Command reference

\documentclass

First line of every LabTeX file. The option picks the layout: article, ieee, journal, arxiv or report (see Layouts below). Exported .tex files use a standard LaTeX class instead.

In the editor: Layout menu in the top bar, or Document → Layout.

\documentclass[ieee]{labtex}

\title

The paper title. Formulas and formatting are allowed.

In the editor: Click the title on the sheet and type.

\title{Resonance in the Driven Oscillator}

\author

One author. The optional argument lists affiliation numbers, separated by commas; they appear as superscripts when there is more than one affiliation. Repeat for each author, in order.

In the editor: Click the author line, or Document → Authors.

\title{A Short Note}
\author[1,2]{Ada Lindqvist}
\author[2]{Mei Chen}
\affiliation[1]{Example University}
\affiliation[2]{Example Institute}

\email

E-mail address of the author just before it. Shown under the affiliations; a footnote (\thanks) in the .tex export.

In the editor: Document → Authors → email.

\title{A Short Note}
\author{Ada Lindqvist}\email{ada@example.org}

\affiliation

An institution, numbered so that authors can refer to it.

In the editor: Document → Affiliations.

\title{A Short Note}
\author[1]{Ada Lindqvist}
\affiliation[1]{Department of Physics, Example University}

\date

Date line under the authors. Leave it out (or empty) for no date.

In the editor: Document → Date.

\title{A Short Note}
\date{October 2026}

\keywords

Keywords after the abstract. The IEEE-like layout calls them Index Terms.

In the editor: Type in the Keywords line under the abstract.

\title{A Short Note}
\keywords{resonance, damping, oscillators}

abstract

The abstract. Each layout styles it differently: indented (article), bold run-in (IEEE), bold lead paragraph (journal), shaded summary (report).

In the editor: Click the abstract on the sheet and type.

\title{A Short Note}
\begin{abstract}
We show that two numbers describe every response of a damped oscillator.
\end{abstract}

document

Wraps the body. \maketitle marks where the title block goes; LabTeX always puts it at the top.

\begin{document}
\maketitle
…
\end{document}

\newcommand

Your own macro, usable in every formula and kept in the .tex export. #1, #2 … stand for arguments. \DeclareMathOperator{\op}{name} also works.

In the editor: Document → Macros.

\newcommand{\R}{\mathbb{R}}
\newcommand{\norm}[1]{\lVert #1 \rVert}

For $x \in \R^n$ the length is $\norm{x}$.

\section

A numbered section.

In the editor: Type “# ” at the start of an empty paragraph, or pick Section in the style menu.

\section{Introduction}
Oscillators are everywhere.

\subsection

A numbered subsection.

In the editor: Type “## ”, or pick Subsection.

\section{Theory}
\subsection{Free response}
Without forcing, the motion decays.

\subsubsection

Third heading level.

In the editor: Type “### ”, or pick Subsubsection.

\subsubsection{Light damping}
The envelope decays slowly.

\section*

Unnumbered heading (same for subsection* and subsubsection*), e.g. for Acknowledgements.

In the editor: Block menu ⋮⋮ → Unnumbered.

\section*{Acknowledgements}
We thank the reviewers.

paragraph

A blank line starts a new paragraph. Lines without a blank line between them join into one paragraph.

In the editor: Press Enter.

First paragraph, which goes on
over two source lines.

Second paragraph.

\\

Line break inside a paragraph (rarely needed).

In the editor: Shift + Enter.

First line\\ second line.

\newpage

Start a new page in the compiled pages and in LaTeX.

In the editor: Insert → Page break.

\newpage

%

Everything after % on a line is ignored. Write \% for a percent sign.

% TODO: add the measurements
Accuracy improved by 12\%.

\emph

Emphasis (italic). \textit{…} is the same.

In the editor: Ctrl/⌘ + I, or the I button.

This is \emph{important}.

\textbf

Bold.

In the editor: Ctrl/⌘ + B.

This is \textbf{bold}.

\texttt

Typewriter (monospaced) text, for code and file names.

In the editor: Ctrl/⌘ + E, or the tt button.

Run \texttt{latexmk -pdf main.tex}.

\underline

Underlined text.

An \underline{underlined} word.

\textsc

Small capitals.

The \textsc{Hubble} telescope.

\textsuperscript

Raised or lowered text outside math.

The 1\textsuperscript{st} and H\textsubscript{2}O.

\href

A link with its own text. Opens in a new tab in exported HTML; clickable in the PDF.

In the editor: Ctrl/⌘ + K, or the link button.

See the \href{https://ronbakker.com/mathlab/}{MathLab page}.

\url

A link that shows the address itself.

Data: \url{https://example.org/data.csv}

\footnote

A numbered footnote. On the compiled pages it goes to the bottom of the page where it is cited.

