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<span id="Inserting-an-Ampersand"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Previous: <a href="Inserting-a-Hashsign.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Inserting a Hashsign</a>, Up: <a href="Special-Characters.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Special Characters</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="Inserting-_0060_0026_0027-with-_0040_0026-and-_0040ampchar_007b_007d"></span><h4 class="subsection">12.1.6 Inserting ‘&’ with <code>@&</code> and <code>@ampchar{}</code></h4>
<span id="index-ampchar_007b_007d-_0028literal-_0026_0029"></span>
<span id="index-Inserting-_0026"></span>
<span id="index-Ampersand_002c-inserting"></span>
<p>Ordinarily, an ampersand ‘&’ is a normal character in Texinfo that can be
simply typed in your input where you need it. The result is to
typeset the ampersand character.
</p>
<p>However, the ampersand character has a special meaning in Texinfo in
just one restricted context. In the argument to a definition command
(see <a href="Definition-Commands.html">Definition Commands</a>), Emacs Lisp keywords beginning with
ampersands are recognized and typeset specially. See <a href="../elisp/A-Sample-Function-Description.html#A-Sample-Function-Description">A Sample
Function Description</a> in <cite>GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual</cite>.
For example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@defun foo integer1 &optional integer2 &rest integers
@code{foo} described here.
@end defun
</pre></div>
<p>leads to the output
</p>
<dl>
<dt id="index-foo">Function: <strong>foo</strong> <em>integer1 &optional integer2 &rest integers</em></dt>
<dd><p><code>foo</code> described here.
</p></dd></dl>
<p>So, in order to typeset an ampersand in such a context (for example, in
documentation of a C++ function taking a reference as a parameter),
it’s necessary to use <code>@&</code> or some other construct.
Here’s an example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@deftypefn Function int foo (@code{const std::vector<int>@&} bar)
Documentation of @code{foo}.
@end deftypefn
</pre></div>
<p>This gives the output
</p>
<dl>
<dt id="index-foo-1">Function: <em>int</em> <strong>foo</strong> <em>(<code>const std::vector<int>&</code> bar)</em></dt>
<dd><p>Documentation of <code>foo</code>.
</p></dd></dl>
<p>Although ‘<samp>@&</samp>’ and ‘<samp>@ampchar{}</samp>’ can be used nearly
anywhere, there is no need for them anywhere except this unusual case.
</p>
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