Re: [help-texinfo] Formatting parser symbols and rules

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:35:07 +0100 (CET)
> From: address@hidden
> Cc: address@hidden
> 
> >     tokens (address@hidden') and one for non-teminals (address@hidden') and 
> > add the
> >     entries by hand, so the entries in the Variable Index are redundant.
> >
> > Maybe redirect the vr index to pn, then, and omit the explicit pn entries.
> 
> That wouldn't work, because there are many other variables that need to go
> in the variable index.   I'd like to keep the parser symbols separate to
> reduce clutter.

You can always do that by adding context to index entry's text.  For
example:

  @vindex address@hidden, parser symbol}

> > I highly recommend redirecting all indexes into one in the end, anyway.
> >
> 
> Oh, well we obviously disagree on this point.

I agree with Karl, FWIW: indices are primarily for finding information
easily.  WHile in the on-line Info file this normally doesn't matter
(since the info-searching commands of Info readers look in all
indices), it does matter in the printed output and in HTML, since
there the reader will have too look up stuff in several disjoint
lists.  That's a pain, IMO.

Can you tell why you prefer separate indices?

> address@hidden' puts the text in a slanted font in the TeX output, except for 
> `[]'
> in address@hidden', as I've determined.  I suppose it wasn't meant to be
> used this way

@var is not meant to be used for literal symbol names, only for
metasyntactical variables, i.e. for symbols that stand for something
else.

If you just want slanted font, use @i or @emph instead.

> Declarations like `char c[]' are awkward to format, anyway, since
> address@hidden @var{c[]}' would seem to make the brackets part of the
> variable rather than the type.

Why on Earth would you want to use something like address@hidden @var{c[]}'?

Can you tell what would you like to achieve?  (Sorry if this was
already explained in this thread before I chimed in.)

> In addition, address@hidden' causes `makeinfo' without `--html' to issue
> the following (annoying) warnings:
> 
> c:\Scantest\DOC\TEXINFO//glblfncs.texi:41: warning: unlikely character [
> in @var.
> c:\Scantest\DOC\TEXINFO//glblfncs.texi:41: warning: unlikely character ]
> in @var

See above: you are using @var for a situation it wasn't supposed to
handle.