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Texinfo
*******

This manual is for GNU Texinfo (version 6.8, 8 June 2021), a
documentation system that can produce both online information and a
printed manual from a single source using semantic markup.

   The first part of this master menu lists the major nodes in this Info
document, including the @-command and concept indices.  The rest of the
menu lists all the lower-level nodes in the document.

Copying Conditions: Your rights.
Overview: Texinfo in brief.
Writing a Texinfo File: Format of a Texinfo source file.
Nodes: Writing nodes, the basic unit of Texinfo.
Chapter Structuring: Creating chapters, sections, appendices, etc.
Cross References: Writing cross-references.
Marking Text: Marking words and phrases as code,
Quotations and Examples: Block quotations, examples, etc.
Lists and Tables: Itemized or numbered lists, and tables.
Special Displays: Floating figures and footnotes.
Indices: Creating indices.
Insertions: Inserting @-signs, braces, etc.
Breaks: Forcing or preventing line and page breaks.
Definition Commands: Describing functions and the like uniformly.
Internationalization: Supporting languages other than English.
Conditionals: Specifying text for only some output cases.
Defining New Texinfo Commands: User-defined macros and aliases.
Include Files: How to incorporate other Texinfo files.
Hardcopy: Output for paper, with TeX.
Generic Translator texi2any: 'texi2any', an all-purpose converter.
Creating and Installing Info Files: Details on Info output.
Generating HTML: Details on HTML output.

Appendices

@-Command Details: Details of the Texinfo @-commands.
Tips: Hints on how to write a Texinfo document.
Sample Texinfo Files: Complete examples, including full texts.
Texinfo Mode: Using the GNU Emacs Texinfo mode.
Global Document Commands: Affecting formatting throughout.
Info Format Specification: Technical details of the Info file format.
GNU Free Documentation License: Copying this manual.
Command and Variable Index: A menu containing commands and variables.
General Index: A menu covering many topics.

-- The Detailed Node Listing -- Overview of Texinfo

Reporting Bugs: Submitting effective bug reports.
Output Formats: Overview of the supported output formats.
Info Files: What is an Info file?
Printed Books: Characteristics of a printed book or manual.
Adding Output Formats: Man pages and implementing new formats.
History: Acknowledgements, contributors and genesis.

Writing a Texinfo File

Command Syntax: @-commands are used for formatting.
Conventions: General rules for writing a Texinfo file.
Comments: Writing comments and ignored text in general.
Minimum: What a Texinfo file must have.
Short Sample Texinfo File: A short sample Texinfo file.
Texinfo File Header: The first lines.
Document Permissions: Ensuring your manual is free.
Titlepage & Copyright Page: Creating the title and copyright pages.
Contents: How to create a table of contents.
The Top Node: Creating the 'Top' node and master menu.
The Body of the Document: The rest of the nodes.
Ending a File: What is at the end of a Texinfo file?

Texinfo File Header

First Line: The first line of a Texinfo file.
Start of Header: Formatting a region requires this.
@setfilename: Tell Info the name of the Info file.
@settitle: Create a title for the printed work.
End of Header: Formatting a region requires this.

Document Permissions

@copying: Declare the document's copying permissions.
@insertcopying: Where to insert the permissions.

Title and Copyright Pages

@titlepage: Create a title for the printed document.
@title @subtitle @author: The '@title', '@subtitle',
@titlefont @center @sp: The '@titlefont', '@center',
Copyright: How to write the copyright notice and
Heading Generation: Turn on page headings after the title and

The 'Top' Node and Master Menu

Master Menu Parts

Nodes

Writing a Node: How to write a '@node' line.
Node Names: How to choose node names.
Node Line Requirements: Keep names unique.
First Node: How to write a 'Top' node.
@top Command: How to use the '@top' command.
Texinfo Document Structure: How Texinfo manuals are usually arranged.
Node Menu Illustration: A diagram, and sample nodes and menus.
Menus: Listing subordinate nodes.

Menus

Writing a Menu: What is a menu?
Menu Example: Two and three part menu entries.
Menu Location: Menus go at the ends of nodes.
Menu Parts: A menu entry has three parts.
Less Cluttered Menu Entry: Two part menu entry.
Other Info Files: How to refer to a different Info file.

Chapter Structuring

Tree Structuring: A manual is like an upside down tree ...
Structuring Command Types: How to divide a manual into parts.
@chapter: Chapter structuring.
@unnumbered @appendix
@majorheading @chapheading
@section
@unnumberedsec @appendixsec @heading
@subsection
@unnumberedsubsec @appendixsubsec @subheading
@subsubsection: Commands for the lowest level sections.
@part: Collections of chapters.
Raise/lower sections: How to change commands' hierarchical level.

