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<span id="Info-Files"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Printed-Books.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Printed Books</a>, Previous: <a href="Output-Formats.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Output Formats</a>, Up: <a href="Overview.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Overview</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="Info-Files-1"></span><h3 class="section">1.3 Info Files</h3>
<span id="index-Info-files"></span>
<p>As mentioned above, Info format is mostly a plain text transliteration
of the Texinfo source, with the addition of a few control characters
to separate nodes and provide navigational information, so that
Info-reading programs can operate on it.
</p>
<p>Info files are nearly always created by processing a Texinfo source
document. <code>makeinfo</code>, also known as <code>texi2any</code>, is
the principal command that converts a Texinfo file into an Info file;
see <a href="Generic-Translator-texi2any.html">Generic Translator <code>texi2any</code></a>.
</p>
<p>Generally, you enter an Info file through a node that by convention is
named ‘Top’. This node normally contains just a brief summary of the
file’s purpose, and a large menu through which the rest of the file is
reached. From this node, you can either traverse the file
systematically by going from node to node, or you can go to a specific
node listed in the main menu, or you can search the index menus and then
go directly to the node that has the information you want. Alternatively,
with the standalone Info program, you can specify specific menu items on
the command line (see <cite><a href="../info/index.html#Top">Info</a></cite>).
</p>
<p>If you want to read through an Info file in sequence, as if it were a
printed manual, you can hit <tt class="key">SPC</tt> repeatedly, or you get the whole
file with the advanced Info command <kbd>g *</kbd>. (See <a href="../info/Advanced.html#Advanced">Advanced Info commands</a> in <cite>Info</cite>.)
</p>
<p>The <samp>dir</samp> file in the <samp>info</samp> directory serves as the
departure point for the whole Info system. From it, you can reach the
‘Top’ nodes of each of the documents in a complete Info system.
</p>
<span id="index-URI-syntax-for-Info"></span>
<p>If you wish to refer to an Info file via a URI, you can use the
(unofficial) syntax exemplified by the following. This works with
Emacs/W3, for example:
</p><div class="example">
<pre class="example">info:emacs#Dissociated%20Press
info:///usr/info/emacs#Dissociated%20Press
info://localhost/usr/info/emacs#Dissociated%20Press
</pre></div>
<p>The <code>info</code> program itself does not follow URIs of any kind.
</p>
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