LaTeX command

From LaTeX-wiki

A LaTeX command is a keyword prefixed by a backslash

\command

Commands are parsed and interpreted by the LaTeX processor. They are not shown in the typeset document literally.

Commands can be broadly classified into the following categories:

• LaTeX built-in commands
• TeX primitives
• commands defined by packages
• custom commands defined by the user

Note that there the last two are really one and the same category, since a package from a repository is in no way different from a user-made package, except for public availability.

[edit] Arguments

A command can accept one or more arguments enclosed in curly braces:

\command{...}

[edit] Implicit arguments

If a command accepts an argument and no curly braces are given, the next token is taken implicitly, e.g.

This \emph is important

This \emph{is} important

[edit] Options

Options can be passed to a command inside square brackets preceding arguments, e.g.

\section[Ob/Gyn]{Obstetricians/Gynecologists}