TeXipedia

textless

Renders a less-than symbol (<) as regular text rather than a mathematical relation.

Overview

Provides a typographically correct way to display the less-than character in regular text contexts, particularly useful in technical documentation and computer science writing.

  • Commonly used when describing programming syntax or HTML tags
  • Preferred over the direct < character for better typography and document consistency
  • Often paired with \textgreater for balanced appearance in technical content
  • Essential for writing documentation that includes XML, HTML, or programming examples

Examples

Comparing a variable to a threshold value in an equation.

x<5x \text{\textless} 5 
x \text{\textless} 5

Defining a set using less than notation.

S={x∈R:x<10}S = \{x \in \mathbb{R} : x \text{\textless} 10\} 
S = \{x \in \mathbb{R} : x \text{\textless} 10\}

Expressing a system constraint in mathematical notation.

Temperature<100∘C\text{Temperature} \text{\textless} 100^{\circ}\text{C} 
\text{Temperature} \text{\textless} 100^{\circ}\text{C}