How to Remove Section Numbering in LaTeX?

You want to remove the numbers before section titles in LaTeX, right? No worries! I will explain everything in a very simple way.

Let’s go step by step. First, I will explain how section numbering works in LaTeX, then I will show you different methods to remove it, and finally, I will give some examples so that you can understand it clearly.

How does section numbering work in LaTeX?

By default, LaTeX automatically adds numbers to section and its sub-sections. Look at this code.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

 \section{Introduction}
   \subsection{Background}
     \subsubsection{Motivation}

\end{document}

As you can see, each section has a number. \subsection{} and \subsubsection{} also have numbers.

But if we don’t want these numbers, we need to remove them using some tricks.

1.Use * symbol with section command

The easiest way to remove numbers is by using * (asterisk) in the section command.

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}

\section*{Introduction}
\subsection*{Background}
\subsubsection*{Motivation}

\end{document}

The numbers are gone! But there is one problem—these sections will not appear in the Table of Contents (TOC).

2.Use \renewcommand\thesection{}

Another way is to redefine how LaTeX handles section numbering using \renewcommand.

\documentclass{article}

\renewcommand\thesection{}  % Remove section numbers
\renewcommand\thesubsection{}
\renewcommand\thesubsubsection{}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
\subsection{Background}
\subsubsection{Motivation}

\end{document}

This method is more advanced, but it works well.

3.Use \titleformat{} for Customization

If you want more control over section titles, use the titlesec package.

\usepackage{titlesec}
....
\titleformat{\section}{\normalfont\Large\bfseries}{}{0pt}{}
\titleformat{\subsection}{\normalfont\large\bfseries}{}{0pt}{}

Now, section numbers are gone, and you can customize the style too!

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\titleformat{\section}{\normalfont\Large\bfseries}{}{0pt}{}
\titleformat{\subsection}{\normalfont\large\bfseries}{}{0pt}{}

\begin{document}

\section{Introduction}
\subsection{Background}
\subsubsection{Motivation}

\end{document}