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`@var'{METASYNTACTIC-VARIABLE}
------------------------------
Use the `@var' command to indicate metasyntactic variables. A
"metasyntactic variable" is something that stands for another piece of
text. For example, you should use a metasyntactic variable in the
documentation of a function to describe the arguments that are passed
to that function.
Do not use `@var' for the names of particular variables in
programming languages. These are specific names from a program, so
`@code' is correct for them. For example, the Lisp variable
`texinfo-tex-command' is not a metasyntactic variable; it is properly
formatted using `@code'.
The effect of `@var' in the Info file is to change the case of the
argument to all upper case; in the printed manual, to italicize it.
For example,
To delete file @var{filename},
type @code{rm @var{filename}}.
produces
To delete file FILENAME, type `rm FILENAME'.
(Note that `@var' may appear inside `@code', `@samp', `@file', etc.)
Write a metasyntactic variable all in lower case without spaces, and
use hyphens to make it more readable. Thus, the Texinfo source for the
illustration of how to begin a Texinfo manual looks like this:
input texinfo
@@setfilename @var{info-file-name}
@@settitle @var{name-of-manual}
This produces:
input texinfo
@setfilename INFO-FILE-NAME
@settitle NAME-OF-MANUAL
In some documentation styles, metasyntactic variables are shown with
angle brackets, for example:
..., type rm <filename>
However, that is not the style that Texinfo uses. (You can, of course,
modify the sources to TeX and the Info formatting commands to output
the `<...>' format if you wish.)