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Info file ../info/texinfo, produced by Makeinfo, -*- Text -*- from input file texinfo.texinfo. This file documents Texinfo, a documentation system that uses a single source file to produce both on-line help and a printed manual. This is edition 1.1 of the Texinfo documentation, and is for the Texinfo that is distributed as part of Version 18 of GNU Emacs. Copyright (C) 1988 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved by the Foundation. File: texinfo, Node: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups, Prev: Refilling & Noindent, Up: Formatting Paragraphs Breaks, Blank Lines and Groups ============================== Texinfo has several commands for making blank lines, for forcing paragraph and page breaks in the printed manual and for preventing text from running from one page to the next. `@*' Force a line break in the printed manual. This command has no effect on the Info file. `@sp' Generate blank lines in both the printed manual and in the Info file. `@br' Force a paragraph break in the printed manual. This command has no effect on the Info file. `@w' Prevent text from being split across two lines in the printed manual. This command has no effect on the Info file. `@page' Start a new page in the printed manual. This command has no effect on the Info file. `@group' Hold text together that must appear on one printed page. This command has no effect on the Info file. `@need' Start a new printed page if required space not on this one. This command has no effect on the Info file. * Menu: * Line Breaks:: Force a line break in the printed manual. * Sp:: Generate blank lines. * Br:: Force a paragraph break in the printed manual. * W:: Prevent a paragraph break in the printed manual. * Page:: Start a new page in the printed manual. * Group:: Hold text together that must appear on one printed page. * Need:: Start a new printed page if required space not on this one. File: texinfo, Node: Line Breaks, Next: Sp, Prev: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @* -- `@*' forces a line break in the printed manual. It has no effect on the Info file output, where line breaks follow those in the source file. If you want a line break at a certain spot in both forms of output, break the line there in the source file and put `@*' at the end of the line. File: texinfo, Node: Sp, Next: Br, Prev: Line Breaks, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @sp --- A line containing `@sp N' generates N blank lines of space in either the printed manual or the Info file. For example, @sp 2 generates two blank lines. File: texinfo, Node: Br, Next: W, Prev: Sp, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @br --- In a printed manual, a line containing `@br' forces a paragraph break; in the Info file output, it does nothing (not even a blank line results from it). File: texinfo, Node: W, Next: Page, Prev: Br, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @w -- In a printed manual, `@w{TEXT}' outputs TEXT and prohibits line breaks within TEXT. `@w' has no effect on the Info file output; it is the same as would result from just TEXT. File: texinfo, Node: Page, Next: Group, Prev: W, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @page ----- A line containing `@page' starts a new page in a printed manual. The line has no effect on Info files since they are not paginated. File: texinfo, Node: Group, Next: Need, Prev: Page, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @group ------ A line containing `@group' begins an unsplittable vertical group, which must appear entirely on one page. The group is terminated by a line containing `@end group'. These two lines produce no output of their own, and in the Info file output they have no effect at all. If you forget to end a group, you may get strange and unfathomable error messages when you run TeX. This is because TeX keeps trying to put the rest of the Texinfo file into the group and error messages do not start to get generated until TeX has gone a long way. It's a good rule of thumb to look for a missing `@end group' if you get incomprehensible error messages in TeX. File: texinfo, Node: Need, Prev: Group, Up: Breaks Blank-Lines Groups @need ----- A line containing `@need N' starts a new page in a printed manual if fewer than N mils (thousandths of an inch) remain on the current page. The line has no effect on Info files since they are not paginated. File: texinfo, Node: Marking Text, Next: Conditionals, Prev: Formatting Paragraphs, Up: Top Marking Text Within a Paragraph ******************************* In Texinfo, text within a paragraph can be marked in a variety of ways. The most important way is to specify whether a word or phrase is a definition, a metasyntactic variable, a literal example of a program or what not. In addition, there are special commands for inserting single characters that have special meaning in Texinfo, such as braces, and for inserting symbols with special handling, such as dots and bullets. Finally, there are ways to emphasize words. * Menu: * Specifying:: Specifying commands, files and so on. * Braces Atsigns Periods:: Inserting braces, `@' and periods. * Dots Bullets Tex:: Inserting dots, bullets and the TeX logo * Emphasis:: Emphasizing text. File: texinfo, Node: Specifying, Next: Braces Atsigns Periods, Up: Marking Text Specifying Definitions, Files, Commands etc. ============================================ Texinfo has a variety of commands for specifying just what kind of object a piece of text refers to. Metasyntactic variables, for example, are marked by one @-command and code by another. Texinfo uses this information to determine how to highlight the text. Since the pieces of text are labelled by commands that tell