In the editor: Note button (x¹), then type the note.

Two numbers suffice.\footnote{We use $\zeta$; some texts use $Q = 1/(2\zeta)$.}

quotes, dashes

TeX quotes and dashes: `` and '' give curly quotes, -- an en dash (ranges), --- an em dash. Typing the characters “ ” – — directly works too.

``Resonance'' appears in pages 12--14---and elsewhere.

~

A tie: a space where the line may not break. Use it before references and citations.

As shown in Figure~\ref{fig:a}.

special characters

Characters that mean something in LaTeX need a backslash. In the Write view just type them; LabTeX escapes them for you.

Costs fell 40\% at R\&D \#3 (file \texttt{run\_2}).

accents

Accented letters the TeX way, as found in BibTeX files. Typing é, ö, ñ directly works too.

G\"odel, Poincar\'e and Gau\ss.

\LaTeX

The logos.

Written in \LabTeX, exported to \LaTeX.

\ldots

Ellipsis (…).

One, two, \ldots

itemize

A bulleted list. Each \item is one point.

In the editor: Type “- ” at the start of a paragraph. Enter on an empty item ends the list.

\begin{itemize}
  \item closed-form solutions;
  \item two live figures;
  \item a table of results.
\end{itemize}

enumerate

A numbered list.

In the editor: Type “1. ” at the start of a paragraph.

\begin{enumerate}
  \item Measure the period.
  \item Fit the decay.
\end{enumerate}

description

Read as a bulleted list with the term in bold.

\begin{description}
  \item[Damping] loss of energy per cycle.
\end{description}

$ … $

A formula inside the text.

In the editor: Type $x^2$ — it turns into a formula when you type the closing $. Or Ctrl/⌘ + M for the formula editor: build it visually (/ fraction, ^ power, _ index, Tab next box) or pick from the palette. Click a formula to edit it.

The energy $E = \tfrac12 kx^2$ is stored in the spring.

equation

A numbered display equation. Numbers follow the order in the paper; \label gives it a name for \eqref.

In the editor: Equation button (∑), Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + M, or type $$ and Enter on an empty line. Click it to edit it visually, with the palette, or as LaTeX.

\begin{equation}\label{eq:motion}
  m\ddot{x} + c\dot{x} + kx = F_0 \cos(\omega t)
\end{equation}

equation*

A display equation without a number.

In the editor: Untick Numbered in the equation editor.

\[
  Q \approx \frac{1}{2\zeta}
\]

multi-line

Inside an equation, \\ breaks the line and & marks where the lines align. LabTeX wraps the lines in an aligned block with one number, as amsmath does.

In the editor: ＋ Line in the formula editor, or Shift + Enter.

\begin{equation}
  \frac{Xk}{F_0} &= \frac{1}{\sqrt{(1-r^2)^2 + (2\zeta r)^2}} \\
  \tan\varphi &= \frac{2\zeta r}{1-r^2}
\end{equation}

align

amsmath’s align, gather and multline (and their * forms) are understood too and exported unchanged.

\begin{align*}
  (a+b)^2 &= a^2 + 2ab + b^2
\end{align*}

matrices, cases

Matrices (pmatrix, bmatrix, vmatrix) and piecewise definitions work inside any formula.

\[
  A = \begin{pmatrix} 0 & 1 \\ -\omega_0^2 & -2\zeta\omega_0 \end{pmatrix}, \quad
  u(x) = \begin{cases} 1 & x > 0 \\ 0 & \text{otherwise} \end{cases}
\]

common symbols

Fractions, roots, sums, integrals, derivatives, blackboard bold (\mathbb{R}), upright text (\mathrm{d}x), vectors and hats — everything standard LaTeX math has.

$\int_0^\infty e^{-x^2}\,\mathrm{d}x = \tfrac{\sqrt{\pi}}{2}$ and $\nabla\cdot\vec{E} = \rho/\varepsilon_0$.

\label

Name the section, equation, figure or table it is in (or just after). Equations, figures and tables get a label automatically when you insert them.

In the editor: Ref. name field in the equation, figure or table editor; for sections, the block menu ⋮⋮ → Add a label. Shown as a small “ref:” tag beside the block while you point at it; never printed.

\section{Method}\label{sec:method}
See Section~\ref{sec:method}.

\ref

The number of what the label names: 2, 3.1, II-A, IV …

In the editor: Ref button (§), then pick from the list of labels.

\begin{table}
\caption{Results}\label{tab:res}
\begin{tabular}{cc}
a & b \\
\end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table~\ref{tab:res} lists the results.

\eqref

An equation number in parentheses: (2).

\begin{equation}\label{eq:e}
E = mc^2
\end{equation}
From \eqref{eq:e} the energy follows.

\autoref

The number with its name in front: Figure 2, Section 3, Eq. (4).

