Contents | < Browse | Browse >
==========

   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.

     *Please note:* All the @-commands, with the exception of the
     `@TeX{}' command, must be written entirely in 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(1) they take, you need
to write @-commands on lines of their own or as part of sentences:

   * Write a command such as `@noindent' at the beginning of a line as
     the only text on the line.  (`@noindent' prevents the beginning of
     the next line from being indented as the beginning of a paragraph.)

   * 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 dots ...)

   * 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' at the beginning of a line of
     its own; write the body-text on following lines; and write the
     matching `@end' command, `@end example' in this case, at the
     beginning of a line of its own after the body-text. (`@example'
     ... `@end example' indents and typesets body-text as an example.)

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 make
it easier to write and read Texinfo files than if all commands followed
exactly the same syntax.  (For details about @-command syntax, see
Command Syntax.)

   ---------- Footnotes ----------

   (1)  The word "argument" comes from the way it is used in
mathematics and does not refer to a disputation between two people; it
refers to the information presented to the command.  According to the
`Oxford English Dictionary', the word derives from the Latin for "to
make clear, prove"; thus it came to mean `the evidence offered as
proof', which is to say, `the information offered', which led to its
mathematical meaning.  In its other thread of derivation, the word came
to mean `to assert in a manner against which others may make counter
assertions', which led to the meaning of `argument' as a disputation.