# How to typeset subscript in usual text mode?

It's easy to make subscripts in math mode: $a_i$.

How do I make a subscript outside math environment, likethis?

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Note that \textsubscript enters math mode as well. This might produce problems in PDF strings where math is not allowed, for instance in bookmarks. If you used hyperref and simply used \textsubscript in a section heading, hyperref would complain about the math shift. The command \texorpdfstring comes to the rescue:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fixltx2e}
\usepackage{hyperref}
\begin{document}
\section{\texorpdfstring{like\textsubscript{this}}{like this}}
\end{document}


That applies to math and math symbols in sectioning headings of course as well.

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Useful to know! NB: just to be clear, the \texorpdfstring command is in the hyperref package. Would any other package have problems with this? – Andrew Stacey Aug 4 '10 at 14:12
pdftex could have problems. Try \pdfoutline goto page 1 {/Fit} count 0 {like\textsubscript{this}} and have a look at the bookmark. – Stefan Kottwitz Aug 4 '10 at 14:31
this is a neat trick ! I've had problems with math in section headers before. – Suresh Aug 4 '10 at 17:40

This is included in the fixltx2e package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fixltx2e}

\begin{document}
like\textsubscript{this}
\end{document}


Interestingly (?), there's a \textsuperscript command already in LaTeX.

This is included already in the KOMA-Script bundle. If you want to typeset chemical formulas, have a look at the mchem package.

(Thanks to Caramdir for those last two.)

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In @StefanKottwitz 's answer, he has used the same fixltx2e package. But he's also used the hyperref package. Is there a redundancy somewhere or am I missing something? – Shashank Sawant Oct 15 '12 at 17:42
@ShashankSawant Stefan's answer is: "if you use hyperref then you might want to do it like ..." So if you are already using hyperref and you want the subscript in headers, use his solution. Otherwise, this one ought to work. – Andrew Stacey Oct 15 '12 at 19:17

In ConTeXt, you can write

like\low{this}

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Since I've always been bugged by the fact that LaTeX's sscripts need math mode (setting normal text inside math mode have issues with LuaTeX's directionality), motivated by this question, I "stole" the subscript/superscript code from ConTeXt which is set entirely in text mode, with quick hacks to get it work with plain TeX (needs pdftex/luatex though), it is here for now, if there is interest may be it can be turned into some package.

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As a bonus, it also provides a command, \lohi, to set sub and superscripts simultaneously. – Khaled Hosny Sep 3 '10 at 12:56

If you don't want to use additional packages you can use the following syntax:
like $_{\text{this}}$.

Alternatively, you can define a command \textunderscript in the beginning of your document:

\newcommand{\textunderscript}[1]{$_{\text{#1}}$}

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 \text needs the amstext package: perhaps you are thinking of \textup? – Joseph Wright♦ Aug 4 '10 at 14:06 Yes, for \text you need one of ams packages (amsmath is enough), but I don't carry about that because I use amsmath in virtually all my latex documents. – fiktor Aug 4 '10 at 20:40 Something funny's happened to all the HTML entities in your answer! – Andrew Stacey Aug 4 '10 at 20:52 2Andrew: Thank you. Now they're right – fiktor Aug 4 '10 at 22:14 Or you could use \mathrm{}, or even nothing... It's so tiny no-one will notice... =P – daviewales May 15 at 23:21

If you use the $\text{}$ version and you have selected a different font (other than roman serif) then $\textnormal{}$ matches the font of the document. If you are using the default fonts, \text{} will work great.

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LaTeX provides \raisebox{<len>}{<stuff>} (based on TeX's \raise) which raises (and boxes) <stuff> by <len>. A negative <len> drops the contents:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
It's easy to make subscripts in math mode: $a_i$.

How do I make a subscript outside math environment,
like\raisebox{-.4ex}{\scriptsize this}?
\end{document}​

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