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Special Insertions

Texinfo provides several commands for formatting dimensions, for inserting single characters that have special meaning in Texinfo, such as braces, and for inserting special graphic symbols that do not correspond to characters, such as dots and bullets.

These are:

Inserting `@', Braces, and Periods

`@' and curly braces are special characters in Texinfo. To insert these characters so they appear in text, you must put an `@' in front of these characters to prevent Texinfo from misinterpreting them.

Periods are also special. Depending on whether the period is inside or at the end of a sentence, less or more space is inserted after a period in a typeset manual. Since it is not always possible for Texinfo to determine when a period ends a sentence and when it is used in an abbreviation, special commands are needed in some circumstances. (Usually, Texinfo can guess how to handle periods, so you do not need to use the special commands; you just enter a period as you would if you were using a typewriter, which means you put two spaces after the period, question mark, or exclamation mark that ends a sentence.)

Do not put braces after any of these commands; they are not necessary.

Inserting `@' with @@

@@ stands for a single `@' in either printed or Info output.

Do not put braces after an @@ command.

Inserting `{' and `}'with @{ and @}

@{ stands for a single `{' in either printed or Info output.

@} stands for a single `}' in either printed or Info output.

Do not put braces after either an @{ or an @} command.

Spacing After Colons and Periods

Use the @: command after a period, question mark, exclamation mark, or colon that should not be followed by extra space. For example, use @: after periods that end abbreviations which are not at the ends of sentences. @: has no effect on the Info file output.

For example,

The s.o.p.@: has three parts ...
The s.o.p. has three parts ...

produces the following. If you look carefully at this printed output, you will see a little more whitespace after `s.o.p.' in the second line.

The s.o.p. has three parts ...
The s.o.p. has three parts ...

@: has no effect on the Info output. (`s.o.p' is an acronym for "Standard Operating Procedure".)

Use @. instead of a period at the end of a sentence that ends with a single capital letter. Otherwise, TeX will think the letter is an abbreviation and will not insert the correct end-of-sentence spacing. Here is an example:

Give it to M.I.B. and to M.E.W@.  Also, give it to R.J.C@.
Give it to M.I.B. and to M.E.W.  Also, give it to R.J.C.

produces the following. If you look carefully at this printed output, you will see a little more whitespace after the `W' in the first line.

Give it to M.I.B. and to M.E.W. Also, give it to R.J.C.
Give it to M.I.B. and to M.E.W. Also, give it to R.J.C.

In the Info file output, @. is equivalent to a simple `.'.

The meanings of @: and @. in Texinfo are designed to work well with the Emacs sentence motion commands. This made it necessary for them to be incompatible with some other formatting systems that use @-commands.

Do not put braces after either an @: or an @. command.

@dmn{dimension}: Format a Dimension

At times, you may want to write `12pt' or `8.5in' with little or no space between the number and the abbreviation for the dimension. You can use the @dmn command to do this. On seeing the command, TeX inserts just enough space for proper typesetting; the Info formatting commands insert no space at all, since the Info file does not require it.

To use the @dmn command, write the number and then follow it immediately, with no intervening space, by @dmn, and then by the dimension within braces.

For example,

A4 paper is 8.27@dmn{in} wide.

produces

A4 paper is 8.27in wide.

Not everyone uses this style. Instead of writing `8.27@dmn{in}' in the Texinfo file, you may write `8.27 in.' or `8.27 inches'. (In these cases, the formatters may insert a line break between the number and the dimension. Also, if you write a period after an abbreviation within a sentence, you should write `@:' after the period to prevent TeX from inserting extra whitespace. See section Spacing After Colons and Periods.)

Inserting Ellipsis, Dots, and Bullets

An ellipsis (a line of dots) is not typeset as a string of periods, so a special command is used for ellipsis in Texinfo. The @bullet command is special, too. Each of these commands is followed by a pair of braces, `{}', without any whitespace between the name of the command and the braces. (You need to use braces with these commands because you can use them next to other text; without the braces, the formatters would be confused. See section @-Command Syntax, for further information.)

@dots{}

Use the @dots{} command to generate an ellipsis, which is three dots in a row, appropriately spaced, like this: `...'. Do not simply write three periods in the input file; that would work for the Info file output, but would produce the wrong amount of space between the periods in the printed manual.

Here is an ellipsis: ...

Here are three periods in a row: ...

In printed output, the three periods in a row are closer together than the dots in the ellipsis.

@bullet{}

Use the @bullet{} command to generate a large round dot, or the closest possible thing to one. In Info, an asterisk is used.

Here is a bullet: *

When you use @bullet in @itemize, you do not need to type the braces, because @itemize supplies them. See section Making an Itemized List.

Inserting TeX and the Copyright Symbol

The logo `TeX' is typeset in a special fashion and it needs an @-command. The copyright symbol, `(C)', is also special. Each of these commands is followed by a pair of braces, `{}', without any whitespace between the name of the command and the braces.

@TeX{}

Use the @TeX{} command to generate `TeX'. In a printed manual, this is a special logo that is different from three ordinary letters. In Info, it just looks like `TeX'. The @TeX{} command is unique among Texinfo commands in that the T and the X are in upper case.

@copyright{}

Use the @copyright{} command to generate `(C)'. In a printed manual, this is a `c' inside a circle, and in Info, this is `(C)'.

@minus{}: Inserting a Minus Sign

Use the @minus{} command to generate a minus sign. In a fixed-width font, this is a single hyphen, but in a proportional font, the symbol is the customary length for a minus sign--a little longer than a hyphen.

You can compare the two forms:

`-' is a minus sign generated with `@minus{}',

`-' is a hyphen generated with the character `-'.

In the fixed-width font used by Info, @minus{} is the same as a hyphen.

You should not use @minus{} inside @code or @example because the width distinction is not made in the fixed-width font they use.

When you use @minus to specify the mark beginning each entry in an itemized list, you do not need to type the braces (see section Making an Itemized List).


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