The following characters play a special role in LaTeX and are called
special printing characters, or simply special characters.
# $ % & ~ _ ^ \ { }
Whenever you put one of these special characters into your file, you
are doing something special, as described below.
If you simply want the character to be
printed just as any other letter, include a \ in front of the
character. For example, \$ will produce $ in your output.
Exceptions to this rule:
\ itself because
\\ has its own
special meaning. Use $\backslash$.
The backslash and braces are used in
command definitions, for enclosing
command arguments, and for delimiting scopes of
declarations.
See also Input to LaTeX
Return to the LaTeX Table of Contents
Revised: Sheldon Green, 15 Jul 1995.