latex(1) General Commands Manual latex(1)
NAME
latex, pdflatex, xelatex, lualatex, dvilualatex, cslatex, pdfcslatex,
platex, uplatex, lamed - structured text formatting and typesetting
SYNOPSIS
latex [options] [&format] [ file [ more-input ] | [ \more-input ]
DESCRIPTION
LaTeX is a TeX macro package (format), not a modification to the
compiled TeX programs, so see tex(1) for details of the command line
invocation.
The LaTeX macros encourage writers to think about the content of their
documents, rather than the form. The ideal, very difficult to realize,
is to have no formatting commands (like ``switch to italic'' or ``skip
2 picas'') in the document, but to use generic markup instructions:
``emphasize'', ``start a section''. The LaTeX language is described in
the books and documents mentioned below, among others.
The primary source of documentation for LaTeX is the LaTeX manual
referenced below.
lualatex, pdflatex, pdfcslatex, xelatex are LaTeX formats based on the
respective engines. These all output PDF by default. The lualatex
format is built with the luahbtex engine, the LuaTeX variant with
HarfBuzz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HarfBuzz) supported for glyph
shaping.
platex, uplatex are Japanese LaTeX formats based on e-pTeX and e-upTeX
(DVI output).
lamed is the Aleph-based LaTeX format (DVI output).
dvilualatex is LuaTeX-based and outputs DVI.
cslatex is csTeX-based (primitives integrated into pdfTeX) and outputs
DVI.
On some systems, the commands latex209 and slitex may still be
available for compatibility with older versions of LaTeX. These should
not be used for new documents.
SEE ALSO
amstex(1), luatex(1), pdftex(1), ptex(1), tex(1), xetex(1).
Leslie Lamport, LaTeX:ADocumentPreparationSystem.
Frank Mittelbach with Ulrike Fischer, TheLaTeXCompanion, Addison-
Wesley, 2024, ISBN 0-13-811578-8 (3rd edition). https://tug.org/l/tlc3
Package pages on CTAN: https://ctan.org/pkg/latex,
https://ctan.org/pkg/latex-base
LaTeX tutorial topic on CTAN: https://ctan.org/topic/tut-latex
LaTeX reference topic on CTAN: https://ctan.org/topic/ref-latex
The LaTeX home page: https://latex-project.org
Online interactive tutorial: https://learnlatex.org
Getting started page: https://tug.org/begin
Please report bugs in LaTeX following the procedure at
https://www.latex-project.org/bugs.
Public discussion list for all things TeX and LaTeX:
https://lists.tug.org/texhax
Web2C 2026 30 November 2025 latex(1)
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