GNU Texinfo 4.2: 6.3.1 Choosing Node and Pointer Names

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### 6.3.1 Choosing Node and Pointer Names

The name of a node identifies the node. The pointers enable you to reach other nodes and consist of the names of those nodes.

Normally, a node’s ‘Up’ pointer contains the name of the node whose menu mentions that node. The node’s ‘Next’ pointer contains the name of the node that follows that node in that menu and its ‘Previous’ pointer contains the name of the node that precedes it in that menu. When a node’s ‘Previous’ node is the same as its ‘Up’ node, both node pointers name the same node.

Usually, the first node of a Texinfo file is the ‘Top’ node, and its ‘Up’ and ‘Previous’ pointers point to the ‘`dir`’ file, which contains the main menu for all of Info.

The ‘Top’ node itself contains the main or master menu for the manual. Also, it is helpful to include a brief description of the manual in the ‘Top’ node. See section The First Node, for information on how to write the first node of a Texinfo file.

Even when you explicitly specify all pointers, that does not mean you can write the nodes in the Texinfo source file in an arbitrary order! Because TeX processes the file sequentially, irrespective of node pointers, you must write the nodes in the order you wish them to appear in the printed output.

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