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(texinfo)Printing Indices & Menus

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Index Menus and Printing an Index
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  To print an index means to include it as part of a manual or Info
file.  This does not happen automatically just because you use
`@cindex' or other index-entry generating commands in the Texinfo file;
those just cause the raw data for the index to be accumulated.  To
generate an index, you must include the `@printindex' command at the
place in the document where you want the index to appear.  Also, as
part of the process of creating a printed manual, you must run a
program called `texindex' (Note: Hardcopy) to sort the raw data to
produce a sorted index file.  The sorted index file is what is actually
used to print the index.

  Texinfo offers six different types of predefined index: the concept
index, the function index, the variables index, the keystroke index, the
program index, and the data type index (Note: Predefined Indices).
Each index type has a two-letter name: `cp', `fn', `vr', `ky', `pg',
and `tp'.  You may merge indices, or put them into separate sections
(Note: Combining Indices); or you may define your own indices (Note:
Defining New Indices.).

  The `@printindex' command takes a two-letter index name, reads the
corresponding sorted index file and formats it appropriately into an
index.

  The `@printindex' command does not generate a chapter heading for the
index.  Consequently, you should precede the `@printindex' command with
a suitable section or chapter command (usually `@unnumbered') to supply
the chapter heading and put the index into the table of contents.
Precede the `@unnumbered' command with an `@node' line.

  For example:

     @node Variable Index, Concept Index, Function Index, Top
     @comment    node-name,         next,       previous, up
     @unnumbered Variable Index
     
     @printindex vr
     
     @node     Concept Index,     , Variable Index, Top
     @comment      node-name, next,       previous, up
     @unnumbered Concept Index
     
     @printindex cp

Readers often prefer that the concept index come last in a book, since
that makes it easiest to find.  Having just one index helps readers
also, since then they have only one place to look (Note: synindex).