LaTeX \ Commands

LaTeX uses ASCII printable characters by default. However, some of these ASCII characters are reserved as reserved characters for specific purposes. Among these reserved characters, backslash or slosh \ is used to initiate a LaTeX command. Besides, LaTeX also supports other characters using escaped codes in form of LaTex \ Command.

ASCII Characters

DEC	HEX	SYM	HTML Number	Description of Unprintable Control Codes	LaTeX Characters
0	00	NUL		Null char	N/A
1	01	SOH		Start of Heading	N/A
2	02	STX		Start of Text	N/A
3	03	ETX		End of Text	N/A
4	04	EOT		End of Transmission	N/A
5	05	ENQ		Enquiry	N/A
6	06	ACK		Acknowledgment	N/A
7	07	BEL		Bell	N/A
8	08	BS		Back Space	N/A
9	09	HT		Horizontal Tab	N/A
10	0A	LF		Line Feed	N/A
11	0B	VT		Vertical Tab	N/A
12	0C	FF		Form Feed	N/A
13	0D	CR		Carriage Return	N/A
14	0E	SO		Shift Out / X-On	N/A
15	0F	SI		Shift In / X-Off	N/A
16	10	DLE		Data Line Escape	N/A
17	11	DC1		Device Control 1 (oft. XON)	N/A
18	12	DC2		Device Control 2	N/A
19	13	DC3		Device Control 3 (oft. XOFF)	N/A
20	14	DC4		Device Control 4	N/A
21	15	NAK		Negative Acknowledgement	N/A
22	16	SYN		Synchronous Idle	N/A
23	17	ETB		End of Transmit Block	N/A
24	18	CAN		Cancel	N/A
25	19	EM		End of Medium	N/A
26	1A	SUB		Substitute	N/A
27	1B	ESC		Escape	N/A
28	1C	FS		File Separator	N/A
29	1D	GS		Group Separator	N/A
30	1E	RS		Record Separator	N/A
31	1F	US		Unit Separator	N/A
DEC	HEX	SYM	HTML Number	Description of printable characters except 127	LaTeX Characters
32	20			Space
33	21	!	!	Exclamation mark	!
34	22	"	"	Double quotes (or speech marks)	"
35	23	#	#	Number	# Reserved Character
36	24	$	$	Dollar	$ Reserved Character
37	25	%	%	Procenttecken	% Reserved Character
38	26	&	&	Ampersand	& Reserved Character
39	27	'	'	Single quote	'
40	28	(	(	Open parenthesis (or open bracket)	(
41	29	)	)	Close parenthesis (or close bracket)	)
42	2A	*	*	Asterisk	*
43	2B	+	+	Plus	+
44	2C	,	,	Comma	,
45	2D	-	-	Hyphen	-
46	2E	.	.	Period, dot or full stop	.
47	2F	/	/	Slash or divide	/
48	30	0	0	Zero	0
49	31	1	1	One	1
50	32	2	2	Two	2
51	33	3	3	Three	3
52	34	4	4	Four	4
53	35	5	5	Five	5
54	36	6	6	Six	6
55	37	7	7	Seven	7
56	38	8	8	Eight	8
57	39	9	9	Nine	9
58	3A	:	:	Colon	:
59	3B	;	;	Semicolon	;
60	3C	<	<	Less than (or open angled bracket)	<
61	3D	=	=	Equals	=
62	3E	>	>	Greater than (or close angled bracket)	>
63	3F	?	?	Question mark	?
64	40	@	@	At SYM	@
65	41	A	A	Uppercase A	A
66	42	B	B	Uppercase B	B
67	43	C	C	Uppercase C	C
68	44	D	D	Uppercase D	D
69	45	E	E	Uppercase E	E
70	46	F	F	Uppercase F	F
71	47	G	G	Uppercase G	G
72	48	H	H	Uppercase H	H
73	49	I	I	Uppercase I	I
74	4A	J	J	Uppercase J	J
75	4B	K	K	Uppercase K	K
76	4C	L	L	Uppercase L	L
77	4D	M	M	Uppercase M	M
78	4E	N	N	Uppercase N	N
79	4F	O	O	Uppercase O	O
80	50	P	P	Uppercase P	P
81	51	Q	Q	Uppercase Q	Q
82	52	R	R	Uppercase R	R
83	53	S	S	Uppercase S	S
84	54	T	T	Uppercase T	T
85	55	U	U	Uppercase U	U
86	56	V	V	Uppercase V	V
87	57	W	W	Uppercase W	W
88	58	X	X	Uppercase X	X
89	59	Y	Y	Uppercase Y	Y
90	5A	Z	Z	Uppercase Z	Z
91	5B	[	[	Opening bracket	[
92	5C	\	\	Backslash	\ Reserved Character
93	5D	]	]	Closing bracket	]
94	5E	^	^	Caret - circumflex	^ Reserved Character
95	5F	_	_	Underscore	_ Reserved Character
