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<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>
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