11f2edfa |
1 | \C{input} Halibut input format |
2 | |
3 | This chapter describes the format in which you should write |
4 | documents to be processed by Halibut. |
5 | |
6 | \H{input-basics} The basics |
7 | |
8 | Halibut's input files mostly look like ordinary ASCII text files; |
9 | you can edit them with any text editor you like. |
10 | |
11 | Writing paragraphs of ordinary text is very simple: you just write |
12 | ordinary text in the ordinary way. You can wrap a paragraph across |
13 | more than one line using line breaks in the text file, and Halibut |
14 | will ignore this when it rewraps the paragraph for each output |
15 | format. To separate paragraphs, use a blank line (i.e. two |
16 | consecutive line breaks). For example, a fragment of Halibut input |
17 | looking like this: |
18 | |
19 | \c This is a line of text. |
20 | \c This is another line of text. |
21 | \c |
22 | \c This line is separated from the previous one by a blank line. |
23 | |
24 | will produce two paragraphs looking like this: |
25 | |
26 | \quote{ |
27 | This is a line of text. |
28 | This is another line of text. |
29 | |
30 | This line is separated from the previous one by a blank line. |
31 | } |
32 | |
33 | The first two lines of the input have been merged together into a |
34 | single paragraph, and the line break in the input file was treated |
35 | identically to the spaces between the individual words. |
36 | |
37 | Halibut is designed to have very few special characters. The only |
38 | printable characters in Halibut input which will not be treated |
39 | exactly literally in the output are the backslash (\c{\\}) and the |
40 | braces (\c{\{} and \c{\}}). If you do not use these characters, |
41 | \e{everything} else you might type in normal ASCII text is perfectly |
42 | safe. If you do need to use any of those three characters in your |
43 | document, you will have to precede each one with a backslash. Hence, |
44 | for example, you could write |
45 | |
46 | \c This \\ is a backslash, and these are \{braces\}. |
47 | |
48 | and Halibut would generate the text |
49 | |
50 | \quote{ |
51 | This \\ is a backslash, and these are \{braces\}. |
52 | } |
53 | |
54 | \H{input-inline} Simple inline formatting commands |
55 | |
56 | Halibut formatting commands all begin with a backslash, followed by |
57 | a word or character identifying the command. Some of them then use |
58 | braces to surround one or more pieces of text acted on by the |
59 | command. (In fact, the \c{\\\\}, \c{\\\{} and \c{\\\}} sequences you |
60 | met in \k{input-basics} are themselves formatting commands.) |
61 | |
62 | This section describes some simple formatting commands you can use |
63 | in Halibut documents. The commands in this section are \e{inline} |
64 | commands, which means you can use them in the middle of a paragraph. |
65 | \K{input-para} describes some \e{paragraph} commands, which affect a |
66 | whole paragraph at a time. |
67 | |
68 | \S{input-emph} \c{\\e}: Emphasising text |
69 | |
70 | Possibly the most obvious piece of formatting you might want to use |
71 | in a document is \e{emphasis}. To emphasise text, you use the |
72 | \c{\\e} command, and follow it up with the text to be emphasised in |
73 | braces. For example, the first sentence in this paragraph was |
74 | generated using the Halibut input |
75 | |
76 | \c Possibly the most obvious piece of formatting you might want to use |
77 | \c in a document is \e{emphasis}. |
78 | |
79 | \S{input-code} \c{\\c} and \c{\\cw}: Displaying computer code inline |
80 | |
81 | Halibut was primarily designed to produce software manuals. It can |
82 | be used for other types of document as well, but software manuals |
83 | are its speciality. |
84 | |
85 | In software manuals, you often want to format text in a way that |
86 | indicates that it is something you might see displayed verbatim on |
87 | a computer screen. In printed manuals, this is typically done by |
88 | setting that text in a font which is obviously fixed-width. This |
89 | provides a visual cue that the text being displayed is code, and it |
90 | also ensures that punctuation marks are clearly separated and shown |
91 | individually (so that a user can copy the text accurately and |
92 | conveniently). |
93 | |
94 | Halibut provides \e{two} commands for this, which are subtly |
95 | different. The names of those commands are \c{\\c} (\q{code}) and |
96 | \c{\\cw} (\q{weak code}). You use them just like \c{\\e}, by |
97 | following them with some text in braces. For example, this... |
98 | |
99 | \c This sentence contains some \c{code} and some \cw{weak code}. |
100 | |
101 | ... produces this: |
102 | |
103 | \quote{ |
104 | This sentence contains some \c{code} and some \cw{weak code}. |
105 | } |
106 | |
107 | The distinction between code and weak code is mainly important when |
108 | producing plain text output. Plain text output is typically viewed |
109 | in a fixed-width font, so there is no need (and no way) to change |
110 | font in order to make the order of punctuation marks clear. However, |
111 | marking text as code is also \e{sometimes} done to provide a visual |
112 | distinction between it and the text around it, so that the reader |
113 | knows where the literal computer text starts and stops; and in plain |
114 | text, this cannot be done by changing font, so there needs to be an |
115 | alternative way. |
116 | |
117 | So in the plain text back end, things marked as code (\c{\\c}) will |
118 | be surrounded by quote marks, so that it's obvious where they start |
119 | and finish. Things marked as weak code (\c{\\cw}) will not look any |
120 | different from normal text. |
121 | |
122 | I recommend using weak code for any application where it is |
123 | \e{obvious} that the text is literal computer input or output. For |
124 | example, if the text is capitalised, that's usually good enough. If |
125 | I talk about the Pentium's \cw{EAX} and \cw{EDX} registers, for |
126 | example, you don't need quotes to notice that those are special; so |
127 | I would write that in Halibut as \q{\c{the Pentium's \\cw\{EAX\} and |
128 | \\cw\{EDX\} registers}}. But if I'm talking about the Unix command |
129 | \c{man}, which is an ordinary English word in its own right, a reader |
130 | might be slightly confused if it appeared in the middle of a |
131 | sentence undecorated; so I would write that as \q{\c{the Unix command |
132 | \\c\{man\}}}. |
133 | |
134 | In summary: |
135 | |
136 | \b \c{\\c} means \q{this text \e{must} be visually distinct from the |
137 | text around it}. Halibut's various output formats will do this by |
