TeX Frequently Asked Questions

# Welcome to the UK List of
TeX Frequently Asked Questions

## Introduction

This FAQ was originated by the Committee of the UK TeX Users' Group (UK TUG) as a development of a regular posting to the Usenet newsgroup comp.text.tex that was maintained for some time by Bobby Bodenheimer. The first UK version was much re-arranged and corrected from the original, and little of Bodenheimer's work now remains.

An alternative HTML version of the FAQ may be found on the TeX Live CDROM.

A copy of the complete FAQ, in PDF with many hyperlinks, may be found on help/uk-tex-faq/newfaq.pdf (formatted for A4 paper) or help/uk-tex-faq/letterfaq.pdf (formatted for North American "letter" paper).

Most members of the committee of UK TUG, over the years since 1994, have contributed to this FAQ to some extent. The following people, who have never been members of the committee, have also contributed help or advice: Donald Arseneau, Barbara Beeton, Karl Berry, Giuseppe Bilotta, Charles Cameron, Damian Cugley, Michael Dewey, Michael Downes, Thomas Esser, Anthony Goreham, Norman Gray, Eitan Gurari, Hartmut Henkel, John Hobby, Berthold Horn, Ian Hutchinson, Werner Icking, David Kastrup, Regnor Jernsletten, Daniel Luecking, Sanjoy Mahajan, Andreas Matthias, Ted Nieland, Hans Nordhaug, Pat Rau, Heiko Oberdiek, Piet van Oostrum, Scott Pakin, Oren Patashnik, José Carlos Santos, Walter Schmidt, Hans-Peter Schröcker, Joachim Schrod, Ulrik Vieth, Mike Vulis, Peter Wilson, Rick Zaccone and Reinhard Zierke.

Caveat: Acquiring files

Most answers in this FAQ provide links for downloading software; a large proportion of these links direct you to entire directories on the CTAN archives. Unfortunately, some browsers issue a sequence of commands that causes CTAN servers to deny the existence of compressed archive files of the directory. The FAQ now therefore offers three possible links for downloading directories (that aren't already designated "browse only"): the links give you `.tar.gz` and `.zip` archives, and (for those with the troublesome browsers) a link for browsing the directory.

### The Background

- What is TeX?
- How should I pronounce "TeX"?
- What is Metafont?
- What is MetaPost?
- How can I be sure it's really TeX?
- Are TeX and friends Y2K compliant?
- What is LaTeX?
- What is LaTeX2e?
- How should I pronounce "LaTeX(2e)"?
- Should I use Plain TeX or LaTeX?
- How does LaTeX relate to Plain TeX?
- What is ConTeXt?
- What are the AMS packages (AMSTeX, etc.)?
- What is Eplain?
- What is Lollipop?
- What is Texinfo?
- If TeX is so good, how come it's free?
- What is the future of TeX?
- Reading (La)TeX files
- Why is TeX not a WYSIWYG system?
- TeX User Groups

### Documentation and Help

- Books on TeX and its relations
- Books on Type
- Where to find FAQs
- Where to get help
- How to ask a question
- (La)TeX Tutorials, etc.
- Documentation of packages
- Learning to write LaTeX classes and packages
- Metafont and MetaPost Tutorials
- BibTeX Documentation
- Where can I find the symbol for...
- The PiCTeX manual

### Bits and pieces of TeX

- What is a DVI file?
- What is a driver?
- What are PK files?
- What are TFM files?
- Virtual fonts
- `\special` commands
- Documented LaTeX sources (`.dtx` files)
- What are encodings?
- How does hyphenation work in TeX?
- What are the EC fonts?
- What is the TDS?
- What is "Encapsulated PostScript"

### Acquiring the Software

- Repositories of TeX material
- What's the CTAN `nonfree` tree?
- Contributing a file to the archives
- Finding (La)TeX macro packages
- Finding files in the CTAN archives
- Finding files by Web search
- Finding new fonts
- TeX CDROMs

### TeX Systems

- (La)TeX for different machines
- TeX-friendly editors and shells
- Commercial TeX implementations

### DVI Drivers and Previewers

- DVI to PostScript conversion programs
- DVI drivers for HP LaserJet
- Output to "other" printers
- DVI previewers

### Support Packages for TeX

- Fig, a TeX-friendly drawing package
- TeXCAD, a drawing package for LaTeX
- Spelling checkers for work with TeX
- How many words have you written?

