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<span id="makeinfo-Pointer-Creation"></span><div class="header">
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<span id="makeinfo-Pointer-Creation-1"></span><h3 class="section">4.8 <code>makeinfo</code> Pointer Creation</h3>
<span id="index-Creating-pointers-with-makeinfo"></span>
<span id="index-Pointer-creation-with-makeinfo"></span>
<span id="index-Automatic-pointer-creation-with-makeinfo"></span>
<span id="index-Implicit-pointer-creation-with-makeinfo"></span>
<p>The <code>makeinfo</code> program can automatically determine node pointers
for a hierarchically organized document. This implicit node pointer
creation feature in <code>makeinfo</code> relieves you from the need to
update menus and pointers manually or with Texinfo mode commands.
(See <a href="Updating-Nodes-and-Menus.html">Updating Nodes and Menus</a>.) We highly recommend taking
advantage of this.
</p>
<p>To do so, write your <code>@node</code> lines with just the name of the
node:
</p>
<div class="example">
<pre class="example">@node My Node
</pre></div>
<p>You do not need to write out the ‘Next’, ‘Previous’, and ‘Up’
pointers.
</p>
<p>Then, you must write a sectioning command, such as <code>@chapter</code>
or <code>@section</code>, on the line immediately following each truncated
<code>@node</code> line (except that comment lines may intervene). This is
where it normally goes.
</p>
<p>Also, you must write the name of each node (except for the ‘Top’ node)
in a menu that is one or more hierarchical levels above the node’s
level.
</p>
<p>Finally, you must follow the ‘Top’ <code>@node</code> line with a line
beginning with <code>@top</code> to mark the top-level node in the file.
See <a href="_0040top-Command.html"><code>@top</code> Command</a>.
</p>
<span id="index-Detail-menu"></span>
<span id="index-detailmenu-1"></span>
<p>If you use a detailed menu in your master menu (see <a href="Master-Menu-Parts.html">Master Menu Parts</a>), mark it with the <code>@detailmenu … @end
detailmenu</code> environment, or <code>makeinfo</code> will get confused,
typically about the last and/or first node in the document.
</p>
<p>In most cases, you will want to take advantage of this feature and not
redundantly specify node pointers that the programs can determine.
However, Texinfo documents are not required to be organized
hierarchically or in fact to contain sectioning commands at all (for
example, if you never intend the document to be printed), so node
pointers may still be specified explicitly, in full generality.
</p>
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