teTeX A Documentation Guide

This page is an attempt at a guided tour around the huge amount of TeX and LaTeX documentation which comes as part of teTEX, the unix TeX and LaTeX system assembled by Thomas Esser. It is This is a replaced line Refson and all comments, suggestions and flames should be directed to him. Queries about installing and maintaining the teTEX installation itself should be directed to the teTEX mailing list: (See the frequently-asked questions list first. Questions about using LaTeX, TeX etc are best posted to the usenet newsgroup comp.text.tex where they will receive attention from a worldwide readership. This is a replaced line

Much of the documentation is in the form of dvi and PostScript files which should display using xdvi or ghostscript front ends such as gv HREF="http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/ghostview/index.html">ghostview from a properly configured web browser. Alternatively you may the documentation tree which is rooted at $TEXMFMAIN/doc. The command texdoc [package-name] will attempt to display documentation for that package from the shell command line. This is a replaced line

What's New in teTEX 1.0

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Guides to TeX and LaTeX

LaTeX 2.09 is obsolete. If you know LaTeX2.09 read about LaTeX2e vs LaTeX2.09 and why you should switch. There are two manuals describing the LaTeX language itself, which may at a pinch substitute for a book, a concise manual entitled Essential LaTeX an a fuller "not so short" Introduction to LaTeX2e. There is also a full reference manual formatting while writing a document (also available in dvi format) and a table of available mathematical symbols.

Useful information in a questions and answers format is provided by the UK TeX users group Frequently Asked Questions list.

Most LaTeX books refer to a local guide to describe operating-system and implementation-dependent aspects, notably the commands to invoke LaTeX and how to preview and print documents. The document Running LaTeX and utilities on a Unix system (also in PostScript form) is a good introduction to most of these topics. This is an inserted line

There are errata lists available for two well-known books, the LaTeX Book and the LaTeX Companion. (A complete revision of Chapter 8 of The LaTeX Companion is also available from CTAN courtesy of the publisher, Addison-Wesley.)

Graphics and Colour

A very common requirement is to include some kind of graphics as an external file (usually PostScript) into a LaTeX document. The definitive manual on how to do this is Keith Reckdahl's excellent Using EPS graphics in LaTeX2e. The document Packages in the graphics This is an inserted line bundle  is the documentation on the information on how to use colours in the output.

A very powerful additional capability is provided by the psfrag system. This allows you to This is a replaced line power for all of the mathematical and textual annotations. (But note that xfig(1) allows you to do this anyway).

Graph and Diagram Drawing

Probably the best way to draw a simple diagram is to use the xfig program (see the unix man page for details). However there are programmatic ways for more sophisticated work. These are
eepic
A macro package for a much enhanced LaTeX "picture mode". Requires driver support This is an inserted line for tpic \specials. Some drawing programs such as This is a replaced line
curves
xypic
An enhancement of LaTeX's picture mode to improve curve drawing.
texdraw
There are examples in the directory there is also a reference manual. href="generic/texdraw/">generic/texdraw/.
pspicture This is a replaced line
Pstricks using PostScript, such as drawing of geometrical objects, diagrams,
a set of macros for performing fancy twiddles fancy boxes, grayscales etc. There is a User Guide ( part 1, This is an inserted line part 2, part 3, part 4), and a quick reference card.
METAPOST
a development of Donald Knuth's METAFONT program which produces PostScript rendition of fonts, diagrams etc rather than bitmapped versions. Documentation includes a plotting graphs (dvi) using METAPOST.
trees This is an inserted line
Macros for drawing "tree" diagrams.
overpic
This package defines the overpic environment for Examples in This is an inserted line defined by an includegraphics command. opic-rel.tex.

LaTeX Packages

These packages control the visual appearance and formatting of LaTeX documents. Many of them are described in the book and they are grouped here in accordance with href="http://cseng.awl.com/bookdetail.qry?ISBN=0-201-54199-8&ptype=0">The the headings defined there.

