GNU Info

(reftex)Index Support

---

Next: Viewing Cross-References Prev: Citations Up: Top

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Index Support
*************

   LaTeX has builtin support for creating an Index.  The LaTeX core
supports two different indices, the standard index and a glossary.  With
the help of special LaTeX packages (`multind.sty' or `index.sty'), any
number of indices can be supported.

   Index entries are created with the `\index{ENTRY}' macro.  All
entries defined in a document are written out to the `.aux' file.  A
separate tool must be used to convert this information into a nicely
formatted index.  Tools used with LaTeX include `MakeIndex' and `xindy'.

   Indexing is a very difficult task.  It must follow strict
conventions to make the index consistent and complete.  There are
basically two approaches one can follow, and both have their merits.

  1. Part of the indexing should already be done with the markup.  The
     document structure should be reflected in the index, so when
     starting new sections, the basic topics of the section should be
     indexed.  If the document contains definitions, theorems or the
     like, these should all correspond to appropriate index entries.
     This part of the index can very well be developed along with the
     document.  Often it is worthwhile to define special purpose macros
     which define an item and at the same time make an index entry,
     possibly with special formatting to make the reference page in the
     index bold or underlined.  To make RefTeX support for indexing
     possible, these special macros must be added to RefTeX's
     configuration (Note: Defining Index Macros).

  2. The rest of the index is often just a collection of where in the
     document certain words or phrases are being used.  This part is
     difficult to develop along with the document, because consistent
     entries for each occurrence are needed and are best selected when
     the document is ready.  RefTeX supports this with an _index
     phrases file_ which collects phrases and helps indexing the
     phrases globally.

   Before you start, you need to make sure that RefTeX knows about the
index style being used in the current document.  RefTeX has builtin
support for the default `\index' and `\glossary' macros.  Other LaTeX
packages, like the `multind' or `index' package, redefine the `\index'
macro to have an additional argument, and RefTeX needs to be configured
for those.  A sufficiently new version of AUCTeX (9.10c or later) will
do this automatically.  If you really don't use AUCTeX (you should!),
this configuration needs to be done by hand with the menu (`Ref->Index
Style'), or globally for all your documents with

     (setq reftex-index-macros '(multind))     or
     (setq reftex-index-macros '(index))

Creating Index Entries

Macros and completion of entries.

The Index Phrases File

A special file for global indexing.

Displaying and Editing the Index

The index editor.

Builtin Index Macros

The index macros RefTeX knows about.

Defining Index Macros

and macros it doesn't.