LaTeX Basics

Table of Contents

• What is LaTeX?

• Brief Introduction to LaTeX
  • Input Files
    • Spaces in LaTeX
    • Special Characters
    • Commands
    • Comments
  • Input File Structure
  • Compiling LaTeX Files
  • Document Layout
    • Document Classes
    • Packages
    • Page Styles
  • Basic LaTeX Tutorial
    • Getting the Source
    • Create Your LaTeX File
      • Create a title page
      • Creating a table of contents using section and subsection commands
      • Creating a table

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  What is LaTeX

  TeX is a program written by Donald E. Knuth. It was written to do typesetting text and mathematical formulas. He started writing it in 1977 to make use of digital printing equipment. He felt that typographical quality was deteriorating and his own articles and books were suffering.
  

  TeX is pronounced "Tech" with a hard "ch" as in Technology.

  Authors gave their typed manuscripts to a publisher. One of the publishers' book designers then decided the layout of the document. The designer writes his instructions in the manuscript and gives it to the typesetter and the typesetter sets the book according to these instructions.

  LaTeX takes the role of the designer and uses TeX as its typesetter. However, since LaTeX is a program the author has to give it more guidance. The author has to provide additional information describing the the logical structure of his work. These are the LaTeX commands that are written into the file.

  When using LaTeX it is not normally possible to see the final output while typing the text but the final output can be previewed on screen after processing the file with LaTeX.

  LaTeX is not a word processor. A LaTeX file is a text file that is readable to the human eye. You can create it with any editor. It contains the text of the document and the the commands that LaTeX how to typeset the text.

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  A Brief Introduction to LaTeX

  To use LaTeX you create a text file with any editor and write a text file with all information necessary. You add the LaTeX commands as you type the text.

  • Spaces in LaTeX

    • Whitespace characters such as blank or tab are treated uniformly as space by LaTeX. Several consecutive whitespace characters are treated as one space. A whitespace at the start of a line is ignored and a single line break is treated as whitespace.
      
      
    • An empty line between two lines of text defines the end of a paragraph. Several empty lines are treated the same as one empty line. Several empty lines are the same as one empty line.

  • Special Characters

    LaTeX has several special characters that don't print out. They are:
    
    • # $ % - & _ { } ! \
      
    • If you want these characters printed in your document you have to preface each of them with a backslash:
      
    • \# \$ \% \^ \& \_ ...
    • The backslash character can not be printed by adding another backslash as that is a special character used for line breaking.

    
    

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  • Commands

    LaTeX commands are case sensitive and take one of the following formats:
    • They either start with a backslash and have a name of letters only. They are terminated by a space a number or any other non-letter.
    • The consist of a backslash and exactly one non-letter.
    • LaTeX ignores whitespace after commands. To put a space after a command you have to put either {} and a blank or a special spacing command after the command name.
    • some commands need a parameter after the command name. Some support optional parameters which are added in square brackets.
    • Example: You can \textal{lean} on me! gives "You can lean on me!"
      

  • Comments

    A comment is a line or part of a line that tells why something is done.
    • A % character signifies a comment.
    • Everything after the % is ignored. The rest of the line, the line break, and all whitespace at the beginning of the next line.
    • It, % is also used to split long input lines where no whitespace or line breaks are allowed.
  • It, % is also used to split long input lines where no whitespace or line breaks are allowed.
  
  

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  Input File Structure

  LaTeX expects a certain structure in every input file.
  • Every input file must begin with \documentclass{...}
    
    • This specifies what sort of document you intend to write.
    • Then you can include commands that influence the style
    • Or you can load packages adding new features to the system.
      \usepackage{...}
  • Next you start the body of the text with the command:
    \begin{document}
  • After you enter your text and other LaTeX commands you close the document
    with \end{document} anything after this will be ignored.
  
  

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  Compiling a LaTeX Input File

  On a text based system:
  
  • Edit/Create your LaTeX input file. Must be plain ASCII text. Must have the file extension .tex
  • Run LaTeX on your input file. If this is successful you get a .dvi file. It may be necessary to compile it several times to get things correct.
  • After which you use your dvipdfm to create a pdf file to view. (Or you can use dvips.)
  
