texlive-scheme- packages).
If your distribution does not have the TeX Live packages, you should report a wish to the bug tracking system. In the
worst case you will need to download TeX Live [6] yourself and run the installer by hand. It is not hard, but requires
that you know how to use a console and make multiple choices during the installation.
Mac OS
Download MacTeX.mpkg.zip on the MacTeX page [5], unzip it and follow the instructions.
Introduction
TeXmaker
TeXmaker [14] is a cross-platform editor very similar to Kile in features and user interface. In addition it has its own
PDF viewer.
TeXnicCenter
TeXnicCenter [15] is a popular free and open source LaTeX editor for Windows. It also has a similar user interface to
TeXmaker and Kile.
BaKoMa TeX
BaKoMa TeX [16] is a editor for Windows with WYSIWYG-like features. It takes care of compiling the LaTeX
source and updating it constantly to view changes to document almost in real time.
TeXShop
TeXShop [17] is a TeXworks-like editor for Mac OS.
gedit-latex-plugin
Gedit with gedit-latex-plugin [18] is also worth trying out for users of GNOME. GEdit is a cross-platform application
for Windows, Mac, and Linux
Gummi
Gummi [19] is a LaTeX editor for Linux, which compiles the output of pdflatex in realtime and shows it on the right
half of the screen.
Emacs
Emacs [20] is a general purpose text processing system. When used in combination with Auctex and Reftex
(extensions that may be installed into the Emacs program), Emacs provides a complete LaTeX editing environment
complete with table of contents view, document preview and many other features. Emacs is a very mature editing
system with a unique set of keyboard commands.
LaTeXila
LaTeXila [21] is another text editor for Linux (Gnome).
Viewers
Finally, you will need a viewer for the files LaTeX outputs. Normally LaTeX saves the final document as a .dvi
(Device independent file format), but you will rarely want it to. DVI files do not contain embedded fonts and many
document viewers are unable to open them.
Usually you will use a LaTeX compiler like pdflatex to produce a PDF file directly, or a tool like dvi2pdf to
convert the DVI file to PDF format. Then you can view the result with your preferred PDF viewer (Adobe Reader,
Okular, Evince, Sumatra, Foxit).
Practically all LaTeX distributions have a DVI viewer for viewing the default output of latex, and also tools such
as dvi2pdf for converting the result automatically to PDF and PS formats.
Introduction
Also tex and pdftex compilers are included, but you should be careful with using them, because they support
only plain TeX. Note that since LaTeX is just a collection of macros for TeX if you compile a plain TeX document
with a LaTeX compiler (such as pdflatex) it will work while the opposite is not true: if you try to compile a
LaTeX source with a TeX compiler you will get many errors.
When LaTeX was created, the only format it could create was DVI; later PDF support was added by pdflatex.
PDF files can be created with both pdflatex and dvipdfm. The output of pdflatex takes direct advantage of
modern features of PDF such as hyperlinks and embedded fonts, which are not part of DVI. Passing through DVI
imposes limitations of its older format. On the other hand, some packages, such as PSTricks, exploit the process of
conversion to DVI, and therefore will not work with pdflatex. Some of those packages embed information in the
DVI that doesn't appear when the DVI is viewed, but reemerges when the DVI is converted to another, newer
format.
You would write your document slightly differently depending on the compiler you are using (latex or
pdflatex). But as we will see later it is possible to add a sort of abstraction layer to hide the details of which
compiler you're using, while the compiler can handle the translation itself.
The following diagram shows the relationships between the LaTeX source code and the formats you can create from
it:
The boxed red text represents the file formats, the blue text on the arrows represents the commands you have to use,
the small dark green text under the boxes represents the image formats that are supported. Any time you pass
Introduction
through an arrow you lose some information, which might decrease the quality of your document. Therefore, in
order to achieve the highest quality in your output file, you should choose the shortest route to reach your target
format. This is probably the most convenient way to obtain an output in your desired format anyway. Starting from a
LaTeX source, the best way is to use only latex for a DVI output or pdflatex for a PDF output, converting to
PostScript only when it is necessary to print the document.
Most of the programs should be already within your LaTeX distribution; the others come with w:Ghostscript, which
is a free and multi-platform software as well.
Chapter ../Export To Other Formats/ discusses more about exporting LaTeX source to other file formats.
What next?
Now you should check that your editor and LaTeX distribution are functioning properly by trying to compile the first
example source in the beginning of the next chapter.
Throughout this book you should also utilise other means for learning about LaTeX. Good sources are:
the #latex IRC channel on Freenode,
the TeX Stack Exchange [22] Q&A,
the TeX [23] FAQ,
and the TeXample.net [24] Community.
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctan. org
[2] http:/ / scribtex. com/
[3] http:/ / www. tug. org/ texlive/
[4] http:/ / www. miktex. org/
[5] http:/ / www. tug. org/ mactex/
[6] http:/ / www. tug. org/ texlive/ acquire. html
[7] http:/ / miktex. org/
[8] http:/ / alexkrispin. wordpress. com/ 2010/ 10/ 12/ a-script-to-automate-the-installation-of-texlive-2010/
[9] http:/ / fedoraproject. org/ wiki/ Features/ TeXLive
[10] http:/ / www. tug. org/ texworks/
[11] http:/ / www. lyx. org/
[12] http:/ / kile. sourceforge. net/
[13] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ KDE_Software_Compilation_4
[14] http:/ / www. xm1math. net/ texmaker/
[15] http:/ / www. texniccenter. org/
[16] http:/ / bakoma-tex. com/ menu/ about. php
[17] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ TeXShop
[18] http:/ / www. michaels-website. de/ gedit-latex-plugin/
[19] http:/ / gummi. midnightcoding. org/
[20] http:/ / www. gnu. org/ software/ emacs
[21] http:/ / latexila. sourceforge. net/
[22] http:/ / tex. stackexchange. com/
[23] http:/ / www. tex. ac. uk/ cgi-bin/ texfaq2html
[24] http:/ / www. texample. net/
Absolute Beginners
Absolute Beginners
This tutorial is aimed at getting familiar with the bare bones of LaTeX.
Before starting, ensure you have LaTeX installed on your computer (see Installation for instructions of what you will
need). We begin by creating the source LaTeX file, and then take you through how to feed this file through the
LaTeX system to produce quality output, such as postscript or PDF.
Spaces
"Whitespace" characters, such as blank or tab, are treated uniformly as "space" by LaTeX. Several consecutive
whitespace characters are treated as one "space". Whitespace at the start of a line is generally ignored, and a single
line break is treated as whitespace. An empty line between two lines of text defines the end of a paragraph. Several
empty lines are treated the same as one empty line. The text below is an example. On the left hand side is the text
from the input file, and on the right hand side is the formatted output.
It does not matter whether you enter one or several
spaces after a word. An empty line starts a new
paragraph.
Special Characters
The following symbols are reserved characters that either have a special meaning under LaTeX or are unavailable in
all the fonts. If you enter them directly in your text, they will normally not print, but rather make LaTeX do things
you did not intend.
# $ % ^ & _ { } ~ \
As you will see, these characters can be used in your documents all the same by adding a prefix backslash:
\# \$ \% \textasciicircum{} \& \_ \{ \} \~{} \textbackslash{}
The other symbols and many more can be printed with special commands in mathematical formulae or as accents.
The backslash character \ can not be entered by adding another backslash in front of it (\\ ); this sequence is used
for line breaking. For introducing a backslash in math mode, you can use \backslash instead.
The command \~ produces a tilde which is placed over the next letter. For example \~n gives . To produce just
the character ~, use \~{ } which places a ~ over an empty box.
Absolute Beginners
Similarly, the command \^ produces a hat over the next character, for example \^{o } produces . If you need in
text to display the ^ symbol you have to use \textasciicircum .
If you want to insert text that might contain several particular symbols (such as URIs), you can consider using the
\verb command, that will be discussed later in the section on formatting.
LaTeX Commands
LaTeX commands are case sensitive, and take one of the following two formats:
They start with a backslash \ and then have a name consisting of letters only. Command names are terminated
by a space, a number or any other "non-letter".
They consist of a backslash \ and exactly one non-letter.
Some commands need an argument, which has to be given between curly braces { } after the command name.
Some commands support optional parameters, which are added after the command name in square brackets [ ] .
The general syntax is:
\commandname[option1,option2,...]{argument1}{argument2}...
LaTeX environments
Environments in LaTeX have a role that is quite similar to commands, but they usually have effect on a wider part of
the document. Their syntax is:
\begin{environmentname} text to be influenced \end{environmentname}
Between the \begin and the \end you can put other commands and nested environments. In general,
environments can accept arguments as well, but this feature is not commonly used and so it will be discussed in more
advanced parts of the document.
Anything in LaTeX can be expressed in terms of commands and environments.
Comments
When LaTeX encounters a % character while processing an input file, it ignores the rest of the current line, the line
break, and all whitespace at the beginning of the next line.
This can be used to write notes into the input file, which will not show up in the printed version.
This is an % stupid % Better: instructive <---example: Supercal% ifragilist% icexpialidocious
This is an example:
Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
Note that the % character can be used to split long input lines that do not allow whitespace or line breaks, as with
Supercali...cious above.
The core LaTeX language does not have a predefined syntax for commenting out regions spanning multiple lines.
Refer to multi-line comments for simple workarounds.
Absolute Beginners
Absolute Beginners
10
The first line is a comment. This is because it begins with the percent symbol (%); when
LaTeX sees this, it simply ignores the rest of the line. Comments are useful for people to
annotate parts of the source file. For example, you could put information about the author and
the date, or whatever you wish.
\documentclass{article}
This line is a command and tells LaTeX to use the article document class. A document
class file defines the formatting, which in this case is a generic article format. The handy thing
is that if you want to change the appearance of your document, substitute article for another
class file that exists.
\begin{document}
This line is the beginning of the environment called document; it alerts LaTeX that content
of the document is about to commence. Anything above this command is known generally to
belong in the preamble.
Hello World!
This was the only actual line containing real content - the text that we wanted displayed on the
page.
\end{document}
The document environment ends here. It tells LaTeX that the document source is complete,
anything after this line will be ignored.
As we have said before, each of the LaTeX commands begins with a backslash (\ ). This is LaTeX's way of
knowing that whenever it sees a backslash, to expect some commands. Comments are not classed as a command,
since all they tell LaTeX is to ignore the line. Comments never affect the output of the document.
Absolute Beginners
2. Various bits of info about LaTeX and its progress will be displayed. If all went well, the last two lines displayed
in the console will be:
Output written on hello.pdf (1 page, 5548 bytes).
Transcript written on hello.log.
you can notice that the PDF document is bigger than the DVI, even if it contains exactly the same information. The
main differences between the DVI and PDF formats are:
DVI needs less disk space and it is faster to create. It does not include the fonts within the document, so if you
want the document to be viewed properly on another computer, there must be all the necessary fonts installed. It
does not support any interactivity such as hyperlinks or animated images. DVI viewers are not very common, so
you can consider using it for previewing your document while typesetting.
PDF needs more disk space and it is slower to create, but it includes all the necessary fonts within the document,
so you will not have any problem of portability. It supports internal and external hyperlinks. It also supports
advanced typographic features: hanging punctuation, font expansion and margin kerning resulting in more
flexibility available to the TeX engine and better looking output. Nowadays it is the de facto standard for sharing
and publishing documents, so you can consider using it for the final version of your document.
About now, you saw you can create both DVI and PDF document from the same source. This is true, but it gets a bit
more complicated if you want to introduce images or links. This will be explained in detail in the next chapters, but
for now assume you can compile in both DVI and PDF without any problem.
Note, in this instance, due to the simplicity of the file, you only need to run the LaTeX command once. However, if
you begin to create complex documents, including bibliographies and cross-references, etc, LaTeX needs to be
executed multiple times to resolve the references. But this will be discussed in the future when it comes up.
Basics
Document Classes
The first information LaTeX needs to know when processing an input file is the type of document the author wants
to create. This is specified with the \documentclass command.
\documentclass[options]{class}
Here class specifies the type of document to be created. The LaTeX distribution provides additional classes for other
documents, including letters and slides. The options parameter customizes the behavior of the document class. The
options have to be separated by commas.
Example: an input file for a LaTeX document could start with the line
\documentclass[11pt,twoside,a4paper]{article}
which instructs LaTeX to typeset the document as an article with a base font size of 11 points, and to produce a
layout suitable for double sided printing on A4 paper.
Here are some document classes that can be used with LaTeX:
11
Basics
12
Document Classes
article
for articles in scientific journals, presentations, short reports, program documentation, invitations, ...
minimal
is as small as it can get. It only sets a page size and a base font. It is mainly used for debugging purposes.
report
for longer reports containing several chapters, small books, thesis, ...
book
slides
memoir
for changing sensibly the output of the document. It is based on the book class, but you can create any kind of document with it [1]
letter
beamer
The most common options for the standard document classes are listed in the following table:
Defines the paper size. The default size is letterpaper; However, many European distributions of TeX now come
pre-set for A4, not Letter, and this is also true of all distributions of pdfLaTeX. Besides that, a5paper, b5paper,
executivepaper, and legalpaper can be specified.
fleqn
leqno
Places the numbering of formulas on the left hand side instead of the right.
titlepage,
notitlepage
Specifies whether a new page should be started after the document title or not. The article class does not start a new page
by default, while report and book do.
onecolumn,
twocolumn
twoside, oneside Specifies whether double or single sided output should be generated. The classes article and report are single
sided and the book class is double sided by default. Note that this option concerns the style of the document only. The
option twoside does not tell the printer you use that it should actually make a two-sided printout.
landscape
openright,
openany
Makes chapters begin either only on right hand pages or on the next page available. This does not work with the
article class, as it does not know about chapters. The report class by default starts chapters on the next page
available and the book class starts them on right hand pages.
draft
makes LaTeX indicate hyphenation and justification problems with a small square in the right-hand margin of the problem
line so they can be located quickly by a human. It also suppresses the inclusion of images and shows only a frame where
they would normally occur.
For example, if you want a report to be in 12pt type on A4, but printed one-sided in draft mode, you would use:
\documentclass[12pt,a4paper,oneside,draft]{report}
Basics
13
Packages
While writing your document, you will probably find that there are some areas where basic LaTeX cannot solve your
problem. If you want to include graphics, colored text or source code from a file into your document, you need to
enhance the capabilities of LaTeX. Such enhancements are called packages. Packages are activated with the
\usepackage[options]{package}
command, where package is the name of the package and options is a list of keywords that trigger special features in
the package. Some packages come with the LaTeX base distribution. Others are provided separately.
Modern TeX distributions come with a large number of packages pre-installed. If you are working on a Unix system,
use the command texdoc for accessing package documentation. For more information, see the Packages section.
.dvi Device Independent File. This is the main result of a LaTeX compile run with latex. You can look at its content with a DVI previewer
program or you can send it to a printer with dvips or a similar application.
.pdf Portable Document Format. This is the main result of a LaTeX compile run with pdflatex. You can look at its content or print it with any
PDF viewer.
.log Gives a detailed account of what happened during the last compiler run.
.toc Stores all your section headers. It gets read in for the next compiler run and is used to produce the table of contents.
.lof This is like .toc but for the list of figures.
.lot And again the same for the list of tables.
.idx If your document contains an index. LaTeX stores all the words that go into the index in this file. Process this file with makeindex.
.ind The processed .idx file, ready for inclusion into your document on the next compile cycle.
.ilg Logfile telling what makeindex did.
.sty LaTeX Macro package. This is a file you can load into your LaTeX document using the \usepackage command.
.tex LaTeX or TeX input file. It can be compiled with latex.
Basics
14
Big Projects
When working on big documents, you might want to split the input file into several parts. LaTeX has three
commands to insert a file into another when building the document.
The simplest is the \input command:
\input{filename}
\input inserts the contents of another file, named filename.tex; note that the .tex extension is omitted. For all practical
purposes, \input is no more than a simple, automated cut-and-paste of the source code in filename.tex.
The other main inclusion command is \include:
\include{filename}
The \include command is different from \input in that it's the output that is added instead of the commands
from the other files. Therefore a new page will be created at every \include command, which makes it
appropriate to use it for large entities such as book chapters.
Very large documents (that usually include many files) take a very long time to compile, and most users find it
convenient to test their last changes by including only the files they have been working on. One option is to hunt
down all \include commands in the inclusion hierarchy and to comment them out:
%\include{filename1}
%\include{filename4}
\include{filename2}
\include{filename3}
In this case, the user wants to include only filename2.tex and filename3.tex. If the inclusion hierarchy is intricate,
commenting can become error-prone: page numbering will change, and any cross references won't work. A better
alternative is to retain the include calls and use the \includeonly command in the preamble:
\includeonly{filename2,filename3}
This way, only \include commands for the specified files will be executed, and inclusion will be handled in only
one place. Note that there must be no spaces between the filenames and the commas.
Remember that the input file should omit all the commands referring to the main document structure, which should
be kept in the original document file. This includes lines containing usepackages, document class, and everything but
the code strictly referring to the section that is to be included. In this way you'll avoid finding characters of your code
in the output document, or worse, not finding anything after the included file, in case you forget to erase the
\end{document}
line of your included file.
Basics
15
Working in a team
See chapter ../Collaborative Writing of LaTeX Documents/.
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ memoir/ memman. pdf
Document Structure
The main point of writing a text is to convey ideas, information, or knowledge to the reader. The reader will
understand the text better if these ideas are well-structured, and will see and feel this structure much better if the
typographical form reflects the logical and semantic structure of the content.
LaTeX is different from other typesetting systems in that you just have to tell it the logical and semantical structure
of a text. It then derives the typographical form of the text according to the rules given in the document class file
and in various style files. LaTeX allows users to structure their documents with a variety of hierarchal constructs,
including chapters, sections, subsections and paragraphs.
\begin{document}
...
You would put your text where the dots are. The reason for marking off the beginning of your text is that LaTeX
allows you to insert extra setup specifications before it (where the blank line is in the example above: we'll be using
this soon). The reason for marking off the end of your text is to provide a place for LaTeX to be programmed to do
extra stuff automatically at the end of the document, like making an index.
A useful side-effect of marking the end of the document text is that you can store comments or temporary text
underneath the \end{document} in the knowledge that LaTeX will never try to typeset them:
... \end{document} Don't forget to get the extra chapter from Dorando!
Preamble
The preamble is everything from the start of the LaTeX source file until the \begin{document} command. It
normally contains commands that affect the entire document.
% simple.tex - A simple article to illustrate document
\documentclass{article} \usepackage{mathptmx} \begin{document}
structure.
The first line is a comment (as denoted by the % sign). The \documentclass command takes an argument,
which in this case is article, because that's the type of document we want to produce. It is also possible to create your
own, as is often done by journal publishers, who simply provide you with their own class file, which tells LaTeX
how to format your content. But we'll be happy with the standard article class for now. \usepackage is an
important command that tells LaTeX to utilize some external macros. In this instance, we specified mathptmx
which means LaTeX will use the Postscript Times type 1 font instead of the default ComputerModern font. And
finally, the \begin{document}. This strictly isn't part of the preamble, but I'll put it here anyway, as it implies
the end of the preamble by nature of stating that the document is now starting.
Document Structure
Top Matter
At the beginning of most documents there will be information about the document itself, such as the title and date,
and also information about the authors, such as name, address, email etc. All of this type of information within
LaTeX is collectively referred to as top matter. Although never explicitly specified (there is no \topmatter
command) you are likely to encounter the term within LaTeX documentation.
A simple example:
\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,oneside]{report} \begin{document} \title{How to
Structure a LaTeX Document} \author{Andrew Roberts} \date{December 2004}
\maketitle \end{document}
The \title , \author , and \date commands are self-explanatory. You put the title, author name, and date
in curly braces after the relevant command. The title and author are usually compulsory (at least if you want LaTeX
to write the title automatically); if you omit the \date command, LaTeX uses today's date by default. You always
finish the top matter with the \maketitle command, which tells LaTeX that it's complete and it can typeset the
title according to the information you have provided and the class (style) you are using. If you omit \maketitle,
the titling will never be typeset (unless you write your own).
Here is a more complicated example:
\title{How to Structure a \LaTeX{} Document} \author{Andrew Roberts\\ School of
Computing,\\ University of Leeds,\\ Leeds,\\ United Kingdom,\\ LS2 1HE\\
\texttt{andyr@comp.leeds.ac.uk
\date{\today} \maketitle }}
as you can see, you can use commands as arguments of \title and the others. The double backslash (\\ ) is the
LaTeX command for forced linebreak. LaTeX normally decides by itself where to break lines, and it's usually right,
but sometimes you need to cut a line short, like here, and start a new one.
If there are two authors separate them with the \and command:
\title{Our Fun Document} \author{Jane Doe \and John Doe} \date{\today}
\maketitle
If you are provided with a class file from a publisher, or if you use the AMS article class (amsart), then you can use
several different commands to enter author information. The email address is at the end, and the \texttt
commands formats the email address using a mono-spaced font. The built-in command called \today will be
replaced with the current date when processed by LaTeX. But you are free to put whatever you want as a date, in no
set order. If braces are left empty, then the date is omitted.
Using this approach, you can create only basic output whose layout is very hard to change. If you want to create your
title freely, see the Title Creation section.
16
Document Structure
17
Abstract
As most research papers have an abstract, there are predefined commands for telling LaTeX which part of the
content makes up the abstract. This should appear in its logical order, therefore, after the top matter, but before the
main sections of the body. This command is available for the document classes article and report, but not book.
\documentclass{article} \begin{document} \begin{abstract} Your abstract goes
here... ... \end{abstract} ... \end{document}
By default, LaTeX will use the word "Abstract" as a title for your abstract, if you want to change it into anything
else, e.g. "Executive Summary", add the following line in the preamble:
\renewcommand{\abstractname}{Executive Summary}
Sectioning Commands
The commands for inserting sections are fairly intuitive. Of course, certain commands are appropriate to different
document classes. For example, a book has chapters but an article doesn't. Here is an edited version of some of the
structure commands in use from simple.tex.
\section{Introduction} This section's content... \section{Structure} This
section's content... \subsection{Top Matter} This subsection's content...
\subsubsection{Article Information} This subsubsection's content...
Notice that you do not need to specify section numbers; LaTeX will sort that out for you. Also, for sections, you do
not need to markup which content belongs to a given block, using \begin and \end commands, for example.
LaTeX provides 7 levels of depth for defining sections:
Command
Level
Comment
\part{part}
-1
not in letters
\chapter{chapter}
\section{section}
not in letters
\subsection{subsection}
not in letters
\subsubsection{subsubsection}
not in letters
\paragraph{paragraph}
not in letters
\subparagraph{subparagraph}
not in letters
All the titles of the sections are added automatically to the table of contents (if you decide to insert one). But if you
make manual styling changes to your heading, for example a very long title, or some special line-breaks or unusual
font-play, this would appear in the Table of Contents as well, which you almost certainly don't want. LaTeX allows
you to give an optional extra version of the heading text which only gets used in the Table of Contents and any
running heads, if they are in effect. This optional alternative heading goes in [square brackets] before the curly
braces:
\section[Effect on staff turnover]{An analysis of the effect of the revised
recruitment policies on staff turnover at divisional headquarters}
Section numbering
Numbering of the sections is performed automatically by LaTeX, so don't bother adding them explicitly, just insert
the heading you want between the curly braces. Parts get roman numerals (Part I, Part II, etc.); chapters and sections
get decimal numbering like this document, and appendices (which are just a special case of chapters, and share the
same structure) are lettered (A, B, C, etc.). You can change the depth to which section numbering occurs, so you can
turn it off selectively. By default it is set to 2. If you only want parts, chapters, and sections numbered, not
Document Structure
18
subsections or subsubsections etc., you can change the value of the secnumdepth counter using the
\setcounter command, giving the depth level from the previous table. For example, if you want to change it to
"1":
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{1}
A related counter is tocdepth, which specifies what depth to take the Table of Contents to. It can be reset in
exactly the same way as secnumdepth. For example:
\setcounter{tocdepth}{3}
To get an unnumbered section heading which does not go into the Table of Contents, follow the command name
with an asterisk before the opening curly brace:
\subsection*{Introduction}
All the divisional commands from \part* to \subparagraph* have this "starred" version which can be used on special
occasions for an unnumbered heading when the setting of secnumdepth would normally mean it would be
numbered.
If you want the unnumbered section to be in the table of contents anyway, use the \addcontentsline
command like this:
\section*{Introduction} \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Introduction}
Note if you use pdf bookmarks you will need to add a phantom section so that bookmark will lead to the correct
place in the document:
\phantomsection
\section*{Introduction}
\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Introduction}
For chapters you will also need to clear the page (this will also correct page numbering in the ToC):
\cleardoublepage \phantomsection \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Bibliography}
\bibliographystyle{unsrt} \bibliography{my_bib_file}
The value where the section numbering starts from can be set with the following command:
\setcounter{section}{4}
The next section after this command will now be numbered 5.
Any counter can be incremented/decremented with the following command:
\addtocounter{counter}{integer}
The \phantomsection command is defined in the hyperref package.
Appendices
The separate numbering of appendices is also supported by LaTeX. The \appendix macro can be used to indicate
that following sections or chapters are to be numbered as appendices.
In the report or book classes this gives:
\appendix \chapter{First Appendix}
For the article class use:
\appendix \section{First Appendix}
Document Structure
19
Ordinary paragraphs
Paragraphs of text come after section headings. Simply type the text and leave a blank line between paragraphs. The
blank line means "start a new paragraph here": it does not mean you get a blank line in the typeset output. For
formatting paragraph indents and spacing between paragraphs, refer to the Formatting section.
Table of contents
All auto-numbered headings get entered in the Table of Contents (ToC) automatically. You don't have to print a
ToC, but if you want to, just add the command \tableofcontents at the point where you want it printed
(usually after the Abstract or Summary).
Entries for the ToC are recorded each time you process your document, and reproduced the next time you process it,
so you need to re-run LaTeX one extra time to ensure that all ToC pagenumber references are correctly calculated.
We've already seen how to use the optional argument to the sectioning commands to add text to the ToC which is
slightly different from the one printed in the body of the document. It is also possible to add extra lines to the ToC, to
force extra or unnumbered section headings to be included.
The commands \listoffigures and \listoftables work in exactly the same way as
\tableofcontents to automatically list all your tables and figures. If you use them, they normally go after the
\tableofcontents command. The \tableofcontents command normally shows only numbered section
headings, and only down to the level defined by the tocdepth counter, but you can add extra entries with the
\addcontentsline command. For example if you use an unnumbered section heading command to start a
preliminary piece of text like a Foreword or Preface, you can write:
\subsection*{Preface} \addcontentsline{toc}{subsection}{Preface}
This will format an unnumbered ToC entry for "Preface" in the "subsection" style. You can use the same mechanism
to add lines to the List of Figures or List of Tables by substituting lof or lot for toc. If the hyperref package is
used and the link does not point correct to the chapter, the command \phantomsection in combination with
\clearpage or \cleardoublepage can be used (see also Labels_and_Cross-referencing):
\cleardoublepage
\phantomsection
Figures} \listoffigures
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{List
of
To change the title of the TOC, you have to paste this command \renewcommand{\contentsname}{<New
table of contents title>} in your document preamble. The List of Figures (LoF) and List of Tables
(LoT) names can be changed by replacing the \contentsname with \listfigurename for LoF and
\listtablename for LoT.
Depth
The default ToC will list headings of level 3 and above. To change how deep the table of contents displays
automatically the following command can be used in the preamble:
\setcounter{tocdepth}{4}
This will make the table of contents include everything down to paragraphs. The levels are defined above on this
page. Note that this solution does not permit changing the depth dynamically.
In order to further tune the display or the numbering of the table of contents, for instance if the appendix should be
less detailed, you can make use of the tocvsec2 package (CTAN [1], doc [2]).
Document Structure
The Bibliography
Any good research paper will have a whole list of references. There are two ways to insert your references into
LaTeX:
you can embed them within the document itself. It's simpler, but it can be time-consuming if you are writing
several papers about similar subjects so that you often have to cite the same books.
you can store them in an external BibTeX file [3] and then link them via a command to your current document and
use a Bibtex style [4] to define how they appear. This way you can create a small database of the references you
might use and simply link them, letting LaTeX work for you.
In order to know how to add the bibliography to your document, see the Bibliography Management section.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
Error messages
The format of an error message is always the same. Error messages begin with an exclamation mark at the start of
the line, and give a description of the error, followed by another line starting with the number, which refers to the
line-number in your document file which LaTeX was processing when the error was spotted. Here's an example,
showing that the user mistyped the \tableofcontents command:
! Undefined control sequence.
l.6 \tableofcotnetns
When LaTeX finds an error like this, it displays the error message and pauses. You must type one of the following
letters to continue:
20
Key
21
Meaning
Carry on quietly as best you can and don't bother me with any more error messages.
Stop the program but re-position the text in my editor at the point where you found the error (This only works if you're using an editor which
LaTeX can communicate with).
(followed by a correction) means input the correction in place of the error and carry on (This is only a temporary fix to get the file processed.
You still have to make that correction in the editor).
run in non-stop mode. Plow through any errors, unless too many pile up and it fails (100 errors).
Some systems (Emacs is one example) run LaTeX with a "nonstop" switch turned on, so it will always process
through to the end of the file, regardless of errors, or until a limit is reached.
Warnings
Warnings don't begin with an exclamation mark: they are just comments by LaTeX about things you might want to
look into, such as overlong or underrun lines (often caused by unusual hyphenations, for example), pages running
short or long, and other typographical niceties (most of which you can ignore until later). Unlike other systems,
which try to hide unevennesses in the text (usually unsuccessfully) by interfering with the letterspacing, LaTeX takes
the view that the author or editor should be able to contribute. While it is certainly possible to set LaTeX's
parameters so that the spacing is sufficiently sloppy that you will almost never get a warning about badly-fitting lines
or pages, you will almost certainly just be delaying matters until you start to get complaints from your readers or
publishers.
Examples
Only a few common error messages are given here: those most likely to be encountered by beginners. If you find
another error message not shown here, and it's not clear what you should do, ask for help.
Most error messages are self-explanatory, but be aware that the place where LaTeX spots and reports an error may
be later in the file than the place where it actually occurred. For example if you forget to close a curly brace which
encloses, say, italics, LaTeX won't report this until something else occurs which can't happen until the curly brace is
encountered (e.g. the end of the document!) Some errors can only be righted by humans who can read and
understand what the document is supposed to mean or look like.
Newcomers should remember to check the list of special characters: a very large number of errors when you are
learning LaTeX are due to accidentally typing a special character when you didn't mean to. This disappears after a
few days as you get used to them.
Runaway argument
Runaway argument?
{December 2004 \maketitle
! Paragraph ended before \date was complete.
<to be read again>
\par
l.8
In this error, the closing curly brace has been omitted from the date. It's the opposite of the error of too many }'s, and
it results in \maketitle trying to format the title page while LaTeX is still expecting more text for the date! As
\maketitle creates new paragraphs on the title page, this is detected and LaTeX complains that the previous
paragraph has ended but \date is not yet finished.
Underfull hbox
Underfull \hbox (badness 1394) in paragraph
at lines 28--30
[][]\LY1/brm/b/n/10 Bull, RJ: \LY1/brm/m/n/10
Ac-count-ing in Busi[94]
This is a warning that LaTeX cannot stretch the line wide enough to fit, without making the spacing bigger than its
currently permitted maximum. The badness (0-10,000) indicates how severe this is (here you can probably ignore a
badness of 1394). It says what lines of your file it was typesetting when it found this, and the number in square
brackets is the number of the page onto which the offending line was printed. The codes separated by slashes are the
typeface and font style and size used in the line. Ignore them for the moment.
This comes up if you force a linebreak, e.g., \\, and have a return before it. Normally TeX ignores linebreaks,
providing full paragraphs to ragged text. In this case it is necessary to pull the linebreak up one line to the end of the
previous sentence.
22
Overfull hbox
[101]
Overfull \hbox (9.11617pt too wide) in paragraph
at lines 860--861
[]\LY1/brm/m/n/10 Windows, \LY1/brm/m/it/10 see
\LY1/brm/m/n/10 X WinAn overfull \hbox means that there is a hyphenation or justification problem: moving the last word on the line to the
next line would make the spaces in the line wider than the current limit; keeping the word on the line would make
the spaces smaller than the current limit, so the word is left on the line, but with the minimum allowed space between
words, and which makes the line go over the edge.
The warning is given so that you can find the line in the code that originates the problem (in this case: 860-861) and
fix it. The line on this example is too long by a shade over 9pt. The chosen hyphenation point which minimizes the
error is shown at the end of the line (Win-). Line numbers and page numbers are given as before. In this case, 9pt is
too much to ignore (over 3mm), and a manual correction needs making (such as a change to the hyphenation), or the
flexibility settings need changing.
If the "overfull" word includes a forward slash, such as "input/output", this should be properly typeset as
"input\slash output". The use of \slash has the same effect as using the "/" character, except that it can
form the end of a line (with the following words appearing at the start of the next line). The "/" character is typically
used in units, such as "mm/year" character, which should not be broken over multiple lines.
Missing package
! LaTeX Error: File paralisy.sty not found.
Type X to quit or <RETURN> to proceed,
or enter new name. (Default extension: sty)
Enter file name:
When you use the \usepackage command to request LaTeX to use a certain package, it will look for a file with
the specified name and the filetype .sty. In this case the user has mistyped the name of the paralist package, so it's
easy to fix. However, if you get the name right, but the package is not installed on your machine, you will need to
download and install it before continuing. If you don't want to affect the global installation of the machine, you can
simply download from Internet the necessary .sty file and put it in the same folder of the document you are
compiling.
Package babel Warning: No hyphenation patterns were loaded for the language X
Although this is a warning from the Babel package and not from LaTeX, this error is very common and (can) give
some strange hyphenation (word breaking) problems in your document. Wrong hyphenation rules can decrease the
neatness of your document.
Package babel Warning: No hyphenation patterns were loaded for
(babel)
the language `Latin'
(babel)
I will use the patterns loaded for \language=0 instead.
This can happen after the usage of: (see LaTeX/Internationalization)
\usepackage[latin]{babel}
The solution is not difficult, just install the used language in your LaTeX distribution.
23
24
Creating a Document
Title Creation
There are several situations where you might want to create a title in a custom format, rather than in the format
natively supported by LaTeX. For shorter documents such as basic articles, the output of \maketitle is often
adequate, but longer documents (such as books and reports) often require more involved formatting. While it is
possible to change the output of \maketitle, it can be complicated even with minor changes to the title. In such
cases it is often better to create the title from scratch, and this section will show you how to accomplish this.
Title Creation
25
template for all other documents that would use the title format you have just made. In other words, once you have a
layout you like, you can use it for any other documents where you would like the same layout without any additional
fiddling with layout.
First step: since you'll be working only on the first page of your document and you'll have to compile very often, you
don't have to compile the whole document each time, you only need to take a look at the first page. That is why we'll
first create a dummy document for preparing the title and then we'll simply include it within the existing big
document we are writing. Call the dummy document test_title.tex and put the following code in it:
\documentclass[pdftex,12pt,a4paper]{report}
\newcommand{\HRule}{\rule{\linewidth}{0.5mm}}
\input{./title.tex} \end{document}
\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
\begin{document}
It is meant to be compiled with pdflatex to create a PDF in output. It is a very basic document, but take care that
it has the same settings of the document you are writing, so the output won't change when you include the title in
your document. In this case (see the first line) the font size is set to 12pt and the paper size is an A4. The package
graphicx is included to insert an image in the title. Then a command is defined called \HRule; it will just insert a
horizontal line whose length is like the size of the paper and whose thickness is 0.5 mm. If you want you can change
its settings in the definition. Finally the document starts and it simply includes the title.tex file, that must be
placed in the same directory of our dummy file test_title.tex.
Now create the title.tex and write in it:
\begin{titlepage} \end{titlepage}
all the things you want to put in the title must be inside the titlepage environment. Now if you compile
test_title.tex you will see a preview of your title in the test_title.pdf file. Here is what you need to
know to write your title:
Alignment
if you want to center some text just use \begin{center} ... \end{center}. If you want to align it
differently you can use the environment flushright for right-alignment and flushleft for
left-alignment.
Images
the command for including images is the following (the example is for a small logo, but you can introduce any
image of any size): \includegraphics[width=0.15\textwidth]{./logo}. There is no
\begin{figure} as you usually do because you don't want it to be floating, you just want it there where
you placed it. When handling it, remember that it is considered like a big box by the TeX engine.
Text size
If you want to change the size of some text just place it within brackets, {like this}, and you can use the
following commands (in order of size): \Huge, \huge, \LARGE, \Large, \large, \small,
\footnotesize, \tiny. So for example:
{\large this text is slightly bigger than normal}, this one is not
\normalsize is used to create text at the default size for the document.
New lines
you can force the start of a new line by \\. If you want to add more vertical space you don't need to use
several new-line commands, just insert some vertical space. For example, this way \\[1cm] you start a new
line after having left 1 cm of empty space.
Date
you can insert the date of the current day with the command \today. If you do not wish to insert any date,
keep it blank e.g. \date{}
Title Creation
26
A practical example
All these tips might have made you confused. Then, here is a practical example. Get the test_title.tex
described above and here is an example of a title.tex. On the right you can see the output after you compile
test_title.tex in PDF:
\begin{titlepage} \begin{center} % Upper part of the
page
\includegraphics[width=0.15\textwidth]{./logo}\\[1cm]
\textsc{\LARGE University of Beer}\\[1.5cm]
\textsc{\Large Final year project}\\[0.5cm] % Title
\HRule \\[0.4cm] { \huge \bfseries Lager brewing
techniques}\\[0.4cm] \HRule \\[1.5cm] % Author and
supervisor \begin{minipage}{0.4\textwidth}
\begin{flushleft} \large \emph{Author:}\\ John
\textsc{Smith} \end{flushleft} \end{minipage}
\begin{minipage}{0.4\textwidth} \begin{flushright}
\large \emph{Supervisor:} \\ Dr.~Mark \textsc{Brown}
\end{flushright} \end{minipage} \vfill % Bottom of
the page {\large \today} \end{center} \end{titlepage}
The picture is from a file called logo.png that is in the same directory of both title.tex and
test_title.tex. Since I wanted to insert both the author and supervisor names properly aligned I used a trick: I
created two small minipages, one on left and one on the right. Their width is a bit less than half of page width (as
you can see, they are exactly 40% of the text width). Within the minipages I have used different alignments. Using
\vfill I could write the date exactly at the bottom of the page.
As you can see, the code looks "dirtier" than standard LaTeX source because you have to take care of the output as
well. If you start changing font's output it will get more confused, but you can do it: it's only for the title and your
complicated code will be isolated from all the rest within its own file title.tex.
\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
\begin{document}
Title Creation
27
Page Layout
Latex and the document class will normally take care of page layout issues for you. For submission to an academic
publication, this entire topic will be out of your hands, as the publishers want to control the presentation. However,
for your own documents, there are some obvious settings that you may wish to change: margins, page orientation
and columns, to name but three. The purpose of this tutorial is to show you how to configure your pages.
Page dimensions
A page in Latex is defined by myriad internal parameters. Each parameter corresponds to the length of an element of
the page, for example, \paperheight is the physical height of the page. Here you can see a diagram showing all
the variables defining the page:
\marginparsep = 10pt
\marginparwidth = 35pt
\oddsidemargin = 31pt
\footskip = 30pt
\topmargin = 20pt
\headheight = 12pt
\hoffset = 0pt
\headsep = 25pt
\voffset = 0pt
\textheight = 592pt
\paperwidth = 597pt
\textwidth = 390pt
\paperheight = 845pt
It will not have been immediately obvious - because it doesn't really cause any serious problems - that the default
page size for all standard document classes is US letter. This is shorter by 18 mm (about 3/4 inch), and slightly wider
by 8 mm (about 1/4 inch), compared to A4 (which is the standard in almost all the rest of the world). As I said, it's
not a great problem, and most printers will print the page without a hiccup. However, it is possible to specify
alternative sizes.
\documentclass[a4paper]{article}
Page Layout
The above example illustrates how to pass the optional argument to the \documentclass, which will then modify
the page dimensions accordingly. The standard document classes that are a part of Latex are built to be fairly
generic, which is why you have the flexibility of specifying the page size. Other classes may have different options
(or none at all). Normally, 3rd party classes come with some documentation to let you know.
Readers from a word processing background are probably thinking why there is so much white space surrounding
the text. There is a good reason, and it's all down to readability. Have a look in a few books, and pick a few lines at
random. Count the number of characters per line. I bet the average is about 66. Studies have shown that it's easier to
read text when there are 60-70 characters per line - and it would seem that 66 is the optimal number. Therefore, the
page margins are set to ensure that readability remains as good as possible. Also, white space is often left in the inner
margin for the assumption that the document will be bound.
If you wish to change the margins of your document, there are many ways to do so:
Simply use the fullpage package for somewhat standardized smaller margins (around an inch):
\usepackage{fullpage}
For an even greater effect give it the cm option (around 1.5cm):
\usepackage[cm]{fullpage}
Use the a4wide package for a page with A4 document size with smaller margins.
Use the geometry package. This package allows you to specify the 4 margins without needing to remember the
particular page dimensions commands. You can enter the measures in centimeters and inches as well. Use cm for
centimeters and in for inches after each value (e.g: 1.0in or 2.54cm). These values are relative to the edge of
paper (0in) and go inward it. It may be implemented as follows:
\usepackage[top=tlength, bottom=blength, left=llength,
right=rlength]{geometry}
Edit individual page dimension variables described above, using the \addtolength and \setlength
commands. For instance,
\oddsidemargin=-1cm
\setlength{\textwidth}{6.5in}
\addtolength{\voffset}{-5pt}
Additionally, there are several packages designed to solve the problem of varying pages sizes, which override any
defaults setup by the document class. One of the most versatile packages for page layout is the geometry package.
For instance, to set the page size, add the following to your preamble:
\usepackage[a4paper]{geometry}
The geometry package has many pre-defined page sizes, like a4paper, built in. Others include: a0paper,
a1paper, ..., a6paper, b0paper, b1paper, ..., b6paper, letterpaper, legalpaper,
executivepaper.
To explicitly change the paper dimensions using the geometry package, the paperwidth and paperheight options
can be used. For example:
\usepackage[margin=1in, paperwidth=5.5in, paperheight=8.5in]{geometry}
28
Page Layout
29
#
#
#
#
#
With all the available Ghostscript versions, the safest way to always get the right paper size in the end is to add
\documentclass[...,a4paper,...]{...}
\special{papersize=210mm,297mm}
to the tex file, -t a4 after dvips and -sPAPERSIZE=a4 after the ps2pdf. For pdflatex to work fine, using the
package geometry usually works.
If you want US Letter instead, replace "210mm,297mm" by "8.5in,11in" and "a4" by "letter".
Page orientation
When you talk about changing page orientation, it usually means changing to landscape mode, since portrait is the
default. I shall introduce two slightly different styles of changing orientation.
The first is for when you want all of your document to be in landscape from the very beginning. There are various
packages available to achieve this, but the one I prefer is the geometry package. All you need to do is call the
package, with landscape as an option:
\usepackage[landscape]{geometry}
Although, if you intend to use geometry to set your paper size, don't add the \usepackage commands twice,
simply string all the options together, separating with a comma:
\usepackage[a4paper,landscape]{geometry}
The second method is for when you are writing a document in portrait, but you have some contents, like a large
diagram or table that would be displayed better on a landscape page. However, you still want the consistency of your
headers and footers appearing the same place as the other pages.
