# alternative LaTeX-code for round parenthesis ( )

For square brackets one can use \lbrack \rbrack instead of [ ] Is there also an alternative LaTeX command to get normal parentheses (i.e. round brackets) instead of ( and ).

Is there a better / more complete overview than: https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Brackets_and_Parentheses

• Not by default; \lbrack and \rbrack exist because in the olden times keyboards might lack [ and ]. In LaTeX they can also be used for avoiding confusion with optional arguments. There is no such case for ( and ). Feb 13 '20 at 23:32
• The mathtools package provides the macros \lparen and \rparen, which evaluate to ( and ), respectively. These macros are discussed in section 3.7.1 of the package's user guide. (Type texdoc mathtools at a command prompt in order to view the user guide in a pdf viewer.)
– Mico
Feb 14 '20 at 0:06
• Mico's comment should be turned into the answer to the question, it is correct. My use case for this is that I have my editor (TextMate) set up to recognise both parentheses and curly braces as forming groups - helps a lot with making sure there is the right number of them - but this leads to disaster when parentheses are not matched within braces or vice versa.
– Cian
Mar 12 '20 at 23:26

Here's an excerpt from the user guide you reference in your query:

I guess you're asking if there are macros for the opening "fences" (, [, \{ etc as well as for their closing counterparts. The answer is "yes":

A big advantage in writing \lvert or \rvert instead of |, and \lVert and \rVert instead of just \|, is as follows: | and \| have math status "ord", whereas the others have status "math-open" and "math-close", respectively. This can be very useful at times.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{mathtools}
\begin{document}
$\lparen\ \lbrack\ \lbrace\ \langle\ \lvert\ \lVert$ \quad
$\rparen\ \rbrack\ \rbrace\ \rangle\ \rvert\ \rVert$
\end{document}

• There are more e.g. \lfloor, \lrloor, \lceil and \rceil Feb 14 '20 at 0:27
• @Jakob - You're absolutely correct. My answer focused just on the symbols shown in the table of the reference guide you noted in your query.
– Mico
Feb 14 '20 at 0:28