The special characters in LaTeX can be divided into two groups: In characters reserved by LaTeX, such as \ and $, which are actually assigned a function, but can also be represented as characters, and all other special characters, such as Greek letters or a variety of other characters Arrows. These special characters can be inserted with LaTeX commands. In our article we have summarized the most important special characters for you in a table and divided them into several categories.
Insert characters reserved by LaTeX
The reserved characters are important for basic LaTeX functions in the code. That means, if you enter the character $ , for example , LaTeX assumes that you want to initiate a mathematical environment. In addition to the function, the symbol can also be displayed. To do this, you have to \$ enter here, for example , so that $ is also displayed in the output . All other important characters that are reserved by LaTeX can be found in the following table.
| description | sign | LaTeX code |
| Backslash | \ | \ textbackslash |
| Curly braces | {...} | \ {... \} |
| Dollar sign | $ | \ $ |
| Ampersand | & | \ & |
| Rhombus | # | \ # |
| Degree | ° | \ textdegree |
| circumflex | ^ | \ ^ {} |
| Underscore | _ | \ _ |
| tilde | ~ | \ textasciitilde or \ ~ {} |
| Percent sign | % | \% |
| description | sign | LaTeX code |
| Backslash | \ | \ textbackslash |
| Curly braces | {...} | \ {... \} |
| Dollar sign | $ | \ $ |
| Ampersand | & | \ & |
| Rhombus | # | \ # |
| Degree | ° | \ textdegree |
| circumflex | ^ | \ ^ {} |
| Underscore | _ | \ _ |
| tilde | ~ | \ textasciitilde or \ ~ {} |
| Percent sign | % | \% |
Greek special characters
| output | LaTeX code |
| α | \alpha |
| β | \beta |
| γ | \gamma |
| δ | \delta |
| ϵ | \epsilon |
| ζ | \ zeta |
| η | \ eta |
| θ | \ theta |
| ι | \ iota |
| κ | \ kappa |
| λ | \ lambda |
| μ | \ mu |
| ν | \ nu |
| ξ | \ xi |
| ο | O |
| π | \pi |
| ρ | \ rho |
| σ | \ sigma |
| τ | \dew |
| υ | \ upsilon |
| ϕ | \ phi |
| χ | \ chi |
| ψ | \ psi |
| ω | \omega |
| φ | \ varphi |
| output | LaTeX code |
| α | \alpha |
| β | \beta |
| γ | \gamma |
| δ | \delta |
| ϵ | \epsilon |
| ζ | \ zeta |
| η | \ eta |
| θ | \ theta |
| ι | \ iota |
| κ | \ kappa |
| λ | \ lambda |
| μ | \ mu |
| ν | \ nu |
| ξ | \ xi |
| ο | O |
| π | \pi |
| ρ | \ rho |
| σ | \ sigma |
| τ | \dew |
| υ | \ upsilon |
| ϕ | \ phi |
| χ | \ chi |
| ψ | \ psi |
| ω | \omega |
| φ | \ varphi |
Arrows and other symbols with amssymb
First, include the amssymb package in your preamble: You can then use the following symbols: \usepackage{amssymb}
| output | LaTeX code |
| ⇢ | \ dashrightarrow |
| ⇠ | \ dashleftarrow |
| ⇉ | \ rightrightarrows |
| ⇇ | \ leftleftarrows |
| ⇊ | \ downdownarrows |
| ⇈ | \ upuparrows |
| ⇄ | \ rightleftarrows |
| ⇆ | \ leftrightarrows |
| ⇛ | \ Rrightarrow |
| ⇚ | \ Lleftarrow |
| ↠ | \ twoheadrightarrow |
| ↞ | \ twoheadleftarrow |
| ↣ | \ rightarrowtail |
| ↢ | \ leftarrowtail |
| ↬ | \ looparrowright |
| ↫ | \ looparrowleft |
| ⇌ | \ rightleftharpoons |
| ⇋ | \ leftrightharpoons |
| ↷ | \ curvearrowright |
| ↶ | \ curvearrowleft |
| ↻ | \ circlearrowright |
| ↺ | \ circlearrowleft |
| ↱ | \ Rsh |
| ↰ | \ Lsh |
| ↾ | \ upharpoonright |
| ↿ | \ upharpoonleft |
| ⇂ | \ downharpoonright |
| ⇃ | \ downharpoonleft |
| ⇝ | \ rightsquigarrow |
| ⇜ | \ leftsquigarrow |
| ↭ | \ leftrightsquigarrow |
| ⇸ | \ nrightarrow |
| ⇷ | \ nleftarrow |
| ⇏ | \ nRightarrow |
| ⇍ | \ nLeftarrow |
| ⇹ | \ nleftrightarrow |
| ⇎ | \ nLeftrightarrow |
| ✓ | \ checkmark |
| output | LaTeX code |
| ⇢ | \dashrightarrow |
| ⇠ | \dashleftarrow |
| ⇉ | \rightrightarrows |
| ⇇ | \leftleftarrows |
| ⇊ | \downdownarrows |
| ⇈ | \upuparrows |
| ⇄ | \rightleftarrows |
| ⇆ | \leftrightarrows |
| ⇛ | \Rrightarrow |
| ⇚ | \Lleftarrow |
| ↠ | \twoheadrightarrow |
| ↞ | \twoheadleftarrow |
| ↣ | \rightarrowtail |
| ↢ | \leftarrowtail |
| ↬ | \looparrowright |
| ↫ | \looparrowleft |
| ⇌ | \rightleftharpoons |
| ⇋ | \leftrightharpoons |
| ↷ | \curvearrowright |
| ↶ | \curvearrowleft |
| ↻ | \circlearrowright |
| ↺ | \circlearrowleft |
| ↱ | \Rsh |
| ↰ | \Lsh |
| ↾ | \upharpoonright |
| ↿ | \upharpoonleft |
| ⇂ | \downharpoonright |
| ⇃ | \downharpoonleft |
| ⇝ | \rightsquigarrow |
| ⇜ | \leftsquigarrow |
| ↭ | \leftrightsquigarrow |
| ⇸ | \nrightarrow |
| ⇷ | \nleftarrow |
| ⇏ | \nRightarrow |
| ⇍ | \nLeftarrow |
| ⇹ | \nleftrightarrow |
| ⇎ | \nLeftrightarrow |
| ✓ | \checkmark |
Currency symbol
Include the package eurosym before you use the following symbols: