{symbols} is about specific non-alphabetic symbols or math symbols, e.g., about looking-up, constructing, or using symbols. For questions about {fonts} or alphabetic {characters} use the respective tag instead.
227
votes
9answers
235k views
How does one insert a backslash or a tilde (~) into LaTeX?
How does one insert a "\" (backslash) into the text of a LaTeX document?
And how does one insert a "~" (tilde)? (If you insert \~, it will give you a tilde as an accent over the following letter.)
...
168
votes
9answers
16k views
How to look up a symbol or identify a math alphabet?
I know what my symbol or character looks like, but I don't know what the command is or which math alphabet it came from. How do I go about finding this out?
86
votes
4answers
3k views
What is the use of percent signs (%) at the end of lines?
I see that the code in many packages and examples contains percent signs % at the end of (many) lines. What are they used for? Do they affect the parsing of those lines?
66
votes
6answers
5k views
Prettiest way to typeset “C++” (cplusplus)?
Writing "C++" in plain text results in an ugly setting, as the '+' signs are too big and too spaced:
I've seen around the web several marcos for typesetting the "C++" symbol, ranging from mild ...
53
votes
8answers
7k views
How to typeset $:=$ correctly?
I like to use $:=$ for "is defined to be equal to", but this is never typeset with the symmetry one would like, as the colon is always too low relatively to the equals sign. Is there any way of ...
50
votes
4answers
54k views
Why do the less than symbol (<) and the greater than symbol (>) appear wrong as upside down exclamation (¡) or question mark (¿)?
When typing < or > in LaTeX and compiling with pdflatex, the less than and greater than symbols appear at upside down exclamation points. I'm not in math mode.
49
votes
10answers
15k views
Good way to make \textcircled numbers?
I'm trying to make some good-looking numbers in a circle, using the simple command:
\textcircled{1}
However, the circle is misaligned vertically with the number, and look a bit sloppy:
Any ...
46
votes
4answers
11k views
Correctly typesetting a tilde
How do I set the tilde (~) character correctly in LaTeX?
There’s a question discussing that on Stack Overflow, with a lot of answers. But dare I say it? They all suck:
\textasciitilde is too high,
...
45
votes
2answers
3k views
How to get rid of navigation symbols in beamer?
When creating presentations in beamer, those little symbols that you can click on and will take you to different parts of your presentation are automatically included on your slides.
I don't like ...
43
votes
6answers
35k views
How can I get bold math symbols?
To make Latin-letter variables bold I can use e.g. \mathbf{a}, but while putting Greek letters or symbols such as \nabla inside \mathbf doesn't cause any errors or warnings, it also doesn't do ...
41
votes
4answers
13k views
\mid, | (vertical bar), \vert, \lvert, \rvert, \divides
What's the difference between the different vertical bars?
$S = \{\, x \mid x \not= 17 \,\}$
$a \vert b$ implies $a \leq b$ when $b \ne 0$
$a|b$ implies $a \leq b$ when $b \ne 0$
$\lvert x \rvert$ is ...
39
votes
7answers
16k views
What's the best way to write e-mail addresses?
When trying to write an e-mail address, there are always problems with the @ sign.
Solutions I've seen suggested are using some verbatim environment (more difficult in footnotes) and using a ...
39
votes
2answers
31k views
Absolute Value Symbols
What is the "best LaTeX practices" for writing absolute value symbols? Are there any packages which provide good methods?
Some options include |x| and \mid x \mid, but I'm not sure which is best...
37
votes
5answers
13k views
Symbols instead of numbers as footnote markers
How can I make LaTeX use symbols (*, †, ‡, and so on) instead of numbers to mark footnotes? (The numbers are confusing because I use superscripted numbers for citations.)
35
votes
2answers
23k views
'Floor' and 'ceiling' functions
Is there a convenient way to typeset the floor or ceiling of a number, without needing to separately code the left and right parts? For example, is there some way to do $\ceil{x}$ instead of $\lceil ...
34
votes
3answers
2k views
How to create Candle Symbol in LaTeX
I have a need to insert a candle symbol in "elite" in the place of "i".
