# \*

Rare explicit insertion of an otherwise invisible multiplication operator between factors, with × available as the line-break surrogate.

https://texform.dev/latex/commands/-star

## Metadata

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Topic | [Binary operators](https://texform.dev/latex/topics/binary-operators) |
| Packages | base |
| Allowed mode | math |
| Tags | invisible, spacing |
| Commonality | low |
| Kind | prefix |

## Syntax

### base

Argument specification: ``

Rare explicit insertion of an otherwise invisible multiplication operator between factors, with × available as the line-break surrogate.

## Examples

```latex
a \* b
```

[Open in Playground](https://play.texform.dev/?input=a+%5C*+b)

```latex
x\*y
```

[Open in Playground](https://play.texform.dev/?input=x%5C*y)

## Renderer support

| Package | MathJax | KaTeX | XeTeX |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| base | full | none | full |

## Usage frequency

0.01% of formulas in the measured corpus contain this entry, rank 163 of 263 entries with frequency data.

## In TeXForm

TeXForm parses this entry as prefix syntax; the package determines its argument specification.

## Test cases

### base

| Input | Case | MathJax | KaTeX | XeTeX |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| \* | Positive: baseline | Pass | Fail | Pass |