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<span id="Printing-Indices-_0026-Menus"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Combining-Indices.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Combining Indices</a>, Previous: <a href="Index-Entries.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Index Entries</a>, Up: <a href="Indices.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Indices</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="Printing-Indices-and-Menus"></span><h3 class="section">11.5 Printing Indices and Menus</h3>
<span id="index-Printing-an-index"></span>
<span id="index-Indices_002c-printing-and-menus"></span>
<span id="index-Generating-menus-with-indices"></span>
<span id="index-Menus-generated-with-indices"></span>
<p>To print an index means to include it as part of a manual or Info file.
This does not happen automatically just because you use <code>@cindex</code>
or other index-entry generating commands in the Texinfo file; those just
cause the raw data for the index to be accumulated. To generate an
index, you must include the <code>@printindex</code> command at the place in
the document where you want the index to appear. Also, as part of the
process of creating a printed manual, you must run a program called
<code>texindex</code> (see <a href="Hardcopy.html">Hardcopy</a>) to sort the raw data to produce a
sorted index file. The sorted index file is what is actually used to
print the index.
</p>
<p>Texinfo offers six separate types of predefined index, which suffice in
most cases. See the other parts of this chapter for information on this,
as well as advanced indexing commands, defining your own new indices,
combining indices, and, most importantly, advice on writing the actual
index entries. This section focuses on printing indices, which is done
with the <code>@printindex</code> command.
</p>
<span id="index-printindex"></span>
<p><code>@printindex</code> takes one argument, a two-letter index
abbreviation. It reads the corresponding sorted index file (for
printed output), and formats it appropriately into an index.
</p>
<p>The <code>@printindex</code> command does not generate a chapter heading
for the index, since different manuals have different needs.
Consequently, you should precede the <code>@printindex</code> command with
a suitable section or chapter command (usually <code>@appendix</code> or
<code>@unnumbered</code>) to supply the chapter heading and put the index
into the table of contents. Precede the chapter heading with an
<code>@node</code> line as usual.
</p>
<p>For example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@node Variable Index
@unnumbered Variable Index
@printindex vr
</pre><pre class="example">
</pre><pre class="example">@node Concept Index
@unnumbered Concept Index
@printindex cp
</pre></div>
<p>If you have more than one index, we recommend placing the concept index last.
</p>
<ul>
<li> In printed output, <code>@printindex</code> produces a traditional
two-column index, with dot leaders between the index terms and page
numbers.
</li><li> In Info output, <code>@printindex</code> produces a special menu containing
the line number of the entry, relative to the start of the node. Info
readers can use this to go to the exact line of an entry, not just the
containing node. (Older Info readers will just go to the node.)
Here’s an example:
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">* First index entry: Top. (line 7)
</pre></div>
<p>The actual number of spaces is variable, to right-justify
the line number; it’s been reduced here to make the line fit in the
printed manual.
</p>
</li><li> In plain text output, <code>@printindex</code> produces the same menu, but
the line numbers are relative to the start of the file, since that’s
more convenient for that format.
</li><li> In HTML output, <code>@printindex</code> produces links to the index
entries.
</li><li> In XML and Docbook output, it simply records the index to be printed.
</li></ul>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="Combining-Indices.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Combining Indices</a>, Previous: <a href="Index-Entries.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Index Entries</a>, Up: <a href="Indices.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Indices</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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