  

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  Document Layout

  Document Classes

  The type of document the author wants typeset is specified with the \documentclass command.
  • \documentclass[options]{class}
  • class specifies the type of document to be created
  • options customizes the behavior of the document class. Options must be separated by commas.
  • Example: \documentclass[11pt,twoside,a4paper]{article}
    This instructs LaTeX to typset the document as an article with a base font size of elven points and to produce a layout suitable for printing double sided on A4 paper.
  • Document classes listed:
    • article for journals, presentations, reports, etc.
    • report for longer reports, small books, PhD theses, etc.
    • book for real books
    • slides for slides
  
  

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  Packages

  There may be some areas where basic LaTeX doesn't solve the problem. Packages enhance the usability of LaTeX.
  • \usepackage [options]{package}
    • packages distributed with Latex
    • doc documentation of LaTeX programs.
    • exscaleexscale - scaled versions of the math extension font
    • fontenc specifies which font encoding to be used
    • ifthenprovides commands of the form: if ... then do ... otherwise do ...
    • latexsym used to access the LaTeX symbol font
    • makeidx to produce indexes
    • syntonly process a document without typesetting it
    • inputenc allows the specification of an input encoding such as ASCII, ISO Latin-1, etc.

  Page Styles

  Supports three predefined header/footer combinations for page styles.
  • \pagestyle{style}
  • To change the style of just one page use \thispagestyle{style}
  
  

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  Basic LaTeX Tutorial

  Getting the Source

  To get the source code do the following:
  

  • The link below will allow you to download the source file. Hold your control key down and then click on the link:
    
    linux.txt

    
    

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    Create your LaTeX File

    To create your latex file
    
    • First copy the linux.txt to a file named linux.tex by the following:
      

      cp linux.txt linux.tex

    • Next open the file linux.tex in the vim editor: (You can use MS Word or TextEdit to make things easier)
      

      vim linux.tex

    • Now we will create a basic LaTeX document based on the article document class:
      • With the cursor at the opening line insert the LaTeX command at the top of the page: (If you are not using vim ignore the vim commands.)
        
        • Type an upper case 'O':
          

          Shift 'o'

        • Type:
          

          \documentclass[letterpaper, 11pt]{article}

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

        
        

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      • Creating the Title
      • Add the comment saying we will define the title of the article:
        
        • With the cursor on the backslash in the command just written:
          
        • Type an upper case 'O':


          Shift 'o'
%define the title

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

      • Set the author for the title:
        • With the cursor on the line just typed:
          
        • Type an lower case 'o' to open a line below the current line
          

          o

        • Now you are insert mode on a blank line so type:
          

          \author{YOUR NAME HERE}

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

      • Set the title of the article
        • With the cursor on the 'I' of the line containing "Introduction to Linux:
        • Type an
          

          'i'

          to start typing before the 'I' and type:
          

          \title{

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

        • While in command mode type the:
          

          $

          this takes you to the end of the current line.
        • Type the:

          'a'

          key to start typing after the 'x' in Linux
          
        • and then type:
          

          }

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

        • Let's save our document - just to prove we can
        • Type
          

          :w

        • The colon, ':', tells vim that a command follows, the 'w' says write the file out.
      • Begin the document itself
        • With the cursor on the line just typed:
        • Type an lower case 'o' to open a line below the current line

        • o

        • Hit return to leave one blank line
        • Now you are insert mode on a blank line so type:
          

          \begin{document}

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

      • Actually generate the title:
        • With the cursor on the line just typed:
        • Type an lower case 'o' to open a line below the current line

        • o

        • Now you are insert mode on a blank line so type:
          

          % generates the title

        • remember, this puts a comment in the document
        • Hit return to go to the next line and type:
          

          \maketitle

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

      • Insert the title commands:
        • With the cursor on the line just typed:
        • Type an lower case 'o' to open a line below the current line

        • o

        • Now you are insert mode on a blank line so type:
          

          \maketitle

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

      • Tell LaTeX we are at the first section of the document:
        • With the cursor on the first column of the line "What is Linux?":
        • Type an 'i' to insert before the 'W' :

        • i

        • and then type:

          \section{

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

        • Type the dollar sign:

        • $

        • to go to the end of the line
        • Type an 'a' to add to the right of the character the cursor is on:

        • a

        • and type:

        • }

        • Hit the "Escape" key (esc) to go into command mode

      • Create a subsection under the "What is Linux?" section
        • With the cursor on the first column of the line "Operating System" make this line into a subsection command using the command:
          

        • \subsection{}

        • the words "Operating System should be inside the curly braces "{Operating System}"
      • To create a pdf version of this document:

        • tex linux.tex

        • This creates a linux.dvi file and a linux.log file

        • dvipdfm linux1.dvi linux1

        • This creates the pdf. Sometimes you have to tex file name several times.
        