Page Layout
30
The lscape package is for this very purpose. It supplies a landscape environment, and anything inside is
basically rotated. No actual page dimensions are changed. This approach is more applicable to books or reports than
to typical academic publications. Using pdflscape instead of lscape when generating a PDF document will
make the page appear right side up when viewed: the single page that is in landscape format will be rotated, while
the rest will be left in portrait orientation.
Also, to get a table to appear correctly on a landscaped page, one must place the tabular environment inside a
table environment, which is itself inside the landscape environment. e.g., it should look like this:
\begin{landscape}
\begin{table}
\centering
% optional, probably makes it look better to have it
centered on the page
\begin{tabular}{....}
.......
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
\end{landscape}
Page styles
Page styles in Latex terms refers not to page dimensions, but to the running headers and footers of a document.
These headers typically contain document titles, chapter or section numbers/names, and page numbers.
plain
Header is clear, but the footer contains the page number in the center.
headings
Footer is blank, header displays information according to document class (e.g., section name) and page number top right.
myheadings Page number is top right, and it is possible to control the rest of the header.
With myheadings, the commands \markright (in the standard document classes, book, report and article) and
\markboth (only in the book class) are used to control the headings. The following commands placed at the
beginning of an article document will set the header of all pages to contain "John Smith" top left, "On page styles"
centered and the page number top right:
\pagestyle{myheadings}
\markright{John Smith\hfill On page styles\hfill}
An issue to look out for is that the major sectioning commands (\part, \chapter or \maketitle) specify a
\thispagestyle{plain}. So, if you wish to suppress all styles by inserting a \pagestyle{empty} at the
beginning of your document, then the style command at each section will override your initial rule, for those pages
only. To achieve the intended result one can follow the new section commands with \thispagestyle{empty}.
The \part command, however, cannot be fixed this way, because it sets the page style, but also advances to the
next page, so that \thispagestyle{} cannot be applied to that page. Another approach is to simply write
\usepackage{nopageno} in the preamble. This package will make \pagestyle{plain} have the same
effect as \pagestyle{empty}, effectively suppressing page numbering when it is used.
Page Layout
31
\cfoot[cf-even]{cf-odd}
\rfoot[rf-even]{rf-odd}
Hopefully, the behaviour of the above commands is fairly intuitive: if it has head in it, it affects the head etc, and
obviously, l, c and r means left, centre and right respectively. Documents can be either one- or two-sided. Articles
are by default one-sided, books are two-sided. Two-sided documents differentiate the left (even) and right (odd)
pages, whereas one-sided do not.
Watch out: if you give long text in two different "parts" only in the footer or only in the header, you might see
overlapping text, be careful. There are special commands you can use as arguments:
\thepage
\leftmark
current chapter name printed like "CHAPTER 3. THIS IS THE CHAPTER TITLE"
\rightmark
current section name printed like "1.6. THIS IS THE SECTION TITLE"
\chaptername the name chapter in the current language. If this is English, it will display "Chapter"
\thechapter
\thesection
Note that \leftmark and \rightmark convert the names to uppercase, whichever was the formatting of the
text. If you want them to print the actual name of the chapter without converting it to uppercase use the following
command:
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}}
\renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markright{#1}{}}
now \leftmark and \rightmark will just print the name of the chapter and section, without number and
without affecting the formatting. Note that these redefinitions must be inserted after the first call of
Page Layout
\pagestyle{fancy}. The standard book formatting of the \chaptermark is:
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{\MakeUppercase{\chaptername\
\thechapter.\ #1}}{}}
Moreover, with the following commands you can define the thickness of the decorative lines on both the header and
the footer:
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0.5pt}
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}
The first line for the header, the second for the footer. Setting it to zero means that there will be no line.
An example:
\fancyhf{}
\lhead{Andrew Roberts}
\rhead{\today}
\rfoot{\thepage}
It is often necessary to clear any defaults or a previous style definition, and the first line of the above example will do
this. The commands are an alternative interface to customising the headers/footers that fancyhdr offers, and so by not
passing anything to them, it assumes that you want it all blank.
The result of these commands will put my name at the top left, todays date at the top right, and the current page
number at the bottom right of the page. Even if the document class was two-sided, because no optional text has been
supplied for the even pages, the style will be used for all pages.
This approach has a serious bad point: some pages like the title or the beginning of each chapter have no header or
footer, but with the code we have shown every page will get the same output. There is a way to solve this problem:
you can use the fancyplain style. If you do so, you can use the command \fancyplain{...}{...} inside
\lhead{...} etc.
When LaTeX wants to create a page with an empty style, it will insert the first argument of fancyplain, in all the
other cases it will use the second argument. So, an improved version of the previous code would be:
\pagestyle{fancyplain}
\fancyhf{}
\lhead{\fancyplain{}{Andrew Roberts}}
\rhead{\fancyplain{}{\today}}
\rfoot{\fancyplain{}{\thepage}}
It has the same behavior of the previous code, but you will get empty header and footer in the title and at the
beginning of chapters.
For two-sided, it's common to mirror the style of opposite pages, you tend to think in terms of inner and outer. So,
the same example as above for two-sided is:
\lhead[Andrew Roberts]{}
\rhead[]{Andrew Roberts}
\lhead[]{\today}
\rhead[\today]{}
\lfoot[\thepage]{}
32
Page Layout
33
\rfoot[]{\thepage}
This is effectively saying my name is top outer, todays date is top inner, and current page number is bottom outer.
You can use the fancyplain command within them for two-sided documents, too.
As an example, here is the complete code of a basic configuration you could use for a real document:
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\setlength{\headheight}{15pt}
\pagestyle{fancyplain}
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}}
\lhead{\fancyplain{}{\thepage}}
\chead{}
\rhead{\fancyplain{}{\textit{\leftmark}}}
\lfoot{}
\cfoot{}
\rfoot{}
NB. If you want to make the article class two-sided, use \documentclass[twoside]{article}.
so CE will refer to the center of the even pages and RO to the right side of the odd pages. Whether it is header or
footer, depends if you are using \fancyhead or \fancyfoot. You can use multiple selectors separated by a
comma. Here is an example:
\fancyhead[CE]{Author's Name}
\fancyhead[CO]{\today}
\fancyfoot[LE,RO]{\thepage}
it will print author's name on the center of the header of the even pages, the date of the current day on the center of
the odd pages and the current page number on the left side of even pages and on the right size of the odd pages.
Page Layout
Finally, in order to have the pages at the beginning of any chapter really plain, you could redefine the plain style, for
example to have a really plain page when you want. The command to use is
\fancypagestyle{plain}{...} and the argument can contain all the commands explained before. An
example is the following:
\fancypagestyle{plain}{ %
\fancyhf{} % remove everything
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} % remove lines as well
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}}
Finally, here is the complete code of a possible style you could use for a two-sided document:
\usepackage{fancyhdr}
\setlength{\headheight}{15pt}
\pagestyle{fancy}
\renewcommand{\chaptermark}[1]{\markboth{#1}{}}
\renewcommand{\sectionmark}[1]{\markright{#1}{}}
\fancyhf{}
\fancyhead[LE,RO]{\thepage}
\fancyhead[RE]{\textit{\nouppercase{\leftmark}}}
\fancyhead[LO]{\textit{\nouppercase{\rightmark}}}
\fancypagestyle{plain}{ %
\fancyhf{} % remove everything
\renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt} % remove lines as well
\renewcommand{\footrulewidth}{0pt}}
Page n of m
Some people like to put the current page number in context with the whole document. LaTeX only provides access
to the current page number. However, you can use the lastpage package to find the total number of pages, like
this:
\usepackage{lastpage}
...
\cfoot{\thepage\ of \pageref{LastPage}}
Note the capital letters. Also, add a backslash after \thepage to ensure adequate space between the page number
and 'of'. And recall, when using references, that you have to run LaTeX an extra time to resolve the cross-references.
Multi-column pages
It is common to see articles and conference proceedings formatted with two columns of text. However, such
publishers will usually provide you with their own document class, which automatically implements this format,
without you having to do anything. It is very easy to format your page in this way. If you are using a standard Latex
document class, then you can simply pass the optional argument twocolumn to the document class:
\documentclass[twocolumn]{article} which will give the desired effect.
While this simple addition will do the job 9 out of 10 times, it is widely acknowledged that there are many
limitations of this approach, and that the multicol package is much more useful for handling multiple columns. It
34
Page Layout
35
Floats are not fully supported by this environment. It can only cope if you use the starred forms of the float
commands (e.g., \begin{figure*} ) which makes the float span all columns. This is not hugely problematic,
since floats of the same width as a column may be too small, and you would probably want to span them anyway.
To create a typical two-column layout:
\begin{multicols}{2}
lots of text
\end{multicols}
The parameter \columnseprule holds the width of the vertical rules. By default, the lines are omitted as this
parameter is set to a length of 0pt. Do the following before the beginning of the environment:
\setlength{\columnseprule}{1pt}
This will draw a thin line of 1pt in width. A thick line would not look very pleasing, however, you are free to put in
any length of your choosing. Also, to change the horizontal space in between columns (the default is set at 10pt,
which is quite narrow) then you need to change the \columnsep parameter:
\setlength{\columnsep}{20pt}
\\
Breaks the line at the point of the command, it's a shorter version of the previous command but it does exactly the
same
\\*
Breaks the line at the point of the command and additionally prohibits a page break after the forced line break
\linebreak[number]
Breaks the line at the point of the command. The number you provide as an argument represents the priority of the
command in a range from 0 (it will be easily ignored) to 4 (do it anyway). LaTeX will try to produce the best line
breaks possible, meeting its high standards. If it cannot, it will decide whether including the linebreak or not
according to the priority you have provided.
\newpage
\pagebreak[number]
Breaks the current page at the point of the command. The optional number argument sets the priority in a scale from
0 to 4.
\nopagebreak[number] Stops the page being broken at the point of the command. The optional number argument sets the priority in a scale
from 0 to 4.
\clearpage
Ends the current page and causes any floats encountered in the input, but yet to appear, to be printed.
Page Layout
Summary
This tutorial is relatively short, largely due to the fact that the whole LaTeX ethos is to concentrate on the content,
and let LaTeX (and/or other typographers who have developed suitable document classes) decide on the best
presentation. The next step to achieve greater control of page layout is to set about designing your own class.
Unfortunately, that is not a straightforward task, and is often best left to the professionals!
This page uses material from Andy Roberts' Getting to grips with Latex [3] with permission from the author.
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctex. org/ documents/ packages/ layout/ titlesec. pdf
[2] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ fancyhdr/ fancyhdr. pdf
[3] http:/ / www. andy-roberts. net/ misc/ latex/ index. html
36
Formatting
37
Formatting
This section will guide you through the various text, paragraph, and page formatting techniques. Formatting tends to
refer to most things to do with appearance, so it makes the list of possible topics quite eclectic: text style, font, size;
paragraph alignment, interline spacing, indents; special paragraph types; footnotes, margin notes, etc.
A lot of the formatting techniques are required to differentiate certain elements from the rest of the text. It is often
necessary to add emphasis to key words or phrases. Footnotes are useful for providing extra information or
clarification without interrupting the main flow of text. So, for these reasons, formatting is very important. However,
it is also very easy to abuse, and a document that has been over-done can look and read worse than one with none at
all.
Text formatting
Hyphenation
LaTeX hyphenates words whenever necessary. If the hyphenation algorithm does not find the correct hyphenation
points, you can remedy the situation by using the following commands to tell TeX about the exception. The
command
\hyphenation{word list}
causes the words listed in the argument to be hyphenated only at the points marked by -. The argument of the
command should only contain words built from normal letters, or rather characters that are considered to be normal
letters by LaTeX. It is known that the hyphenation algorithm does not find all correct American English hyphenation
points for several words. A log of known exceptions is published periodically in the TUGboat journal. (See a 2008
list: http://www.tug.org/TUGboat/Articles/tb29-2/tb92hyf.pdf)
The hyphenation hints are stored for the language that is active when the hyphenation command occurs. This means
that if you place a hyphenation command into the preamble of your document it will influence the English language
hyphenation. If you place the command after the \begin{document } and you are using some package for
national language support like babel, then the hyphenation hints will be active in the language activated through
babel. The example below will allow hyphenation to be hyphenated as well as Hyphenation, and it prevents
FORTRAN, Fortran and fortran from being hyphenated at all. No special characters or symbols are allowed in
the argument. Example:
\hyphenation{FORTRAN Hy-phen-a-tion}
The command \- inserts a discretionary hyphen into a word. This also becomes the only point where hyphenation
is allowed in this word. This command is especially useful for words containing special characters (e.g., accented
characters), because LaTeX does not automatically hyphenate words containing special characters.
\begin{minipage}{2in} I think this is: su\-per\-cal\-%
i\-frag\-i\-lis\-tic\-ex\-pi\-% al\-i\-do\-cious
\end{minipage}
This can be quite cumbersome if one has many words that contain a dash like electromagnetic-endioscopy. One
alternative to this is using the \hyp command of the hyphenat package. This command typesets a hyphen and
allows full automatic hyphenation of the other words forming the compound word. One would thus write
electromagnetic\hyp{}endioscopy
Formatting
38
Several words can be kept together on one line with the command
\mbox{text}
It causes its argument to be kept together under all circumstances. Example:
My phone number will change soon. It will be \mbox{0116 291 2319}.
\fbox is similar to \mbox , but in addition there will be a visible box drawn around the content.
To avoid hyphenation altogether, the penalty for hyphenation can be set to an extreme value:
\hyphenpenalty=100000
You can change the degree to which LaTeX will hyphenate by changing the value of \tolerance=1000 and
\hyphenpenalty=1000 . You'll have to experiment with the values to achieve the desired effect. A document
which has a low tolerance value will cause LaTeX not to tolerate uneven spacing between words, hyphenating words
more frequently than in documents with higher tolerances.
Quote-marks
Latex treats left and right quotes as different entities. For single quotes, ` (on American keyboards, this symbol is
found on the tilde key (adjacent to the number 1 key on most) gives a left quote mark, and ' is the right. For double
quotes, simply double the symbols, and Latex will interpret them accordingly. (Although, you can use the " for
right double quotes if you wish). On British keyboards, ' ` ' is left of the ' 1 ' key and shares the key with ' ', and
sometimes ' ' or ' | '. The apostrophe (' ' ') key is to the right of the colon/semicolon key and shares it with the ' @ '
symbol.
To `quote' in Latex
To ``quote'' in Latex
To ``quote" in Latex
To ,,quote'' in Latex
``Please press the `x' key.''
,,Prosz, nacinij klawisz <<x>>''.
The right quote is also used for apostrophe in Latex without trouble.
For left bottom quote and European quoting style you need to use T1 font encoding enabled by:
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
The package csquotes offers a multi-lingual solution to quotations, with integration to citation mechanisms offered
by BibTeX. This package allows one for example to switch languages and quotation styles according to babel
language selections.
Formatting
39
Ligatures
Some letter combinations are typeset not just by setting the different letters one after the other, but by actually using
special symbols (like ""), called ligatures. Ligatures can be prohibited by inserting {} or, if this does not work,
{\kern0pt} between the two letters in question. This might be necessary with words built from two words. Here
is an example:
\Large Not shelfful\\ but shelf{}ful
Formatting
40
Some tools are unable to perform search in documents that contain ligatures (a search for "finally" wouldn't
find the string "nally"). If one desires, for greater accessibility, to disable ligatures altogether in the whole
document, the \DisableLigatures from the microtype package [1] can be used:
\usepackage{microtype}
\DisableLigatures{encoding = *, family = *}
Note that this will also disable ligatures such as -- , --- , etc.
If you are using XeLaTeX and OpenType fonts, the fontspec package allows for standard ligatures to be turned off as
well as fancy swash ligatures to be turned on.
Slash marks
The normal typesetting of the / character in LaTeX does not allow following characters to be "broken" on to new
lines, which often create "overfull" errors in output (where letters push off the margin). Words that use slash marks,
such as "input/output" should be typeset as "input\slash output ", which allow the line to "break" after the
slash mark (if needed). The use of the / character in LaTeX should be restricted to units, such as "mm/year ",
which should not be broken over multiple lines.
Emphasizing Text
In order to add some emphasis to a word or phrase, the simplest way is to use the \emph{text} command.
I want to \emph{emphasize} a word.
Fonts
See also: LaTeX/Fonts.
In LaTeX, there are many ways to specify and control font, and this section is only intended to serve as a brief
overview of the topic.
Font Styles
There are three main font families: roman (e.g., Times), sans serif (e.g., Arial) and monospace (e.g., Courier). You
can also specify styles such as italic and bold.
The following table lists the commands you will need to access the typical font styles:
LaTeX command
Equivalent to
Output style
Remarks
\textnormal{} {\normalfont
}
document font
family
\emph{}
{\em }
emphasis
typically italics
\textrm{}
{\rmfamily }
\textsf{}
{\sffamily }
\texttt{}
{\ttfamily }
teletypefont family
\textup{}
{\upshape }
upright shape
\textit{}
{\itshape }
italic shape
\textsl{}
{\slshape }
slanted shape
\textsc{}
{\scshape }
Small Capitals
a skewed version of the normal typeface (similar to, but slightly different
from, italics)
Formatting
41
uppercase (all caps) Also \lowercase. There are some caveats, though; see here [2].
\uppercase{}
\textbf{}
{\bfseries }
bold
\textmd{}
{\mdseries }
medium weight
The commands in column two are not entirely equivalent to the commands in column one: They do not correct
spacing after the selected font style has ended. The commands in column one are therefore in general recommended.
You may have noticed the absence of underline. Although this is available via the \underline{...} command,
text underlined in this way will not break properly. This functionality has to be added with the ulem (underline
emphasis) package. Stick \usepackage{ulem} in your preamble. By default, this overrides the \emph
command with the underline rather than the italic style. It is unlikely that you wish this to be the desired effect, so it
is better to stop ulem taking over \emph and simply call the underline command as and when it is needed.
To restore the usual em formatting, add \normalem straight after the document environment begins.
Alternatively, use \usepackage[normalem]{ulem} .
To underline, use \uline{...} .
To add a wavy underline, use \uwave{...} .
And for a strike-out \sout{...} .
Sizing text
To apply different font sizes, simply follow the commands on this table:
Note that the font size definitions are set by the document class. Depending on the document style the actual font
size may differ from that listed above. And not every document class has unique sizes for all 10 size commands.
slides
beamer
[10pt]
[11pt]
[12pt]
[10pt]
[11pt]
[12pt]
[10pt]
[11pt]
[12pt]
\tiny
6.80565
7.33325
7.33325
7.33325
7.97224
8.50012
17.27505 5.31258
6.37509
6.37509
\scriptsize
7.97224
8.50012
8.50012
7.97224
8.50012
9.24994
20.73755 7.43760
8.50012
8.50012
\footnotesize 8.50012
9.24994
10.00002 8.50012
9.24994
9.24994
10.00002
\small
9.24994
\normalsize
10.00002 10.95003 11.74988 10.00002 10.95003 11.74988 24.88382 10.00002 10.95003 11.74988
\large
11.74988 11.74988 14.09984 10.95003 11.74988 14.09984 29.86258 11.74988 11.74988 14.09984
10.00002 10.95003
Formatting
42
\Large
14.09984 14.09984 15.84985 11.74988 14.09984 15.84985 35.82510 14.09984 14.09984 16.24988
\LARGE
15.84985 15.84985 19.02350 14.09984 15.84985 19.02350 43.00012 16.24988 16.24988 19.50362
\huge
19.02350 19.02350 22.82086 15.84985 19.02350 22.82086 51.60014 19.50362 19.50362 23.39682
\Huge
22.82086 22.82086 22.82086 19.02350 22.82086 22.82086 51.60014 23.39682 23.39682 23.39682
As a technical note, points in TeX follow the standard American point size in which 1 pt is approximately 0.3513_6
mm. The standard point size used in most modern computer programs (known as the desktop publishing point or
PostScript point) has 1 pt equal to approximately 0.352_7 mm while the standard European point size (known as the
Didot point) had 1 pt equal to approximately 0.37597151 mm. (See: w:Point_(typography).)
Even if you can easily change the output of your fonts using those commands, you're better off not using explicit
commands like this, because they work in opposition to the basic idea of LaTeX, which is to separate the logical and
visual markup of your document. This means that if you use the same font changing command in several places in
order to typeset a special kind of information, you should use \newcommand to define a "logical wrapper
command" for the font changing command.
\newcommand{\oops}[1]{\textbf{#1}} Do not \oops{enter} this
room, its occupied by \oops{machines} of unknown origin and
purpose.
This approach has the advantage that you can decide at some later stage that you want to use some visual
representation of danger other than \textbf , without having to wade through your document, identifying all the
occurrences of \textbf and then figuring out for each one whether it was used for pointing out danger or for
some other reason.
Text mode superscript and subscript
To superscript text in text-mode, you can use the \textsuperscript{} command. This allows you to, for
instance, typeset 6th as 6th:
Michelangelo was born on March 6\textsuperscript{th}, 1475.
A very common use of subscripts within the text environment is to typeset chemical formulae. For this purposes, a
highly recommended package is mhchem [3]. This package is easy to use, and works with your text fonts (rather than
math fonts). To insert a chemical formula, use \ce{} with the text-equivalent formula, for example:
% In your preamble, add:
\usepackage[version=3]{mhchem} ... % In your
document: Ammonium sulphate is \ce{(NH4)2SO4}.
Subscripting in text-mode is not supported by LaTeX alone; however, several packages allow the use of the
\textsubscript{} command. For instance, bpchem [4], KOMA-Script2 [5], and fixltx2e [6] all support this
command. Of these, fixltx2e [6] is perhaps the most universal option since it is distributed with LaTeX and requires
no additional packages to be implemented.
% In your preamble, add:
\usepackage{fixltx2e} ... % In your
document: It is found that
height\textsubscript{apple tree} is
different than
height\textsubscript{orange tree}.
Formatting
43
If you do not load a package that supports \textsubscript{} , the math mode must be used. This is easily
accomplished in running text by bracketing your text with the $ symbol. In math mode subscripting is done using
the underscore: _{} .
For example, the formula for water is written as:
H$_2$O is the formula for water
See also the above mentioned package mhchem for chemical symbols and formulas.
Note that in math mode text will appear in a font suitable for mathematical variables. In math mode, to generate
roman text, for example, one would use the \mathrm command:
This is $\mathrm{normal\ roman\
and}_\mathrm{subscript\ roman}$ text
Note the use of \<space> to insert a space in math mode.
Similarly, you can superscript using:
This is $\mathrm{normal\ roman\
and}^\mathrm{superscript\ roman}$ text
Text figures ("old style" numerals)
Many typographers prefer to use titling figures, sometimes called lining figures, when numerals are interspersed with
full caps, when they appear in tables, and when they appear in equations, using text figures elsewhere. LaTeX allows
this usage through the \oldstylenums{} command:
\oldstylenums{1234567890}
Some fonts do not have text figures built in; the textcomp package attempts to remedy this by effectively
generating text figures from the currently-selected font. Put \usepackage{textcomp} in your preamble.
textcomp also allows you to use decimal points, properly formatted dollar signs, etc. within
\oldstylenums{} .
One common use for text figures is in section, paragraph, and page numbers. These can be set to use text figures by
placing some code in your preamble:
\usepackage{textcomp}
% Enclose everything in an \AtBeginDocument{}
\AtBeginDocument{%
% Make \section{} use text figures
\let\myTheSection\thesection
\renewcommand{\thesection}{\oldstylenums{\myTheSection}}
% Make \paragraph{} use text figures
\let\myTheParagraph\theparagraph
\renewcommand{\theparagraph}{\oldstylenums{\myTheParagraph}}
% Make the page numbers in text figures
\let\myThePage\thepage
\renewcommand{\thepage}{\oldstylenums{\myThePage}}
}
Formatting
44
Should you use additional sectioning or paragraphing commands, you may adapt the previous code listing to include
them as well.
NOTE: A subsequent use of the \pagenumbering command, e.g., \pagenumbering{arabic} , will reset
the \thepage command back to the original. Thus, if you use the \pagenumbering command in your
document, be sure to reinstate your \myThePage definition from the code above:
...
\tableofcontents
\pagenumbering{roman}
\chapter{Preface}
...
\chapter{Introduction}
...
\pagenumbering{arabic}
\renewcommand{\thepage}{\oldstylenums{\myThePage}} % without this, the
\thepage command will not be in oldstyle (e.g., in your Table of
Contents}
\Chapter{Foo}
...
different purposes:
Use \hyp{} macro from hyphenat package instead of hyphen if you want LaTeX to break compound words
between lines.
Euro currency symbol
When writing about money these days, you need the euro sign. You have several choices. If the fonts you are using
have a euro symbol and you want to use that one, first you have to load the textcomp package in the
preamble:\usepackage{textcomp} then you can insert the euro symbol with the command \texteuro . If
you want to use the official version of the euro symbol, then you have to use eurosym, load it with the official
option in the preamble: \usepackage[official]{eurosym} then you can insert it with the \euro
command. Finally, if you want a euro symbol that matches with the current font style (e.g., bold, italics, etc.) but
your current font does not provide it, you can use the eurosym package again but with a different option:
Formatting
\usepackage[gen]{eurosym} again you can insert the euro symbol with \euro
Ellipsis ()
A sequence of three dots is known as an ellipsis, which is commonly used to indicate omitted text. On a typewriter, a
comma or a period takes the same amount of space as any other letter. In book printing, these characters occupy only
a little space and are set very close to the preceding letter. Therefore, you cannot enter ellipsis by just typing three
dots, as the spacing would be wrong. Instead, there is a special command for these dots. It is called \ldots :
Not like this ... but like this:\\ New York, Tokyo,
Budapest, \ldots
Alternatively, you can use the \textellipsis command which allows the spacing between the dots to vary.
Ready-made strings
There are some very simple LaTeX commands for typesetting special text strings:
Other symbols
LaTeX has lots of symbols at its disposal. The majority of them are within the mathematical domain, and later
chapters will cover how to get access to them. For the more common text symbols, use the following commands:
Not mentioned in above table, tilde (~) is used in LaTeX code to produce non-breakable space. To get printed tilde
sign, either make it verbatim text or write \~{} . And a visible space can be created with
\textvisiblespace .
Of course, these are rather boring. For some more interesting symbols, the Postscript ZipfDingbats font is available
thanks to the pifont package. Hopefully you are beginning to notice now that when you want to use a package,
you need to add the declaration to your preamble; in this instance: \usepackage{pifont} . Next, the
command \ding{number} , will print the specified symbol. Here is a table of the available symbols:
45
Formatting
46
Paragraph Formatting
Altering the paragraph formatting is not often required, especially in academic writing. However, it is useful to
know, and applications tend to be for formatting text in floats, or other more exotic documents.
Paragraph Alignment
Paragraphs in Latex are usually fully justified (i.e., flush with both the left and right margins). For whatever reason,
should you wish to alter the justification of a paragraph, there are three environments at hand, and also Latex
command equivalents.
Alignment
Left justified
Environment
flushleft
Command
\raggedright
center
\centering
All text between the \begin and \end of the specified environment will be justified appropriately. The
commands listed are for use within other environments. For example, p (paragraph) columns in tabular .
Formatting
47
Paragraph Indents
By default, the first paragraph after a heading follows the standard Anglo-American publishers' practice of no
indentation. The size of subsequent paragraph indents are determined by a parameter called \parindent . The
default length that this constant holds is set by the document class that you use. It is possible to override using the
\setlength command.
\setlength{\parindent}{1cm}
This will set paragraph indents to 1cm.
Be careful, however, if you decide to set the indent to zero, then it means you will need a vertical space between
paragraphs in order to make them clear. The space between paragraphs is held in \parskip , which could be
altered in a similar fashion as above. However, this parameter is used elsewhere too, such as in lists, which means
you run the risk of making various parts of your document look very untidy by changing this setting. If you want to
use the style of having no indentation with a space between paragraphs, use the parskip package, which does this
for you, while making adjustments to the spacing of lists and other structures which use paragraph spacing, so they
don't get too far apart. Add this to the preamble:
\usepackage{parskip}
To indent subsequent lines of a paragraph, use the TeX command \hangindent . (While the default behaviour is
to apply the hanging indent after the first line, this may be changed with the \hangafter command.) An example
follows.
\hangindent=0.7cm This paragraph has an extra indentation at the left.
The TeX commands \leftskip and \rightskip add additional space to the left and right sides of each line,
allowing the formatting for subsequent paragraphs to differ from the overall document margins. This space is in
addition to the indentation added by \parindent and \hangindent .
To change the indentation of the last line in a paragraph, use the TeX command \parfillskip .
White-space in LaTeX can also be made flexible (what Lamport calls "rubber" lengths). This means that values such
as \parskip can have a default dimension plus an amount of expansion minus an amount of contraction. This is
useful on pages in complex documents where not every page may be an exact number of fixed-height lines long, so
some give-and-take in vertical space is useful. You specify this in a \setlength command like this:
\setlength{\parskip}{1cm plus4mm minus3mm}
Line Spacing
To change line spacing in the whole document use the command \linespread
LaTeX/Customizing_LaTeX#Spacing.
covered in
Formatting
Special Paragraphs
Verbatim Text
There are several ways to introduce text that won't be interpreted by the compiler. If you use the verbatim
environment, everything input between the begin and end commands are processed as if by a typewriter. All spaces
and new lines are reproduced as given, and the text is displayed in an appropriate fixed-width font. Any LaTeX
command will be ignored and handled as plain text. This is ideal for typesetting program source code. Here is an
example:
\begin{verbatim} The verbatim environment simply
reproduces every character you input, including all s p
a c e s! \end{verbatim}
Note: once in the verbatim environment, the only command that will be recognized is \end{verbatim} .
Any others will be output. The font size in the verbatim environment can be adjusted by placing a font size command
before \begin{verbatim} . If this is an issue, then you can use the alltt package instead, providing an
environment with the same name:
\begin{alltt} Verbatim extended with the ability to
use normal commands. Therefore, it is possible to
\emph{emphasize} words in this environment, for
example. \end{alltt}
Remember to add \usepackage{alltt} to your preamble to use it though! Within the alltt environment,
you can use the command \normalfont to get back the normal font. To write equations within the alltt
enviroment, you can use \( and \) to enclose them, instead of the usual$ .
When using \textbf{} inside the alltt enviroment, note that the standard font has no bold TT font. Txtfonts
has bold fonts: just add \renewcommand{\ttdefault}{txtt} after \usepackage{alltt} .
If you just want to introduce a short verbatim phrase, you don't need to use the whole environment, but you have the
\verb command:
\verb+my text+
The first character following \verb is the delimiter: here we have used "+", but you can use any character you like
but * and space; \verb will print verbatim all the text after it until it finds the next delimiter. For example, the
code:
\verb|\textbf{Hi mate!}|
will print \textbf{Hi mate!}, ignoring the effect \textbf should have on text.
For more control over formatting, however, you can try the fancyvrb package, which provides a Verbatim
environment (note the capital letter) which lets you draw a rule round the verbatim text, change the font size, and
even have typographic effects inside the Verbatim environment. It can also be used in conjunction with the
fancybox package and it can add reference line numbers (useful for chunks of data or programming), and it can
even include entire external files.
48
Formatting
49
Typesetting URLs
One of either the hyperref or url packages provides the \url command, which properly typesets URLs, for
example:
Go to \url{http://www.uni.edu/~myname/best-website-ever.html} for my
website.
will show this URL exactly as typed (similar to the \verb command), but the \url command also performs a
hyphenless break at punctuation characters (only in pdflatex, not in plain latex + dvips). It was designed for Web
URLs, so it understands their syntax and will never break mid-way through an unpunctuated word, only at slashes
and full stops. Bear in mind, however, that spaces are forbidden in URLs, so using spaces in \url arguments will
fail, as will using other non-URL-valid characters.
When using this command through the hyperref package, the URL is "clickable" in the PDF document, whereas
it is not linked to the web when using only the url package. Also when using the hyperref package, to remove
the border placed around a URL, insert pdfborder = {0 0 0 0} inside the \hypersetup{} .
Listing Environment
This is also an extension of the verbatim environment provided by the moreverb package. The extra functionality
it provides is that it can add line numbers along side the text. The command:
\begin{listing}[step]{first line} . The mandatory first line argument is for specifying which line the
numbering shall commence. The optional step is the step between numbered lines (the default is 1, which means
every line will be numbered).
To use this environment, remember to add \usepackage{moreverb} to the document preamble.
Multi-line comments
As we have seen, the only way LaTeX allows you to add comments is by using the special character % , that will
comment out all the rest of the line after itself. This approach is really time-consuming if you want to insert long
comments or just comment out a part of your document that you want to improve later. Using the verbatim package,
to be loaded in the preamble as usual:
\usepackage{verbatim}
(you can also use the comment package instead) you can use an environment called comment that will comment out
everything within itself. Here is an example:
This is another \begin{comment} rather stupid, but helpful
\end{comment} example for embedding comments in your
document.
Note that this wont work inside complex environments, like math for example. You may be wondering, why should
I load a package called verbatim to have the possibility to add comments? The answer is straightforward: commented
text is interpreted by the compiler just like verbatim text, the only difference is that verbatim text is introduced
within the document, while the comment is just dropped.
Alternatively, you can define a \comment{} command, by adding the following to the document's preamble:
\newcommand{\comment}[1]{}
Then, to comment out text, simply do something like this:
\comment{ This is a long comment and can extend over multiple lines, etc. }
Formatting
50
Quoting text
LaTeX provides several environments for quoting text; they have small differences and they are aimed for different
types of quotations. All of them are indented on either margin, and you will need to add your own quotation marks if
you want them. The provided environments are:
quote
for a short quotation, or a series of small quotes, separated by blank lines.
quotation
for use with longer quotations, of more than one paragraph, because it indents the first line of each paragraph.
verse
is for quotations where line breaks are important, such as poetry. Once in, new stanzas are created with a blank
line, and new lines within a stanza are indicated using the newline command, \\ . If a line takes up more than
one line on the page, then all subsequent lines are indented until explicitly separated with \\ .
Abstracts
In scientific publications it is customary to start with an abstract which gives the reader a quick overview of what to
expect. LaTeX provides the abstract environment for this purpose. It is available in article and report
document classes; it's not available in the book , but it's quite simple to create your own if you really need it.
Footnotes
Footnotes are a very useful way of providing extra information to the reader. Usually, it is non-essential information
which can be placed at the bottom of the page. This keeps the main body of text concise.
The footnote facility is easy to use. The command you need is: \footnote{text} . Do not leave a space
between the command and the word where you wish the footnote marker to appear, otherwise Latex will process that
space and will leave the output not looking as intended.
Creating a footnote is easy.\footnote{An example
footnote.}
Latex will obviously take care of typesetting the footnote at the bottom of the page. Each footnote is numbered
sequentially - a process that, as you should have guessed by now, is automatically done for you.
It is possible to customize the footnote marking. By default, they are numbered sequentially (Arabic). However,
without going too much into the mechanics of Latex at this point, it is possible to change this using the following
command (which needs to be placed at the beginning of the document, or at least before the first footnote command
is issued).
Formatting
51
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\arabic{footnote}}
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\roman{footnote}}
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\Roman{footnote}}
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\alph{footnote}}
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\Alph{footnote}}
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{\fnsymbol{footnote}}
footnote
referred
to
Use the footmisc package, with package option stable, and simply add the footnote to the section title.
the
Formatting
Margin Notes
Margin Notes are useful during the editorial process, to
exchange comments among authors. To insert a margin
note use \marginpar{margin text} . For
one-sided layout (simplex), the text will be placed in
the right margin, starting from the line where it is
defined. For two-sided layout (duplex), it will be placed
in the outside margin and for two-column layout it will
be placed in the nearest margin.
To swap the default side, use \reversemarginpar
and margin notes will then be placed on the opposite
side, which would be the inside margin for two-sided
layout.
If the text of your marginpar depends on which margin
a margin note
it is put in (say it includes an arrow pointing at the text
or refers to a direction as in "as seen to the left..."), you can use \marginpar[left text]{right text} to
specify the variants.
To insert a margin note in an area that \marginpar can't handle, such as footnotes or equation environments, use
the package marginnote.
Another option for adding colored margin notes in a fancy way provides the package todonotes by using
\todo{todo note} . It makes use of the package pgf used for designing and drawing with a huge tool
database.
Also see the package mparhack.
Summary
Phew! What a busy tutorial! A lot of material was covered here, mainly because formatting is such a broad topic.
Latex is so flexible that we actually only skimmed the surface, as you can have much more control over the
presentation of your document if you wish. Having said that, one of the purposes of Latex is to take away the stress
of having to deal with the physical presentation yourself, so you need not get too carried away!
This page uses material from Andy Roberts' Getting to grips with Latex [3] with permission from the author.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
52
Fonts
53
Fonts
In order to select a font other than the default typeface in Latex environment, it is necessary to include some
commands in the preamble of the document.
For example:
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[light,math]{iwona}
Important: note that this only works for fonts that are already prepared for use with LaTeX. If what you have is a ttf
font or similar, you will have to convert it and make it available to LaTeX. See the external links section below for
some useful resources.
Example
Below is an example found at the Google discussion group latexlovers. The example demonstrates how to select
different fonts in a simple document.
\documentclass{book}
\begin{document}
% using default font (\familydefault = \rmdefault = Computer Modern
Roman)
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectitur adipiscing elit.
\renewcommand*\rmdefault{ppl}\normalfont\upshape
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectitur adipiscing elit. % using
Palatino font
\renewcommand*\rmdefault{iwona}\normalfont\upshape
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectitur adipiscing elit. % using Iwona
font
\end{document}
XeTeX
If you use the XeTeX or LuaTeX engine and the fontspec [1] package, you'll be able to use any font installed in the
system effortlessly. XeTeX also allows using OpenType technology of modern fonts like specifying alternate glyphs
and optical size variants. XeTeX also uses Unicode by default, which might be helpful for font issues.
To use the fonts, simply load the fontspec package and set the font:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Arial}
\begin{document}
Lorem ipsum...
Fonts
54
\end{document}
Then compile the document with XeLateX or LuaLaTeX. Note that you can only generate .pdf files, and that you
need a sufficiently new TeX distribution (TeX Live 2009 should work for XeTeX and Tex Live 2010 for LuaTeX).
Also you should NOT load the inputenc or fontenc package. To make support both pdflatex and XeTeX you can use
the \ifxetex macro from the ifxetex [2] package.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{ifxetex}
\ifxetex
\usepackage{fontspec}
\usepackage{xunicode}
\defaultfontfeatures{Mapping=tex-text} % To support LaTeX quoting
style
\setromanfont{Hoefler Text}
\else
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\fi
\begin{document}
Lorem ipsum...
\end{document}
Useful websites
Fonts
55
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ help/ Catalogue/ entries/ fontspec. html
[2] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ generic/ ifxetex/
[3] http:/ / www. tug. dk/ FontCatalogue/
[4] http:/ / www. cl. cam. ac. uk/ ~rf10/ pstex/ latexcommands. htm
[5] http:/ / www. ee. iitb. ac. in/ ~trivedi/ LatexHelp/ latexfont. htm
[6] ftp:/ / tug. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ fonts/ utilities/ fontinst/ doc/ talks/ et99-font-tutorial. pdf
[7] http:/ / www. tug. org/ TUGboat/ Articles/ tb27-1/ tb86kroonenberg-fonts. pdf
[8] http:/ / c. caignaert. free. fr/ Install-ttf-Font. pdf
[9] http:/ / www. tex. ac. uk/ ctan/ support/ installfont/ installfont. pdf
[10] http:/ / latex. josef-kleber. de/ download/ installfont-tl
[11] http:/ / xpt. sourceforge. net/ techdocs/ language/ latex/ latex33-LaTeXAndTrueTypeFont
[12] http:/ / fachschaft. physik. uni-greifswald. de/ ~stitch/ ttf. html
[13] http:/ / william. famille-blum. org/ software/ latexttf/ index. html
[14] http:/ / www. radamir. com/ tex/ ttf-tex. htm
List Structures
Convenient and predictable list formatting is one of the many advantages of using LaTeX. Many users of wysiwyg
word processors are frequently frustrated by the software's clumsy attempts to figure out when you intend lists to
begin and end. This is the price of auto-formatting. As a mark-up language, LaTeX gives you far more control over
the structure and content of your list. With a little practice you will find that creating lists in LaTeX is actually a
pleasure when compared to wrestling with your typical "high power" word processor.
List Structures
Lists often appear in documents, especially academic, as their purpose is often to present information in a clear and
concise fashion. List structures in LaTeX are simply environments which essentially come in three flavors:
itemize , enumerate and description .
All lists follow the basic format:
\begin{list_type}
\item The first item
\item The second item
\item The third etc \ldots
\end{list_type}
All three of these types of lists can have multiple paragraphs per item: just type the additional paragraphs in the
normal way, with a blank line between each. So long as they are still contained within the enclosing environment,
they will automatically be indented to follow underneath their item.
List Structures
Itemize
This environment is for your standard bulleted list of items.
\begin{itemize} \item The first item \item The second item \item
The third etc \ldots \end{itemize}
Enumerate
The enumerate environment is for ordered lists, where by default, each item is numbered sequentially.
\begin{enumerate} \item The first item \item The second item
\item The third etc \ldots \end{enumerate}
Description
The description environment is slightly different. You can specify the item label by passing it as an optional
argument (although optional, it would look odd if you didn't include it!). Ideal for a series of definitions, such as a
glossary.
\begin{description} \item[First] The first item
\item[Second] The second item \item[Third] The third etc
\ldots \end{description}
Sometimes you want a description where the text begins on a new line. This cannot easily be done with \\ . The
trick is to use \hfill .
\begin{description} \item[First] \hfill \\ The first item
\item[Second] \hfill \\ The second item \item[Third] \hfill \\
The third etc \ldots \end{description}
Compacted lists
As you may have noticed, in standard LaTeX document classes, the vertical spacing between items, and above and
below the lists as a whole, is more than between paragraphs: it may look odd if the descriptions are too short. If you
want tightly-packed lists, use the mdwlist package (included in the mdwtools bundle), which provides
compact, "starred" versions of the previous environments, i.e. itemize* , enumerate* and description*
. They work exactly in the same way, but the output is more compact. Other packages providing compacted lists are
paralist and enumitem.
Alternatively, use the memoir class and with \tightlists.
56
List Structures
Nested Lists
Latex will happily allow you to insert a list environment into an existing one (up to a depth of four -- if you need
more than four, use the easylist package). Simply begin the appropriate environment at the desired point within the
current list. Latex will sort out the layout and any numbering for you.
Customizing Lists
Customizing LaTeX is outside the beginners' domain. While not necessarily difficult in itself, because beginners are
already overwhelmed with the array of commands and environments, moving on to more advanced topics runs the
risk of confusion.
However, since the tutorial is on formatting, I shall still include a brief guide on customizing lists. Feel free to skip!
Customizing Line Spacing in Lists
Inside lists you can redefine some length/dimension variables of latex, for example using:
\begin{itemize}
\setlength{\itemsep}{1pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}
\setlength{\parsep}{0pt} \item first item \item second item \end{itemize}
Alternatively, to create a unified look in your document you can define your own enumerate environment:
\newenvironment{my_enumerate}
{\begin{enumerate}
\setlength{\itemsep}{1pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{0pt} \setlength{\parsep}{0pt}} {\end{enumerate}}
Customizing Enumerated Lists
The thing people want to change most often with Enumerated lists are the counters. A quick solution to this problem
is provided by the enumerate package of David Carlisle[1] , or the more sophisticated package enumitem by
Javier Bezos[2] .