\section{Results}\label{sec:res}
As \autoref{sec:res} shows …

\cite

Cite one or more references: [1], [2–4] in numbered layouts, a superscript in the journal layout, (Author, 2020) in the arXiv layout.

In the editor: Cite button ([1]) or Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + C, then tick entries; or type \cite{key}. Click a citation to change it.

Oscillators are everywhere \cite{goldstein2002}.

\begin{filecontents*}{refs.bib}
@book{goldstein2002,
  author = {Herbert Goldstein and Charles Poole and John Safko},
  title = {Classical Mechanics}, publisher = {Addison-Wesley}, year = {2002}, edition = {3}
}
\end{filecontents*}

\citep

Parenthetical citation: (Strogatz, 2015) in author–year layouts; same as \cite in numbered ones.

Phase portraits help \citep{strogatz2015}.

\begin{filecontents*}{refs.bib}
@book{strogatz2015, author = {Steven H. Strogatz}, title = {Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos}, publisher = {Westview Press}, year = {2015}}
\end{filecontents*}

\citet

Textual citation, the author as part of the sentence: Strogatz (2015), or Strogatz [1] in numbered layouts.

\citet{strogatz2015} gives a geometric view.

\begin{filecontents*}{refs.bib}
@book{strogatz2015, author = {Steven H. Strogatz}, title = {Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos}, publisher = {Westview Press}, year = {2015}}
\end{filecontents*}

\cite[note]

Adds a page, chapter or other note to the citation: [1, p. 42].

In the editor: The note field in the cite picker.

See \cite[ch.~3]{strogatz2015}.

\begin{filecontents*}{refs.bib}
@book{strogatz2015, author = {Steven H. Strogatz}, title = {Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos}, publisher = {Westview Press}, year = {2015}}
\end{filecontents*}

\nocite

List a reference without citing it in the text; \nocite{*} lists the whole library.

\nocite{*}

filecontents*

The BibTeX library, kept inside the document. LaTeX writes it out as refs.bib when it compiles, so the .tex file is self-contained.

In the editor: References panel: paste BibTeX, look up a DOI, or import a .bib file.

\begin{filecontents*}[overwrite]{refs.bib}
@article{harris2020,
  author  = {Charles R. Harris and K. Jarrod Millman and others},
  title   = {Array programming with {NumPy}},
  journal = {Nature}, volume = {585}, pages = {357--362}, year = {2020},
  doi     = {10.1038/s41586-020-2649-2}
}
\end{filecontents*}

BibTeX entries

Entry types LabTeX formats. Fields used: author (names joined with “and”; “and others” gives et al.), title, journal or booktitle, publisher, school, institution, year, volume, number, pages, edition, doi, eprint (arXiv id), url, note. Protect capitals in titles with braces: {NumPy}.

@inproceedings{key,
  author    = {Last, First and Other, Second},
  title     = {Title with {DNA} in capitals},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of the Conference},
  pages     = {1--10},
  year      = {2024}
}

\bibliography

Where the reference list goes: always at the end. The style comes from the layout: IEEE-like, Nature-like or author–year.

\bibliography{refs}

thebibliography

Hand-written reference lists from older papers are imported as library entries whose text is used as is.

\begin{thebibliography}{9}
\bibitem{knuth} D. E. Knuth, \emph{The \TeX book}, 1984.
\end{thebibliography}

figure

A numbered figure with a caption. On the compiled pages it floats like in LaTeX: if it does not fit where it is, the text continues and the figure goes to the next column or page.

In the editor: Figure button, or Insert → MathLab figure.

\begin{figure}
  \begin{mathlab}[aspect=0.5]
    x = linspace(0, 4*pi, 300);
    plot(x, sin(x) .* exp(-x/6), 'LineWidth', 1.5)
    xlabel('t'), grid on
  \end{mathlab}
  \caption{A damped oscillation.}\label{fig:damped}
\end{figure}

mathlab

MathLab code inside a figure. aspect is height ÷ width (0.3–1.2); t is the time for animated scripts (animate(…)). Any MathLab function works — plot, surf, contourf, histogram, ode45 … — see the MathLab function reference.

In the editor: Click ‹/› Code on the figure. “Edit in MathLab ↗” opens the code in MathLab; “Use a MathLab link…” pastes in a share link.

\begin{figure}
  \begin{mathlab}[aspect=0.6]
    [X, Y] = meshgrid(linspace(-2, 2, 40));
    surf(X, Y, exp(-X.^2 - Y.^2))
    colormap viridis
  \end{mathlab}
  \caption{A Gaussian bump.}
\end{figure}

figure*

In two-column layouts: a figure across both columns, placed at the top of the next page (as in LaTeX).