        

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      • To create a Table of Contents:
        • At the location you want the Table of Contents to show up in the document type:

        • %insert the table of contents

        • \tableofcontents

        • This will generate a table of contents using the section and subsection markers we put in earlier.

      • Tables:

        To create a table in the document search for the word "Equivalent". When you are at that table we will add the following commands:

        • \begin{tabular}{|l|l|l|}

        • \hline Command & Description & DOS/Windows Equivalent\\\hline

        • awk & File processing and report generating & N/A\\

        • \hline

        • \hline

        • cd & Change directory & cd or double-clicking a folder\\

        • \hline

        • cp & Copy a file & copy or dragging a file\\

        • \hline

        • file & Determine file type & file extension or right-click properties\\

        • \hline

        • find & Find a file & Windows Explorer Find\\

        • \hline

        • grep & Find lines in a file & N/A\\

        • \hline

        • ln & Link a file to another file & Create Shortcut\\

        • \hline

        • \tabular

        A totally non-Unix related table just for practice:
        • You use the \begin{tabular} [pos] {table spec} command.
        • \begin{tabular} is of course your LaTeX command.
          • Type:

          • \begin{tabular}{|r|l|}

          • This defines a table with two columns, the first right justified and the second left justified.

          • \hline

          • This gives us the horizontal line.

          • 750.00 & Rent \\

          • The above lines gives the contents of column 1 and colum 2. The "&" separates the two columns and the "\\" says end of line.

          • 250.00 & Car Note \\

          • 300.00 & Food \\

          • \hline \hline

          • The above gives us two lines horizontal lines (one under the other). There is also a "\cline" option to put a line under a specific column.

          • 1300 & Total\\

          • \hline

          • \end{tabular}

      • To create a list of tables:
        • In the location in the document you want the list of tables to appear type:

          • %insert the list of tables

          • \listoftables

          • As a point of interest you can insert a list of figures in the same manner using \listoffigures

        • To create footnotes use the following:

          • \footnote{ITS HPC and USS created this document.}

          • in the Thanks sub-section of the document.
        • To create bibliography items use the following at the point in the text you need to generate an entry in the bibliography:

          • ~\cite{pa}

          • The above is typed in at every spot you need to cite a reference in the bibliography.
          • Then at the end of the document (or wherever you want your references to be printed) you will type:

          • \begin{thebibliography}{15}\bibitem{pa} ~Linus Torvalds: The Story of Linus Torvalds (1988) \end{thebibliography}

          • NOTE: The {15} in the begin command says leave room for up to 15 entries in the bibliography.
          • To build a reference database that you can pull from one of many packages available to use with TeX and LaTeX is BibTeX.

        • To create an Index;
          • First you will place in the preamble (the part of the document between \documentclass and \begin{document}) the commands:

          • \usepackage{makeidx}

          • \makeindex

          • Then as you are typing in your document you will use the \index{key} command.

          • \index{word,format}

          • See the lshort.pdf for a definition of formats that can be specified.
          • This is the easy part. When you finish your document you have to:
            1. Compile the document twice.

            2. latex linux

            3. latex linux

            4. Then use the makeindex package:

            5. makeindex linux

            6. Now compile the document again:

            7. latex linux

            8. dvipdfm linux1.dvi

          • Nifty!

        • To see my linux.tex document follow this link.
        • To see my linux.pdfdocument follow this link.
        • To see my starting doc linux.txt follow this link.
        • To get the document I started learning with lshort.pdf.
          Links of interest for LaTeX
          • LaTeX Primer
          • LaTeX Tutorial - Cornell
          • Mac OS X TexShop
          • Creating an index using LaTeX
          • Useful LaTeX tricks
        
        

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        The statements and opinions included in these pages are those of Kathryn R. Traxler only. Any statements and opinions included in these pages are not those of Louisiana State University or the LSU Board of Supervisors.
        © 1998-2004

        Mail to: Kathryn R. Traxler

        This page last updated October 20, 2006