How to write prime “f′(x)” and double prime (x″) in LaTeX?

In LaTeX there are two ways to write the prime symbol above a character. In this tutorial, you will get all of these methods.

The table below lists the best methods for writing Prime, Double Prime, and Triple Prime in a LaTeX document.

Name	Command	Output
Prime	x^{\prime}
Double Prime	x^{\prime\prime}
Triple Prime	x^{\prime\prime\prime}

All of these commands work in LaTeX math mode.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

  $$ f^{\prime}(x) $$ 
  $$ f^{\prime\prime}(x) $$ 
  $$ f^{\prime\prime\prime}(x) $$ 

\end{document}

Output:

Get the Prime symbol from keyboard

Your keyboard also has a prime symbol key ', which you can also use in LaTeX. But the recommended method is to use the \prime command.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

  $$ \verb|x'| \rightarrow x' $$
  $$ f'(x) $$ 
  $$ f''(x) $$ 
  $$ f'''(x) $$

\end{document}

Output:

Create custom commands for Prime

In LaTeX, you can create your custom commands with \newcommand to write less code for your document. Take a look.

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\dprime}{^{\prime\prime}}
\newcommand{\tprime}{^{\prime\prime\prime}}
\begin{document}

Prime symbol with custom commands:
  $$ f^{\prime}(x) $$ 
  $$ f^{\dprime}(x) $$ 
  $$ f^{\tprime}(x) $$

\end{document}

Output:

Prime symbol in LaTeX text mode

To write the prime symbol in LaTeX text mode you can use the \textprime command provided by the flexisym package.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{flexisym}
\begin{document}

\noindent Prime symbol in text mode:\\[6pt]
Prime: a\textprime\\[4pt]
Double Prime: a\textprime\textprime\\[4pt]
Triple Prime: a\textprime\textprime\textprime

\end{document}

Output:

Also, you can use $^\prime$ in inline math mode, or with the \newcommand and \ensuremath{'} command you can create a custom command for every mode (text and math). The \ensuremath command does only switch to math mode if math mode is not already active.

\documentclass{article}
\newcommand{\allmodeprime}{\ensuremath{'}}
\begin{document}

Prime symbol in inline math mode: $a^\prime$

Prime symbol in inline math mode: $a\allmodeprime$

Prime symbol in text mode: a\allmodeprime 

Prime symbol in display math mode: 
  $$a\allmodeprime$$

\end{document}

Output:

Prime symbol with stix package

The stix package also provides some commands to get prime, double prime, and triple prime symbols in LaTeX.

Name	Command	Output
Prime	$f^{\prime}(x)$
Double Prime	$f^{\dprime}(x)$
Triple Prime	$f^{\trprime}(x)$
Quadruple Prime	$f^{\qprime}(x)$