JezK
Edit File: Info-Files.html
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.8, https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <!-- This manual is for GNU Texinfo (version 6.8, 8 June 2021), a documentation system that can produce both online information and a printed manual from a single source using semantic markup. Copyright (C) 1988, 1990-1993, 1995-1999, 2001-2021 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, with no Front-Cover Texts, and with no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License". --> <title>Info Files (GNU Texinfo 6.8)</title> <meta name="description" content="Info Files (GNU Texinfo 6.8)"> <meta name="keywords" content="Info Files (GNU Texinfo 6.8)"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="Generator" content="texi2any"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width,initial-scale=1"> <link href="index.html" rel="start" title="Top"> <link href="Command-and-Variable-Index.html" rel="index" title="Command and Variable Index"> <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> <link href="Overview.html" rel="up" title="Overview"> <link href="Printed-Books.html" rel="next" title="Printed Books"> <link href="Output-Formats.html" rel="prev" title="Output Formats"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a.copiable-anchor {visibility: hidden; text-decoration: none; line-height: 0em} a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em} div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} kbd {font-style: oblique} pre.display {font-family: inherit} pre.format {font-family: inherit} pre.menu-comment {font-family: serif} pre.menu-preformatted {font-family: serif} span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap} span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal} span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal} span:hover a.copiable-anchor {visibility: visible} ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} --> </style> </head> <body lang="en"> <div class="section" id="Info-Files"> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="Printed-Books.html" accesskey="n" rel="next">Printed Books</a>, Previous: <a href="Output-Formats.html" accesskey="p" rel="prev">Output Formats</a>, Up: <a href="Overview.html" accesskey="u" rel="up">Overview of Texinfo</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="Info-Files-1"></span><h3 class="section">1.3 Info Files</h3> <span id="index-Info-files"></span> <p>As mentioned above, Info format is mostly a plain text transliteration of the Texinfo source, with the addition of a few control characters to separate nodes and provide navigational information, so that Info-reading programs can operate on it. </p> <p>Info files are nearly always created by processing a Texinfo source document. <code>makeinfo</code>, also known as <code>texi2any</code>, is the principal command that converts a Texinfo file into an Info file; see <a href="Generic-Translator-texi2any.html"><code>texi2any</code>: The Generic Translator for Texinfo</a>. </p> <p>Generally, you enter an Info file through a node that by convention is named ‘Top’. This node normally contains just a brief summary of the file’s purpose, and a large menu through which the rest of the file is reached. From this node, you can either traverse the file systematically by going from node to node, or you can go to a specific node listed in the main menu, or you can search the index menus and then go directly to the node that has the information you want. Alternatively, with the standalone Info program, you can specify specific menu items on the command line (see <cite><a data-manual="info" href="../info/index.html#Top">Info</a></cite>). </p> <p>If you want to read through an Info file in sequence, as if it were a printed manual, you can hit <tt class="key">SPC</tt> repeatedly, or you get the whole file with the advanced Info command <kbd>g *</kbd>. (See <a data-manual="info" href="../info/Advanced.html#Advanced">Advanced Info commands</a> in <cite>Info</cite>.) </p> <p>The <samp>dir</samp> file in the <samp>info</samp> directory serves as the departure point for the whole Info system. From it, you can reach the ‘Top’ nodes of each of the documents in a complete Info system. </p> <span id="index-URI-syntax-for-Info"></span> <p>If you wish to refer to an Info file via a URI, you can use the (unofficial) syntax exemplified by the following. This works with Emacs/W3, for example: </p><div class="example"> <pre class="example">info:emacs#Dissociated%20Press info:///usr/info/emacs#Dissociated%20Press info://localhost/usr/info/emacs#Dissociated%20Press </pre></div> <p>The <code>info</code> program itself does not follow URIs of any kind. </p> </div> <hr> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="Printed-Books.html">Printed Books</a>, Previous: <a href="Output-Formats.html">Output Formats</a>, Up: <a href="Overview.html">Overview of Texinfo</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> </body> </html>