To go any further and do it yourself instead, a brief introduction to LaTeX counters is required. For anything that
LaTeX automatically numbers, such as section headers, figures, and itemized lists, there is a counter associated with
it that controls the numbering.
There are four individual counters that are associated with itemized lists, each one represents the four possible levels
of nesting, which are called: enumi , enumii , enumiii , enumiv . In order to reset any of these counters in
the middle of an enumeration simply use \setcounter . The counter is incremented by \item before it is
printed. For example to reset enumi use:
\begin{enumerate}
\setcounter{enumi}{4}
\item fifth element
\end{enumerate}
which prints as:
5. fifth element
Each counter also has a default format that dictates how it is displayed whenever LaTeX needs to print it. Such
formats are specified using internal LaTeX commands:
57
List Structures
58
Command
Example
\arabic
1, 2, 3 ...
\alph
a, b, c ...
\Alph
A, B, C ...
\roman
\Roman
Each counter entity holds various bits of information about itself. To get to the numbered element, simply use \the
followed immediately (i.e., no space) by the name of the counter, e.g., \theenumi . This is often referred to as the
representation of a counter.
Now, that's most of the technicalities out of the way. To make changes to the formatting of a given level:
\renewcommand{\representation}{\format_command{counter}}
Admittedly, the generic version is not that clear, so a couple of examples will clarify:
%Redefine the first level
\renewcommand{\theenumi}{\Roman{enumi}}
\renewcommand{\labelenumi}{\theenumi}
%Redefine the second level
\renewcommand{\theenumii}{\Alph{enumii}}
\renewcommand{\labelenumii}{\theenumii}
The method used above first explicitly changes the format used by the counter. However, the element that controls
the label needs to be updated to reflect the change, which is what the second line does. Another way to achieve this
result is this:
\renewcommand{\labelenumi}{\Roman{enumi}}
This simply redefines the appearance of the label, which is fine, providing that you do not intend to cross-reference
to a specific item within the list, in which case the reference will be printed in the previous format. This issue does
not arise in the first example.
Note that you can also add other symbols, such as parentheses and periods, before and after the counter. For instance,
to create a list indexed by lower case letters with parentheses before and after the letter, you might enter the
following:
\renewcommand{\labelenumi}{(\alph{enumi})}
List Structures
Customizing Itemised Lists
Itemized lists are not as complex as they do not need to count. Therefore, to customize, you simply change the
labels. It can be done manually for each entry with \item[new symbol] , eg \item[$\star$] .
The itemize labels are accessed via \labelitemi , \labelitemii , \labelitemiii , \labelitemiv
, for the four respective levels.
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{\textgreater}
The above example would set the labels for the first level to a greater than (>) symbol. Of course, the text symbols
available in Latex are not very exciting. Why not use one of the ZapfDingbat symbols, as described in the Symbols
section. Or use a mathematical symbol:
\renewcommand{\labelitemi}{$\star$}
Itemized list with tightly set items, that is with no vertical space between two consecutive items, can be created as
follows.
\begin{itemize}
\setlength{\itemsep}{0cm}%
\setlength{\parskip}{0cm}%
\item Item opening the list
\item Item tightly following
\end{itemize}
Details of Customizing Lists
Note that it is necessary that the \renewcommand appears after the \begin{document} instruction so the
changes made are taken into account. This is needed for both enumerated and itemized lists.
Inline lists
Inline lists are a special case as they require the use of the paralist package which provides the inparaenum
environment (with an optional formatting specification in square brackets):
... \usepackage{paralist} \begin{document}
\textbf{\itshape Inline lists}, which are
sequential in nature, just like enumerated lists,
but are \begin{inparaenum}[\itshape a\upshape)]
\item formatted within their paragraph; \item
usually labelled with letters; and \item usually
have the final item prefixed with `and' or `or',
\end{inparaenum} like this example. ...
To change the styles of the counter, tokens A, a, I, i, and 1 can be used in the optional argument to produce the
counter with one of the styles \Alph , \alph , \Roman , \roman and \arabic . For example:
\begin{inparaenum}[(i)]
produces the labels (i), (ii), (iii) ...
Other packages providing inline lists are shortlst and enumitem.
[1] (http:/ / mirrors. fe. up. pt/ pub/ CTAN/ macros/ latex/ required/ tools/ enumerate. pdf)The enumerate package, David Carlisle 1999
[2] (http:/ / mirrors. fe. up. pt/ pub/ CTAN/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ enumitem/ enumitem. pdf)The enumitem package, Javier Bezos 2011
59
Tables
60
Tables
In academic writing, tables are a common feature, often for summarising results from research. It is therefore a skill
that needs mastering in order to produce quality papers.
However, if there is one area about LaTeX that is the least intuitive, then this is it. Basic tables are not too taxing, but
you will quickly notice that anything more advanced can take a fair bit of construction. So, we start slowly and build
up from there.
Workaround: You might save lots of time by converting tables from Excel or OpenOffice spreadsheets with the
help of open source plugins, see e.g. http:/ / calc2latex. sourceforge. net/ [1] for OpenOffice spreedsheets and http:/ /
www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ support/ excel2latex/ [2] for Microsoft Office Excel. For people used to matlab, there is
also plugin called matrix2latex [3]
left-justified column
centered column
right-justified column
vertical line
||
By default, if the text in a column is too wide for the page, LaTeX wont automatically wrap it. Using p{width}
you can define a special type of column which will wrap-around the text as in a normal paragraph. You can pass the
width using any unit supported by LaTeX, such as pt and cm, or command lengths, such as \textwidth.You can
find a complete list in appendix Useful Measurement Macros.
The optional parameter pos can be used to specify the vertical position of the table relative to the baseline of the
surrounding text. In most cases, you will not need this option. It becomes relevant only if your table is not in a
paragraph of its own. You can use the following letters:
Tables
61
b bottom
c center (default)
t top
In the first line you have pointed out how many columns you want, their alignment and the vertical lines to separate
them. Once in the environment, you have to introduce the text you want, separating between cells and introducing
new lines. The commands you have to use are the following:
&
column separator
\\
start new row (additional space may be specified after \\ using square brackets, such as \\[6pt])
\hline
horizontal line
\newline
Note, any white space inserted between these commands is purely down to ones' preferences. I personally add spaces
between to make it easier to read.
Basic examples
This example shows how to create a simple table in LaTeX. It is a three-by-three table, but without any lines.
\begin{tabular}{ l c r } 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & 6 \\ 7 & 8 & 9 \\
\end{tabular}
Expanding upon that by including some vertical lines:
\begin{tabular}{ l | c || r | } 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & 6 \\ 7 & 8 & 9 \\
\end{tabular}
To add horizontal lines to the very top and bottom edges of the table:
\begin{tabular}{ l | c || r | } \hline 1 & 2 & 3 \\ 4 & 5 & 6 \\ 7 &
8 & 9 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
And finally, to add lines between all rows, as well as centering (notice the use of the center environment - of course,
the result of this is not obvious from the preview on this web page):
\begin{center} \begin{tabular}{ l | c || r | } \hline 1 & 2 & 3 \\
\hline 4 & 5 & 6 \\ \hline 7 & 8 & 9 \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{center}
\begin{tabular}{|r|l|} \hline 7C0 & hexadecimal \\
3700 & octal \\ \cline{2-2} 11111000000 & binary \\
\hline \hline 1984 & decimal \\ \hline \end{tabular}
Tables
62
Tables
63
& 22C & A clear day with lots of sunshine. However, the strong breeze will
bring down the temperatures. \\ \hline Tuesday & 9C & 19C & Cloudy with rain,
across many northern regions. Clear spells across most of Scotland and
Northern Ireland, but rain reaching the far northwest. \\ \hline Wednesday &
10C & 21C & Rain will still linger for the morning. Conditions will improve by
early afternoon and continue throughout the evening. \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{center} \end{document}
You get the following output:
Note that the first table is cropped: The output is wider than the page width.
l%
\newcolumntype{S}[1]{%
<{\end{lrbox}%
Tables
64
\begin{verbatim}
code
\end{verbatim}
&
@-expressions
The column separator can be specified with the @{...} construct.
It typically takes some text as its argument, and when appended to a column, it will automatically insert that text into
each cell in that column before the actual data for that cell. This command kills the inter-column space and replaces
it with whatever is between the curly braces. To add space, use @{\hspace{width}}.
Admittedly, this is not that clear, and so will require a few examples to clarify. Sometimes, it is desirable in scientific
tables to have the numbers aligned on the decimal point. This can be achieved by doing the following:
\begin{tabular}{r@{.}l} 3 & 14159 \\ 16 & 2 \\ 123 & 456 \\
\end{tabular}
Note that the approach outlined above won't work well if the column header is longer than any of the numbers. To
center the column on the decimal separator, use the dcolumn package, which provides a new column specifier for
floating point data.
The space suppressing qualities of the @-expression actually make it quite useful for manipulating the horizontal
spacing between columns. Given a basic table, and varying the column descriptions:
\begin{tabular}{|l|l|} \hline stuff & stuff \\ \hline stuff & stuff \\ \hline
\end{tabular}
Tables
65
{|l|l|}
{|@{}l|l@{}|}
{|@{}l@{}|l@{}|}
{|@{}l@{}|@{}l@{}|}
Spanning
To complete this tutorial, we take a quick look at how to generate slightly more complex tables. Unsurprisingly, the
commands necessary have to be embedded within the table data itself.
Rows spanning multiple columns
The command for this looks like this: \multicolumn{num_cols}{alignment}{contents}. num_cols is
the number of subsequent columns to merge; alignment is, either l, c, r or to have text wrapping specifiy a width
p{5.0cm} . And contents is simply the actual data you want to be contained within that cell. A simple example:
Tables
Spanning in both directions simultaneously
Here is a nontrivial example how to use spanning in both directions simultaneously and have the borders of the cells
drawn correctly:
\usepackage{multirow} \begin{tabular}{cc|c|c|c|c|l}
\cline{3-6} & & \multicolumn{4}{|c|}{Primes} \\
\cline{3-6} & & 2 & 3 & 5 & 7 \\ \cline{1-6}
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{Powers}} &
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{504} & 3 & 2 & 0 & 1 & \\
\cline{2-6} \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{} &
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{540} & 2 & 3 & 1 & 0 & \\
\cline{1-6}
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{\multirow{2}{*}{Powers}} &
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{gcd} & 2 & 2 & 0 & 0 & min \\
\cline{2-6} \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{} &
\multicolumn{1}{|c|}{lcm} & 3 & 3 & 1 & 1 & max \\
\cline{1-6} \end{tabular}
The command \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{...} is just used to draw vertical borders both on the left and on the
right of the cell. Even when combined with \multirow{2}{*}{...}, it still draws vertical borders that only
span the first row. To compensate for that, we add \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{...} in the following rows
spanned by the multirow. Note that we cannot just use \hline to draw horizontal lines, since we do not want the
line to be drawn over the text that spans several rows. Instead we use the command \cline{2-6} and opt out the
first column that contains the text "Powers".
Here is another example exploiting the same ideas to make the familiar and popular "2x2" or double dichotomy:
\begin{tabular}{r|c|c|} \multicolumn{1}{r}{} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{noninteractive} &
\multicolumn{1}{c}{interactive} \\ \cline{2-3}
massively multiple & Library & University \\
\cline{2-3} one-to-one & Book & Tutor \\
\cline{2-3} \end{tabular}
Resize tables
The command \resizebox{width}{height}{object} can be used with tabular to specify the height
and width of a table. The following example shows how to resize a table to 8cm width while maintaining the original
width/height ratio.
\resizebox{8cm}{!} { \begin{tabular}... \end{tabular} }
Alternatively you can use \scalebox{ratio}{object} in the same way but with ratios rather than fixed
sizes:
\scalebox{0.7}{ \begin{tabular}... \end{tabular} }
Both \resizebox and \scalebox require the graphicx package.
To tweak the space between columns (LaTeX will by default choose very tight columns), one can alter the column
separation: \setlength{\tabcolsep}{5pt}. The default value is 6pt.
66
Tables
67
Sideways tables
Tables can also be put on their side within a document using the rotating package and the sidewaystable
environments in place of the table environment. (NOTE: most DVI viewers do not support displaying rotated text.
Convert your document to a PDF to see the result. Most, if not all, PDF viewers do support rotated text.)
\usepackage{rotating}
\end{sidewaystable}
\begin{sidewaystable}
\begin{tabular}...
\end{tabular}
When it is desirable to place the rotated table at the exact location where it appears in the source (.tex) file,
rotfloat package may be used. Then one can use \begin{sidewaystable}[H] just like for normal tables.
The 'H' option can not be used without this package.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[table]{xcolor} \begin{document}
\begin{center} \rowcolors{1}{green}{pink}
\begin{tabular}{lll} odd & odd & odd \\ even &
even & even\\ odd & odd & odd \\ even & even &
even\\ \end{tabular} \end{center}
\end{document}
The command \hiderowcolors is available to deactivate highlighting of a specified row. Highlighting can be
reactivated within the table via the \showrowcolors command.
Tables
68
The default is [tbp]. If you want to place a table in the place where it's declared, do not just write [h]; if the table
cannot fit (because the text is near the bottom of the page, say) it will float to a dedicated page of floats (as if it were
a p float) which can be some distance away in the document. A good rule of thumb is to always use htbp until the
document is finished, at which stage the final float parameters can be fine-tuned.
The table environment is also useful when you want to have a list of tables at the beginning or end of your
document with the command \listoftables; it enables making cross-references to the table with:
You may refer to table~\ref{my_table} for an example. ...
\begin{tabular}
...
\end{tabular}
\caption{An
example
\label{my_table} \end{table}
\begin{table}
of
table}
Tables
69
Tables
70
Professional tables
Many professionally typeset books and journals feature simple tables, which have appropriate spacing above and
below lines, and almost never use vertical rules. Many examples of LaTeX tables (including this Wikibook)
showcase the use of vertical rules (using "|"), and double-rules (using \hline\hline" or "||"), which are
regarded as unnecessary and distracting in a professionally published form. The booktabs [5] package is useful for
easily providing this professionalism in LaTeX tables, and the documentation [6] also provides guidelines on what
constitutes a "good" table.
In brief, the package uses \toprule for the uppermost rule (or line), \midrule for the rules appearing in the
middle of the table (such as under the header), and \bottomrule for the lowermost rule. This ensures that the
rule weight and spacing are acceptable. In addition, \cmidrule can be used for mid-rules that span specified
columns. The following example contrasts the use of booktabs and two equivalent normal LaTeX implementations
(the second example requires \usepackage{array} or \usepackage{dcolumn}, and the third example
requires \usepackage{booktabs} in the preamble).
Normal LaTeX
Using array
\usepackage{booktabs} %or
\usepackage{dcolumn} ...
\begin{tabular}{llr}
\begin{tabular}{llr}
\hline
\firsthline
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Item}
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Item}
\\ \cline{1-2} Animal &
\\ \cline{1-2} Animal &
Description & Price (\$)
Description & Price (\$)
\\ \hline Gnat & per gram \\ \hline Gnat & per gram
& 13.65 \\ & each & 0.01
& 13.65 \\ & each & 0.01
\\ Gnu & stuffed & 92.50
\\ Gnu & stuffed & 92.50
\\ Emu & stuffed & 33.33
\\ Emu & stuffed & 33.33
\\ Armadillo & frozen &
\\ Armadillo & frozen &
8.99 \\ \hline
8.99 \\ \lasthline
\end{tabular}
\end{tabular}
Using booktabs
\usepackage{booktabs} ...
\begin{tabular}{llr}
\toprule
\multicolumn{2}{c}{Item}
\\ \cmidrule(r){1-2}
Animal & Description &
Price (\$) \\ \midrule
Gnat & per gram & 13.65
\\ & each & 0.01 \\ Gnu &
stuffed & 92.50 \\ Emu &
stuffed & 33.33 \\
Armadillo & frozen & 8.99
\\ \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
Tables
Usually the need arises for footnotes under a table (and not at the bottom of the page), with a caption properly spaced
above the table. These are addressed by the ctable [7] package. It provides the option of a short caption given to be
inserted in the list of tables, instead of the actual caption (which may be quite long and inappropriate for the list of
tables). The ctable package uses the booktabs package.
71
Tables
72
rccol [20]: advanced decimal point alignment of numeric cells with rounding
spreadtab [21]: spread sheets allowing the use of formulae
Summary
This concludes discussion of basic tables. Experimentation quickly leads to mastery. The table syntax in LaTeX can
look rather messy, and seeing new examples can look confusing. But hopefully, enough has been covered here so
that a user can create any table needed for your papers. Unsurprisingly, LaTeX has plenty more up its sleeve, so
expect a follow up tutorial covering more advanced features in the near future.
References
[1] http:/ / calc2latex. sourceforge. net/
[2] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ support/ excel2latex/
[3] http:/ / www. mathworks. com/ matlabcentral/ fileexchange/ 4894-matrix2latex
[4] Package multirow on CTAN (http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ multirow/ )
[5] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ booktabs/
[6] http:/ / mirrors. ctan. org/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ booktabs/ booktabs. pdf
[7] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ ctable/
[8] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ caption/
[9] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ hhline
[10] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ array
[11] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ colortbl
[12] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ supertabular
[13] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ longtable
[14] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ xtab
[15] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ tabulary
[16] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ arydshln
[17] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ ctable
[18] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ slashbox
[19] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ dcolumn
[20] http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ pkg/ rccol
[21] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ pkg/ spreadtab
Bibliography Management
Bibliography Management
For any academic/research writing, incorporating references into a document is an important task. Fortunately,
LaTeX has a variety of features that make dealing with references much simpler, including built-in support for citing
references. However, a much more powerful and flexible solution is achieved thanks to an auxiliary tool called
BibTeX [3] (which comes bundled as standard with LaTeX).
BibTeX provides for the storage of all references in an external, flat-file database. This database can be linked to any
LaTeX document, and citations made to any reference that is contained within the file. This is often more convenient
than embedding them at the end of every document written. There is now a centralized bibliography source that can
be linked to as many documents as desired (write once, read many!). Of course, bibliographies can be split over as
many files as one wishes, so there can be a file containing references concerning General Relativity and another
about Quantum Mechanics. When writing about Quantum Gravity (QG), which tries to bridge the gap between these
two theories, both of these files can be linked into the document, in addition to references specific to QG.
Embedded system
If you are writing only one or two documents and aren't planning on writing more on the same subject for a long
time, maybe you don't want to waste time creating a database of references you are never going to use. In this case
you should consider using the basic and simple bibliography support that is embedded within LaTeX.
LaTeX provides an environment called thebibliography that you have to use where you want the
bibliography; that usually means at the very end of your document, just before the \end{document} command.
Here is a practical example:
\begin{thebibliography}{9} \bibitem{lamport94} Leslie Lamport, \emph{\LaTeX: A
Document Preparation System}. Addison Wesley, Massachusetts, 2nd Edition,
1994. \end{thebibliography}
OK, so what is going on here? The first thing to notice is the establishment of the environment.
thebibliography is a keyword that LaTeX recognizes as everything between the begin and end tags as being
data for the bibliography. The optional argument, which I supplied after the begin statement, is telling LaTeX how
wide the item label will be when printed. Note however, that it is not a literal parameter, i.e the number 9 in this
case, but a text width. Therefore, I am effectively telling LaTeX that I will only need reference labels of one
character in width, which means no more than nine references in total. If you want more than ten, then input a
two-digit number, such as '99' which permits fewer than 100 references.
Next is the actual reference entry itself. This is prefixed with the \bibitem{cite_key} command. The cite_key
should be a unique identifier for that particular reference, and is often some sort of mnemonic consisting of any
sequence of letters, numbers and punctuation symbols (although not a comma). I often use the surname of the first
author, followed by the last two digits of the year (hence lamport94). If that author has produced more than one
reference for a given year, then I add letters after, 'a', 'b', etc. But, you should do whatever works for you. Everything
after the key is the reference itself. You need to type it as you want it to be presented. I have put the different parts of
the reference, such as author, title, etc., on different lines for readability. These linebreaks are ignored by LaTeX. I
wanted the title to be in italics, so I used the \emph{} command to achieve this.
73
Bibliography Management
74
Citations
To actually cite a given document is very easy. Go to the point where you want the citation to appear, and use the
following: \cite{cite_key}, where the cite_key is that of the bibitem you wish to cite. When LaTeX processes
the document, the citation will be cross-referenced with the bibitems and replaced with the appropriate number
citation. The advantage here, once again, is that LaTeX looks after the numbering for you. If it were totally manual,
then adding or removing a reference would be a real chore, as you would have to re-number all the citations by hand.
Instead of WYSIWYG editors,
\cite{lamport94} can be used.
typesetting
systems
like
\TeX{}
or
\LaTeX{}
Multiple Citations
When a sequence of multiple citations are needed, you should use a single \cite{} command. The citations are
then separated by commas. Note that you must not use spaces between the citations. Here's an example:
\cite{citation01,citation02,citation03}
The result will then be shown as citations inside the same brackets.
No Cite
If you only want a reference to appear in the bibliography, but not where it is referenced in the main text, then the
\nocite{} command can be used, for example:
Lamport showed in 1995 something... \nocite{lamport95}.
A special version of the command, \nocite{*}, includes all entries from the database, whether they are
referenced in the document or not.
Natbib
Using the standard LaTeX bibliography support, you will see that each reference is numbered and each citation
corresponds to the numbers. The numeric style of citation is quite common in scientific writing. In other disciplines,
the author-year style, e.g., (Roberts, 2003), such as Harvard is preferred, and is in fact becoming increasingly
common within scientific publications. A discussion about which is best will not occur here, but a possible way to
get such an output is by the natbib package. In fact, it can supersede LaTeX's own citation commands, as Natbib
allows the user to easily switch between Harvard or numeric.
The first job is to add the following to your preamble in order to get LaTeX to use the Natbib package:
\usepackage{natbib}
Bibliography Management
75
Natbib commands
Citation command
Output
\citet{goossens93}
\citep{goossens93}
\citet*{goossens93}
\citep*{goossens93}
\citeauthor{goossens93}
Goossens et al.
1993
\citeyearpar{goossens93} (1993)
\citealt{goossens93}
\citealp{goossens93}
Also, you need to change the bibliography style file to be used, so edit the appropriate line at the bottom of the file so
that it reads: \bibliographystyle{plainnat}. Once done, it is basically a matter of altering the existing
\cite commands to display the type of citation you want.
The main commands simply add a t for 'textual' or p for 'parenthesized', to the basic \cite command. You will
also notice how Natbib by default will compress references with three or more authors to the more concise 1st
surname et al version. By adding an asterisk (*), you can override this default and list all authors associated with that
citation. There are some other specialized commands that Natbib supports, listed in the table here. Keep in mind that
for instance abbrvnat does not support \citet* and will automatically choose between all authors and et al..
The final area that I wish to cover about Natbib is customizing its citation style. There is a command called
\bibpunct that can be used to override the defaults and change certain settings. For example, I have put the
following in the preamble:
\bibpunct{(}{)}{;}{a}{,}{,}
The command requires six mandatory parameters.
Natbib-compatible styles
Style
Source
Description
plainnat
Provided
abbrvnat
Provided
unsrtnat
Provided
apsrev
rmpaps
rsc
[3]
[4]
Bibliography Management
4. This argument takes a letter:
n - numerical style.
s - numerical superscript style.
any other letter - author-year style.
5. The punctuation to appear between the author and the year (in parenthetical case only).
6. The punctuation used between years, in multiple citations when there is a common author. e.g., (Chomsky 1956,
1957). If you want an extra space, then you need {,~}.
So as you can see, this package is quite flexible, especially as you can easily switch between different citation styles
by changing a single parameter. Do have a look at the Natbib manual [5], it's a short document and you can learn
even more about how to use it.
BibTeX
I have previously introduced the idea of embedding references at the end of the document, and then using the
\cite command to cite them within the text. In this tutorial, I want to do a little better than this method, as it's not
as flexible as it could be. Which is why I wish to concentrate on using BibTeX.
A BibTeX database is stored as a .bib file. It is a plain text file, and so can be viewed and edited easily. The structure
of the file is also quite simple. An example of a BibTeX entry:
@article{greenwade93,
author = "George D. Greenwade",
title
= "The {C}omprehensive {T}ex {A}rchive {N}etwork ({CTAN})",
year
= "1993",
journal = "TUGBoat",
volume = "14",
number = "3",
pages
= "342--351"
}
Each entry begins with the declaration of the reference type, in the form of @type. BibTeX knows of practically all
types you can think of, common ones are: book, article, and for papers presented at conferences, there is
inproceedings. In this example, I have referred to an article within a journal.
After the type, you must have a left curly brace '{' to signify the beginning of the reference attributes. The first one
follows immediately after the brace, which is the citation key. This key must be unique for all entries in your
bibliography. It is this identifier that you will use within your document to cross-reference it to this entry. It is up to
you as to how you wish to label each reference, but there is a loose standard in which you use the author's surname,
followed by the year of publication. This is the scheme that I use in this tutorial.
Next, it should be clear that what follows are the relevant fields and data for that particular reference. The field
names on the left are BibTeX keywords. They are followed by an equals sign (=) where the value for that field is
then placed. BibTeX expects you to explicitly label the beginning and end of each value. I personally use quotation
marks ("), however, you also have the option of using curly braces ('{', '}'). But as you will soon see, curly braces
have other roles, within attributes, so I prefer not to use them for this job as they can get more confusing. A notable
exception is when you want to use characters with umlauts (, , etc), since their notation is in the format \"{o},
and the quotation mark will close the one opening the field, causing an error in the parsing of the reference.
Remember that each attribute must be followed by a comma to delimit one from another. You do not need to add a
comma to the last attribute, since the closing brace will tell BibTeX that there are no more attributes for this entry,
although you won't get an error if you do.
76
Bibliography Management
It can take a while to learn what the reference types are, and what fields each type has available (and which ones are
required or optional, etc). So, look at this entry type reference [6] and also this field reference [7] for descriptions of
all the fields. It may be worth bookmarking or printing these pages so that they are easily at hand when you need
them.
Authors
BibTeX can be quite clever with names of authors. It can accept names in forename surname or surname, forename.
I personally use the former, but remember that the order you input them (or any data within an entry for that matter)
is customizable and so you can get BibTeX to manipulate the input and then output it however you like. If you use
the forename surname method, then you must be careful with a few special names, where there are compound
surnames, for example "John von Neumann". In this form, BibTeX assumes that the last word is the surname, and
everything before is the forename, plus any middle names. You must therefore manually tell BibTeX to keep the
'von' and 'Neumann' together. This is achieved easily using curly braces. So the final result would be "John {von
Neumann}". This is easily avoided with the surname, forename, since you have a comma to separate the surname
from the forename.
Secondly, there is the issue of how to tell BibTeX when a reference has more than one author. This is very simply
done by putting the keyword and in between every author. As we can see from another example:
@book{goossens93,
author
= "Michel Goossens and Frank Mittlebach and Alexander Samarin",
title
= "The LaTeX Companion",
year
= "1993",
publisher = "Addison-Wesley",
address
= "Reading, Massachusetts"
}
This book has three authors, and each is separated as described. Of course, when BibTeX processes and outputs this,
there will only be an 'and' between the penultimate and last authors, but within the .bib file, it needs the and's so that
it can keep track of the individual authors.
Standard templates
@article
An article from a magazine or a journal.
Required fields: author, title, journal, year.
Optional fields: volume, number, pages, month, note.
@article{Xarticle,
author
= "",
title
= "",
journal
= "",
%volume
= "",
%number
= "",
%pages
= "",
year
= "XXXX",
%month
= "",
%note
= "",
}
77
Bibliography Management
78
@book
A published book
Required fields: author/editor, title, publisher, year.
Optional fields: volume/number, series, address, edition, month, note.
@book{Xbook,
author
title
publisher
%volume
%number
%series
%address
%edition
year
%month
%note
}
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
"",
"",
"",
"",
"",
"",
"",
"",
"XXXX",
"",
"",
@booklet
A bound work without a named publisher or sponsor.
Required fields: title.
Optional fields: author, howpublished, address, month, year, note.
@booklet{Xbooklet,
%author
= "",
title
= "",
%howpublished
= "",
%address = "",
year
= "XXXX",
%month
= "",
%note
= "",
}
@conference
Equal to inproceedings
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year.
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, pages, address, month, organization, publisher, note.
@conference{Xconference,
author
= "",
title
= "",
booktitle = "",
%editor
= "",
%volume
= "",
%number
= "",
%series
= "",
%pages
= "",
%address = "",
Bibliography Management
year
=
%month
=
%publisher=
%note
=
79
"XXXX",
"",
"",
"",
}
@inbook
A section of a book without its own title.
Required fields: author/editor, booktitle, chapter and/or pages, publisher, year.
Optional fields: volume/number, series, type, address, edition, month, note.
@incollection
A section of a book having its own title.
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, publisher, year.
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, type, chapter, pages, address, edition, month, note.
@inproceedings
An article in a conference proceedings.
Required fields: author, title, booktitle, year.
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, pages, address, month, organization, publisher, note.
@manual
Technical manual
Required fields: title.
Optional fields: author, organization, address, edition, month, year, note.
@mastersthesis
Master's thesis
Required fields: author, title, school, year.
Optional fields: type (eg. "diploma thesis"), address, month, note.
@mastersthesis{Xthesis,
author
= "",
title
= "",
school
= "",
%type
= "diploma thesis",
%address = "",
year
= "XXXX",
%month
= "",
%note
= "",
}
@misc
Template useful for other kinds of publication
Required fields: none
Optional fields: author, title, howpublished, month, year, note.
@misc{Xmisc,
%author
%title
= "",
= "",
Bibliography Management
%howpublished = "",
%year
= "XXXX",
%month
= "",
%note
= "",
}
@phdthesis
Ph.D. thesis
Required fields: author, title, year, school.
Optional fields: address, month, keywords, note.
@proceedings
The proceedings of a conference.
Required fields: title, year.
Optional fields: editor, volume/number, series, address, month, organization, publisher, note.
@techreport
Technical report from educational, commercial or standardization institution.
Required fields: author, title, institution, year.
Optional fields: type, number, address, month, note.
@techreport{Xtreport,
author
= "",
title
= "",
institution = "",
%type
= "",
%number
= "",
%address = "",
year
= "XXXX",
%month
= "",
%note
= "",
}
@unpublished
An unpublished article, book, thesis, etc.
Required fields: author, title, note.
Optional fields: month, year.
80
Bibliography Management
title = "The {LaTeX} Companion",
However, avoid putting the whole title in curly braces, as it will look odd if different capitalization format is used:
title = "{The LaTeX Companion}",
@incollection{Abedon1994,
author = "Abedon, S. T.",
title = "Lysis and the interaction between free phages and infected cells",
pages = "397--405",
booktitle = "Molecular biology of bacteriophage T4",
editor = "Karam, Jim D. Karam and Drake, John W. and Kreuzer, Kenneth N. and Mosig, Gisela
and Hall, Dwight and Eiserling, Frederick A. and Black, Lindsay W. and Kutter, Elizabeth
and Carlson, Karin and Miller, Eric S. and Spicer, Eleanor",
publisher = "ASM Press, Washington DC",
year = "1994"
}
If you have to cite a website you can use @misc, for example:
@misc{website:fermentas-lambda,
author = "Fermentas Inc.",
title = "Phage Lambda: description \& restriction map",
month = "November",
year = 2008,
url = "http://www.fermentas.com/techinfo/nucleicacids/maplambda.htm"
}
The note field comes in handy if you need to add unstructured information, for example that the corresponding issue
of the journal has yet to appear:
@article{blackholes,
author="Bunny, R.",
title="Black Holes and Their Relation to Hiding Eggs",
journal="Theoretical Easter Physics",
publisher="Eggs Ltd.",
year="2010",
note="(to appear)"
81
Bibliography Management
82
Note
Bibliography styles are files recognized by BibTeX that tell it how to format the information stored in the .bib file
when processed for output. And so the first command listed above is declaring which style file to use. The style file
in this instance is plain.bst (which comes as standard with BibTeX). You do not need to add the .bst extension
when using this command, as it is assumed. Despite its name, the plain style does a pretty good job (look at the
output of this tutorial to see what I mean).
The second command is the one that actually specifies the .bib file you wish to use. The ones I created for this
tutorial were called sample1.bib, sample2.bib, . . ., samplen.bib, but once again, you don't include the
file extension. At the moment, the .bib file is in the same directory as the LaTeX document too. However, if your
.bib file was elsewhere (which makes sense if you intend to maintain a centralized database of references for all your
research), you need to specify the path as well, e.g \bibliography{/some/where/sample}.
Now that LaTeX and BibTeX know where to look for the appropriate files, actually citing the references is fairly
trivial. The \cite{ref_key} is the command you need, making sure that the ref_key corresponds exactly to one
of the entries in the .bib file. If you wish to cite more that one reference at the same time, do the following:
\cite{ref_key1, ref_key2, ..., ref_keyN}.
latex latex_source_code.tex
bibtex latex_source_code.aux
latex latex_source_code.tex
latex latex_source_code.tex
(Extensions are optional, if you put them note that the bibtex command takes the AUX file as input.)
After the first LaTeX run, you will see errors such as:
LaTeX Warning: Citation `lamport94' on page 1 undefined on input line 21.
...
LaTeX Warning: There were undefined references.
The next step is to run bibtex on that same LaTeX source (and not on the actual .bib file) to then define all the
references within that document. You should see output like the following:
This is BibTeX, Version 0.99c (Web2C 7.3.1)
The top-level auxiliary file: latex_source_code.aux
The style file: plain.bst
Database file #1: sample.bib
Bibliography Management
The third step, which is invoking LaTeX for the second time will see more errors like "LaTeX Warning:
Label(s) may have changed. Rerun to get cross-references right.". Don't be alarmed, it's
almost complete. As you can guess, all you have to do is follow its instructions, and run LaTeX for the third time,
and the document will be output as expected, without further problems.
If you want a pdf output instead of a dvi output you can use pdflatex instead of latex as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
pdflatex latex_source_code.tex
bibtex latex_source_code.aux
pdflatex latex_source_code.tex
pdflatex latex_source_code.tex
(Extensions are optional, if you put them note that the bibtex command takes the AUX file as input.)
Note that if you are editing your source in vim and attempt to use command mode and the current file shortcut (%) to
process the document like this:
1. :! pdflatex %
2. :! bibtex %
You will get an error similar to this:
1. I couldn't open file name 'current_file.tex.aux'
It appears that the file extension is included by default when the current file command (%) is executed. To process
your document from within vim, you must explicitly name the file without the file extension for bibtex to work, as is
shown below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
:!
:!
:!
:!
pdflatex %
bibtex latex_source_code (without file extension, it looks for the AUX file as mentioned above)
pdflatex %
pdflatex %
However, it is much easier to install the Vim-LaTeX plugin from here [8]. This allows you to simply type \ll when
not in insert mode, and all the appropriate commands are automatically executed to compile the document.
Vim-LaTeX even detects how many times it has to run pdflatex, and whether or not it has to run bibtex. This is just
one of the many nice features of Vim-LaTeX, you can read the excellent Beginner's Tutorial [9] for more about the
many clever shortcuts Vim-LaTeX provides.
Another option exists if you are running Unix/Linux or any other platform where you have make [10]. Then you can
simply create a Makefile and use vim's make command or use make in shell. The Makefile would then look like this:
latex_source_code.pdf: latex_source_code.tex latex_source_code.bib
pdflatex latex_source_code.tex
bibtex latex_source_code
pdflatex latex_source_code.tex
pdflatex latex_source_code.tex
83
Bibliography Management
84
Bibliography styles
Below you can see three styles available with LaTeX:
plain
abbrv
alpha
To number the references in order of appearance, rather than alphabetical order use ieeetr
\bibliographystyle{ieeetr}
Web page http://www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~kjt/software/latex/showbst.html contains more examples.
Bibliography Management
85
[11]
program.
If you need more help about URLs in bibliography, visit FAQ of UK List of TeX [12].
[13]
latex makebst
LaTeX will find the relevant file and the questioning process will begin. You will have to answer quite a few
(although, note that the default answers are pretty sensible), which means it would be impractical to go through an
example in this tutorial. However, it is fairly straight-forward. And if you require further guidance, then there is a
comprehensive manual [14] available. I'd recommend experimenting with it and seeing what the results are when
applied to a LaTeX document.
If you are using a custom built .bst file, it is important that LaTeX can find it! So, make sure it's in the same directory
as the LaTeX source file, unless you are using one of the standard style files (such as plain or plainnat, that come
bundled with LaTeX - these will be automatically found in the directories that they are installed. Also, make sure the
name of the .bst file you want to use is reflected in the \bibliographystyle{style} command (but don't
include the .bst extension!).
Bibliography Management
86
Helpful Tools
Mendeley [18] Mendeley is cost-free academic software for
managing PDFs which can manage a bibliography in Open Office
and read BibTeX.
Zotero [19] Zotero is a free and open reference manager working as a
Firefox plugin capable of importing and exporting bib files.
JabRef [20] is a Java program (under the GPL license) which lets
you search many bibliographic databases such as Medline, Citeseer,
IEEEXplore and arXiv and feed and manage your BibTeX local
databases with your selected articles. Based on BiBTeX, JabRef can
export in many other output formats such as html, MS Word or
EndNote. It can be used online without being installed (http://
jabref.sourceforge.net/jws/jabref.jnlp)
JabRef
Referencer [21] Referencer is a Gnome application to organise documents or references, and ultimately generate a
BibTeX bibliography file.
Bibliography Management
87
BibDesk
cb2Bib [24] The cb2Bib is a tool for rapidly extracting unformatted, or unstandardized bibliographic references
from email alerts, journal Web pages, and PDF files.
KBibTeX [25] KBibTeX is a BibTeX editor for KDE to edit bibliographies used with LaTeX. Features include
comfortable input masks, starting web queries (e. g. Google or PubMed) and exporting to PDF, PostScript, RTF
and XML/HTML. As KBibTeX is using KDE's KParts technology, KBibTeX can be embedded into Kile or
Konqueror.
KBib [26] Another BibTeX editor for KDE. It has similar capabilities, and slightly different UI. Features include
BibTeX reference generation from PDF files, plain text, DOI, arXiv & PubMed IDs. Web queries to Google
Scholar, PubMer, arXiv and a number of other services are also supported.
Bibwiki [27] Bibwiki is a Specialpage for MediaWiki to manage BibTeX bibliographies. It offers a straightforward
way to import and export bibliographic records.
BibDesk [28] BibDesk is a bibliographic reference manager for Mac OS X. It features a very usable user interface
and provides a number of features like smart folders based on keywords and live tex display.
CiteULike [29] CiteULike is a free online service to organise academic papers. It can export citations in BibTeX
format, and can "scrape" BibTeX data from many popular websites.
Bibtex [30] Bibtex is a DokuWiki plugin that allows for the inclusion of bibtex formatted citations in DokuWiki
pages and displays them in APA format. Note: This Plugins is vulnerable to an XSS attack -> http://www.
dokuwiki.org/plugin:bibtex
BibSonomy [31] A free social bookmark and publication management system based on BibTeX.
Synapsen [32] Hypertextual Card Index / Reference Manager with special support for BiBTeX / biblatex,
written in Java.
Summary
Although it can take a little time to get to grips with BibTeX, in the long term, it's an efficient way to handle your
references. It's not uncommon to find .bib files on websites that people compile as a list of their own publications, or
a survey of relevant works within a given topic, etc. Or in those huge, online bibliography databases, you often find
BibTeX versions of publications, so it's a quick cut-and-paste into your own .bib file, and then no more hassle!
Having all your references in one place can be a big advantage. And having them in a structured form, that allows
customizable output is another one. There are a variety of free utilities that can load your .bib files, and allow you to
view them in a more efficient manner, as well as sort them and check for errors.
Bibliography Management
88
information
This will create a chapter-like output showing properly all your references. Even though it looks like a chapter, it
will not be handled like that so it will not appear on the Table of Contents at the beginning of the document. If you
want your bibliography to be in the table of contents, just add the following two lines just before the thebibliography
environment:
\clearpage \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Bibliography}
(OR \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Bibliography} if you're writing an article)
The first line just terminates the current paragraph and page. If you are writing a book, use \cleardoublepage
to match the style used. The second line will add a line in the Table of Contents (first option, toc), it will be like the
ones created by chapters (second option, chapter), and the third argument will be printed on the corresponding line
in the Table of Contents; here Bibliography was chosen because it's the same text the thebibliography environment
will automatically write when you use it, but you are free to write whatever you like. If you are using separate bib
file, add these lines between \bibliographystyle and \bibliography.
If you use hyperref package, you should also use \phantomsection command to enable hyperlinking from the
table of contents to bibliography.
\cleardoublepage \phantomsection \addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Bibliography}
This trick is particularly useful when you have to insert the bibliography in the Table of Contents, but it can work for
anything. When LaTeX finds the code above, it will record the info as described and the current page number,
inserting a new line in the Contents page.
Bibliography Management
You may wish to use \renewcommand*{\refname}{\vspace*{-12mm}} to counteract the extra space the
blank \refname inserts.
Note: Use \bibname instead of \refname if you use the report class.
This page uses material from Andy Roberts' Getting to grips with Latex [3] with permission from the author.
References
[1] http:/ / authors. aps. org/ revtex4/
[2] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ help/ Catalogue/ entries/ ieeetran. html
[3] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ help/ Catalogue/ entries/ achemso. html
[4] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ help/ Catalogue/ entries/ rsc. html
[5] http:/ / www. ctex. org/ documents/ packages/ bibref/ natbib. pdf
[6] http:/ / newton. ex. ac. uk/ tex/ pack/ bibtex/ btxdoc/ node6. html
[7] http:/ / newton. ex. ac. uk/ tex/ pack/ bibtex/ btxdoc/ node7. html
[8] http:/ / vim-latex. sourceforge. net/
[9] http:/ / vim-latex. sourceforge. net/ documentation/ latex-suite-quickstart/
[10] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Make_%28software%29
[11] http:/ / purl. org/ nxg/ dist/ urlbst
[12] http:/ / www. tex. ac. uk/ cgi-bin/ texfaq2html?label=citeURL
[13] http:/ / www. mps. mpg. de/ software/ latex/ localtex/ localltx. html#makebst
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]
[26]
[27]
[28]
[29]
[30]
[31]
[32]
http:/ / www. mps. mpg. de/ software/ latex/ localtex/ doc/ merlin. pdf
http:/ / tug. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ biblio/ bibtex/ contrib/ babelbib/
http:/ / scholar. google. com
http:/ / scholar. google. de/ scholar_preferences?hl=en& lr=& output=search
http:/ / mendeley. com
http:/ / www. zotero. org/
http:/ / jabref. sourceforge. net/
http:/ / icculus. org/ referencer/ index. html
http:/ / www. citavi. ch
http:/ / bibliographer. homelinux. net/
http:/ / www. molspaces. com/ cb2bib/
http:/ / www. unix-ag. uni-kl. de/ ~fischer/ kbibtex/
http:/ / users. tpg. com. au/ thachly/ kbib/
http:/ / www. plaschg. net/ bibwiki/
http:/ / bibdesk. sourceforge. net/
http:/ / www. citeulike. org/
http:/ / stat. genopole. cnrs. fr/ ~cambroise/ doku. php?id=softwares:dokuwikibibtexplugin
http:/ / www. bibsonomy. org/
http:/ / www. verzetteln. de/ synapsen/
89
90
Mathematics
Mathematics
One of the greatest motivating forces for Donald Knuth when he began developing the original TeX system was to
create something that allowed simple construction of mathematical formulas, whilst looking professional when
printed. The fact that he succeeded was most probably why TeX (and later on, LaTeX) became so popular within the
scientific community. Typesetting mathematics is one of LaTeX's greatest strengths. It is also a large topic due to the
existence of so much mathematical notation.
