<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <!-- Created by GNU Texinfo 6.5, http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/ --> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>The INDEX File (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))</title> <meta name="description" content="The INDEX File (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="keywords" content="The INDEX File (GNU Octave (version 5.1.0))"> <meta name="resource-type" content="document"> <meta name="distribution" content="global"> <meta name="Generator" content="makeinfo"> <link href="index.html#Top" rel="start" title="Top"> <link href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" rel="index" title="Concept Index"> <link href="index.html#SEC_Contents" rel="contents" title="Table of Contents"> <link href="Creating-Packages.html#Creating-Packages" rel="up" title="Creating Packages"> <link href="PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-Directives.html#PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-Directives" rel="next" title="PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives"> <link href="The-DESCRIPTION-File.html#The-DESCRIPTION-File" rel="prev" title="The DESCRIPTION File"> <style type="text/css"> <!-- a.summary-letter {text-decoration: none} blockquote.indentedblock {margin-right: 0em} blockquote.smallindentedblock {margin-right: 0em; font-size: smaller} blockquote.smallquotation {font-size: smaller} div.display {margin-left: 3.2em} div.example {margin-left: 3.2em} div.lisp {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalldisplay {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smallexample {margin-left: 3.2em} div.smalllisp {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} pre.smalldisplay {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smallexample {font-size: smaller} pre.smallformat {font-family: inherit; font-size: smaller} pre.smalllisp {font-size: smaller} span.nolinebreak {white-space: nowrap} span.roman {font-family: initial; font-weight: normal} span.sansserif {font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal} ul.no-bullet {list-style: none} --> </style> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="octave.css"> </head> <body lang="en"> <a name="The-INDEX-File"></a> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-Directives.html#PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-Directives" accesskey="n" rel="next">PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives</a>, Previous: <a href="The-DESCRIPTION-File.html#The-DESCRIPTION-File" accesskey="p" rel="prev">The DESCRIPTION File</a>, Up: <a href="Creating-Packages.html#Creating-Packages" accesskey="u" rel="up">Creating Packages</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> <hr> <a name="The-INDEX-File-1"></a> <h4 class="subsection">37.4.2 The INDEX File</h4> <p>The optional <samp>INDEX</samp> file provides a categorical view of the functions in the package. This file has a very simple format </p> <ul> <li> Lines beginning with ‘<samp>#</samp>’ are comments. </li><li> The first non-comment line should look like this <div class="example"> <pre class="example">toolbox >> Toolbox name </pre></div> </li><li> Lines beginning with an alphabetical character indicates a new category of functions. </li><li> Lines starting with a white space character indicate that the function names on the line belong to the last mentioned category. </li></ul> <p>The format can be summarized with the following example: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example"># A comment toolbox >> Toolbox name Category Name 1 function1 function2 function3 function4 Category Name 2 function2 function5 </pre></div> <p>If you wish to refer to a function that users might expect to find in your package but is not there, providing a work around or pointing out that the function is available elsewhere, you can use: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">fn = workaround description </pre></div> <p>This workaround description will not appear when listing functions in the package with <code>pkg describe</code> but they will be published in the HTML documentation online. Workaround descriptions can use any HTML markup, but keep in mind that it will be enclosed in a bold-italic environment. For the special case of: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">fn = use <code>alternate expression</code> </pre></div> <p>the bold-italic is automatically suppressed. You will need to use <code><code></code> even in references: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">fn = use <a href="someothersite.html"><code>fn</code></a> </pre></div> <p>Sometimes functions are only partially compatible, in which case you can list the non-compatible cases separately. To refer to another function in the package, use <code><f>fn</f></code>. For example: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">eig (a, b) = use <f>qz</f> </pre></div> <p>Since sites may have many missing functions, you can define a macro rather than typing the same link over and again. </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">$id = expansion </pre></div> <p>defines the macro id. You can use <code>$id</code> anywhere in the description and it will be expanded. For example: </p> <div class="example"> <pre class="example">$TSA = see <a href="link_to_spctools">SPC Tools</a> arcov = $TSA <code>armcv</code> </pre></div> <p>id is any string of letters, numbers and <code>_</code>. </p> <hr> <div class="header"> <p> Next: <a href="PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-Directives.html#PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-Directives" accesskey="n" rel="next">PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL Directives</a>, Previous: <a href="The-DESCRIPTION-File.html#The-DESCRIPTION-File" accesskey="p" rel="prev">The DESCRIPTION File</a>, Up: <a href="Creating-Packages.html#Creating-Packages" accesskey="u" rel="up">Creating Packages</a> [<a href="index.html#SEC_Contents" title="Table of contents" rel="contents">Contents</a>][<a href="Concept-Index.html#Concept-Index" title="Index" rel="index">Index</a>]</p> </div> </body> </html>