138 | changing the font if possible, or by using quotes if not. |
139 | |
140 | \b \c{\\cw} means \q{it would be nice to display this text in a |
141 | fixed-width font if possible, but it's not essential}. |
142 | |
143 | There is a separate mechanism for displaying computer code in an |
144 | entire paragraph; see \k{input-codepara} for that one. |
145 | |
146 | \S{input-quotes} \c{\\q}: Quotation marks |
147 | |
148 | Halibut's various output formats don't all use the same conventions |
149 | for displaying text in ordinary quotation marks (\q{like these}). |
150 | Some output formats have access to proper matched quote characters, |
151 | whereas others are restricted to using plain ASCII. Therefore, it is |
152 | not ideal to use the ordinary ASCII double quote character in your |
153 | document (although you can if you like). |
154 | |
155 | Halibut provides the formatting command \c{\\q} to indicate quoted |
156 | text. If you write |
157 | |
158 | \c Here is some \q{text in quotes}. |
159 | |
160 | then Halibut will print |
161 | |
162 | \quote{ |
163 | Here is some \q{text in quotes}. |
164 | } |
165 | |
166 | and in every output format Halibut generates, it will choose the |
167 | best quote characters available to it in that format. |
168 | |
169 | You can still use ordinary ASCII double quotes if you prefer; or you |
170 | could even use the \c{\\u} command (see \k{input-unicode}) to |
171 | generate Unicode matched double quotes and fall back to the normal |
172 | ASCII one if they aren't available. But I recommend using the |
173 | built-in \c{\\q} command in most cases, because it's simple and does |
174 | the best it can everywhere. |
175 | |
176 | (Note that if you're using the \c{\\c} or \c{\\cw} commands to |
177 | display literal computer code, you probably \e{will} want to use |
178 | literal ASCII quote characters, because it is likely to matter |
179 | precisely which quote character you use.) |
180 | |
181 | \S{input-nonbreaking} \c{\\-} and \c{\\_}: Non-breaking hyphens and |
182 | spaces |
183 | |
184 | If you use an ordinary hyphen in the middle of a word (such as |
185 | \q{built-in}), Halibut's output formats will feel free to break a |
186 | line after that hyphen when wrapping paragraphs. This is fine for a |
187 | word like \q{built-in}, but if you were displaying some literal |
188 | computer code such as the Emacs command |
189 | \c{M\-x\_psychoanalyze\-pinhead}, you might prefer to see the whole |
190 | hyphenated word treated as an unbreakable block. In some cases, you |
191 | might even want to prevent the \e{space} in that command from |
192 | becoming a line break. |
193 | |
194 | For these purposes, Halibut provides the commands \c{\\-} and |
195 | \c{\\_}, which generate a non-breaking hyphen and a non-breaking |
196 | space respectively. So the above Emacs command might be written as |
197 | |
198 | \c the Emacs command \c{M\-x\_psychoanalyze\-pinhead} |
199 | |
200 | Unfortunately, some of Halibut's output formats do not support |
201 | non-breaking hyphens, and others don't support \e{breaking} hyphens! |
202 | So Halibut cannot promise to honour these commands in all situations. |
203 | All it can do is make a best effort. |
204 | |
205 | \S{input-date} \c{\\date}: Automatic date generation |
206 | |
207 | Sometimes you might want your document to give an up-to-date |
208 | indication of the date on which it was run through Halibut. |
209 | |
210 | Halibut supplies the \c{\\date} command to do this. In its simplest |
211 | form, you simply say |
212 | |
213 | \c This document was generated on \date. |
214 | |
215 | and Halibut generates something like |
216 | |
217 | \quote{ |
218 | This document was generated on \date. |
219 | } |
220 | |
221 | If you would prefer the date to be generated in a specific format, |
222 | you can follow the \c{\\date} command with a format specification in |
223 | braces. The format specification will be run through the standard C |
224 | function \c{strftime}, so any format acceptable to that function is |
225 | acceptable here as well. I won't document the format here, because |
226 | the details vary from computer to computer (although there is a |
227 | standard core which should be supported everywhere). You should look |
228 | at your local system's manual for \c{strftime} for details. |
229 | |
230 | Here's an example which generates the date in the international |
231 | standard ISO 8601 format: |
232 | |
233 | \c This document was generated on \date{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S}. |
234 | |
235 | And here's some sample output from that command: |
236 | |
237 | \quote{ |
238 | This document was generated on \date{%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S}. |
239 | } |
240 | |
241 | \S{input-weblink} \c{\\W}: WWW hyperlinks |
242 | |
243 | Since one of Halibut's output formats is HTML, it's obviously useful |
244 | to be able to provide links to arbitrary web sites in a Halibut |
245 | document. |
246 | |
247 | This is done using the \c{\\W} command. \c{\\W} expects to be |
248 | followed by \e{two} sets of braces. In the first set of braces you |
249 | put a URL; in the second set you put the text which should be a |
250 | hyperlink. For example, you might write |
251 | |
252 | \c Try searching on \W{http://www.google.com/}{Google}. |
253 | |
254 | and Halibut would generate |
255 | |
256 | \quote{ |
257 | Try searching on \W{http://www.google.com/}{Google}. |
258 | } |
259 | |
260 | Note that hyperlinks, like the non-breaking commands discussed in |
261 | \k{input-nonbreaking}, are \e{discretionary}: if an output format |
262 | does not support them then they will just be left out completely. So |
263 | unless you're \e{only} intending to use the HTML output format, you |
264 | should avoid storing vital content in the URL part of a \c{\\W} |
265 | command. The Google example above is reasonable (because most users |
266 | are likely to be able to find Google for themselves even without a |
267 | convenient hyperlink leading straight there), but if you really need |
268 | to direct users to a specific web site, you will need to give the |
269 | URL in actual displayed text (probably displayed as code as well). |
270 | However, there's nothing to stop you making it a hyperlink \e{as |
271 | well} for the convenience of HTML readers. |
272 | |
273 | The \c{\\W} command supports a piece of extra syntax to make this |
274 | convenient for you. You can specify \c{\\c} or \c{\\cw} \e{between} |
275 | the first and second pairs of braces. For example, you might write |
276 | |