If your document requires only a few simple mathematical formulas, plain LaTeX has most of the tools that you will
need. If you are writing a scientific document that contains numerous complicated formulas, the amsmath package[1]
introduces several new commands that are more powerful and flexible than the ones provided by LaTeX. The
mathtools package fixes some amsmath quirks and adds some useful settings, symbols, and environments to
amsmath.[2] To use either package, include:
\usepackage{amsmath}
or
\usepackage{mathtools}
in the preamble of the document.
Mathematics environments
LaTeX needs to know beforehand that the subsequent text does in fact contain mathematical elements. This is
because LaTeX typesets maths notation differently than normal text. Therefore, special environments have been
declared for this purpose. They can be distinguished into two categories depending on how they are presented:
text - text formulas are displayed in-line, that is, within the body of text where it is declared. e.g., I can say that a
+ a = 2a within this sentence.
displayed - displayed formulas are separate from the main text.
As maths require special environments, there are naturally the appropriate environment names you can use in the
standard way. Unlike most other environments, however, there are some handy shorthands to declaring your
formulas. The following table summarizes them:
Type
Environment
Text
\begin{math}...\end{math}
Displayed
\begin{displaymath}...\end{displaymath}
\begin{equation*}...\end{equation*} [3]
LaTeX
shorthand
or
TeX
shorthand
\(...\)
$...$
\[...\]
$$...$$
Note: Using the $$...$$ should be avoided, as it may cause problems, particularly with the AMS-LaTeX macros.
Furthermore, should a problem occur, the error messages may not be helpful.
Additionally, there is a second possible environment for the displayed type of formulas: equation. The difference
between this and displaymath is that equation also adds sequential equation numbers by the side.
Mathematics
91
If you are typing text normally, you are said to be in text mode, while you are typing within one of those
mathematical environments, you are said to be in math mode, that has some differences compared to the text mode:
1. Most spaces and line breaks do not have any significance, as all spaces are either derived logically from the
mathematical expressions, or have to be specified with special commands such as \quad
2. Empty lines are not allowed. Only one paragraph per formula.
3. Each letter is considered to be the name of a variable and will be typeset as such. If you want to typeset normal
text within a formula (normal upright font and normal spacing) then you have to enter the text using dedicated
commands.
Symbols
Mathematics has lots and lots of symbols! If there is one aspect of maths that is difficult in LaTeX it is trying to
remember how to produce them. There are of course a set of symbols that can be accessed directly from the
keyboard:
+ - = ! / ( ) [ ] < > | ' :
Beyond those listed above, distinct commands must be issued in order to display the desired symbols. And there are
a lot! of Greek letters, set and relations symbols, arrows, binary operators, etc. For example:
\[ \forall x \in X, \quad \exists y \leq \epsilon \]
Fortunately, there's a tool that can greatly simplify the search for the command for a specific symbol. Look for
"Detexify" in the external links section below. Another option would be to look in the "The Comprehensive LaTeX
Symbol List" in the external links section below.
Greek letters
Greek letters are commonly used in mathematics, and they are very easy to type in math mode. You just have to type
the name of the letter after a backslash: if the first letter is lowercase, you will get a lowercase Greek letter, if the
first letter is uppercase (and only the first letter), then you will get an uppercase letter. Note that some uppercase
Greek letters look like Latin ones, so they are not provided by LaTeX (e.g. uppercase Alpha and Beta are just "A"
and "B" respectively). Lowercase epsilon, theta, phi, pi, rho, and sigma are provided in two different versions. The
alternate, or variant, version is created by adding "var" before the name of the letter:
\[ \alpha, \Alpha, \beta, \Beta, \gamma, \Gamma, \pi, \Pi,
\phi, \varphi, \Phi \]
Scroll down to #List_of_Mathematical_Symbols for a complete list of Greek symbols.
Mathematics
92
Operators
An operator is a function that is written as a word: e.g. trigonometric functions (sin, cos, tan), logarithms and
exponentials (log, exp). LaTeX has many of these defined as commands:
\[ \cos (2\theta) = \cos^2 \theta - \sin^2 \theta \]
For certain operators such as limits, the subscript is placed underneath the operator:
\[ \lim_{x \to \infty} \exp(-x) = 0 \]
For the modular operator there are two commands: \bmod and \pmod :
\[ a \bmod b \]
\[ x \equiv a \pmod b \]
To use operators which are not pre-defined, such as argmax, see custom operators
It is also possible to use the \choose command without the amsmath package:
\[ \frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!} = {n \choose k} \]
{y-z} \] |render=
Rendering missing!
}}
and \dfrac
commands
[3]
Mathematics
93
\textstyle and \displaystyle . Similarly, the \tbinom and \dbinom commands typeset the binomial
coefficient.
Another way to write fractions is to use the \over command without the amsmath package:
\[ {n! \over k!(n-k)!} = {n \choose k} \]
For relatively simple fractions, it may be more aesthetically pleasing to use powers and indices:
\[ ^3/_7 \]
If you use them throughout the document, usage of xfrac package is recommended. This package provides \sfrac
command to create slanted fractions. Usage:
Take \sfrac{1}{2} cup of sugar, \dots \[
3\times\sfrac{1}{2}=1\sfrac{1}{2} \] Take ${}^1/_2$
cup of sugar, \dots \[ 3\times{}^1/_2=1{}^1/_2 \]
Alternatively, the nicefrac package provides the \nicefrac command, whose usage is similar to \sfrac .
Continued fractions
Continued fractions should be written using \cfrac command[3] :
\begin{equation} x = a_0 + \cfrac{1}{a_1 + \cfrac{1}{a_2 +
\cfrac{1}{a_3 + a_4
} \end{equation} |render=
Rendering
missing!
}}
Roots
The \sqrt command creates a square root surrounding an expression. It accepts an optional argument specified in
square brackets ([ and ]) to change magnitude:
\[ \sqrt{\frac{a}{b
\] |render=
Rendering missing!
}}
\[ \sqrt[n]{1+x+x^2+x^3+\ldots} \]
Mathematics
94
Some people prefer writing the square root "closing" it over its content. This method arguably makes it more clear
just what is in the scope of the root sign. This habit is not normally used while writing with the computer, but if you
still want to change the output of the square root, LaTeX gives you this possibility. Just add the following code in the
preamble of your document:
% New definition of square root: % it renames \sqrt as \oldsqrt
\let\oldsqrt\sqrt % it defines the new \sqrt in terms of the old one
\def\sqrt{\mathpalette\DHLhksqrt} \def\DHLhksqrt#1#2{%
\setbox0=\hbox{$#1\oldsqrt{#2\,}$}\dimen0=\ht0 \advance\dimen0-0.2\ht0
\setbox2=\hbox{\vrule height\ht0 depth -\dimen0}% {\box0\lower0.4pt\box2
Rendering
missing!
|render=
}} This TeX code first renames the \sqrt command
as \oldsqrt , then redefines \sqrt in terms of the
old one, adding something more. The new square root
can be seen in the picture on the right, compared to the
old one. Unfortunately this code won't work if you
want to use multiple roots: if you try to write
as
\sqrt[b]{a } after you used the code above, you'll
just get a wrong output. In other words, you can
redefine the square root this way only if you are not
going to use multiple roots in the whole document.
The limits for the integrals follow the same notation. It's also important to represent the integration variables with an
upright d, which in math mode is obtained through the \mathrm{} command, and with a small space separating it
from the integrand, which is attained with the \, command.
\[ \int_0^\infty e^{-x}\,\mathrm{d}x \]
There are many other "big" commands which operate in a similar manner:
Mathematics
95
\sum
\prod
\coprod
\bigoplus
\bigotimes
\bigodot
\bigcup
\bigcap
\biguplus
\bigsqcup
\bigvee
\bigwedge
\int
\oint
\iint
[3]
\iiint
[3]
[3]
\iiiint
[3]
\idotsint
For more integral symbols, including those not included by default in the Computer Modern font, try the esint
package.
The \substack command[3] allows the use of \\ to write the limits over multiple lines:
\[ \sum_{\substack{ 0<i<m \\ 0<j<n
Rendering missing!
P(i,j)
\] |render=
}}
If you want the limits of an integral to be specified above and below the symbol (like the sum), use the \limits
command:
\[ \int\limits_a^b \]
However if you want this to apply to ALL integrals, it is preferable to specify the intlimits option when loading the
amsmath package:
\usepackage[intlimits]{amsmath}
Subscripts and superscripts in other contexts as well as other parameters to amsmath package related to them are
described in Advanced Mathematics chapter.
For bigger integrals, you may use personal declarations, or the bigints package [4] .
The use of delimiters such as brackets soon becomes important when dealing with anything but the most trivial
equations. Without them, formulas can become ambiguous. Also, special types of mathematical structures, such as
matrices, typically rely on delimiters to enclose them.
There are a variety of delimiters available for use in LaTeX:
\[ () \, [] \, \{\} \, || \, \|\| \, \langle\rangle \,
\lfloor\rfloor \, \lceil\rceil \]
Mathematics
96
Automatic sizing
Very often mathematical features will differ in size, in which case the delimiters surrounding the expression should
vary accordingly. This can be done automatically using the \left and \right commands. Any of the previous
delimiters may be used in combination with these:
\[ \left(\frac{x^2}{y^3}\right) \]
If a delimiter on only one side of an expression is required, then an invisible delimiter on the other side may be
denoted using a period (.).
\[ \left.\frac{x^3}{3}\right|_0^1 \]
Manual sizing
In certain cases, the sizing produced by the \left and \right commands may not be desirable, or you may
simply want finer control over the delimiter sizes. In this case, the \big , \Big , \bigg and \Bigg modifier
commands may be used:
\[ ( \big( \Big( \bigg( \Bigg( \]
Mathematics
97
Environment name
[3]
pmatrix
[5]
pmatrix*
[3]
bmatrix
[5]
bmatrix*
[3]
Bmatrix
[5]
Bmatrix*
[3]
vmatrix
Surrounding delimiter
Notes
centers columns by default
allows to specify alignment of columns in optional parameter
centers columns by default
allows to specify alignment of columns in optional parameter
centers columns by default
allows to specify alignment of columns in optional parameter
centers columns by default
[5]
[3]
vmatrix*
Vmatrix
[5]
Vmatrix*
When writing down arbitrary sized matrices, it is common to use horizontal, vertical and diagonal triplets of dots
(known as ellipses) to fill in certain columns and rows. These can be specified using the \cdots , \vdots and
\ddots respectively:
\[ A_{m,n} = \begin{pmatrix} a_{1,1} & a_{1,2} & \cdots
& a_{1,n} \\ a_{2,1} & a_{2,2} & \cdots & a_{2,n} \\
\vdots & \vdots & \ddots & \vdots \\ a_{m,1} & a_{m,2}
& \cdots & a_{m,n} \end{pmatrix} \]
In some cases you may want to have finer control of the alignment within each column, or want to insert lines
between columns or rows. This can be achieved using the array environment, which is essentially a math-mode
version of the tabular environment, which requires that the columns be pre-specified:
\[ \begin{array}{c|c} 1 & 2 \\ \hline 3 & 4 \end{array} \]
You may see that the AMS matrix class of environments doesn't leave enough space when used together with
fractions resulting in output similar to this:
To counteract this problem, add additional leading space with the optional parameter to the \\ command:
\[ M = \begin{bmatrix} \frac{5}{6} & \frac{1}{6} & 0 \\[0.3em]
\frac{5}{6} & 0 & \frac{1}{6} \\[0.3em] 0 & \frac{5}{6} &
\frac{1}{6} \end{bmatrix} \]
If you need "border" or "indexes" on your matrix, plain TeX provides the macro \bordermatrix
\[ M = \bordermatrix{~ & x & y \cr A & 1 & 0 \cr B & 0 & 1
\cr} \]
Mathematics
Formatted text
Using the \text is fine and gets the basic result. Yet, there is an alternative that offers a little more flexibility. You
may recall the introduction of font formatting commands, such as \textrm , \textit , \textbf , etc. These
commands format the argument accordingly, e.g., \textbf{bold text } gives bold text. These commands are
equally valid within a maths environment to include text. The added benefit here is that you can have better control
over the font formatting, rather than the standard text achieved with \text .
\[ 50 \textrm{ apples} \times 100 \textbf{ apples}
= \textit{lots of apples}^2 \]
98
Mathematics
99
Sample
\mathnormal{
}
Description
the default math
font
\mathrm{
\mathit{
italicised font
\mathbf{
bold font
\mathsf{
Sans-serif
\mathtt{
ABCDEFabcdef123456
\mathcal{
\mathfrak{
Calligraphy
(uppercase only)
Fraktur
Blackboard bold
[6]
\mathscr{
[7]
vectors
Monospace
(fixed-width) font
[6]
\mathbb{
Common use
Script
The maths formatting commands can be wrapped around the entire equation, and not just on the textual elements:
they only format letters, numbers, and uppercase Greek, and the rest of the maths syntax is ignored.
To bold lowercase Greek or other symbols use the \boldsymbol command[3] ; this will only work if there exists
a bold version of the symbol in the current font. As a last resort there is the \pmb command[3] (poor mans bold):
this prints multiple versions of the character slightly offset against each other
\[ \boldsymbol{\beta} = (\beta_1,\beta_2,\ldots,\beta_n) \]
To change the size of the fonts in math mode, see Changing font size.
Accents
So what to do when you run out of symbols and fonts? Well the next step is to use accents:
Mathematics
100
a'
a''
a'''
a''''
\hat{a}
\bar{a}
\overline{aaa}
\check{a}
\grave{a}
\acute{a}
\breve{a}
\vec{a}
\dot{a}
\ddot{a}
\dddot{a}
\ddddot{a}
\not{a}
\mathring{a}
\widehat{AAA}
\widetilde{AAA}
[3]
\tilde{a}
[3]
Mathematics
101
OK, so back to the fine tuning as mentioned at the beginning of the document. A good example would be displaying
the simple equation for the indefinite integral of y with respect to x:
However, this doesn't give the correct result. LaTeX doesn't respect the white-space left in the code to signify that
the y and the dx are independent entities. Instead, it lumps them altogether. A \quad would clearly be overkill is
this situationwhat is needed are some small spaces to be utilized in this type of instance, and that's what LaTeX
provides:
Command
Description
Size
\,
small space
3/18 of a quad
\:
\;
large space
\!
5/18 of a quad
NB you can use more than one command in a sequence to achieve a greater space if necessary.
So, to rectify the current problem:
\[ \int y\, \mathrm{d}x \]
The negative space may seem like an odd thing to use, however, it wouldn't be there if it didn't have some use! Take
the following example:
\[ \left( \begin{array}{c} n \\ r \end{array} \right) =
\frac{n!}{r!(n-r)!} \]
The matrix-like expression for representing binomial coefficients is too padded. There is too much space between the
brackets and the actual contents within. This can easily be corrected by adding a few negative spaces after the left
bracket and before the right bracket.
\[ \left(\! \begin{array}{c} n \\ r \end{array} \!\right) =
\frac{n!}{r!(n-r)!} \]
In any case, adding some spaces manually should be avoided whenever possible: it makes the source code more
complex and it's against the basic principles of a What You See is What You Mean approach. The best thing to do is
to define some commands using all the spaces you want and then, when you use your command, you don't have to
add any other space. Later, if you change your mind about the length of the horizontal space, you can easily change
it modifying only the command you defined before. Let us use an example: you want the d of a dx in an integral to
be in roman font and a small space away from the rest. If you want to type an integral like \int x \;
Mathematics
102
Dots
LaTeX gives you several commands to insert dots in your formulas. This can be particularly useful if you have to
type big matrices omitting elements. First of all, here are the main dots-related commands LaTeX provides:
Code
Output
Comment
\dots
generic dots, to be used in text (outside formulas as well). It automatically manages whitespaces before and after
itself according to the context, it's a higher level command.
\ldots
the output is similar to the previous one, but there is no automatic whitespace management; it works at a lower
level.
\cdots
These dots are centered relative to the height of a letter. There is also the binary multiplication operator, \cdot,
mentioned below.
\vdots
vertical dots
\ddots
diagonal dots
\iddots
\hdotsfor{n
Instead of using \ldots and \cdots , you should use the semantically oriented commands. It makes it possible
to adapt your document to different conventions on the fly, in case (for example) you have to submit it to a publisher
who insists on following house tradition in this respect. The default treatment for the various kinds follows American
Mathematical Society conventions.
Mathematics
103
Code
Output
Comment
A_1,A_2,\dotsc,
A_1+\dotsb+A_N
\int_a^b \dotsi
A_1\dotso A_N
Relation Symbols
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
\leq
\geq
\equiv
\models
\prec
\succ
\sim
\perp
\preceq
\succeq
\simeq
\mid
\ll
\gg
\asymp
\parallel
\subset
\supset
\approx
\bowtie
\subseteq
\supseteq
\cong
\sqsubset
\sqsupset
\neq
\smile
\sqsubseteq
\sqsupseteq
\doteq
\frown
\in
\ni
\notin
\propto
\vdash
\dashv
<
>
Greek Letters
Symbol
Script
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
Mathematics
104
and
and
and
and
and
and
and
, and
and
and
and
Binary Operations
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
\pm
\cap
\diamond
\oplus
\mp
\cup
\bigtriangleup
\ominus
\times
\uplus
\bigtriangledown
\otimes
\div
\sqcap
\triangleleft
\oslash
\ast
\sqcup
\triangleright
\odot
\star
\vee
\bigcirc
\circ
\wedge
\dagger
\bullet
\setminus
\ddagger
\cdot
\wr
\amalg
Script
\exists
\nexists
\forall
\neg
\in
\notin
\ni
\land
\lor
\rightarrow
\implies
\Rightarrow (preferred for implication)
\iff
\Leftrightarrow (preferred for equivalence (iff))
Mathematics
105
\top
\bot
and
Delimiters
Symbol
Script
\uparrow
\Uparrow
\downarrow
\Downarrow
\{
\}
\lceil
\rceil
\lfloor
\rfloor
\langle
\rangle
/
\backslash
|
\|
Other symbols
Symbol
Script
\partial
\infty
\nabla
\hbar
\Box
\aleph
\ell
\imath
\jmath
\Re
\Im
\wp
\eth
Mathematics
106
Trigonometric Functions
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
Symbol
Script
\sin
\cos
\tan
\cot
\arcsin
\arccos
\arctan
\arccot
\sinh
\cosh
\tanh
\coth
\sec
\csc
Summary
As you begin to see, typesetting math can be tricky at times. However, because Latex provides so much control, you
can get professional quality mathematics typesetting with relatively little effort (once you've had a bit of practice, of
course!). It would be possible to keep going and going with math topics because it seems potentially limitless.
However, with this tutorial, you should be able to get along sufficiently.
Notes
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
Further reading
meta:Help:Displaying a formula: Wikimedia uses a subset of LaTeX commands.
External links
Advanced Mathematics
107
Advanced Mathematics
This page outlines some more advanced uses of mathematics markup using LaTeX. In particular it makes heavy use
of the AMS-LaTeX packages supplied by the American Mathematical Society.
Equation numbering
The equation environment automatically numbers your equation.
\begin{equation} f(x)=(x+a)(x+b) \end{equation}
You can also use the \label and \ref commands to label and reference equations respectively. Or \eqref
but this requires amsmath package, here is an example showing how to reference formulas using \ref (results in
for equation 1) and then using \eqref using the amsmath package (results in
Rendering
missing!
}
\end{equation}
\end{document} |render=
}}
If the style you follow requires putting dots after ordinals (as it is required at least in Polish typography) the
\numberwithin{equation}{subsection} command in preamble will result in the equation number in the
above example to be rendered in this way: (1.1..1).
To
remove
the
duplicate
dot,
add
\numberwithin{equation}{subsection} :
following
command
immediately
after
Advanced Mathematics
108
\renewcommand{\theequation}{\thesection\arabic{equation
}}
For numbering scheme using \numberwithin{equation}{subsection} use:
\renewcommand{\theequation}{\thesubsection\arabic{equation
}} in the preamble of the document.
Note: Though it may look like the \renewcommand works by itself, it won't reset the equation number with each
new section. It must be used together with manual equation number resetting after each new section beginning or
with the much cleaner \numberwithin .
Rendering missing!
\overset{\left[\frac{0}{0}\right]}{\underset{\mathrm{H}}{=}}
\lim_{x\to 0}{\frac{e^x}{2}}={\frac{1}{2}}
\] |render=
}}
It's convenient to define a new operator that will set the equal sign with H and provided fraction:
\newcommand{\Heq}[1]{\overset{\left[#1\right]}{\underset{\mathrm{H
{=}}} }} to reduce above example to:
\[ \lim_{x\to 0}{\frac{e^x-1}{2x
Advanced Mathematics
109
\Heq{\frac{0}{0}}
\lim_{x\to 0}{\frac{e^x}{2}}={\frac{1}{2}}
\] }}
If the purpose is to make comments on particular parts of an equation, the \overbrace and \underbrace
commands may be more useful, however they have a different syntax:
\[ z = \overbrace{ \underbrace{x}_\text{real} +
\underbrace{iy}_\text{imaginary} }^\text{complex number} \]
Sometimes the comments are longer than the formula being commented on, which can cause spacing problems.
These can be removed using the \mathclap command[2] :
\[ y = a + f(\underbrace{b x}_{ \ge 0 \text{ by assumption
Rendering missing!
)
= a + f(\underbrace{b x}_{
\mathclap{\ge 0 \text{ by assumption}}})
\] |render=
}}
Alternatively, to use brackets instead of braces use \underbracket and \overbracket commands[2] :
\[ z = \overbracket[3pt]{ \underbracket{x}_{\text{real
Rendering missing!
+
\underbracket[0.5pt][7pt]{iy}_{\text{imaginary}}
}^{\text{complex number}}
\] |render=
}}
The optional arguments set the rule thickness and bracket height respectively:
\underbracket[rule thickness][bracket height]{argument}_{text below}
The \xleftarrow and \xrightarrow commands[1] produce arrows which extend to the length of the text.
Yet again, the syntax is different: the optional argument (using [ & ]) specifies the subscript, and the mandatory
argument (using { & }) specifies the superscript (this can be left empty).
\[ A \xleftarrow{\text{this way
B
\xrightarrow[\text{or that way}]{} C
\] |render=
}}
Rendering missing!
Advanced Mathematics
110
Advanced Mathematics
111
Alternatively, you can control the size of the braces manually with the \big , \Big , \bigg , \Bigg
commands.
To automatically match sizes of opening and closing braces in a tall equation use \vphantom command:
\begin{align} A &= \left(\int_t XXX \right.\nonumber\\
&\qquad \left.\vphantom{\int_t} YYY \dots \right)
\end{align}
To force display style for equations inside this construct, use dcases environment[2] :
\[ a = \begin{dcases} \int x\, dx\\ b^2 \end{dcases} \]
Often the second column consists mostly of normal text, to set it in normal roman font of the document use dcases*
environment[2] :
\[ f(x) = \begin{dcases*} x & when $x$ is even\\ -x &
when $x$ is odd \end{dcases*} \]
Other environments
Although align and align* are the most useful, there are several other environments which may also be of interest:
Environment
name
Description
Notes
eqnarray and
eqnarray*
multline and
[1]
multline*
gather and
[1]
gather*
flalign and
[1]
flalign*
Similar to align, but left aligns first equation column, and right
aligns last column
alignat and
[1]
alignat*
Advanced Mathematics
112
There are also few environments that don't form a math environment by themselves and can be used as building
blocks for more elaborate structures:
Math environment name
[1]
gathered
[1]
Description
Notes
Allows to gather few equations to be set under each other and assigned a single equation number
Similar to align*, but used inside another displayed mathematics environment
split
[1]
aligned
[1]
alignedat
For example:
\begin{equation} \left.\begin{aligned}
B'&=-\partial \times E,\\ E'&=\partial
\times B - 4\pi j, \end{aligned} \right\}
\qquad \text{Maxwell's equations}
\end{equation}
\begin{alignat}{2} \sigma_1 &= x + y &\quad \sigma_2 &= \frac{x}{y} \\
\sigma_1' &= \frac{\partial x + y}{\partial x} & \sigma_2' &=
\frac{\partial \frac{x}{y
Rendering
missing!
}}
Indented Equations
In order to indent an equation, you can set fleqn in the document class and then specify a certain value for
\mathindent variable:
\documentclass[a4paper,fleqn]{report}
\usepackage{amsmath} \setlength{\mathindent}{1cm}
\begin{document} \noindent Euler's formula is given
below: \begin{equation*} e^{ix} = \cos{x} + i
\sin{x} \end{equation*} \noindent This is a very
important formula. \end{document}
Advanced Mathematics
Boxed Equations
For a single equation, with the tag outside the box, use \boxed{ }:
\begin{equation} \boxed{x^2+y^2 = z^2}
\end{equation}
If you want the entire line or several equations to be boxed, use a minipage inside an \fbox{ }:
\fbox{ \addtolength{\linewidth}{-2\fboxsep}%
\addtolength{\linewidth}{-2\fboxrule}%
\begin{minipage}{\linewidth} \begin{equation}
x^2+y^2=z^2 \end{equation} \end{minipage} }
There is also the mathtools \Aboxed{ } which is able to box across alignment marks
\begin{align*} \Aboxed{ f(x) & = \int h(x)\, dx} \\ & =
g(x) \end{align*}
113
Advanced Mathematics
114
Custom operators
Although many common operators are available in LaTeX, sometimes you will need to write your own, for example
to typeset the argmax operator. The \operatorname and \operatorname* commands[1] display a custom
operators, the * version sets the underscored option underneath like the \lim operator:
\[ \operatorname{arg\,max}_a f(a) =
\operatorname*{arg\,max}_b f(b) \]
However if the operator is frequently used, it is preferable to keep within the LaTeX ideal of markup to define a new
operator. The \DeclareMathOperator and \DeclareMathOperator* commands[1] are specified in the
header of the document:
\DeclareMathOperator*{\argmax}{arg\,max}
This defines a new command which may be referred to in the body:
\[ \argmax_c f(c) \]
Advanced formatting
Limits
There are defaults for placement of subscripts and superscripts. For example, limits for the lim operator are usually
placed below the symbol, like this:
\begin{equation} \lim_{a\to \infty} \tfrac{1}{a} \end{equation}
To override this behavior use the \nolimits operator:
\begin{equation} \lim\nolimits_{a\to \infty} \tfrac{1}{a}
\end{equation}
A lim in running text (inside $...$ ) will have its limits placed on the side, so that additional leading won't be
required. To override this behavior use \limits command.
Similarly one can put subscripts under a symbol that usually have them on the side:
\begin{equation} \int_a^b x^2 \end{equation}
Limits below and under:
\begin{equation} \int\limits_a^b x^2 \end{equation}
To change default placement in all instances of summation-type symbol to the side add nosumlimits option to
amsmath package. To change placement for integral symbols add intlimits to options and nonamelimits to change the
default for named operators like det, min, lim...
Advanced Mathematics
115
Rendering missing!
... \begin{equation}
\specialE_x
\end{equation} |render=
}}
It's very flexible, for example, to put letters in each corner of the symbol use this command:
\begin{equation} \sideset{_a^b}{_c^d}\sum \end{equation}
If you wish to place them on the corners of an arbitrary symbol, you should use \fourIdx from the fouridx
package.
Multiline subscripts
To produce multiline subscript use \substack command:
\begin{equation} \prod_{\substack{ 1\le i \le n\\ 1\le j \le m
M_{i,j}
\end{equation} |render=
}}
Rendering missing!
Advanced Mathematics
116
Note that usage of this command doesn't change alignment, as would stopping and restarting the align environment.
Also in this example, the command \shortintertext{} from the mathtools package could have been used
instead of intertext to reduce the amount of vertical whitespace added between the lines.
Description
\displaystyle
\textstyle
\scriptstyle
\scriptscriptstyle
A classic example to see this in use is typesetting continued fractions (though it's better to use the \cfrac
command[1] described in the Mathematics chapter over the method provided below). The following code provides an
example.
\begin{equation} x = a_0 + \frac{1}{a_1 + \frac{1}{a_2 +
\frac{1}{a_3 + a_4
} \end{equation} |render=
Rendering
missing!
}}
As you can see, as the fractions continue, they get smaller (although they will not get any smaller as in this example,
they have reached the \scriptstyle limit). If you wanted to keep the size consistent, you could declare each
fraction to use the display style instead, e.g.:
\begin{equation} x = a_0 + \frac{1}{\displaystyle a_1 +
\frac{1}{\displaystyle a_2 + \frac{1}{\displaystyle a_3 + a_4
} \end{equation} |render=
Rendering
missing!
}}
Another approach is to use the \DeclareMathSizes command to select your preferred sizes. You can only
define sizes for \displaystyle , \textstyle , etc. One potential downside is that this command sets the
Advanced Mathematics
117
Notes
[1] Requires the amsmath package
[2] requires the mathtools package
Theorems
With "theorem" we can mean any kind of labelled enunciation that we want to look separated from the rest of the
text and with sequential numbers next to it. This approach is commonly used for theorems in mathematics, but can
be used for anything. LaTeX provides a command that will let you easily define any theorem-like enunciation.
Basic theorems
First of all, make sure you have the amsthm package enabled:
\usepackage{amsthm}
The easiest is the following:
\newtheorem{name}{Printed output}
put it in the preamble. The first argument is the name you will use to reference it, the second argument is the output
LaTeX will print whenever you use it. For example:
\newtheorem{mydef}{Definition}
will define the mydef environment; if you use it like this:
\begin{mydef}
Here is a new definition
\end{mydef}
It will look like this:
Definition 3 Here is a new definition
Theorems
with line breaks separating it from the rest of the text.
Theorem counters
Often the counters are determined by section, for example "Theorem 2.3" refers to the 3rd theorem in the 2nd section
of a document. In this case, specify the theorem as follows:
\newtheorem{name}{Printed output}[numberby]
where numberby specifies the section level (section/subsection/etc.) at which the numbering is to take place.
By default, each theorem uses its own counter. However it is common for similar types of theorems (e.g. Theorems,
Lemmas and Corollaries) to share a counter. In this case, define subsequent theorems as:
\newtheorem{name}[counter]{Printed output}
where counter is the name of the counter to be used. Usually this will be the name of the master theorem.
You can also create a theorem environment that is not numbered by using the newtheorem* command[1] . For
instance,
\newtheorem*{mydef}{Definition}
defines the mydef environment, which will generate definitions without numbering. This requires amsthm
package.
Proofs
The proof environment[1] can be used for adding the proof of a theorem. The basic usage is:
\begin{proof}
Here is my proof
\end{proof}
It just adds Proof in italics at the beginning of the text given as argument and a white square (Q.E.D symbol, also
known as a tombstone) at the end of it. If you are writing in another language than English, just use babel with the
right argument and the word Proof printed in the output will be translated accordingly; anyway, in the source the
name of the environment remains proof.
If you would like to manually name the proof, include the name in square brackets:
\begin{proof}[Proof of important theorem]
Here is my important proof
\end{proof}
If the last line of the proof is displayed math then the Q.E.D. symbol will appear on a subsequent empty line. To put
the Q.E.D. symbol at the end of the last line, use the \qedhere command:
\begin{proof}
Here is my proof:
\[
a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \qedhere
\]
\end{proof}
The method above does not work with the deprecated environment eqnarray*. Here is a workaround:
118
Theorems
119
\begin{proof}
Here is my proof:
\begin{eqnarray*}
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
\end{eqnarray*}
\vspace{-1.3cm}\[\qedhere\]
\end{proof}
To use a custom Q.E.D. symbol, redefine the \qedsymbol command. To hide the Q.E.D. symbol altogether,
redefine it to be blank:
\renewcommand{\qedsymbol}{}
Theorem styles
It adds the possibility to change the output of the environments defined by \newtheorem
\theoremstyle command[1] command in the header:
using the
\theoremstyle{stylename}
the argument is the style you want to use. All subsequently defined theorems will use this style. Here is a list of the
possible pre-defined styles:
stylename
plain
Description
Used for theorems, lemmas, propositions, etc. (default)
Custom styles
To define your own style, use the \newtheoremstyle command[1] :
\newtheoremstyle{stylename}% name of the style to be used
{spaceabove}% measure of space to leave above the theorem. E.g.: 3pt
{spacebelow}% measure of space to leave below the theorem. E.g.: 3pt
{bodyfont}% name of font to use in the body of the theorem
{indent}% measure of space to indent
{headfont}% name of head font
{headpunctuation}% punctuation between head and body
{headspace}% space after theorem head; " " = normal interword space
{headspec}% Manually specify head
(Any arguments that are left blank will assume their default value). Here is an example headspec:
\thmname{#1}\thmnumber{ #2}:\thmnote{ #3}
which would look something like:
Definition 2: Topology
for the following:
\begin{definition}[Topology]...
Theorems
(The note argument, which in this case is Topology, is always optional, but will not appear by default unless you
specify it as above in the head spec).
Conflicts
The theorem environment conflicts with other environments, for example wrapfigure. A work around is to redefine
theorem, for example the following way:
% Fix latex
\def\smallskip{\vskip\smallskipamount}
\def\medskip{\vskip\medskipamount}
\def\bigskip{\vskip\bigskipamount}
% Hand made theorem
\newcounter{thm}[section]
\renewcommand{\thethm}{\thesection.\arabic{thm}}
\def\claim#1{\par\medskip\noindent\refstepcounter{thm}\hbox{\bf
\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}.\arabic{thm}. #1.}
\it\ %\ignorespaces
}
\def\endclaim{
\par\medskip}
\newenvironment{thm}{\claim}{\endclaim}
In this case theorem looks like:
\begin{thm}{Claim}\label{lyt-prob}
Let it be.
Then you know.
\end{thm}
Notes
[1] Requires the amsthm package
External links
amsthm documentation (ftp://ftp.ams.org/pub/tex/doc/amscls/amsthdoc.pdf)
120
Linguistics
121
Linguistics
Recommended packages[1] :
Glosses: gb4e;
IPA symbols: tipa;
OT Tableaux: OTtablx;
Syntactic trees: qtree + tree-dvips (for drawing arrows);
Alternatively, xyling is very powerful but not as user friendly as qtree;
References
[1] (http:/ / jones. ling. indiana. edu/ ~mdickinson/ 08/ latex/ slides. pdf) LaTeX for Linguists presentation
122
section
fig:
figure
tab:
table
eq:
equation
lst:
code listing
Following this convention, the label of a figure will look like \label{fig:my_figure}, etc. You are not
obligated to use these prefixes. You can use any string as argument of \label{...}, but these prefixes become
increasingly useful as your document grows in size.
Another suggestion: try to avoid using numbers within labels. You are better off describing what the object is about.
This way, if you change the order of the objects, you will not have to rename all your labels and their references.
If you want to be able to see the markers you are using in the output document as well, you can use the showkeys
package; this can be very useful while developing your document. For more information see the Packages section.
Examples
Here are some practical examples, but you will notice that they are all the same because they all use the same
commands.
Sections
\section{Greetings}
\label{sec:greetings}
Hello!
\section{Referencing}
I greeted in section~\ref{sec:greetings}.
You could place the label anywhere in the section; however, in order to avoid confusion, it is better to place it
immediately after the beginning of the section. Note how the marker starts with sec:, as suggested before. The label
is then referenced in a different section. The tilde (~) indicates a non-breaking space.
Pictures
You can reference a picture by inserting it in the figure floating environment.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{gull}
\caption{Close-up of a gull}
\label{gull}
\end{figure}
Figure~\ref{gull} shows a photograph of a gull.
When a label is declared within a float environment, the \ref{...} will return the respective fig/table number,
but it must occur after the caption. When declared outside, it will give the section number. To be completely safe,
the label for any picture or table can go within the \caption{} command, as in
\caption{Close-up of a gull\label{gull}}
See the Floats, Figures and Captions section for more about the figure and related environments.
Fixing wrong labels
The command \label must appear after (or inside) \caption. Otherwise, it will pick up the current section or
list number instead of what you intended.
\begin{figure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{gull}
\caption{Close-up of a gull} \label{fig:gull}
\end{figure}
Issues with links to tables and figures handled by hyperref
In case you use the package hyperref to create a PDF, the links to tables or figures will point to the caption of the
table or figure, which is always below the table or figure itself[1] . Therefore the table or figure will not be visible, if
it is above the pointer and one has to scroll up in order to see it. If you want the link point to the top of the image you
can use the package hypcap [2] with:
\usepackage[all]{hypcap}
Be sure to call this package after the package hyperref, which should otherwise be loaded last.
123
Formulas
Here is an example showing how to reference formulas:
\begin{equation} \label{eq:solve}
x^2 - 5 x + 6 = 0
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
x_1 = \frac{5 + \sqrt{25 - 4 \times 6}}{2} = 3
\end{equation}
\begin{equation}
x_2 = \frac{5 - \sqrt{25 - 4 \times 6}}{2} = 2
\end{equation}
and so we have solved equation \ref{eq:solve}
As you can see, the label is placed soon after the beginning of the math mode. In order to reference a formula, you
have to use an environment that adds numbers. Most of the times you will be using the equation environment;
that is the best choice for one-line formulas, whether you are using amsmath or not. Note also the eq: prefix in the
label.
eqref
The amsmath package adds a new command for referencing formulas; it is \eqref{}. It works exactly like
\ref{}, but it adds brackets so that, instead of printing a plain number as 5, it will print (5). This can be useful to
help the reader distinguish between formulas and other things, without the need to repeat the word "formula" before
any reference. Its output can be changed as you wish; for more information see the amsmath documentation.
numberwithin
The amsmath package adds the \numberwithin{countera}{counterb} command which replaces the
simple
countera
by
a
more
sophisticated
counterb.countera.
For
example
\numberwithin{equation}{section} in the preamble will prepend the section number to all equation
numbers.
124
125
126
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ hyperref/ README
[2] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ oberdiek/ hypcap. pdf
[3] http:/ / www. tug. org/ applications/ hyperref/ manual. html#TBL-23
Indexing
Especially useful in printed books, an index is an alphabetical list of words and expressions with the pages of the
book upon which they are to be found. LaTeX supports the creation of indices with its package makeidx, and its
support program makeindex, called on some systems makeidx.
Using makeidx
To enable the indexing feature of LaTeX, the makeidx package must be loaded in the preamble with:
\usepackage{makeidx}
and the special indexing commands must be enabled by putting the
\makeindex
command into the input file preamble. This should be done within the preamble, since it tells LaTeX to create the
files needed for indexing. To tell LaTeX what to index, use
\index{key}
where key is the index entry and does not appear in the final layout. You enter the index commands at the points in
the text that you want to be referenced in the index, likely near the reason for the key. For example, the text
To solve various problems in physics, it can be advantageous to express any
arbitrary piecewise-smooth function as a Fourier Series composed of multiples
of sine and cosine functions.
can be re-written as
To solve various problems in physics, it can be advantageous to express any
arbitrary piecewise-smooth function as a Fourier Series \index{Fourier Series}
composed of multiples of sine and cosine functions.
to create an entry called 'Fourier Series' with a reference to the target page. Multiple uses of \index with the same key
on different pages will add those target pages to the same index entry.
To show the index within the document, merely use the command
\printindex
It is common to place it at the end of the document. The default index format is two columns.
The showidx package that comes with LaTeX prints out all index entries in the left margin of the text. This is quite
useful for proofreading a document and verifying the index.
Indexing
127
Compiling Indices
When the input file is processed with LaTeX, each \index command writes an appropriate index entry, together
with the current page number, to a special file. The file has the same name as the LaTeX input file, but a different
extension (.idx). This .idx file can then be processed with the makeindex program. Type in the command
line:
makeindex filename
Note that filename is without extension: the program will look for filename.idx and use that. You can optionally pass
filename.idx directly to the program as an argument. The makeindex program generates a sorted index with the
same base file name, but this time with the extension .ind. If now the LaTeX input file is processed again, this
sorted index gets included into the document at the point where LaTeX finds \printindex .
The index created by latex with the default options may not look as nice or as suitable as you would like it. To
improve the looks of the index makeindex comes with a set of style files, usually located somewhere in the tex
directory structure, usually below the makeindex subdirectory. To tell makeindex to use a specific style file,
run it with the command line option:
makeindex -s <style file> filename
If you use a GUI for compiling latex and index files, you may have to set this in the options. Here are some
configuration tips for typical tools:
Sophisticated Indexing
Below are examples of \index entries:
Example
\index{hello
Index Entry
\index{hello!Peter
Comment
hello, 1
Plain entry
Peter, 3
\index{Sam@\textsl{Sam
}}
Sam, 2
Formatted entry
\index{Lin@\textbf{Lin
}}
Lin, 7
Same as above
Jenny, 3
Joe, 5
Same as above
cole, 4
Handling of accents
Cross-references
\index{Jenny|textbf
\index{Joe|textit
\index{ecole@\'ecole
\index{Peter|see{hello
}}
\index{Jen|seealso{Jenny
Indexing
128
Subentries
If some entry has subsections, these can be marked off with !. For example,
\index{encodings!input!cp850}
would an index with 'cp850' categorized under 'input' (which itself is categorized into 'encodings'). These are called
subsubentries and subentries in makeidx terminology.
Controlling Sorting
In order to determine how an index key is sorted, place a value to sort by before the key with the @ as a separator.
This is useful if there is any formatting or math mode, so one example may be
\index{F@$\vec{F}$}
so that the entry in the index will show as '
Multiple Pages
To perform multi-page indexing, add a |( and |) to the end of the \index command, as in
\index{Quantum Mechanics!History|(} In 1901, Max Planck released his theory of
radiation dependant on quantized energy. While this explained the ultraviolet
catastrophe in the spectrum of blackbody radiation, this had far larger
consequences as the beginnings of quantum mechanics. ... \index{Quantum
Mechanics!History|)}
The entry in the index for the subentry 'History' will be the range of pages between the two \index commands.
Indexing
129
Warnings
Note that the \index command can affect your layout if not used carefully. Here is an example:
My Word \index{Word}. As opposed to Word\index{Word}.
Note the position of the full stop.
Abbreviation list
You can make a list of abbreviations with the package nomencl [1]. You may also be interested in using the
glossaries package described in the Glossary chapter.
To enable the Nomenclature feature of LaTeX, the nomencl package must be loaded in the preamble with:
\usepackage[options ]{nomencl} \makenomenclature
Issue the \nomenclature[prex]{symbol}{description } command for each symbol you want
to have included in the nomenclature list. The best place for this command is immediately after you introduce the
symbol for the rst time. Put \printnomenclature at the place you want to have your nomenclature list.
Run LaTeX 2 times then
makeindex filename.nlo
-s nomencl.ist -o filename.nls
Multiple indices
If you need multiple indices you can use the package multind [2].
This package provides the same commands as makeidx, but now you also have to pass a name as the first argument
to every command.
\usepackage{multind} \makeindex{books} \makeindex{authors} ... \index{books}{A
book to index} \index{authors}{Put this author in the index} ...
