Delimiters (LaTeX2e unofficial reference manual (November 2018))

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#### 16.2.5 Delimiters

Delimiters are parentheses, braces, or other characters used to mark the start and end of subformulas. This formula has three sets of parentheses delimiting the three subformulas.

    (z-z_0)^2 = (x-x_0)^2 + (y-y_0)^2

The delimiters do not need to match, so you can enter `\( [0,1) \)`.

These are the common delimiters.

Delimiter | Command | Name
--- | --- | ---
( | `(` | Left parenthesis
) | `)` | Right parenthesis
\} | `{` or `\lbrace` | Left brace
\{ | `}` or `\rbrace` | Right brace
[ | `[` or `\lbrack` | Left bracket
] | `]` or `\rbrack` | Right bracket
⌊ | `\lfloor` | Left floor bracket
⌋ | `\rfloor` | Right floor bracket
⌈ | `\lceil` | Left ceiling bracket
⌉ | `\rceil` | Right ceiling bracket
⟨ | `\langle` | Left angle bracket
⟩ | `\rangle` | Right angle bracket
/ | `/` | Slash, or forward slash
\ | `\backslash` | Reverse slash, or backslash
| | `|` or `\vert` | Vertical bar
‖ | `\|` or `\Vert` | Double vertical bar

The `mathtools` package allows you to create commands for paired delimiters. For instance, if you put `\DeclarePairedDelimiter\abs{\lvert}{\rvert}` in your preamble then you get two commands for single-line vertical bars (they only work in math mode). The starred version, such as `\abs*{\frac{22}{7}}`, has the height of the vertical bars match the height of the argument. The unstarred version, such as `\abs{\frac{22}{7}}`, has the bars fixed at a default height. This version accepts an optional argument, as in `\abs[size command]{\frac{22}{7}}`, where the height of the bars is given in size command, such as `\Bigg`.

Unofficial LaTeX2e reference manual