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<span id="Menu-Parts"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Less-Cluttered-Menu-Entry.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Less Cluttered Menu Entry</a>, Previous: <a href="Menu-Location.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Menu Location</a>, Up: <a href="Menus.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Menus</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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<hr>
<span id="The-Parts-of-a-Menu"></span><h4 class="subsection">4.9.4 The Parts of a Menu</h4>
<span id="index-Parts-of-a-menu"></span>
<span id="index-Menu-parts"></span>
<span id="index-_0040menu-parts"></span>
<p>A menu entry has three parts, only the second of which is required:
</p>
<ol>
<li> The menu entry name (optional).
</li><li> The name of the node (required).
</li><li> A description of the item (optional).
</li></ol>
<p>The template for a generic menu entry looks like this (but see the
next section for one more possibility):
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">* <var>menu-entry-name</var>: <var>node-name</var>. <var>description</var>
</pre></div>
<p>Follow the menu entry name with a single colon, and follow the node
name with tab, comma, newline, or the two characters period and space
(‘<samp>. </samp>’).
</p>
<p>The third part of a menu entry is a descriptive phrase or sentence.
Menu entry names and node names are often short; the description
explains to the reader what the node is about. A useful description
complements the node name rather than repeats it. The description,
which is optional, can spread over multiple lines; if it does, some
authors prefer to indent the second line while others prefer to align
it with the first (and all others). It’s up to you. An empty line,
or the next menu entry, ends a description.
</p>
<p>Space characters in a menu are preserved as-is in the Info output; this
allows you to format the menu as you wish. Unfortunately you must type
node names without any extra spaces or some versions of some Info
readers will not find the node (see <a href="Node-Line-Requirements.html">Node Line Requirements</a>).
</p>
<p><code>makeinfo</code> warns when the text of a menu item (and node names
and cross-references) contains a problematic construct that will
interfere with its parsing in Info. If you don’t want to see the
warnings, you can set the customization variable
<code>INFO_SPECIAL_CHARS_WARNING</code> to ‘<samp>0</samp>’ (see <a href="Other-Customization-Variables.html">Other Customization Variables</a>).
</p>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Less-Cluttered-Menu-Entry.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Less Cluttered Menu Entry</a>, Previous: <a href="Menu-Location.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Menu Location</a>, Up: <a href="Menus.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Menus</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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