what kind of object they are, it is easy to change the way Texinfo formats and typesets such text. For example, code is usually illustrated in a typewriter font, but it would be easy to change the way Texinfo highlights code to use another font. This change would not effect how metasyntatic variables are highlighted. If straight typesetting commands were used in the body of the file, you would have to check every single occurrence to make sure that you were changing code and not something else that should not be changed. In addition, the commands can be used to generate useful information from the file, such as lists of functions or file names. It is possible, for example, to write code in Emacs Lisp (or a keyboard macro) to insert an index entry after every paragraph that contains the text labelled by a specified command. You could do this to construct an index of functions if you had not already made the entries. The commands serve a variety of purposes: `@code' Indicates text that is a literal example of a piece of a program. `@samp' Indicates text that is a literal example of a sequence of characters. `@file' Indicates the name of a file. `@kbd' Indicates the names of keys on the keyboard or characters you type. `@key' Used for the conventional name for a key on a keyboard. `@ctrl' Indicates an ASCII control character. `@var' Indicates a metasyntactic variable. `@dfn' Indicates the introductory or defining use of a term. `@cite' Indicates the name of a book. * Menu: * Code:: A literal example of a piece of a program. * Samp:: A literal example of a sequence of characters. * File:: The name of a file. * Kbd:: The names of keys or else characters you type. * Key:: The conventional name for a key on a keyboard. * Ctrl:: Indicates the ASCII control character. * Var:: A variable. * Dfn:: The introductory or defining use of a term. * Cite:: The name of a book. File: texinfo, Node: Code, Next: Samp, Up: Specifying @code ----- `@code' is used to indicate text that is a piece of a program which consists of entire syntactic tokens. The text follows, enclosed in braces. For example, `@code' is used for an expression in a program, the name of a variable or function used in a program, or a keyword. `@code' is not used for a piece of a token, such as when speaking about the characters used in a token; for example, when you are explaining what letters or printable symbols can be used in the names of functions. It is also not used for input to programs unless the input is written in a language that is like a programming language. For example, it is not used for the single character commands of GNU Emacs although it is used for the names of Emacs Lisp functions that the keyboard commands invoke. You should also `@code' for command names in command languages that resemble programming languages, such as Texinfo or the shell. Note, however, that `@code' is not used for options such as `-c' when such options stand alone. There is some argument as to whether an entire shell command incorporating an option should be written using `@code' or `@samp'. It is an error to alter the case of a word inside an `@code' command. This is a particularly insidious error if the language being documented is case sensitive. If the command is `printf', then `Printf' is a misspelling. If you do not like having such a command with lower case at the beginning of a sentence, you may wish to rearrange the sentence. In the printed manual, `@code' puts the argument in bold face. In the Info file, it uses `...' quotation. For example: To compare two files, showing text inserted or removed, use @code{diff}. produces To compare two files, showing text inserted or removed, use `diff'. File: texinfo, Node: Samp, Next: File, Prev: Code, Up: Specifying @samp ----- `@samp' is used to indicate text that is a literal example of a sequence of characters in a file, string, pattern, etc. The text follows, enclosed in braces. The argument appears within `...' quotation in both the Info file and the printed manual; in addition, it is printed in a fixed-width font. To match @samp{foo} at the end of the line, use the regexp @samp{foo$}. produces To match `foo' at the end of the line, use the regexp `foo$'. Any time you are referring to single characters, you should use `@samp' unless `@kbd' is more appropriate. Basically, `@samp' is a catchall for whatever is not covered by `@code', `@file', `@kbd'. Punctuation marks that are part of the English text that surrounds the strings you are specifying are *never* included within the braces. In the following sentence, for example, the commas and period are outside of the braces: A symbol name ends in @samp{a}, @samp{b}, or @samp{c}. File: texinfo, Node: File, Next: Kbd, Prev: Samp, Up: Specifying @file ----- `@file' is used to indicate text that is the name of a file or directory. Currently, it is equivalent to `@samp' in its effects on the output. For example, The @file{.el} files are in the @file{/gnu/emacs/lisp} directory. produces The `.el' files are in the `/gnu/emacs/lisp' directory. File: texinfo, Node: Kbd, Next: Key, Prev: File, Up: Specifying @kbd ---- `@kbd' is used much like `@code'. The difference is that `@kbd' is for names of keys on the keyboard, or of characters you can type. For example, to refer to the command `M-a', you would use @kbd{M-a} and to refer to `M-x shell', you would use @kbd{M-x shell} The `@kbd' command has the same effect as `@code' in Info, but may produce a different font in a printed manual. You can embed another @-command inside the braces of a `@kbd' command. This is the way to describe a command that would be described more verbosely as "press an `r' and then press the RET key": @kbd{r @key{RET}} This produces: `r RET' You also use the `@kbd' command if