Cross-references

References: What cross-references are for.
Cross Reference Commands: A summary of the different commands.
Cross Reference Parts: A cross-reference has several parts.
@xref: Begin a reference with 'See' ...
Referring to a Manual as a Whole: Refer to an entire manual.
@ref: A reference for the last part of a sentence.
@pxref: How to write a parenthetical cross-reference.
@anchor: Defining arbitrary cross-reference targets
@inforef: How to refer to an Info-only file.
@url: How to refer to a uniform resource locator.
@cite: How to refer to books not in the Info system.

'@xref'

One Argument: '@xref' with one argument.
Two Arguments: '@xref' with two arguments.
Three Arguments: '@xref' with three arguments.
Four and Five Arguments: '@xref' with four and five arguments.

'@url', '@uref{URL[, TEXT][, REPLACEMENT]}'

@url Examples: Examples of using all the forms of '@url'.
URL Line Breaking: How lines are broken within '@url' text.
@url PDF Output Format: A special option to hide links in PDF output.
PDF Colors: Colorizing urls and other links in PDF output.

Marking Text, Words and Phrases

Indicating: How to indicate definitions, files, etc.
Emphasis: How to emphasize text.

Indicating Definitions, Commands, etc.

Useful Highlighting: Highlighting provides useful information.
@code: Indicating program code.
@kbd: Showing keyboard input.
@key: Specifying keys.
@samp: Indicating a literal sequence of characters.
@verb: Indicating a verbatim sequence of characters.
@var: Indicating metasyntactic variables.
@env: Indicating environment variables.
@file: Indicating file names.
@command: Indicating command names.
@option: Indicating option names.
@dfn: Specifying definitions.
@abbr: Indicating abbreviations.
@acronym: Indicating acronyms.
@indicateurl: Indicating an example url.
@email: Indicating an electronic mail address.

Emphasizing Text

@emph @strong: How to emphasize text in Texinfo.
Smallcaps: How to use the small caps font.
Fonts: Various font commands for printed output.

Quotations and Examples

Block Enclosing Commands: Different constructs for different purposes.
@quotation: Writing a quotation.
@indentedblock: Block of text indented on left.
@example: Writing an example in a fixed-width font.
@verbatim: Writing a verbatim example.
@verbatiminclude: Including a file verbatim.
@lisp: Illustrating Lisp code.
small: Examples in a smaller font.
@display: Writing an example in the current font.
@format: Writing an example without narrowed margins.
@exdent: Undo indentation on a line.
@flushleft @flushright: Pushing text flush left or flush right.
@raggedright: Avoiding justification on the right.
@noindent: Preventing paragraph indentation.
@indent: Forcing paragraph indentation.
@cartouche: Drawing rounded rectangles around text.

Lists and Tables

Introducing Lists: Texinfo formats lists for you.
@itemize: How to construct a simple list.
@enumerate: How to construct a numbered list.
Two-column Tables: How to construct a two-column table.
Multi-column Tables: How to construct generalized tables.

Making a Two-column Table

@table: How to construct a two-column table.
@ftable @vtable: Automatic indexing for two-column tables.
@itemx: How to put more entries in the first column.

'@multitable': Multi-column Tables

Multitable Column Widths: Defining multitable column widths.
Multitable Rows: Defining multitable rows, with examples.

Special Displays

Floats: Figures, tables, and the like.
Images: Including graphics and images.
Footnotes: Writing footnotes.

Floats

@float: Producing floating material.
@caption @shortcaption: Specifying descriptions for floats.
@listoffloats: A table of contents for floats.

Inserting Images

Image Syntax
Image Scaling

Footnotes

Footnote Commands: How to write a footnote in Texinfo.
Footnote Styles: Controlling how footnotes appear in Info.

Indices

Index Entries: Choose different words for index entries.
Predefined Indices: Use different indices for different kinds
Indexing Commands: How to make an index entry.
Advanced Indexing: Advanced indexing commands.
Printing Indices & Menus: How to print an index in hardcopy and
Combining Indices: How to combine indices.
New Indices: How to define your own indices.

Combining Indices

@syncodeindex: How to merge two indices, using '@code'
@synindex: How to merge two indices, using the

Special Insertions

Special Characters: Inserting @ {} , \ # &
Inserting Quote Characters: Inserting left and right quotes, in code.
Inserting Space: Inserting the right amount of whitespace.
Inserting Accents: Inserting accents and special characters.
Inserting Quotation Marks: Inserting quotation marks.
Inserting Subscripts and Superscripts: Inserting sub/superscripts.
Inserting Math: Formatting mathematical expressions.
Glyphs for Text: Inserting dots, bullets, currencies, etc.
Glyphs for Programming: Indicating results of evaluation,
Inserting Unicode: Inserting a Unicode character by code point.

