Is there a reason why I should not make use of commands such as \bf to bold my text instead of the "standard" ones?

Question

The question arose eversince I learnt about \textbf{} and I couldn't quite spot any differences against \bf.

Actually \bf is more akin to \bfseries than \textbf. But there are good reasons to stick with the latter constructs, as many will point out. — Steven B. Segletes, Oct 02 '21 at 13:44
@StevenB.Segletes Rookie question, How do you highlight (if that's the right word in this case) like you did the aforementioned commands? — Lambert, Oct 02 '21 at 13:46
\bf is not defined by default in latex and has not been since 1993, so unless you are using a very old format it is best to stick to the standard commands. — David Carlisle, Oct 02 '21 at 13:51
@Lambert Use backticks `` to format code. By placing "\bf" between single backticks you will get \bf. — The Amplitwist, Oct 02 '21 at 13:51
The answer to "Correct" way to bold/italicize text? may also be worth having a look at. — leandriis, Oct 02 '21 at 13:52

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 02 '21 at 13:57

\bf has not been defined by default since LaTeX2e was introduced in 1993. Some classes may define it for compatibility with old documents but that can not be assumed.

\documentclass{minimal}
\begin{document}
this \textbf{that}
\end{document}

But

\documentclass{minimal}
\begin{document}
this {\bf that}
\end{document}

produces the error

! Undefined control sequence.
l.5 this {\bf
              that}
?

Even when it is defined, the behaviour is not the same as \textbf as it ignores the current font settings:

Note that that is not italic here, but \textbf gives bold italic in an italic context.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\itshape
this {\bf that} \textbf{the other}
\end{document}

Is there a reason why I should not make use of commands such as \bf to bold my text instead of the "standard" ones?

1 Answers1

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