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<span id="Definition-Commands"></span><div class="header">
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Next: <a href="Internationalization.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Internationalization</a>, Previous: <a href="Breaks.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Breaks</a>, Up: <a href="index.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Top</a> [<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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<span id="Definition-Commands-1"></span><h2 class="chapter">14 Definition Commands</h2>
<span id="index-Definition-commands"></span>
<p>The <code>@deffn</code> command and the other <em>definition commands</em>
enable you to describe functions, variables, macros, commands, user
options, special forms and other such artifacts in a uniform
format.
</p>
<p>In the Info file, a definition causes the entity
category—‘Function’, ‘Variable’, or whatever—to appear at the
beginning of the first line of the definition, followed by the
entity’s name and arguments. In the printed manual, the command
causes TeX to print the entity’s name and its arguments on the left
margin and print the category next to the right margin. In both
output formats, the body of the definition is indented. Also, the
name of the entity is entered into the appropriate index:
<code>@deffn</code> enters the name into the index of functions,
<code>@defvr</code> enters it into the index of variables, and so
on (see <a href="Predefined-Indices.html">Predefined Indices</a>).
</p>
<p>A manual need not and should not contain more than one definition for
a given name. An appendix containing a summary should use
<code>@table</code> rather than the definition commands.
</p>
<table class="menu" border="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Def-Cmd-Template.html" accesskey="1">Def Cmd Template</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Writing descriptions using definition commands.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Def-Cmd-Continuation-Lines.html" accesskey="2">Def Cmd Continuation Lines</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Continuing the heading over source lines.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Optional-Arguments.html" accesskey="3">Optional Arguments</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Handling optional and repeated arguments.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="_0040deffnx.html" accesskey="4"><code>@deffnx</code></a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Group two or more ‘first’ lines.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Def-Cmds-in-Detail.html" accesskey="5">Def Cmds in Detail</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Reference for all the definition commands.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Def-Cmd-Conventions.html" accesskey="6">Def Cmd Conventions</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Conventions for writing definitions.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Sample-Function-Definition.html" accesskey="7">Sample Function Definition</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">An example.
</td></tr>
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