277 | \c Google is located at \W{http://www.google.com/}\cw{www.google.com}. |
278 | |
279 | and Halibut would produce |
280 | |
281 | \quote{ |
282 | Google is located at \W{http://www.google.com/}\cw{www.google.com}. |
283 | } |
284 | |
285 | \S{input-unicode} \c{\\u}: Specifying arbitrary Unicode characters |
286 | |
287 | When Halibut is finished, it should have full Unicode support. You |
288 | should be able to specify any (reasonably well known) character set |
289 | for your input document, and Halibut should convert it all to |
290 | Unicode as it reads it in. Similarly, you should be able to specify |
291 | the character set you want for each output format and have all the |
292 | conversion done automatically. |
293 | |
294 | Currently, none of this is actually supported. Input text files are |
295 | assumed to be in ISO 8859-1, and each output format has its own |
296 | non-configurable character set (although the HTML output can use the |
297 | \c{Ӓ} mechanism to output any Unicode character it likes). |
298 | |
299 | If you need to specify a Unicode character in your input document |
300 | which is not supported by the input character set, you can use the |
301 | \c{\\u} command to do this. \c{\\u} expects to be followed by a |
302 | sequence of hex digits; so that \c{\\u0041}, for example, denotes |
303 | the Unicode character \cw{0x0041}, which is the capital letter A. |
304 | |
305 | If a Unicode character specified in this way is not supported in a |
306 | particular \e{output} format, you probably don't just want it to be |
307 | omitted. So you can put a pair of braces after the \c{\\u} command |
308 | containing fallback text. For example, to specify an amount of money |
309 | in euros, you might write this: |
310 | |
311 | \c This is likely to cost \u20AC{EUR }2500 at least. |
312 | |
313 | Halibut will render that as a Euro sign \e{if available}, and |
314 | the text \q{EUR } if not. In the output format you're currently |
315 | reading in, the above input generates this: |
316 | |
317 | \quote{ |
318 | This is likely to cost \u20AC{EUR }2500 at least. |
319 | } |
320 | |
321 | If you read it in other formats, you may see different results. |
322 | |
323 | \S{input-xref} \c{\\k} and \c{\\K}: Cross-references to other sections |
324 | |
325 | \K{intro-features} mentions that Halibut numbers the sections of |
326 | your document automatically, and can generate cross-references to |
327 | them on request. \c{\\k} and \c{\\K} are the commands used to |
328 | generate those cross-references. |
329 | |
330 | To use one of these commands, you simply follow it with a pair of |
331 | braces containing the keyword for the section in question. For |
332 | example, you might write something like |
333 | |
334 | \c \K{input-xref} expands on \k{intro-features}. |
335 | |
336 | and Halibut would generate something like |
337 | |
338 | \quote{ |
339 | \K{input-xref} expands on \k{intro-features}. |
340 | } |
341 | |
342 | The keywords \c{input-xref} and \c{intro-features} are section |
343 | keywords used in this manual itself. In your own document, you would |
344 | have supplied a keyword for each one of your own sections, and you |
345 | would provide your own keywords for the \c{\\k} command to work on. |
346 | |
347 | The difference between \c{\\k} and \c{\\K} is simply that \c{\\K} |
348 | starts the cross-reference text with a capital letter; so you would |
349 | use \c{\\K} at the beginning of a sentence, and \c{\\k} everywhere |
350 | else. |
351 | |
352 | In output formats which permit it, cross-references act as |
353 | hyperlinks, so that clicking the mouse on a cross-reference takes |
354 | you straight to the referenced section. |
355 | |
356 | The \c{\\k} commands are also used for referring to entries in a |
357 | bibliography (see \k{input-biblio} for more about bibliographies), |
358 | and can also be used for referring to an element of a numbered list |
359 | by its number (see \k{input-list-number} for more about numbered |
360 | lists). |
361 | |
362 | See \k{input-sections} for more about chapters and sections. |
363 | |
364 | \S{input-inline-comment} \c{\\#}: Inline comments |
365 | |
366 | If you want to include comments in your Halibut input, to be seen |
367 | when reading it directly but not copied into the output text, then |
368 | you can use \c{\\#} to do this. If you follow \c{\\#} with text in |
369 | braces, that text will be ignored by Halibut. |
370 | |
371 | For example, you might write |
372 | |
373 | \c The typical behaviour of an antelope \#{do I mean gazelle?} is... |
374 | |
375 | and Halibut will simply leave out the aside about gazelles, and will |
376 | generate nothing but |
377 | |
378 | \quote{ |
379 | The typical behaviour of an antelope \#{do I mean gazelle?} is... |
380 | } |
381 | |
382 | The \c{\\#} command can also be used to produce a whole-paragraph |
383 | comment; see \k{input-commentpara} for details of that. |
384 | |
385 | \H{input-para} Paragraph-level commands |
386 | |
387 | This section describes Halibut commands which affect an entire |
388 | paragraph, or sometimes even \e{more} than one paragraph, at a time. |
389 | |
390 | \S{input-codepara} \c{\\c}: Displaying whole paragraphs of computer |
391 | code |
392 | |
393 | \K{input-code} describes a mechanism for displaying computer code in |
394 | the middle of a paragraph, a few words at a time. |
395 | |
396 | However, this is often not enough. Often, in a computer manual, you |
397 | really want to show several lines of code in a display paragraph. |
398 | |
399 | This is also done using the \c{\\c} command, in a slightly different |
400 | way. Instead of using it in the middle of a paragraph followed by |
401 | braces, you can use it at the start of each line of a paragraph. For |
402 | example, you could write |
403 | |
404 | \c \c #include <stdio.h> |
405 | \c \c |
406 | \c \c int main(int argc, char **argv) { |
407 | \c \c printf("hello, world\n"); |
408 | \c \c return 0; |
409 | \c \c } |
410 | |
411 | and Halibut would generate |
412 | |
413 | \quote{ |
414 | |
415 | \c #include <stdio.h> |
416 | \c |
417 | \c int main(int argc, char **argv) { |
418 | \c printf("hello, world\n"); |
419 | \c return 0; |
420 | \c } |
421 | |
422 | } |
423 | |
424 | Note that the above paragraph makes use of a backslash and a pair of |
425 | braces, and does \e{not} need to escape them in the way described in |
426 | \k{input-basics}. This is because code paragraphs formatted in this |
427 | way are a special case; the intention is that you can just copy and |
428 | paste a lump of code out of another program, put \q{\cw{\\c }} at the |