\printindex{books}{The Books index} \printindex{authors}{The Authors index}
Indexing
130
International indices
If you want to sort entries that have international characters (such as , , , , etc.) you may find that the sorting "is
not quite right". In most cases the characters are treated as special characters and end up in the same group as @, or
. In most languages that use Latin alphabet it's not correct.
Generating index
Unfortunately, current version of xindy and hyperref are incompatible. When you use textbf or textit modifiers, texindy will print error
message:unknown
cross-reference-class
`hyperindexformat'!
(ignored)
To generate international index file you have to use texindy instead of makeindex.
xindy [3] is a much more extensible and robust indexing system than the makeindex system.
For example, one does not need to write:
\index{Lin@\textbf{Lin
}} to get the Lin entry after LAN and before LZA, instead, it's enough to write
\index{\textbf{Lin
}}
But what is much more important, it can properly sort index files in many languages, not only English.
Unfortunately, generating indices ready to use by LaTeX using xindy is a bit more complicated than with
makeindex.
First, we need to know in what encoding the .tex project file is saved. In most cases it will be UTF-8 or
ISO-8859-1, though if you live, for example in Poland it may be ISO-8859-2 or CP-1250. Check the parameter to the
inputenc package.
Second, we need to know which language is prominently used in our document. xindy can natively sort indices in
Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Estonian, Finnish, French,
Georgian, German, Greek, Gypsy, Hausa, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Klingon, Kurdish, Latin, Latvian,
Lithuanian, Macedonian, Mongolian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian Slovak,
Slovenian, Sorbian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian and Vietnamese,
I don't know if other languages have similar problems, but with Polish, if your .tex is saved using UTF-8, the
.ind produced by texindy will be encoded in ISO-8859-2 if you use only -L polish. While it's not a problem for
entries containing polish letters, as LaTeX internally encodes all letters to plain ASCII, it is for accented letters at
beginning of words, they create new index entry groups, if you have, for example an "rednia" entry, you'll get a ""
encoded in ISO-8859-2 .ind file. LaTeX doesn't like if part of the file is in UTF-8 and part is in IS-8859-2. The
obvious solution (adding -C utf8) doesn't work, texindy stops with
Indexing
ERROR: Could not find file "tex/inputenc/utf8.xdy"
error. The fix this, you have to load the definiton style for the headings using -M switch:
-M lang/polish/utf8
In the end we have to run such command:
texindy -L polish -M lang/polish/utf8 filename.idx
Additional way to fix this problem is use "iconv" to create utf8.xdy from latin2.xdy
iconv -f latin2 -t utf8 latin2.xdy >utf8.xdy
in folder
/usr/share/xindy/tex/inputenc
(You must have root privileges)
xindy in kile
To use texindy instead of makeindex in kile, you have to either redefine the MakeIndex tool in Settings
Configure Kile... Tools Build, or define new tool and redefine other tools to use it.
The xindy definition should look similar to this:
General:
Command: texindy
Options: -L polish -M lang/polish/utf8 -I latex '%S.idx'
Advanced:
Type: Run Outside of Kile
Class: Compile
Source extension: idx
Target extension: ind
Target file: <empty>
Relative dir: <empty>
State: Editor
Menu:
Add tool to Build menu: Compile
Icon: the one you like
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ nomencl/
[2] http:/ / www. tex. ac. uk/ cgi-bin/ texfaq2html?label=multind
[3] http:/ / xindy. sourceforge. net/
131
Typesetting Algorithms
Typesetting using the algorithmic package
The algorithmic environment provides a number of popular constructs for algorithm designs. Put
\usepackage{algorithmic} in the preamble to use the algorithmic environment to write algorithm
pseudocode (\begin{algorithmic}...\end{algorithmic}). You might want to use the algorithm
environment (\usepackage{algorithm}) to wrap your algorithmic code in an algorithm environment
(\begin{algorithm}...\end{algorithm}) to produce a floating environment with numbered algorithms.
The command \begin{algorithmic} can be given the optional argument of a positive integer, which if given
will cause line numbering to occur at multiples of that integer. E.g. \begin{algorithmic}[5] will enter the
algorithmic environment and number every fifth line.
Below is an example of typesetting a basic algorithm using the algorithms package (remember to add the
\usepackage{algorithmic} statement to your document preamble):
\begin{algorithmic}
\IF {$i\geq maxval$}
\STATE $i\gets 0$
\ELSE
\IF {$i+k\leq maxval$}
\STATE $i\gets i+k$
\ENDIF
\ENDIF
\end{algorithmic}
The LaTeX source can be written to a format familiar to programmers so that it is easy to read. This will not,
however, affect the final layout in the document.
132
If-statements
There are three forms of this construct
\IF{<condition>} <text> \ENDIF
\IF{<condition>} <text> \ELSE <text> \ENDIF
\IF{<condition>} <text> \ELSIF{<condition>} <text> \ELSE <text> \ENDIF
The third form accepts as many \ELSIF{} clauses as required.
For-loops
There are two forms
\FOR{<condition>} <text> \ENDFOR
\FORALL{<condition>} <text> \ENDFOR
A traditional "for" loop. The method of iteration is usually described in the first argument,
e.g.
\FOR{$i = 1 \to 10$}
\STATE $i \gets i + 1$
\ENDFOR
While-loops
\WHILE{<condition>} <text> \ENDWHILE
\WHILE{$i \leq 10$}
\STATE i=i+1;
\ENDWHILE
133
Infinite loops
\LOOP <text> \ENDLOOP
Precondition
\REQUIRE <text>
Postcondition
\ENSURE <text>
Returning variables
\RETURN <text>
Printing variables
\PRINT <text>
This is included because it is used so frequently it is considered an operation in its own right.
Comments
\COMMENT{<text>}
Note that you cannot use \COMMENT as the first statement of any closed structure, such as \IF..\ENDIF,
\FOR..\ENDFOR, \FORALL..\ENDFORALL, \WHILE..\ENDWHILE, and \begin{algorithmic}..\end{algorithmic}.
An error "LaTeX Error: Something's wrong--perhaps a missing \item" will be reported (It does not make much
sense). There are two workarounds:
1. Use \STATE \COMMENT{<text>}.
2. Use the optional arguments in those closed structures. For example, \WHILE[<comment-text>]{<condition>}.
To use math in comment text, replace $..$ by \ensuremath{..}
134
135
Algorithm numbering
The default numbering system for the algorithm package is to number algorithms sequentially. This is often not
desirable, particularly in large documents where numbering according to chapter is more appropriate. The numbering
of algorithms can be influenced by providing the name of the document component within which numbering should
be recommenced. The legal values for this option are: part, chapter, section, subsection, subsubsection or nothing
(default). For example:
\usepackage[chapter]{algorithm}
List of algorithms
When you use figures or tables, you can add a list of them close to the table of contents; the algorithm package
provides a similar command. Just put
\listofalgorithms
anywhere in the document, and LaTeX will print a list of the "algorithm" environments in the document with the
corresponding page and the caption.
136
x$
n$
X \times X$
N / 2$
y \times X$
N - 1$
More information about all possible commands available at the project page
http://developer.berlios.de/docman/?group_id=3442
The official manual is located at
http://developer.berlios.de/docman/display_doc.php?docid=800&group_id=3442
The commands \( and \) are redefined to typeset an algorithm in a minipage, so an algorithm can appear as a
single box in a formula. For example, to state that a particular action system is equivalent to a WHILE loop you can
write:
\[
\( \ACTIONS A:
A \EQ \IF \B{} \THEN \S{}; \CALL A
\ELSE \CALL Z \FI \QE
\ENDACTIONS \)
\EQT
\( \WHILE \B{} \DO \S{} \OD \)
\]
Dijkstra conditionals and loops:
\begin{program}
\IF x = 1 \AR y:=y+1
\BAR x = 2 \AR y:=y^2
\utdots
\BAR x = n \AR y:=\displaystyle\sum_{i=1}^n y_i \FI
\DO 2 \origbar x \AND x>0 \AR x:= x/2
\BAR \NOT 2 \origbar x
\AR x:= \modbar{x+3} \OD
\end{program}
Loops with multiple exits:
\begin{program}
\DO \DO \IF \B1 \THEN \EXIT \FI;
\S1;
\IF \B2 \THEN \EXIT(2) \FI \OD;
\IF \B1 \THEN \EXIT \FI \OD
\end{program}
A Reverse Engineering Example.
137
138
setting
\NumberProgramstrue
and
numbering
turned
off
with
139
\end{document}
References
The official manual for the algorithms package, Rogrio Brito (2009), http://mirrors.ctan.org/macros/latex/
contrib/algorithms/algorithms.pdf
References
[1] http:/ / mrunix. de/ forums/ showpost. php?s=f85d42fd6f15e8f112bbc31d94d21424& p=258363& postcount=6
[2] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ pkg/ program
[3] http:/ / mirror. ctan. org/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ program/ program-doc. pdf
140
Document Options
The graphics and graphicx packages recognize the "draft" and "final" options given in the
\documentclass[...]{...} command at the start of the file. Using "draft" as the option will suppress the
inclusion of the image in the output file and will replace the contents with the name of the image file that would have
been seen. Using "final" will result in the image being placed in the output file. The default is "draft".
Importing Graphics
Compiling with latex
The only format you can include while compiling with latex is Encapsulated PostScript (EPS).
The EPS format was defined by Adobe Systems for making it easy for applications to import postscript-based
graphics into documents. Because an EPS file declares the size of the image, it makes it easy for systems like LaTeX
to arrange the text and the graphics in the best way. EPS is a vector formatthis means that it can have very high
quality if it is created properly, with programs that are able to manage vector graphics. It is also possible to store
bit-map pictures within EPS, but they will need a lot of disk space.
Many graphics software packages have the ability to save images in the EPS format (extension is normally .eps).
Here are some examples of software that can output EPS formats:
Printing in an EPS file:
Under Windows, PDFCreator [1] is an open source software that can create PDF as well as EPS files. It installs
a virtual printer that can be accessed from other software having a "print..." entry in their menu (virtually any
program).
Creating and converting vector graphics:
Commercial vector graphics software, such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, and FreeHand are commonly
used and can read and write EPS figures. However, these products are limited to Windows and Mac OS
platforms.
Inkscape [2] can save in vector EPS format, and it can run on multiple platforms. Inkscape cannot open EPS
figures directly; however, with the epstopdf utility [3] one can convert EPS into PDF and Inkscape can import
PDF. From version 0.48, Inkscape has a special PDF+LaTeX output option (and for EPS/PS too). See Inkscape
website [4].
Dia [5] is a cross platform diagramming utility which can export eps.
Creating and converting raster-only graphics to EPS:
GIMP [6], has a graphical user interface, and it is multi-platform.
For command-line:
Sam2p [7] (convert) or
ImageMagick [8] (convert) or
GraphicsMagick [9] (gm convert).
These three programs operate much the same way, and can convert between most graphics formats. Sam2p
however is the most recent of the three and seems to offer both the best quality and to result in the smallest
files.
imgtops [10]. A lightweight graphics utility.
Creating publication-quality vector-based plots and charts:
There are some tricks to be able to import formats other than EPS into your DVI document, but they're very
complicated. On the other hand, converting any image to EPS is very simple, so it's not worth considering them.
141
Importing Graphics
142
[3]
Importing Graphics
143
Including graphics
Now that we have seen which formats we can include and how we could manage those formats, it's time to learn
how to include them in our document. After you have loaded the graphicx package in your preamble, you can
include images with \includegraphics, whose syntax is the following:
\includegraphics[attr1=val1, attr2=val2, ..., attrn=valn]{imagename}
As you should hopefully be aware by now, arguments in square brackets are optional, whereas arguments in curly
braces are compulsory. The argument in the curly braces is the name of the image. Write it without the extension.
This way the LaTeX compiler will look for any supported image format in that directory and will take the best one
(EPS if the output is DVI; JPEG, PNG or PDF if the output is PDF). The variety of possible attributes that can be set
is fairly large, so only the most common are covered below:
width=xx
height=xx
NB. Only specifying either width or height will scale the image
whilst maintaining the aspect ratio.
keepaspectratio This can be set to either true or false. When true, it will scale the image according to both height and width, but will not
distort the image, so that neither width nor height are exceeded.
scale=xx
Scales the image by the desired scale factor. e.g, 0.5 to reduce by half, or 2 to double.
angle=xx
trim=l b r t
This option will crop the imported image by l from the left, b from the bottom, r from the right, and t from the top. Where l,
b, r and t are lengths.
clip
page=x
If the image file is a pdf file with multiple pages, this parameter allows you to use a different page than the first.
In order to use more than one option at a time, simply separate each with a comma. The order you give the options
matters. E.g you should first rotate your graphic (with angle) and then specify its width.
Included graphics will be inserted just there, where you placed the code, and the compiler will handle them as "big
boxes". As we will see in the next section, this can disrupt the layout; you'll probably want to place graphics inside
floating objects.
Also note that the trim option does not work with XeLaTex.
Examples
OK, it's time to see graphicx in action. Here are some examples:
\includegraphics{chick}
This simply imports the image, without any other processing. However, it is very large (so I won't display it here!).
So, let's scale it down:
\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{chick}
This has now reduced it by half. If you wish to be more specific and give actual lengths of the image dimensions,
this is how to go about it:
Importing Graphics
144
\includegraphics[width=2.5cm]{chick}
One can also specify the scale with respect to the width of a line in the local environment (\linewidth), the width
of the text on a page (\textwidth) or the height of the text on a page (\textheight) (pictures not shown):
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{chick}
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{chick}
\includegraphics[height=\textheight]{chick}
To rotate (I also scaled the image down):
\includegraphics[scale=0.5, angle=180]{chick}
And finally, an example of how to crop an image should you wish to focus on one particular area of interest:
%trim option's parameter order: left bottom right top
\includegraphics[trim = 10mm 80mm 20mm 5mm, clip, width=3cm]{chick}
Note the presence of clip, as the trim operation will not work without it.
As you may have noticed, the file name of the picture is always without the extension: LaTeX will take care of
getting the right version for us. Consider the following situation: you have added some pictures to your document in
JPG and you have successfully compiled it in PDF. Now you want to compile it in DVI, you run latex and you get a
lot of errors... because you forgot to provide the EPS versions of the pictures you want to insert. At the beginning of
this book, we had stated that the same LaTeX source can be compiled in both DVI and PDF without any change.
This is true, as long as you don't use particular packages, and graphicx is one of those. In any case, you can still
use both compilers with documents with pictures as well, as long as you always remember to provide the pictures in
two formats (EPS and one of JPG, PNG or PDF).
Borders
It is possible to have LaTeX create a border around your image by using fbox:
\setlength\fboxsep{0pt}
\setlength\fboxrule{0.5pt}
\fbox{\includegraphics{chick}}
You can control the border padding with the \setlength\fboxsep{0pt} command, in this case I set it to 0pt
to avoid any padding, so the border will be placed tightly around the image. You can control the thickness of the
border by adjusting the \setlength\fboxrule{0.5pt} command.
Importing Graphics
Graphics storage
There is a way to tell LaTeX where to look for images: for example, it can be useful if you store images centrally for
use in many different documents. The answer is in the command \graphicspath which you supply with an
argument giving the name of an additional directory path you want searched when a file uses the
\includegraphics command, here are some examples (trailing / is required):
\graphicspath{{c:\mypict~1\camera}}
\graphicspath{{c:/mypict~1/camera/}} *
\graphicspath{{/var/lib/images/}}
\graphicspath{{images_folder/}{other_folder/}{third_folder/}}
\graphicspath{{./images/}}
* works well in Win XP
Please see http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ required/ graphics/ grfguide. pdf. In the last example
shown you would have a directory named "images" in the same directory as your man tex file, i.e. this is RELATIVE
addressing.
As you may have noticed, in the first example I've used the "safe" (MS-DOS) form of the Windows MyPictures
folder because it's a bad idea to use directory names containing spaces. Using absolute paths, \graphicspath
does make your file less portable, while using relative paths (like the last example), you shouldn't have any problem
with portability, but remember not to use spaces in file-names. Alternatively, if you are using PDFLaTeX, you can
use the package grffile which will then allow you to use spaces in file names.
Note that you cannot make the graphicx package search directories recursively. Under Linux/Unix, you can achieve
a recursive search using the environment variable TEXINPUTS, e.g., by setting it to
export TEXINPUTS=./images//:./Snapshots//
before running latex/pdflatex or your TeX-IDE. (But this, of course, is not a portable method.)
Images as Figures
There are many scenarios where you might want to accompany an image with a caption and possibly a
cross-reference. This is done using the figure environment. The following code sample shows the bare minimum
required to use an image as a figure.
\begin{figure}[htb]
\includegraphics{image.png}
\end{figure}
The above code extract is relatively trivial, and doesn't offer much functionality. The following code sample shows
an extended use of the figure environment which is almost universally useful, offering a caption and label, centering
the image and scaling it to 80% of the width of the text.
\begin{figure}[htb]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.8\textwidth]{image.png}
\caption{Awesome Image}
\label{fig:awesome_image}
\end{figure}
The figure environment is not exclusively used for images. More information on the figure environment and how to
use it can be found in Floats, Figures and Captions.
145
Importing Graphics
You can draw graphics directly with TeX commands using the tikz package: http:/ / ftp. dante. de/ tex-archive/ help/
Catalogue/entries/pgf.html It comes with very good documentation with many examples.
% This needs \usepackage{tikz} in the preamble
\begin{figure}
\centering
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[thick,rounded corners=8pt]
(0,0) -- (0,2) -- (1,3.25) -- (2,2) -- (2,0) -- (0,2) -- (2,2) -- (0,0)
-- (2,0);
\end{tikzpicture}
\caption{This is the caption of my figure}
\label{fig:test}
\end{figure}
An extensive collection of examples can be found here: http://www.texample.net/tikz/
Further packages which are based on TikZ (e.g. for drawing electrical circuits), can be found here: http:/ / ftp. dante.
de/tex-archive/help/Catalogue/bytopic.html#pgftikzsection
146
Importing Graphics
147
Xfig
Vector graphics can be created using the vector painting program Xfig (see Installation), and exported for LaTeX. In
Xfig, once your graphic is saved as a file test.fig, you need to export it using the File > Export drop down
menu from the main Xfig window and then select the "Combined PS/Latex (both parts)" in the language drop down
list. If you don't change any other settings, two files will be created in the same directory as the test.fig file,
such as: test.pstex_t and test.pstex. The figure can then be placed in a LaTeX document:
\begin{figure}
\centering
\input{./xfig/test.pstex_t}
\caption{This is the caption of my figure}
\label{fig:test}
\end{figure}
ipe
The Ipe extensible drawing editor is a free vector graphics editor for creating figures in PDF or EPS format. Unlike
Xfig, ipe represents LaTeX fonts in their correct size on the screen which makes it easier to place text labels at the
right spot. ipe also has various snapping modes (for example, snapping to points, lines, or intersections) that can be
used for geometric constructions.
Inkscape
Another program for creating vector graphics is Inkscape [22]. It works with Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) [23]
files, although it can export to many formats that can be included in LaTeX files, such as EPS and PDF. From
version 0.48, there is a combined PDF/EPS/PS+LaTeX output option, like XFig has.
[24]
Importing Graphics
This will convert all the fonts to pre-drawn images, which is sometimes desirable when submitting manuscripts for
publication. However, on the downside, the fonts are NOT converted to lines, but instead to bitmaps, which reduces
the quality of the fonts.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
148
Creating Graphics
Creating Graphics
In the previous chapter, you learned that you can import or link graphics into LaTeX, such as graphics that you have
created in another program or obtained elsewhere. In this chapter, you will learn how to create or embed graphics
directly in a LaTeX document. The graphics is marked up using commands similar to those for typesetting bold text
or creating mathematical formulas, as the following example of embedded graphics shows:
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{ \bullet \ar[r] \ar@{.>}[r] & \bullet }
\end{displaymath}
There are several packages supporting the creation of graphics directly in LaTeX, including picture, xy-Pic,
and PGF/TikZ, described in the following sections.
Overview
The picture environment allows programming pictures directly in LaTeX. On the one hand, there are rather
severe constraints, as the slopes of line segments as well as the radii of circles are restricted to a narrow choice of
values. On the other hand, the picture environment of LaTeX2e brings with it the \qbezier command, "q"
meaning quadratic. Many frequently-used curves such as circles, ellipses, and catenaries can be satisfactorily
approximated by quadratic Bzier curves, although this may require some mathematical toil. If a programming
language like Java is used to generate \qbezier blocks of LaTeX input files, the picture environment becomes
quite powerful.
Although programming pictures directly in LaTeX is severely restricted, and often rather tiresome, there are still
reasons for doing so. The documents thus produced are "small" with respect to bytes, and there are no additional
graphics files to be dragged along.
Packages like epic, eepic or pstricks enhance the original picture environment, and greatly strengthen the
graphical power of LaTeX.
While the former two packages just enhance the picture environment, the pstricks package has its own drawing
environment, pspicture. The power of pstricks stems from the fact that this package makes extensive use of
PostScript possibilities. Unfortunately it has one big shortcoming: it doesn't work together with pdfLaTeX, as such to
generate a PDF document form TeX source you have to go TeXDVIPDF; losing hyperlinks, metadata and
microtypographic features of pdflatex. In addition, numerous packages have been written for specific purposes. One
of them is XY-pic, described at the end of this chapter. A wide variety of these packages is described in detail in The
LaTeX Graphics Companion (not to be confused with The LaTeX Companion).
Perhaps the most powerful graphical tool related with LaTeX is MetaPost, the twin of Donald E. Knuths
METAFONT. MetaPost has the very powerful and mathematically sophisticated programming language of
METAFONT. Contrary to METAFONT, which generates bitmaps, MetaPost generates encapsulated PostScript files,
which can be imported in LaTeX. For an introduction, see A Users Manual for MetaPost. A very thorough
discussion of LaTeX and TEX strategies for graphics (and fonts) can be found in TEX Unbound.
The last but certainly not least is the PGF/TikZ system. While the previous systems (picture, epic, pstricks
or metapost) focus on the how to draw, TikZ focuses more on the what to draw. One could say that TikZ is to
drawing in LaTeX as LaTeX is to digital typesetting. It's recommended to use it if your LaTeX distribution includes
it.
149
Creating Graphics
150
Line Segments
Line segments are drawn with the command:
\put(x, y){\line(x1, y1){length}}
The \line command has two arguments:
1. a direction vector,
2. a "length" (sort of: this argument is the length of the vertical coordinate in the case of a vertical line segment and
of the horizontal coordinate in all other cases, rather than the length of the segment itself).
The components of the direction vector are restricted to the integers (6, 5, ... , 5, 6) and they have to be coprime
(no common divisor except 1). The figure below illustrates all 25 possible slope values in the first quadrant. The
length is relative to \unitlength.
Creating Graphics
151
\setlength{\unitlength}{5cm}
\begin{picture}(1,1)
\put(0,0){\line(0,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,0){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,2){.5}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,3){.3333}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,4){.25}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,5){.2}}
\put(0,0){\line(1,6){.1667}}
\put(0,0){\line(2,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(2,3){.6667}}
\put(0,0){\line(2,5){.4}}
\put(0,0){\line(3,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(3,2){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(3,4){.75}}
\put(0,0){\line(3,5){.6}}
\put(0,0){\line(4,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(4,3){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(4,5){.8}}
\put(0,0){\line(5,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(5,2){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(5,3){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(5,4){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(5,6){.8333}}
\put(0,0){\line(6,1){1}}
\put(0,0){\line(6,5){1}}
\end{picture}
Arrows
Arrows are drawn with the command
\put(x, y){\vector(x1, y1){length}}
For arrows, the components of the direction vector are even more narrowly restricted than for line segments, namely
to the integers (4, 3, ... , 3, 4). Components also have to be coprime (no common divisor except 1). Notice the
effect of the \thicklines command on the two arrows pointing to the upper left.
\setlength{\unitlength}{0.75mm}
\begin{picture}(60,40)
\put(30,20){\vector(1,0){30}}
\put(30,20){\vector(4,1){20}}
\put(30,20){\vector(3,1){25}}
\put(30,20){\vector(2,1){30}}
\put(30,20){\vector(1,2){10}}
\thicklines
\put(30,20){\vector(-4,1){30}}
\put(30,20){\vector(-1,4){5}}
\thinlines
\put(30,20){\vector(-1,-1){5}}
\put(30,20){\vector(-1,-4){5}}
\end{picture}
Creating Graphics
152
Circles
The command
\put(x, y){\circle{diameter}}
draws a circle with center (x, y) and diameter (not radius) specified by diameter. The picture environment only
admits diameters up to approximately 14mm, and even below this limit, not all diameters are possible. The
\circle* command produces disks (filled circles). As in the case of line segments, one may have to resort to
additional packages, such as eepic or pstricks.
\setlength{\unitlength}{1mm}
\begin{picture}(60, 40)
\put(20,30){\circle{1}}
\put(20,30){\circle{2}}
\put(20,30){\circle{4}}
\put(20,30){\circle{8}}
\put(20,30){\circle{16}}
\put(20,30){\circle{32}}
\put(40,30){\circle{1}}
\put(40,30){\circle{2}}
\put(40,30){\circle{3}}
\put(40,30){\circle{4}}
\put(40,30){\circle{5}}
\put(40,30){\circle{6}}
\put(40,30){\circle{7}}
\put(40,30){\circle{8}}
\put(40,30){\circle{9}}
\put(40,30){\circle{10}}
\put(40,30){\circle{11}}
\put(40,30){\circle{12}}
\put(40,30){\circle{13}}
\put(40,30){\circle{14}}
\put(15,10){\circle*{1}}
\put(20,10){\circle*{2}}
\put(25,10){\circle*{3}}
\put(30,10){\circle*{4}}
\put(35,10){\circle*{5}}
\end{picture}
There is another possibility within the picture environment. If one is not afraid of doing the necessary calculations
(or leaving them to a program), arbitrary circles and ellipses can be patched together from quadratic Bzier curves.
See Graphics in LaTeX2e for examples and Java source files.
Creating Graphics
153
Creating Graphics
154
Ovals
The command
\put(x, y){\oval(w, h)}
or
\put(x, y){\usebox{name}}
The optional position parameter has the effect of defining the "anchor point" of the savebox. In the example it is set
to "bl" which puts the anchor point into the bottom left corner of the savebox. The other position specifiers are top
and right.
The name argument refers to a LaTeX storage bin and therefore is of a command nature (which accounts for the
backslashes in the current example). Boxed pictures can be nested: In this example, \foldera is used within the
definition of \folderb. The \oval command had to be used as the \line command does not work if the
segment length is less than about 3 mm.
Creating Graphics
155
\setlength{\unitlength}{0.5mm}
\begin{picture}(120,168)
\newsavebox{\foldera}
\savebox{\foldera}
(40,32)[bl]{% definition
\multiput(0,0)(0,28){2}
{\line(1,0){40}}
\multiput(0,0)(40,0){2}
{\line(0,1){28}}
\put(1,28){\oval(2,2)[tl]}
\put(1,29){\line(1,0){5}}
\put(9,29){\oval(6,6)[tl]}
\put(9,32){\line(1,0){8}}
\put(17,29){\oval(6,6)[tr]}
\put(20,29){\line(1,0){19}}
\put(39,28){\oval(2,2)[tr]}
}
\newsavebox{\folderb}
\savebox{\folderb}
(40,32)[l]{% definition
\put(0,14){\line(1,0){8}}
\put(8,0){\usebox{\foldera}}
}
\put(34,26){\line(0,1){102}}
\put(14,128){\usebox{\foldera}}
\multiput(34,86)(0,-37){3}
{\usebox{\folderb}}
\end{picture}
equations
See Graphics in LaTeX2e for a Java program which generates the necessary \qbezier command line.
Creating Graphics
156
\setlength{\unitlength}{0.8cm}
\begin{picture}(6,4)
\linethickness{0.075mm}
\multiput(0,0)(1,0){7}
{\line(0,1){4}}
\multiput(0,0)(0,1){5}
{\line(1,0){6}}
\thicklines
\put(0.5,0.5){\line(1,5){0.5}}
\put(1,3){\line(4,1){2}}
\qbezier(0.5,0.5)(1,3)(3,3.5)
\thinlines
\put(2.5,2){\line(2,-1){3}}
\put(5.5,0.5){\line(-1,5){0.5}}
\linethickness{1mm}
\qbezier(2.5,2)(5.5,0.5)(5,3)
\thinlines
\qbezier(4,2)(4,3)(3,3)
\qbezier(3,3)(2,3)(2,2)
\qbezier(2,2)(2,1)(3,1)
\qbezier(3,1)(4,1)(4,2)
\end{picture}
As this example illustrates, splitting up a circle into 4 quadratic Bzier curves is not satisfactory. At least 8 are
needed. The figure again shows the effect of the \linethickness command on horizontal or vertical lines, and
of the \thinlines and the \thicklines commands on oblique line segments. It also shows that both kinds
of commands affect quadratic Bzier curves, each command overriding all previous ones.
Creating Graphics
157
Catenary
\setlength{\unitlength}{1cm}
\begin{picture}(4.3,3.6)(-2.5,-0.25)
\put(-2,0){\vector(1,0){4.4}}
\put(2.45,-.05){$x$}
\put(0,0){\vector(0,1){3.2}}
\put(0,3.35){\makebox(0,0){$y$}}
\qbezier(0.0,0.0)(1.2384,0.0)
(2.0,2.7622)
\qbezier(0.0,0.0)(-1.2384,0.0)
(-2.0,2.7622)
\linethickness{.075mm}
\multiput(-2,0)(1,0){5}
{\line(0,1){3}}
\multiput(-2,0)(0,1){4}
{\line(1,0){4}}
\linethickness{.2mm}
\put( .3,.12763){\line(1,0){.4}}
\put(.5,-.07237){\line(0,1){.4}}
\put(-.7,.12763){\line(1,0){.4}}
\put(-.5,-.07237){\line(0,1){.4}}
\put(.8,.54308){\line(1,0){.4}}
\put(1,.34308){\line(0,1){.4}}
\put(-1.2,.54308){\line(1,0){.4}}
\put(-1,.34308){\line(0,1){.4}}
\put(1.3,1.35241){\line(1,0){.4}}
\put(1.5,1.15241){\line(0,1){.4}}
\put(-1.7,1.35241){\line(1,0){.4}}
\put(-1.5,1.15241){\line(0,1){.4}}
\put(-2.5,-0.25){\circle*{0.2}}
\end{picture}
In this figure, each symmetric half of the catenary
The right half of the curve ends in the point (2, 2.7622), the slope there having the value m = 3.6269. Using again
equation (*), we can calculate the intermediate control points. They turn out to be (1.2384, 0) and (1.2384, 0). The
crosses indicate points of the real catenary. The error is barely noticeable, being less than one percent. This example
points out the use of the optional argument of the \begin{picture} command. The picture is defined in
convenient "mathematical" coordinates, whereas by the command
\begin{picture}(4.3,3.6)(-2.5,-0.25)
its lower left corner (marked by the black disk) is assigned the coordinates (2.5,0.25).
Creating Graphics
158
Plotting graphs
\setlength{\unitlength}{0.8cm}
\begin{picture}(6,4)(-3,-2)
\put(-2.5,0){\vector(1,0){5}}
\put(2.7,-0.1){$\chi$}
\put(0,-1.5){\vector(0,1){3}}
\multiput(-2.5,1)(0.4,0){13}
{\line(1,0){0.2}}
\multiput(-2.5,-1)(0.4,0){13}
{\line(1,0){0.2}}
\put(0.2,1.4)
{$\beta=v/c=\tanh\chi$}
\qbezier(0,0)(0.8853,0.8853)
(2,0.9640)
\qbezier(0,0)(-0.8853,-0.8853)
(-2,-0.9640)
\put(-3,-2){\circle*{0.2}}
\end{picture}
The control points of the two Bzier curves were calculated with formulas (*). The positive branch is determined by
,
and
,
. Again, the picture is defined in
mathematically convenient coordinates, and the lower left corner is assigned the mathematical coordinates (3,2)
(black disk).
Xy-pic
xy is a special package for drawing diagrams. To use it, simply add the following line to the preamble of your
document:
\usepackage[all]{xy}
where "all" means you want to load a large standard set of functions from Xy-pic, suitable for developing the kind of
diagrams discussed here.
The primary way to draw Xy-pic diagrams is over a matrix-oriented canvas, where each diagram element is placed in
a matrix slot:
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{A & B \\
C & D }
\end{displaymath}
Creating Graphics
159
The \xymatrix command must be used in math mode. Here, we specified two lines and two columns. To make
this matrix a diagram we just add directed arrows using the \ar command.
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{ A \ar[r] & B \ar[d] \\
D \ar[u] & C \ar[l] }
\end{displaymath}
The arrow command is placed on the origin cell for the arrow. The arguments are the direction the arrow should
point to (up, down, right and left).
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{
A \ar[d] \ar[dr] \ar[r] & B \\
D
& C }
\end{displaymath}
To make diagonals, just use more than one direction. In fact, you can repeat directions to make bigger arrows.
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{
A \ar[d] \ar[dr] \ar[drr] &
&
\\
B
& C & D }
\end{displaymath}
We can draw even more interesting diagrams by adding labels to the arrows. To do this, we use the common
superscript and subscript operators.
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{
A \ar[r]^f \ar[d]_g & B \ar[d]^{g'} \\
D \ar[r]_{f'}
& C }
\end{displaymath}
As shown, you use these operators as in math mode. The only difference is that that superscript means "on top of the
arrow", and subscript means "under the arrow". There is a third operator, the vertical bar: | It causes text to be placed
in the arrow.
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{
A \ar[r]|f \ar[d]|g & B \ar[d]|{g'} \\
D \ar[r]|{f'}
& C }
\end{displaymath}
To draw an arrow with a hole in it, use \ar[...]|\hole. In some situations, it is important to distinguish
between different types of arrows. This can be done by putting labels on them, or changing their appearance
Creating Graphics
160
\shorthandoff{"}
\begin{displaymath}
\xymatrix{
\bullet\ar@{->}[rr]
\bullet\ar@{.<}[rr]
\bullet\ar@{~)}[rr]
\bullet\ar@{=(}[rr]
\bullet\ar@{~/}[rr]
\bullet\ar@{^{(}->}[rr]
\bullet\ar@2{->}[rr]
\bullet\ar@3{->}[rr]
\bullet\ar@{=+}[rr]
\end{displaymath}
\shorthandon{"}
&&
&&
&&
&&
&&
&&
&&
&&
&&
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet\\
\bullet }
PGF/TikZ
One possible solution how to draw graphics directly with TeX commands is PGF/TikZ [2]. TikZ can produce
portable graphics in both PDF and PostScript formats using either plain (pdf)TEX, (pdf)Latex or ConTEXt. It comes
with very good documentation and an extensive collection of examples: http://www.texample.net/tikz/
PGF ("portable graphics format") is the basic layer, providing a set of basic commands for producing graphics, and
TikZ ("TikZ ist kein Zeichenprogramm") is the frontend layer with a special syntax, making the use of PGF easier.
TikZ commands are prevalently similar to Metafont, the option mechanism is similar to PsTricks syntax.
Other packages building on top of TikZ (e.g., for drawing electrical circuits) can be found here: http:/ / ftp. dante. de/
tex-archive/help/Catalogue/bytopic.html#pgftikzsection
In the following some basics of TikZ are presented.
Creating Graphics
Specifying Coordinates
Coordinates are specified in round brackets in an arbitrary TEX dimension either using cartesian coordinates
(comma separated), e.g. 1cm in x and 2pt in y direction
(1cm,2pt)
161
Creating Graphics
162
paths:
"color=<color
name>",
"draw=<line
color>",
Line width options: "line width=<dimension>", and abbreviations "ultra thin" for 0.1pt, "very
thin" for 0.2pt, "thin" for 0.4pt (the default width), "semithick" for 0.6pt, "thick" for 0.8pt, "very
thick" for 1.2pt, "ultra thick" for 1.6pt.
Line end, line join options: "line cap=<type: round, rect, or butt>", "arrows=<start arrow
kind>-<end arrow kind>", "rounded corners", "rounded corners=<size>", "line
join=<type: round, bevel, or miter>".
Line pattern options: "dash pattern=<dash pattern>" (e.g. "dash pattern=on 2pt off 3pt on
4pt off 4pt"), "dash phase=dash phase", "solid", "dashed", "dotted", "dashdotted",
"densely dotted", "loosely dotted", "double".
Options for filling
color=<color>"
paths
are
e.g.
"fill=<fill
color>",
"pattern=<name>",
"pattern
Creating Graphics
A connected path can be closed using the "--cycle" operation:
\draw (1,0) -- (0,0) -- (0,1) -- cycle;
User-defined paths can be created using the "to" operation. Without an option it corresponds to a straight line,
exactly like the double minus command. Using the "out" and "in" option a curved path can created. E.g.
"[out=135,in=45]" causes the path to leave at an angle of 135 degree at the first coordinate and arrive at an
angle of 45 degree at the second coordinate.
\draw (0,0) to (3,2);
\draw (0,0) to[out=90,in=180] (3,2);
\draw (0,0) to[bend right] (3,2);
For rectangles a special syntax exist. Use a move-to operation to one corner and after "rectangle" the coordinates
of the diagonal corner. The last one becomes the new current point.
\draw (0,0) rectangle (1,1);
\shade[top color=yellow, bottom color=black] (0,0) rectangle (2,-1);
Circles and ellipses paths are defined beginning with their center then using the "circle command" either with
one length as radius of a circle or with two lengths as semi-axes of an ellipse.
\draw (0,0) circle [radius=1.5];
\draw (0,0) circle (2cm); % old syntax
\draw (0,0) circle [x radius=1.5cm, y radius=10mm];
\draw (0,0) circle (1.2cm and 8mm); % old syntax
\draw (0,0) circle [x radius=1cm, y radius=5mm, rotate=30];
\draw[rotate=30] (0,0) ellipse (20pt and 10pt); % old syntax
There are many more predefined commands for special paths, like "arc" for a part of an ellipse, "grid",
"parabola", "sin", "cos" (sine or cosine curve in the interval [0,/2]).
\draw (0,0) arc (0:270:8mm);
\draw (0,0) arc (0:315:1.75cm and 1cm);
\filldraw[fill=green!20!white, draw=green!40!black] (0,0) -- (12mm,0mm)
arc (0:30:12mm) -- (0,0);
The fill color "green!20!white" means 20% green and 80% white mixed together.
\draw[step=0.5, gray, very thin] (-1.4,-1.4) grid (1.4,1.4);
\draw (0,0) parabola (1,1.5) parabola[bend at end] (2,0);
\draw (0,0) sin (1,1) cos (2,0) sin (3,-1) cos (4,0) sin (5,1);
To add arrow tips there are simple options for the drawing command:
\draw [->] (0,0) -- (30:20pt);
\draw [<->] (1,0) arc (180:30:10pt);
\draw [<<->] (2,0) -- ++(0.5,10pt) -- ++(0.5,-10pt) -- ++(0.5,10pt);
A loop can be realized by "\foreach variable in {list of values} commands".
\foreach \x in {0,...,9}
\draw (\x,0) circle (0.4);
163
Creating Graphics
Nodes
A node is typically a rectangle or circle or another simple shape with some text on it. In the simplest case, a node is
just some text that is placed at some coordinate. Nodes are not part of the path itself, they are added to the picture
after the path has been drawn.
Inside a path operation use the following syntax after a given coordinate:
node[<options>](<name>){<text>}
The "(<name>)" is a name for later reference and it is optional. If you only want to name a certain position without
writing text there are two possibilities:
node[<options>](<name>){}
coordinate[<options>](<name>)
Writing text along a given path using the note command is shown as simple example:
\draw[dotted]
(0,0) node {1st node}
-- (1,1) node {2nd node}
-- (0,2) node {3rd node}
-- cycle;
Possible options for the node command are e.g. "inner sep=<dimension>", "outer sep=<dimension>",
"minimum size=<dimension>", "shape aspect=<aspect ratio>", "text=<color>", "font=",
"align=<left_right_center>".
A node is centered at the current coordinate by default. Often it would be better to have the node to the besides the
actual coordinate: Right ("right" or "anchor=west"), left ("left" or "anchor=east"), above ("above" or
"anchor=south"), below ("below" or "anchor=north"). Combinations are also possible, like
"anchor=north east" or "below left".
\fill[fill=yellow]
(0,0) node {1st node}
-- (1,1) node[circle,inner sep=0pt,draw] {2nd node}
-- (0,2) node[fill=red!20,draw,double,rounded corners] {3rd node};
To place nodes on a line or a curve use the "pos=<fraction>" option, where fraction is a floating point number
between 0 representing the previous coordinate and 1 representing the current coordinate.
\draw (0,0) -- (3,1)
node[pos=0]{0} node[pos=0.5]{1/2} node[pos=0.9]{9/10};
There exist some abbreviations: "at start" for "pos=0", "very near start" for "pos=0.125", "near
start" for "pos=0.25", "midway" for "pos=0.5", "near end" for "pos=0.75", "very near end" for
"pos=0.875", "at end" for "pos=1".
The "sloped" option causes the node to be rotated to become a tangent to the curve.
Since nodes are often the only path operation on paths, there are special commands for creating paths containing
only a node, the first with text ouput, the secound without:
\node[<options>](<name>) at (<coordinate>){<text>};
\coordinate[<options>](<name>) at (<coordinate>);
164
Creating Graphics
One can connect nodes using the nodes' labels as coordinates. Having "\path(0,0) node(x) {} (3,1)
node(y) {};" defined, the node at (0,0) got the name "(x)" and the one at (3,1) got a label "(y)".
\path (0,0) node(x) {}
(3,1) node(y) {};
\draw (x) -- (y);
Equivalent to
\coordinate (x) at (0,0);
\coordinate (y) at (3,1);
\draw (x) -- (y);
Path construction operations try to be clever, such that the path starts at the border of the node's shape and not from
the node's center.
\path (0,0) node(x) {Hello World!}
(3,1) node[circle,draw](y) {$\int_1^2 x \mathrm d x$};
\draw[->,blue] (x) -- (y);
\draw[->,red] (x) -| node[near start,below] {label} (y);
\draw[->,orange] (x) .. controls +(up:1cm) and +(left:1cm) ..
node[above,sloped] {label} (y);
Once the node x has been defined, you can use anchors as defined above relative to (x) as "(x.<anchor>)", like
"(x.north)".
