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<span id="Overview"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Writing-a-Texinfo-File.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Writing a Texinfo File</a>, Previous: <a href="Copying-Conditions.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Copying Conditions</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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<hr>
<span id="Overview-of-Texinfo"></span><h2 class="chapter">1 Overview of Texinfo</h2>
<span id="index-Overview-of-Texinfo"></span>
<span id="index-Texinfo-overview"></span>
<span id="index-Using-Texinfo-in-general"></span>
<span id="index-Texinfo_002c-introduction-to"></span>
<span id="index-Introduction-to-Texinfo"></span>
<span id="Using-Texinfo"></span>
<p><em>Texinfo</em> is a documentation system that uses a single source file
to produce both online information and printed output. This means
that instead of writing several different documents, one for each output
format, you need only write one document.
</p>
<p>Using Texinfo, you can create a printed document (via the TeX
typesetting system) in PDF or PostScript format, including chapters,
sections, cross-references, and indices. From the same Texinfo source
file, you can create an HTML output file suitable for use with a web
browser, you can create an Info file with special features to make
browsing documentation easy, and also create a Docbook file or a
transliteration to XML format.
</p>
<span id="index-Source-file-format"></span>
<span id="index-Semantic-markup"></span>
<p>A Texinfo source file is a plain text file containing text interspersed
with <em>@-commands</em> (words preceded by an ‘<samp>@</samp>’) that tell the
Texinfo processors what to do. Texinfo’s markup commands are almost
entirely <em>semantic</em>; that is, they specify the intended meaning
of text in the document, rather than physical formatting instructions.
You can edit a Texinfo file with any text editor, but it is especially
convenient to use GNU Emacs since that editor has a special mode,
called Texinfo mode, that provides various Texinfo-related features.
(See <a href="Texinfo-Mode.html">Texinfo Mode</a>.)
</p>
<span id="index-Limited-scope-of-Texinfo"></span>
<p>Texinfo was devised specifically for the purpose of writing software
documentation and manuals. If you want to write a good manual for
your program, Texinfo has many features which we hope will make your
job easier. However, it provides almost no commands for controlling
the final formatting. Texinfo is not intended to be a general-purpose
formatting program, so if you need to lay out a newspaper, devise a
glossy magazine ad, or follow the exact formatting requirements of
a publishing house, Texinfo may not be the simplest tool.
</p>
<span id="index-Spelling-of-Texinfo"></span>
<span id="index-Pronunciation-of-Texinfo"></span>
<p>Spell “Texinfo” with a capital “T” and the other letters in
lowercase. The first syllable of “Texinfo” is pronounced like
“speck”, not “hex”. This odd pronunciation is derived from the
pronunciation of TeX. Pronounce TeX as if the ‘<samp>X</samp>’ were
the last sound in the name ‘Bach’. In the word TeX, the ‘<samp>X</samp>’
is, rather than the English letter “ex”, actually the Greek letter
“chi”.
</p>
<p>Texinfo is the official documentation format of the GNU project.
More information, including manuals for GNU packages, is available
at the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/doc/">GNU documentation web page</a>.
</p>
<table class="menu" border="0" cellspacing="0">
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Reporting-Bugs.html" accesskey="1">Reporting Bugs</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Submitting effective bug reports.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Output-Formats.html" accesskey="2">Output Formats</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Overview of the supported output formats.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Info-Files.html" accesskey="3">Info Files</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">What is an Info file?
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Printed-Books.html" accesskey="4">Printed Books</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Characteristics of a printed book or manual.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="Adding-Output-Formats.html" accesskey="5">Adding Output Formats</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Man pages and implementing new formats.
</td></tr>
<tr><td align="left" valign="top">• <a href="History.html" accesskey="6">History</a></td><td> </td><td align="left" valign="top">Acknowledgements, contributors and genesis.
</td></tr>
</table>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Writing-a-Texinfo-File.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Writing a Texinfo File</a>, Previous: <a href="Copying-Conditions.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Copying Conditions</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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