429 | start of every line, and simply \e{not have to worry} about the |
430 | details - you don't have to go through the whole block looking for |
431 | characters to escape. |
432 | |
433 | Since a backslash inside a code paragraph generates a literal |
434 | backslash, this means you cannot use any other Halibut formatting |
435 | commands inside a code paragraph. In particular, if you want to |
436 | emphasise a particular word in the paragraph, you can't do that |
437 | using \c{\\e} (\k{input-emph}) in the normal way. |
438 | |
439 | Therefore, Halibut provides an alternative means of emphasis in code |
440 | paragraphs. Each line beginning with \c{\\c} can optionally be |
441 | followed by a single line beginning with \c{\\e}, indicating the |
442 | emphasis in that line. The emphasis line contains the letters \c{b} |
443 | and \c{i} (for \q{bold} and \q{italic}, although some output formats |
444 | might render \c{i} as underlining instead of italics), positioned |
445 | to line up under the parts of the text that you want emphasised. |
446 | |
447 | For example, if you wanted to do syntax highlighting on the above C |
448 | code by highlighting the preprocessor command in italic and the |
449 | keywords in bold, you might do it like this: |
450 | |
451 | \c \c #include <stdio.h> |
452 | \c \e iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii |
453 | \c \c |
454 | \c \c int main(int argc, char **argv) { |
455 | \c \e bbb bbb bbbb |
456 | \c \c printf("hello, world\n"); |
457 | \c \c return 0; |
458 | \c \e bbbbbb |
459 | \c \c } |
460 | |
461 | and Halibut would generate: |
462 | |
463 | \quote{ |
464 | |
465 | \c #include <stdio.h> |
466 | \e iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii |
467 | \c |
468 | \c int main(int argc, char **argv) { |
469 | \e bbb bbb bbbb |
470 | \c printf("hello, world\n"); |
471 | \c return 0; |
472 | \e bbbbbb |
473 | \c } |
474 | |
475 | } |
476 | |
477 | Note that not every \c{\\c} line has to be followed by a \c{\\e} |
478 | line; they're optional. |
479 | |
480 | Also, note that highlighting within a code paragraph is |
481 | \e{discretionary}. Not all of Halibut's output formats can support |
482 | it (plain text, in particular, has no sensible way to do it). Unless |
483 | you know you are using a restricted range of output formats, you |
484 | should use highlighting in code paragraphs \e{only} as a visual aid, |
485 | and not rely on it to convey any vital semantic content. |
486 | |
487 | \S{input-lists} \c{\\b}, \c{\\n}, \c{\\dt}, \c{\\dd}, \c{\\lcont}: Lists |
488 | |
489 | Halibut supports bulletted lists, numbered lists and description |
490 | lists. |
491 | |
492 | \S2{input-list-bullet} \c{\\b}: Bulletted lists |
493 | |
494 | To create a bulletted list, you simply prefix each paragraph |
495 | describing a bullet point with the command \c{\\b}. For example, this |
496 | Halibut input: |
497 | |
498 | \c Here's a list: |
499 | \c |
500 | \c \b One. |
501 | \c |
502 | \c \b Two. |
503 | \c |
504 | \c \b Three. |
505 | |
506 | would produce this Halibut output: |
507 | |
508 | \quote{ |
509 | Here's a list: |
510 | |
511 | \b One. |
512 | |
513 | \b Two. |
514 | |
515 | \b Three. |
516 | } |
517 | |
518 | \S2{input-list-number} \c{\\n}: Numbered lists |
519 | |
520 | Numbered lists are just as simple: instead of \c{\\b}, you use |
521 | \c{\\n}, and Halibut takes care of getting the numbering right for |
522 | you. For example: |
523 | |
524 | \c Here's a list: |
525 | \c |
526 | \c \n One. |
527 | \c |
528 | \c \n Two. |
529 | \c |
530 | \c \n Three. |
531 | |
532 | This produces the Halibut output: |
533 | |
534 | \quote{ |
535 | Here's a list: |
536 | |
537 | \n One. |
538 | |
539 | \n Two. |
540 | |
541 | \n Three. |
542 | } |
543 | |
544 | The disadvantage of having Halibut sort out the list numbering for |
545 | you is that if you need to refer to a list item by its number, you |
546 | can't reliably do so. To get round this, Halibut allows an optional |
547 | keyword in braces after the \c{\\n} command. This keyword can then |
548 | be referenced using the \c{\\k} or \c{\\K} command (see |
549 | \k{input-xref}) to provide the number of the list item. For example: |
550 | |
551 | \c Here's a list: |
552 | \c |
553 | \c \n One. |
554 | \c |
555 | \c \n{this-one} Two. |
556 | \c |
557 | \c \n Three. |
558 | \c |
559 | \c \n Now go back to step \k{this-one}. |
560 | |
561 | This produces the following output: |
562 | |
563 | \quote{ |
564 | Here's a list: |
565 | |
566 | \n One. |
567 | |
568 | \n{this-one} Two. |
569 | |
570 | \n Three. |
571 | |
572 | \n Now go back to step \k{this-one}. |
573 | } |
574 | |
575 | \S2{input-list-description} \c{\\dt} and \c{\\dd}: Description lists |
576 | |
577 | To wrie a description list, you prefix alternate paragraphs with the |
578 | \c{\\dt} (\q{described thing}) and \c{\\dd} (description) commands. |
579 | For example: |
580 | |
581 | \c \dt Pelican |
582 | \c |
583 | \c \dd This is a large bird with a big beak. |
584 | \c |
585 | \c \dt Panda |
586 | \c |
587 | \c \dd This isn't. |
588 | |
589 | This produces the following output: |
590 | |
591 | \quote{ |
592 | |
593 | \dt Pelican |
594 | |
595 | \dd This is a large bird with a big beak. |
596 | |
597 | \dt Panda |
598 | |
599 | \dd This isn't. |
600 | |
601 | } |
602 | |
603 | \S2{input-list-continuation} Continuing list items into further |
604 | paragraphs |
605 | |
606 | All three of the above list types assume that each list item is a |
607 | single paragraph. For a short, snappy list in which each item is |
608 | likely to be only one or two words, this is perfectly sufficient; |
609 | but occasionally you will find you want to include several |
610 | paragraphs in a single list item, or even to nest other types of |
611 | paragraph (such as code paragraphs, or other lists) inside a list |
612 | item. |
613 | |
614 | To do this, you use the \c{\\lcont} command. This is a command which |
615 | can span \e{multiple} paragraphs. |
616 | |
617 | After the first paragraph of a list item, include the text |
618 | \c{\\lcont\{}. This indicates that the subsequent paragraph(s) are a |
619 | \e{continuation} of the list item that has just been seen. So you |
620 | can include further paragraphs, and eventually include a closing |
621 | brace \c{\}} to finish the list continuation. After that, you can |
622 | either continue adding other items to the original list, or stop |
623 | immediately and return to writing normal paragraphs of text. |
624 | |
625 | Here's a (long) example. |
626 | |
627 | \c Here's a list: |
628 | \c |