I browsed through the comprehensive LaTeX symbols pdf and could not find any one matching up.
Is there any easy way to achieve ...
34
votes
2answers
2k views
Importing a Single Symbol From a Different Font
Is there a general way to change the font of a particular symbol without switching packages?
For example, suppose I'm using Computer Modern for my entire document, but I want the "subset" operator to ...
34
votes
2answers
4k views
“Closed” (square) root symbol
I found a cool trick in the LaTeX wikibook which allows the square root sign to be altered such that it "closes" over its contents.
Here's an example:
("closed" root on the left, normal one on the ...
33
votes
7answers
18k views
What is the best symbol for vector/matrix transpose?
What is the best or most popular symbol for vector/matrix transpose? I have used simply ^T, for example $c^T x$. I think it is ugly, mainly because it is a little too big compared with vector ...
30
votes
5answers
3k views
Something between \frownie and \smiley
Inside a beamer presentation, I would like to compare and contrast several alternatives. For each, I would like to highlight the "pros" (with a \item[\Large\smiley]), the "cons" (with a ...
29
votes
3answers
670 views
New relation symbol
I am defining a new relation in one of my new papers. I want to use the following symbol, because it conveys the meaning of my relation. Is there such a symbol in LaTex ? It is very similar to \leq ...
28
votes
5answers
868 views
How to make a plus sign with arrowheads on each of the four endpoints?
There is a common operation in the sparse-direct literature (see pg. 7) called an "extend-add", and it is usually denoted with a particular symbol that looks like a large plus sign with arrowheads on ...
28
votes
3answers
12k views
How to type special/accented letters in LaTeX?
How to type these special letters from European languages in latex?
ä, é, and L'?
28
votes
3answers
2k views
\subseteq + \circ as a single symbol (“open subset”)
I'm trying to create symbols \opn for "open subset" and \cls "closed subset". I want them to look like this:
My current solution is:
...
27
votes
2answers
17k views
What is the LaTeX command for “em dash” (—)?
I am trying to insert the symbol in the title of the question, which I copied from a PDF article, but it appears as space in the output file. What is the corresponding LaTeX command?
27
votes
4answers
34k views
“inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8” error while trying to write a degree symbol (invisible character)
No matter how I try to do it I always get the following error :
! Package inputenc Error: Unicode char \u8: not set up for use with LaTeX.
I have tried using $^{\circ}$, \deg, \textdegree, ...
26
votes
1answer
771 views
A font to typeset proofreader's marks in LaTeX?
I always overlook mistakes when I proofread documents on screen. When I proofread a printed paper I can find much more mistakes and mark them with the defined proofreader's marks – for German ...
25
votes
5answers
6k views
What's a good way to write “x does not divide y”?
The way I currently do it is $x \not | y$, which looks awful. There's got to be something better available.
25
votes
5answers
966 views
Censoring Curse Words with Grawlixes
Suppose that I would like to censor a curse word <word> using grawlixes, e.g. "What the #@$! are you doing?!" How can I define a command \censor such that \censor{<word>} results in a ...
25
votes
3answers
1k views
Best way to insert a horizontal cut line with a scissor symbol
What's the best way to insert a horizonal dashed line with a scissor symbol to indicate that the paper should be cut with a scissor along this line?
If you have multiple layout alternatives without ...
25
votes
4answers
3k views
Free ornaments font
I'm looking for a free ornaments font. I know about webomint and pifont. Where can I find more glyphs?
24
votes
2answers
1k views
“+” sign in international phone numbers
I want a smaller "+" sign in international phone numbers. For example if I write
+1-123-456-7890
it gives
where "-" signs are all okay (not pretty though), but the "+" sign looks too big. How ...
24
votes
2answers
23k views
Command for argmin or argmax?
How can you get the argmin or argmax in Latex? Two solutions I found are:
\underset{x}{\operatorname{argmax}}
\DeclareMathOperator*{\argmin}{arg\,min}
Any other ideas?
[1] ...
24
votes
1answer
299 views
Wrote a new package. Is there some standard place to share?