Examples
Example 1
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\draw[thick,rounded corners=8pt] (0,0) -- (0,2) -- (1,3.25)
-- (2,2) -- (2,0) -- (0,2) -- (2,2) -- (0,0) -- (2,0);
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Example 2
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}[scale=3]
\draw[step=.5cm, gray, very thin] (-1.2,-1.2) grid (1.2,1.2);
\filldraw[fill=green!20,draw=green!50!black] (0,0) -- (3mm,0mm) arc
(0:30:3mm) -- cycle;
\draw[->] (-1.25,0) -- (1.25,0) coordinate (x axis);
\draw[->] (0,-1.25) -- (0,1.25) coordinate (y axis);
\draw (0,0) circle (1cm);
\draw[very thick,red] (30:1cm) -- node[left,fill=white] {$\sin
\alpha$} (30:1cm |- x axis);
165
Creating Graphics
\draw[very thick,blue] (30:1cm |- x axis) -node[below=2pt,fill=white] {$\cos \alpha$} (0,0);
\draw (0,0) -- (30:1cm);
\foreach \x/\xtext in {-1, -0.5/-\frac{1}{2}, 1}
\draw (\x cm,1pt) -- (\x cm,-1pt) node[anchor=north,fill=white]
{$\xtext$};
\foreach \y/\ytext in {-1, -0.5/-\frac{1}{2}, 0.5/\frac{1}{2}, 1}
\draw (1pt,\y cm) -- (-1pt,\y cm) node[anchor=east,fill=white]
{$\ytext$};
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Chemical Graphics
unknown operator: u'strong' unknown operator: u'strong'
chemfig [3] is a package used to draw 2D chemical structures. It is an alternative to ochem [4]. Whereas ochem
requires Perl to draw chemical structures, chemfig uses the tikz [5] package to produce its graphics. chemfig is used
by adding the following to the preamble:
\usepackage{chemfig}
Basic Usage
The primary command used in this package is \chemfig{}:
\chemfig{<atom1><bond type>[<angle>,<coeff>,<tikz code>]<atom2>}
<angle> is the bond angle between two atoms (or nodes). There are three types of angles: absolute, relative, and
predefined. Exact angles give a precise angle (generally, 0 to 360, though they can also be negative), and are
represented with the syntax [:<absolute angle>]. Relative angles require the syntax [::<relative
angle>] and produce an angle relative to the angle of the preceding bond. Finally, predefined angles are whole
numbers from 0 to 7 indicating intervals of 45 degrees. These are produced with the syntax [< predefined
angle>]. The predefined angles and their corresponding absolute angles are represented in the diagram below.
\chemfig{(-[:0,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}0)
(-[1]1)(-[:45,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}45)
(-[2]2)(-[:90,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}90)
(-[3]3)(-[:135,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}135)
(-[4]4)(-[:180,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}180)
(-[5]5)(-[:225,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}225)
(-[6]6)(-[:270,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}270)
(-[7]7)(-[:315,1.5,,,draw=none]\scriptstyle\color{red}315)
-0}
<bond type> describes the bond attaching <atom1> and <atom2>. There are 9 different bond types:
166
Creating Graphics
167
\chemfig{A-B}\\
\chemfig{A=B}\\
\chemfig{A~B}\\
\chemfig{A>B}\\
\chemfig{A<B}\\
\chemfig{A>:B}\\
\chemfig{A<:B}\\
\chemfig{A>|B}\\
\chemfig{A<|B}\\
<coeff> represents the factor by which the bond's length will be multiplied.
<tikz code> includes additional options regarding the color or style of the bond.
A methane molecule, for instance, can be produced with the following code:
\chemfig{C(-[:0]H)(-[:90]H)(-[:180]H)(-[:270]H)}
Linear molecules (such as methane) are a weak example of this, but molecules are formed in chemfig by nesting.
Skeletal Diagrams
Skeleton diagrams can be produced as follows:
\chemfig{-[:30]-[:-30]-[:30]}
\chemfig{-[:30]=[:-30]-[:30]}
Rings
Rings follow the syntax <atom>*<n>(code), where "n" indicates the number of sides in the ring and "code"
represents the specific content of each ring (bonds and atoms).
\chemfig{A*6(-B-C-D-E-F-)}
\chemfig{A*5(-B-C-D-E-)}
\chemfig{*6(=-=-=-)}
Creating Graphics
168
\chemfig{**5(------)}
Lewis Structures
Lewis structures can be created by using the command
\lewis{<electron angle><electron>,<atom>}
within \chemfig{}.
Ions
For example, consider an acetate ion:
\chemfig{-(-[1]O^{-})=[7]O}
Because the chemfig commands enters the math mode, ion charges can be added as superscripts (one caveat: a
negative ion requires that the minus sign be enclosed in brackets, as in the example).
The charge of an ion can be circled by using \oplus and \ominus:
\chemfig{-(-[1]O^{\ominus})=[7]O}
Creating Graphics
169
Chemical Reactions
Chemical reactions can be created with the following commands:
\chemrel[<arg1>][<arg2>]{<arrow code>}
\chemsign+
% produces a +
In \chemrel{}, <arg1> and <arg2> represent text placed above and below the arrow, respectively.
There are four types of arrows that can be produced with tt>\chemrel{}:
A\chemrel{->}B\par
A\chemrel{<-}B\par
A\chemrel{<->}B\par
A\chemrel{<>}B
Creating Graphics
170
\chemsign{+}
\chemname{\chemfig{H_2O}}{Water}
\chemnameinit{}
Lastly, adding \\ in <name> will produce a line-break, allowing the name to span multiple lines.
Advanced Graphics
For advanced commands and examples, refer to the chemfig manual
introduction to the package can be found.
[6]
Alternatives
In many cases, especially for more advanced diagrams, it may be easier to draw the graphics using external vector
graphics software, and then import the file into the document (see ../Importing Graphics). However most software
does not support LaTeX fonts or mathematical notation, which can result in ugly and inconsistent graphics. There are
several solutions to this problem.
The easiest solution is to use the picture environment and then simply use the "put" command to put a graphics file
inside the picture, along with any other desired LaTeX element. For example:
\setlength{\unitlength}{0.8cm}
\begin{picture}(6,5)
\put(3.5,0.4){$\displaystyle
s:=\frac{a+b+c}{2}$}
\put(1,1){\includegraphics[width=2cm,height=2cm]{picture.eps}}
\end{picture}
Another solution is to use textext [7], a plug-in for Inkscape [22] which allows one to insert small LaTeX objects into
.SVG images. These images can then be saved as .EPS (or .PDF) files which may then be imported into the LaTeX
document proper.
Yet another solution is provided by lpic [8], which allows TeX annotations to imported graphics.
Creating Graphics
4. In your LaTeX document, where the picture should be, use the following, where "test" is replaced by the name of
the image:
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\centering
\input{test.pdf_t}
\caption{Your figure}
\label{figure:example}
\end{figure}
Observe that this is just like including a picture, except that rather than using \includegraphics, we use
\input. If the export was into PS/LaTeX, the file extension to include would be .pstex_t instead of .pdf_t.
5. Make sure to include packages graphicx and color in the file, with the usepackage command right
below the documentclass command, like this:
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{color}
And you're done!
For more details on using xfig with LaTeX, this chapter [11] of the xfig User Manual [12] may prove helpful.
References
[1] http:/ / xy-pic. sourceforge. net
[2] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ PGF/ TikZ
[3] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ chemfig/
[4] http:/ / www. 2k-software. de/ ingo/ ochem. html
[5] http:/ / az. ctan. org/ pkg/ pgf
[6] http:/ / mirror. ctan. org/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ chemfig/ chemfig_doc_en. pdf
[7] http:/ / pav. iki. fi/ software/ textext/
[8] http:/ / www. math. uni-leipzig. de/ ~matveyev/ lpic/
[9] http:/ / www. xfig. org
[10] http:/ / www. macports. org
[11] http:/ / www-epb. lbl. gov/ xfig/ latex_and_xfig. html
[12] http:/ / www-epb. lbl. gov/ xfig/ contents. html
171
Floats
Floats are containers for things in a document that cannot be broken over a page. LaTeX by default recognizes
"table" and "figure" floats, but you can define new ones of your own (see Custom Floats below). Floats are there to
deal with the problem of the object that won't fit on the present page, and to help when you really don't want the
object here just now.
Floats are not part of the normal stream of text, but separate entities, positioned in a part of the page to themselves
(top, middle, bottom, left, right, or wherever the designer specifies). They always have a caption describing them and
they are always numbered so they can be referred to from elsewhere in the text. LaTeX automatically floats Tables
and Figures, depending on how much space is left on the page at the point that they are processed. If there is not
enough room on the current page, the float is moved to the top of the next page. This can be changed by moving the
Table or Figure definition to an earlier or later point in the text, or by adjusting some of the parameters which control
automatic floating.
Authors sometimes have many floats occurring in rapid succession, which raises the problem of how they are
supposed to fit on the page and still leave room for text. In this case, LaTeX stacks them all up and prints them
together if possible, or leaves them to the end of the chapter in protest. The skill is to space them out within your text
so that they intrude neither on the thread of your argument or discussion, nor on the visual balance of the typeset
pages.
Figures
To create a figure that floats, use the figure environment.
\begin{figure}[placement specifier]
... figure contents ...
\end{figure}
The previous section mentioned how floats are used to allow Latex to handle figures, while maintaining the best
possible presentation. However, there may be times when you disagree, and a typical example is with its positioning
of figures. The placement specifier parameter exists as a compromise, and its purpose is to give the author a greater
degree of control over where certain floats are placed.
172
Specifier
173
Permission
Place the float here, i.e., approximately at the same point it occurs in the source text (however, not exactly at the spot)
Override internal parameters Latex uses for determining "good" float positions.
Places the float at precisely the location in the LaTeX code. Requires the float package,
somewhat equivalent to h!.
[1]
What you do with these placement permissions is to list which of the options you wish to make available to LaTeX.
These are simply possibilities, and Latex will decide when typesetting your document which of your supplied
specifiers it thinks is best.
Use \listoffigures to add a list of the figures in the beginning of the document. To change the name used in
the caption from Figure to Example, use \renewcommand{\figurename}{Example} in the figure
contents.
Tables
Although tables have already been covered, it was only the internal syntax that was discussed. The tabular
environment that was used to construct the tables is not a float by default. Therefore, for tables you wish to float,
wrap the tabular environment within a table environment, like this:
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{...}
... table data ...
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
You may feel that it is a bit long winded, but such distinctions are necessary, because you may not want all tables to
be treated as a float.
Use \listoftables to add a list of the tables in the beginning of the document.
Captions
It is always good practice to add a caption to any figure or table. Fortunately, this is very simple in LaTeX. All you
need to do is use the \caption{text} command within the float environment. Because of how LaTeX deals
sensibly with logical structure, it will automatically keep track of the numbering of figures, so you do not need to
include this within the caption text.
The location of the caption is traditionally underneath the float. However, it is up to you to therefore insert the
caption command after the actual contents of the float (but still within the environment). If you place it before, then
the caption will appear above the float. Try out the following example to demonstrate this effect:
\documentclass[a4paper,12pt]{article}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[h!]
\caption{A picture of a gull.}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{gull}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}[h!]
\centering
\reflectbox{%
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{gull}}
\caption{A picture of the same gull
looking the other way!}
\end{figure}
\begin{table}[h!]
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{| l c r |}
\hline
1 & 2 & 3 \\
4 & 5 & 6 \\
7 & 8 & 9 \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\caption{A simple table}
\end{table}
Notice how the tables and figures
have independent counters.
\end{document}
note that the command \reflectbox{...} flips its content horizontally.
174
Side captions
It is sometimes desirable to have a caption appear on the side of a float, rather than above or below. The sidecap
package can be used to place a caption beside a figure or table. The following example demonstrates this for a figure
by using a SCfigure environment in place of the figure environment.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[pdftex]{graphicx}
\usepackage{sidecap}
\begin{document}
\begin{SCfigure}
\centering
\includegraphics[width=5\textwidth]%
{Giraff_picture}% picture filename
\caption{ ... caption text ... }
\end{SCfigure}
\end{document}
175
Note that we have specified a size for both the wrapfigure environment and the image we have included. We did
it in terms of the text width: it is always better to use relative sizes in LaTeX, let LaTeX do the work for you! The
176
In this case it may look too shrunk, but you can manage spaces the way you like. In general, it is best not to add any
space at all: let LaTeX do the formatting work!
(In this case, the problem is the use of \begin{center} to center the image. The center environment adds
extra space that can be avoided if \centering is used instead.)
Alternatively you might use the picins package instead of the wrapfigure package which produces a correct
version without the excess white space out of the box without any hand tuning.
There is also an alternative to wrapfig: the package floatflt [2] - for documentation see [3].
177
Subfloats
A useful extension is the subfig package [4] (not to be confused with the deprecated subfigure package),
which uses subfloats within a single float. This gives the author the ability to have subfigures within figures, or
subtables within table floats. Subfloats have their own caption, and an optional global caption. An example will best
illustrate the usage of this package:
\usepackage{subfig}
\begin{figure}
\centering
\subfloat[A
gull]{\label{fig:gull}\includegraphics[width=0.3\textwidth]{gull}}
\subfloat[A
tiger]{\label{fig:tiger}\includegraphics[width=0.3\textwidth]{tiger}}
\subfloat[A
mouse]{\label{fig:mouse}\includegraphics[width=0.3\textwidth]{mouse}}
\caption{Pictures of animals}
\label{fig:animals}
\end{figure}
You will notice that the figure environment is set up as usual. You may also use a table environment for subtables.
For each subfloat, you need to use:
\subfloat[sub caption]{ ... figure or table ... }
If you intend to cross-reference any of the subfloats, see where the label is inserted; \caption will provide the
global caption.
subfig will arrange the figures or tables side-by-side providing they can fit, otherwise, it will automatically shift
subfloats below. This effect can be added manually, by putting the newline command (\\) before the figure you
wish to move to a newline.
Horizontal spaces between figures is controlled by one of several commands, which are placed in between each
\subfloat{} command:
Any whitespace (such as spaces, returns, and tabs) will result in one regular space
Math spaces: \qquad, \quad, \;, and \,
Generic space: \hspace{length}
178
Custom Floats
If tables and figures are not adequate for your needs, then you always have the option to create your own! Examples
of such instances could be source code examples, or maps. For a program float example, one might therefore wish to
create a float named program. The package float is your friend for this task. All commands to set up the new
float must be placed in the preamble, and not within the document.
1. Add \usepackage{float} to the preamble of your document
2. Declare your new float using: \newfloat{type}{placement}{ext}[outer counter], where:
type - the new name you wish to call your float, in this instance, 'program'.
placement - t, b, p, or h (as previously described in Placement), where letters enumerate permitted placements.
ext - the file name extension of an auxiliary file for the list of figures (or whatever). Latex writes the captions
to this file.
outer counter - the presence of this parameter indicates that the counter associated with this new float should
depend on outer counter, for example 'chapter'.
3. The default name that appears at the start of the caption is the type. If you wish to alter this, use
\floatname{type}{floatname}
4. Changing float style can be issued with \floatstyle{style} (Works on all subsequent \newfloat
commands, therefore, must be inserted before \newfloat to be effective).
plain - the normal style for Latex floats, i.e., nothing!
boxed - a box is drawn that surrounds the float, and the caption is printed below.
ruled - the caption appears above the float, with rules immediately above and below. Then the float contents,
followed by a final horizontal rule.
Float styles can also be customized as the second example below illustrates.
An example document using a new program float type:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{float}
\floatstyle{ruled}
\newfloat{program}{thp}{lop}
179
180
181
% this code block defines the new and custom floatbox float environment
\floatstyle{simplerule}
\newfloat{floatbox}{thp}{lob}[section]
\floatname{floatbox}{Text Box}
\begin{document}
\begin{floatbox}{r}{}
\textit{Bootstrapping} is a resampling technique used
for robustly estimating statistical quantities, such as
the model fit $R^2$. It offers some protection against
the sampling bias.
\caption{Bootstrapping}
\end{floatbox}
\end{document}
Caption Styles
To change the appearance of captions, use the caption [6] package. For example, to make all caption labels small
and bold:
\usepackage[small,bf]{caption}
The KOMA script packages [7] have their own caption customizing features with e.g. \captionabove,
\captionformat and \setcapwidth. However these definitions have limited effect on newly created float
environments with the wrapfig package.
[8]
Summary
That concludes all the fundamentals of floats. You will hopefully see how much easier it is to let Latex do all the
hard work and tweak the page layouts in order to get your figures in the best place. As always, the fact that LaTeX
takes care of all caption and reference numbering is a great time saver.
This page uses material from Andy Roberts' Getting to grips with Latex [3] with permission from the author.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
Colors
Adding colors to your text is supported by the color package. Using this package, you can set the color of the font
of the text, and set the background color of the page. You can use one of the predefined colors such as white, red, or
yellow, or you can define your own named colors. It's also possible to color formulas in math-environments.
182
Colors
183
Predefined colors
The predefined color names are white, black, red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow.
There may be other pre-defined colors on your system, but these should be available on all systems.
If you would like a color not pre-defined, you can use one of the 68 dvips colors, or define your own. These options
are discussed in the following sections
Aquamarine
Bittersweet
Black
Blue
BlueGreen
BlueViolet
BrickRed
Brown
BurntOrange
CadetBlue
CarnationPink
Cerulean
CornflowerBlue Cyan
DarkOrchid
Emerald
ForestGreen Fuchsia
Goldenrod
Gray
Green
GreenYellow
JungleGreen
Lavender
LimeGreen
Magenta
Mahogany
Maroon
Melon
MidnightBlue
Mulberry
NavyBlue
OliveGreen
Orange
OrangeRed
Orchid
Peach
Periwinkle
PineGreen
Plum
ProcessBlue
Purple
RawSienna
Red
RedOrange
RedViolet
Rhodamine
RoyalBlue
RoyalPurple RubineRed
Salmon
SeaGreen
Sepia
SkyBlue
SpringGreen
Tan
TealBlue
Thistle
Turquoise
Violet
VioletRed
White
WildStrawberry Yellow
Dandelion
YellowGreen YellowOrange
Colors
184
Place
Define the colors in the preamble of your document. (Reason: Do so in the preamble, so that you can already refer to
them in the preamble, which is useful, for instance, in an argument of another package that supports colors as
arguments, such as listings package.)
Method
To define a new color, follow the following example, which defines orange for you, by setting the red to the
maximum, the green to one half (0.5), and the blue to the minimum:
\definecolor{orange}{rgb}{1,0.5,0}
You can use small letters rgb and choose a value between 0 and 1 or use capital letters RGB and choose a value
between 0 and 255. The following code should give a similar results to the last code chunk.
\definecolor{orange}{RGB}{255,127,0}
Trick : When surfing on the web, you can get hexadecimal code for each color on a web page using the colorzilla
extension to Firefox.
In the abstract, the colors are defined following this scheme:
\definecolor{''name''}{''model''}{''color-spec''}
where:
name is the name of the color; you can call it as you like
model is the way you describe the color, and is one of gray, rgb and cmyk.
color-spec is the description of the color
Color Models
Among the models you can use to describe the color are the following (several more are described in the xcolor
manual [1]):
Color Models
Description
Color Specification
Example
Model
gray
Shades of gray.
\definecolor{light-gray}{gray}{0.95}
rgb
\definecolor{orange}{rgb}{1,0.5,0}
RGB
\definecolor{orange}{RGB}{255,127,0}
HTML
\definecolor{orange}{HTML}{FF7F00}
cmyk
Cyan, Magenta,
Yellow, Black
\definecolor{orange}{cmyk}{0,0.5,1,0}
Colors
185
Sources
The xcolor manual [1]
References
[1] http:/ / mirror. ctan. org/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ xcolor/ xcolor. pdf
Glossary
Many technical documents use terms or acronyms unknown to the general population. It's common practice to add
glossaries to make those works more understandable.
The glossaries package was created to assist users in creating glossaries. It supports multiple glossaries, acronyms
and symbols.
It replaces the glossary package and can be used instead of the nomencl package.
Using glossaries
To enable the use of glossaries package, you have to load the package:
\usepackage{glossaries}
if you will be using xindy (highly recommended) rather than makeindex you need to specify xindy option:
\usepackage[xindy]{glossaries}
for the glossary to show up in Table of Contents you need to additionally add toc option:
\usepackage[toc]{glossaries}
the glossary index won't be generated until you place the following command in document preamble:
\makeglossaries
Note that the links in generated glossary won't be clickable unless you load this package after the hyperref
package.
Windows users will need to install Perl for makeglossaries to work.
Glossary
186
Defining terms
To define a term in glossary you use \newglossaryentry macro:
\newglossaryentry{<label>}{<settings>}
<label> is a unique label used to identify an entry in glossary, <settings> are comma separated key=value pairs
used to define an entry.
For example, to define a computer entry:
\newglossaryentry{computer} { description={is a programmable machine that
receives input, stores and manipulates data, and provides output in a useful
format} }
The above example defines an entry that has the same label and entry name. This is not always the case as the next
entry will show:
\newglossaryentry{naiive} { name=na\"{\i}ve, description={is a French loanword
(adjective, form of naf) indicating having or showing a lack of experience,
understanding or sophistication} }
When you define terms, you need to remember that they will be sorted by makeindex or xindy. While xindy
is a bit more LaTeX aware, it does it by ommiting latex macros (\"{\i }) thus incorrectly sorting the above
example as nave. makeindex won't fare much better, because it doesn't understand TeX macros, it will interpret
the word exactly as it was defined, putting it inside symbol class, before words beginning with naa. Therefore it's
needed to extend our example and specify how to sort the word:
\newglossaryentry{naiive} { name=na\"{\i}ve, description={is a French loanword
(adjective, form of naf) indicating having or showing a lack of experience,
understanding or sophistication}, sort=naive }
You can also specify plural forms, if they are not formed by adding s (we will learn how to use them in next
section):
\newglossaryentry{Linux} { description={is a generic term referring to the
family of Unix-like computer operating systems that use the Linux kernel},
plural=Linuces }
Glossary
187
Defining symbols
Defined entries can also be symbols:
\newglossaryentry{pi} { name={\ensuremath{\pi
,
description={ratio of circumference of circle to its
diameter},
sort=pi
} }}
You can also define both a name and a symbol:
\newglossaryentry{real number} { name={real number}, description={include both
rational numbers, such as $42$ and $\frac{-23}{129}$, and irrational numbers,
such as $\pi$ and the square root of two; or, a real number can be given by an
infinite decimal representation, such as $2.4871773339\ldots$ where the digits
continue in some way; or, the real numbers may be thought of as points on an
infinitely long number line}, symbol={\ensuremath{\mathbb{R
} } }} Note that not all glossary styles show defined symbols.
Defining acronyms
Defined acronyms can be put in separate list if you use acronym package option:
\usepackage[acronym]{glossaries}
To define a new acronym you use the \newacronym macro:
\newacronym{<label>}{<abbrv>}{<full>}
where <label> is the unique label identifying the acronym, <abbrv> is the abbreviated form of the acronym and
<full> is the expanded text. For example:
\newacronym{lvm}{LVM}{Logical Volume Manager}
General references
A general reference is used with \gls command. If, for example, you have glossary entries defined as those above,
you might use it in this way:
\Gls{naiive} people don't know about alternative
\gls{computer} operating systems: \glspl{Linux}, BSDs and
GNU/Hurd.
Glossary
188
Referring acronyms
Acronyms behave a bit differently than normal glossary terms. On first use the \gls command will display "<full>
(<abbrv>)". On subsequent uses only the abbreviation will be displayed.
To reset the first use of an acronym use:
\glsreset{<label>}
or, if you want to reset the use status of all acronyms:
\glsresetall
Glossary
189
References
The glossaries documentation, http://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/glossaries/
Using LaTeX to Write a PhD Thesis, Nicola L.C. Talbot, http://theoval.cmp.uea.ac.uk/~nlct/latex/thesis/
node25.html
Letters
Sometimes the mundane things are the most painful. However, it doesn't have to be that way because of evolved,
user-friendly templates. Thankfully, LaTeX allows for very quick letter writing, with little hassle.
A sample letter.
Letters
190
Letters
191
Envelopes
Here is a relatively simple envelope which uses the geometry package which is used because it vastly simplifies
the task of rearranging things on the page (and the page itself).
% envelope.tex
\documentclass{letter}
\usepackage[left=1in,top=0.15in,papersize={4.125in,9.5in},landscape,twoside=false]{geometry}
\setlength\parskip{0pt}
\pagestyle{empty}
\begin{document}
FROM-NAME
FROM-STREET ADDRESS
\vspace{1.0in}\large
\setlength\parindent{3.6in}
TO-NAME
TO-STREET ADDRESS
\end{document}
A sample envelope to be
printed in landscape mode.
This will certainly take care of the spacing but the actual printing is between you and your printer. After all, different
printers have different feeding mechanisms for envelopes. You may find the following commands useful for printing
the envelope.
$ pdflatex envelope.tex
$ pdf2ps envelope.pdf
$ lpr -o landscape envelope.ps
Alternatively, you can use the latex dvi output driver.
In the first line, dvips command converts the .dvi file produced by latex into a .ps (PostScript) file. In the second
line, the PostScript file is sent to the printer.
$ latex envelope.tex && dvips -t unknown -T 9.5in,4.125in envelope.dvi
$ lpr -o landscape envelope.ps
Letters
I have found that pdflatex creates the right page size but not dvips despite what it says in the geometry
manual. It will never work though unless your printer settings are adjusted to the correct page style. These settings
depend on the printer filter you are using and in CUPS might be available on the lpr command line if you are
masochistic.
Windowed envelopes
An alternative to separately printing addresses on envelopes is to use the letter class from the KOMA package. It
supports additional features like folding marks and the correct address placement for windowed envelopes. Using the
scrlttr2 document class from the KOMA package the example letter code is:
% koma_env.tex
\documentclass[a4paper]{scrlttr2}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}
\usepackage{url}
\setkomavar{fromname}{Joe Bloggs}
\setkomavar{fromaddress}{21 Bridge Street \\ Smallville \\ Dunwich DU3
4WE}
\setkomavar{fromphone}{0123 45679}
\begin{document}
\begin{letter}{Director \\ Doe \& Co \\ 35 Anthony Road
\\ Newport \\ Ipswich IP3 5RT}
\KOMAoptions{fromphone=true,fromfax=false}
\setkomavar{subject}{Wikipedia}
\setkomavar{customer}{2342}
\opening{Dear Sir or Madam,}
I am writing to you on behalf of the Wikipedia project
(\url{http://www.wikipedia.org/}), an endeavour to build a
fully-fledged multilingual encyclopaedia in an entirely open
manner, to ask for permission to use your copyrighted material.
\ldots
That said, allow me to reiterate that your material will be used
to the noble end of providing a free collection of knowledge for
everyone; naturally enough, only if you agree. If that is the
case, could you kindly fill in the attached form and post it back
to me? We shall greatly appreciate it.
192
Letters
193
Folding the print of the resulting file koma_env.pdf according the folding marks it can be placed into standardized
windowed envelopes DIN C6/5, DL, C4, C5 or C6.
In addition to the default, the KOMA-package includes predefined format definitions for different standardized
Swiss and Japanese letter formats.
Letters
194
command
description
\name{}
\signature{}
\address{}
\location{}
\telephone{}
\makelabels
\stopbreaks
\startbreaks
\opening{}
\closing{}
\cc{}
\encl{}
\ps
\stopletter
(empty)
\returnaddress
(empty)
\startlabels
\mlabel{}{}
\descriptionlabel{}
\ccname
"cc"
\enclname
"encl"
\pagename
"Page"
\headtoname
"To"
\today
environment
letter{}
Description
See main article
description
verse
quotation
quote
Sources
KOMA-Script - The Guide [1]
References
[1] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ koma-script/ scrguien. pdf
Teacher's Corner
195
Teacher's Corner
Intro
LaTeX has specific features for teachers. We present the exam class[1] which is useful for designing exams and
exercises with solutions. Interested people could also have a look at the probsoln package[2] or the mathexm
document class[3] .
Preamble
In the preamble you can specify the following lines :
\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{exam} \printanswers % If you want to print answers
% \noprintanswers % If you don't want to print answers \addpoints % if you want
to count the points % \noaddpoints % if you don't want to count the points %
Specifies the way question are displayed:
\qformat{\textbf{Question\thequestion}\quad(\thepoints)\hfill}
\usepackage{color} % defines a new color
\definecolor{SolutionColor}{rgb}{0.8,0.9,1} % light blue \shadedsolutions %
defines the style of the solution environment % \framedsolutions % defines the
style of the solution environment % Defines the title of the solution
environment:
\renewcommand{\solutiontitle}{\noindent\textbf{Solution:}\par\noindent}
You can replace the 3 first lines with the following :
\documentclass[a4paper,11pt,answers,addpoints]{exam}
Document
Here is an example :
\begin{questions} % Begins the questions environment
\question[2] What is the solution? % Introduces a new question which is
worth 2 points
\begin{solution}
Here is the solution
\end{solution}
\question[5] What is your opinion?
\begin{solution}
This is my opinion
\end{solution}
Teacher's Corner
\end{questions}
It is also possible to add stuff only if answers are printed using the \ifprintanswers command.
\ifprintanswers
Only if answers are printed
\else
Only if answers are not printed
\fi
Introduction
The macro \numquestions gives the total number of questions. The macro \numpoints gives the total number of
points.
\begin{minipage}{.8\textwidth}
This exam includes \numquestions\ questions. The total number of points
is \numpoints.
\end{minipage}
The backslash after \numquestion prevents the macro from gobbling the following whitespace as it normally would.
References
[1] examdoc (http:/ / www-math. mit. edu/ ~psh/ exam/ examdoc. pdf) Using the exam document class
[2] Probsoln (http:/ / www. tex. ac. uk/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ probsoln/ probsoln. pdf) creating problem sheets optionally with
solutions
[3] http:/ / mat140. bham. ac. uk/ ~richard/ programming/ tex/ exams/ msexdoc. pdf
196
Presentations
Presentations
LaTeX can be used for creating presentations. There are several packages for the task, including the Beamer
package.
Introductory example
The beamer package is loaded by calling the beamer class:
\documentclass{beamer}
The usual header information may then be specified. Note that if you are compiling with XeTeX then you should use
\documentclass[xetex,mathserif,serif]{beamer}
Inside the usual document environment, multiple frame environments specify the content to be put on each
slide. The frametitle command specifies the title for each slide (See image):
\begin{document}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{This is the first slide}
%Content goes here
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{This is the second slide}
\framesubtitle{A bit more information about this}
%More content goes here
\end{frame}
% etc
\end{document}
197
Presentations
Document Structure
Title page and information
You give information about authors, titles and dates in the preamble
\title[Crisis]%(optional, only for long titles)
{The Economics of Financial Crisis}
\subtitle{Evidence from India}
\author[Author, Anders] % (optional, for multiple authors)
{F.~Author\inst{1} \and S.~Anders\inst{2}}
\institute[Universitten Hier und Dort] % (optional)
{
\inst{1}%
Institut fr Informatik\\
Universitt Hier
\and
\inst{2}%
Institut fr theoretische Philosophie\\
198
Presentations
Universitt Dort
}
\date[KPT 2004] % (optional)
{Konferenz ber Prsentationstechniken, 2004}
\subject{Informatik}
In the document, you add the title page :
\frame{\titlepage}
Table of Contents
You can print the table of contents and highlight the current section/subsection by typing :
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Table of Contents}
\tableofcontents[currentsection]
\end{frame}
You can automatically print the table of contents at the beginning of each section by adding in the preamble the
following line.
\AtBeginSection[]
{
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Table of Contents}
\tableofcontents[currentsection]
\end{frame}
}
You can do the same for subsections :
\AtBeginSubsection[]
{
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Table of Contents}
\tableofcontents[currentsection,currentsubsection]
\end{frame}
}
References (Beamer)
\begin{frame}[allowframebreaks]
\frametitle<presentation>{Weiterfhrende Literatur}
\begin{thebibliography}{10}
\beamertemplatebookbibitems
\bibitem{Autor1990}
A.~Autor.
\newblock {\em Einfhrung in das Prsentationswesen}.
\newblock Klein-Verlag, 1990.
\beamertemplatearticlebibitems
\bibitem{Jemand2000}
S.~Jemand.
199
Presentations
\newblock On this and that.
\newblock {\em Journal of This and That}, 2(1):50--100, 2000.
\end{thebibliography}
\end{frame}
Style
Themes
The first solution is to use a built-in theme such as Warsaw, Berlin, etc. The second solution is to specify colors,
inner themes and outer themes.
The Built-in solution
To the preamble you can add the following line:
\usetheme{Warsaw}
to use the "Warsaw" theme. Beamer has several themes, many of which are named after cities (e.g. Barcelona,
Madrid, Berlin, etc.). Color themes, typically with animal names, can be specified with
\usecolortheme{beaver}
This Theme Matrix [4] contains the various theme and color combinations included with beamer. For more
customizing options, have a look to the official documentation included in your distribution of beamer, particularly
the part Change the way it looks.
The list of all themes : Antibes, Bergen, Berkeley, Berlin, Boadilla, Copenhagen, Darmstadt, Dresden, Frankfurt,
Goettingen, Hannover, Ilmenau, JuanLesPins, Luebeck, Madrid, Malmoe, Marburg, Montpellier, PaloAlto,
Pittsburgh, Rochester, Singapore, Szeged, Warsaw, boxes, default
The do it yourself solution
First you can specify the outertheme. The outertheme defines the head and the footline of each slide.
\useoutertheme{infolines}
Here is a list of all available outer themes
infolines
miniframes
shadow
sidebar
smoothbars
smoothtree
split
tree
200
Presentations
You can define the color of every element :
\setbeamercolor{alerted text}{fg=orange}
\setbeamercolor{background canvas}{bg=white}
\setbeamercolor{block body alerted}{bg=normal text.bg!90!black}
\setbeamercolor{block body}{bg=normal text.bg!90!black}
\setbeamercolor{block body example}{bg=normal text.bg!90!black}
\setbeamercolor{block title alerted}{use={normal text,alerted
text},fg=alerted text.fg!75!normal text.fg,bg=normal text.bg!75!black}
\setbeamercolor{block title}{bg=blue}
\setbeamercolor{block title example}{use={normal text,example
text},fg=example text.fg!75!normal text.fg,bg=normal text.bg!75!black}
\setbeamercolor{fine separation line}{}
\setbeamercolor{frametitle}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{item projected}{fg=black}
\setbeamercolor{normal text}{bg=black,fg=yellow}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar primary}{use=normal text,fg=normal
text.fg}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar
quaternary}{use=structure,fg=structure.fg}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar
secondary}{use=structure,fg=structure.fg}
\setbeamercolor{palette sidebar tertiary}{use=normal text,fg=normal
text.fg}
\setbeamercolor{section in sidebar}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{section in sidebar shaded}{fg= grey}
\setbeamercolor{separation line}{}
\setbeamercolor{sidebar}{bg=red}
\setbeamercolor{sidebar}{parent=palette primary}
\setbeamercolor{structure}{bg=black, fg=green}
\setbeamercolor{subsection in sidebar}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{subsection in sidebar shaded}{fg= grey}
\setbeamercolor{title}{fg=brown}
\setbeamercolor{titlelike}{fg=brown}
Remember that you can define your own colors :
\definecolor{chocolate}{RGB}{33,33,33}
You can also define the style of blocks :
\setbeamertemplate{blocks}[shadow=false]
\setbeamertemplate{background canvas}[vertical
shading][bottom=white,top=structure.fg!25]
You can also suppress the navigation bar:
\beamertemplatenavigationsymbolsempty
201
Presentations
Fonts
You may also change the fonts for particular elements. If you wanted the title of the presentation as rendered by
\frame{\titlepage} to occur in a serif font instead of the default sanserif, you would use:
\setbeamerfont{title}{family=\rm}
You could take this a step further if you are using OpenType fonts with Xe(La)TeX and specify a serif font with
increased size and oldstyle proportional alternate number glyphs:
\setbeamerfont{title}{family=\rm\addfontfeatures{Scale=1.18,
Numbers={Lining, Proportional}}}
Math Fonts
The default settings for beamer use a different set of math fonts than one would expect from creating a simple
math article. One quick fix for this is to use at the beginning of the file the option mathserif
\documentclass[mathserif]{beamer}
Others have proposed to use the command
\usefonttheme[onlymath]{serif}
but it is not clear if this works for absolutely every math character.
Frames Options
The plain option. Sometimes you need to include a large figure or a large table and you don't want to have the
bottom and the top of the slides. In that case, use the plain option :
\frame[plain]{
}
If you want to include lots of text on a slide, use the shrink option.
\frame[shrink]{
}
Text animations
You can simply use the \pause statement :
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{Some background}
We start our discussion with some concepts.
\pause
The first concept we introduce originates with Erd\H os.
\end{frame}
For text animations, for example in the itemize environment, you can write:
\begin{itemize}
\item This one is always shown
\item<1-> The first time
\item<2-> The second time
202
Presentations
\item<1-> Also the first time
\only<1-> This one is shown at the first time, but it will hide soon.
\end{itemize}
\begin{frame}
\frametitle{`Hidden higher-order concepts?'}
\begin{itemize}[<+->]
\item The truths of arithmetic which are independent of PA in
some
sense themselves `{contain} essentially {\color{blue}{hidden
higher-order}},
or infinitary, concepts'???
\item `Truths in the language of arithmetic which \ldots
\item
That suggests stronger version of Isaacson's thesis.
\end{itemize}
\end{frame}
Handout mode
In beamer class, the default mode is presentation which makes the slides. However, you can work in a different
mode that is called handout by setting this option when calling the class:
\documentclass[12pt,handout]{beamer}
This mode is useful to see each slide only one time with all its stuff on it, making the itemize<+-> to be there all at
once (for instance, printable version). Nevertheless, this makes an issue when working with the only command,
because its purpose is to have only some text or figures at a time and not all of them together.
If you want to solve this, you can add a statement to precise the behavior it must have when dealing with only
commands in handout mode. Suppose you have a code like this
\only<1>{\includegraphics{pic1.eps}}
\only<2>{\includegraphics{pic2.eps}}
These pictures being completely different, you want them both in the handout, but they cannot be both on the same
slide since they are large. The solution is to add the handout statement to have the following:
\only<1| handout:1>{\includegraphics{pic1.eps}}
\only<2| handout:2>{\includegraphics{pic2.eps}}
This will ensure the handout will make a slide for each picture.
Now imagine you still have your two pictures with the only statements, but the second one show the first one plus
some other graphs and you don't need the first one to appear in the handout. You can thus precise the handout mode
not to include some only commands by:
\only<1| handout:0>{\includegraphics{pic1.eps}}
\only<2>{\includegraphics{pic2.eps}}
The command can also be used to hide frames, e.g.
\begin{frame}<handout:0>
or even, if you have written a frame that you don't want anymore but maybe you will need it later, you can write
\begin{frame}<0| handout:0>
203
Presentations
and this will hide your slide in both modes. (The order matters. Don't put handout:0|beamer:0 or it won't work.)
A last word about the handout mode is about the notes. Actually, the full syntax for a frame is
\begin{frame}
...
\end{frame}
\note{...}
\note{...}
...
and you can write your notes about a frame in the field note (many of them if needed). Using this, you can add an
option to the class calling, either
\documentclass[12pt,handout,notes=only]{beamer}
or
\documentclass[12pt,handout,notes=show]{beamer}
The first one is useful when you make a presentation to have only the notes you need, while the second one could be
given to those who have followed your presentation or those who missed it, for them to have both the slides with
what you said.
Note that the 'handout' option in the \documentclass line suppress all the animations.
Important: the notes=only mode is literally doing only the notes. This means there will be no output file but the
DVI. Thus it requires you to have run the compilation in another mode before. If you use separate files for a better
distinction between the modes, you may need to copy the .aux file from the handout compilation with the slides (w/o
the notes).
Columns and Blocks
There are two handy environments for structuring a slide: "blocks", which divide the slide (horizontally) into headed
sections, and "columns" which divides a slide (vertically) into columns.
Columns
Example
\begin{frame}
\begin{columns}[c] % the "c" option specifies center vertical
alignment
\column{.5\textwidth} % column designated by a command
Contents of the first column
\column{.5\textwidth}
Contents split \\ into two lines
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
\begin{frame}
\begin{columns}[t] % contents are top vertically aligned
\begin{column}[T]{5cm} % each column can also be its own
environment
Contents of first column \\ split into two lines
204
Presentations
\end{column}
\begin{column}[T]{5cm} % alternative top-align that's better for
graphics
\includegraphics[height=3cm]{graphic.png}
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\end{frame}
Blocks
Enclosing text in the block environment creates a distinct, headed block of text. This allows to visually distinguish
parts of a slide easily. There are three basic types of block. Their formating depends on the theme being used.
Simple
\begin{frame}
\begin{block}{This is a Block}
This is important information
\end{block}
\begin{alertblock}{This is an Alert block}
This is an important alert
\end{alertblock}
\begin{exampleblock}{This is an Example block}
This is an example
\end{exampleblock}
\end{frame}
PDF options
You can specify the default options of your PDF.
\hypersetup{pdfstartview={FitH}} % By default the pdf fit the width of
the screen.
205
Presentations
\begin{slide}{This is the second slide}
%More content goes here
\end{slide}
% etc
\end{document}
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Links
Wikipedia:Beamer (LaTeX)
beamer user guide (http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/macros/latex/contrib/beamer/doc/beameruserguide.
pdf) (pdf) from CTAN
A tutorial for creating a presentation using beamer package (http://www.math-linux.com/spip.php?article77)
The powerdot class (http://www.ctan.org/get/macros/latex/contrib/powerdot/doc/powerdot.pdf) (pdf) from
CTAN
Making LaTeX Beamer Presentations (http://happymutant.com/latex/misce/beamer.php)
Hyperlinks
LaTeX enables typesetting of hyperlinks, useful when the resulting format is PDF, and the hyperlinks can be
followed. It does so using the package hyperref.
Hyperref
The package hyperref provides LaTeX the ability to create hyperlinks within the document. It works with
pdflatex and also with standard "latex" used with dvips and ghostscript or dvipdfm to build a PDF file. If you load it,
you will have the possibility to include interactive external links and all your internal references will be turned to
hyperlinks. The compiler pdflatex makes it possible to create PDF files directly from the LaTeX source, and PDF
supports more features than DVI. In particular PDF supports hyperlinks, and the only way to introduce them in
LaTeX is using hyperref. Moreover, PDF can contain other information about a document such as the title, the
author, etc., and you can edit those using this same package.
206
Hyperlinks
Usage
The basic usage with the standard settings is straightforward. Just load the package in the preamble, at the end of all
the other packages but prior to other settings:
\usepackage{hyperref}
This will automatically turn all your internal references into hyperlinks. It won't affect the way to write your
documents: just keep on using the standard \label -\ref system; with hyperref those "connections" will
become links and you will be able to click on them to be redirected to the right page. Moreover the table of contents,
list of figures/tables and index will be made of hyperlinks, too.
Commands
The package provides three useful commands for inserting links pointing outside the document.
\hyperref
Usage: \hyperref[label_name]{''link text''}
This will have the same effect as \ref{label_name} but will make the text link text a full link, instead. The
two can be combined, for example in
we use \hyperref[mainlemma]{lemma \ref*{mainlemma}}
Note the * after \ref for avoiding nested hyperlinks.
If the lemma labelled as "mainlemma" was number 4.1.1, then the outputted text would be "we use lemma 4.1.1"
with the hyperlink as expected.
\url
Usage: \url{''my_url''}
It will show the URL using a mono-spaced font and, if you click on it, your browser will be opened pointing at it.
\href
Usage: \href{''my_url''}{''description''}
It will show the string "description" using standard document font but, if you click on it, your browser will be opened
pointing at "my_url". Here is an example:
\url{http://www.wikibooks.org}
\href{http://www.wikibooks.org}{wikibooks home}
Both point at the same page, but in the first case the URL will be shown, while in the second case the URL will be
hidden. Note that, if you print your document, the link stored using \href will not be shown anywhere in the
document.
207
Hyperlinks
Customization
The standard settings should be fine for most users, but if you want to change something, you can easily do it. There
are several variables you can change and there are two methods to pass those to the package. You can pass the
options as an argument of the package when you load it (that's the standard way packages work), or you can use the
\hypersetup command:
\hypersetup{''option1'' [, ...]}
you can pass as many options as you want; separate them with a comma. Options have to be in the form:
variable_name=new_value
exactly the same format has to be used if you pass those options to the package while loading it, like this:
\usepackage[''option1, option2'']{hyperref}
208
Hyperlinks
209
Here is a list of the possible variables you can change (for the complete list, see the official documentation). The
default values are written in an upright font:
variable
values
comment
bookmarks
=true,false
unicode
=false,true
pdfborder
set the style of the border around a link. The first two parameters (RadiusH, RadiusV)
have no effect in most pdf viewers. Width defines the thickness of the border.