This installation contains the packages listed below. Many more have been written to provide additional capabilities and are Network server, abbreviated to CTAN. Here is the LaTeX Project Public License.

Document Structure

Page references to external documents.
xr
varioref
lastpage
"Intelligent" page references.
Reference the number of pages in your LaTeX document (as in a page footer that says: Page N of M) name="hyperref"> 
hyperrefCreate hypertext documents in dvi, postscript or PDF form. This is an inserted line converted to hyperlinks.
dinbrief
The dinbrief document class (in German).
german
ntgclass
The german and ngerman document classes. This is a replaced line
minitoc
Package to add a mini-"table of contents" to each chapter. Example 1, example 2.
Customize the sectioning format of a document.
Macros to customize sectional headings (section, chapter etc)
tocloft This is an inserted line
Customize the table of contents or lists of figures or tables. This is a replaced line
Add document elements such as a bibliography or index to the table of contents.
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The right way to make bold mathematical symbols.
bm  This is an inserted line
xspace
Define commands that don't eat spaces.
verbatim 
moreverb
An extension to the verbatim package that included file, can produce boxed verbatims, etc. can handle TAB expansion, can number lines in an
fancyvrb 
A comprehensive and customizable re-implementation of the verbatim environment. Allows specification of fonts, This is an inserted line handling and conditional processing.
fvrb-ex
An extension to fancyvrb.
prettyref  
enumerate
Improved formatting of references.
Adds an optional argument to the enumerate environment which determines the style in which the counter is printed.
comma
\usepackage{comma} defines the command This is a replaced line number with a comma every third digit. If you want something other than a comma, for instance a thin This is a replaced line
indentfirst for instance \renewcommand\commaformtoken{\,}.
Indent first paragraph after section header.
Defines a floating algorithm environment designed to work with the algorithmic package.
This package is for typesetting computer programs and
program algorithms. There is an example in program-demo.tex.
listings This is a replaced line
textfit
Package to support fitting of text to a given width of height
typehtml
Typeset HTML (i.e., World Wide Web documents) directly from LaTeX.
plain
Allows the inclusion of plain tex markup in a LaTeX document. It defines the LaTeX environment plain which is used to enclose the plain tex to be included.
Customizable citations. Can do almost any variant of numerical or author-date style citations. There's also a quick reference
bibentry
Insert formatted bibliographic references inline in the text.
footbib This is an inserted line
Set bibliographic references as footnotes.
paralist
Typeset lists within paragraphs.
MDW toolsA collection of packages written by Mark Wooding This is an inserted line
at.sty character, a bit like `\' is already.
cmtt.sty Typewriter font, which solves lots of messy problems.
doafter.sty
Provides a TeX programmer's utility \doafter <token> <group> which does the <token> after the group is complete, including any \aftergroup things.
mathenv.sty a theme of aligning things in columns.
A collection of mathematical environments with
mdwmath.sty
Contains a few trivial definitions for mathematical things. The main thing is that the \sqrt command for doing square roots has been improved
mdwlist.sty This is a replaced line This is a replaced line items). This is a replaced line
mdwtab.sty `array' environments. Has lots of advantages over
A complete ground-up rewrite of LaTeX's `tabular' and the standard version, and over the version in `array.sty'.
footnote.sty
Provides commands for saving executing footnotes.
sverb.sty
A bunch of macros for doing verbatim things.
syntax.sty
A load of commands for describing syntax. There's an environment for typesetting BNF grammars.
acronym
Make sure all acronyms used are spelt out at least once.
hyphenat
Improved control over hyphenation.
ragged2e
Provides commands and environments for setting ragged text This is a replaced line
nomencl
Package for preparing tables of nomenclature or glossaries.
SIunits
Macros for typesetting SI units.
units
Typesetting of physical/metric units.
soul
Typeset text in a spaced-out or underlined fashion.
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geometry 
Customize page layout (page sizes) using an easy and flexible user interface. Example gtest.tex generates a testpage.
fancyheadings
This package has been renamed to fancyhdr  href="#fancyhdr">fancyhdr.
Support for sophisticated control of page headers and footers
footmisc 
Customize footnote numbering, style and presentation.
footnpag This is an inserted line
Allows footnotes on individual pages to be numbered from 1, rather than being numbered sequentially through the document.
nopageno page numbering including that on title and frontmatter pages. This is a replaced line
The chappg package causes pages to be numbered This is an inserted line in the style chapter-pagenumber. So the pages of chapter 3 will be numbered 3-1, 3-2, ..., and the pages of appendix B will be numbered B-1, B-2, ...
layout
Generate a test page showing the page layout.
layouts
Draw display of page layout parameters.
a4 This is an inserted line
Mostly superceded by LaTeX2e support for a4 paper but defines This is an inserted line the extra option of widemargins. The geometry package is much more flexible.
Rescales an entire document by 1.414 for photographic reduction.
anysize href="#geometry">geometry.
fix2col
Improves some deficiencies in LaTeX's built-in two column output.
multicol
multitoc.dvi
Typeset tables of contents and lists of figures and tables in multi-column mode.
ftnright
Customize placement of footnotes in two column documents.
picinpar recommended instead. not recommend this package. Picins is This is a replaced line
Insert pictures into paragraphs.
rotating 
Environment to rotate text, figures etc. There are examples, as LaTeX source and PostScript output. dvi or
This package makes it easy to add some picture commands to every page.
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Modifying document appearance