629 | \c \n One. This item is followed by a code paragraph: |
630 | \c |
631 | \c \lcont{ |
632 | \c |
633 | \c \c code |
634 | \c \c paragraph |
635 | \c |
636 | \c } |
637 | \c |
638 | \c \n Two. Now when I say \q{two}, I mean: |
639 | \c |
640 | \c \lcont{ |
641 | \c |
642 | \c \n Two, part one. |
643 | \c |
644 | \c \n Two, part two. |
645 | \c |
646 | \c \n Two, part three. |
647 | \c |
648 | \c } |
649 | \c |
650 | \c \n Three. |
651 | |
652 | The output produced by this fragment is: |
653 | |
654 | \quote{ |
655 | |
656 | Here's a list: |
657 | |
658 | \n One. This item is followed by a code paragraph: |
659 | |
660 | \lcont{ |
661 | |
662 | \c code |
663 | \c paragraph |
664 | |
665 | } |
666 | |
667 | \n Two. Now when I say \q{two}, I mean: |
668 | |
669 | \lcont{ |
670 | |
671 | \n Two, part one. |
672 | |
673 | \n Two, part two. |
674 | |
675 | \n Two, part three. |
676 | |
677 | } |
678 | |
679 | \n Three. |
680 | |
681 | } |
682 | |
683 | This syntax seems a little bit inconvenient, and perhaps |
684 | counter-intuitive: you might expect the enclosing braces to have to |
685 | go around the \e{whole} list item, rather than everything except the |
686 | first paragraph. |
687 | |
688 | \c{\\lcont} is a recent addition to the Halibut input language; |
689 | previously, \e{all} lists were required to use no more than one |
690 | paragraph per list item. So it's certainly true that this feature |
691 | looks like an afterthought because it \e{is} an afterthought, and |
692 | it's possible that if I'd been designing the language from scratch |
693 | with multiple-paragraph list items in mind, I would have made it |
694 | look different. |
695 | |
696 | However, the advantage of doing it this way is that no enclosing |
697 | braces are required in the \e{common} case: simple lists with only |
698 | one paragraph per item are really, really easy to write. So I'm not |
699 | too unhappy with the way it turned out; it obeys the doctrine of |
700 | making simple things simple, and difficult things possible. |
701 | |
702 | Note that \c{\\lcont} can only be used on \c{\\b}, \c{\\n} and |
703 | \c{\\dd} paragraphs; it cannot be used on \c{\\dt}. |
704 | |
705 | \S{input-rule} \c{\\rule}: Horizontal rules |
706 | |
707 | The command \c{\\rule}, appearing on its own as a paragraph, will |
708 | cause a horizontal rule to be drawn, like this: |
709 | |
710 | \c Some text. |
711 | \c |
712 | \c \rule |
713 | \c |
714 | \c Some more text. |
715 | |
716 | This produces the following output: |
717 | |
718 | \quote{ |
719 | |
720 | Some text. |
721 | |
722 | \rule |
723 | |
724 | Some more text. |
725 | |
726 | } |
727 | |
728 | \S{input-quote} \c{\\quote}: Indenting multiple paragraphs as a long |
729 | quotation |
730 | |
731 | Quoting verbatim text using a code paragraph (\k{input-codepara}) is |
732 | not always sufficient for your quoting needs. Sometimes you need to |
733 | quote some normally formatted text, possibly in multiple paragraphs. |
734 | |
735 | To do this, you can use the \c{\\quote} command. Like \c{\\lcont}, |
736 | this is a command which expects to enclose at least one paragraph |
737 | and possibly more. Simply write \c{\\quote\{} at the beginning of |
738 | your quoted section, and \c{\}} at the end, and the paragraphs in |
739 | between will be formatted to indicate that they are a quotation. |
740 | |
741 | (This very manual, in fact, uses this feature a lot: all of the |
742 | examples of Halibut source followed by Halibut output have the |
743 | output quoted using \c{\\quote}.) |
744 | |
745 | Here's some example Halibut input: |
746 | |
747 | \c In \q{Through the Looking Glass}, Lewis Carroll wrote: |
748 | \c |
749 | \c \quote{ |
750 | \c |
751 | \c \q{The question is,} said Alice, \q{whether you \e{can} make |
752 | \c words mean so many different things.} |
753 | \c |
754 | \c \q{The question is,} said Humpty Dumpty, \q{who is to be master - |
755 | \c that's all.} |
756 | \c |
757 | \c } |
758 | \c |
759 | \c So now you know. |
760 | |
761 | The output generated by this is: |
762 | |
763 | \quote{ |
764 | |
765 | In \q{Through the Looking Glass}, Lewis Carroll wrote: |
766 | |
767 | \quote{ |
768 | |
769 | \q{The question is,} said Alice, \q{whether you \e{can} make |
770 | words mean so many different things.} |
771 | |
772 | \q{The question is,} said Humpty Dumpty, \q{who is to be master - |
773 | that's all.} |
774 | |
775 | } |
776 | |
777 | So now you know. |
778 | |
779 | } |
780 | |
781 | \S{input-sections} \c{\\C}, \c{\\H}, \c{\\S}, \c{\\A}, \c{\\U}: |
782 | Chapter and section headings |
783 | |
784 | \K{intro-features} mentions that Halibut numbers the sections of |
785 | your document automatically, and can generate cross-references to |
786 | them on request; \k{input-xref} describes the \c{\\k} and \c{\\K} |
787 | commands used to generate the cross-references. This section |
788 | describes the commands used to set up the sections in the first |
789 | place. |
790 | |
791 | A paragraph beginning with the \c{\\C} command defines a chapter |
792 | heading. The \c{\\C} command expects to be followed by a pair of |
793 | braces containing a keyword for the chapter; this keyword can then |
794 | be used with the \c{\\k} and \c{\\K} commands to generate |
795 | cross-references to the chapter. After the closing brace, the rest |
796 | of the paragraph is used as the displayed chapter title. So the |
797 | heading for the current chapter of this manual, for example, is |
798 | written as |
799 | |
800 | \c \C{input} Halibut input format |
801 | |
802 | and this allows me to use the command \c{\\k\{input\}} to generate a |
803 | cross-reference to that chapter somewhere else. |
804 | |
805 | The next level down from \c{\\C} is \c{\\H}, for \q{heading}. This |
806 | is used in exactly the same way as \c{\\C}, but section headings |
807 | defined with \c{\\H} are considered to be part of a containing |
808 | chapter, and will be numbered with a pair of numbers. After \c{\\H} |
809 | comes \c{\\S}, and if necessary you can then move on to \c{\\S2}, |
810 | \c{\\S3} and so on. |
811 | |
812 | For example, here's a sequence of heading commands. Normally these |
813 | commands would be separated at least by blank lines (because each is |
814 | a separate paragraph), and probably also by body text; but for the |
815 | sake of brevity, both of those have been left out in this example. |
816 | |
817 | \c \C{foo} Using Foo |
818 | \c \H{foo-intro} Introduction to Foo |
819 | \c \H{foo-running} Running the Foo program |
820 | \c \S{foo-inter} Running Foo interactively |
821 | \c \S{foo-batch} Running Foo in batch mode |
