LATEX quick reference - Purpose - A quick reference guide to common LaTeX commands

Oct 13, 2026

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A concise LaTeX quick reference by Mark Gates (Nov 19, 2012) that organizes frequently used LaTeX commands and practices into practical sections. It provides examples and many shortcuts defined in a custom mgates.sty style file, covering document structure, page formatting, chapters and sections, fonts, reserved and special characters, and line/page breaks. It also includes guidance on environments such as alignment, boxes, quotes, lists, tables, figures, and core math topics like equation numbering, scripts, fractions, math fonts, and Greek and symbols, plus BibTeX and natbib citation workflows under a Creative Commons license.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time11 min

AccessFree to download

Commands

Document structure

Page format

Chapters and Sections

Fonts

Reserved characters

Special characters

Accented characters

Special spaces

Special phrases

Line and page breaks

References, citations, footnotes

Hyperlinks

Environments

Text alignment

Boxes

Block quotes

Verse

Verbatim

Lists

Tables (tabular)

Figures and Tables

Math

Equation numbering

Sub/superscripts

Fractions and binomial coefficient

Math Fonts

Functions

Accents and over/under commands

Greek

Hebrew

Symbols

Brackets and delimiters

Matrices

Bibliography using BibTeX

Enabling BibTeX

Bibliography formats

Citation formats and natbib

BibTeX database

Manually formatted bibliographies

LATEX quick reference Mark Gates November 19, 2012 This guide is available from [http://web.eecs.utk.edu/](http://web.eecs.utk.edu/) 􀀘mgates3/ Copyright ©2007{2011 by Mark Gates. You may freely copy and modify this document under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license. When distributing modi􀀌ed versions, please include your Latex 􀀌le. Purpose. This document was initially made as a quick reference to all the commands that I typically use, organized so I can understand it, with examples and without clutter. It also includes many shortcuts that I have de􀀌ned in my mgates.sty 􀀌le. It is not intended to be exhaustive, nor overly descriptive. Most of the general LATEXcommands can be found in the Not So Short Introduction to LATEX 2" [4]; most of the math in the Short Math Guide to LATEX [2]; most of the bibliography information in the BibTeX tutorial [3] and the natbib documentation [1] . I also wrote a separate Latex fonts guide. Contents 1 Commands 3 1.1 Document structure ................................ 3 1.2 Page format .................................... 4 1.3 Chapters and Sections .............................. 5 1.4 Fonts ........................................ 6 1.5 Reserved characters ................................ 7 1.6 Special characters ................................. 7 1.7 Accented characters ................................ 8 1.8 Special spaces ................................... 8 1.9 Special phrases .................................. 8 1.10 Line and page breaks ............................... 9 1.11 References, citations, footnotes ......................... 10 1.12 Hyperlinks ..................................... 10 2 Environments 11 2.1 Text alignment .................................. 11 2.2 Boxes ....................................... 11 2.3 Block quotes .................................... 12 2.4 Verse ........................................ 12 2.5 Verbatim ...................................... 12 2.6 Lists ........................................ 13 2.7 Tables (tabular) .................................. 13 2.8 Figures and Tables ................................ 14 3 Math 16 3.1 Equation numbering ............................... 17 3.2 Sub/superscripts ................................. 17 3.3 Fractions and binomial coe􀀎cient ........................ 18 3.4 Math Fonts .................................... 18 3.5 Functions ..................................... 19 3.6 Accents and over/under commands ....................... 20 3.7 Greek ....................................... 21 3.8 Hebrew ...................................... 21 3.9 Symbols ...................................... 22 3.10 Brackets and delimiters .............................. 24 3.11 Matrices ...................................... 25 4 Bibliography using BibTeX 26 4.1 Enabling BibTeX ................................. 26 4.2 Bibliography formats ............................... 27 4.3 Citation formats and natbib ........................... 28 4.4 BibTeX database ................................. 29 4.5 Manually formatted bibliographies ........................ 29 1 Commands 1.1 Document structure \documentclass[options]{class} Common classes article articles without chapters proc proceedings, based on article minimal minimal formatting report reports with chapters book real books Common options 10pt, 11pt, 12pt a4paper, letterpaper, ... 􀀍eqnleqno titlepage, notitlepage onecolumn, twocolumn twoside, oneside landscape openright, openany main font size paper size equations left-aligned instead of centered equation numbers on left instead of right start new page after title one or two columns paper orientation chapters begin on right page, or any page Preamble \usepackage[options]{package} \includeonly{􀀌lenames} skip \include with listed 􀀌les Document \begin{document} \include{􀀌lename} start ne

FAQs

What is the purpose of this LaTeX quick reference guide?

It serves as a quick reference to common LaTeX commands the author typically uses, organized with examples and shortcuts from mgates.sty. It is not intended to be exhaustive or overly descriptive.

Which document topics are covered under the Commands section?

It covers document structure, page formatting, chapters and sections, fonts, reserved/special/accented characters, special spaces and phrases, line and page breaks, references and citations, and hyperlinks.

What does the guide include for math and bibliographies?

For math, it covers equation numbering, scripts, fractions and binomial coefficients, math fonts, functions, accents/over-under commands, Greek/Hebrew, symbols, brackets/delimiters, and matrices. For bibliographies, it explains BibTeX enabling, bibliography and citation formats including natbib, database usage, and manually formatted bibliographies.

Oct 13, 2026

Upload by Jiven