showkeys
Print label, ref, cite and bib keys.
Print \label arguments or equation numbers in margin This is a replaced line at point of definition.
changebar
Add "change bars" in a document margin using dvi \specials.
crop
Print crop marks.
draftcopy
Overprint DRAFT on each page of document to latex/draftcopy/ has a number of This is an inserted line indicate draft copy. The directory examples.
count1to
Sets some new counters for section selection.
prelim2e.dvi output.
thumbpdf
Allows marking of preliminary versions of a document in the
Support of thumbnails with pdfTeX, plain/LaTeX formats.
array
An extended implementation of the array and tabular environments which implements options to format columns.
longtable
Support for tables longer than a page This is a replaced line
Add delimiters (parentheses etc.) around arrays.
supertabular
A multi-page tables package. This is an inserted line
dcolumn
Align on the decimal point of numbers in tabulars.
hhline
Better horizontal lines in tabulars and arrays.
tabularx
Tabulars that widen automatically.
ltxtable This is a replaced line
colortbl 
Add colour to LaTeX tables. This is a replaced line author's opinion) book form.
slashbox
Typeset a box with a diagonal divider for table headings.
A package to lay out tables in high-quality (according to the

Floats

Floats are environments like figure and This is a replaced line
afterpage argument to be expanded after the current page is This is an inserted line output. Useful to flush floats, for example This is an inserted line
float 
Improves the interface for defining floating objects such as figures and tables. Introduces the boxed float and the ruled float.
fltpage
Put captions to floats on neighbouring page if space is tight.
subfigure
Figures divided into subfigures.
endfloat
Place all figures on pages by themselves at the end of the document.
placeins This is an inserted line
Keeps floats `in their place', preventing them from floating past a \FloatBarrier command into another
caption section.
Extends caption capabilities for figures and tables, such as the caption width, style, font.
sidecapDefines new LaTeX environments called SCfigure and SCtable (analogous to figure and table), to typeset captions sideways. leftcaption and rightcaption.
Float text around figures and tables which do not span the This is a replaced line full width of a page. This is an improved version of floatfig. This is an inserted line Examples, latex source,precursor package floatfig.
rotfloat This is an inserted line This is a replaced line Examples: output.

