1.6 @-commands

In a Texinfo file, the commands that tell TeX how to typeset the printed manual and tell makeinfo and texinfo-format-buffer how to create an Info file are preceded by ‘@’; they are called @-commands. For example, @node is the command to indicate a node and @chapter is the command to indicate the start of a chapter.

Note: Almost all @ command names are entirely lower case.

The Texinfo @-commands are a strictly limited set of constructs. The strict limits make it possible for Texinfo files to be understood both by TeX and by the code that converts them into Info files. You can display Info files on any terminal that displays alphabetic and numeric characters. Similarly, you can print the output generated by TeX on a wide variety of printers.

Depending on what they do or what arguments(4) they take, you need to write @-commands on lines of their own or as part of sentences:

• Write a command such as @quotation at the beginning of a line as the only text on the line. (@quotation begins an indented environment.)
• Write a command such as @chapter at the beginning of a line followed by the command's arguments, in this case the chapter title, on the rest of the line. (@chapter creates chapter titles.)
• Write a command such as @dots{} wherever you wish but usually within a sentence. (@dots{} creates an ellipsis …)
• Write a command such as @code{sample-code} wherever you wish (but usually within a sentence) with its argument, sample-code in this example, between the braces. (@code marks text as being code.)
• Write a command such as @example on a line of its own; write the body-text on following lines; and write the matching @end command, @end example in this case, on a line of its own after the body-text. (@example … @end example indents and typesets body-text as an example.) It's usually ok to indent environment commands like this, but in complicated and hard-to-define circumstances the extra spaces cause extra space to appear in the output, so beware.

As a general rule, a command requires braces if it mingles among other text; but it does not need braces if it starts a line of its own. The non-alphabetic commands, such as @:, are exceptions to the rule; they do not need braces.

As you gain experience with Texinfo, you will rapidly learn how to write the different commands: the different ways to write commands actually make it easier to write and read Texinfo files than if all commands followed exactly the same syntax. See section @-Command Syntax, for all the details.