LaTeX frequent snippets
Basic elements
Section numbering
Alphabetical numbering:
\renewcommand{\thesection}{\Alph{section}}
\setcounter{section}{0} % reset counter to start from A
Math
Matrix:
\begin{bmatrix}
x_{11} & x_{12} & x_{13} & \dots & x_{1n} \\
x_{21} & x_{22} & x_{23} & \dots & x_{2n} \\
x_{d1} & x_{d2} & x_{d3} & \dots & x_{dn} \\
\end{bmatrix}
Matrix bolding:
\mathbf
Transpose:
^\top
:
\hat x, \tilde x, \overline x
Argmin with centered subscript:
\underset{\Theta_p, \Theta_s, \Theta_a}{\operatorname{argmin}}
Additional symbols:
Listing
\begin{itemize}
\item
\end{itemize}
\begin{enumerate}
\item
\end{enumerate}
Algorithm
\usepackage{algorithm}
\usepackage{algpseudocode}
\begin{algorithm}
\caption{Functional Map Refinement}
\label{alg:fmap_refinement}
\begin{algorithmic}[1]
\State Set $C_\text{refined} \gets C_{\mathcal Y\mathcal X}$
\For{$t = 1, \ldots, n_\text{iter}$}
\State ...
\State ...
\State ...
\EndFor
\State ...
\State \Return $\Pi_\text{refined}$
\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}
Table
\begin{table}[h]
\centering
\caption{<>}
\label{tab:<>}
\vskip5pt
\begin{tabular}{lcc}
\toprule
& & \\
\midrule
& & \\
\bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
P.S. booktabs package needed.
P.S. Snippets for marking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best methods. \usepackage[dvipsnames, table]{xcolor} needed:
% marking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd best methods in table
\colorlet{bestclr}{teal!60}
\colorlet{secondclr}{teal!40}
\colorlet{thirdclr}{teal!20}
\newcommand{\firstplace}{\cellcolor{bestclr}\bfseries}
\newcommand{\secondplace}{\cellcolor{secondclr}}
\newcommand{\thirdplace}{\cellcolor{thirdclr}}
\def\tabclrscheme{The \colorbox{bestclr}{\textbf{first}}/\colorbox{secondclr}{second}/\colorbox{thirdclr}{third} best results are highlighted, respectively.}
Figure
\centering\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{figures/}
\centering\animategraphics[loop, autoplay, every=1, width=\textwidth]{5}{figures/<folder>/<name>-}{0}{<end>}
P.S. Additional options: palindrome playback.
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figures/<>}
\caption{<>}
\label{fig:<>}
\end{figure}
P.S. graphicx package is needed.
\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\begin{subfigure}{\linewidth}
\centering\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figures/<>}
\caption{<>}
\end{subfigure}
\caption{<>}
\label{fig:<>}
\end{figure}
P.S. graphicx and subcaption package is needed.
Emoji
Inserting emojis in LaTeX documents on Overleaf - Overleaf, Online LaTeX Editor
\usepackage{emoji}
...
\emoji{<code>}
Emoji code reference:
P.S. To include emojis, luatex is needed to be used for typesetting.
Code block
\begin{lstlisting}[language=Python]
\end{lstlisting}
P.S. listings package is needed.
\begin{frame}[fragile]{}
\begin{lstlisting}[language=Python]
\end{lstlisting}
\end{frame}
P.S. When used within a beamer frame, the frame need to be set as [fragile] to use lstlisting:
Example code block styling:
% code block style
\definecolor{codegreen}{RGB}{101,218,120}
\definecolor{darkgreen}{RGB}{93,158,82}
\definecolor{darkyellow}{RGB}{245,194,105}
\definecolor{codegray}{rgb}{0.5,0.5,0.5}
\definecolor{codepurple}{rgb}{0.58,0,0.82}
\definecolor{backcolour}{rgb}{0.95,0.95,0.92}
\lstdefinestyle{mystyle}{
commentstyle=\color{airforceblue},
keywordstyle=\color{magenta},
numberstyle=\tiny\color{codegray},
stringstyle=\color{codepurple},
basicstyle=\ttfamily\scriptsize,
breakatwhitespace=false,
breaklines=true,
captionpos=b,
keepspaces=true,
numbers=left,
numbersep=5pt,
showspaces=false,
showstringspaces=false,
showtabs=false,
tabsize=4,
xleftmargin=10pt,
xrightmargin=10pt,
}
\lstset{style=mystyle}
Bibliography
\usepackage[style=ieee]{biblatex}
\addbibresource{../../contents/biblio.bib}
Then inside the \begin{document} ... \end{document}:
% bibliography
\printbibliography
Reference
\usepackage{hyperref}
\hypersetup{
colorlinks,
linkcolor={black},
citecolor={black},
urlcolor={black}
}
\renewcommand{\sectionautorefname}{Section}
\renewcommand{\subsectionautorefname}{Section}
\renewcommand{\subsubsectionautorefname}{Section}
\renewcommand{\figureautorefname}{Fig.}
\renewcommand{\tableautorefname}{Table}
Then you can just \autoref{} sections, figures, and tables without having to manually type prefix like Fig.~\ref{}.
