Bullet in LaTeX (\bullet)

Where it is used

Filled round dot as a binary operator, used for placeholders, generic products and graded objects.

Category theory and homological algebra use \bullet as an index placeholder, as in C_\bullet for a chain complex and H^\bullet for total cohomology. It is also a stand-in argument, f(\bullet, y), and an operation symbol in algebra. Bullet points in itemize lists are produced by \textbullet, not by math \bullet. Compared with \cdot, it is larger and heavier; \cdot is the right choice for ordinary multiplication or dot products. As a binary operator it gets medium spacing, so as a placeholder in f(\bullet) the spacing is fine since it has no left operand.

Minimal compilable example

Paste this into an empty .tex file and compile it with pdfLaTeX, XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
Bullet: $\bullet$

\[ H^{\bullet}(X) = \bigoplus_{n \ge 0} H^{n}(X) \]
\end{document}

Related symbols

• Diamond\diamond
• Composition\circ
• Big Circle\bigcirc
• Asterisk\ast
• Triangle Up\triangle
• Star\star

Frequently asked questions

How do I write Bullet in LaTeX?

Type \bullet in math mode, for example $H^{\bullet}(X) = \bigoplus_{n \ge 0} H^{n}(X)$. It works in plain LaTeX without loading any package.

Which package do I need for \bullet?

None. \bullet is part of standard LaTeX, so it compiles with nothing in the preamble but the document class.

Can I use \bullet in text mode, or only in math mode?

Only in math mode. Outside $...$ LaTeX stops with "Missing $ inserted", so write $\bullet$ in running text. If you only need the glyph in text, paste the Unicode character ∙ instead (with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX and a font that has it).