Contents | < Browse | Browse >
Footnotes
*********
A "footnote" is for a reference that documents or elucidates the
primary text.(1)
In Texinfo, footnotes are created with the `@footnote' command.
This command is followed immediately by a left brace, then by the text
of the footnote, and then by a terminating right brace. The template
is:
@footnote{TEXT}
Footnotes may be of any length, but are usually short.
For example, this clause is followed by a sample footnote(2); in the
Texinfo source, it looks like this:
...a sample footnote @footnote{Here is the sample
footnote.}; in the Texinfo source...
In a printed manual or book, the reference mark for a footnote is a
small, superscripted number; the text of the footnote is written at the
bottom of the page, below a horizontal line.
In Info, the reference mark for a footnote is a pair of parentheses
with the footnote number between them, like this: `(1)'.
Info has two footnote styles, which determine where the text of the
footnote is located:
* In the `End' node style, all the footnotes for a single node are
placed at the end of that node. The footnotes are separated from
the rest of the node by a line of dashes with the word `Footnotes'
within it. Each footnote begins with an `(N)' reference mark.
Here is an example of a single footnote in the end of node style:
--------- Footnotes ---------
(1) Here is a sample footnote.
* In the `Separate' node style, all the footnotes for a single node
are placed in an automatically constructed node of their own. In
this style, a "footnote reference" follows each `(N)' reference
mark in the body of the node. The footnote reference is actually
a cross reference which you use to reach the footnote node.
The name of the node containing the footnotes is constructed by
appending `-Footnotes' to the name of the node that contains the
footnotes. (Consequently, the footnotes' node for the `Footnotes'
node is `Footnotes-Footnotes'!) The footnotes' node has an `Up'
node pointer that leads back to its parent node.
Here is how the first footnote in this manual looks after being
formatted for Info in the separate node style:
File: texinfo.info Node: Overview-Footnotes, Up: Overview
(1) Note that the first syllable of "Texinfo" is
pronounced like "speck", not "hex". ...
A Texinfo file may be formatted into an Info file with either
footnote style.
Use the `@footnotestyle' command to specify an Info file's footnote
style. Write this command at the beginning of a line followed by an
argument, either `end' for the end node style or `separate' for the
separate node style.
For example,
@footnotestyle end
or
@footnotestyle separate
Write an `@footnotestyle' command before or shortly after the
end-of-header line at the beginning of a Texinfo file. (If you include
the `@footnotestyle' command between the start-of-header and
end-of-header lines, the region formatting commands will format
footnotes as specified.)
If you do not specify a footnote style, the formatting commands use
their default style. Currently, `makeinfo' uses the `end' style, while
`texinfo-format-buffer' and `texinfo-format-region' use the `separate'
style.
This chapter contains two footnotes.
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) A footnote should complement or expand upon the primary text,
but a reader should not need to read a footnote to understand the
primary text. For a thorough discussion of footnotes, see `The Chicago
Manual of Style', which is published by the University of Chicago Press.
(2) Here is the sample footnote.