### Literate programming

- What is Literate Programming?
- WEB systems for various languages

### Format conversions

- Conversion between (La)TeX and others
- Conversion from (La)TeX to plain ASCII
- Conversion from SGML or HTML to TeX
- (La)TeX conversion to HTML
- Using TeX to read SGML or XML directly
- Retrieving (La)TeX from DVI, etc.
- Translating LaTeX to Plain TeX

### Hypertext and PDF

- Making hypertext documents from TeX
- Making Acrobat documents from LaTeX
- Quality of PDF from PostScript
- Finding '8-bit' Type 1 fonts
- Replacing Type 3 fonts in PostScript

### Fonts

#### Metafont fonts

- Getting Metafont to do what you want
- Which font files should be kept
- Acquiring bitmap fonts

#### Adobe Type 1 ("PostScript") fonts

- Using PostScript fonts with TeX
- Previewing files using Type 1 fonts
- TeX font metric files for PostScript fonts
- Deploying Type 1 fonts
- Choice of scalable outline fonts
- Weird characters in dvips output

#### Particular font families

- Using the "Concrete" fonts

### Graphics

- How to import graphics into (La)TeX documents
- Graphics in dvips
- Graphics in PDFLaTeX
- Making MetaPost output display in ghostscript
- Drawing with TeX
- Drawing Feynman diagrams in LaTeX
- Labelling graphics
- Limit the width of included graphics
- Top-aligning graphics

### Bibliographies and citations

#### Creating bibliographies

- Creating a bibliography style
- Capitalisation in BibTeX
- 'String too long' in BibTeX
- BibTeX doesn't understand lists of names
- URLs in BibTeX bibliographies
- Using BibTeX with Plain TeX

#### Creating citations

- Separate bibliographies per chapter?
- Multiple bibliographies?
- Putting bibliography entries in text
- Sorting and compressing citations
- Multiple citations
- References from the bibliography to the citation

#### Manipulating whole bibliographies

- Listing all your BibTeX entries
- Making HTML of your Bibliography

### Installing (La)TeX files

- Installing a new package
- Where to put new files
- Installing MikTeX "known packages"
- "Temporary" installation of (La)TeX files

### Adjusting the typesetting

#### Alternative document classes

- Replacing the standard classes
- Formatting a thesis in LaTeX
- Setting papers for journals
- A 'report' from lots of 'article's
- Curriculum Vitae (Resumé)
- Letters and the like
- Other "document font" sizes?

#### Document structure

- The style of document titles
- The style of section headings
- Indent after section headings
- How to create a `\subsubsubsection`
- The style of captions
- Alternative head- and footlines in LaTeX
- Wide figures in two-column documents
- 1-column abstract in 2-column document
- Really blank pages between chapters
- Balancing columns at the end of a document
- My section title is too wide for the page header
- Page numbering "<n> of <m>"
- Page numbering by chapter

#### Page layout

- Changing the margins in LaTeX
- How to get rid of page numbers
- `\pagestyle{empty}` on first page in LaTeX
- How to create crop marks
- 'Watermarks' on every page
- Typesetting things in landscape orientation
- Putting things at fixed positions on the page
- Preventing page breaks between lines
- Parallel setting of text

#### Spacing of characters and lines

- Double-spaced documents in LaTeX
- Changing the space between letters
- Setting text ragged right
- Cancelling `\ragged` commands

#### Typesetting specialities

- Including a file verbatim in LaTeX
- Including line numbers in typeset output
- Code listings in LaTeX
- Generating an index in (La)TeX
- Typesetting URLs
- Typesetting music in TeX
- Zero paragraph indent
- Big letters at the start of a paragraph
- The comma as a decimal separator
- Breaking boxes of text
- Overstriking characters

#### Tables of contents and indexes

- The format of the Table of Contents, etc.
- Unnumbered sections in the Table of Contents
- Bibliography, index, etc., in TOC
- Multiple indexes

### How do I do...?

#### Mathematics

- Proof environment
- Roman theorems
- Defining a new log-like function in LaTeX
- Set specifications and Dirac brackets
- Cancelling terms in maths expressions

#### Lists

- Fancy enumeration lists
- How to reduce list spacing
- Interrupting enumerated lists

