<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<!-- This manual is for GNU Texinfo (version 6.7, 23 September 2019),
a documentation system that can produce both online information and a
printed manual from a single source using semantic markup.
Copyright (C) 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997,
1998, 1999, 2001, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,
2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 Free Software
Foundation, Inc.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or
any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no
Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled
"GNU Free Documentation License". -->
<!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.7, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ -->
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>@anchor (GNU Texinfo 6.7)</title>
<meta name="description" content="@anchor (GNU Texinfo 6.7)">
<meta name="keywords" content="@anchor (GNU Texinfo 6.7)">
<meta name="resource-type" content="document">
<meta name="distribution" content="global">
<meta name="Generator" content="texi2any">
<link href="index.html" rel="start" title="Top">
<link href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html" rel="index" title="Command and Variable Index">
<link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents">
<link href="Cross-References.html" rel="up" title="Cross References">
<link href="_0040inforef.html" rel="next" title="@inforef">
<link href="_0040pxref.html" rel="prev" title="@pxref">
<style type="text/css">
<!--
a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none}
blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em}
div.display {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.example {margin-left: 3.2em}
div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em}
kbd {font-style: oblique}
pre.display {font-family: inherit}
pre.format {font-family: inherit}
pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif}
pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif}
span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap}
span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal}
span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal}
ul.no-bullet {list-style: none}
-->
</style>
</head>
<body lang="en">
<span id="g_t_0040anchor"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="_0040inforef.html" accesskey="n" rel="next"><code>@inforef</code></a>, Previous: <a href="_0040pxref.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev"><code>@pxref</code></a>, Up: <a href="Cross-References.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Cross References</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>
</div>
<hr>
<span id="g_t_0040anchor_003a-Defining-Arbitrary-Cross_002dreference-Targets"></span><h3 class="section">6.8 <code>@anchor</code>: Defining Arbitrary Cross-reference Targets</h3>
<span id="anchor"></span><span id="index-anchor"></span>
<span id="index-Anchors"></span>
<span id="index-Cross_002dreference-targets_002c-arbitrary"></span>
<span id="index-Targets-for-cross_002dreferences_002c-arbitrary"></span>
<p>An <em>anchor</em> is a position in your document, labelled so that
cross-references can refer to it, just as they can to nodes. You
create an anchor with the <code>@anchor</code> command, and give the label
as a normal brace-delimited argument. For example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">This marks the @anchor{x-spot}spot.
…
@xref{x-spot,,the spot}.
</pre></div>
<p>produces:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">This marks the spot.
…
See [the spot], page 1.
</pre></div>
<p>As you can see, the <code>@anchor</code> command itself produces no output.
This example defines an anchor ‘x-spot’ just before the word ‘spot’.
You can refer to it later with an <code>@xref</code> or other cross
reference command, as shown (see <a href="Cross-References.html">Cross References</a>).
</p>
<p>It is best to put <code>@anchor</code> commands just before the position you
wish to refer to; that way, the reader’s eye is led on to the correct
text when they jump to the anchor. You can put the <code>@anchor</code>
command on a line by itself if that helps readability of the source.
Whitespace (including newlines) is ignored after <code>@anchor</code>.
</p>
<p>Anchor names and node names may not conflict. Anchors and nodes are
given similar treatment in some ways; for example, the
<code>goto-node</code> command takes either an anchor name or a node name as
an argument. (See <a href="../info/Go-to-node.html#Go-to-node">Go to node</a> in <cite>Info</cite>.)
</p>
<p>Also like node names, anchor names cannot include some characters
(see <a href="Node-Line-Requirements.html">Node Line Requirements</a>).
</p>
<span id="index-Nodes_002c-deleting-or-renaming"></span>
<p>Because of this duality, when you delete or rename a node, it is
usually a good idea to define an <code>@anchor</code> with the old name.
That way, any links to the old node, whether from other Texinfo
manuals or general web pages, keep working.
</p>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="_0040inforef.html" accesskey="n" rel="next"><code>@inforef</code></a>, Previous: <a href="_0040pxref.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev"><code>@pxref</code></a>, Up: <a href="Cross-References.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Cross References</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>
</div>
</body>
</html>