you are spelling out the letters you type; for example: To give the @code{logout} command, type the characters @kbd{l o g o u t @key{RET}}. This produces To give the `logout' command, type the characters `l o g o u t RET'. File: texinfo, Node: Key, Next: Ctrl, Prev: Kbd, Up: Specifying @key ---- `@key' is used for the conventional name for a key on a keyboard, as in @key{RET} Often, `@key' is used within the argument of a `@kbd' command, whenever the sequence of characters to be typed includes one or more keys that are described by name. For example, to produce `C-x ESC' you would use @kbd{C-x @key{ESC}} The recommended names to use for keys are in upper case and are SPC Space. RET Return. LFD Linefeed. TAB Tab. BS Backspace. ESC Escape. DEL Delete. SFT Shift. CTL Control. META Meta. There are subtleties to handling words like `meta' or `ctrl' which are names of shift keys. When mentioning a character in which the shift key is used, such as `Meta-a', use the `@kbd' command alone without the `@key' command, but when you are referring to shift key in isolation, use the `@key' command. For example, you would use `@kbd{Meta-a}' to produce `Meta-a' and `@key{META}' to produce META. File: texinfo, Node: Ctrl, Next: Var, Prev: Key, Up: Specifying @ctrl ----- `@ctrl' is used to describe an ASCII control character. The pattern of usage is `@ctrl{CH}', where CH is an ASCII character whose control-equivalent is wanted. Thus, you put in an `f' when you want to indicate a `control-f' Thus, to specify `control-f', you would enter @ctrl{f} which produces f In the Info file, this generates the specified control character, output literally into the file. This is done so a user can copy the specified control character (along with whatever else he or she wants) into another Emacs buffer and use it. Since the `control-h',`control-i', and `control-j' characters are formatting characters, they should not be indicated this way. In a printed manual, this generates text to describe or identify that control character: an uparrow followed by the character CH. File: texinfo, Node: Var, Next: Dfn, Prev: Ctrl, Up: Specifying @var ---- `@var' is used to indicate metasyntactic variables. A metasyntactic variable is something that stands for another piece of text. You would use a metasyntactic variable in the documentation of a function to describe the arguments that are passed to that function. `@var' is not used for names of particular variables in programming languages. For example, the Texinfo variable `texinfo-tex-command' is not a metasyntactic variable. Its effect in the Info file is to upcase the argument; in the printed manual, to italicize it. Example: To delete file @var{filename}, type @code{rm @var{filename}}. produces To delete file FILENAME, type `rm FILENAME'. In some documentation styles, metasyntactic variables are shown with angle brackets, for example: ..., type rm <filename> File: texinfo, Node: Dfn, Next: Cite, Prev: Var, Up: Specifying @dfn ---- `@dfn' is used to identify the introductory or defining use of a technical term. The command should be used only in a passage whose purpose is to introduce a term which will be used again or which the reader ought to know. Mere passing mention of a term for the first time doesn't deserve `@dfn'. It generates italics in the printed manual, and double quotation marks in the Info file. Example: Getting rid of a file is called @dfn{deleting} it. produces Getting rid of a file is called "deleting" it. File: texinfo, Node: Cite, Prev: Dfn, Up: Specifying @cite ----- `@cite' is used for the name of a book. It produces italics in the printed manual, and quotation marks in the Info file. File: texinfo, Node: Braces Atsigns Periods, Next: Dots Bullets Tex, Prev: Specifying, Up: Marking Text Inserting Braces, `@' and Periods ================================= `@' and curly braces are special characters in Texinfo. This means that you have to put an `@' in front of these characters in order to insert them into text. Periods are also special. Depending on whether the period is inside of or at the end of a sentence, less or more space is inserted after a period in a typeset manual. Since it is not always possible for Texinfo to determine when a period ends a sentence and when it is used in an abbreviation, special commands are needed. (Usually, Texinfo figures out how to handle periods, so you don't have to use the special commands; you just enter a period as you would if you were using a typewriter, which means you put two spaces after the period that ends a sentence and after a colon.) * Menu: * Inserting an Atsign:: inserting an atsign. * Insert Left Brace:: Inserting a left brace. * Insert Colon:: Preventing unintended additional whitespace. * Insert Period:: Inserting a period that does end a sentence. File: texinfo, Node: Inserting An Atsign, Next: Insert Left Brace, Up: Braces Atsigns Periods @@ -- `@@' stands for a single @ in either printed or Info output. File: texinfo, Node: Insert Left Brace, Next: Insert Colon, Prev: Inserting an Atsign, Up: Braces Atsigns Periods @{ -- `@{' stands for a single { in either printed or Info output. @} -- `@}' stands for a single } in either printed or Info output. File: texinfo, Node: Insert Colon, Next: Insert Period, Prev: Insert Left Brace, Up: Braces Atsigns Periods @: -- `@:' is used after a character such as period or colon which normally causes TeX to increase the width of the following whitespace, to suppress that effect. For example, it can be used after periods that end abbreviations and do not end sentences. `@:' has no effect on the Info file output. It displays @code{Foo:}@: at that time. produces It displays `Foo:' at that time. The meanings of `@:' and `@.' in Texinfo are designed to work well with the Emacs sentence motion commands. This means they are different from their meanings in some other formatting systems that use @-commands. File: texinfo, Node: Insert Period, Prev: Insert Colon, Up: Braces Atsigns Periods @. -- `@.' stands for a period that really does end a sentence, useful when TeX would otherwise assume by its heuristics that that is not so. This happens when there is a single-capital-letter word at the end of a sentence: TeX normally guesses that it is an abbreviation. In the Info file output, `@.' is equivalent to a simple `.'