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<title>Printed Books (GNU Texinfo 6.7)</title>
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<span id="Printed-Books"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Adding-Output-Formats.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Adding Output Formats</a>, Previous: <a href="Info-Files.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Info Files</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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<hr>
<span id="Printed-Books-1"></span><h3 class="section">1.4 Printed Books</h3>
<span id="index-Printed-book-and-manual-characteristics"></span>
<span id="index-Manual-characteristics_002c-printed"></span>
<span id="index-Book-characteristics_002c-printed"></span>
<span id="index-Texinfo-printed-book-characteristics"></span>
<span id="index-Characteristics_002c-printed-books-or-manuals"></span>
<span id="index-Knuth_002c-Donald"></span>
<p>A Texinfo file can be formatted and typeset as a printed book or
manual. To do this, you need TeX, a sophisticated typesetting
program written by Donald Knuth of Stanford University.
</p>
<p>A Texinfo-based book is similar to any other typeset, printed work: it
can have a title page, copyright page, table of contents, and preface,
as well as chapters, numbered or unnumbered sections and subsections,
page headers, cross-references, footnotes, and indices.
</p>
<p>TeX is a general purpose typesetting program. Texinfo provides a
file <samp>texinfo.tex</samp> that contains information (definitions or
<em>macros</em>) that TeX uses when it typesets a Texinfo file.
(<samp>texinfo.tex</samp> tells TeX how to convert the Texinfo @-commands
to TeX commands, which TeX can then process to create the typeset
document.) <samp>texinfo.tex</samp> contains the specifications for printing
a document. You can get the latest version of <samp>texinfo.tex</samp> from
the Texinfo home page, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/">http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/</a>.
</p>
<p>In the United States, documents are most often printed on 8.5 inch by
11 inch pages (216mm by 280mm); this is the default size.
But you can also print for 7 inch by 9.25 inch pages (178mm by
235mm, the <code>@smallbook</code> size; or on A4 or A5 size paper
(<code>@afourpaper</code>, <code>@afivepaper</code>).
See <a href="_0040smallbook.html"><code>@smallbook</code></a>, and <a href="A4-Paper.html">A4 Paper</a>.
</p>
<span id="index-Literate-programming"></span>
<p>TeX is freely distributable. It is written in a superset of Pascal
for literate programming called WEB and can be compiled either in
Pascal or (by using a conversion program that comes with the TeX
distribution) in C.
</p>
<p>TeX is very powerful and has a great many features. Because a
Texinfo file must be able to present information both on a
character-only terminal in Info form and in a typeset book, the
formatting commands that Texinfo supports are necessarily limited.
</p>
<p>See <a href="Obtaining-TeX.html">Obtaining TeX</a>, for information on acquiring TeX. It is
not part of the Texinfo distribution.
</p>
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<p>
Next: <a href="Adding-Output-Formats.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Adding Output Formats</a>, Previous: <a href="Info-Files.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Info Files</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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