Dash-Pattern is a series of numbers separated by space and enclosed by box-brackets.
It is an optional parameter to specify the length of each line & gap in the dash pattern.
For example, {0 0 0.5 [3 3]} is supposed to draw a square box (no rounded corners) of
width 0.5 and a dash pattern with a dash of length 3 followed by a gap of length 3.
There is no uniformity in whether/how different pdf viewers render the dash pattern.
pdftoolbar
=true,false
pdfmenubar
=true,false
pdffitwindow
=true,false
pdfstartview
[2]
={FitH},{FitV},etc .
pdftitle
={text}
define the title that gets displayed in the "Document Info" window of Acrobat
pdfauthor
={text}
the name of the PDFs author, it works like the one above
pdfsubject
={text}
pdfcreator
={text}
pdfproducer
={text}
pdfkeywords
={text}
pdfnewwindow
(=true,false)
define if a new window should get opened when a link leads out of the current
document
pagebackref
(=false,true)
colorlinks
(=false,true)
surround the links by color frames (false) or colors the text of the links (true).
The color of these links can be configured using the following options (default colors
are shown):
linkcolor
=red
linktoc
=none,section,page,all
defines which part of an entry in the table of contents is made into a link
citecolor
=green
filecolor
=magenta
urlcolor
=cyan
linkbordercolor ={1 0 0}
citebordercolor ={0 1 0}
urlbordercolor
={0 1 1}
Please note, that explicite RGB specification is only allowed for the border colors (like linkbordercolor etc.), while
the others may only assigned to named colors (which you can define your own, see Colors). In order to speed up
your customization process, here is a list with the variables with their default value. Copy it in your document and
make the changes you want. Next to the variables, there is a short explanations of their meaning:
Hyperlinks
\hypersetup{
bookmarks=true,
% show bookmarks bar?
unicode=false,
% non-Latin characters in Acrobats
bookmarks
pdftoolbar=true,
% show Acrobats toolbar?
pdfmenubar=true,
% show Acrobats menu?
pdffitwindow=false,
% window fit to page when opened
pdfstartview={FitH},
% fits the width of the page to the window
pdftitle={My title},
% title
pdfauthor={Author},
% author
pdfsubject={Subject},
% subject of the document
pdfcreator={Creator},
% creator of the document
pdfproducer={Producer}, % producer of the document
pdfkeywords={keyword1} {key2} {key3}, % list of keywords
pdfnewwindow=true,
% links in new window
colorlinks=false,
% false: boxed links; true: colored links
linkcolor=red,
% color of internal links
citecolor=green,
% color of links to bibliography
filecolor=magenta,
% color of file links
urlcolor=cyan
% color of external links
}
If you don't need such a high customization, here are some smaller but useful examples. When creating PDFs
destined for printing, colored links are not a good thing as they end up in gray in the final output, making it difficult
to read. You can use color frames, which are not printed:
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{colorlinks=false}
or make links black:
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{
colorlinks,%
citecolor=black,%
filecolor=black,%
linkcolor=black,%
urlcolor=black
}
When you just want to provide information for the Document Info section of the PDF file, as well as enabling back
references inside bibliography:
\usepackage[pdfauthor={Author's name},%
pdftitle={Document Title},%
pagebackref=true,%
pdftex]{hyperref}
By default, URLs are printed using mono-spaced fonts. If you don't like it and you want them to be printed with the
same style of the rest of the text, you can use this:
210
Hyperlinks
\urlstyle{same}
211
Hyperlinks
\pagenumbering{roman}
% i, ii, iii, iv, ...
... table of contents, table of figures, ...
\pagenumbering{arabic} % 1, 2, 3, 4, ...
... beginning of the main matter (chapter 1) ...
which will give the first pages a unique negative number.
The problem can also occur with the algorithms package: because each algorithm uses the same line-numbering
scheme, the line identifiers for the second and follow-on algorithms will be duplicates of the first.
The problem occurs with equation identifiers if you use \nonumber on every line of an eqnarray environment. In
this case, use the *'ed form instead, e.g. \begin{eqnarray*} ... \end{eqnarray*} (which is an
unnumbered equation array), and remove the now unnecessary \nonumber commands.
If your url's are too long and running off of the page, try using the breakurl package to split the url over multiple
lines. This is especially importiant in a multicolumn environment where the line with is greatly shortened.
212
Hyperlinks
References
[1] "Email link with hyperref, url packages" (http:/ / groups. google. com/ group/ comp. text. tex/ browse_thread/ thread/ ae160fd2fc5680a5/
71a5a7c7bfceb3cb?lnk=gst& q=email+ url+ hyperref#71a5a7c7bfceb3cb). comp.text.tex User Group. . Retrieved 2008.
[2] Other possible values are defined in the hyperref manual (http:/ / mirror. switch. ch/ ftp/ mirror/ tex/ macros/ latex/
contrib/ hyperref/ doc/ manual. html#TBL-7-40-1)
[3] http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ macros/ latex/ contrib/ hyperref/ README
213
Packages
Packages
Add-on features for LaTeX are known as packages. Dozens of these are pre-installed with LaTeX and can be used in
your documents immediately. They should all be stored in subdirectories of texmf/tex/latex named after each
package. To find out what other packages are available and what they do, you should use the CTAN search page [1]
which includes a link to Graham Williams' comprehensive package catalogue. A package is a file or collection of
files containing extra LaTeX commands and programming which add new styling features or modify those already
existing. Installed package files all end with .sty (there may be ancillary files as well). When you try to typeset a
document which requires a package which is not installed on your system, LaTeX will warn you with an error
message that it is missing, and you can then download the package and install it using the instructions in the
installing extra packages section. You can also download updates to packages you already have (both the ones that
were installed along with your version of LaTeX as well as ones you added). There is no limit to the number of
packages you can have installed on your computer (apart from disk space!), but there is probably a physical limit to
the number that can be used inside any one LaTeX document at the same time, although it depends on how big each
package is. In practice there is no problem in having even a couple of dozen packages active.
214
Packages
215
\end{document}
Many packages can have additional formatting specifications in optional arguments in square brackets, in the same
way as geometry does. Read the documentation for the package concerned to find out what can be done. You can
pass several options together separated by a comma:
\usepackage[option1,option2,option3]{''package_name''}
Package documentation
To find out what commands a package provides (and thus how to use it), you need to read the documentation. In the
texmf/doc subdirectory of your installation there should be directories full of .dvi files, one for every package
installed. This location is distribution-specific, but is typically found in:
Distribution
Path
MiKTeX
teTeX
/usr/share/texmf-tetex/doc/latex
Generally, most of the packages are in the latex subdirectory, although other packages (such as BibTeX and font
packages) are found in other subdirectories in doc. The documentation directories have the same name of the
package (e.g. amsmath), which generally have one or more relevant documents in a variety of formats (dvi, txt,
pdf, etc.). The documents generally have the same name as the package, but there are exceptions (for example, the
documentation for amsmath is found at latex/amsmath/amsdoc.dvi). If your installation procedure has not
installed the documentation, the DVI files can all be downloaded from CTAN. Before using a package, you should
read the documentation carefully, especially the subsection usually called "User Interface", which describes the
commands the package makes available. You cannot just guess and hope it will work: you have to read it and find
out.
Packages list
Here is a (not complete) list of useful packages that can be used for a wide range of different kind of documents.
Each package has a short description next to it and, when available, there is a link to a section describing such
package in detail. All of them (unless stated) should be included in your LaTeX distribution as package_name.sty.
For more information, refer to the documentation of the single packages, as described in the previous section. The
list is in alphabetical order.
amsmath
it contains the advanced math extensions for LaTeX. The complete documentation should be in your LaTeX distribution; the file
is called amsdoc, and can be dvi or pdf. For more information, see the chapter about Mathematics
amssymb
amsthm
it introduces the proof environment and the theoremstyle command. For more information see the Theorems section.
array
it extends the possibility of LaTeX to handle tables, fixing some bugs and adding new features. Using it, you can create very
complicated and customized tables. For more information, see the Tables section.
babel
it provides the internationalization of LaTeX. It has to be loaded in any document, and you have to give as an option the main
language you are going to use in the document. For more information see the Internationalization section.
bm
allows use of bold greek letters in math mode using the \bm{...} command. This supersedes the amsbsy package.
boxedminipage it introduces the boxedminipage environment, that works exactly like minipage but adds a frame around it
caption
allows customization of appearance and placement of captions for figures, tables, etc.
Packages
cancel
216
provides commands for striking out mathematical expressions. The syntax is
\cancel{x}
or
\cancelto{0}{x}
changepage
\changepage{textheight}{textwidth}%
{evensidemargin}{oddsidemargin}%
{columnsep}{topmargin}%
{headheight}{headsep}%
{footskip}
All the arguments can be both positive and negative numbers; they will be added (keeping the sign) to the relative variable.
cite
color
it adds support for colored text. For more information, see the relevant section
easylist
esint
adds additional integral symbols, for integrals over squares, clockwise integrals over sets, etc.
eucal
fancyhdr
to change header and footer of any page of the document. It is described in the Page Layout section
fontenc
to choose the font encoding of the output text. You might need it if you are writing documents in a language other than English.
Check in the Internationalization section.
geometry
for easy management of document margins and the document page size
glossaries
for creation of glossaries and list of acronyms. For more information, see relevant chapter.
graphicx
hyperref
it gives LaTeX the possibility to manage links within the document or to any URL when you compile in PDF. For more
information, see the relevant section
indentfirst
once loaded, the beginning of any chapter/section is indented by the usual paragraph indentation.
inputenc
to choose the encoding of the input text. You might need it if you are writing documents in a language other than English. Check
in the Internationalization section.
latexsym
listings
to insert programming code within the document. Many languages are supported and the output can be customized. For more
information, see the relevant section
mathrsfs
natbib
pdfpages
rotating
It lets you rotate any kind of object. It is particularly useful for rotating tables. For more information, see the relevant section
setspace
Lets you change line spacing, e.g. provides the \doublespacing command for making double spaced documents. For more
information, see the relevant section
showkeys
it is very useful while writing any document. If you want to reference an image or a formula, you have to give it a name using
\label{...} and then you can recall it using \ref{...}. When you compile the document these will be replaced only with
numbers, and you can't know which label you had used unless you take a look at the source. If you have loaded the showkeys
package, you will see the label just next or above the relevant number in the compiled version. An example of a reference to a
section is
. This way you can easily keep track of the labels you add or use,
simply looking at the preview (both dvi or pdf). Just before the final version, remove it
Packages
217
showidx
it prints out all index entries in the left margin of the text. This is quite useful for proofreading a document and verifying the
index. For more information, see the Indexing section.
subfiles
the "root" and "child" document can be compiled at the same time without making changes to the "child" document. For more
information, see the Subfile package section.
subfig
it allows to define multiple floats (figures, tables) within one environment giving individual captions and labels in the form 1a, 1b.
syntonly
\usepackage{syntonly}
\syntaxonly
LaTeX skims through your document only checking for proper syntax and usage of the commands, but doesnt produce any (DVI
or PDF) output. As LaTeX runs faster in this mode you may save yourself valuable time. If you want to get the output, you can
simply comment out the second line.
textcomp
provides extra symbols, e.g. arrows like \textrightarrow, various currencies (\texteuro,...), things like
\textcelsius and many other
theorem
you can change the style of newly defined theorems. For more information see the Theorems section.
todonotes
lets you insert notes of stuff to do with the syntax \todo{Add details.}
siunitx
helps you typeset of SI-units correctly. For example \SI{12}{\mega\herz}. Automatically handles the correct spacing
between the number and the unit. Note that even non-SI-units are set, like dB, rad, ...
ulem
it allows to underline text (either with straight or wavy line). Few examples of usage are added to the Formatting chapter.
url
it defines the \url{...} command. URLs often contain special character such as _ and &, in order to write them you should
escape them inserting a backslash, but if you write them as an argument of \url{...}, you don't need to escape any special
character and it will take care of proper formatting for you. If you are using the hyperref, you don't need to load url because
it already provides the \url{...} command.
verbatim
it improves the verbatim environment, fixing some bugs. Moreover, it provides the comment environment, that lets you add
multiple-line comments or comment out easily big parts of the code.
wrapfig
to insert images surrounded by text. It was discussed in section Floats, Figures and Captions
xypic
Creating packages
See
LaTeX/Customizing LaTeX#Creating your own package
LaTeX/Advanced Topics#Creating your own package
External resources
The best way to look for LaTeX packages is the already mentioned CTAN: Search
The TeX Catalogue Online [2]:
[1]
Packages
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
218
219
Advanced Topics
General Guidelines
During this guide we have seen what it is possible to do and how this can be achieved, but the question is: I want to
write a proper text with LaTeX, what to do then? Where should I start from? This is a short step-by-step guide about
how to start a document properly, keeping a good high-level structure. This way it will be very easy to make
modifications even when the document is almost finished. These are all just suggestions, but you might take
inspiration from that to create your own document.
Project structure
Create a clear structure of the whole project this way:
1. create a directory only for the project. We'll refer to that in the following parts as the root directory
2. create two other directories inside the root, one for LaTeX documents, the other one for images. Since you'll have
to write their name quite often, choose short names. A suggestion would be simply tex and img.
3. create your document (we'll call it document.tex, but you can use the name you prefer) and your own package
(for example mystyle.sty); this second file will help you to keep the code cleaner.
If you followed all those steps, these files should be in your root directory, using "/" for each directory:
./document.tex
./mystyle.sty
./tex/
./img/
nothing else.
General Guidelines
% Bibliography:
\clearpage
\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{Bibliography}
\input{./tex/mybibliography.tex}
\end{document}
Here a lot of code expressed in previous sections has been used. At the beginning there is the header discussed in the
Tips & Tricks section, so you will be able to compile in both DVI and PDF. Then you import the only package you
need, that is your mystyle.sty (note that in the code it has to be imported without the extension), then your document
starts. Then it inserts the title: we don't like the output of \maketitle so we created our own, the code for it will
be in a file called title.tex in the folder called tex we created before. How to write it is explained in the Title
220
General Guidelines
Creation section. Then tables of contents, figure and tables are inserted. If you don't want them, just comment out
those lines. Then the main part of the document in inserted. As you can see, there is no text in document.tex:
everything is in other files in the tex directory so that you can easily edit them. We are separating our text from the
structural code, so we are improving the "What You See is What You Mean" nature of LaTeX. Then we can see the
appendix and finally the Bibliography. It is in a separated file and it is manually added to the table of contents using
a tip suggested in the Tips & Tricks.
Once you created your document.tex you won't need to edit it anymore, unless you want to add other files in the
tex directory, but this is not going to happen very often. Now you can write your document separating it in as many
files as you want and adding many pictures without getting confused: thanks to the rigid structure you gave to the
project, you will be able to keep track of all your edits clearly.
A suggestion: do not call your files like "chapter_01.tex" or "figure_03.png", i.e. try to avoid using numbers in
file-names: if the numbering LaTeX gives them automatically is different from the one you gave (and this will likely
happen) you will get really confused. When naming a file, stop for a second, think about a short name that can fully
explain what is inside the file without being ambiguous, it will let you save a lot of time as soon as the document
gets larger.
221
Advanced Topics
Advanced Topics
Here are some topics that are not really necessary to write a proper document, but could help you making your life
easier and giving you some details to modify.
222
Advanced Topics
\stepcounter{mysubsection}
\arabic{mysection}.\arabic{mysubsection}
bla bla
\addtocounter{mysubsection}{25}
\arabic{mysection}.\arabic{mysubsection}
bla bla and more bla bla
Boxes
LaTeX builds up its pages by pushing around boxes. At first, each letter is a little box, which is then glued to other
letters to form words. These are again glued to other words, but with special glue, which is elastic so that a series of
words can be squeezed or stretched as to exactly fill a line on the page.
Admittedly, this is a very simplistic description of what really happens, but the point is that TeX operates with glue
and boxes. Letters are not the only things that can be boxes. One can put virtually everything into a box, including
other boxes. Each box will then be handled by LaTeX as if it were a single letter.
The past chapters have already dealt with some boxes, although they weren't described as such. The tabular
environment and the \includegraphics, for example, both produce a box. This means that one can easily
arrange two tables or images side by side. You just have to make sure that their combined width is not larger than the
\textwidth.
You can also pack a paragraph of your choice into a box with either the
\parbox[pos]{width}{text}
command or the
\begin{minipage}[pos]{width} text \end{minipage}
environment. The pos parameter can take one of the letters c, t or b to control the vertical alignment of the box,
relative to the baseline of the surrounding text. width takes a length argument specifying the width of the box. The
main difference between a minipage and a \parbox is that you cannot use all commands and environments
inside a parbox, while almost anything is possible in a minipage.
While \parbox packs up a whole paragraph doing line breaking and everything, there is also a class of boxing
commands that operates only on horizontally aligned material. We already know one of them; its called \mbox. It
simply packs up a series of boxes into another one, and can be used to prevent LaTeX from breaking two words. As
you can put boxes inside boxes, these horizontal box packers give you ultimate flexibility.
\makebox[width][pos]{text}
width defines the width of the resulting box as seen from the outside (This means it can be smaller than the material
inside the box. You can even set the width to 0pt so that the text inside the box will be typeset without influencing
the surrounding boxes). Besides the length expressions, you can also use \width, \height, \depth, and
\totalheight in the width parameter. They are set from values obtained by measuring the typeset text. The pos
parameter takes a one letter value: center, flushleft, flushright, or spread the text to fill the box.
The command \framebox works exactly the same as \makebox, but it draws a box around the text.
The following example shows you some things you could do with the \makebox and \framebox commands:
223
Advanced Topics
224
\makebox[\textwidth]{%
c e n t r a l}\par
\makebox[\textwidth][s]{%
s p r e a d}\par
\framebox[1.1\width]{Guess Im
framed now!} \par
\framebox[0.8\width][r]{Bummer,
I am too wide} \par
\framebox[1cm][l]{never
mind, so am I}
Can you read this?
Now that we control the horizontal, the obvious next step is to go for the vertical. No problem for LaTeX. The
\raisebox{lift}[extend-above-baseline][extend-below-baseline]{text}
command lets you define the vertical properties of a box. You can use \width, \height, \depth, and
\totalheight in the first three parameters, in order to act upon the size of the box inside the text argument:
\raisebox{0pt}[0pt][0pt]{\Large%
\textbf{Aaaa\raisebox{-0.3ex}{a}%
\raisebox{-0.7ex}{aa}%
\raisebox{-1.2ex}{r}%
\raisebox{-2.2ex}{g}%
\raisebox{-4.5ex}{h}}}
he shouted but not even the next
one in line noticed that something
terrible had happened to him.
An alternative to these approaches is the usage of the framed environment (you will need to include the "framed"
package to use it). This provides an easy way to box a paragraph within a document:
\begin{framed}
This is an easy way to box text within a document!
\end{framed}
Customizing LaTeX
225
Customizing LaTeX
Documents produced with the commands you have learned up to this point will look acceptable to a large audience.
While they are not fancy-looking, they obey all the established rules of good typesetting, which will make them easy
to read and pleasant to look at. However, there are situations where LaTeX does not provide a command or
environment that matches your needs, or the output produced by some existing command may not meet your
requirements.
In this chapter, I will try to give some hints on how to teach LaTeX new tricks and how to make it produce output
that looks different from what is provided by default.
New commands
To add your own commands, use the
\newcommand{name}[num]{definition}
command. Basically, the command requires two arguments: the name of the command you want to create, and the
definition of the command. The num argument in square brackets is optional and specifies the number of arguments
the new command takes (up to 9 are possible). If missing it defaults to 0, i.e. no argument allowed.
The following two examples should help you to get the idea. The first example defines a new command called
\wbal that will print "The Wikibook about LaTeX". Such a command could come in handy if you had to write the
title of this book over and over again.
\newcommand{\wbal}{The Wikibook about \LaTeX}
This is \wbal'' \ldots{} \wbal''
The next example illustrates how to define a new command that takes one argument. The #1 tag gets replaced by
the argument you specify. If you wanted to use more than one argument, use #2 and so on, these arguments are
added in an extra set of brackets.
\newcommand{\wbalsup}[1] {This is the Wikibook about LaTeX supported by
#1}
\newcommand{\wbalTwo}[2] {This is the Wikibook about LaTeX supported by
#1 #2}
% in the document body:
\begin{itemize}
\item \wbalsup{Wikimedia}
\item \wbalsup{lots of users!}
\item \wbalTwo{John}{Doe}
\end{itemize}
This is
the
Wikibook
about
LaTeX
supported
by
Wikimedia
This is
the
Wikibook
about
LaTeX
supported
by lots of
users!
This is
the
Wikibook
about
LaTeX
supported
by John
Doe
Customizing LaTeX
226
This is the
Wikibook
about LaTeX
supported by
Wikimedia
and John
Doe!
This is the
Wikibook
about LaTeX
supported by
lots of users
and John
Doe!
NOTE: when the command is used with an explicit first parameter it is given enclosed with brackets ( "[lots of
users]" ).
New Environments
Just as with the \newcommand command, there is a command to create your own environments. The
\newenvironment command uses the following syntax:
\newenvironment{name}[num]{before}{after}
Again \newenvironment can have an optional argument. The material specified in the before argument is
processed before the text in the environment gets processed. The material in the after argument gets processed when
the \end{name} command is encountered.
The num argument is used the same way as in the \newcommand command. LaTeX makes sure that you do not
define an environment that already exists. If you ever want to change an existing command, you can use the
\renewenvironment command. It uses the same syntax as the \newenvironment command.
The example below illustrates the usage of the \newenvironment command:
\newenvironment{king}
{\rule{1ex}{1ex}\hspace{\stretch{1}}}
{\hspace{\stretch{1}}\rule{1ex}{1ex}}
\begin{king}
My humble subjects \ldots
\end{king}
Customizing LaTeX
227
Extra space
When creating a new environment you may easily get bitten by extra spaces creeping in, which can potentially have
fatal effects. For example when you want to create a title environment which suppresses its own indentation as well
as the one on the following paragraph. The \ignorespaces command in the begin block of the environment will
make it ignore any space after executing the begin block. The end block is a bit more tricky as special processing
occurs at the end of an environment. With the \ignorespacesafterend LaTeX will issue an
\ignorespaces after the special end processing has occurred.
\newenvironment{simple}%
{\noindent}%
{\par\noindent}
\begin{simple}
See the space\\to the left.
\end{simple}
Same\\here.
\newenvironment{correct}%
{\noindent\ignorespaces}%
{\par\noindent%
\ignorespacesafterend}
No space
to the left.
Same
here.
\begin{correct}
No space\\to the left.
\end{correct}
Same\\here.
Also, if you're still having problems with extra space being appended at the end of your environment when using the
\input for external source, make sure there is no space between the beginning, sourcing, and end of the
environment, such as:
\begin{correct}\input{somefile.tex}\end{correct}
Command-line LaTeX
If you work on a Unix-like OS, you might be using Makefiles or any kind of script to build your LaTeX projects. In
that connection it might be interesting to produce different versions of the same document by calling LaTeX with
command-line parameters. If you add the following structure to your document:
\usepackage{ifthen}
\ifthenelse{\equal{\blackandwhite}{true}}{
% "black and white" mode; do something..
}{
% "color" mode; do something different..
}
Now you can call LaTeX like this:
latex '\newcommand{\blackandwhite}{true}\input{test.tex}'
First the command \blackandwhite gets defined and then the actual file is read with input. By setting
\blackandwhite to false the color version of the document would be produced.
Customizing LaTeX
228
Customizing LaTeX
Spacing
Line Spacing
If you want to use larger inter-line spacing in a document, you can change its value by putting the
\linespread{factor}
command into the preamble of your document. Use \linespread{1.3} for "one and a half" line spacing, and
\linespread{1.6} for "double" line spacing. Normally the lines are not spread, so the default line spread factor
is 1.
The setspace package allows more fine-grained control over line spacing. To set "one and a half" line spacing
document-wide, but not where it is usually unnecessary (e.g. footnotes, captions):
\usepackage{setspace}
%\singlespacing
\onehalfspacing
%\doublespacing
%\setstretch{1.1}
To change line spacing within the document, the setspace package provides the environments singlespace,
onehalfspace, doublespace and spacing:
This paragraph has \\ default \\ line spacing.
\begin{doublespace}
This paragraph has \\ double \\ line spacing.
\end{doublespace}
\begin{spacing}{2.5}
This paragraph has \\ huge gaps \\ between lines.
\end{spacing}
Paragraph formatting
In LaTeX, there are two parameters influencing paragraph layout. By placing a definition like:
\setlength{\parindent}{0pt}
\setlength{\parskip}{1ex plus 0.5ex minus 0.2ex}
in the preamble of the input file, you can change the layout of paragraphs. These two commands increase the space
between two paragraphs while setting the paragraph indent to zero.
The plus and minus parts of the length above tell TeX that it can compress and expand the inter paragraph skip
by the amount specified, if this is necessary to properly fit the paragraphs onto the page. In continental Europe,
paragraphs are often separated by some space and not indented. But beware, this also has its effect on the table of
contents. Its lines get spaced more loosely now as well. To avoid this, you might want to move the two commands
from the preamble into your document to some place below the command \tableofcontents. You may want to
consider whether or not you want to use paragraph spacing. Most professional books use indenting and not spacing
to separate paragraphs.
If you want to indent a paragraph that is not indented, you can use
\indent
229
Customizing LaTeX
230
at the beginning of the paragraph. Obviously, this will only have an effect when \parindent is not set to zero. If
you want to indent the beginning of every section, you can use the indentfirst package, see the chapter about
LaTeX/Packages for more information.
To create a non-indented paragraph, you can use
\noindent
as the first command of the paragraph. This might come in handy when you start a document with body text and not
with a sectioning command.
Horizontal Space
LaTeX determines the spaces between words and sentences automatically. To add horizontal space, use:
\hspace{length}
If such a space should be kept even if it falls at the end or the start of a line, use \hspace* instead of \hspace.
The length in the simplest case is just a number plus a unit, e.g. \hspace{1.5 cm}. For a list of the possible
units, see the Useful Measurement Macros appendix.
The command:
\stretch{n}
generates a special rubber space. It stretches until all the remaining space on a line is filled up. If two
\hspace{\stretch{n}} commands are issued on the same line, they grow according to the stretch factor.
x\hspace{\stretch{1}}
x\hspace{\stretch{3}} x
Vertical Space
The space between paragraphs, sections, subsections, etc. is determined automatically by LaTeX. If you want to
customize the default paragraph spacing, it can be achieved with the following command in the preamble of your
document:
\parskip 7.2pt
If necessary, additional vertical space between two paragraphs can be added with the command:
\vspace{length}
This command should normally be used between two empty lines. If the space should be preserved at the top or at
the bottom of a page, use the starred version of the command, \vspace*, instead of \vspace. The \stretch
command, in connection with \pagebreak, can be used to typeset text on the last line of a page, or to center text
vertically on a page.
Additional space between two lines of the same paragraph or within a table is specified with the
\\[length]
command.
If you want to add space at the beginning of the document, without anything else written before, then you may use
{ \vspace*{length} }
Customizing LaTeX
It's important you use the \vspace* command instead of \vspace, otherwise latex can silently ignore the extra
space.
Multiple files
Getting LaTeX to process multiple files
As your work grows, your LaTeX file can become unwieldy and confusing, especially if you are writing a long
article with substantial, discrete sections, or a full-length book. In such cases it is good practice to split your work
into several files. For example, if you are writing a book, it makes a lot of sense to write each chapter in a separate
.tex file. LaTeX makes this very easy thanks to two commands:
\input{filename}
and
\include{filename}
The differences between these files will be explained below but what they have in common is that they process the
contents of filename.tex before continuing with the rest of the base file. When the compiler processes your
base file and reaches the command \input or \include, it reads filename.tex and processes its content in
accordance with the formatting commands specified in the base file. This way you can put all the formatting options
in your base file and then input or include the files which contain the actual content of your work. This means
that the important part of your working process, i.e. writing, is kept largely separate from formatting choices (which
is one of the main reasons why LaTeX is so good for serious writing!). You will thus be dealing solely with text and
very basic commands such as \section, \emph etc. Your document will be uncluttered and much easier to work
with.
The second method of including a file, \include{filename}, differs from the first in some important ways.
You cannot nest \include statements within a file added via \include; \input, on the other hand, allows
you to call files which themselves call other files, ad infinitum (well, nearly!). You can, however, \include a file
which contains one or more \input commands. Please resist the temptation to nest files in this way simply
because the system can do it: you will end up with just another kind of complexity!
A further important difference is that using \include will force a page break (which makes it ideal for a book's
chapters), whereas the input command does not (which in turn makes it ideal for, say, a long article with discrete
sections, which of course are not normally set on a new page).
Working on discrete parts of your documents has consequences for how the base file is compiled; these will be dealt
with below.
231
Multiple files
232
Multiple files
Using \includeonly
Using this command provides more complex, and hence more useful possibilities. If you include the following
command in your preamble, i.e. before \begin{document},
\includeonly{filename1,filename2,...}
only the files specified between the curly braces will be included. Note that you can have one or more files as the
argument to this command: separate them with a comma, no spaces.
This requires that there are \include commands in the document which specify these files. The filename should
be written without the .tex file extension:
\documentclass{book}
\includeonly{Chapter_1,Chapter_4)
\begin{document}
\include{Chapter_1}
\include{Chapter_2}
\include{Chapter_3}
\include{Chapter_4}
\end{document}
This code would process the base file but only include the content of the author's first and fourth chapters
(Chapter_1.tex and Chapter_4.tex). Importantly, this alternative retains as much of the .aux information
as possible from the previous run, so messes up your cross-references much less than the makeshift suggestion
above.
233
Multiple files
Subfiles package
A disadvantage of using \input and \include is that only the "root" document can be compiled and not the
"child" documents individually. The package subfiles [1] resolves this problem.
In the "root" document the package must be loaded as:
\usepackage{subfiles}
Instead of using \input and \include, "child" documents must be loaded as follows:
\subfile{filename}
The "child" documents must start with the following statements:
\documentclass[rootdocument.tex]{subfiles}
\begin{document}
and end with:
\end{document}
In summary, root document (main.tex) looks like:
\documentclass{book}
\begin{document}
%% my document content
\subfile{chapter1}
%% more of my document content
\end{document}
and chapter 1 (chapter1.tex) looks like:
\documentclass[main.tex]{subfiles}
\begin{document}
%% my chapter 1 content
%%
%% more of my chapter 1 content
\end{document}
Some linux distributions, don't have subfiles package in their latex distributions. You can download subfiles.zip [2] to
generate subfiles.cls and subfiles.sty files:
wget http://mirror.ctan.org/macros/latex/contrib/subfiles.zip
cd subfiles
latex subfiles.dtx
latex subfiles.ins
234
Multiple files
External Links
Subfiles package documentation [4]
pdfpages package documentation [5]
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
235
Abstract
Collaborative writing of documents requires a strong synchronisation among authors. This Wikibook describes a
possible way to organise the collaborative preparation of LaTeX documents. The presented solution is primarily
based on the version control system Subversion (http:/ / subversion. apache. org/ ). The Wikibook describes how
Subversion can be used together with several other software tools and LaTeX packages to organise the collaborative
preparation of LaTeX documents.
Other Methods
The online LaTeX editor ScribTeX [1] makes sharing your document with others very easy. It provides a full
LaTeX environment, with all the usual features of LaTeX like bibtex, images and custom style files. It also
provides full version histories of your files, essential for collaborating. The free account allows only 3 projects
and only one collaborator per project.
publications.li [2] is a real-time collaborative LaTeX editor.
Verbosus [3] is a professional Online LaTeX Editor that supports collaboration with other users and is free to use.
Merge conflicts can easily resolved by using a built-in merge tool that uses an implementation of the
diff-algorithm to generate information required for a successful merge.
The Monkey TeX [4] is free and allows team sharing.
Another option for collaboration is dropbox [5]. It has 2Gb free storage and versioning system. Works like SVN,
but more automated and therefore especially useful for beginning latex users.
As the LaTeX system uses plain text, you can use synchronous collaborative editors like Gobby. In Gobby you
can write your documents in collaboration with anyone in real time. It is strongly recommended that you use utf8
encoding (especially if there are users on multiple operating systems collaborating) and a stable network
(typically wired networks).
Google Documents [6] or LaTeX Lab [7] also allows real-time simultaneous collaborative editing of text files for
anyone with a Google account (and its option to make the document available through a URL makes local
download and compilation easily scriptable).
TitanPad [8] (or other clones [9] of EtherPad). To compile use the command line :
wget -O filename.tex "http://titanpad.com/ep/pad/export/xxxx/latest?format=txt" && (latex
filename.tex)
where 'xxxx' should be replaced by the pad number (something like 'z7rSrfrYcH').
You could use more modern distributed version control systems like Mercurial or Git.
Introduction
The collaborative preparation of documents requires a considerable amount of coordination among the authors. This
coordination can be organised in many different ways, where the best way depends on the specific circumstances.
In this Wikibook, I describe how the collaborative writing of LaTeX documents is organised at our department
(Division of Agricultural Policy, Department of Agricultural Economics, University of Kiel, Germany). I present our
software tools, and describe how we use them. Thus, this Wikibook provides some ideas and hints that will be useful
for other LaTeX users who prepare documents together with their co-authors.
236
Interchanging Documents
There are many ways to interchange documents among authors. One possibility is to compose documents by
interchanging e-mail messages. This method has the advantage that common users generally do not have to install
and learn the usage of any extra software, because virtually all authors have an e-mail account. Furthermore, the
author who has modified the document can easily attach the document and explain the changes by e-mail as well.
Unfortunately, there is a problem when two or more authors are working at the same time on the same document. So,
how can authors synchronise these files?
A second possibility is to provide the document on a common file server, which is available in most departments.
The risk of overwriting each others' modifications can be eliminated by locking files that are currently edited.
However, generally the file server can be only accessed from within a department. Hence, authors who are out of the
building cannot use this method to update/commit their changes. In this case, they will have to use another way to
overcome this problem. So, how can authors access these files?
A third possibility is to use a version control system. A comprehensive list of version control systems can be found at
Wikipedia [10]. Version control systems keep track of all changes in files in a project. If many authors modify a
document at the same time, the version control system tries to merge all modifications automatically. However, if
multiple authors have modified the same line, the modifications cannot be merged automatically, and the user has to
resolve the conflict by deciding manually which of the changes should be kept. Authors can also comment their
modifications so that the co-authors can easily understand the workflow of this file. As version control systems
generally communicate over the internet (e.g. through TCP/IP connections), they can be used from different
computers with internet connections. A restrictive firewall policy might prevent the version control system from
connecting to the internet. In this case, the network administrator has to be asked to open the appropriate port. The
internet is only used for synchronising the files. Hence, a permanent internet connection is not required. The only
drawback of a version control system could be that it has to be installed and configured.
Moreover, a version control system is useful even if a single user is working on a project. First, the user can track
(and possibly revoke) all previous modifications. Second, this is a convenient way to have a backup of the files on
other computers (e.g. on the version control server). Third, this allows the user to easily switch between different
computers (e.g. office, laptop, home).
237
238
239
240
241
BibTeX style files can be created or modified manually; however this action requires knowledge of the (unnamed)
postfix stack language that is used in BibTeX style files (Patashnik 1988).
At our department, we have a common bibliographic data base in the BibTeX format (.bib file). It resides in our
common texmf tree (see section 'Hosting LaTeX files in Subversion') in the subdirectory /bibtex/bib/ (see
figure 1). Hence, all users can specify this bibliography by only using the file name (without the full path) --- no
matter where the user's working copy of the common texmf tree is located.
All users edit our bibliographic data base with the graphical BibTeX editor JabRef (http:/ / jabref. sourceforge. net/ ).
As JabRef is written in Java, it runs on all major operating systems. As different versions of JabRef generally save
files in a slightly different way (e.g. by introducing line breaks at different positions), all users should use the same
(e.g. last stable) version of JabRef. Otherwise, there would be many differences between different versions of .bib
files that solely originate from using different version of JabRef. Hence, it would be hard to find the real differences
between the compared documents. Furthermore, the probability of conflicts would be much higher (see section
'Subversion really makes the difference'). As JabRef saves the BibTeX data base with the native newline character of
the author's operating system, it is recommended to add the Subversion property 'svn:eol-style' and set it to 'native'
(see section 'Subversion really makes the difference').
JabRef is highly flexible and can be configured in many details. We
make the following changes to the default configuration of JabRef to
simplify our work. First, we specify the default pattern for BibTeX
keys so that JabRef can automatically generate keys in our desired
format. This can be done by selecting Options Preferences
Key pattern and modifying the desired pattern in the field
Default
pattern.
For
instance,
we
use
[auth:lower][shortyear] to get the last name of the first
author in lower case and the last two digits of the year of the
publication (see figure 3).
Second, we add the BibTeX field location for information about
the location, where the publication is available as hard copy (e.g. a
book or a copy of an article). This field can contain the name of the
user who has the hard copy and where he has it or the name of a library
and the shelf-mark. This field can be added in JabRef by selecting
Options Set up general fields and adding the word
location (using the semicolon (;) as delimiter) somewhere in the
line that starts with General: (see figure 4).
Conclusion
This wikibook describes a possible way to efficiently organise the collaborative preparation of LaTeX documents.
The presented solution is based on the Subversion version control system and several other software tools and
LaTeX packages. However, there are still a few issues that can be improved.
First, we plan that all users install the same LaTeX distribution. As the TeX Live distribution (http:/ / www. tug. org/
texlive/ ) is available both for Unix and MS Windows operating systems, we might recommend our users to switch
to this LaTeX distribution in the future. (Currently, our users have different LaTeX distributions that provide a
different selection of LaTeX packages and different versions of some packages. We solve this problem by providing
some packages on our common texmf tree.)
Second, we consider to simplify the solution for a common bibliographic data base. Currently it is based on the
version control system Subversion, the graphical BibTeX editor JabRef, and a file server for the PDF files of
publications in the data base. The usage of three different tools for one task is rather challenging for infrequent users
and users that are not familiar with these tools. Furthermore, the file server can be only accessed by local users.
Therefore, we consider to implement an integrated server solution like WIKINDX (http:/ / wikindx. sourceforge. net/
), Aigaion (http:/ / www. aigaion. nl/ ), or refBASE (http:/ / refbase. sourceforge. net/ ). Using this solution only
requires a computer with internet access and a web browser, which makes the usage of our data base considerably
easier for infrequent users. Moreover, the stored PDF files are available not only from within the department, but
throughout the world. (Depending on the copy rights of the stored PDF files, the access to the server --- or least the
access to the PDF files --- has to be restricted to members of the department.) Even Non-LaTeX users of our
department might benefit from a server-based solution, because it should be easier to use this bibliographic data base
in (other) word processing software packages, because these servers provide the data not only in BibTeX format, but
also in other formats.
All readers are encouraged to contribute to this wikibook by adding further hints or ideas or by providing further
solutions to the problem of collaborative writing of LaTeX documents.
Acknowledgements
Arne Henningsen thanks Francisco Reinaldo and Graldine Henningsen for comments and suggestions that helped
him to improve and clarify this paper, Karsten Heymann for many hints and advices regarding LaTeX, BibTeX, and
Subversion, and Christian Henning as well as his colleagues for supporting his intention to establish LaTeX and
Subversion at their department.
References
Fenn, Jrgen (2006): Managing citations and your bibliography with BibTeX. The PracTEX Journal, 4. http://
www.tug.org/pracjourn/2006-4/fenn/.
Markey, Nicolas (2005): Tame the BeaST. The B to X of BibTeX. http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/
bibtex/tamethebeast/ttb_en.pdf.Version 1.3.
Oren Patashnik. Designing BibTeX styles. http://www.ctan.org/tex-archive/info/biblio/bibtex/contrib/doc/
btxhak.pdf.
Tools for collaborative paper-writing [16]
242
References
[1] http:/ / www. scribtex. com
[2] http:/ / www. publications. li
[3] http:/ / www. verbosus. com
[4] http:/ / monkeytex. bradcater. webfactional. com
[5] http:/ / www. getdropbox. com
[6] http:/ / docs. google. com
[7] http:/ / docs. latexlab. org
[8] http:/ / titanpad. com
[9] http:/ / etherpad. org/ etherpadsites. html
[10] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ List_of_revision_control_software
[11] http:/ / subversion. apache. org/
[12] http:/ / www. dyndns. com/
[13] http:/ / tortoisesvn. tigris. org/
[14] http:/ / zoneit. free. fr/ esvn/
[15] http:/ / kdiff3. sourceforge. net/
[16] http:/ / mathoverflow. net/ questions/ 3044/ tools-for-collaborative-paper-writing
Internationalization
When you write documents in languages other than English, areas where LaTeX has to be configured appropriately:
1. LaTeX needs to know how to hyphenate the language(s) you are using.
2. You need to use language-specific typographic rules. In French for example, there is a mandatory space before
each colon character (:).
3. You want to be able to insert all the language-specific special characters directly from your keyboard instead of
using cumbersome coding (for example, type instead of \"{a}).
If you simply need to add a few words from another language, you may find LaTeX/Accents an easier way.
Hyphenating
The babel package by Johannes Braams will take care of everything. You can load it in your preamble, providing
as an argument the language you want to use:
\usepackage[language]{babel}
You should place it soon after the \documentclass command, so that all the other packages you load afterwards
will know the language you are using. A list of the languages built into your LaTeX system will be displayed every
time the compiler is started. Babel will automatically activate the appropriate hyphenation rules for the language you
choose. If your LaTeX format does not support hyphenation in the language of your choice, babel will still work but
will disable hyphenation, which has quite a negative effect on the appearance of the typeset document. Babel also
specifies new commands for some languages, which simplify the input of special characters. See the sections about
languages below for more information.
If you call babel with multiple languages:
\usepackage[languageA,languageB]{babel}
then the last language in the option list will be active (i.e. languageB), and you can use the command
\selectlanguage{languageA}
to change the active language. You can also add short pieces of text in another language using the command
\foreignlanguage{languageB}{Text in another language}
243
Internationalization
Babel also offers various environments for entering larger pieces of text in another language:
\begin{otherlanguage}{languageB}
Text in language B. This environment switches all language-related
definitions, like the language specific names for figures, tables etc.
to the other language.
\end{otherlanguage}
The starred version of this environment typesets the main text according to the rules of the other language, but keeps
the language specific string for ancillary things like figures, in the main language of the document. The environment
hyphenrules switches only the hyphenation patterns used; it can also be used to disallow hyphenation by using
the language name 'nohyphenation'.
Text encoding
Most of the modern computer systems allow you to input letter of national alphabets directly from the keyboard. In
order to handle variety of input encoding used for different groups of languages and/or on different computer
platforms LaTeX employs the inputenc package:
\usepackage[encoding]{inputenc}
inputenc package tells LaTeX what the text encoding format of your .tex files is. The encoding depends on your
operating system but often a software's encoding can be changed from the settings (this happens at least with some
editors, the PuTTY terminal and TeXmaker). You may choose whichever encoding you like, but you must say so in
the preamble, so for example, if you prefere to use the ISO-8859-1, write
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
Most modern operating systems use Unicode (utf-8) as a default encoding for text. On such system (for example
Ubuntu) you can use:
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
The supported encoding by the LaTeX team is utf8 and covers a fairly specific/limited range of unicode input
characters. It only defines those symbols that are known to be available with the current font encoding. utf8x is
not officially supported, but covers a much broader range of input symbols.
