/usr/share/doc/texinfo/html/Details-of-texindex.html

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<!-- This manual is for GNU Texinfo (version 6.1, 6 February 2016),
a documentation system that can produce both online information and a
printed manual from a single source using semantic markup.

Copyright (C) 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997,
1998, 1999, 2001, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with the Front-Cover Texts being "A GNU Manual",
and with the Back-Cover Texts as in (a) below.  A copy of the license
is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation
License".

(a) The FSF's Back-Cover Text is: "You have the freedom to copy and
modify this GNU manual.  Buying copies from the FSF supports it in
developing GNU and promoting software freedom." -->
<!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.1, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ -->
<head>
<title>GNU Texinfo 6.1: Details of texindex</title>

<meta name="description" content="GNU Texinfo 6.1: Details of texindex">
<meta name="keywords" content="GNU Texinfo 6.1: Details of texindex">
<meta name="resource-type" content="document">
<meta name="distribution" content="global">
<meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top">
<link href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html#Command-and-Variable-Index" rel="index" title="Command and Variable Index">
<link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents">
<link href="Format-with-tex_002ftexindex.html#Format-with-tex_002ftexindex" rel="up" title="Format with tex/texindex">
<link href="Print-with-lpr.html#Print-with-lpr" rel="next" title="Print with lpr">
<link href="Formatting-Partial-Documents.html#Formatting-Partial-Documents" rel="prev" title="Formatting Partial Documents">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none}
blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em}
blockquote.smallindentedblock {margin-right: 0em; font-size: smaller}
blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller}
div.display {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.example {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.smalllisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
kbd {font-style: oblique}
pre.display {font-family: inherit}
pre.format {font-family: inherit}
pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif}
pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif}
pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller}
pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller}
pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller}
pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller}
span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap}
span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal}
span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal}
ul.no-bullet {list-style: none}
-->
</style>


</head>

<body lang="en">
<a name="Details-of-texindex"></a>
<div class="header">
<p>
Previous: <a href="Formatting-Partial-Documents.html#Formatting-Partial-Documents" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Formatting Partial Documents</a>, Up: <a href="Format-with-tex_002ftexindex.html#Format-with-tex_002ftexindex" accesskey="u" rel="up">Format with <code>tex</code>/<code>texindex</code></a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html#Command-and-Variable-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>
<hr>
<a name="Details-of-texindex-1"></a>
<h4 class="subsection">19.3.2 Details of <code>texindex</code></h4>

<a name="index-Braces_002c-in-index-entries"></a>
<p>In Texinfo version 6, released in 2015, the <code>texindex</code> program
was completely reimplemented.  The principal functional difference is
that index entries beginning with a left brace or right brace
(&lsquo;<samp>{</samp>&rsquo; resp. &lsquo;<samp>}</samp>&rsquo;) can work properly.  For example, these
simple index entries are processed correctly, including the &ldquo;index
initial&rdquo; shown in the index:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@cindex @{
@cindex @}
...
@printindex cp
</pre></div>

<a name="index-_005cusebracesinindexestrue"></a>
<p>However, to enable this behavior, it&rsquo;s necessary (for the time being)
to give a special option to TeX early in a source document:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@tex
\global\usebracesinindexestrue
@end tex
</pre></div>

<a name="index-Sort-string_002c-incorrect-_007c"></a>
<p>This is because the previous <code>texindex</code> implementation aborted
with an incorrect error message (&lsquo;<samp>No page number in \entry...</samp>&rsquo;)
on such index entries when handled in the normal way.  Therefore
TeX wrote out an incorrect &ldquo;sort string&rdquo; using the &lsquo;<samp>|</samp>&rsquo;
character; this did not affect the text of the entry, but the index
initial was the incorrect &lsquo;<samp>|</samp>&rsquo;, and sorting was not perfect.
</p>
<p>Because of that fatal error, and because relatively few documents have
index entries beginning with braces, we want to provide some
transition time for installations to have the new <code>texindex</code>.
At some point in the future, we&rsquo;ll make <code>\usebracesinindexes</code>
true by default (the above TeX code will continue to work fine).
</p>
<a name="index-Literate-programming_002c-with-Texinfo-and-awk"></a>
<a name="index-Texinfo_002c-and-literate-programming"></a>
<a name="index-Robbins_002c-Arnold"></a>
<a name="index-texiwebjr"></a>
<a name="index-ti_002etwjr"></a>
<p>Although not a matter of functionality, readers may be interested to
know that the new <code>texindex</code> is a literate program
(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literate_programming">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literate_programming</a>) using
Texinfo for documentation and (portable) <code>awk</code> for code.  A
single source file, <samp>texindex/ti.twjr</samp> in this case, produces the
runnable program, a printable document, and an online document.
</p>
<p>The system is called TexiWeb Jr. and was created by Arnold
Robbins, who also wrote the new <code>texindex</code>.  Not
coincidentally, he is also the long-time maintainer of <code>gawk</code>
(GNU Awk, see <cite><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/gawk/manual/html_node/index.html#Top">The GNU Awk User&rsquo;s Guide</a></cite>).  The file
<samp>texindex/Makefile.am</samp> shows example usage of the system.
</p>

<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Previous: <a href="Formatting-Partial-Documents.html#Formatting-Partial-Documents" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Formatting Partial Documents</a>, Up: <a href="Format-with-tex_002ftexindex.html#Format-with-tex_002ftexindex" accesskey="u" rel="up">Format with <code>tex</code>/<code>texindex</code></a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html#Command-and-Variable-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
</div>



</body>
</html>
texinfo-doc-nonfree 6.1.0-2 / usr / share / doc / texinfo / html / Details-of-texindex.html
