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<title>Node Menu Illustration (GNU Texinfo 6.7)</title>

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<span id="Node-Menu-Illustration"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="makeinfo-Pointer-Creation.html" accesskey="n" rel="next"><code>makeinfo</code> Pointer Creation</a>, Previous: <a href="_0040top-Command.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev"><code>@top</code> Command</a>, Up: <a href="Nodes.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Nodes</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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<hr>
<span id="Node-and-Menu-Illustration"></span><h3 class="section">4.7 Node and Menu Illustration</h3>

<p>Here is a diagram that illustrates a Texinfo file with three chapters,
each of which contains two sections.
</p>
<p>The &ldquo;root&rdquo; is at the top of the diagram and the &ldquo;leaves&rdquo; are at
the bottom.  This is how such a diagram is drawn conventionally; it
illustrates an upside-down tree.  For this reason, the root node is
called the &lsquo;Top&rsquo; node, and &lsquo;Up&rsquo; node pointers carry you closer to the
root.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">                         Top
                          |
        -------------------------------------
       |                  |                  |
    Chapter 1          Chapter 2          Chapter 3
       |                  |                  |
    --------           --------           --------
   |        |         |        |         |        |
Section  Section   Section  Section   Section  Section
  1.1      1.2       2.1      2.2       3.1      3.2
</pre></div>

<p>Using explicit pointers (not recommended, but shown for purposes
of the example), the fully-written command to start Chapter&nbsp;2
would be this:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@node     Chapter 2,  Chapter 3, Chapter 1, Top
@comment  node-name,  next,      previous,  up
</pre></div>

<p>This <code>@node</code> line says that the name of this node is
&ldquo;Chapter&nbsp;2&rdquo;, the name of the &lsquo;Next&rsquo; node is &ldquo;Chapter 3&rdquo;, the
name of the &lsquo;Previous&rsquo; node is &ldquo;Chapter&nbsp;1&rdquo;, and the name of the
&lsquo;Up&rsquo; node is &ldquo;Top&rdquo;.  You can (and should) omit writing out these
node names if your document is hierarchically organized
(see <a href="makeinfo-Pointer-Creation.html"><code>makeinfo</code> Pointer Creation</a>), but the pointer
relationships still obtain.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Note:</b> &lsquo;Next&rsquo; and &lsquo;Previous&rsquo; refer to nodes at the <em>same hierarchical
level</em> in the manual, not necessarily to the next node within the
Texinfo file.  In the Texinfo file, the subsequent node may be at a
lower level&mdash;a section-level node most often follows a chapter-level
node, for example.  (The &lsquo;Top&rsquo; node contains the exception to this
rule.  Since the &lsquo;Top&rsquo; node is the only node at that level, &lsquo;Next&rsquo;
refers to the first following node, which is almost always a chapter
or chapter-level node.)
</p></blockquote>

<p>To go to Sections 2.1 and 2.2 using Info, you need a menu inside
Chapter 2.  (See <a href="Menus.html">Menus</a>.)  You would write the menu just before the
beginning of Section 2.1, like this:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">   @menu
   * Sect. 2.1::    Description of this section.
   * Sect. 2.2::    Description.
   @end menu
</pre></div>

<p>Using explicit pointers, the node for Sect. 2.1 is written like this:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@node     Sect. 2.1, Sect. 2.2, Chapter 2, Chapter 2
@comment  node-name, next,      previous,  up
</pre></div>

<p>In Info format, the &lsquo;Next&rsquo; and &lsquo;Previous&rsquo; pointers of a node usually
lead to other nodes at the same level&mdash;from chapter to chapter or
from section to section (sometimes, as shown, the &lsquo;Previous&rsquo; pointer
points up); an &lsquo;Up&rsquo; pointer usually leads to a node at the level above
(closer to the &lsquo;Top&rsquo; node); and a &lsquo;Menu&rsquo; leads to nodes at a level
below (closer to &lsquo;leaves&rsquo;).  (A cross-reference can point to a node at
any level; see <a href="Cross-References.html">Cross References</a>.)
</p>
<p>A <code>@node</code> command and a chapter structuring command are
conventionally used together, in that order, often followed by
indexing commands.  (As shown in the example above, you may follow the
<code>@node</code> line with a comment line, e.g., to show which pointer is
which if explicit pointers are used.)  The Texinfo processors use this
construct to determine the relationships between nodes and sectioning
commands.
</p>
<p>Here is the beginning of the chapter in this manual called &ldquo;Ending a
Texinfo File&rdquo;.  This shows an <code>@node</code> line followed by an
<code>@chapter</code> line, and then by indexing lines.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@node Ending a File
@chapter Ending a Texinfo File
@cindex Ending a Texinfo file
@cindex Texinfo file ending
@cindex File ending
</pre></div>

<p>An earlier version of the manual used explicit node pointers.  Here is
the beginning of the same chapter for that case.  This shows an
<code>@node</code> line followed by a comment line, a <code>@chapter</code>
line, and then by indexing lines.
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@node    Ending a File, Structuring, Beginning a File, Top
@comment node-name,     next,        previous,         up
@chapter Ending a Texinfo File
@cindex Ending a Texinfo file
&hellip;
</pre></div>

<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="makeinfo-Pointer-Creation.html" accesskey="n" rel="next"><code>makeinfo</code> Pointer Creation</a>, Previous: <a href="_0040top-Command.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev"><code>@top</code> Command</a>, Up: <a href="Nodes.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Nodes</a> &nbsp; [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p>
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