Hypertext Help with LaTeX

LaTex Commands

Commands take one of two forms:

• a backslash (\) followed by a single special character
• a backslash (\) followed by a string of letters

The second case is case-sensitive; \Gamma is different from \gamma. These commands are terminated by a nonletter, i.e., a blank, a number, a punctuation mark or special character.

For commands which produce text a trailing blank is interpreted as the end of the command, which does not automatically create a space, so you may have to do something to create an interword space after this text.

Commands may have mandatory arguments, which are input in braces ({}). They may also have optional arguments, which are input in square brackets ([]).

Defining new commands, etc.

See:

• \newcommand
• \newenvironment
• \newtheorem
• \newfont

These must be used for entities which are not already defined. To redefine something use, for example, \renewcommand.

---

Return to the LaTeX Table of Contents

---

Revised 03 Nov 1995.