. The Texinfo program preserves the amount of space that you use, so put two spaces after a period if you intend it to be the end of a sentence (as well as using `@.', if necessary, for the printed manual's sake). Give it to X. Give it to X@. Give it to X@. produces Give it to X. Give it to X. Give it to X. File: texinfo, Node: Dots Bullets Tex, Next: Emphasis, Prev: Braces Atsigns Periods, Up: Marking Text Inserting Dots, Bullets and TeX =============================== An ellipsis, a line of dots, is typeset differently than a string of periods; more whitespace is put between the dots in the ellipsis than is put between the periods. Because of this, a special command is used in Texinfo for inserting dots. Also, the trademark, TeX, is typeset in a special fashion and it needs an @-command, as does the command for inserting the copyright symbol. The `@bullet' command is special, too. Each of these commands is followed by a pair of braces, `{}', without any whitespace between the name of the command and the braces. * Menu: * Dots:: Inserting dots. * Bullet:: Inserting bullets. * Tex:: Inserting the TeX trademark. File: texinfo, Node: Dots, Next: Bullet, Up: Dots Bullets Tex @dots{} ------- `@dots{}' generates an ellipsis which is three dots in a row, appropriately spaced, like this: `...'. Do not simply write three periods in the input file; that would work for the Info file output, but would produce the wrong amount of space between the periods in the printed manual. File: texinfo, Node: Bullet, Next: Tex, Prev: Dots, Up: Dots Bullets Tex @bullet{} --------- `@bullet{}' generates a large round dot, or the closest possible thing to one. Here is a bullet: * File: texinfo, Node: Tex, Prev: Bullet, Up: Dots Bullets Tex @TeX{} ------ `@TeX{}' generates `TeX'. In a printed manual, this is a special logo that is different from three ordinary letters. File: texinfo, Node: Emphasis, Prev: Dots Bullets Tex, Up: Marking Text Emphasizing Text ================ Usually, Texinfo changes the font automatically to mark words in the text according to what category the words belong to. The `@code' command, for example, does this. Most often, this is the best way to mark specified words. However, sometimes you will want to emphasize text directly. Texinfo has two ways to do this: commands that tell Texinfo to emphasize the text but leave the method to the program, and commands that specify the font to use. The first method is generally the best and it makes it possible to change the style of a document without have to re-edit it line by line. * Menu: * Emph and Strong:: Emphasizing text. * Fonts:: Selecting italic, bold or typewriter fonts. File: texinfo, Node: Emph and Strong, Next: Fonts, Up: Emphasis @emph and @strong ----------------- `@emph' and `@strong' are two forms of emphasis. `@strong' is stronger. In printed output, `@emph' produces *italics* and `@strong' produces *bold*. In the Info file, both of these commands put asterisks around the argument. File: texinfo, Node: Fonts, Prev: Emph and Strong, Up: Emphasis @i, @b and @t -------------- These three commands specify font changes in the printed manual and have no effect in the Info file. `@i' requests italic font (in some versions of TeX, a slanted font is used), `@b' requests bold face, and `@t' requests the fixed-width font used by `@kbd'. All three commands apply to an argument that follows, surrounded by braces. If possible, you should avoid using these three commands. If you find a need to use one, it probably indicates a lack in the Texinfo language. File: texinfo, Node: Conditionals, Next: Printing Hardcopy, Prev: Marking Text, Up: Top Conditionals ************ You may not always be able to use the same text for both the printed manual and the on-line Info file. In this case, you can use the conditional commands to specify which text is for the printed manual and which is for the Info file. `@ifinfo' begins text that should be ignored by TeX when it typesets the printed manual. The text appears only in the Info file. The `@ifinfo' command should appear on a line by itself. End the info-only text with a line containing `@end ifinfo' by itself. At the beginning of a Texinfo file, the Info permissions are contained within a region marked by `@ifinfo' and `@end ifinfo'. Likewise, `@iftex' and `@end iftex' lines delimit text that will not appear in the Info file but will appear in the printed manual. For example, @iftex This text will appear only in the printed manual. @end iftex @ifinfo However, this text will appear only in the info manual. @end ifinfo The preceding example produces the following. Note how you only see one of the two lines, depending on whether you are reading the on-line Info version or the printed version of this manual. However, this text will appear only in the info manual. The `@titlepage' command is a special variant of `@iftex' that is used for making the title and copyright pages of the printed manual. * Menu: * Using Tex Commands:: Using commands from regular TeX. File: texinfo, Node: Using Tex Commands, Prev: Conditionals, Up: Conditionals Using TeX Commands ================== Inside a region delineated by `@iftex' and `@end iftex', you can embed ordinary TeX