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<span id="g_t_0040example"></span><div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="_0040verbatim.html" accesskey="n" rel="next"><code>@verbatim</code></a>, Previous: <a href="_0040indentedblock.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev"><code>@indentedblock</code></a>, Up: <a href="Quotations-and-Examples.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Quotations and Examples</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_0040example_003a-Example-Text"></span><h3 class="section">8.4 <code>@example</code>: Example Text</h3>
<span id="example"></span><span id="index-example"></span>
<span id="index-Examples_002c-formatting-them"></span>
<span id="index-Formatting-examples"></span>
<p>The <code>@example</code> environment is used to indicate an example that
is not part of the running text, such as computer input or output.
Write an <code>@example</code> command at the beginning of a line by
itself. Mark the end of the example with an <code>@end example</code>
command, also written at the beginning of a line by itself.
</p>
<p>An <code>@example</code> environment has the following characteristics:
</p>
<ul>
<li> Each line in the input file is a line in the output; that is,
the source text is not filled as it normally is.
</li><li> Extra spaces and blank lines are significant.
</li><li> The output is indented.
</li><li> The output uses a fixed-width font.
</li><li> Texinfo commands <em>are</em> expanded; if you want the output to
be the input verbatim, use the <code>@verbatim</code> environment instead
(see <a href="_0040verbatim.html"><code>@verbatim</code></a>).
</li></ul>
<p>For example,
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@example
cp foo @var{dest1}; \
cp foo @var{dest2}
@end example
</pre></div>
<p>produces
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">cp foo <var>dest1</var>; \
cp foo <var>dest2</var>
</pre></div>
<p>The lines containing <code>@example</code> and <code>@end example</code> will
disappear from the output. To make the output look good, you should
put a blank line before the <code>@example</code> and another blank line
after the <code>@end example</code>. Blank lines inside the beginning
<code>@example</code> and the ending <code>@end example</code>, on the other
hand, do appear in the output.
</p>
<blockquote>
<p><b>Caution:</b> Do not use tabs in the lines of an example! (Or anywhere else in
Texinfo, except in verbatim environments.) TeX treats tabs as
single spaces, and that is not what they look like. In Emacs, you can
use <kbd>M-x untabify</kbd> to convert tabs in a region to multiple spaces.
</p></blockquote>
<p>Examples are often, logically speaking, “in the middle” of a
paragraph, and the text that continues afterwards should not be
indented, as in the example above. The <code>@noindent</code> command
prevents a piece of text from being indented as if it were a new
paragraph (see <a href="_0040noindent.html"><code>@noindent</code></a>).
</p>
<p>If you want to embed code fragments within sentences, instead of
displaying them, use the <code>@code</code> command or its relatives
(see <a href="_0040code.html"><code>@code</code></a>).
</p>
<p>If you wish to write a “comment” on a line of an example in the
normal roman font, you can use the <code>@r</code> command (see <a href="Fonts.html">Fonts</a>).
</p>
<hr>
<div class="header">
<p>
Next: <a href="_0040verbatim.html" accesskey="n" rel="next"><code>@verbatim</code></a>, Previous: <a href="_0040indentedblock.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev"><code>@indentedblock</code></a>, Up: <a href="Quotations-and-Examples.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Quotations and Examples</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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