Sans serif old-style numerals?

Question

is it possible to get old-style numerals as sans serif? \oldstylenums is with serifs only as far as I see. Or do I need an additional font? (if yes, which one would be suggested?)

Cheers and thanks, Thomas

Answer 1

If you want to stick with the default TeX font, then you could use cfr-lm. This font isn't exactly Computer Modern, but Latin Modern, a modern clone of CM. The package allows to customize the font loading.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[sf=oldstyle]{cfr-lm}
\begin{document}
\textsf{1234567890}
\end{document}

or you could switch to old style numerals on demand

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{cfr-lm}
\begin{document}
\textsf{\oldstylenums{1234567890}}
\end{document}

In XeLaTeX and LuaLaTeX it is much simpler. fontspec changes the default font to Latin Modern anyways, so it is just a matter of adjusting the features for the Sans font (switching on demand with \oldstylenums works as well).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setsansfont[Numbers=OldStyle]{Latin Modern Sans}
\begin{document}
\textsf{1234567890}
\end{document}

Answer 2

I recommend looking at http://www.tug.dk/FontCatalogue/sansseriffonts.html for more possibilities.

For the following fonts, no fontspec is required, which means they compile in pdflatex.

---

Here is Alegreya Sans.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[sfdefault]{AlegreyaSans} %% Option 'black' gives heavier bold face
%% The 'sfdefault' option to make the base font sans serif
\renewcommand*\oldstylenums[1]{{\AlegreyaSansOsF #1}}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

Carlito:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[sfdefault,lf]{carlito}
%% The 'lf' option for lining figures
%% The 'sfdefault' option to make the base font sans serif
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\renewcommand*\oldstylenums[1]{\carlitoOsF #1}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

Fira Sans:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[sfdefault]{FiraSans} %% option 'sfdefault' activates Fira Sans as the default text font
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\renewcommand*\oldstylenums[1]{{\firaoldstyle #1}}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

GFS Neohellenic:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[default]{gfsneohellenic}
\usepackage[LGR,T1]{fontenc} %% LGR encoding is needed for loading the package gfsneohellenic
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

Iwona:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[math]{iwona}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

Iwona Condensed:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[condensed,math]{iwona}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

Iwona Light:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[light,math]{iwona}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

Iwona Light Condensed:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[light,condensed,math]{iwona}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

KP Sans Serif:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[sfmath]{kpfonts} %% sfmath option only to make math in sans serif. Probablye only for use when base font is sans serif.
\renewcommand*\familydefault{\sfdefault} %% Only if the base font of the document is to be sans serif
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

Kurier:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[math]{kurier}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

Note that Kurier also offers versions in condensed, light, and light condensed (not shown here).

---

Mintspirit (only comes in OSF):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[default]{mintspirit}
\begin{document}
0123456789 %vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

---

Source Sans Pro:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[default]{sourcesanspro}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\begin{document}
0123456789 vs \oldstylenums{0123456789}
\end{document}

Answer 3

There are quite a few Opentype sans-serif font families out there that feature old-style numerals as an option. However, since they are Opentype fonts, you will need to use either XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX to access them.

Not knowing anything about your document, I don't think it's helpful to recommend any particular sans-serif font. The following code shows ten different sans-serif fonts I found on my system that feature old-style numerals.

%% Compile with either XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{fontspec,array}
\defaultfontfeatures{Numbers=OldStyle}
\newcommand{\doline}[1]{\setsansfont{#1}\sffamily#1\quad0123456789\par}
\begin{document}
\doline{Calibri}  
\doline{Calibri Light}
\doline{Latin Modern Sans}
\doline{Linux Biolinum O}
\doline{Myriad Pro} 
\doline{Optima nova LT Pro}
\doline{Palatino Sans Com}
\doline{Skia Regular}
\doline{TeX Gyre Heros}
\doline{Biome Std Semi Bold}
\end{document}