822 | \c \H{foo-trouble} Troubleshooting Foo |
823 | \c \C{bar} Using Bar instead of Foo |
824 | |
825 | This would define two chapters with keywords \c{foo} and \c{bar}, |
826 | which would end up being called Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 (unless |
827 | there were other chapters before them). The sections \c{foo-intro}, |
828 | \c{foo-running} and \c{foo-trouble} would be referred to as Section |
829 | 1.1, Section 1.2 and Section 1.3 respectively; the subsections |
830 | \c{foo-inter} and \c{foo-batch} would be Section 1.2.1 and Section |
831 | 1.2.2. If there had been a \c{\\S2} command within one of those, it |
832 | would have been something like Section 1.2.1.1. |
833 | |
834 | If you don't like the switch from \c{\\H} to \c{\\S}, you can use |
835 | \c{\\S1} as a synonym for \c{\\S} and \c{\\S0} as a synonym for |
836 | \c{\\H}. Chapters are still designated with \c{\\C}, because they |
837 | need to be distinguished from other types of chapter such as |
838 | appendices. (Personally, I like the \c{\\C},\c{\\H},\c{\\S} notation |
839 | because it encourages me to think of my document as a hard disk :-) |
840 | |
841 | You can define an appendix by using \c{\\A} in place of \c{\\C}. |
842 | This is no different from a chapter except that it's given a letter |
843 | instead of a number, and cross-references to it will say \q{Appendix |
844 | A} instead of \q{Chapter 9}. Subsections of an appendix will be |
845 | numbered \q{A.1}, \q{A.2}, \q{A.2.1} and so on. |
846 | |
847 | If you want a particular section to be referred to as something |
848 | other than a \q{chapter}, \q{section} or \q{appendix}, you can |
849 | include a second pair of braces after the keyword. For example, if |
850 | you're writing a FAQ chapter and you want cross-references between |
851 | questions to refer to \q{question 1.2.3} instead of \q{section |
852 | 1.2.3}, you can write each section heading as |
853 | |
854 | \c \S{question-about-fish}{Question} What about fish? |
855 | |
856 | (The word \q{Question} should be given with an initial capital |
857 | letter. Halibut will lower-case it when you refer to it using |
858 | \c{\\k}, and will leave it alone if you use \c{\\K}.) |
859 | |
860 | This technique allows you to change the designation of |
861 | \e{particular} sections. To make an overall change in what \e{every} |
862 | section is called, see \k{input-config}. |
863 | |
864 | Finally, the \c{\\U} command defines an \e{unnumbered} chapter. |
865 | These sometimes occur in books, for specialist purposes such as |
866 | \q{Bibliography} or \q{Acknowledgements}. \c{\\U} does not expect a |
867 | keyword argument, because there is no sensible way to generate an |
868 | automatic cross-reference to such a chapter anyway. |
869 | |
8902e0ed |
870 | \S{input-blurb} \c{\\copyright}, \c{\\title}, \c{\\versionid}: |
871 | Miscellaneous blurb commands |
11f2edfa |
872 | |
8902e0ed |
873 | These three commands define a variety of special paragraph types. |
11f2edfa |
874 | They are all used in the same way: you put the command at the start |
875 | of a paragraph, and then just follow it with normal text, like this: |
876 | |
877 | \c \title My First Manual |
878 | |
8902e0ed |
879 | The three special paragraph types are: |
11f2edfa |
880 | |
881 | \dt \c{\\title} |
882 | |
883 | \dd This defines the overall title of the entire document. This |
884 | title is treated specially in some output formats (for example, it's |
885 | used in a \cw{<title>} tag in the HTML output), so it needs a |
886 | special paragraph type to point it out. |
887 | |
11f2edfa |
888 | \dt \c{\\copyright} |
889 | |
890 | \dd This command indicates that the paragraph attached to it |
891 | contains a copyright statement for the document. This text is |
8902e0ed |
892 | usually displayed inline, just before the first chapter title but |
893 | after any preamble text before that; but in some output formats it |
894 | is given additional special treatment. For example, Windows Help |
895 | files have a standard slot in which to store a copyright notice, so |
896 | that other software can display it prominently. |
11f2edfa |
897 | |
898 | \dt \c{\\versionid} |
899 | |
900 | \dd This command indicates that the paragraph contains a version |
901 | identifier, such as those produced by CVS (of the form \c{$\#{hope this |
902 | defuses CVS}Id: thingy.but,v 1.6 2004/01/01 16:47:48 simon Exp $}). |
903 | This text will be tucked away somewhere unobtrusive, so that anyone |
904 | wanting to (for example) report errors to the document's author can |
905 | pick out the version IDs and send them as part of the report, so |
906 | that the author can tell at a glance which revision of the document |
907 | is being discussed. |
908 | |
909 | \S{input-commentpara} \c{\\#}: Whole-paragraph comments |
910 | |
911 | \K{input-inline-comment} describes the use of the \c{\\#} command to |
912 | put a short comment in the middle of a paragraph. |
913 | |
914 | If you need to use a \e{long} comment, Halibut also allows you to |
915 | use \c{\\#} without braces, to indicate that an entire paragraph is |
916 | a comment, like this: |
917 | |
918 | \c Here's a (fairly short) paragraph which will be displayed. |
919 | \c |
920 | \c \# Here's a comment paragraph which will not be displayed, no |
921 | \c matter how long it goes on. All I needed to indicate this was the |
922 | \c single \# at the start of the paragraph; I don't need one on |
923 | \c every line or anything like that. |
924 | \c |
925 | \c Here's another displayed paragraph. |
926 | |
927 | When run through Halibut, this produces the following output: |
928 | |
929 | \quote{ |
930 | |
931 | Here's a (fairly short) paragraph which will be displayed. |
932 | |
933 | \# Here's a comment paragraph which will not be displayed, no |
934 | matter how long it goes on. All I needed to indicate this was the |
935 | single \# at the start of the paragraph; I don't need one on |
936 | every line or anything like that. |
937 | |
938 | Here's another displayed paragraph. |
939 | |
940 | } |
941 | |
942 | \H{input-biblio} Creating a bibliography |
943 | |
944 | If you need your document to refer to other documents (research |
945 | papers, books, websites, whatever), you might find a bibliography |
946 | feature useful. |
947 | |
948 | You can define a bibliography entry using the \c{\\B} command. This |
949 | looks very like the \c{\\C} command and friends: it expects a |
950 | keyword in braces, followed by some text describing the document |
951 | being referred to. For example: |
952 | |
