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Selection commands

There are commands to set attributes one at a time:
Command Attribute Value in article class, 10pt
\textrm{..} or \rmfamily family cmr
\textsf{..} or \sffamily family cmss
\texttt{..} or \ttfamily family cmtt
\textmd{..} or \mdseries series m
\textbf{..} or \bfseries series bx
\textup{..} or \upshape shape n
\textit{..} or \itshape shape it
\textsl{..} or \slshape shape sl
\textsc{..} or \scshape shape sc
\tiny size 5pt
\scriptsize size 7pt
\footnotesize size 8pt
\small size 9pt
\normalsize size 10pt
\large size 12pt
\Large size 14.4pt
\LARGE size 17.28pt
\huge size 20.74pt
\Huge size 24.88pt

The low-level commands used to change font attributes are as follows.

\fontencoding{encoding}
\fontfamily{family}
\fontseries{series}
\fontshape{shape}
\fontsize{size}{baselineskip}

Each of these commands sets one of the font attributes; \fontsize also sets \baselineskip. The actual font in use is not altered by these commands, but the current attributes are used to determine which font to use after the next \selectfont command.

\selectfont selects a text font, based on the current values of the font attributes. There must be a \selectfont command immediately after any settings of the font parameters by (some of) the five \font<parameter> commands, before any following text. For example, it is legal to say:

   \fontfamily{ptm}\fontseries{b}\selectfont Some text.
to select bold Times Roman, but it is not legal to say:
   \fontfamily{ptm} Some \fontseries{b}\selectfont text.

\usefont{encoding}{family}{series}{shape}

is short hand for the equivalent \font... commands followed by\selectfont.


next up previous contents
Next: Environments Up: Color and Fonts Previous: Font attributes
© Cambridge University Engineering Dept
Information provided by Tim Love
2006-08-30