So I finished writing my package for typesetting Begriffsschrift. I think it marks a marked improvement over the package begriff, which is the only other package for the same purpose, that I can find ...
23
votes
3answers
668 views
Reproducing an analog clock similar to the one provided by the ifsym package
Friends, I was browsing The Comprehensive LATEX Symbol List looking for a simple analog clock in which I could use in a pamphlet. At some moment, I found an interesting entry (page 91):
I tried to ...
23
votes
1answer
12k views
X mark to match checkmark
I am looking to have an X mark that compliments the \checkmark symbol in the amsmath package. I've had a look at some in symbols-a4.pdf but can't seem to find the matching one! What symbol works well?
...
23
votes
3answers
2k views
Why isn't \prime automatically set to be a superscript?
In math mode, writing \prime gives too big a "prime" symbol, and it isn't a superscript, like it always is in textbooks. Why is this?
This isn't a question about how to get \prime to be a ...
23
votes
4answers
23k views
How to escape the & (ampersand) character in BibTeX?
I would like to put a & character in a BibTeX publisher tag. Thus far I have tried:
\&
{&}
{\&}
"&"
with the full value enclosed in curly braces and double quotes. No matter ...
23
votes
2answers
15k views
Which dot character to use in which context?
Wikipedia lists several dot characters in Unicode. These are the ones that are ambiguous to me:
interpunct, middle dot (·) · · U+00B7 "midpoint (in typography)"
...
22
votes
3answers
12k views
Symbol for Phone Number in Resume
I've chosen to create my resume in LaTeX ( out of curiosity ).
I thought printing a "clean" symbol of a phone before my phone_no will look nice ...
Is there such a symbol? any packages?
22
votes
3answers
1k views
How to get a good “divisible by” symbol?
In addition to the "divides" relation, denoted b | a, there is also a "divisible by" relation expressing the converse (a is divisible by b), often designated with three vertical dots.
Up until now, ...
22
votes
1answer
716 views
Symbol for cube
I've searched the Internet, but got nothing. In LaTeX, we can use \square for square, but how can we get a cube, I want to use it in an equation. Here is the picture:
22
votes
1answer
363 views
is there a “size-independent” method for overlaying two symbols to form a composite?
in this question
a composite symbol "diamond plus" is requested for use with plain TeX.
a good-looking version was provided, but it works in only one size.
if the same symbol is needed for a title or ...
21
votes
4answers
2k views
How to typeset special Apple Mac keyboard symbols?
Is there a standard way to typeset the special symbols of the Apple Mac keyboard? That is, the curly rectangle ⌘ and the others?
If there is none, what would you suggest as workarounds?
21
votes
4answers
2k views
Symbol for “care of” (c/o)
Is there a c/o symbol in LaTex for writing an address? I have looked in the Comprehensive latex symbol list but couldn't find one.
21
votes
4answers
12k views
Typesetting the “define equals” symbol
I'd like to typeset two compound symbols for making definitions. The following
\newcommand{\defeq}{\mathrel{\mathop:}=}
\newcommand{\eqdef}{\mathrel{\mathop=}:}
are suggested by the CTAN symbol ...
21
votes
4answers
13k views
How to insert pipe symbol in (La)TeX?
How to insert pipe symbol | in TeX (LaTeX)?
I have tried this sample with pdflatex tmp.tex
\documentclass{extarticle}
\begin{document}
\textpipe
\end{document}
And it give undefined control ...
20
votes
6answers
4k views
How to make the correct hash-symbol in C Sharp (C#)
I want to make C# look nice in my book, but with the following:
C\# it looks like this:
When it should look more like this:
For the second one, I used verbatim, but I don't want that and I've ...
20
votes
4answers
552 views
How to turn a figure into a symbol?
I have some figures, for e.g., finite graphs, lattices or knots, that I have drawn in eps (or pdf) format. I would ideally love to have maps indexed by these figures. However, these figures are not ...
20
votes
3answers
4k views
Smileys in LaTeX
I would like to include smileys in my LaTeX document. Is there any package with lots of different smileys?
In mnsymbol and wasysym, I found some general symbols:
\documentclass{article}
...