However, for equation, use \eqref{}.
Footnote
\footnote<[id]>{...}
\footnotemark<[id]>
\footnotetext<[id]>{...}
Changing footnote mark:
\arabic{_counter variable_}: typeset_counter variable_in Arabic numerals.\roman{_counter variable_}: typeset_counter variable_in lowercase Roman numerals.\Roman{_counter variable_}: typeset_counter variable_in uppercase Roman numerals.\alph{_counter variable_}: typeset_counter variable_in lowercase Alphabetic characters.\Alph{_counter variable_}: typeset_counter variable_in uppercase Alphabetic characters.\fnsymbol{_counter variable_}: typeset_counter variable_using a set of 9 special symbols.
\renewcommand{\thefootnote}{<\style>{footnote}}
P.S. This can be used inside the document to change style for various times.
P.S. In the min page environment, use mpfootnote variable instead of footnoe:
\renewcommand{\thempfootnote}{<\style>{mpfootnote}}
Beamer
Partition
\begin{frame}{}
\end{frame}
\begin{columns}
\begin{column}{0.5\textwidth}
\end{column}
\begin{column}{0.5\textwidth}
\end{column}
\end{columns}
\begin{block}{}
\end{block}
\begin{block}{}
\begin{lstlisting}[language=Python]
\end{lstlisting}
\end{block}
Visibility
In Beamers, the following commands can be used to control the visibility of the elements:
\only<>{}
\visbile<>{}
In itemize and enumerate environments, you don't need to manually write these commands for 1-by-1 roll out. Just use <+-> or <+>:
- Appears one by one:
\begin{itemize}[<+->]
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
\end{itemize}
- Appears one by one with the previous one disappears:
\begin{itemize}[<+>]
\item First
\item Second
\item Third
\end{itemize}
Tikz
Writing in Tikz could be painful if we don't follow a good structure/pattern. The most important principles are:
- Define the styles in a separate place and reuse them in the diagram.
- Use
scopeto group a series of related elements and give thescopea name, so that its position can be referenced like a node. For example,<scope>.center,<scope>.south, etc. - Always align two elements relatively as long as possible, rather than hard coding their absolute positions.
- Use
chainsfor aligning a chain of nodes (within ascopeortikzpicture) to avoid specifying alignment direction & distance in every node. - Use
calcfor programmatically assign position to a node.
- Use
- Use
\forloop and\newcommandto draw repeated elements.
Following these principles can make the Tikz diagram human-readable, maintainable, and, most importantly, elegant.
Include packages
\documentclass[10pt, border=5mm]{standalone}
\usepackage{amstext} % for text in math mode
\usepackage[dvipsnames]{xcolor} % for color names
\usepackage{tikz} % for drawing
\usepackage{pgf} % for key=value style command variables
\usepackage{pgfplots} % for plotting
\usetikzlibrary{
chains,
positioning,
calc,
fit,
arrows.meta,
shapes.geometric,
}
Define styles
\tikzset{
basicnode/.style = {
rectangle, rounded corners, minimum width=1.5cm, minimum height=0.5cm, text centered, align=center, draw=black, fill=blue!20
},
boundingbox/.style = {draw=black, dashed},
inputnode/.style = {draw=black, rounded corners, dashed, align=center},
postblc/.style = {basicnode, fill=yellow!20, minimum width=1cm},
clsblc/.style = {basicnode, fill=lightgray, minimum width=1cm},
connect/.style = {thick},
arrow/.style = {connect, ->, >=stealth},
joint/.style = {circle, thin, fill=lightgray, draw, minimum size=0.25cm, inner sep=0pt, outer sep=0pt, label=center:+},
}
Body
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture} [node distance=0cm]
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Scope
\begin{scope} [local bounding box=<id>, xshift=<>cm, yshift=<>cm]
...
\end{scope}
P.S. xshift and yshift shift the whole bounding box, making location adjustment much easier.
Alignment
Relative alignment
\node (<id>) [<style>, below=of <id>] {}
\node (<id>) [<style>, above=of <id>] {}
\node (<id>) [<style>, left=of <id>] {}
\node (<id>) [<style>, right=of <id>] {}
P.S. xshift & yshift for fine-grained adjustment.