953 | \c \B{freds-book} \q{The Taming Of The Mongoose}, by Fred Bloggs. |
954 | \c Published by Paperjam & Notoner, 1993. |
955 | |
956 | If this bibliography entry appears in the finished document, it will |
957 | look something like this: |
958 | |
959 | \quote{ |
960 | |
961 | \B{freds-book} \q{The Taming Of The Mongoose}, by Fred Bloggs. |
962 | Published by Paperjam & Notoner, 1993. |
963 | |
964 | } |
965 | |
966 | I say \q{if} above because not all bibliography entries defined |
967 | using the \c{\\B} command will necessarily appear in the finished |
968 | document. They only appear if they are referred to by a \c{\\k} |
969 | command (see \k{input-xref}). This allows you to (for example) |
970 | maintain a single Halibut source file with a centralised database of |
971 | \e{all} the references you have ever needed in any of your writings, |
972 | include that file in every document you feed to Halibut, and have it |
973 | only produce the bibliography entries you actually need for each |
974 | particular document. (In fact, you might even want this centralised |
975 | source file to be created automatically by, say, a Perl script from |
976 | BibTeX input, so that you can share the same bibliography with users |
977 | of other formatting software.) |
978 | |
979 | If you really want a bibliography entry to appear in the document |
980 | even though no text explicitly refers to it, you can do that using |
981 | the \c{\\nocite} command: |
982 | |
983 | \c \nocite{freds-book} |
984 | |
985 | Normally, each bibliography entry will be referred to (in citations |
986 | and in the bibliography itself) by a simple reference number, such |
987 | as \k{freds-book}. If you would rather use an alternative reference |
988 | notation, such as [Fred1993], you can use the \c{\\BR} |
989 | (\q{Bibliography Rewrite}) command to specify your own reference |
990 | format for a particular book: |
991 | |
992 | \c \BR{freds-book} [Fred1993] |
993 | |
994 | \H{input-index} Creating an index |
995 | |
996 | Halibut contains a comprehensive indexing mechanism, which attempts |
997 | to be reasonably easy to use in the common case in spite of its |
998 | power. |
999 | |
1000 | \S{input-index-simple} Simple indexing |
1001 | |
1002 | In normal usage, you should be able to add index terms to your |
1003 | document simply by using the \c{\\i} command to wrap one or two |
1004 | words at a time. For example, if you write |
1005 | |
1006 | \c The \i{hippopotamus} is a particularly large animal. |
1007 | |
1008 | then the index will contain an entry under \q{hippopotamus}, |
1009 | pointing to that sentence (or as close to that sentence as the |
1010 | output format sensibly permits). |
1011 | |
1012 | You can wrap more than one word in \c{\\i} as well: |
1013 | |
1014 | \c We recommend using a \i{torque wrench} for this job. |
1015 | |
1016 | \S{input-index-special} Special cases of indexing |
1017 | |
1018 | If you need to index a computer-related term, you can use the |
1019 | special case \c{\\i\\c}: |
1020 | |
1021 | \c The \i\c{grep} command is what you want here. |
1022 | |
1023 | This will cause the word \q{grep} to appear in code style, as if the |
1024 | \c{\\i} were not present and the input just said \c{\\c\{grep\}}; |
1025 | the word will also appear in code style in the actual index. |
1026 | |
1027 | If you want to simultaneously index and emphasise a word, there's |
1028 | another special case \c{\\i\\e}: |
1029 | |
1030 | \c This is what we call a \i\e{paper jam}. |
1031 | |
1032 | This will cause the words \q{paper jam} to be emphasised in the |
1033 | document, but (unlike the behaviour of \c{\\i\\c}) they will \e{not} |
1034 | be emphasised in the index. This different behaviour is based on an |
1035 | expectation that most people indexing a word of computer code will |
1036 | still want it to look like code in the index, whereas most people |
1037 | indexing an emphasised word will \e{not} want it emphasised in the |
1038 | index. |
1039 | |
1040 | Sometimes you might want to index a term which is not explicitly |
1041 | mentioned, but which is highly relevant to the text and you think |
1042 | that somebody looking up that term in the index might find it useful |
1043 | to be directed here. To do this you can use the \c{\\I} command, to |
1044 | create an \e{invisible} index tag: |
1045 | |
1046 | \c If your printer runs out of toner, \I{replacing toner |
1047 | \c cartridge}here is what to do: |
1048 | |
1049 | This input will produce only the output \q{If your printer runs out |
1050 | of toner, here is what to do}; but an index entry will show up under |
1051 | \q{replacing toner cartridge}, so that if a user thinks the obvious |
1052 | place to start in the index is under R for \q{replacing}, they will |
1053 | find their way here with a minimum of fuss. |
1054 | |
1055 | (It's worth noting that there is no functional difference between |
1056 | \c{\\i\{foo\}} and \c{\\I\{foo\}foo}. The simple \c{\\i} case is |
1057 | only a shorthand for the latter.) |
1058 | |
1059 | Finally, if you want to index a word at the start of a sentence, you |
1060 | might very well not want it to show up with a capital letter in the |
1061 | index. For this, Halibut provides the \c{\\ii} command, for \q{index |
1062 | (case-)insensitively}. You use it like this: |
1063 | |
1064 | \c \ii{Lions} are at the top of the food chain in this area. |
1065 | |
1066 | This is equivalent to \c{\\I\{lions\}Lions}; in other words, the |
1067 | text will say \q{Lions}, but it will show up in the index as |
1068 | \q{lions}. The text inside \c{\\ii} is converted entirely into lower |
1069 | case before being added to the index data. |
1070 | |
1071 | \S{input-index-rewrite} Fine-tuning the index |
1072 | |
1073 | Halibut's index mechanism as described so far still has a few |
1074 | problems left: |
1075 | |
1076 | \b In a reasonably large index, it's often difficult to predict |
1077 | which of several words a user will think of first when trying to |
1078 | look something up. For example, if they want to know how to replace |
1079 | a toner cartridge, they might look up \q{replacing} or they might |
1080 | look up \q{toner cartridge}. You probably don't really want to have |
1081 | to try to figure out which of those is more likely; instead, what |
1082 | you'd like is to be able to effortlessly index the same set of |
1083 | document locations under \e{both} terms. |
1084 | |
1085 | \b Also, you may find you've indexed the same concept under multiple |
1086 | different index terms; for example, there might be several instances |
1087 | of \c{\\i\{frog\}} and several of \c{\\i\{frogs\}}, so that you'd |
