Italic text in LaTeX

Use \textit{} or \emph{} for italic text in LaTeX.

This is \textit{italic text} in LaTeX.

The \textit command

\textit{} switches the font to its italic variant regardless of context. The text inside the braces will always be italic.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

This is normal text, and \textit{this part is italic}.

\end{document}

\emph vs \textit

\emph{} is semantically smarter: it toggles italic. If you use it inside already-italic text, it switches back to upright — the correct behaviour for emphasis in most contexts.

This is \emph{emphasized} text.

\textit{In italic context, \emph{this} reverts to upright.}

Prefer \emph for emphasis and \textit when you specifically want the italic shape (e.g., titles, technical terms).

Italic in math mode

Math mode automatically italicises variables. For upright text inside equations use \mathrm{}, and for italic text labels use \mathit{}.

\begin{equation}
  v = \mathit{velocity}     % italic text in math
\end{equation}

\begin{equation}
  F = m \cdot \mathrm{a}   % upright text in math
\end{equation}

Combining with bold

\textbf{\textit{Bold italic text}}

% Or use 	extbf and emph together
\textbf{\emph{Also bold italic}}

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