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<span id="Def-Cmd-Continuation-Lines"></span><div class="header">
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<hr>
<span id="Definition-Command-Continuation-Lines"></span><h3 class="section">14.2 Definition Command Continuation Lines</h3>
<span id="index-Continuation-lines-in-definition-commands"></span>
<span id="index-Definition-command-headings_002c-continuing"></span>
<span id="index-_0040_0040-as-continuation-in-definition-commands"></span>
<p>The heading line of a definition command can get very long.
Therefore, Texinfo has a special syntax allowing them to be continued
over multiple lines of the source file: a lone ‘<samp>@</samp>’ at the end of
each line to be continued. Here’s an example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@defun fn-name @
arg1 arg2 arg3
This is the basic continued defun.
@end defun
</pre></div>
<p>produces:
</p>
<dl>
<dt id="index-fn_002dname">Function: <strong>fn-name</strong> <em>arg1 arg2 arg3</em></dt>
<dd><p>This is the basic continued defun.
</p></dd></dl>
<p>As you can see, the continued lines are combined, as if they had been
typed on one source line.
</p>
<p>Although this example only shows a one-line continuation,
continuations may extend over any number of lines, in the same way;
put an <code>@</code> at the end of each line to be continued.
</p>
<span id="index-Whitespace_002c-collapsed-around-continuations"></span>
<span id="index-Collapsing-whitespace-around-continuations"></span>
<p>In general, any number of spaces or tabs before the <code>@</code>
continuation character are collapsed into a single space. There is one
exception: the Texinfo processors will not fully collapse whitespace
around a continuation inside braces. For example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@deffn {Category @
Name} …
</pre></div>
<p>The output (not shown) has excess space between ‘Category’
and ‘Name’. To avoid this, elide the unwanted whitespace in your
input, or put the continuation <code>@</code> outside braces.
</p>
<p><code>@</code> does not function as a continuation character in <em>any</em>
other context. Ordinarily, ‘<samp>@</samp>’ followed by a whitespace
character (space, tab, newline) produces a normal interword space
(see <a href="Multiple-Spaces.html">Multiple Spaces</a>).
</p>
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