Section sign in LaTeX

The LaTeX command for section (§) is \S.

\S

Text Symbols · Unicode § (U+00A7) · no package needed

Writing a paper? The table generator and the BibTeX cleaner are one click away, no account.

Which command should you use?

Command	Package	Use it when
`\S` recommended	none	Section sign, in text or math.
`\S\,3.2`	none	Referring to a section, with a thin space.
`\textsection`	none	Explicit text-mode command.

Table 1. Ways to write section in LaTeX. Every line was compiled with pdfLaTeX (TeX Live 2026) loading only the package shown.

Write \S in normal text, outside math mode. It is part of core LaTeX, so no extra package is required.

Open this example in the live preview: it renders as you type, with no compiler and no signup.

Use \S in normal text; it needs no extra package. For example, \S.

None: \S is built into LaTeX, so no extra package is required.

Which command should you use?

Command	Package	Use it when
`\S` recommended	none	Section sign, in text or math.
`\S\,3.2`	none	Referring to a section, with a thin space.
`\textsection`	none	Explicit text-mode command.

Table 1. Ways to write section in LaTeX. Every line was compiled with pdfLaTeX (TeX Live 2026) loading only the package shown.