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)