1088 | end up with two separate index entries for what really ought to be |
1089 | the same concept. |
1090 | |
1091 | \b You might well not want the word \q{\cw{grep}} to appear in the |
1092 | index without explanation; you might prefer it to say something more |
1093 | verbose such as \q{\cw{grep} command}, so that a user encountering |
1094 | it in the index has some idea of what it is \e{without} having to |
1095 | follow up the reference. However, you certainly don't want to have |
1096 | to write \c{\\I\{\\cw\{grep\} command\}\\c\{grep\}} every time you |
1097 | want to add an index term for this! You wanted to write |
1098 | \c{\\i\\c\{grep\}} as shown in the previous section, and tidy it all |
1099 | up afterwards. |
1100 | |
1101 | All of these problems can be cleaned up by the \c{\\IM} (for |
1102 | \q{Index Modification}) command. \c{\\IM} expects to be followed by |
1103 | one or more pairs of braces containing index terms as seen in the |
1104 | document, and then a piece of text (not in braces) describing how it |
1105 | should be shown in the index. |
1106 | |
1107 | So to rewrite the \c{grep} example above, you might do this: |
1108 | |
1109 | \c \IM{grep} \cw{grep} command |
1110 | |
1111 | This will arrange that the set of places in the document where you |
1112 | asked Halibut to index \q{\cw{grep}} will be listed under |
1113 | \q{\cw{grep} command} rather than just under \q{\cw{grep}}. |
1114 | |
1115 | You can specify more than one index term in a \c{\\IM} command; so |
1116 | to merge the index terms \q{frog} and \q{frogs} into a single term, |
1117 | you might do this: |
1118 | |
1119 | \c \IM{frog}{frogs} frog |
1120 | |
1121 | This will arrange that the single index entry \q{frog} will list |
1122 | \e{all} the places in the document where you asked Halibut to index |
1123 | either \q{frog} or \q{frogs}. |
1124 | |
1125 | You can use multiple \c{\\IM} commands to replicate the same set of |
1126 | document locations in more than one index entry. For example: |
1127 | |
1128 | \c \IM{replacing toner cartridge} replacing toner cartridge |
1129 | \c \IM{replacing toner cartridge} toner cartridge, replacing |
1130 | |
1131 | This will arrange that every place in the document where you have |
1132 | indexed \q{replacing toner cartridge} will be listed both there |
1133 | \e{and} under \q{toner cartridge, replacing}, so that no matter |
1134 | whether the user looks under R or under T they will stil find their |
1135 | way to the same parts of the document. |
1136 | |
1137 | In this example, note that although the first \c{\\IM} command |
1138 | \e{looks} as if it's a tautology, it is still necessary, because |
1139 | otherwise those document locations will \e{only} be indexed under |
1140 | \q{toner cartridge, replacing}. If you have \e{no} explicit \c{\\IM} |
1141 | commands for a particular index term, then Halibut will assume a |
1142 | default one (typically \c{\\IM\{foo\}\_foo}, although it might be |
1143 | \c{\\IM\{foo\}\_\\c\{foo\}} if you originally indexed using |
1144 | \c{\\i\\c}); but as soon as you specify an explicit \c{\\IM}, |
1145 | Halibut discards its default implicit one, and you must then specify |
1146 | that one explicitly as well if you wanted to keep it. |
1147 | |
1148 | \H{input-config} Configuring Halibut |
1149 | |
1150 | Halibut uses the \c{\\cfg} command to allow you to configure various |
1151 | aspects of its functionality. |
1152 | |
1153 | The \c{\\cfg} command expects to be followed by at least one pair of |
1154 | braces, and usually more after that. The first pair of braces |
1155 | contains a keyword indicating what aspect of Halibut you want to |
1156 | configure, and the meaning of the one(s) after that depends on the |
1157 | first keyword. |
1158 | |
1159 | The current list of configuration keywords in the main Halibut code |
1160 | is quite small. Here it is in full: |
1161 | |
1162 | \dt \cw{\\cfg\{chapter\}\{}\e{new chapter name}\cw{\}} |
1163 | |
1164 | \dd This tells Halibut that you don't want to call a chapter a |
1165 | chapter any more. For example, if you give the command |
1166 | \cw{\\cfg\{chapter\}\{Book\}}, then any chapter defined with the |
1167 | \c{\\C} command will be labelled \q{Book} rather than \q{Chapter}, |
1168 | both in the section headings and in cross-references. This is |
1169 | probably most useful if your document is not written in English. |
1170 | |
1171 | \dt \cw{\\cfg\{section\}\{}\e{new section name}\cw{\}} |
1172 | |
1173 | \dd Exactly like \c{chapter}, but changes the name given to |
1174 | subsections of a chapter. |
1175 | |
1176 | \dt \cw{\\cfg\{appendix\}\{}\e{new appendix name}\cw{\}} |
1177 | |
1178 | \dd Exactly like \c{appendix}, but changes the name given to |
1179 | appendices. |
1180 | |
1181 | In addition to these configuration commands, there are also |
1182 | configuration commands provided by each individual output format. |
1183 | These configuration commands are discussed along with each output |
1184 | format, in FIXME. |
1185 | |
1186 | \H{input-macro} Defining macros |
1187 | |
1188 | If there's a complicated piece of Halibut source which you think |
1189 | you're going to use a lot, you can define your own Halibut command |
1190 | to produce that piece of source. |
1191 | |
1192 | In \k{input-unicode}, there is a sample piece of code which prints a |
1193 | Euro sign, or replaces it with \q{EUR} if the Euro sign is not |
1194 | available: |
1195 | |
1196 | \c This is likely to cost \u20AC{EUR }2500 at least. |
1197 | |
1198 | If your document quotes a \e{lot} of prices in Euros, you might not |
1199 | want to spend all your time typing that out. So you could define a |
1200 | macro, using the \c{\\define} command: |
1201 | |
1202 | \c \define{eur} \u20AC{EUR } |
1203 | |
672e4626 |
1204 | Then you can just write ... |
11f2edfa |
1205 | |
1206 | \c This is likely to cost \eur 2500 at least. |
1207 | |
672e4626 |
1208 | ... except that that's not terribly good, because you end up with a |
1209 | space between the Euro sign and the number. In this case, it's |
1210 | helpful to use the special \c{\\.} command, which is defined to do |
1211 | nothing at all! But it acts as a separator between your macro and |
1212 | the next character: |
1213 | |
1214 | \c This is likely to cost \eur\.2500 at least. |
1215 | |
1216 | This way, you will see no space between the Euro sign and the number |
1217 | (although, of course, there will be space between \q{EUR} and the |
1218 | number if the Euro sign is not available, because the macro |
1219 | definition specifically asked for it). |