You might encounter a situation where using \usepackage[utf8]{inputenc} might result in error:
! Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with
LaTeX.
This is due to the utf8 definition not necessarily having a mapping of all the character glyphs you are able to enter on
your keyboard. Such characters are for example . In such case, you need to use the utf8x option to
define more character combinations. This might break up compatibility with some packages like csquotes.
When using the inputenc package, you should consider that other people might not be able to display your input
files on their computer, because they use a different encoding. For example, the German umlaut on OS/2 is
encoded as 132, on Unix systems using ISO-LATIN 1 it is encoded as 228, while in Cyrillic encoding cp1251 for
Windows this letter does not exist at all; therefore you should use this feature with care. The following encodings
may come in handy, depending on the type of system you are working on:
244
Internationalization
245
Operating system
Encodings
Western Latin Cyrillic
Mac
applemac
maccyr
Unix
latin1
koi8-ru
Windows
ansinew
cp1251
DOS, OS/2
cp850
cp866nav
Output encoding
fontenc package tells LaTeX how to output the text you have produced. It defines at which position inside a
TeX-font each letter is stored. Multiple input encodings could be mapped into one font encoding, which reduces
number of required font sets. LaTeX can produce either bitmap-fonts (usually rasterized to 300 or 600 ppi) or
scalable vector fonts (such as Type 1 fonts). There are many different font sets available containing different sets of
glyphs (characters).
Font encoding is set with:
\usepackage[encoding]{fontenc}
where encoding is font encoding. It is possible to load several encodings simultaneously.
The default LaTeX font encoding is OT1, the encoding of the original Computer Modern TeX text fonts. It contains
only 128 characters, many from ASCII, but leaving out some others and including a number that are not in ASCII.
When accented characters are required, TeX creates them by combining a normal character with an accent. While the
resulting output looks perfect, this approach stops the automatic hyphenation from working inside words containing
accented characters. Besides, some of Latin letters could not be created by combining a normal character with an
accent, to say nothing about letters of non-Latin alphabets, such as Greek or Cyrillic.
To overcome these shortcomings, several 8-bit CM-like font sets were created. Extended Cork (EC) fonts in T1
encoding contains letters and punctuation characters for most of the European languages based on Latin script. The
LH font set contains letters necessary to typeset documents in languages using Cyrillic script. Because of the large
number of Cyrillic glyphs, they are arranged into four font encodingsT2A, T2B, T2C, and X2. The CB bundle
contains fonts in LGR encoding for the composition of Greek text. By using these fonts you can improve/enable
hyphenation in non-English documents. Another advantage of using new CM-like fonts is that they provide fonts of
CM families in all weights, shapes, and optically scaled font sizes
Here is a collection of suggestions about writing a LaTeX document in a language other than English. If you have
experience in a language not listed below, please add some notes about it.
Hyphenating languages
Arabic script
For languages which use the Arabic script, including Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, Kurdish, Uyghur, etc., add the
following code to your preamble:
\usepackage{arabtex}
You can input text in either romanized characters or native Arabic script encodings. Use any of the following
commands/environment to enter in text:
Internationalization
\< >
\RL{ }
\begin{arabtext} \end{arabtext}.
See the ArabTeX Wikipedia article for further details.
You may also use the Arabi package within babel to typeset Arabic and Persian
\usepackage[LAE,LFE]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[farsi,arabic]{babel}
You may use Arabi with Lyx, or with tex4ht to produce HTML. You may also copy and paste from PDF files
produced with Arabi thanks to the support of the cmap package.
See Arabi page on CTAN [1]
Persian script
For Persian language, there is a dedicated package called XePersian which uses XeLaTeX as the typesetting engine.
Just add the following code to your preamble:
\usepackage{xepersian}
See XePersian page on CTAN [2]
Moreover, Arabic script can be used to type Persian as illustrated in the previous subsection.
Cyrillic script
Please add the section "Writing in Cyrillic" from http:/ / www. ctan. org/ tex-archive/ info/ lshort/ english/ lshort. pdf
. You are allowed to copy it.
See also the Bulgarian translation of the "Not so Short Introduction to LaTeX 2e from http:/ / www. ctan. org/
tex-archive/info/lshort/bulgarian/lshort-bg.pdf
This enables you to type cyrillic letters directly via your keyboard, but with a different distribution than a standard
cyrillic keyboard! To get the standard distribution, only include: \usepackage[OT1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[russian]{babel}
Czech
Czech is fine using
\usepackage[czech]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8x]{inputenc}
You may use different encoding, but UTF-8 is becoming standard and it allows you to have czech quotation marks
directly in your text. Otherwise, there are macros \glqq and \grqq to produce left and right quote.
246
Internationalization
Finnish
Finnish language hyphenation is enabled with:
\usepackage[finnish]{babel}
This will also automatically change document language (section names, etc.) to Finnish.
Remember to use Unicode encoding for Finnish if you're using an editor in utf8 mode:
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
The default encoding system can oftenly be changed regardless of the operating system (this happens at least with
some editors, the PuTTY terminal and TeXmaker). You may choose whichever encoding you like, but you must say
so in the preamble, so for example, if you prefere to use the ISO-8859-1, write instead
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
The encoding is important and makes sure you can simply write the kkset as such, which is less
cumbersome than having to write
\"{a}
to get the letter . Actually letters like work as well so the same idea applies also to other European
languages like Spanish.
If you want to use European Computer Modern fonts, you should use:
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
For creating scalable (vector) Type1 fonts instead of bitmapped fonts, you can substitute the line above with:
\usepackage{ae}
The ae-package changes encoding to T1 and also loads the scalable version of Almost European Computer Modern
fonts.
French
Some hints for those creating French documents with LaTeX: you can load French language support with the
following command:
\usepackage[frenchb]{babel}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
There are multiple options for typesetting French documents, depending on the flavor of French: french,
frenchb, and francais for Parisian French, and acadian and canadien for new-world French. All enable
French hyphenation, if you have configured your LaTeX system accordingly. All of these also change all automatic
text into French: \chapter prints Chapitre, \today prints the current date in French and so on. A set of new
commands also becomes available, which allows you to write French input files more easily. Check out the
following table for inspiration:
247
Internationalization
248
input code
rendered output
guillemets
M\up{me}, D\up{r}
Mme, Dr
2e 4es
\No 1, \no 2
N 1, n 2
20~\degres C, 45\degres
20 C, 45
M. \bsc{Durand}
M. Durand
\nombre{1234,56789}
1 234,567 89
You will also notice that the layout of lists changes when switching to the French language. For more information on
what the frenchb option of babel does and how you can customize its behavior, run LaTeX on file frenchb.dtx and
read the produced file frenchb.pdf or frenchb.dvi.
German
You can load German language support using either one of the two following commands.
For old german orthography use
\usepackage[german]{babel}
or for new german orthography use
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
This enables German hyphenation, if you have configured your LaTeX system accordingly. It also changes all
automatic text into German. Eg. Chapter becomes Kapitel. A set of new commands also becomes available,
which allows you to write German input files more quickly even when you dont use the inputenc package. Check
out table 2.5 for inspiration. With inputenc, all this becomes moot, but your text also is locked in a particular
encoding world.
"s
"` or \glqq
"' or \grqq
"< or \flqq
"> or \frqq
\flq
\frq
\dq
"
In German books you often find French quotation marks (guillemets). German typesetters, however, use them
differently. A quote in a German book would look like this. In the German speaking part of Switzerland,
typesetters use guillemets the same way the French do. A major problem arises from the use of commands like
Internationalization
249
\flq: If you use the OT1 font (which is the default font) the guillemets will look like the math symbol "
", which
turns a typesetters stomach. T1 encoded fonts, on the other hand, do contain the required symbols. So if you are
using this type of quote, make sure you use the T1 encoding. (\usepackage[T1]{fontenc})
Greek
This is the preamble you need to write in the Greek language.
\usepackage[english,greek]{babel}
\usepackage[iso-8859-7]{inputenc}
This preamble enables hyphenation and changes all automatic text to Greek. A set of new commands also becomes
available, which allows you to write Greek input files more easily. In order to temporarily switch to English and vice
versa, one can use the commands \textlatin{english text} and \textgreek{greek text} that
both take one argument which is then typeset using the requested font encoding. Otherwise you can use the
command \selectlanguage{...} described in a previous section. Use \euro for the Euro symbol.
Hungarian
Similar to Italian, but use the following lines:
\usepackage[magyar]{babel}
\usepackage[latin2]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
More information in hungarian [3].
The Hungarian version of BaBeL included with standard LaTeX distribution is not perfect, a much better version can
be downloaded from the previous page.
Icelandic / Faroese
The following lines can be added to write Icelandic text:
\usepackage[icelandic]{babel}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
and for some users
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
is needed. This allows the user to write with Icelandic characters and changes text like the Abstract in
\begin{abstract}
etta er tdrttur.
\end{abstract}
into "tdrttur" and turns Part' into "Hluti".
Internationalization
250
\TH
\th
\"{O}
\"{o}
\AE
\ae
\DH
\dh
Italian
Italian is well supported by LaTeX. Just add \usepackage[italian]{babel} at the beginning of your document and the
output of all the commands will be translated properly. You can add letters with accents without any particular
setting, just write \`a \`e \'e \`i \`o \`u and you will get (NB: the symbol changes if the
inclination of the accent changes). Anyway, if you do so, it could be quite annoying since it's time-wasting.
Moreover, if you are using any spell-checking program, "citt" is correct, but "citt\`a" will be seen as a mistake. If
you add \usepackage[latin1]{inputenc} at the beginning of your document, LaTeX will include correctly all your
accented letters. To sum up, just add
\usepackage[italian]{babel}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
at the beginning of your document and you can write in Italian without being worried of translations and fonts. If you
are writing your document without getting any error, then don't worry about anything else. If you start getting some
unknown errors whenever you use an Italian letter, then you have to worry about the encoding of your files. As
known, any LaTeX source is just plain text, so you'll have to insert accented letters properly within the text file. If
you write your document using always the same program on the same computer, you should not have any problem.
If you are writing your document using different programs, if could start getting some strange errors from the
compiler. The reason could be that the accented letters were not included properly within your source file and LaTeX
can't recognize them. The reason is that an editor modified your document with a different encoding from the one
that was used when creating it. Most of the operating systems use UTF-8 as default, but this could create problems if
are using programs based on different libraries or different operating systems. The best way to solve this problem is
to change the encoding to ISO-8859-1, that includes all the letters you need. Some text editors let you change the
encoding in the settings.
Korean
To use LATEX for typesetting Korean, we need to solve three problems:
1. We must be able to edit Korean input files. Korean input files must be in plain text format, but because Korean
uses its own character set outside the repertoire of US-ASCII, they will look rather strange with a normal ASCII
editor. The two most widely used encodings for Korean text files are EUC-KR and its upward compatible
extension used in Korean MS-Windows, CP949/Windows-949/UHC. In these encodings each US-ASCII
character represents its normal ASCII character similar to other ASCII compatible encodings such as ISO-8859-x,
EUC-JP, Big5, or Shift_JIS. On the other hand, Hangul syllables, Hanjas (Chinese characters as used in Korea),
Internationalization
Hangul Jamos, Hiraganas, Katakanas, Greek and Cyrillic characters and other symbols and letters drawn from KS
X 1001 are represented by two consecutive octets. The first has its MSB set. Until the mid-1990s, it took a
considerable amount of time and effort to set up a Korean-capable environment under a non-localized
(non-Korean) operating system. You can skim through the now much-outdated http://jshin.net/faq to get a
glimpse of what it was like to use Korean under non-Korean OS in mid-1990s. These days all three major
operating systems (Mac OS, Unix, Windows) come equipped with pretty decent multilingual support and
internationalization features so that editing Korean text file is not so much of a problem anymore, even on
non-Korean operating systems.
2. TEX and LATEX were originally written for scripts with no more than 256 characters in their alphabet. To make
them work for languages with considerably more characters such as Korean or Chinese, a subfont mechanism was
developed. It divides a single CJK font with thousands or tens of thousands of glyphs into a set of subfonts with
256 glyphs each. For Korean, there are three widely used packages; HLATEX by UN Koaunghi, hLATEXp by
CHA Jaechoon and the CJK package byWerner Lemberg. HLATEX and hLATEXp are specific to Korean and
provide Korean localization on top of the font support. They both can process Korean input text files encoded in
EUC-KR. HLATEX can even process input files encoded in CP949/Windows-949/UHC and UTF-8 when used
along with , . The CJK package is not specific to Korean. It can process input files in UTF-8 as well as in
various CJK encodings including EUC-KR and CP949/Windows-949/UHC, it can be used to typeset documents
with multilingual content (especially Chinese, Japanese and Korean). The CJK package has no Korean
localization such as the one offered by HLATEX and it does not come with as many special Korean fonts as
HLATEX.
3. The ultimate purpose of using typesetting programs like TEX and LATEX is to get documents typeset in an
aesthetically satisfying way. Arguably the most important element in typesetting is a set of welldesigned fonts.
The HLATEX distribution includes UHC PostScript fonts of 10 different families and Munhwabu fonts
(TrueType) of 5 different families. The CJK package works with a set of fonts used by earlier versions of
HLATEX and it can use Bitstreams cyberbit True-Type font.
To use the HLATEX package for typesetting your Korean text, put the following declaration into the preamble of
your document:
\usepackage{hangul}
This command turns the Korean localization on. The headings of chapters, sections, subsections, table of content and
table of figures are all translated into Korean and the formatting of the document is changed to follow Korean
conventions. The package also provides automatic particle selection. In Korean, there are pairs of post-fix particles
grammatically equivalent but different in form. Which of any given pair is correct depends on whether the preceding
syllable ends with a vowel or a consonant. (It is a bit more complex than this, but this should give you a good
picture.) Native Korean speakers have no problem picking the right particle, but it cannot be determined which
particle to use for references and other automatic text that will change while you edit the document. It takes a
painstaking effort to place appropriate particles manually every time you add/remove references or simply shuffle
parts of your document around. HLATEX relieves its users from this boring and error-prone process.
In case you dont need Korean localization features but just want to typeset Korean text, you can put the following
line in the preamble, instead.
\usepackage{hfont}
For more details on typesetting Korean with HLATEX, refer to the HLATEX Guide. Check out the web site of the
Korean TEX User Group (KTUG) at http://www.ktug.or.kr/.
251
Internationalization
Polish
If you plan to use Polish in your utf-8 encoded document, use the following code
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{polski}
\usepackage[polish]{babel}
The above code merely allows to use polish letters and translates the automatic text to polish, so that "chapter"
becomes "rozdzia". There are a few additional things one must remember about.
Connectives
Polish has many single letter connectives: "a", "o", "w", "i", etc., grammar and typography rules don't allow for them
to end a printed line. To ensure that LaTeX won't set them as last letter in the line, you have to use non breakable
space:
Noc bya sierpniowa, ciepa i~sodka, Ksiyc owieca srebrnem
wiatem wgbienie, tak,
e twarze maego rycerza i~Basi byy skpane w blasku.
Poniej, na podwrzu zamkowem, wida byo upione kupy onierzy,
a~take i~ciaa zabitych
podczas dziennej strzelaniny, bo nie znaleziono dotd czasu na ich
pogrzebanie.
Numerals
According to polish grammar rules, you have to put dots after numerals in chapter, section, subsection, etc. headers.
This is achieved by redefining few LaTeX macros.
For books:
\renewcommand\thechapter{\arabic{chapter}.}
\renewcommand\thesection{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}.}
\renewcommand\thesubsection{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}.\arabic{subsection}.}
\renewcommand\thesubsubsection{\arabic{chapter}.\arabic{section}.\arabic{subsection}.%
\arabic{subsubsection}.}
For articles:
\renewcommand\thesection{\arabic{section}.}
\renewcommand\thesubsection{\arabic{section}.\arabic{subsection}.}
\renewcommand\thesubsubsection{\arabic{section}.\arabic{subsection}.\arabic{subsubsection}.}
252
Internationalization
Indentation
It's customary (depends on publisher) to indent first paragraph in sections and chapters:
\usepackage{indentfirst}
Hyphenation and typography
It's much more frowned upon to set pages with hyphenation between pages than it is customary in American
typesetting.
To adjust penalties for hyphenation spanning pages, use this command:
\brokenpenalty=1000
To adjust penalties for leaving widows and orphans (clubs in TeX nomenclature) use those commands:
\clubpenalty=1000
\widowpenalty=1000
Further information
Refer the Sownik Ortograficzny [4] (in Polish) for additional information on polish grammar and typography rules.
Good extract is available at Zasady Typograficzne Skadania Tekstu [5] (in Polish)
Portuguese
Add the following code to your preamble:
\usepackage[portuguese]{babel}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
if you are in Brazil, you can substitute the language for brazilian portuguese by choosing: brazilian. The first
line is to get everything translated properly, the second is for being able to input text correctly and the third one to
get the hyphenation of words with diacritics right. Note that we are using the latin1 input encoding here, so this will
not work on a Mac or on DOS. Just use the appropriate encoding for your system. If you are using Linux, use
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
Slovak
Basic settings are fine when left the same as Czech, but Slovak needs special signs for ,,. To be able to type them
from keyboard use the following settings
\usepackage[slovak]{babel}
\usepackage[IL2]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
253
Internationalization
Spanish
To enable Spanish writing, besides installing the appropriate hyphenation patterns, you type:
\usepackage[spanish]{babel}
The trick is that Spanish has several options and commands to control the layout. The options may be loaded either
at the call to Babel, or before, by defining the command \spanishoptions. Therefore, the following commands
are roughly equivalent:
\def\spanishoptions{mexico}
\usepackage[spanish]{babel}
\usepackage[spanish,mexico]{babel}
On average, the former syntax should be preferred, as the latter is a deviation from standard Babel behavior, and thus
may break other programs (LyX, latex2rtf2e) interacting with LaTeX.
Two particularly useful options are es-noquoting,es-nolists: some packages and classes are known to
collide with Spanish in the way they handle active characters, and these options disable the internal workings of
Spanish to allow you to overcome these common pitfalls. Moreover, these options may simplify the way LyX
customizes some features of the Spanish layout from inside the GUI.
The options mexico,mexico-com provide support for local custom in Mexico: the former using decimal dot, as
customary, and the latter allowing decimal comma, as required by the Mexican Official Norm (NOM) of the
Department of Economy for labels in foods and goods. More localizations are in the making.
The other commands modify the spanish layout after loading babel. Two particularly useful commands are
\spanishoperators and \spanishdeactivate.
The macro \spanishoperators{list of operators} contains a list of spanish mathematical operators, and may
be redefined at will. For instance, the command \def\spanishoperators{sen} only defines sen, overriding
all other definitions; the command \let\spanishoperators\relax disables them all. This command
supports accented or spaced operators: the \acute{<letter>} command puts an accent, and the \, command
adds a small space. For instance, the following operators are defined by default.
l\acute{i}m l\acute{i}m\,sup l\acute{i}m\,inf m\acute{a}x
\acute{i}nf m\acute{i}n sen tg arc\,sen arc\,cos arc\,tg
cotg cosec senh tgh
Finally, the macro \spanishdeactivate{list of characters} disables some active characters, to keep you out
of trouble if they are redefined by other packages. The candidates for deactivation are the set <>."'. Please, beware
that some option preempty the availability of some active characters. In particular, you should not combine the
es-noquoting
option
with
\spanishdeactivate{<>},
or
the
es-noshorthands
with
\spanishdeactivate{<>."}.
Please check the documentation for Babel or spanish.dtx for further details.
254
Internationalization
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
Accents
The rules for producing characters with diacritical marks, such as accents, differ somewhat depending whether you
are in text mode, math mode, or the tabbing environment.
Text mode
Direct input
The Unicode character encoding UTF8 includes several special characters and characters with accents. The
following code specifies that the encoding of the LaTeX document source file is UTF8. Font encoding is specified as
T1, because it supports the encoding of extended character sets in fonts.
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
Of course, the encoding in the text editor needs to be set to utf8, as well. Depending on the used UTF8 characters,
one needs to specify a font that actually includes them (and supports the T1 font enconding). E.g. for German related
special characters: \usepackage{lmodern} .
With XeTeX and LuaTeX the inputenc and fontenc package are no longer needed and replaced by the fontspec
package. Both engines support UTF-8 directly and allow the use of TTF and OpenType fonts to support Unicode
characters. See the XeTeX section in the Fonts chapter of this book for more information.
Escaped codes
In addition to direct UTF8 input, LaTeX supports the composition of special characters.
The following accents may be placed on letters. Although "o" is used in most of the examples, the accents may be
placed on any letter. Accents may even be placed above a "missing" letter; for example, \~{} produces a tilde over
a blank space.
The following commands may be used only in paragraph (default) or LR (left-right) mode.
255
Accents
256
LaTeX command
Sample
Description
\`{o}
grave accent
\'{o}
acute accent
\^{o}
circumflex
\"{o}
umlaut or dieresis
\H{o}
\~{o}
tilde
\c{c}
cedilla
\k{a}
ogonek
\l
l with stroke
\={o}
\b{o}
\.{o}
\d{u}
\r{a}
\u{o}
\v{s}
\t{oo}
oo
To place a diacritic on top of an i or a j, its dot has to be removed. The dotless version of these letters is
accomplished by typing \i and \j . For example:
\^{\i} should be used for i, circumflex,
\"{\i} should be used for i, umlaut,
If a document is to be written completely in a language that requires particular diacritics several times, then using the
right configuration allows those characters to be written directly in the document. For example, to achieve easier
coding of umlauts, the babel package can be configured as \usepackage[ngerman]{babel} . This provides
the short hand "o for \"{o}. This is very useful if one needs to use some text accents in a label, since no backslash
will be accepted otherwise.
More information regarding language configuration can be found in the Internationalization section.
Math mode
Several of the above and some similar accents can also be produced in math mode. The following commands may be
used only in math mode.
Accents
257
LaTeX command
Sample
Description
Text-mode equivalence
\hat{o}
circumflex
\^
\widehat{oo}
\check{o}
vee or check
\v
\tilde{o}
tilde
\~
\widetilde{oo}
\acute{o}
acute accent
\'
\grave{o}
grave accent
\`
\dot{o}
\.
\ddot{o}
\breve{o}
breve
\u
\bar{o}
macron
\=
\vec{o}
Tabbing environment
Some of the accent marks used in running text have other uses in the tabbing environment. In that case they can be
created with the following command:
\a' for an acute accent
\a` for a grave accent
\a= for a macron accent
Related issues
The actual entering of special characters is system dependent. For example under X-Windows umlauts are entered
via compose+caps+" o, when the keyboard layout does not directly includes them.
Whether LaTeX is actually able to typeset certain UTF8 characters depends on the loaded packages. For example
trying to typeset the euro sign () may yield following error message:
Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with LaTeX.
Using the package textcomp sets this and other characters up.
The usage of the T1 font encoding influences the usability of pdf output (generated via pdflatex). For example
without specifying T1, extracting the umlaut via a PDF viewer actually extracts the two characters "A. Analog to
that, a PDF viewer cannot find words with umlauts in a PDF document which was generated via pdflatex without the
T1 font enconding. With T1 font enconding (and even with composed special characters) the PDF contains the
correct text information.
The package ae (almost european) is obsolete. It provided some workarounds for hyphenation of words with
special characters. These are not necessary any more with fonts like lmodern. Using the ae package leads to text
encoding problems in PDF files generated via pdflatex (e.g. text extraction and searching), besides typographic
issues.
Accents
External links
A few other LaTeX accents and symbols [1]
NASA GISS: Accents [2]
References
[1] http:/ / spectroscopy. mps. ohio-state. edu/ symposium_53/ latexinstruct. html
[2] http:/ / www. giss. nasa. gov/ tools/ latex/ ltx-401. html
258
259
Appendix
Tips and Tricks
id est and exempli gratia (i.e. and e.g.)
If you simply use the forms "i.e." or "e.g.", LaTeX will treat the periods as end of sentence periods (i.e. full
stop) since they are followed by a space, and add more space before the next "sentence". To prevent LaTeX from
adding space after the last period, the correct syntax is either "i.e.\ " or "e.g.\ ".
Depending on style (e.g., The Chicago Manual of Style), a comma can be used afterwards, which is interpreted by
LaTeX as part of a sentence, since the period is not followed by any space. In this case, "i.e.," and "e.g.," do
not need any special attention.
If the command \frenchspacing is used in the preamble, the space between sentences is always consistent.
Generic header
As explained in the previous sections, a LaTeX source can be used to generate both a DVI and a PDF file. For very
basic documents the source is the same but, if the documents gets more complicated, it could be necessary to make
some changes in the source so that it will work for a format but it will not for the other. For example, all that is
related to graphics has to be adapted according to the final format. As discussed in the section about floating objects,
even if you should use different pictures according to the final format, you can override this limit putting in the same
folder pictures in different formats (e.g., EPS and PNG) with the same name and link them without writing the
extension. There is a simple way to solve this problem:
\usepackage{ifpdf}
or, if you don't have this package, you can add the following text just after \documentclass[...]{...} :
\newif\ifpdf
\ifx\pdfoutput\undefined
\pdffalse
\else
\ifnum\pdfoutput=1
\pdftrue
\else
260
261
on a console and if locate returns a directory, then you are good. Next, type
which dvipng
to see if you have dvipng installed on your machine and ready to use. Again, if you get a directory, you are ready
to start doing screenshot of LaTeX pages. Say you want to take a screenshot of
262
The flag -T sets the size of the image. The option tight will only include all ink put on the page. The option -o
sends the output to the file name foo.png.
263
264
Please note that the folder tmp should exist. However if you're using linux you can do something like this:
alias pdflatex='mkdir tmp; pdflatex -output-directory tmp'
Or for vim modify your texrc:
TexLet g:Tex_CompileRule_pdf = 'mkdir tmp; pdflatex -output-directory
tmp -interaction=nonstopmode $*'
References
[1] http:/ / cars9. uchicago. edu/ ~ravel/ software/ gnuplot-mode. html
Units
First, we introduce the LaTeX measurement units. All LaTeX units are two-letter abbreviations. You can choose
from a variety of units. Here are the most common ones.[1]
Abbreviation
Definition
pt
a point is 1/72.27 inch, that means about 0.0138 inch or 0.3515 mm. 1
mm
a millimeter
2.84
cm
a centimeter
28.4
in
inch
72.27
ex
em
265
Abbreviation
Definition
bp
a big point is 1/72 inch, that means about 0.0139 inch or 0.3527 mm. 1.00375
pc
pica
12
dd
1.07
cc
12.84
sp
0.000015
Length 'macros'
Some length commands are;
\baselineskip
The normal vertical distance between lines in a paragraph
\baselinestretch
Multiplies \baselineskip
\columnsep
The distance between columns
\columnwidth
The width of the column
\evensidemargin
The margin for 'even' pages (think of a printed booklet)
\linewidth
The width of a line in the local environment
\oddsidemargin
The margin for 'odd' pages (think of a printed booklet)
\paperwidth
The width of the page
\paperheight
The height of the page
\parindent
The normal paragraph indentation
\parskip
The extra vertical space between paragraphs
\tabcolsep
The default separation between columns in a tabular environment
\textheight
The height of text on the page
\textwidth
The width of the text on the page
\topmargin
The size of the top margin
Samples
Resize an image to take exactly half the text width :
\includegraphics[width=0.5\textwidth]{mygraphic}
Make distance between items larger (inside an itemize environment) :
\addtolength{\itemsep}{0.5\baselineskip}
Use of savebox to resize an image to the height of the text:
% Create the holders we will need for our work
\newlength{\mytitleheight}
\newsavebox{\mytitletext}
% Create the reference text for measures
\savebox{\mytitletext}{%
\Large\bfseries This is our title%
}
266
References
[1] http:/ / www. uz. ac. zw/ science/ maths/ latex/ ltx-86. html
[2] http:/ / www. uz. ac. zw/ science/ maths/ latex/ ltx-86. html
Convert to PDF
Directly
pdflatex my_file
DVI to PDF
dvipdfm my_file.dvi
will create my_file.pdf. Another way is to pass through PS generation:
dvi2ps myfile.dvi
ps2pdf myfile.ps
you will get also a file called my_file.ps that you can delete.
267
268
Merging PDF
If you have created different PDF documents and you want to merge them into one single PDF file you can use the
following command-line command. You need to have Ghostscript installed:
For Windows:
gswin32 -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOUTPUTFILE=Merged.pdf -dBATCH 1.pdf 2.pdf 3.pdf
For Linux:
gs -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite -sOUTPUTFILE=Merged.pdf -dBATCH 1.pdf 2.pdf 3.pdf
Alternatively, PDF-Shuffler [1] is a small python-gtk application, which helps the user to merge or split pdf
documents and rotate, crop and rearrange their pages using an interactive and intuitive graphical interface. This
program may be avaliable in your Linux distribution's repository.
Another option to check out is pdftk [2] (or PDF toolkit), which is a command-line tool that can manipulate PDFs in
many ways. To merge one or more files, use:
pdftk 1.pdf 2.pdf 3.pdf cat output 123.pdf
Note: If you are merging external PDF documents into a Latex document which is compiled with pdflatex, a
much simpler option is to use the pdfpages package, e.g.:
\usepackage{pdfpages}
...
\includepdf[pages=-]{Document1.pdf}
\includepdf[pages=-]{Document2.pdf}
...
Three simple shell scripts using the pdfpages package are provided in the pdfjam bundle [3] by D. Firth. They include
options for merge several pdf (pdfjoin), put several pages in one physical sheet (pdfnup) and rotate pages (pdf90).
XeTeX
You can also use XeTeX (or, more precisely, XeLaTeX), which works in the same way as pdflatex: it creates a PDF
file directly from LaTeX source. One advantage of XeTeX over standard LaTeX is support for Unicode and modern
typography. See its Wikipedia entry for more details.
Customization of PDF output in XeTeX (setting document title, author, keywords etc.) is done using the
configuration of hyperref package.
Convert to PostScript
from PDF
pdf2ps my_file.pdf
from DVI
dvi2ps my_file.dvi
Convert to RTF
LaTeX can be converted into an RTF file, which in turn can be opened by a word processor such as OpenOffice.org
Writer or Microsoft Word. This conversion is done through latex2rtf [4], which can run on any computer platform.
The program operates by reading the LaTeX source, and mimicking the behaviour of the LaTeX program.
Convert to HTML
There are many converters to HTML. One option is the HEVEA [5] program:
LaTeX
hevea mylatexfile
BibTeX
bibtex2html mybibtexfile
TeX4ht
TeX4ht [6] is a very powerful conversion program, but its configuration is not straightforward. Basically a
configuration file has to be prepared, and then the program is called.
269
270
SVG
Convert it to PS as described before, then use the bash script ps2svg.sh [9] (it could be possible to write a
step-by-step guide for Windows as well; all the software it uses is multiplatform).
One can also use dvisvgm [10], an open source utility that converts from DVI to SVG.
References
[1] http:/ / pdfshuffler. sourceforge. net/
[2] http:/ / www. accesspdf. com/
[3] http:/ / www2. warwick. ac. uk/ fac/ sci/ statistics/ staff/ academic/ firth/ software/ pdfjam
[4] http:/ / latex2rtf. sourceforge. net/
[5] http:/ / hevea. inria. fr
[6] http:/ / www. cse. ohio-state. edu/ ~gurari/ TeX4ht/
[7] http:/ / savannah. nongnu. org/ projects/ dvipng/
[8] http:/ / optipng. sourceforge. net/
[9] http:/ / en. wikipedia. org/ wiki/ Wikipedia:WikiProject_Electronics/ Ps2svg. sh
[10] http:/ / dvisvgm. sourceforge. net/
[11] http:/ / code. google. com/ p/ opendetex/
[11]
, or use
Command Glossary
Command Glossary
This is a glossary of LaTeX commandsan alphabetical listing of LaTeX commands with the summaries of their
effects. (Brackets "[]" are optional arguments and braces "{}" are required arguments.)
#
/
see slash marks
\@
following period ends sentence
\\[*][extra-space]
new line. See Page Layout.
\,
thin space, math and text mode
\;
thick space, math mode
\:
medium space, math mode
\!
negative thin space, math mode
\hyphenation; tabbing
\=
set tab, see tabbing
\>
tab, see tabbing
\<
back tab, see tabbing
\+
see tabbing
\'
accent or tabbing
\`
accent or tabbing
\|
double vertical lines, math mode
\(
start math environment
\)
end math environment
271
Command Glossary
\[
begin displaymath environment
\]
end displaymath environment
A
\addcontentsline{file}{sec_unit}{entry}
adds an entry to the specified list or table
\addtocontents{file}{text}
adds text (or formatting commands) directly to the file that generates the specified list or table
\addtocounter{counter}{value}
increments the counter
\address{Return address}
\addtolength{len-cmd}{len}
increments a length command, see Useful Measurement Macros
\addvspace
adds a vertical space of a specified height
\alph
causes the current value of a specified counter to be printed in alphabetic characters
\appendix
changes the way sectional units are numbered so that information after the command is considered part of the
appendix
\arabic
causes the current value of a specified counter to be printed in Arabic numbers
\author
declares the author(s). See Document Structure
B
\backslash
prints a backslash
\baselineskip
a length command (see Useful Measurement Macros), which specifies the minimum space between the bottom
of two successive lines in a paragraph
\baselinestretch
scales the value of \baselineskip
\bf
Boldface typeface
\bibitem
generates a labeled entry for the bibliography
\bigskipamount
272
Command Glossary
\bigskip
equivalent to \vspace{\bigskipamount}
\boldmath
bold font in math mode
C
\cal
Calligraphic style in math mode
\caption
generate caption for figures and tables
\cdots
Centered dots
\centering
Used to center align LaTeX environments
\chapter
Starts a new chapter. See Document Structure.
\circle
\cite
Used to make citations from the provided bibliography
\cleardoublepage
\clearpage
Ends the current page and causes any floats to be printed. See Page Layout.
\cline
Adds horizontal line in a table that spans only to a range of cells. See \hline and ../Tables/ chapter.
\closing
Inserts a closing phrase (e.g. \closing{yours sincerely}), leaves space for a handwritten signature and inserts a
signature specified by \signature{}. Used in the Letter class.
\color
Specifies color of the text. ../Colors
\copyright
makes sign. See Formatting.
273
Command Glossary
D
\dashbox
\date
\ddots
Inserts a diagonal ellipsis (3 diagonal dots) in math mode
\documentclass[options]{style}
Used to begin a latex document
\dotfill
E
\em
Toggles italics on/off for the text inside curly braces with the command. Such as {\em This is in italics \em but
this isn't \em and this is again}. This command allows nesting.
\emph
Toggles italics on/off for the text in curly braces following the command e.g. \emph{This is in italics
\emph{but this isn't} and this is again}.
\ensuremath (LaTeX2e)
\euro
Prints euro symbol. Requires eurosym package.
F
\fbox
\flushbottom
\fnsymbol
\footnote
Creates a footnote.
\footnotemark
\footnotesize
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\footnotetext
\frac
inserts a fraction in mathematics mode. The usage is \frac{numerator}{denominator}.
\frame
\framebox
Like \makebox but creates a frame around the box. See LaTeX/Advanced Topics#Boxes.
\frenchspacing
Instructs LaTex to abstain from inserting more space after a period (.) than is the case for an ordinary
character. In order to untoggle this functionality resort to the command \nonfrenchspacing.
274
Command Glossary
H
\hfill
Abbreviation for \hspace{\fill}.
\hline
adds a horizontal line in a tabular environment. See also \cline, Tables chapter.
\hrulefill
\hspace
Produces horizontal space.
\huge
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\Huge
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\hyphenation{word list}
Overrides default hyphenation algorithm for specified words. See Hyphenation
I
\include
This command is different from \input in that it's the output that is added instead of the commands from
the other files. For more see LaTex/Basics
\includegraphics
Inserts an image. Requires graphicx package.
\includeonly
\indent
\input
Used to read in LaTex files. For more see LaTex/Basics.
\it
Italicizes the text which is inside curly braces with the command. Such as {\it This is in italics}. \em is
generally preferred since this allows nesting.
\item
Creates an item in a list. Used in list structures.
275
Command Glossary
K
\kill
L
\label
Used to create label which can be later referenced with \ref. See Labels and Cross-referencing.
\large
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\Large
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\LARGE
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\LaTeX
Prints LaTeX logo. See Formatting.
\LaTeXe
Prints current LaTeX version logo. See Formatting.
\ldots
Prints sequence of three dots. See Formatting.
\left
\lefteqn
\line
\linebreak
Suggests LaTeX to break line in this place. See Page Layout.
\linethickness
\linewidth
\listoffigures
Inserts a list of the figures in the document. Similar to Document_Structure#Table_of_contents
\listoftables
Inserts a list of the tables in the document. Similar to Document_Structure#Table_of_contents
\location
M
\makebox
Defines a box that has a specified width, independent from its content. See LaTeX/Advanced Topics#Boxes.
\maketitle
Causes the title page to be typeset, using information provided by commands such as \title{} and \author{}.
\markboth \markright
\mathcal
\mathop
276
Command Glossary
\mbox
\medskip
\multicolumn
\multiput
N
\newcommand
Defines a new command. See New Commands.
\newcounter
\newenvironment
Defines a new environment. See New Environments.
\newfont
\newlength
\newline
Ends current line and starts a new one. See Page Layout.
\newpage
Ends current page and starts a new one. See Page Layout.
\newsavebox
\newtheorem
\nocite
Adds a reference to the bibliography without an inline citation. \nocite{*} causes all entries in a bibtex
database to be added to the bibliography.
\noindent
\nolinebreak
\nonfrenchspacing
Setting the command untoggles the command \frenchspacing and activates LaTeX standards to insert more
space after a period (.) than after an ordinary character.
\normalsize
Sets default font size. See Formatting.
\nopagebreak
Suggests LaTeX not to break page in this place. See Page Layout.
\not
277
Command Glossary
O
\onecolumn
\opening
Inserts an opening phrase when using the letter class, for example \opening{Dear Sir}
\oval
\overbrace
Draws a brace over the argument. Can be used in displaystyle with superscript to label formulae. See
Advanced Mathematics.
\overline
Draws a line over the argument.
P
\pagebreak
Suggests LaTeX breaking page in this place. See Page Layout.
\pagenumbering
\pageref
Used to reference to number of page where a previously declared \label is located. See Floats, Figures and
Captions.
\pagestyle
See Page Layout.
\par
Starts a new paragraph
\paragraph
Starts a new paragraph. See Document Structure.
\parbox
Defines a box whose contents are created in paragraph mode. See Advanced Topics.
\parindent
Normal paragraph indentation. See Useful Measurement Macros.
\parskip
\part
Starts a new part of a book. See Document Structure.
\protect
\providecommand (LaTeX2e)
See Customizing LaTeX.
\put
278
Command Glossary
R
\raggedbottom
Command used for top justified within other environments.
\raggedleft
Command used for right justified within other environments.
\raggedright
Command used for left justified within other environments.
\raisebox
Creates a box and raises its content. See LaTeX/Advanced Topics#Boxes.
\ref
Used to reference to number of previously declared \label. See Labels and Cross-referencing.
\renewcommand
\right
\rm
\roman
\rule
Creates a line of specified width and height. See LaTeX/Advanced Topics#Rules and Struts.
S
\savebox
Makes a box and saves it in a named storage bin.
\sbox
The short form of \savebox with no optional arguments.
\sc
\scriptsize
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\section
Starts a new section. See Document Structure.
\setcounter
\setlength
\settowidth
\sf
\shortstack
\signature
In the Letter class, specifies a signature for later insertion by \closing.
\sl
\slash
See slash marks
\small
279
Command Glossary
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\smallskip
\sout
Strikes out text. Requires ulem package. See Formatting.
\space
force ordinary space
\sqrt
Creates a root (default square, but magnitude can be given as an optional parameter).
\stackrel
Takes two arguments and stacks the first on top of the second.
\subparagraph
Starts a new subparagraph. See Document Structure.
\subsection
Starts a new subsection. See Document Structure.
\subsubsection
Starts a new sub-subsection. See Document Structure.
T
\tableofcontents
Inserts a table of contents (based on section headings) at the point where the command appears.
\telephone
In the letter class, specifies the sender's telephone number.
\TeX
Prints TeX logo. See Formatting.
\textbf{}
Sets bold font style. See Formatting.
\textcolor{}{}
Creates colored text. See Entering colored text.
\textit{}
Sets italic font style. See Formatting.
\textmd{}
Sets medium weight of a font. See Formatting.
\textnormal{}
Sets normal font. See Formatting.
\textrm{}
Sets roman font family. See Formatting.
\textsc{}
Sets font style to small caps. See Formatting.
\textsf{}
Sets sans serif font family. See Formatting.
280
Command Glossary
\textsl{}
Sets slanted font style. See Formatting.
\texttt{}
Sets typewriter font family. See Formatting.
\textup{}
Sets upright shape of a font. See Formatting.
\textwidth
\textheight
\thanks
\thispagestyle
\tiny
Sets font size. See Formatting.
\title
\today
Writes current day. See Formatting.
\tt
\twocolumn
\typeout
\typein
U
\uline
Underlines text. Requires ulem package. See Formatting.
\underbrace
\underline
\unitlength
\usebox
\usecounter
\uwave
Creates wavy underline. Requires ulem package. See Formatting.
V
\value
\vbox{text}
Encloses a paragraph's text to prevent it from running over a page break
\vdots
Creates vertical dots. See Mathematics.
\vector
\verb
Creates inline verbatim text. See Formatting.
281
Command Glossary
282
\vfill
\vline
\vphantom
\vspace
This page uses material from Dr. Sheldon Green's Hypertext Help with LaTeX [1].
References
[1] http:/ / www. giss. nasa. gov/ tools/ latex/
Index
This is an alphabetical index of the book.
:
Absolute Beginners
Abstract
Accents
Advanced Topics
Algorithms
Arrays
Authors
babel
Basics
beamer package
Bibliography Management
BibTeX
Bold
Bullets
Bullet points
Top - 09 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Index
283
Captions
Collaborative Writing of LaTeX Documents
Color
color package
Columns, see Multi-column Pages
Cross-referencing
Customizing LaTeX
Dashes
description environment
Diactrical marks
Document Classes
Document Structure
Drawings
Figures
Floats
Fonts
Footer, Page
Footnotes
Formatting
Index
284
G
General Guidelines
Graphics
Creating
Embedding
Importing
graphicx package
Header, Page
HTML output
Hyperlinks
hyperref package
hyphen
Hyphenation
Labels
Letters
Links
Lists
makeidx package
\maketitle
Margin Notes
Mathematical Graphics
Mathematics
Matrices
Minipage environment example
Multi-column Pages
Index
285
P
Package Reference
Packages
Creating 1, Creating 2
Page Layout
PDF output
picture
Pictures
PNG output
Presentations
Pseudocode
Q
Quotes
R
References
RTF output
Small Capitals
Source Code Listings
Space Between Words
Spell-checking
Superscript and subscript: powers and indices
Superscript and subscript: text mode
SVG output
Table of contents
Tables
Teletype text
Text Size
Theorems
Tips and Tricks
Title Creation
Index
U
URLs
V
Verbatim Text
W
Word Counting
X
XY-pic package
xy package
286
287
288
289
290
291
License
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/
292