commands. Info will ignore these commands since they are only in that part of the file that is seen by TeX. The TeX commands are the same as any TeX commands except that an `@' replaces the `\' used by TeX. For example, in the `@titlepage' section of a Texinfo file, the TeX command `@vskip' is used to format the copyright page. You can enter TeX completely, and use `\' in the TeX commands by delineating a region with the `@tex' and `@end tex' commands. (These commands automatically put the region inside of `@iftex' and `@end iftex' commands.) For example, @tex Here you would put text with TeX commands; such as $\bigl(x\in A(n)\bigm|x\in B(n)\bigr)$ that will appear only in the printed manual. @end tex In the Info file, nothing between `@tex' and `@end tex' will appear. File: texinfo, Node: Printing Hardcopy, Next: Creating an Info File, Prev: Conditionals, Up: Top Printing Hardcopy ***************** There are three shell commands for printing a hardcopy of a Texinfo file. One is for formatting the file, the second is for sorting the index and the third is for printing the formatted document. When you use the shell commands, you can either work directly in the operating system shell or work within a shell inside of GNU Emacs. The typesetting program TeX is used for formatting a Texinfo file. TeX is a very powerful typesetting program and, if used right, does an exceptionally good job. The @-commands in a Texinfo file are translated by a file called `texinfo.tex' into commands that TeX understands. (That is why the beginning of every Texinfo file starts with the line that says `\input texinfo'; this command tells TeX to use the `texinfo.tex' file in processing the Texinfo file. Customarily, `texinfo.tex' is in a directory called `/usr/lib/tex/macros'.) `texinfo-format-buffer' reads the very same @-commands in the Texinfo file and processes them differently from TeX to make an Info file. Usually, the TeX formatting command is the shell command `tex' followed by the name of the Texinfo file. The TeX command produces a formatted DVI file as well as several auxiliary files containing indices, cross references, etc. The DVI file (for "DeVice Independent" file) can be printed on a wide variety of printers. The TeX formatting command itself does not sort the indices. This is a misfeature of TeX. Hence, to generate a printed index, you first need a sorted index to work from. TeX outputs raw, unsorted index files under names that obey a standard convention. These names are the name of your main input file to TeX, with everything after the first period thrown away, and the two letter names of indices added at the end. For example, the raw index output files for the input file `foo.texinfo' would be `foo.cp', `foo.vr', `foo.fn', `foo.tp', `foo.pg' and `foo.ky'. Those are exactly the arguments to give to `texindex'. Or else, you can use `??' as "wild-cards" and give the command in this form: texindex foo.?? For each file specified, `texindex' generates a sorted index file whose name is made by appending `s' to the input file name. The `@printindex' command knows to look for a file of that name. `texindex' does not alter the raw index output file. After you have sorted the indices, you need to rerun the TeX command on the Texinfo file. This regenerates a formatted DVI file with the index entries in the correct order. To summarize, this is a three step process: 1. Run the TeX command on the Texinfo file. This generates the formatted DVI file as well as the raw index files with two letter extensions. 2. Run the shell command `texindex' on the raw index files to sort them. The arguments to `texindex' are the names of the raw index files. `texindex' creates sorted index files whose names are the names of the raw index files with an `s' appended. To cause `texindex' to sort all the raw index files, append `??' to the Texinfo file name in place of the `.texinfo' extension. 3. Rerun the TeX command on the Texinfo file. This regenerates a formatted DVI file with the index entries in the correct order. This second run also makes all the cross references correct as well. (The tables of contents are always correct.) You need not run `texindex' after each TeX run. If you don't, the next TeX run will use whatever sorted index files happen to exist from the previous use of `texindex'. This is usually ok while you are debugging. Finally, the document can be printed out with the DVI print command (a shell command). Depending on the system used, the DVI print command will be a command such as `lpr -d'. The DVI print command may require a file name without any extension or with a `.dvi' extension. The following commands, for example, sort the indices, format and print the ``Bison Manual'' (where `%' is the shell prompt): % tex bison.texinfo % texindex bison.?? % tex bison.texinfo % lpr -d bison.dvi (Remember that the words for the shell commands may be different at your site; but these are commonly used versions.) It is often most convenient to give formatting and printing commands from a shell within GNU Emacs. This way, you can easily keep track of errors. To create a shell within Emacs, type `M-x shell'. In this shell, you can format and print the document. You can switch to and from this shell while it is running and do other things. If you are formatting a very long document on a slow machine, this can be very convenient; on a VAX 750, for example, formatting often takes 8 seconds or more per page depending on how loaded the computer is. Faster machines take correspondingly less time. * Menu: * Requirements:: Formatting requirements. * Compile-Command:: Formatting with the compile command. File: texinfo, Node: Requirements, Next: Compile-Command, Up: Printing Hardcopy Formatting Requirements ======================= Every Texinfo file that is to be input to TeX must begin with a line that looks like \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*- This serves two functions. 