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<span id="g_t_0040var"></span><div class="header">
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<span id="g_t_0040var_007bmetasyntactic_002dvariable_007d"></span><h4 class="subsection">7.1.7 <code>@var</code>{<var>metasyntactic-variable</var>}</h4>
<span id="var"></span><span id="index-var"></span>
<p>Use the <code>@var</code> command to indicate metasyntactic variables. A
<em>metasyntactic variable</em> is something that stands for another
piece of text. For example, you should use a metasyntactic variable
in the documentation of a function to describe the arguments that are
passed to that function.
</p>
<p>Do not use <code>@var</code> for the names of normal variables in computer
programs. These are specific names, so <code>@code</code> is correct for
them (<code>@code</code>). For example, the Emacs Lisp variable
<code>texinfo-tex-command</code> is not a metasyntactic variable; it is
properly formatted using <code>@code</code>.
</p>
<p>Do not use <code>@var</code> for environment variables either; <code>@env</code>
is correct for them (see the next section).
</p>
<p>The effect of <code>@var</code> in the Info file is to change the case of
the argument to all uppercase. In the printed manual and HTML
output, the argument is output in slanted type.
</p>
<p>For example,
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">To delete file @var{filename},
type @samp{rm @var{filename}}.
</pre></div>
<p>produces
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>To delete file <var>filename</var>, type ‘<samp>rm <var>filename</var></samp>’.
</p></blockquote>
<p>(Note that <code>@var</code> may appear inside <code>@code</code>,
<code>@samp</code>, <code>@file</code>, etc.)
</p>
<p>Write a metasyntactic variable all in lowercase without spaces, and
use hyphens to make it more readable. Thus, the Texinfo source for
the illustration of how to begin a Texinfo manual looks like
this:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">\input texinfo
@@settitle @var{name-of-manual}
</pre></div>
<p>This produces:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">\input texinfo
@settitle <var>name-of-manual</var>
</pre></div>
<p>In some documentation styles, metasyntactic variables are shown with
angle brackets, for example:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">…, type rm <filename>
</pre></div>
<p>However, that is not the style that Texinfo uses.
</p>
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