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1.8 @-commands
In a Texinfo file, the commands you write to describe the contents of
the manual are preceded by an ‘@’ character; 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. Almost all @ command names are entirely
lowercase.
Texinfo’s @-commands are a strictly limited set of constructs. The strict limits are primarily intended to “force” you, the author, to concentrate on the writing and the content of your manual, rather than the details of the formatting.
Depending on what they do or what arguments(1) they take, you need to write @-commands on lines of their own or as part of sentences:
-
Some commands are written at the start of a line and the rest of the
line comprises the argument text, such as
@chapter
(which creates chapter titles). -
Some commands can appear anywhere, generally within a sentence, and
are followed by empty braces, such as
@dots{}
(which creates an ellipsis …). -
Some commands can appear anywhere, generally within a sentence, and
are followed by the argument text in braces, such as
@code{a+1}
(which marks text as being code,a+1
being the argument in this case). -
Some commands are written at the start of a line, with general text on
following lines, terminated by a matching
@end
command on a line of its own. For example,@example
, then the lines of a coding example, then@end example
.
As a general rule, a command requires braces if it mingles among other
text; but it does not need braces if it is on 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.
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