1. When the file is processed by TeX, it loads the macros needed for processing a Texinfo file. 2. When the file is edited in Emacs, it causes Texinfo mode to be used. Every Texinfo file must end with a line saying @bye which terminates TeX processing and forces out unfinished pages. You also have to include two lines that specify the Info file name and the title of the printed manual: @setfilename NAME-OF-TEXINFO-FILE @settitle NAME OF MANUAL You might also want to include a line saying @setchapternewpage odd to cause each chapter to start on a fresh odd-numbered page. By default, TeX typesets pages for printing in an 8.5 by 11 inch format. However, you can direct TeX to typeset a document in a 7 by 9.25 inch format that is suitable for bound books by inserting the following command on a line by itself at the beginning of the Texinfo file, before the `@setchapternewpage' command: @smallbook The Free Software Foundation distributes printed copies of the ``GNU Emacs Manual'' in this size. Finally, TeX sometimes is unable to typeset a line without extending it into the right margin. This can occur when TeX comes upon what it interprets as a long word that it cannot hyphenate, like a net address, or a very long title. When this happens, TeX prints an error message like this: Overfull \hbox (20.76302pt too wide) and gives the line number along with the text of the offending line marked at all the places that TeX knows to hyphenate words. (In TeX lines are in `horizontal boxes', hence the term, `hbox'.) If the Texinfo file has an overfull hbox, you can rewrite the sentence so the overfull hbox does not occur or you can decide to leave it. A small excursion into the right margin often does not matter and may not even be noticable. However, unless told otherwise, TeX will print a large, ugly, black rectangle beside every line that is overfull. This is so you will notice the location of the problem if you are correcting a draft. To prevent such monstrosities from marring your final printout, put the following in the beginning of the Texinfo file on lines of their own, before the `@setchapternewpage' command: @iftex @finalout @end iftex *Note Titlepage::, for information about creating a title page. *Note Contents::, for information about creating a table of contents. File: texinfo, Node: Compile-Command, Prev: Requirements, Up: Printing Hardcopy Using Local Variables and the Compile Command ============================================= Another way to give the TeX formatting command to Texinfo is to put that command in a "local variables list" at the end of the Texinfo file. You can then specify the TeX formatting command as a `compile-command' and have Emacs run the TeX formatting command by giving the command `M-x compile'. This creates a special shell called the `*compilation buffer*'. For example, at the end of the `gdb.texinfo' file, after the `@bye', you would put the following: @c Local Variables: @c compile-command: "tex gdb.texinfo" @c End: This technique is most often used by programmers who compile programs this way. File: texinfo, Node: Creating an Info File, Next: Catching Mistakes, Prev: Printing Hardcopy, Up: Top Creating an On-line Info file ***************************** In GNU Emacs, using Texinfo mode, you can see what part or all of a Texinfo file will look like in Info by using the keyboard command `C-c C-f' (`texinfo-format-region'). This formats a region and displays in a temporary buffer called `*Info Region*'; however, this command does not turn on Info reading program--it just displays what the region will look like. The `texinfo-format-region' command is described more extensively in the chapter on using Texinfo mode. *Note Info on a Region::. In GNU Emacs, the way to create a working Info file is to visit the file and invoke `M-x texinfo-format-buffer' A new buffer is created and the Info file text is generated there. `C-x C-s' will save it under the name specified in the `@setfilename' command. If the Texinfo file has more than 30,000 bytes, `texinfo-format-buffer' will automatically create a "tag table" for it. With a tag table, Info can jump to new nodes more quickly than it can otherwise. In addition, if the file has more than 100,000 bytes in it, `texinfo-format-buffer' will split the file into shorter Indirect subfiles of about 50,000 bytes each. Files are split so that Info does not have to make a large buffer to hold the whole of a large Info file; instead, Info allocates just enough memory for the small, split off file that is needed at the time. This way, Emacs avoids wasting memory when you run Info. (Before splitting was implemented, Info files were always short and "include" files were designed as a way to create a single, large printed manual out of the smaller Info files. *Note Include Files::, for more information.) When the file is split, Info itself works through a shortened version of the original file that contains the tag table and references to the files that were split off. The split off files are called "indirect" files. The split off files have names that are created by appending `-1', `-2', `-3' and so on to the file names specified by the `@setfilename' command. The shortened version of the original file continues to have the name specified by `@setfilename'. At one stage in writing this document, for example, the Info file was saved as `test-texinfo' and that file looked like this: Info file: test-texinfo, -*-Text-*- produced by texinfo-format-buffer from file: new-texinfo-manual.texinfo ^_ Indirect: test-texinfo-1: 102 test-texinfo-2: 50422 test-texinfo-3: 101300 ^_^L Tag table: (Indirect) Node: overview^?104 Node: info file^?1271 Node: printed manual^?4853 Node: conventions^?6855 ... (But `test-texinfo' had far more nodes than are shown here.) Each of the split off, indirect files, `test-texinfo-1', `test-texinfo-2', and `test-texinfo-3', is listed in this file after the line that says `Indirect:'. The tag table is listed after the line that says `Tag table:'. You cannot run the `M-x Info-validate' node checking command on indirect files. For information on how to prevent files from being split and how to validate the structure of the nodes, *note Info-Validating a Large File::. * Menu: * Installing an Info File:: Putting the Info file in the info directory. File: texinfo, Node: Installing an Info File, Prev: Creating an Info File, Up: Creating an Info File Installing an Info file ======================= An Info file is usually installed in the GNU Emacs directory called `info'. For Info to work, this directory must contain all the Info files, including the split off files. In addition, the `info' directory must have a file that serves as a top level directory for the Info system. This file is called `dir'. For example, in the `info' directory, the file called `dir' has the top level menu for all the Info files in the system. This file has a master menu that looks like this: * Menu: * Info: (info). Documentation browsing system. * Emacs: (emacs). The extensible self-documenting text editor. * Texinfo: (texinfo). With one source file, make either a printed manual using TeX or an Info file using Texinfo. To add a new Info file, just add it to this menu. For example, if you were adding documentation for GDB, you would make the following entry: * GDB: (gdb). The source-level C debugger. The first item is the menu item name; it is followed by a colon. The second item is the name of the Info file, in parentheses; it is followed by a period. The third part of the entry is the description of the item. The top node of the file, named `top', should have as its parent the name of a node in another file, where there is a menu that leads to this file. Specify the file name in parentheses. If the file is to be installed directly in the Info directory file, use `(dir)' as the parent of the top node; this is short for `(dir)top', the node `top' in the file `dir', which is the main menu of Info. File: texinfo, Node: Catching Mistakes, Next: Command Syntax, Prev: Creating an Info File, Up: Top Catching Mistakes ***************** Besides mistakes with the content of what ever you are describing, there are two kinds of mistake you can make with Texinfo: you can make mistakes with @-commands, and you can make mistakes with the structure of the nodes and chapters. There are two tools for catching the first kind of mistake and two for catching the second. For finding problems with @-commands, your best action is to run `M-x texinfo-format-region' on regions of your file as you write it. In Texinfo mode, the `texinfo-format-region' command is bound to `C-c C-f'. In addition, you can run TeX on the whole file. For finding problems with the structure of nodes and chapters, you can use `C-c C-s' (`texinfo-show-structure') (and the related `occur' command) and you can use the `M-x Info-validate' command. * Menu: * Debugging with Info:: Catching errors with info formatting. * Debugging with Tex:: Catching errors with TeX formatting. * Using texinfo-show-structure:: Using `texinfo-show-structure' to catch mistakes. * Running Info-Validate:: Checking for unreferenced nodes. File: texinfo, Node: Debugging with Info, Next: Debugging with Tex, Up: Catching Mistakes Catching Errors with Info Formatting ==================================== After you have written part of a Texinfo file, you can use the `M-x texinfo-format-region' command to see whether the region formats properly. In Texinfo mode, this command is bound to the keyboard command `C-c C-f'. If you have made a mistake with an @-command, `M-x texinfo-format-region' will stop processing at or after the error and give an error message. To see where in the file the error occurred, switch to the `*Info Region*' buffer; the cursor will be in a position that is after the location of the error. Also, the text will not be formatted after the place the error occurred. For example, if you accidently end a menu with the command `@end menus' with an `s' on the end, instead of with `@end menu', you will get an error message that says: @end menus is not handled by texinfo. The cursor will stop at the point in the file where the error occurs, or not long after it. It will look like this: @menu * Using texinfo-show-structure:: Using `texinfo-show-structure' to catch mistakes. * Running Info-Validate:: Checking for unreferenced nodes. @end menus The `texinfo-format-region' command does not always recognize errors. For example, no errors were reported when `texinfo-format-region' was run on the whole itemized list of which the following is a part: name of the Texinfo file as an extension. The @samp{??