96	60	`	`	Grave accent	`
97	61	a	a	Lowercase a	a
98	62	b	b	Lowercase b	b
99	63	c	c	Lowercase c	c
100	64	d	d	Lowercase d	d
101	65	e	e	Lowercase e	e
102	66	f	f	Lowercase f	f
103	67	g	g	Lowercase g	g
104	68	h	h	Lowercase h	h
105	69	i	i	Lowercase i	i
106	6A	j	j	Lowercase j	j
107	6B	k	k	Lowercase k	k
108	6C	l	l	Lowercase l	l
109	6D	m	m	Lowercase m	m
110	6E	n	n	Lowercase n	n
111	6F	o	o	Lowercase o	o
112	70	p	p	Lowercase p	p
113	71	q	q	Lowercase q	q
114	72	r	r	Lowercase r	r
115	73	s	s	Lowercase s	s
116	74	t	t	Lowercase t	t
117	75	u	u	Lowercase u	u
118	76	v	v	Lowercase v	v
119	77	w	w	Lowercase w	w
120	78	x	x	Lowercase x	x
121	79	y	y	Lowercase y	y
122	7A	z	z	Lowercase z	z
123	7B	{	{	Opening brace	{ Reserved Character
124	7C	\|	\|	Vertical bar	\| Reserved Character
125	7D	}	}	Closing brace	} Reserved Character
126	7E	~	~	Equivalency sign - tilde	~ Reserved Character
127	7F			Delete	N/A
DEC	HEX	SYM	HTML Number	Description of extended ASCII codes (ISO 8859-1)	LaTeX Characters
128	80	€		Euro sign	N/A
129	81				N/A
130	82	‚		Single low-9 quotation mark	N/A
131	83	ƒ		Latin small letter f with hook	N/A
132	84	„		Double low-9 quotation mark	N/A
133	85	…		Horizontal ellipsis	N/A
134	86	†		Dagger	N/A
135	87	‡		Double dagger	N/A
136	88	ˆ		Modifier letter circumflex accent	N/A
137	89	‰		Per mille sign	N/A
138	8A	Š		Latin capital letter S with caron	N/A
139	8B	‹		Single left-pointing angle quotation	N/A
140	8C	Œ		Latin capital ligature OE	N/A
141	8D				N/A
142	8E	Ž		Latin captial letter Z with caron	N/A
143	8F				N/A
144	90				N/A
145	91	‘		Left single quotation mark	N/A
146	92	’		Right single quotation mark	N/A
147	93	“		Left double quotation mark	N/A
148	94	”		Right double quotation mark	N/A
149	95	•		Bullet	N/A
150	96	–		En dash	N/A
151	97	—		Em dash	N/A
152	98	˜		Small tilde	N/A
153	99	™		Trade mark sign	N/A
154	9A	š		Latin small letter S with caron	N/A
155	9B	›		Single right-pointing angle quotation mark	N/A
156	9C	œ		Latin small ligature oe	N/A
157	9D				N/A
158	9E	ž		Latin small letter z with caron	N/A
159	9F	Ÿ		Latin capital letter Y with diaeresis	N/A
160	A0			Non-breaking space	N/A
161	A1	¡	¡	Inverted exclamation mark	N/A
162	A2	¢	¢	Cent sign	N/A
163	A3	£	£	Pound sign	N/A
164	A4	¤	¤	Currency sign	N/A
165	A5	¥	¥	Yen sign	N/A
166	A6	¦	¦	Pipe, Broken vertical bar	N/A
167	A7	§	§	Section sign	N/A
168	A8	¨	¨	Spacing diaeresis - umlaut	N/A
169	A9	©	©	Copyright sign	N/A
170	AA	ª	ª	Feminine ordinal indicator	N/A
171	AB	«	«	Left double angle quotes	N/A
172	AC	¬	¬	Not sign	N/A
173	AD			Soft hyphen	N/A
174	AE	®	®	Registered trade mark sign	N/A
175	AF	¯	¯	Spacing macron - overline	N/A
176	B0	°	°	Degree sign	N/A
177	B1	±	±	Plus-or-minus sign	N/A
178	B2	²	²	Superscript two - squared	N/A
179	B3	³	³	Superscript three - cubed	N/A
180	B4	´	´	Acute accent - spacing acute	N/A
181	B5	µ	µ	Micro sign	N/A
182	B6	¶	¶	Pilcrow sign - paragraph sign	N/A
183	B7	·	·	Middle dot - Georgian comma	N/A
184	B8	¸	¸	Spacing cedilla	N/A
185	B9	¹	¹	Superscript one	N/A
186	BA	º	º	Masculine ordinal indicator	N/A
187	BB	»	»	Right double angle quotes	N/A
188	BC	¼	¼	Fraction one quarter	N/A
189	BD	½	½	Fraction one half	N/A