P.S. Use label=<direction>:<text> to add label to a node. If multi-line is needed, use label=<direction>:{\parabox{<size>}{<text>}.
Chain
\begin{tikzpicture}[
start chain=1 going right,
start chain=2 going below,
node distance=5mm,
every node/.style=draw,
every on chain/.style={join=by arrow},
]
\node [on chain=1] {A};
\node [on chain=1] {B};
\node [on chain=1] {C};
\node [on chain=2] at (0.5,-.5) {0};
\node [on chain=2] {1};
\node [on chain=2] {2};
\node [on chain=1] {D};
\end{tikzpicture}
Calc
\node (A) at (0,0) {A};
\node (B) at ($(A) + (2,1)$) {B};
\node (C) at ($(C |- B)$) {D}; % (C_x, B_y)
\node (D) at ($(C -| B)$) {D}; % (C_y, B_x)
Fit
\node (<id>) [<style>, fit={(<id>) (<coord>) <...>}] {};
e.g.
\node [draw, dashed, fit={(vertex) (padded_vertex)}, label=above:Vertex Input] {};
Reusable stuff
\newcommand{\tikzdashbox}[1]{%
\tikz[baseline=(X.base)]{%
\node[draw, dashed, rounded corners, inner sep=5pt] (X) {#1};%
}%
}
New command & for loop
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand{\mycircle}[3]{
\node[circle, draw, fill=#1, minimum size=1cm] at (#2, #3) {};
}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\foreach \x in {0, 1, 2, 3} {
\foreach \y in {0, 1, 2} {
\mycircle{blue}{\x}{\y};
}
}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}
Typesetting engine selection in VS Code plugin
luatex
To use luatex in VS Code LaTeX plugin:
luatex - LuaLaTeX not recognised as a VS Code tool - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange
# .vscode/settings.json
"latex-workshop.latex.recipe.default": "latexmk (lualatex)",
xelatex
P.S. To use xelatex in VS Code LaTeX plugin:
xetex - How to use visual studio code LaTex Workshop with xelatex - TeX - LaTeX Stack Exchange
# .vscode/settings.json
"latex-workshop.latex.recipe.default": "latexmk (xelatex)",
.gitignore
# gitignore
.DS_Store
.idea/
log/
build/
*.aux
*.log
*.nav
*.out
*.snm
*.toc
*.synctex.gz
*.toc.vrb
*.vrb
*.bbl
*.bcf
*.run.xml
*.blg
*.pdf
*.sav
*.fdb_latexmk
*.fls
*.brf
*.docx
# ignore pdf files except for those in the figures/ folder
*.pdf
!figures/**/*.pdf
PDF postprocessing
Reducing PDF size
Downsize PDF files without image quality loss using Ghostscript:
gs \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-dCompatibilityLevel=1.6 \
-dNOPAUSE \
-dQUIET \
-dBATCH \
-dDetectDuplicateImages=true \
-dCompressFonts=true \
-dSubsetFonts=true \
-dDownsampleColorImages=false \
-dDownsampleGrayImages=false \
-dDownsampleMonoImages=false \
-sOutputFile=compressed.pdf \
main.pdf
If image compression is necessary:
gs \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-dCompatibilityLevel=1.6 \
-dNOPAUSE \
-dQUIET \
-dBATCH \
-dDetectDuplicateImages=true \
-dCompressFonts=true \
-dSubsetFonts=true \
-dDownsampleColorImages=true \
-dColorImageResolution=300 \
-dDownsampleGrayImages=true \
-dGrayImageResolution=300 \
-dDownsampleMonoImages=true \
-dMonoImageResolution=300 \
-sOutputFile=compressed.pdf \
main.pdf
P.S. gs is usually shipped with an Ubuntu Desktop system. On macOS, it is installed when you install MacTeX.
PDF page trimming
gs \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-dNOPAUSE \
-dQUIET \
-dBATCH \
-dFirstPage=1 \
-dLastPage=9 \
-sOutputFile=main.trimmed.pdf \
main.pdf
Example:
- Keep the main text (to page 9)
- Keep the appendix (from page 10)
gs \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-dNOPAUSE \
-dQUIET \
-dBATCH \
-dLastPage=9 \
-sOutputFile=main-paper.pdf \
main.pdf
gs \
-sDEVICE=pdfwrite \
-dNOPAUSE \
-dQUIET \
-dBATCH \
-dFirstPage=10 \
-sOutputFile=main-appendix.pdf \
main.pdf
Lastly updated: 2025-04-23