} are `wildcards' that cause the shell to substitute all the raw index files. (@xref{sorting indices), for more information about sorting indices.) @refill @cindex Sorting indices @cindex Indices, sorting @item @emph{Third}, rerun the @TeX{} command on the Texinfo file. This regenerates a formatted DVI file with the index entries in the correct order. This second run also makes all the cross references and table of contents correct as well. Instead, `texinfo-format-region' ran without reporting the error, but it produced output with very long lines, containing some of the original `@cindex' commands mixed in. (It is not practical to display these over long lines here. However, when `texinfo-format-region' was run on part of the list that is shown, it did give an error message, `Search failed: "[{,}"'. (This error message is explained in the section on using the Emacs Lisp Debugger, *note Using the Emacs Lisp Debugger::.) Sometimes `texinfo-format-region' will stop long after the original error; this is because it does not discover the problem until then. In this case, you will have to backtrack. File: texinfo, Node: Using the Emacs Lisp Debugger, Up: Debugging with Info Using the Emacs Lisp Debugger ----------------------------- If an error is especially elusive, you can turn on the Emacs Lisp debugger and look at the backtrace; this tells you where in the `texinfo-format-region' function the problem occurred. You can turn on the debugger with the command: M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET t and turn it off with M-x set-variable RET debug-on-error RET nil Often, when you are using the debugger, it is easier to follow what is going on if you use the Emacs Lisp files that are not byte-compiled. The byte-compiled sources send octal numbers to the debugger that may look mysterious. To use the uncompiled source files, load `texinfmt.el' and `texinfo.el' with the `M-x load-file' command. The debugger will not catch an error if `texinfo-format-region' does not detect one. In the example shown above, `texinfo-format-region' did not find the error when the whole list was formatted, but only when part of the list was formatted. When `texinfo-format-region' did not find an error, the debugger did not find one either. However, when `texinfo-format-region' did report an error, it invoked the debugger. This is the backtrace it produced: Signalling: (search-failed "[},]") re-search-forward("[},]") (while ...) (let ...) texinfo-format-parse-args() (let ...) texinfo-format-xref() funcall(texinfo-format-xref) (if ...) (let ...) (if ...) (while ...) texinfo-format-scan() (save-excursion ...) (let ...) texinfo-format-region(103370 103631) * call-interactively(texinfo-format-region) The backtrace is read from the bottom up. `texinfo-format-region' was called interactively; and it, in turn, called various functions, including `texinfo-format-scan', `texinfo-format-xref' and `texinfo-format-parse-args'. Inside the function `texinfo-format-parse-args', the function `re-search-forward' was called; it was this function that could not find the missing right hand brace. *Note : (emacs)Lisp Debug, for more information. File: texinfo, Node: Debugging with Tex, Next: Using texinfo-show-structure, Prev: Debugging with Info, Up: Catching Mistakes Catching Errors with TeX Formatting =================================== You can also catch mistakes when you format a file with TeX. Usually, you will want to do this after you have run `texinfo-format-buffer' on the same file. `texinfo-format-buffer' is usually faster and sometimes gives error messages that make more sense. *Note Debugging with Info::, for more information. For example, TeX was run on the same itemized list discussed in the section on the use of `texinfo-format-region' (*note Debugging with Info::.); the fragment with the error looked like this: name of the texinfo file as an extension. The @samp{??} are `wildcards' that cause the shell to substitute all the raw index files. (@xref{sorting indices, for more information about sorting indices.) @refill This produced the following output, after which TeX stopped: Runaway argument? {sorting indices, for more information about sorting indices.) @refill @ETC. ! Paragraph ended before \xref was complete. <to be read again> \par l.27 ? In this case, TeX produced an accurate and understandable error message: `Paragraph ended before \xref was complete.' (Note, however, that TeX translated the `@' into a `\'.) Also, `\par' is an internal TeX command of no relevance to Texinfo.) Unfortunately, TeX is not always so helpful, and sometimes you have to be truly a Sherlock Holmes to discover what went wrong. In any case, if you run into a problem like this, you can do one of two things. 1. You can tell TeX to continue running and to ignore errors as best it can by typing `r RET' at the `?' prompt. This is often the best thing to do. However, beware: the one error may produce a cascade of additional error messages as it consequences are felt through the rest of the file. 2. You can tell TeX to stop this run by typing `x RET' at the `?' prompt. Sometimes TeX will format a file without producing error messages even though there is a problem. This usually occurs if a command is not ended but TeX is able to continue processing anyhow. For example, if you fail to end an itemized list with the `@end itemize' command, TeX will write a DVI file that you can print out. The only error message that TeX will give you is the somewhat mysterious comment that (\end occurred inside a group at level 1) However, if you print the DVI file, you will find that the text of the file that follows the itemized list is entirely indented as if it were part of the last item in the itemized list. The error message is the way TeX says that it expected to find an `@end' command somewhere in the file; but that it could not locate where it was needed. Another source of notoriously hard to find errors is a missing `@end group' command. If you ever are stumped by incomprehensible errors, look for a missing `@end group' command first. If you do not have the header lines in the file, TeX may stop in the beginning of its run and display output that looks like the following. The `*' indicates that TeX is waiting for input. This is TeX, Version 2.0 for Berkeley UNIX (preloaded format=plain-cm 87.10.25) (#tz-bar-a02987.tex [1]) * In this case, simply type `\end RET' after the asterisk. Then put the header lines into the Texinfo file and run the TeX command again.