Fonts and Supporting Packages

In addition to the href="fontinst/base/fontinst.dvi">fontinst href="fonts/fontname/fontname.dvi">font naming conventions.
ae a T1-encoded set based on the CM fonts. This should make it
A set of virtual fonts designed to be a close approximation to produce PDF files even when one needs hyphenation patterns other possible to use the existing Type1 versions of the CM fonts to
fontsmpl than English. See also aecompl
Print a sample of a font.
rawfonts
Emulation of LaTeX 2.09 low-level font commands, eg \tenrm.
beton  Don Knuth and used in his book ``Concrete Mathematics''.
Typeset a LaTeX2e document with the Concrete fonts designed by
ccfonts
LaTeX font definition files for the Concrete fonts and a LaTeX package for typesetting documents using Concrete as the default font family.
cmbright
Use the "Computer Modern bright" font family.
mathtime
Package to support the mathtime fonts, a mathematical This is a replaced line included in teTeX.
lucidabr
Package to use the Lucidea Bright font set from Y & Y. N.B. The fonts are not part of teTeX and must be purchased separately.
LY1
This font encoding package supports the `texnansi' encoding as used by default in the Y&Y TeX system. There is also an option to support the `ansinew' encoding that is the default encoding in Microsoft Windows.
dsfont
Double-stroke maths fonts. Declares the macro option sans uses sans-serif version. \mathds{} to use double-stroke roman fonts. Package
dotlessj
This package declares the macros This is a replaced line text and math mode.
mflogo
LaTeX package and This is an inserted line font definition file to access the Knuthian `logo' fonts described in `The MetaFontbook' and the MetaFont and logos in LaTeX documents.
Concrete Math fonts
A
This package simply includes the beton and euler packages for an approximation of the style in Concrete Mathematics.
mathcomp
A package for using the Text Companion fonts in math mode. (For example to get an upright "mu".)
type1cm
Allows the use href="latex/mfnfss/pandora.dvi">pandora
The Pandora fonts.
yfonts
A LaTeX Haralambous.
oldgerm interface to the old-german fonts designed by Yannis
Old German fonts.
suet
German handwriting fonts.
wasysym This is a replaced line the wasysym font set.
stmaryrd
The "St Mary's Road" symbol fonts.
marvodoc
The martin Vogel symbol fonts.

AMS Maths

This is a replaced line LaTeX is provided in Chapter 8 of The LaTeX Companion. A revised version is available online from a CTAN archive in href="ftp://ftp.tex.ac.uk/tex-archive/info/companion-rev/ch8.ps">PostScript This is an inserted line directory info/companion-rev/ as PDF
amslatex
User guide for AMS-LaTeX as implemented in the amsmath
Also see the frequently-asked-questions list , various Tex and LaTeX examples in the directory latex/amslatex/.
theorem
Enhancements to the theorem environments, giving more choice in theorem layout. This is a replaced line
Blackboard variant fonts for Computer Modern, with LaTeX support . Font sample
euler  This is a replaced line This is an inserted line math in LaTeX documents.
eufrak
Use the Euler Fraktur symbols.
euscript
Substitute the usual math calligraphic characters with Euler script equivalents.
mathrsfs This is an inserted line
This package defines the command \mathscr{ABC} which typesets symbols such as Hamiltonians using the Ralph Smith Formal Script (rsfs) calligraphic fonts.
amsguide
User guide for AMS-TeX (the original plain TeX maths package).
joyerr.tex
Errata for The Joy of TeX.
AMS Fonts
Documentation for the AMS mathematical font set. See also the package documentation, the bug list and the frequently-asked questions
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Multilingual LaTeX

Multilingual support for LaTeX.
babel
This package supports multilingual documents in many language.
inputenc
tb1202, Allows use of 8-bit character sets in source documents. href="generic/babel/tb1401.dvi">tb1401, tb1604
cyrillic 
Package for using cyrillic fonts.
T2
Another font encoding for Cyrillic.
MLTeX
MLTeX is a modification of TeX version that allows the hyphenation of words with accented letters using ordinary Computer Modern (CM) fonts. There are instructions on . href="latex/mltex/mltex.txt">how to use MLTeX's \charsubdef This is an inserted line

Additional or alternative "document" types

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seminar 
A LaTeX style for overhead transparencies and notes. Example 1, Example 2. List of frequently asked questions. List of known bugs.
examdoc
Style for preparing examination papers.
labels
textmerg
A package for making sticky labels in LaTeX.
Package for creating "text merges" (like wordprocessor mail merge letters) in LaTeX. The directory This is an inserted line latex/textmerg contains examples.
eplain
Extended plain text format.