In the editor: Tick Full width in the figure editor.

\begin{figure*}
  \begin{mathlab}[aspect=0.3] … \end{mathlab}
  \caption{Wide figure.}
\end{figure*}

\includegraphics

An image figure from a web address (PNG, JPG or SVG). In the .tex export it is included if a file with the same name sits next to main.tex.

In the editor: Insert → Image figure, then paste the address.

\begin{figure}
  \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{https://example.org/photo.jpg}
  \caption{A photograph.}
\end{figure}

\caption

The caption. Numbered “Figure 1:” or “Fig. 1.” depending on the layout. Formulas, citations and references are allowed.

In the editor: Click under the figure and type.

\caption{Response for $\zeta = 0.1$, as in \eqref{eq:amp}.}

style()

Figures follow the layout automatically (ieee, nature or paper style). Put your own style(…) call in the code to override it.

style('paper')
plot(1:10, (1:10).^2)

table

A numbered table with its caption above it (TABLE I in the IEEE layout). Rules are drawn in the booktabs style.

In the editor: Table button. Tab moves to the next cell (and adds a row at the end); the table toolbar adds and removes rows and columns.

\begin{table}
  \caption{Resonance properties}\label{tab:res}
  \begin{tabular}{ccc}
    \toprule
    $\zeta$ & $r_\mathrm{peak}$ & $Q$ \\
    \midrule
    0.1 & 0.990 & 5.0 \\
    0.2 & 0.959 & 2.5 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
\end{table}

tabular

The grid: one letter per column — l (left), c (centre), r (right). & separates cells, \\ ends a row.

In the editor: Align field in the table toolbar.

\begin{tabular}{lr}
  Name & Value \\
  Mass & 2.0 \\
\end{tabular}

rules

A rule after the first row makes it the header row. Top and bottom rules are always drawn.

In the editor: Header row checkbox.

\toprule
A & B \\
\midrule

table*

A table across both columns in two-column layouts.

In the editor: Full width checkbox.

\begin{table*} … \end{table*}

verbatim

Code or text shown exactly as typed, in a monospaced font. lstlisting and minted blocks are read the same way.

In the editor: Insert → Code listing, or type ``` and Enter.

\begin{verbatim}
for k = 1:10
  disp(k)
end
\end{verbatim}

raw LaTeX

Environments LabTeX does not know (tikzpicture, algorithm, theorem …) are kept as raw LaTeX blocks: shown as source in the editor, left out of the compiled pages, and exported to .tex unchanged.

In the editor: Insert → Raw LaTeX.

\begin{theorem}
Every bounded monotone sequence converges.
\end{theorem}

unknown commands

Inline commands LabTeX does not know are kept as small purple LaTeX chips and exported unchanged.

Units: \SI{9.81}{m/s^2}.

article

Single column on A4, 11 pt, like LaTeX’s article class. Numbered citations [1], sections 1, 1.1.

\documentclass[article]{labtex}

ieee

Two columns on US Letter, 10 pt, IEEE-like: roman section numbers (I. INTRODUCTION), “Abstract—” and “Index Terms—”, Fig. 1., TABLE I, IEEE reference style.

\documentclass[ieee]{labtex}

journal

Nature-like journal article on A4: two columns, sans-serif headings without numbers, a bold lead abstract, superscript citations and Nature reference style.

\documentclass[journal]{labtex}

arxiv

Preprint on US Letter: single 5.5-inch column, title between rules, author–year citations (natbib style) and an alphabetical reference list.

\documentclass[arxiv]{labtex}

report

Letter or report on A4: wide margins, sans-serif headings, left-aligned title block and a shaded summary.

\documentclass[report]{labtex}

/

Opens the block menu: section, list, equation, figure, table, code, raw LaTeX, page break.

# ## ###

At the start of a paragraph: turn it into a section, subsection or subsubsection.

- 1.

Start a bulleted or numbered list.

$$ ↵

Turn an empty line into a display equation. ``` then Enter makes a code block.

Ctrl/⌘ + M

Inline formula; with Shift, a display equation.

Ctrl/⌘ + B, I, E, K

Bold, emphasis, typewriter, link.

Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + C

Cite.

Ctrl/⌘ + Z

Undo and redo, across blocks.

Ctrl/⌘ + 1, 2, 3

Switch to Write, Pages or Source.

Ctrl/⌘ + S

Save as a .labtex file on your computer; in Chrome and Edge later changes then save to that file automatically. Drafts are also kept in the browser.

Ctrl/⌘ + O

Open a .labtex, .tex or .bib file (or drop one onto the window).

Ctrl/⌘ + P

Compile and open the print dialog: choose “Save as PDF”.

Ctrl/⌘ + Enter

Close the equation editor; re-run the figure code.

Backspace

Joins a paragraph with the one above; turns a heading or list item back into a paragraph.