#### Tables, figures and diagrams

- Fixed-width tables
- Spacing lines in tables
- Tables longer than a single page
- How to alter the alignment of tabular cells
- Flowing text around figures in LaTeX

#### Floating tables, figures, etc.

- Floats on their own on float pages
- Extra vertical space in floats
- Placing two-column floats at bottom of page
- Floats in multicolumn setting
- Facing floats on 2-page spread
- Vertical layout of float pages

#### Footnotes

- Footnotes in tables
- Footnotes in LaTeX section headings
- Footnotes in captions
- Footnotes whose texts are identical
- More than one sequence of footnotes

#### Document management

- What's the name of this file
- All the files used by this document
- Marking changed parts of your document
- Conditional compilation and "comments"
- Bits of document from other directories
- Version control using RCS or CVS
- Makefiles for LaTeX documents
- How many pages are there in my document?
- Including Plain TeX files in LaTeX

#### Hyphenation

- My words aren't being hyphenated
- Weird hyphenation of words
- (Merely) peculiar hyphenation
- Accented words aren't hyphenated
- Using a new language with Babel
- Stopping all hyphenation
- Preventing hyphenation of a particular word

#### Odds and ends

- Typesetting all those TeX-related logos
- Referring to things by their name
- How to do bold-tt or bold-sc

### Symbols, etc.

- Symbols for the number sets
- Better script fonts for maths
- Setting bold Greek letters in LaTeX
- The Principal Value Integral symbol
- How to use the underscore character
- How to type an '@' sign?
- Typesetting the Euro sign
- How to get copyright, trademark, etc.

### Macro programming

#### "Generic" macros

- Finding the width of a letter, word, or phrase
- Patching existing commands
- Comparing the "job name"
- Is the argument a number?
- Defining macros within macros
- Spaces in macros
- How to break the 9-argument limit
- Defining characters as macros
- Active characters in command arguments
- Defining a macro from an argument
- Transcribing LaTeX command definitions

#### LaTeX macros

- How to change LaTeX's "fixed names"
- Changing the words babel uses
- Running equation, figure and table numbering
- `\@` and `@` in macro names
- What's the reason for 'protection'?
- `\edef` does not work with `\protect`
- Optional arguments like `\section`
- Making labels from a counter
- Finding if you're on an odd or an even page
- How to change the format of labels
- A command with two optional arguments
- Adjusting the presentation of section numbers
- The definitions of LaTeX commands

### Things are Going Wrong...

#### Getting things to fit

- Enlarging TeX
- Why can't I load PiCTeX?

#### Making things stay where you want them

- Moving tables and figures in LaTeX
- Underlined text won't break
- Controlling widows and orphans

#### Things have "gone away"

- Old LaTeX font references such as `\tenrm`
- Missing symbol commands
- Where are the `msx` and `msy` fonts?
- Where are the `am` fonts?

### Why does it do that?

#### Common errors

- LaTeX gets cross-references wrong
- Start of line goes awry
- Why doesn't `\verb` work within...?
- No line here to end

#### Common misunderstandings

- What's going on in my `\include` commands?
- Why does it ignore paragraph parameters?
- Case-changing oddities
- Why does LaTeX split footnotes across pages?
- Getting `\marginpar` on the right side
- Where have my characters gone?
- "Rerun" messages won't go away
- Commands gobble following space
- (La)TeX makes overfull lines

### The joy of TeX errors

- How to approach errors
- The structure of TeX error messages
- An extra '`}`'??
- Capacity exceeded [semantic nest...]
- No room for a new 'thing'
- `epsf` gives up after a bit
- Improper `\hyphenation` will be flushed
- "Too many unprocessed floats"
- `\spacefactor` complaints
- `\end` occurred inside a group
- "Missing number, treated as zero"
- "Please type a command or say `\end`"
- "Unknown graphics extension"
- "Missing $ inserted"
- Warning: "Font shape ... not available"

### Current TeX Projects

- The LaTeX3 project
- The Omega project
- The NTS project
- The PDFTeX project
- Future WEB technologies and (La)TeX
- The TeXtrace project
- The TeX document preparation environment

### You're still stuck?

- You don't understand the answer
- Submitting new material for the FAQ
- Reporting a LaTeX bug
- What to do if you find a bug