Text symbols

LaTeX provides commands to generate a number of non-letter symbols in running text. Some of these, especially the more obscure ones, are not available in OT1. As of the LaTeX February 2020 release, all symbols are available by default; before that, it was necessary to use the textcomp package for some (technically, those in the TS1 font encoding).

\copyright

\textcopyright

© The copyright symbol.

\dag

† The dagger symbol (in text).

\ddag

‡ The double dagger symbol (in text).

\LaTeX

The LaTeX logo.

\LaTeXe

The LaTeX2e logo.

\guillemotleft («)

\guillemotright (»)

\guilsinglleft (‹)

\guilsinglright (›)

«, », ‹, › Double and single angle quotation marks, commonly used in French.

\ldots

\dots

\textellipsis

… An ellipsis (three dots at the baseline): \ldots and \dots also work in math mode.

\lq

‘ Left (opening) quote.

\P

\textparagraph

¶ Paragraph sign (pilcrow).

\pounds

\textsterling

£ English pounds sterling.

\quotedblbase („)

\quotesinglbase (‚)

„ and ‚ Double and single quotation marks on the baseline.

\rq

’ Right (closing) quote.

\S

\textsection

§ Section sign.

\TeX

The TeX logo.

\textasciicircum

^ ASCII circumflex.

\textasciitilde

~ ASCII tilde.

\textasteriskcentered

* Centered asterisk.

\textbackslash

\ Backslash.

\textbar

| Vertical bar.

\textbardbl

⏸ Double vertical bar.

\textbigcircle

◯, Big circle symbol.

\textbraceleft

{ Left brace.

\textbraceright

} Right brace.

\textbullet

• Bullet.

\textcircled{letter}

Ⓐ, Circle around letter.

\textcompwordmark

\textcapitalcompwordmark

\textascendercompwordmark

Used to separate letters that would normally ligature. For example, f\textcompwordmark i produces ‘fi’ without a ligature. This is most useful in non-English languages. The \textcapitalcompwordmark form has the cap height of the font while the \textascendercompwordmark form has the ascender height.

\textdagger

† Dagger.

\textdaggerdbl

‡ Double dagger.

\textdollar (or \$)

$ Dollar sign.

\textemdash (or ---)

— Em-dash. Used for punctuation, usually similar to commas or parentheses, as in ‘The playoffs---if you're lucky enough to make the playoffs---are more like a sprint.’ Conventions for spacing around em-dashes vary widely.

\textendash (or --)

– En-dash. Used for ranges, as in ‘see pages 12--14’.

\texteuro

The Euro currency symbol: €.

For an alternative glyph design, try the eurosym package; also, most fonts nowadays come with their own Euro symbol (Unicode U+20AC).

\textexclamdown (or !`)

¡ Upside down exclamation point.

\textgreater

> Greater than symbol.

\textless

< Less than symbol.

\textleftarrow

←, Left arrow.

\textordfeminine

\textordmasculine

ª, º Feminine and masculine ordinal symbols.

\textperiodcentered

· Centered period.

\textquestiondown (or ?`)

¿ Upside down question mark.

\textquotedblleft (or ``)

“ Double left quote.

\textquotedblright (or '')

” Double right quote.

\textquoteleft (or `)

‘ Single left quote.

\textquoteright (or ')

’ Single right quote.

\textquotesingle

', Straight single quote. (From TS1 encoding.)

\textquotestraightbase

\textquotestraightdblbase

Single and double straight quotes on the baseline.

\textregistered

® Registered symbol.

\textrightarrow

→, Right arrow.

\textthreequartersemdash

﹘, “Three-quarters” em-dash, between en-dash and em-dash.

\texttrademark

™ Trademark symbol.

\texttwelveudash

﹘, “Two-thirds” em-dash, between en-dash and em-dash.

\textunderscore

_ Underscore.

\textvisiblespace

␣, Visible space symbol.