190	BE	¾	¾	Fraction three quarters	N/A
191	BF	¿	¿	Inverted question mark	N/A
192	C0	À	À	Latin capital letter A with grave	N/A
193	C1	Á	Á	Latin capital letter A with acute	N/A
194	C2	Â	Â	Latin capital letter A with circumflex	N/A
195	C3	Ã	Ã	Latin capital letter A with tilde	N/A
196	C4	Ä	Ä	Latin capital letter A with diaeresis	N/A
197	C5	Å	Å	Latin capital letter A with ring above	N/A
198	C6	Æ	Æ	Latin capital letter AE	N/A
199	C7	Ç	Ç	Latin capital letter C with cedilla	N/A
200	C8	È	È	Latin capital letter E with grave	N/A
201	C9	É	É	Latin capital letter E with acute	N/A
202	CA	Ê	Ê	Latin capital letter E with circumflex	N/A
203	CB	Ë	Ë	Latin capital letter E with diaeresis	N/A
204	CC	Ì	Ì	Latin capital letter I with grave	N/A
205	CD	Í	Í	Latin capital letter I with acute	N/A
206	CE	Î	Î	Latin capital letter I with circumflex	N/A
207	CF	Ï	Ï	Latin capital letter I with diaeresis	N/A
208	D0	Ð	Ð	Latin capital letter ETH	N/A
209	D1	Ñ	Ñ	Latin capital letter N with tilde	N/A
210	D2	Ò	Ò	Latin capital letter O with grave	N/A
211	D3	Ó	Ó	Latin capital letter O with acute	N/A
212	D4	Ô	Ô	Latin capital letter O with circumflex	N/A
213	D5	Õ	Õ	Latin capital letter O with tilde	N/A
214	D6	Ö	Ö	Latin capital letter O with diaeresis	N/A
215	D7	×	×	Multiplication sign	N/A
216	D8	Ø	Ø	Latin capital letter O with slash	N/A
217	D9	Ù	Ù	Latin capital letter U with grave	N/A
218	DA	Ú	Ú	Latin capital letter U with acute	N/A
219	DB	Û	Û	Latin capital letter U with circumflex	N/A
220	DC	Ü	Ü	Latin capital letter U with diaeresis	N/A
221	DD	Ý	Ý	Latin capital letter Y with acute	N/A
222	DE	Þ	Þ	Latin capital letter THORN	N/A
223	DF	ß	ß	Latin small letter sharp s - ess-zed	N/A
224	E0	à	à	Latin small letter a with grave	N/A
225	E1	á	á	Latin small letter a with acute	N/A
226	E2	â	â	Latin small letter a with circumflex	N/A
227	E3	ã	ã	Latin small letter a with tilde	N/A
228	E4	ä	ä	Latin small letter a with diaeresis	N/A
229	E5	å	å	Latin small letter a with ring above	N/A
230	E6	æ	æ	Latin small letter ae	N/A
231	E7	ç	ç	Latin small letter c with cedilla	N/A
232	E8	è	è	Latin small letter e with grave	N/A
233	E9	é	é	Latin small letter e with acute	N/A
234	EA	ê	ê	Latin small letter e with circumflex	N/A
235	EB	ë	ë	Latin small letter e with diaeresis	N/A
236	EC	ì	ì	Latin small letter i with grave	N/A
237	ED	í	í	Latin small letter i with acute	N/A
238	EE	î	î	Latin small letter i with circumflex	N/A
239	EF	ï	ï	Latin small letter i with diaeresis	N/A
240	F0	ð	ð	Latin small letter eth	N/A
241	F1	ñ	ñ	Latin small letter n with tilde	N/A
242	F2	ò	ò	Latin small letter o with grave	N/A
243	F3	ó	ó	Latin small letter o with acute	N/A
244	F4	ô	ô	Latin small letter o with circumflex	N/A
245	F5	õ	õ	Latin small letter o with tilde	N/A
246	F6	ö	ö	Latin small letter o with diaeresis	N/A
247	F7	÷	÷	Division sign	N/A
248	F8	ø	ø	Latin small letter o with slash	N/A
249	F9	ù	ù	Latin small letter u with grave	N/A
250	FA	ú	ú	Latin small letter u with acute	N/A
251	FB	û	û	Latin small letter u with circumflex	N/A
252	FC	ü	ü	Latin small letter u with diaeresis	N/A
253	FD	ý	ý	Latin small letter y with acute	N/A
254	FE	þ	þ	Latin small letter thorn	N/A
255	FF	ÿ	ÿ	Latin small letter y with diaeresis	N/A