Programming and Package Authoring

ifthen
Defines if/then/else macros for conditional text.
Package for infix arithmetic notation in LaTeX. This is an inserted line
calc
fp
Fixed-point arithmetic package forTeX and LaTeX
keyval
Provides support for writing keyword-style arguments to packages. Used by graphics.
somedefs This is an inserted line
fileerr
A "programmer's toolkit" for package writers.
Implementation of an error handler for "file-not-found" This is a replaced line
localloc
Enhanced register-allocation macros.
doc
Literate Programming for package writers --
docstrip The combined LaTeX package-code/documentation suite.
Package to build stripped-down version of package files for speed.
everysel \selectfont called \EverySelectfont and \AtNextSelectfont analogous to \AtBeginDocument.
everyshi
This package defines a new command \EveryShipout analogous to \AtBeginDocument.

Web2C implementation

teTEX is based on the web2c implementation of TeX, metafont etc. Information on running the various programs is contained in web2c.dvi. All programs use a common, configurable, library for searching for files. The file kpathsea.dvi gives details. The This is an inserted line file tree is built in compliance with the TeX directory structure

Ancillary Programs

Bibtex

Bibtex is a separate program for managing databases of bibliographic references chapter 13 of The LaTeX Companion and online in the documents entitled BibTexing and Designing BibTeX Styles.

This is an inserted line The latter document, Designing BibTeX Styles is a guide to customizing the format of the reference list. The non-expert may find it more useful to use the ancillary program makebst which semi-automates the design of a new bibliography style.

natbib is a LaTeX package which allows customization of the citation style in the text (rather than bibliography styles, even those which define their own citation macros.

Makeindex

The makeindex program which provides facilities for This is an inserted line Index Preparation and Processing and the Makeindex user guide. This is an inserted line

Dvips

dvips DVI -> PostScript The full documentation for the translator. N.B. The advice concerning including PostScript graphics has been superceded by the standard LaTeX2e graphics package.

with the extra argument -Pcmz or (-Pcm which does not download the fonts in the PostScript output.) Mathematical This is an inserted line -Pams) for the AMS math fonts. eg 

dvips -Pcmz -Pamz -P myprinter mydoc.dvi
This is a replaced line include bitmapped fonts and is therefore resolution-independent. This is very useful if the postscript is to be scaled up or down or the final destination printer is not known.

Xdvi

The online documentation for xdvi only available as a unix This is an inserted line "man" page and is not accessible through this WWW page. Use man xdvi to read it.

Texinfo

Texinfo is a macro package for TeX used by the GNU system for producing printed manuals.

TeX and LaTeX Variants

also supplied with LaTeX macros. This is an inserted line
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Han the Thanth's variant which can generate output in Adobe PDF format as well as the usual DVI. Documentation is in the PDFTeX manual and there is a list of frequently-asked questions.
omega and lambda for mixed multi-lingual typesetting using unicode. See the omega home page.
The Omega system extends TeX
etex and elatex
e-TeX adds several extensions to TeX notably right-to-left typesetting.
ConTeXt
A new This is an inserted line macro package for TeX. See also the full list of commands.

Local Additions

Your system administrator may have added EX. href="../texmf.local/doc/">additional packages and documentation

Other sources of Information

Here are some other useful sources of information on LaTeX, TeX and related program on the World-Wide Web. This is a replaced line
  • The teTEX home page.
  • The TeX user's group.
  • Cambridge university's Text Processing using LaTeX site. This contains a mine of useful information.
  • The LaTeX Navigator.
    Last modified: Mon Apr 19 14:42:32 BST 1999 This is an inserted line