The following type style commands are supported by LaTeX.
In the table below the listed commands, the \text... commands,
are used with an argument as in \textit{text}. This is
the preferred form. But shown after it in parenthesis is the
corresponding declaration form, which is often useful. This
form takes no arguments, as in {\itshape text}. The
scope of the declaration form lasts until the next type style command
or the end of the current group. In addition, each has an environment
form such as \begin{itshape}...\end{itshape}, which we’ll
describe further at the end of the section.
These commands, in any of the three forms, are cumulative; for instance
you can get bold sans serif by saying either of
\sffamily\bfseries or \bfseries\sffamily.
One advantage of these commands is that they automatically insert italic
corrections if needed (see \/). Specifically, they insert the
italic correction unless the following character is in the list
\nocorrlist, which by default consists of period and comma.
To suppress the automatic insertion of italic correction, use
\nocorr at the start or end of the command argument, such as
\textit{\nocorr text} or \textsc{text \nocorr}.
\textrm (\rmfamily) ¶Roman.
\textit (\itshape) ¶Italics.
\textmd (\mdseries) ¶Medium weight (default).
\textbf (\bfseries) ¶Boldface.
\textup (\upshape) ¶Upright (default).
\textsl (\slshape) ¶Slanted.
\textsf (\sffamily) ¶Sans serif.
\textsc (\scshape) ¶Small caps.
\texttt (\ttfamily) ¶Typewriter.
\textnormal (\normalfont) ¶Main document font.
Although it also changes fonts, the \emph{text} command
is semantic, for text to be emphasized, and should not be used as a
substitute for \textit. For example, \emph{start
text \emph{middle text} end text} will result in the
start text and end text in italics, but middle text
will be in roman.
LaTeX also provides the following commands, which unconditionally
switch to the given style, that is, are not cumulative. They are
used as declarations: {\cmd...} instead of
\cmd{...}.
(The unconditional commands below are an older version of font switching. The earlier commands are an improvement in most circumstances. But sometimes an unconditional font switch is what is needed.)
\bf ¶Switch to bold face.
\cal ¶Switch to calligraphic letters for math.
\it ¶Italics.
\rm ¶Roman.
\sc ¶Small caps.
\sf ¶Sans serif.
\sl ¶Slanted (oblique).
\tt ¶Typewriter (monospace, fixed-width).
The \em command is the unconditional version of \emph.
The following commands are for use in math mode. They are not
cumulative, so \mathbf{\mathit{symbol}} does not
create a boldface and italic symbol; instead, it will just be in
italics. This is because typically math symbols need consistent
typographic treatment, regardless of the surrounding environment.
\mathrm ¶Roman, for use in math mode.
\mathbf ¶Boldface, for use in math mode.
\mathsf ¶Sans serif, for use in math mode.
\mathtt ¶Typewriter, for use in math mode.
\mathit(\mit)Italics, for use in math mode.
\mathnormal ¶For use in math mode, e.g., inside another type style declaration.
\mathcal ¶Calligraphic letters, for use in math mode.
In addition, the command \mathversion{bold} can be used for
switching to bold letters and symbols in
formulas. \mathversion{normal} restores the default.
Finally, the command \oldstylenums{numerals} will
typeset so-called “old-style” numerals, which have differing heights
and depths (and sometimes widths) from the standard “lining”
numerals, which all have the same height as uppercase letters.
LaTeX’s default fonts support this, and will respect \textbf
(but not other styles; there are no italic old-style numerals in
Computer Modern). Many other fonts have old-style numerals also;
sometimes package options are provided to make them the default. FAQ
entry: https://www.texfaq.org/FAQ-osf.