Reserved Characters

The LaTeX reserved ASCII characters are ~~# $ % & { } \ _ | ^ ~~~. An ASCII space, ~~' '~~ is used as a delimiter in LaTeX, while the space gap is controlled by LaTeX engine. An escaped code ~~'\ '~~ is used to create an ordinary interword space.

Code

\documentclass[border=10pt,varwidth]{standalone}
\begin{document}
\#\$\%\&\{\}\textbackslash\_\textbar\textasciicircum\textasciitilde\\
\# \$ \% \& \{ \} \textbackslash \_ \textbar \textasciicircum \textasciitilde\\
\#\ \$\ \%\ \&\ \{\ \}\ \textbackslash\ \_\ \textbar\ \textasciicircum\ \textasciitilde
\end{document}

Output

Supported ASCII Characters

The LateX supported characters are ~~ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz 0123456789 `-=[];',./!@*()+:" ?<>~~

Code

\documentclass[border=10pt,varwidth]{standalone}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
 \textvisiblespace\ ! " ' ( ) * + , - . / 
 
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 
 
 : ; < = > ? @ 
 
 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 
 
 [ ] ` 
 
 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
\end{document}

Output

Escaped Codes

Reserved Letters

The escaped code for reserved text letters ~~' #$%&\^_{|}~'~~ are Escaped CodeText Mode CharMath Mode Char \ \### \$$$ \%%% \&&& \textbackslash\ \backslash \ \textasciicircum^ \hat{} ^ \___ \{{{ \textbar| \vert | \}}} \textasciitilde~ \tilde() ~

Code

\documentclass[border=10pt,varwidth]{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{p{0.22\textwidth}p{.15\textwidth}p{.15\textwidth}}
\LaTeX\ command & text mode & math mode\\\hline
H\textbackslash\ H&H\ H&$H\ H$\\\hline
\textbackslash\# & \#&$\#$\\\hline
\textbackslash\$ & \$&$\$$\\\hline
\textbackslash\% & \%&$\%$\\\hline
\textbackslash\& & \&&$\&$\\\hline
\textbackslash textbackslash & \textbackslash\\
\textbackslash backslash & &$\backslash$\\\hline
\textbackslash textasciicircum  & \textasciicircum \\
\textbackslash hat\{\} & &$\hat{}$\\\hline
\textbackslash\_ & \_&$\_$\\\hline
\textbackslash\{ & \{&$\{$\\\hline
\textbackslash textbar & \textbar \\
\textbackslash vert & &$\vert$\\\hline
\textbackslash\} & \}&$\}$\\\hline
\textbackslash textasciitilde & \textasciitilde\\
\textbackslash tilde\{\} & &$\tilde{}$\\\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}

Content

LaTeX \ Commands

ASCII Characters

Reserved Characters

Code

Output

Supported ASCII Characters

Code

Output

Escaped Codes

Reserved Letters

Code

Output

Source and Reference