Special Characters: Inserting @ {} , \ # &

Inserting an Atsign: '@@', '@atchar{}'.
Inserting Braces: '@{ @}', '@l rbracechar{}'.
Inserting a Comma: , and '@comma{}'.
Inserting a Backslash: \ and '@backslashchar{}'.
Inserting a Hashsign: # and '@hashchar{}'.
Inserting an Ampersand: & and '@ampchar{}'.

Inserting Space

Multiple Spaces: Inserting multiple spaces.
Not Ending a Sentence: Sometimes a . doesn't end a sentence.
Ending a Sentence: Sometimes it does.
@frenchspacing: Specifying end-of-sentence spacing.
@dmn: Formatting a dimension.

Glyphs for Text

@TeX @LaTeX: The TeX logos.
@copyright: The copyright symbol (c in a circle).
@registeredsymbol: The registered symbol (R in a circle).
@dots: How to insert ellipses: ... and ...
@bullet: How to insert a bullet: *
@euro: How to insert the euro currency symbol.
@pounds: How to insert the pounds currency symbol.
@textdegree: How to insert the degrees symbol.
@minus: How to insert a minus sign.
@geq @leq: How to insert greater/less-than-or-equal signs.

Glyphs for Programming

Glyphs Summary
@result: How to show the result of expression.
@expansion: How to indicate an expansion.
@print: How to indicate generated output.
@error: How to indicate an error message.
@equiv: How to indicate equivalence.
@point: How to indicate the location of point.
Click Sequences: Inserting GUI usage sequences.

Forcing and Preventing Breaks

Break Commands: Summary of break-related commands.
Line Breaks: Forcing line breaks.
@- @hyphenation: Helping TeX with hyphenation points.
@allowcodebreaks: Controlling line breaks within @code text.
@w: Preventing unwanted line breaks in text.
@tie: Inserting an unbreakable but varying space.
@sp: Inserting blank lines.
@page: Forcing the start of a new page.
@group: Preventing unwanted page breaks.
@need: Another way to prevent unwanted page breaks.

Definition Commands

Def Cmd Template: Writing descriptions using definition commands.
Def Cmd Continuation Lines: Continuing the heading over source lines.
Optional Arguments: Handling optional and repeated arguments.
@deffnx: Group two or more 'first' lines.
Def Cmds in Detail: Reference for all the definition commands.
Def Cmd Conventions: Conventions for writing definitions.
Sample Function Definition: An example.

The Definition Commands

Functions Commands: Commands for functions and similar entities.
Variables Commands: Commands for variables and similar entities.
Typed Functions: Commands for functions in typed languages.
Typed Variables: Commands for variables in typed languages.
Data Types: The definition command for data types.
Abstract Objects: Commands for object-oriented programming.

Object-Oriented Programming

Variables: Object-Oriented Variables.
Methods: Object-Oriented Methods.

Internationalization

@documentlanguage: Declaring the current language.
@documentencoding: Declaring the input encoding.

Conditionally Visible Text

Conditional Commands: Text for a given format.
Conditional Not Commands: Text for any format other than a given one.
Raw Formatter Commands: Using raw formatter commands.
Inline Conditionals: Brace-delimited conditional text.
@set @clear @value: Variable tests and substitutions.
Testing for Texinfo Commands: Testing if a Texinfo command is available.
Conditional Nesting: Using conditionals inside conditionals.

Flags: '@set', '@clear', conditionals, and '@value'

@set @value: Expand a flag variable to a string.
@ifset @ifclear: Format a region if a flag is set.
@inlineifset @inlineifclear: Brace-delimited flag conditionals.
@value Example: An easy way to update edition information.

Defining New Texinfo Commands

Defining Macros: Defining and undefining new commands.
Invoking Macros: Using a macro, once you've defined it.
Macro Details: Limitations of Texinfo macros.
@alias: Command aliases.
@definfoenclose: Customized highlighting.
External Macro Processors: '#line' directives.

External Macro Processors: Line Directives

#line Directive
TeX: #line and TeX.
Syntax: #line Syntax Details.

Include Files

Using Include Files: How to use the '@include' command.
texinfo-multiple-files-update: How to create and update nodes and
Include Files Requirements: 'texinfo-multiple-files-update' needs.
Sample Include File: A sample outer file with included files

Formatting and Printing Hardcopy

Use TeX: Use TeX to format for hardcopy.
Format with texi2dvi: The simplest way to format.
Format with tex/texindex: Formatting with explicit shell commands.
Print with lpr: How to print.
Within Emacs: How to format and print from an Emacs shell.
Texinfo Mode Printing: How to format and print in Texinfo mode.
Compile-Command: How to print using Emacs's compile command.
Requirements Summary: TeX formatting requirements summary.
Preparing for TeX: What to do before you use TeX.
Overfull hboxes: What are and what to do with overfull hboxes.
PDF Output: Portable Document Format output.

