<html lang="en"> <head> <title>The INDEX file - Untitled</title> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> <meta name="description" content="Untitled"> <meta name="generator" content="makeinfo 4.13"> <link title="Top" rel="start" href="index.html#Top"> <link rel="up" href="Creating-Packages.html#Creating-Packages" title="Creating Packages"> <link rel="prev" href="The-DESCRIPTION-File.html#The-DESCRIPTION-File" title="The DESCRIPTION File"> <link rel="next" href="PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-directives.html#PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-directives" title="PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL directives"> <link href="http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/" rel="generator-home" title="Texinfo Homepage"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css"> <style type="text/css"><!-- pre.display { font-family:inherit } pre.format { font-family:inherit } pre.smalldisplay { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallformat { font-family:inherit; font-size:smaller } pre.smallexample { font-size:smaller } pre.smalllisp { font-size:smaller } span.sc { font-variant:small-caps } span.roman { font-family:serif; font-weight:normal; } span.sansserif { font-family:sans-serif; font-weight:normal; } --></style> </head> <body> <div class="node"> <a name="The-INDEX-file"></a> <p> Next: <a rel="next" accesskey="n" href="PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-directives.html#PKG_005fADD-and-PKG_005fDEL-directives">PKG_ADD and PKG_DEL directives</a>, Previous: <a rel="previous" accesskey="p" href="The-DESCRIPTION-File.html#The-DESCRIPTION-File">The DESCRIPTION File</a>, Up: <a rel="up" accesskey="u" href="Creating-Packages.html#Creating-Packages">Creating Packages</a> <hr> </div> <h4 class="subsection">35.4.2 The INDEX file</h4> <p>The optional <code>INDEX</code> file provides a categorical view of the functions in the package. This file has a very simple format <p class="noindent"> <ul> <li>Lines beginning with ‘<samp><span class="samp">#</span></samp>’ are comments. <li>The first non-comment line should look like this <pre class="example"> toolbox >> Toolbox name </pre> <li>Lines beginning with an alphabetical character indicates a new category of functions. <li>Lines starting with a white space character indicate that the function names on the line belong to the last mentioned category. </ul> <p class="noindent">The format can be summarized with the following example <pre class="example"> # A comment toolbox >> Toolbox name Category Name 1 function1 function2 function3 function4 Category Name 2 function2 function5 </pre> <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: <pre class="example"> fn = workaround description </pre> <p class="noindent">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: <pre class="example"> fn = use <code>alternate expression</code> </pre> <p class="noindent">the bold-italic is automatically suppressed. You will need to use <code><code></code> even in references: <pre class="example"> fn = use <a href="someothersite.html"><code>fn</code></a> </pre> <p class="noindent">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, <pre class="example"> eig (a, b) = use <f>qz</f> </pre> <p class="noindent">Since sites may have many missing functions, you can define a macro rather than typing the same link over and again. <pre class="example"> $id = expansion </pre> <p class="noindent">defines the macro id. You can use <code>$id</code> anywhere in the description and it will be expanded. For example, <pre class="example"> $TSA = see <a href="link_to_spctools">SPC Tools</a> arcov = $TSA <code>armcv</code> </pre> <p class="noindent">id is any string of letters, numbers and <code>_</code>. </body></html>