Format with 'tex'/'texindex'

Formatting Partial Documents
Details of texindex

'texi2any': The Generic Translator for Texinfo

Invoking texi2any: Running the translator from a shell.
texi2any Environment Variables
texi2any Printed Output: Calling 'texi2dvi'.
Customization Variables: Configuring 'texi2any'.
Internationalization of Document Strings: Translating program-inserted text.
Invoking pod2texi: Translating Perl pod to Texinfo.
texi2html: An ancestor of 'texi2any'.

Customization Variables

Customization Variables for @-Commands
Customization Variables and Options
HTML Customization Variables
latex2html Customization Variables
MathJax Customization Variables
Other Customization Variables

Creating and Installing Info Files

Creating an Info File
Installing an Info File
Info Format FAQ

Creating an Info File

makeinfo Advantages: 'makeinfo' provides better error checking.
makeinfo in Emacs: How to run 'makeinfo' from Emacs.
texinfo-format commands: Two Info formatting commands written
Batch Formatting: How to format for Info in Emacs batch mode.
Tag and Split Files: How tagged and split files help Info

Installing an Info File

Directory File: The top-level menu for all Info files.
New Info File: Listing a new Info file.
Other Info Directories: How to specify Info files that are
Installing Dir Entries: How to specify what menu entry to add
Invoking install-info: 'install-info' options.

Generating HTML

HTML Translation: Details of the HTML output.
HTML Splitting: How HTML output is split.
HTML CSS: Influencing HTML output with Cascading Style Sheets.
HTML Xref: Cross-references in HTML output.
@documentdescription: Document summary for the HTML output.

HTML Cross-references

Link Basics: HTML Xref Link Basics.
Node Expansion: HTML Xref Node Name Expansion.
Command Expansion: HTML Xref Command Expansion.
8-bit Expansion: HTML Xref 8-bit Character Expansion.
Mismatch: HTML Xref Mismatch.
Configuration: HTML Xref Configuration. htmlxref.cnf.

Sample Texinfo Files

GNU Sample Texts
Verbatim Copying License
All-permissive Copying License

Using Texinfo Mode

Texinfo Mode Overview: How Texinfo mode can help you.
Emacs Editing: Texinfo mode adds to GNU Emacs' general
Inserting: How to insert frequently used @-commands.
Showing the Structure: How to show the structure of a file.
Updating Nodes and Menus: How to update or create new nodes and menus.
Info Formatting: How to format for Info.
Printing: How to format and print part or all of a file.
Texinfo Mode Summary: Summary of all the Texinfo mode commands.

Updating Nodes and Menus

Updating Commands: Five major updating commands.
Updating Requirements: How to structure a Texinfo file for
Other Updating Commands: How to indent descriptions, insert
makeinfo Preferred: 'makeinfo' finds errors.
Debugging with Info: How to catch errors with Info formatting.
Debugging with TeX: How to catch errors with TeX formatting.
Using texinfo-show-structure: How to use 'texinfo-show-structure'.
Using occur: How to list all lines containing a pattern.
Running Info-validate: How to find badly referenced nodes.

Global Document Commands

@setchapternewpage: Start chapters on right-hand pages.
@headings: An option for turning headings on and off
Headings: Page headings
@paragraphindent: Specify paragraph indentation.
@firstparagraphindent: Suppressing first paragraph indentation.
@exampleindent: Specify environment indentation.
@smallbook: How to print small format books and manuals.
A4 Paper: How to print on A4, A5 or B6 paper.
@pagesizes: How to print with customized page sizes.
Magnification: How to print scaled up output.

Page Headings

@headings: An option for turning headings on and off
Heading Format: Standard page heading formats.
Custom Headings: How to create your own headings and footings.

Finding Badly Referenced Nodes

Using Info-validate: How to run 'Info-validate'.
Unsplit: How to create an unsplit file.
Tagifying: How to tagify a file.
Splitting: How to split a file manually.

Info Format Specification

Info Format General Layout
Info Format Text Constructs

Info Format General Layout

Info Format Whole Manual: Split vs. nonsplit manuals.
Info Format Preamble
Info Format Indirect Table
Info Format Tag Table
Info Format Local Variables
Info Format Regular Nodes

Info Format Text Constructs

Info Format Menu
Info Format Image
Info Format Printindex
Info Format Cross Reference

Documentation is like sex: when it is good, it is very, very good; and when it is bad, it is better than nothing. --Dick Brandon

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